Brooklyn Girl's Personal Finance Blog

DH is still trying to get a new passport.

Here is the story:
The US goverment issues 2 passports with the same number, so when we were returning from vacation last year, he was
held in immigration for hours in Miami airport.(he is a US born citizen, the only one out of all the people held there).
All that time they told me or him nothing! Anyway, after hours and hours, they finally told us that somehow another passport with the same number was issued (after DHs) But since he was there, they just punched holes in his passport, making it invalid. They said "sorry, have to do that" and that he should apply and get a new passport at no charge.

Of course the passport office does not care. Not only do we have to pay for a new rush passport, but also they refused to service him for the rush passport because he went 1 day before the 2 weeks traveling requirement for rush passport.

He has been to the passport office twice (arranging time off work for it) and will have to go try again this friday.

And this situation is completely their fault!

I think that spending (within reason) on things you like has its place.

The trick is to buy something you won't regret, will wear/use a lot.
An item you feel happy about every time you put it on.
Buying 1-2 items each month, even if more expensive, is a lot better to me than buying a lot of junk just because it was on sale. (Sales are great, I always look out for them, but... not worth it unless you were going to buy that item anyway).

But when you make a right selection, and just love your "want" purchase, it gives pleasure for a long, long time - not just the day you bought it. I feel I get a lot more satisfaction out of my purchases than some of my friends who constantly buy piles of stuff.

It is not as easy as it seems - we earned enough rewards to travel, but it just happens they are not for places where we want to go.

First of all, we mostly travel internationally, and most rewards are domestic.

We have:

1 transferrable no blackout dates United airlines ticket to anywhere in continental US.
I should probably sell it on ebay, since, domestically we only plan to go to Florida this year, and tickets NY - Miami are one of the cheapest ones. Tickets for middle-of-nowhere places are pricey, so many one of those travellers will be willing to pay more for it.

enough AA points for 2 tickets to most of US and Central America.
But not enough to Argentina, so I just had to spend almost $1,800 for those.
(I guess we'll go to Bay Islands, Honduras for a week in February)

enough Amtrak points for 2 tickets to DC or Boston. There are chinatown busses going there every day, so we would feel guilty cashing in this reward. And those cities not on the top of my list.

Enough Asia miles for a ticket to Florida or Bermuda. (for 1 person)

Enough Marriott points for 5 nights at category 7, such as Marriott in the center of Paris or Rome (but those are very difficult to book for good months, such as May or September. They are always booked.

So, we have a bunch of rewards, but ended up paying for the tickets ourselves. It is not so easy.

Especially the fact that they were 142$ cheaper just an hour ago!
And hundreds cheaper 3 weeks ago ((
I kick myself.

But now it was showing "only 2 left at that price" (on multiple websites) and after seeing cheaper fares disappear over the last weeks, I just cave in and bought them.

This is more than I wanted to pay for airfare. I wanted to spend money once we get there -- after all, we are going to travel across a foreign country for 30 days and do adventure sports that are not cheap.

But there are just no good deals like there used to be -- too much new taxes and such. In 2002 we flew from New York to Beijing for $337! This year my ticket to China cost $1400!

Our work parties are often full of liquer. Champagne, wine, jin, rum, whiskey, black lable stuff, cognac...
(Boss provides from his stash)

It is a fun (especially if you start at 3). But I cannot imagine this being done in a normal American town, where employees get into their cars and drive home. I don't even know how people go out to bars and clubs in those areas.

NYC carless culture has its fun points.

I am still at work, stuffed with gourmet goodies, finishing my drink. It is an expensive scotch. I don't like it so much -- but honestly trying to discover what is it that people love about it. I know it is an aquired taste, I guess I did not aquire it yet. I love coktails. But since it is not an option at work, I should stick with the wine next time. But I have that rule that new things should be tried. So I taste new lables.

This year, my mom and aunt, instead of giving me a gift gave money ($300) to get what I want.

I want a pair of golden south sea pearl earrings (studs) I saw them on someone else, and I love how they look! and they go with almost anything.

the problem is, it is really hard to comparison shop, since each merchant uses their own grading system and I don't know their reputability and am not willing to put as much research into this as we did for my engagement ring. But I want a good value.

Anyway, I am thinking of buying this one:

http://www.shecypearljewelry.com/pearl-earring-jewelry/golde...

They seem to be cheaper than many other places. Is this because they are in China and willing to have a lower profit margin than "western" retailers? or is it the quality? It can easily be both. Very hard to know.

same kind of earrings in another store:

http://www.thepearlsource.com/9mm-Golden-South-Sea-Pearl-S...

If anybody has more knowledge or experience, or can recommend a retailer, please feel free.

A brand new macbook! I looove it! And my birthday is not for a few days yet. But I am already using it, and have finally posted the album from our last vacation - 26 days in Ecuador.

http://gallery.mac.com/inessam

thats step one. I don't have the energy to post the rest of the trips. It is so hard to select and to organize.

I am so backlogged on this and I think I should give up on posting the old ones. I just counted, and it turns out of the last 5 years we had travelled for a total of 15 months.

It was fun to be a student and backpack. Now that we both have full time jobs we can only take off for no more than a month at a time. And even that makes bosses unhappy.

We always travel independently.
Vacations are a lot more fun and cheaper if you have TIME. As a rule we stay in hostels, don't have "luggage" or hire private transport. Not only do we save money, but also get to know the country and local ways. And for situations where you need a guide/horse/boat, it is always much cheaper to get locally. And, travelling in developing countries is so much cheaper!

During my trip to China last month I got to love this dish. But I can't seem to find the recipie on the web. It is translated as "many flavored tofu."

it is a little spicy, garlicy, crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside.

Last week we had double bad luck -- DH was involved in a collision. It would have been a fender bender if not for bad luck -- his car went under the bumper of the other car so the whole front was smashed.
The second part of this bad luck was the fact that he dropped collision and comprehensive from his insurance 2 days!!!! before this happened!
He was paying 1000$ extra in insurance premiums for these 2 things and has never been in an accident before. The moment it was dropped...

So we went to few places to get estimates (had to pay for them) The "white" place wanted 4000$. The first Chinese place wanted 3000$, the second Chinese place 2600$. We went with them.
So the repairs, the tow truck (accident happend in another county), the fees to get the car out of the first overpriced garage, the insurance premiums that will increase.... this all will run even higher. So we picked up a repaired car from the garage yesterday, (I fear it now has electrical problems -- left turn signal light sometimes flashes weirdly very fast, yet sometimes is ok)

To put this in perspective, yesterday he accidently run a red light! -- it was a weird turn and he did not realize there was a light. This was totally his fault. We were very lucky that the driver of the car(cab) that was coming at us had fast reaction. We were almost T-boned. This would have been so much worse!
DH drove 29000 miles in one year, a lot of it being NYC driving.
And he is a very safe and considerate driver. Never had an accident. And here, almost 2 in one week. One was much worse due to bad luck, the other one avoided to good. No matter how good you are, sometimes things happen randomly on the road.

I bought the dress of heavy silk that did not fit exactly right and I needed the skirt part to be taken it from both sides, and hammed at the bottom. And same thing to be done to the lining.

Instead of a fancy tailor I went to a woman with a sewing stand on the street.

She charged me 10Y ($1.25) for the job and did it really well!

And she charged me 3Y (maybe 40 cents) to ham pants.

(On the other hand, a woman in a tourist area tried to charge me 350Y for a really bad quality imitation silk robe that may cost maybe 40Y at best.)

Yesterday went to a designer tailor shop.

Silk spring coat to be tailor made - $46
silk vest to be tailor made - 40$
chipao off the rack (fit so well)- 53$
a chinese cotton shirt (ready made) 31$

Trip to a cheap on the street tailor to alter store-bought clothing
To hem pants 0.40$
To alter dress (hemm, lining, and taking in from two sides) 1.2$

Dinner:
fantastic tofu dish (fired tofu with garlic and spicey sause), fish flavored eggplant and beef with peppers + beer.
2$ per person

It is cheap, but I am buying a lot and spending more than I do in US. Especially on tailor-made clothing.

I already ordered a fitted 3-piece wool suit in Shanghai (93$, fabric included, from a reputable tailor)
and 2 fitted dress shirts to be made ($25 and 20$) one for me, one for SO,
a silk modern dress(40$) all friends I was with said I would be a fool not to get it.
And I bought a beautiful modern shirt for SO from Heilan Home(brand name) for 23$. I

I am thinking that I just can't find this quality for that price in the US, and that I would regret not getting it. So I am doing clothing shopping for a whole year.

And eating EVERY meal out for 23 days.
And studying, of course.
I am leaving today for China -- employer is sending me for an intensive language course (more like letting me go).
It is partially subsidized -- they are paying my salary (I am not taking vacation for this) and the classes and housing at the University is provided.
Everything else I have to pay for - no daily allowance or airfare. But I think this is a sweet deal.
I intend to buy stuff like clothing for SO and myself, cute stationary, bedding, accessories, cute stuff, etc... China is a place to bargain hunt!
I am excited and a little nervous - I have not traveled by myself in a long long time.

I'll have a laptop and internet at the dorm, so I'll still post!

I look at lables (just at the first few ingredients) and I find shopping to be hard. There is practically nothing I can buy in a regular supermarket - not even cheddar.

What the hell is "imitation cheddar"? And those were the only ones they had.
All the pasta is ENRICHED. All of it!!!

Sereals are also very difficult to buy. And I don't have crazy requirements - no corn syrup (in anything I buy) and sugar not being in the top 3 ingredients.

I see parents picking up cereals for their kids that have sugar as the FIRST ingredient. I just can't understand how they can do that.

I am not a health nut, I eat fats(love quality meats), good cheeses, pastries, coffee, etc... All the gourmet stuff. I just like it in its natural state. So I end up doing all my shopping in gourmet speciality stores - out of the way and not always accessible. It is not even a question of money - in some areas these things are just not available. And making dinner ends up not convenient.

I spend last weekend at a friends home in a very affluent area and they had a huge organic supermarket that had everything in one place and of fantastic quality. I just wish we had a place like that!

I am about to buy it,
Of course I am scared




http://www.houseofbrides.com/product.php?productid=5226&cat=481&page=2

$4 breakfast - ham and cheese on a hero, donut
$2.5 lunch - fruit cup
$21 shampoo and conditioner set, discount
$34 bebe blouse 50% off
$15 dinner - yogurt kebob
$14 organic milk, angel wings, ham, cheese
$90.5 Total


Not so good

I cashed it in (they had to change the bags on the coin machine in the middle, as they got full)

And it was.....

$404.41!

Ima saver had the closest guess.

I don't know if the jar looked smaller in the picture, but it was a 3 liter one.

It is finally full!

I will be bringing this to a penny arcade at the Commerse bank today.
Anyone wants to venture a guess on how much is 3 liters of money?

Previously, after paying all our obligations(rent, utilities, studen loan, insurances, transportation, etc) we had about $3100 left monthly for discretionary funds - food, eating out, saving, clubing, clothing, weekend trips...

If we buy this co-op, after fixed expences, we will have only $1000 to live on the entire month!

I don't know if this is possible, but I will try. I will record every cent I spend from now on, get cheapest lunches, try to minimize waste, and try to figure out if this is worth it, after all.

So, to start, here are todays figures:

0.5 donut from a street cart guy in the morning, had it with coffee at work
3.37 lunch - buffet salad bar
From the grocery store:
3.49 butter 8.8 oz
3.99 organic milk
4.49 angel wings

15.84 Total

a little less than 600 sq feet.
a tiny 2 bedroom(converted from 1) with no closets or a hallway.

It is 10 minute walk from the subway and 35 minutes total from work! (as opposed to 1.5 hours now)

Has lovely view of tree tops from the window. Good light and quiet.

No elevator, very narrow old hallway, but inside is renovated.

450K $675 monthly maintenance

I feel I will have to move fast, because it is the best deal below 90th street I have seen so far.

Today I woke up in the morning, felt sleepy so called in to work and asked a day off. Slept until 11. (I'm very lucky to have generous vacation benefits)

Than went out to do errands -- on a weekday, with the unemployed.
I like slumming it like this. I put on casual clothing and looked the part. I live in a working class but safe neighborhood that is slowly turning better. So now there are very cheap and more upscale options side by side.

The landromat was not crowded. I had a pizza and a soda combo while it was washing - just like in high school.

Going to the stores in midday is a treat to me. Bougth some stuff for the household. Did major cleaning.

Stopped by a little off-street place looking for something different to eat. Turned out it was owned by a Korean woman from Turkmenistan who spoke Russian. Food was very home made and cheap. And different. Kind of eastern food with Russian/Korean influences.
I am very happy to dicover something new.

Saw it on Monkey Mama's blog so did one myself.

Love this city sometimes.

We went to a club in Williamsburg(Brooklyn) this friday (had no time to post before now).

It was a little place, good cocktails, spanish music and lots of dancing. All dancing people were very friendly and encouraging - we had a lot of fun, dancing until my stomach muscles hurt.

The weather was beautiful, the club was at steet level and had its glass door/windows open, giving an outside feel. Cherries and some other pink flowered trees lined the block.

The music carried outside, and we would go onto the street and dance under the sky in fresh air with white petals falling from cherry trees.

We had amaizing time. It was very romantic.

When we got hungry and drove back to one of our favorite restaurants for a romantic dinner.
On our way we listened to film scores on the radio, continuing the surreal feel of the evening. The night city was beautiful.

Cost: $40 drinks, $45 dinner.
Amaizing night - priceless

Everything is blooming right now and I am tempted to take few days off.

I have had to re-pot my plant 3 times in one hour today. Finally moved it to the refrigerator top.

The kitties(2), no matter what they do, know how to act cute -- so they get away with it.

They are not scared of anything and are very troublesome in the amount of clean-up they cause, but are very affectionate too.

This is Tozy.

I was able to help my mom pay for grandfathers funeral. This is what the emergency fund is for. This was an emergency. Unfortunately, due to work I could not fly over on such short notice.

I am out of control today:

Breakfast at Starbucks -- 7.11

Lunch -- eel over rice and a japanese cream puff 9.18

Stopover at Godiva $25

Whatever I felt like, I got. I felt "I can afford it, so why not?". Maybe saving more is not THAT important...

But I did not enjoy the food as much as I thought I would.

Yesterday. My mom is flying out today to berry him.

Whlie doing a heroic thing of sorting, creating files and shredding I found $180 of SO's old travelers checks we did not know we had and $13 in 2 winning lottery tickes.

I bought them in Maryland on our way from DC with a logic that since if we won it will be inconvenient for us to go back to cash them... that we will be assured to win. And I was right. Luckily, SO goes to DC on business every month or so.

Overall, not bad for one day. Our home filing system is now all organized. It should save me a lot of time in the future.

My employer is supposed to pay all US taxes for me. (due to international exemption, agreement with US government, etc...)
I pay a flat tax to the organization instead.
But this year, because I submitted my taxes one day past their deadline they will not issue the checks on time.

So my choises are:

1. Pay the $7,000 I owe myself, and than wait for the reimbursement from my employer (may take a month or more)
2. Send it a week late and pay the penalty. (that is just wasting money. And I have no idea what the penalty would be.)

Good thing we have the emergency fund.

I decided to be a domestic hero today. Upon coming home at 8:20, I gathered all the shirts I could find in 2 minutes and run to the loundry. Had it washed by 9. Then it took me 3 hours to iron 7 of them.

I started to regret it. I did it because I got tired of paying $4.50 per shirt. And I like to wear fitted designer shirts like Anne Fontaine, Tahari, Theory. But to pay $4.50 every time I walk out the door? Seems nuts.

But to spend so much time and efford...
Saved 7x4.5 - 1.75 for the washer.
I am not sure what is the best solution here.

I am by myself today, DH is coming back tomorrow from a business trip.

Last night we came back to see a car next to our building being towed because it had 3 slashed tires. And again, on our block 8 cars had 2-4 tires slashed each.

This has happened before, about 2-3 months ago, when tires were slashed across few blocks for 2 weeks straight.
We had 2 slashed.

Police does not give a ****. If you call them, they say call 911. 911 says don't call us, call 311. 311 says call your preicinct. A perfect circle.

So the normally safe neighborhood lives in fear, and police is instead on a ticket-giving rampage, catching people who are making left turns on a parkway.

We are parking 5 blocks away. And there is no end to this in sight.