A Tale of Two Cars
Thursday, January 21st, 2010Not too long ago, I had a car. A little red car. It wasn’t a very pretty car, but it got me from place to place, and for that I was grateful. One day, during a snow, I left for work as usual. Since there was snow on the ground, I drove quite a bit slower than usual. That probably saved my life.
As is normal, stoplights sometimes change, and drivers must be prepared to stop when they do. On this day, when I applied the brakes, the car didn’t stop. Not only didn’t the car stop, it was not even facing forward anymore. We had spun about 45 degrees to the left. Eventually the car stopped and once my heart went back to normal, I was able to move on. Everything in me was screaming to go back home, but I was more than halfway to work already and there were important samples arriving so I soldiered on.
I didn’t get rid of the car just then. I decided to stick to paved roads when it snowed and the problem seemed to be managed. Unfortunately, when next it snowed, the problem was worse. After that, I also noticed that the car pulled to the left even on dry paved roads. I no longer felt safe driving that car. I was holding on to it because it was paid for (which is nothing to sneeze at).
It was time for me to begin my car search. I had been burned extremely badly on my last car search in 2007, so I was not going to go through a private party to find a vehicle. I was wary of dealerships also, and didn’t want a high pressure kind of sale, so I decided to use Carmax.
Now, I am very ambivalent about car debt. Cars are a depreciating asset, so they are worth less than you pay for them as soon as you drive off the lot. On the other hand, there is a lot of sense in getting a new or newer car and driving it until it dies. I chose the second option. The best case scenario is to have enough cash to buy a newer car outright and keep it until it is undriveable. That’s what I’ll do with my next car or when I win the lottery. I think that since I’m young and have no other debt (besides a tiny student loan), I will be fine. I really hate debt, so the plan is to put extra money toward the car and pay it off early.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Save as much money as you can to buy a car. I had just depleted my savings to move to this city and to try to repair the old car, so I had to finance, but this is the least desirable situation to be in.
2. If you must finance, pay the car off as soon as you can. I’m putting extra money toward the car, and I might also do some tutoring or petsitting for some more cash to throw at it.
3. DO YOUR RESEARCH! Know what car you want, the features, your needs, BEFORE setting foot in a dealership. Also, research dealerships. Know which ones have good reputations for customer service, reliable cars, and so on. This can save you thousands of dollars, and keep you from ending up with a car you don’t want.
Here is my new darling: It’s a 2008 Suzuki sx4 sedan, with 11,500 miles on it. I know I’m going to have this car for quite some time.
And here’s a pic of Sokka. I took this photo over the summer, but he looks like this now, since he spent today in doggy day care. They told me he had so much fun; I think he really needs to spend time with other dogs. One of the attendants recognized where his name comes from, so I like the place even more. 
I’m taking him back tomorrow, and will look into their packages.
Cold Hard Cash
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010I’m switching to a cash based system of money management. I have to. When spending money is as easy as swiping a debit or credit card, it seems that I can’t tell myself when to stop.
Usually I am good at knowing my limits and when I’ve shopped enough, but the past two weeks have just thrown me for a loop.
It started innocently enough: I wanted to buy some furniture for my apartment. I’m not talking fancy living room/bedroom sets, but stuff you put together yourself. Bookshelves, a chair, small t.v. stand from Target. Somehow it snowballed insanely. One more thing led to another to another. It’s not like I was buying large items. Therein lies the problem. Little things add up quickly. Much more quickly than you realize. I almost had a heart attack when I looked at Mint to see the damage. The month isn’t even half over yet!
Here’s the plan:
Take out a specified amount of cash every week ($40-$50). Use the credit card ONLY for groceries and gas (I get points for those). Once the cash is gone for the week, it’s gone. I can’t spend any more. I should have done this earlier. I know that I don’t spend cash as freely as credit/debit. Even though I do prefer using a card so that I can look at spending patterns at my leisure, it has to be this way for now. Something about physically having the bills in your hand and handing it over to the cashier makes me want to conserve it. When I gain some perspective in a while, then I’ll slowly transition to using a card for most transactions.
Good thing I realized this now, instead of down the road to debt. I always pay the credit card balance each month, but I’m scarily close to not being able to do that this time.
Finding My Job in the Lab
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Graduates of the Class of 2009, which includes myself, enter the job market at a rough time. Positions are few, and competition is fierce. Though there are blips of hope that the economy may be turning around, I think maybe the Class of 2010 will likely be in the same boat. Everybody needs as much help as they can get, and if you’re like me, you are scouring the internet for as many tips to get that edge. So I thought I’d share my strategy for landing a job. I’ve not reinvented the wheel here, just customized it for my needs. It may or may not work for you; some of my techniques may even backfire horribly for another person, I have no idea. This was my first real job search after college. That said, I found a job less than two months after beginning to look for one – use my tips as they suit you.
- Try to ride out the bad season, if you can. Getting a job was actually not my original plan. I was going to live abroad with my sister for a while and come back into a hopefully more new graduate-friendly job market. That plan blew up in my face due to some differences between us, and I was put in the position of having to find a job. You may find that staying in school and going for a Masters or even straight to your PhD may suit you.
- Choose your city. Or at least a range of cities/regions. If you find a job in a place that you hate, then what’s the point? Money? We’re much too young to settle like that. In my case, the majority of my classmates chose NYC, Boston, Chicago, DC, etc., as their post-graduate homes. After spending 4 years in the northeast US, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I know I could have found a fabulous laboratory job there, including even my alma mater, but my quality of life would not be up to snuff. Remember, work is not all that life is about.
- Move in with your parents. As new graduates, many of our parents are glad to have us back home for a while, after only seeing us on holidays and breaks for 4+ years. Use that! Being able to live at home for free alleviates the stress of finding a place to stay/crash while looking for work. You can now put most of your focus on finding a job. Of course, living with parents will slowly drive you out of your mind, which brings me to my next point:
- Have some savings. After a while, I could not take living with my parents, as much as I love them, so I had to move. I wasn’t even looking for jobs in the city where they live, and after some time, I realized that not being in the city where I was looking for work was a hindrance, so I moved. I had enough in the bank for about three months of being on my own. I consider that a minimum to have. I know it is hard to save money while in college, but it is not impossible, and the vast majority of college students can save, even if it is a little bit.
- Keep yourself occupied during the search. I got a dog. You can also work on losing some of those college pounds, if they are a bother to you. The point is to have something going on in your life so that the eventual rejections won’t hurt so much.
- Apply for jobs that fit your skills. Or in other words, Be Qualified. I’ve heard it said that you should apply for any job even tangentially related to your skills, but I believe that in this economy, that is a waste of time. Hiring managers will throw out your application if you don’t meet the minimum qualifications, and sometimes even if you do.
- Update your resume/CV. This should go without saying, but maybe not. Make sure your resume or CV is clear, and describes your skills and accomplishments accurately. As a new graduate, it may not be very long, so make every word count. There are tons of resources online that will help you to create a great resume, so I won’t go into much detail, but the one thing I kept in mind when making my resume was to use action words. For example, instead of saying you were responsible for your club’s website, say you created/designed the website for your club, which now boasts 1 million hits per day.
- Customize your cover letters. This may also go without saying, but maybe not. When applying for many jobs, it’s very easy to use one template letter and send it to everyone. Do not do this! Every job you apply to is different, so take the time in your cover letter to show why you are the best choice for that particular job. These reasons are most likely a little different for each place.
- Apply for jobs as if it is your job. Every day Monday through Friday, I had a specific number of jobs to apply to. I usually ‘went to work’ in the early afternoon, but you may choose to do it early in the morning. I had to apply to that many jobs, even if it took the rest of the day. Chance has a definite part to play when finding a job, but it will not happen if you are not doing your part. I personally believe that it takes a lot of work to be lucky, and I haven’t been proven wrong yet.
- Keep track of your job search. I used excel to list what jobs I applied for, where, when, etc. With this kind of list, you can avoid applying to a job more than once. You can also keep track of when and to whom you send follow up notes.
- Send follow up notes. After applying for a job, wait a week or so, then email the company to confirm that they got your application. After interviewing, the very next day, send a note to every person you interviewed with thanking them for their time. Each of these is a chance to assert why you are the best choice for the position, because you are, right?
- Try to find rapport with your interviewers. I’m not saying to try to find out if they could become your best friends, but if you cannot find rapport on some level, then it’s likely that the work environment wouldn’t be the best for you. Remember, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.
- Finally, don’t give up! This was the hardest part for me. After about two weeks, I was beginning to get a little down about the process (what can I say, I’m impatient!). But I persevered, and landed the perfect job. I’m now a lab tech, and while it doesn’t pay the big bucks, it’s in the field that I intend to pursue when I finally decide to go on to graduate school. The perfect stepping stone, so to speak.
That’s it. That’s how I found my job. It basically boils down to this: Work hard, follow your intuition, and you will eventually find the job that is just right for you.
Contract Free Me
Saturday, December 19th, 2009Cell phones, I think, have become the preferred method for today’s relatively young people to keep in touch. They are everywhere and do just about anything a standard computer can do. In school, I couldn’t turn around without seeing someone on their Iphone or other similar uberphone. While I would never disparage someone for being trendy (I do have an Ipod Touch), having the latest phone with all the bells and whistles has never been my thing.
I don’t talk on the phone very much at all, and I really don’t like the limits that text messaging puts on my expression. So I don’t do either. I prefer talking face to face and email. Heck, I even prefer instant messaging, without the inane txtspeak. I also don’t feel the need to be constantly connected to the internet. Actually, I’m already pretty constantly connected. I have internet at home and at work. Where else would I need it? While driving? Grocery shopping?
What that boils down to is that I do not need a uberphone with an uber contract. I had a phone contract for a few years, but when it expired last year, I decided to give it up and use pay as you go.
That decision has totally changed my life! Well maybe not so much, but has had a significant impact on my finances. Before I had a plan that gave me 1500 minutes plus a 400 text message add-on. This cost me about $55 each month. 55 dollars is a lot for any college student, especially when I only used about 200 minutes and 30 text messages in a particularly chatty month.
Now, on my pay as you go plan, I average about 20 bucks a month. I buy minutes in blocks of $50, and the occasional text message is billed at a low rate (10 cents).
I feel like I have so much more freedom. If I want to have a new phone, I don’t have to worry about waiting until I’m eligible for a new one or my contract is over. Even if I bought the phone at full retail price, I’d still come out ahead. Let’s do the math: Let’s say I wanted a smart phone. It probably costs ~$300 (I wouldn’t buy a phone that costs more than that). With a contract, it’ll probably cost ~$100. To get that price, I’d have to have a two year contract at ~$70 per month, including minutes and a data plan. Over two years, that adds up to $1780.
Currently, if I wanted a fancier phone, I could spend $300 for it, and averaging $20 per month, over two years it adds up to $780. A thousand dollar difference is nothing to sneeze at. That’s money I can use for things that I really value.
I’m contract-less and happy about it.
Paycheck to Paycheck
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009Last week I got my first paycheck from my job. Woo Hoo! It was all good, except that most of the extra went to paying off some of my credit card. (Note: I am NOT living lavishly, buying lots of electronics and things on credit! I had enough money saved up to move into my apartment and live for a couple of months, but my job pays monthly rather than biweekly, so I used my CC to buy food and things like that. I still don’t have a couch, dresser, etc., because I’m waiting to save enough money.)
Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot about my financial health. For some background, my parents did not model sound money management for me whatsoever, enough said. What triggered this introspection was, of all things, me trying to decide whether or not to get cable. That’s what people do, right? They have cable so they can watch MTV, E!, and all those other networks and shows. But then I thought about what value cable television actually brought to my life in the past. In a word: none. Watching television has killed my productivity. I probably could have graduated with honors from college if I didn’t watch so much tv. But I do miss watching Animal Planet. It’s also expensive. Around here, a cable/internet bundle would cost me $100 per month! I spent $75 each month senior year. While I could afford that on my salary, I have other plans for my money this time around. All of the shows I watch are online anyway. (Internet is FREE at my apt, by the way)
I really want to start my life out right. I was reading a money forum where people were talking about some of the unrealistic expectations people my age have about where they should be in life. Apparently, some people believe they should have the same standard of living that their parents have right out of college, so they spend, spend, spend. They put all this stuff on credit cards and loans, and really mess themselves up for the future. That is not going to happen to me, if I have anything to say about it!
My expenses are pretty low and I have a tiny student loan. I can put a good chunk of my earnings in savings. The only way I can get into trouble is if I buy into the stuffstuffnowgimmegimme mindset that I know plagues so many people these days. I’m confident that I won’t, however, because that’s just not me.
My favorite hobbies are free: going to the library and reading blogs on the internet. When it gets warm, parks and hiking trails are free also. That’s not to say I’m perfect. I have a tendency to go on shopping sprees and spend a lot of money. While I don’t go into debt to do so, it usually leaves me with stuff I don’t need or even really want, and does not help to build anything. More recently, I’ve really been trying to place more value on experiences than on things, as well as to only spend money on the things I value, like food and music.
In the end, I’m not going to buy cable. I’m going to give Netflix a try. ($14 per month for 2 dvds at a time and unlimited streaming)
Also, another feature I intend to add to the blog is on personal finance. I’ve been educating myself on the topic for about two years, and it’s finally time to put all this in practice. I’m still thinking about how it’s going to manifest itself here, but expect to see some money diaries in the future.