May Goals

May Financial Goals:

• Exercise 10 times.
• Only buy lunch a maximum of 2 times.
• No vending machine snacks or drinks.
• Ask someone to cosign for me — this is so hard for me to do!
• Stay within $10 clothing budget. I just need pants, so this is totally doable.
• Make $150. (I work end-of-may for job 1, and might have a new job on the horizon).

Some Non-Financial Goals:

• Organize the boxes under my bed!
• Put the white shelf into the closet

Reducing the Cost of Ownership for XBox 360

Since the XBox 360s went down in price, my GF decided that the time was right to purchase one.  She had long ago decided to buy one, but was waiting for a big dip in price to help soften the blow.

She was able to buy a refurbished XBox 360 for $280, plus tax.  So total it came out to $302.40.  Not bad, considering how high the price was originally.  By waiting on a luxury purchase, she has been able to save $108 — and by buying a refurbished model she has saved an additional $22.  The styles and warranties are the same, but those two moves saved her $130 (30% off).  She could have saved a bit more by buying used, but the potential for out-of-warranty replacement is too high for us to consider it to save a small amount of money (buying used would save around $50).
She also purchased Dynasty Warriors 6 used for $60 (tax included), but we both have a history of playing Dynasty Warrior (DW) games very often over the course of years… so that was a purchase that I wholeheartedly agree with.  We currently have DW2 through DW6, DW-XL 3 through 5 plus DW Empires 4 and 5.  We also own Samurai Warriors 1 and SW-XL 1, which has the same setup as DW but is set in Peri-Feudal Japan as opposed to Han/Post-Han China.

If you think that we’re big Dynasty Warrior geeks, you’d be right 😀  So for a game that will easily provide us each with 500+ hours of enjoyment, I’m more than happy to have her buy it and enjoy it.

I, however, am trying to rent exclusively and am resisting the temptation to buy quite well.  So I won’t be buying anything for the XBox 360 for quite a while (if ever).

We have yet to get a second controller, but that’s something to do in the future — not needed right now.  🙂

True Cost of Ownership

This post got me thinking.

This is a good point, because even though most people hear it, they don’t get it.

My GF and I LOVE playing video games and have several systems.  We don’t have an XBox 360 or a PS3, which is fine by me because I consider them to be an invitation to spend money.

My girlfriend really wants to buy a 360 with part of her tax refund (after paying every other bill that needs to be paid off).  I would also like a 360, but I consider it a major invitation to spend money.  I always try to look at all of the costs associated with every purchase, to find the true cost of ownership.  For the Xbox, we’d have to get extra controllers, games, purchase an xbox live subscription to get all the freebie games, not to mention possible cost of repair.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to force my girlfriend to not get one, but I’ve made it pretty clear that I won’t be buying it or any of the games/accessories.

True Cost of Xbox 360:

• XBox 360 Package – $450
• Extra Controllers – $100 (for 2)
• XBox Live subscription – $50 a year
• 3 games at $60 a pop – $180

Total XBOX 360 Cost: $780!

She also wants a flat-screen television eventually, but since we’re such avid game-players, that would probably be much more trouble than it’s worth — plus be a major money sinkhole.  In fact, a 42-inch flatscreen uses as much electricity in 4 hours as a full-size refridgerator uses all day.  That’s insane!

Plus with everything we’d be plugging into it, it would look rather silly with a ton of cords hanging off of it.  For me, the cool factor of having a flat TV hanging on a wall (or ceiling) is erased by having a bunch of cords all over the place.  And if our current TV is any indication, it will look incredibly silly.  🙂

Image via Lil Red Fireball

Classy, no?  Meghan was able to hide her cords (somewhat), but since we move our game machines a lot this isn’t really feasible for us unless we want to pay another $100-$200 for extra cords.  We’d also need to be really sure where we wanted to put it, as moving it after drilling holes and mounting and all that would be a nightmare.

Counting everything, a flat-screen TV could easily go into the thousands.

So definitely be careful out there.  Think of the true cost of ownership!

Tally Me Banana (July 6 2008)

CCSF: 0% of $523 ($0 paid)
OSU: 0% of $140 ($0 paid)
Wells Fargo: 0% of $480 ($0 paid)
Med Pac: 0% of $250 ($0 paid)
Student Loans: 0% of $12’300 ($0 paid)
KT: (Disputed) 0% of $1600 ($0 paid)
FBCS: (Disputed) 0% of of $94 ($0 paid)
Dr. S: 12% of $581 ($50 paid)
Dr. 400: 0% of $393 ($0 paid)
Dr. 400 refused my payment plan ($35-50 a month), and sent to collections. Not currently paying (mostly because I already offered payment).
Chapman FS: 0% of $83 ($0 paid)
CellNetix: 18% of $12’300 ($70 paid)

Chest Surgery: 0% of $8’300
Emergency Fund: 0% of of $300
*May 2008 balances used as a starting point.

TOTAL PAID: $120 (2.5%)
TOTAL DEFERRED: $12’300
TOTAL OUTSTANDING: $4’519

What are you “investing” your money in?

I’m starting to believe that everything is an investment, from your tennis shoes to your laptop to your morning coffee.  It’s just that some investments are better than others.

With as little as I’ve made over the past five years, it still amazes me that I’ve spent in the ways I have.  I don’t own a car or anything that I would consider a major purchase.  I’m not married, have yet to adopt, no savings, am not yet done with my first degree…  And I am in debt.

So what have I invested my money in over the past five years?  Rent, groceries, school, over-paying roommates, eating out, random knick-knacks and “projects.”  Furniture and “organizing” materials (which is funny, because I’ve never gotten organized).  Transportation.  Many, many things that I could not live without.  Many things that I should have lived without.

Part of the issue is that I make a very small amount of money, and it also varies from week to week.  So my project for tonight is to make a new budget for just me, without including my GF’s money or trying to make a budget that has her in it at all.  This is about where my money goes, and I’m not going ot try to create a budget for her since I don’t know all of her priorities.  😀

The key for me in the near future is to create a new budget that takes into account all of my money sources (some of which will soon be leaving) and eliminates most of my frivolous spending.  That way, I can invest in something I really want 🙂

No Instant Cures

It’s seems like it’s the hot new thing to say these days.  The idea is that one (und precisely vun!) minor change will make your financial problems go away forever.  It’s also a common theme with weight loss advice.

Stop drinking at Starbucks and retire at 40!
Eat Carrot Sticks with lunch and you’ll lose ten pounds a week!

Yes, it’s definitely possible to save money by cutting out outside eating (and drinking).  But it’s a small part of a much larger problem.  If most people with bad financial habits actually did stop doing Random Money Waster, they would save a bit of cash.  But once that cash is freed up, it can be spent on many other money-wasting things (which unfortunately is usually what happens).

• People cut out the Starbucks and ‘reward’ themselves by going out to eat once a week.
• They stop going out to eat and use that money to buy new clothes.
• They cut out most of their clothing budget and spend that on financing a new car.

It happens all the time, and it’s soooo easy to get side-tracked like that.  You’re only treating a symptom, not curing the disease.  If having a nice new car is important to you, then I think this is a great way to help cover the cost.  Of course, if this is your second or third car you could also b wandering into dangerous territory.

I know it sounds silly, but for me it has been difficult to manage my finances and for the longest time it just seemed like the de facto action was to move the saved money into something else unnecessary.  In fact, it was automatic.  If I had $25 in my account instead of $15, that money was fair game for anything I wanted or “needed.”  I was basically constantly forcing myself into a position where I was living tiny paycheck to tiny paycheck, with no savings or investments (and letting debt slide).

Later I will talk about how I’ve “invested” my money over the past five years.

–Griffin

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