Making Me a Millionaire

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a little different for the hubby and I because it’s also his birthday!  When we first started dating he would say “because the 14th is my birthday we can use that to cancel out Valentine’s Day right?” At the time I told him it was wishful thinking, but today, after 5 years of marriage, we really don’t do much for Valentine’s Day.  We’ve tried in the past, but the flowers and chocolate thing just doesn’t do much for me and if you ask me, sending flowers on Valentine’s Day is a complete rip off!  So instead of spending the money on typical Valentine’s Day gifts, we’ve made a tradition out of having a nice meal without spending big bucks.  In the past, we’ve done the romantic dinner at home, we’ve used gift cards we received over Christmas at restaurants, and this year, we’re using our American Express points for a free dinner!  I’ll be happy to have an inexpensive Valentine’s Day every year!

Do you do anything special for Valentine’s Day?  What kind of gifts/experiences do you prefer?  Are you doing anything to be more frugal on Valentine’s Day?

My Favorite Places for a Good Deal

I absolutely love getting a good deal.  I sign up for sites that offer deals, I go through them everyday, I use coupons, I’ll go to happy hour, I use frequent flyer miles and I hoard hotel points.

My great accomplishment this week?  Ordering a $100 gift card to the Capital Grille using my Amex points and making the reservations with OpenTable while earning 1,000 OpenTable points (Capital Grille was on their 1,000 point list!).  Since this Sunday is Valentine’s Day (and also my husband’s birthday) it was time for a fine dining experience!  We will use any excuse for an opportunity to eat good food.  It felt so good to know I wasn’t going to spend much (or anything at all) on this eventful dinner and at the same time earn 1,000 points for it (which equals $10)!  So I thought I’d share some of my favorite sites that offer great deals.

1) Slickdeals.net - I check this site everyday.  I have learned of some amazing deals from visiting Slickdeals.  The best deal I ever got was a 3 night stay at the Wynn in Las Vegas for the hubby and I as well as for my parents for FREE!  My parents ended up with a suite too!  We also got $200 in resort credit!  Of course we had to pay for the flight but I’m not complaining!  We’ve also gotten other great discounts but nothing topped the free nights at the Wynn.

2) RueLaLa - What woman doesn’t like to buy designer clothes for 50-70% off?  I don’t usually buy too much designer stuff but if I do, it comes from RueLaLa.  Everyday, there are different boutiques that go on sale for a limited time.  It’s like an online sample sale so you better act fast before items get sold out!  You need to be referred to set up an account so send me a message if you want me to refer you!  Other similar sites include Gilt, HauteLook and OneKingLane (for home goods).

3) ShopItToMe – When you sign up with ShopItToMe, you tell them what brands you’re interested in.  Every week, you’ll get an email with the best deals on those brand items .  I’ve bought several BCBG dresses through this site for less than $100.

4) Groupon – Select your city, and everyday there’s a new sale.  It could be half priced meals at restaurants, discounted spa services, specialty stores, etc.  There needs to be at least a certain number of people who collectively want the deal in order for the deal to be on.  I’ve never actually seen a deal not happen!

5) Restaurant.com – Because my husband and I love to eat, Restaurant.com is a great site for us.  You can browse through all the restaurants in your area and purchase a gift certificate to your eatery of choice.  The standard rate is a $25 gift certificate for $10 which is pretty good…but practically every week they have great sales where you can purchase a $25 gift certificate for just $2!  I’ve used this site many times before and I love that you can print out your gift certificate as soon as you make your purchase.  The only thing to watch out for is to check what kind of restrictions the restaurant has – some will say that the certificates can only be used for dinner or can only be used on certain days.

6) Coupons.com – I love using this site for groceries.  You can browse through a bunch of coupons, select the ones you want, them print them out and use them at the store!

7) OpenTable – OK by now you’ve heard me talk about OpenTable at least a few times. I love having a point system for when I dine and since making reservations is easy through this site (and free) I don’t see why anyone would not do it!  Each city has a list of restaurants that can earn you 1,000 points after dining there.  You can earn a $25 OpenTable dining cheque (to be used at any OpenTable restaurant) with 2,500 points.  This is great because so many good restaurants are on OpenTable and there are some great restaurants on the 1,000 points list too!  I’m currently at 3,000 points so I’m going to save up for a $100 dining cheque and have a nice meal!

So that’s all I’ve got.  Are there any other sites out there with great deals that you’d like to share?

Getting in Shape Without Going Broke

I’m the kind of chick who has always been weight conscious.  I’ve never starved myself or cried over my weight but I always make sure I get a good workout in and I hate the discomfort I feel when I put on weight and my jeans dig into me.  Because eating is truly a joy in my life, I can’t do the diet thing and have to keep my weight in check through exercise and portion control.  Over the last 10 years, I have spent too much money on exercise.  I’ve joined gyms, signed up for personal trainers, ran in races, invested in dumbbells, yoga mats, medicine balls.

Now that we’re moving, it’s time to cancel our pricey gym membership.  I’m sad to not have access to a nice gym but I vow to get my exercise in without going broke.  In the past, this is what exercise has cost me…

• Gym membership ($180 a month for 2 people) – we did get good use out of swimming pools, tennis courts, exercise classes and a rock wall though!
• Personal trainer – $80 for a 1/2 hour session
• Running in a race – anywhere between $20 and $80 depending on the length and size
• Indoor rock climbing – $25 a session

Now that we are moving to Seattle, I plan on taking advantage of the beautiful outdoors and saving on exercises expenses.  I’m going to put off a gym membership for as long as possible by doing the following:

• Walking.  The great thing about living in downtown is that you don’t need a car and you can walk everywhere.  All this walking helps to keep the fat off.  I used to live in NYC when I was younger and walked everywhere.  I never ever had to think about my weight because I was doing so much walking everyday!
• Hiking. With the mountains and hills everywhere, I will make an effort to go hiking on the weekends with my husband.  Great for a nice butt!
• Biking (maybe). We don’t have bikes right now so if we decide to go biking, we’ll have to invest in bikes which are expensive.  I’m also not sure if we’ll have space in our apartment for 2 bikes so we’ll have to see.  It is tempting though because there is a waterfront bike trail right outside the apartment building we’re looking at!
• Fitness DVDs. I believe in the benefits of resistance training, yoga and pilates so instead of signing up at a studio, I figure why not do it at home on my mat?  Most DVDs are around $13.  Here are some great ones…

$11.49 on Amazon.com

$8.49 on Amazon.com

$14.99 on Amazon.com

$11.99 on Amazon.com

Exercise is not only a great way to keep the fat off but it’s also very beneficial to your health.  If exercising can help reduce your chances of heart disease or cancer or stroke, I’d say it’s well worth the amount of money you put into yourself right now rather than having to pay medical bills later on.

Are there any other inexpensive/free ways of exercising that any of you out there practice?

Oh, How I Love OpenTable

The husband and I love to eat.  It’s a great way to just get away, experience different cuisines and have some private time to talk and bond.  Although I’m all for saving money, I just need to eat out at least once a week.  It’s one of those things my husband and I really enjoy and aren’t willing to cut out.  So if we’re going to be dining out, why not earn points towards a free meal in the future?  That is why, I always use OpenTable to make reservations.

Here’s how it works:

1) Make your free reservations at OpenTable.com

2) When you arrive at the restaurant, let the host know you have reservations and give them your name

3) Enjoy your meal

After your meal, you should see points added to your account.  Most restaurants will offer 100 points for dining.  Each city has a list of restaurants that offer 1,000-point reservations.  I’ve noticed in the cities I looked at that there are many good restaurants that offer the 1,000 point reservations.  These are great as they allow you to build up points much faster than the regular 100 point restaurants.

What do you do with all these points? You redeem them for Dining Cheques!  They are basically gift certificates that you can use at any OpenTable restaurant.

2,000 OpenTable Points = $20 OpenTable Dining Cheque
5,000 OpenTable Points = $50 OpenTable Dining Cheque
10,000 OpenTable Points = $100 OpenTable Dining Cheque

I always always always use OpenTable to make my reservations.  You can even use it for lunch reservations and small restaurants.  It doesn’t hurt to always check before you head out to eat!

Goals for 2010

I’m very happy with the way we managed our finances towards the second half of 2009.  We curbed our spending and made sure we weren’t being reckless with our money and as a result, we managed to accumulate a good chunk in our emergency fund.

In 2010, we will be selling our house and moving to a new city.  We booked our tickets to Seattle for January 14 so hopefully that will help us in making our decision on where to move to.  With all these big changes, its a bit more difficult to have aggressive goals but I will still list some that I plan on aiming for this year.

1) Max out the Roth IRA for 2009. Since we still have until April 2010 to put money into our Roth IRA, I plan on maxing both our accounts out.  The Roth IRA is one of the best retirement vehicles and I plan on taking full advantage of it while we still can.

2) Put away $50K into our down payment fund. 50K sounds like a lot to be able to put away, but we’re lucky that my husband still has 5 months of his severance left!  We plan on putting away his entire severance and continue living our lives like we normally do (ok maybe with a little more spluring than usual).  We want to buy a home soon and we all know how insanely expensive west coast home prices are.  We probably don’t want to carry more than a 300K mortgage so that means we’d have to put down at least 200K.

3) Invest more in stocks. In 2009, we focused mostly on mutual funds and not enough on stocks.  This year, I plan on evening it out and investing in both stocks and mutual funds and try to do dollar cost averaging.  I also want to learn a little more about ETFs.

4) Spend less on food. This past year, we spent over $16K on dining out alone!  It’s carelessness and gluttony at its best.  I’m not proud of it.  I hope to cut this in half for this year by cooking more at home and being more mindful and aware of what we’re ordering and what kind of restaurants we are going to.  I’ve also wasted groceries on many occasions when we had food at home but we chose to dine out and ended up throwing out the food later on.  My new goal is to eliminate excess and waste!

5) Give more. My husband and I have a foundation set up with Vanguard.  The purpose of this foundation is to one day either set up a school for underprivileged kids or to offer scholarships to students who cannot afford college.  I would like to contribute $10,000 to the foundation this year.

6) eBay. With the big move happening this year, this is a great opportunity for us to sell some of our furniture or clutter on eBay.

7) Prepare for a baby! Ideally, we’d like to start having kids soon and with each pregnancy/delivery costing around $20K we need to start preparing.  I don’t want to actually set aside the money for a baby but I want to be aware of the costs and prepare accordingly by putting some money away and being smart with our spending habits.

It will be fun to look back on this entry and see how many of these goals were met.  I hope we succeed in achieving our goals and I have great hopes for 2010!

Happy Holidays!

Well, in the last few weeks, we’ve been completely swamped.  After sending my husband off to NYC for his first project, I packed up the house and headed home myself for the holidays.  With all the stress of the holidays looming overhead, I’ve been frazzled and distracted.  So distracted that I left my 4 month old MacBook Pro at the airport!  Luckily, after many frantic calls to the airport, TSA found my laptop (along with 32 other laptops that were left behind that day before noon!) and they will be shipping it to me over here in NY.

What have I learned from this?

1) Always put a password on your laptop

2) Always back it up before you go on a trip

3) Never have auto-login for your email account or anything else

4) Always be thinking about your valuables when you go through a security line at the airport.

We’ve had a crazy busy Christmas this year and spent quite a bit of time with family.  Being around all these babies makes me want to have one soon even more!  Yesterday we also went to see Avatar in 3D at the AMC IMAX theater.  I usually try not to watch movies in the theater unless they’re action movies or visually stunning.  Avatar was both and I would happily pay to watch that movie again.  It was probably the most amazing movie I’ve ever seen and it is definitely one that will revolutionize film making.  If you’re planning on seeing it, just to give you an idea of the costs, you can watch the matinee show (first show of the day) for $10 per person.  Regular tickets go for $14.50 and in Manhattan they are going for $17.50.  I know, it’s expensive!  But definitely well worth it!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the holidays!

Down to 1 Car

Sorry everyone I know I haven’t been blogging with as much frequency as usual but we’ve been very busy over here with all the changes.  Thanks for giving me suggestions on where to move to.  We’re still trying to figure that out and we’re in the process of trying to sell one of our cars.  With my husband traveling all the time, we won’t need 2 cars so we’re going to sell one of them and save some money from that!  He’s also starting work next week so we need to get most of this stuff done soon.  Then on top of that, we’re leaving for New Orleans today for a trip that was planned a while ago and we’re trying to book our tickets back to NY for the holidays.

I’m pretty excited about selling our car.  We’re hopping to get around $23,000 – $24,000 for it and with that money plus some money we have in savings, I’d like to pay off the additional home loan we have.  By doing that, we’ll save over $7,000 in interest on that loan, reduce our insurance payments, eliminate maintenance costs and gas!  We’ll be left with one car which we’re currently leasing (i know big mistake) and once our 3 years are up, hopefully we will have saved enough to just plop down money for a good practical family car.

OK I’m off to New Orleans.  Hopefully I’ll have some nice photos for you all!

Using Elfster to do Secret Santa

My husband and I come from large families so the holiday season is one of stress, chaos and near bankruptcy.  My brilliant sister one year had the idea of doing a Secret Santa exchange for our family and ever since then, that is what we did.  It saved us the stress of having to get gifts for so many different people (especially when we have in laws and coworkers and friends to shop for too) and the financial burden was a bit lighter.  Since we’re not getting gifts for everyone in the family, we’ll do things like send each other cards and give each other stocking stuffer.  Everyone in my family really enjoyed doing Secret Santa and this year we are doing the same with our group of friends.  We’ll have an exchange party and open our gifts there while celebrating the holidays with each other.

So how do we do our Secret Santa exchanges?  We use Elfster!  Elfster works for us because I live far from my family and many of our friends.  Everything is done online.  Here’s how it works:

1) Create an exchange on Elfster. – add all the people who will be part of the gift exchange.  Set a deadline for signing up and set a date for the exchange.

2) Build a wishlist.  Elfster is great in that you can search for products and link directly to them on your wishlist.  Since I have an amazon wishlist, I link directly to that.  I love that you get to create a wishlist because then people will get you something you want rather than buy you a gift you may not like and have no use for.

3) Elfster draws a name for you. This will be the person you need to get the gift for.

4) Throw an exchange party! If everyone is in town, it would be fun to have a party and see what gifts everyone receives.

I don’t recommend doing Secret Santa if there are young kids involved.  It’s more of an adult thing for those of us who already have pretty much what we need and are just looking for gift giving fun rather than stress.

Do you do Secret Santa or White Elephant or any other gift exchanges?  What do you prefer and what do you find to be the most economical?

Friday Favorites

Well, it’s Friday.  It’s a big day for us because my husband is at an interview right now for a job.  Of the many jobs he has applied to, this is the only place he has heard from so far.  He’s on round 4 of the many interviews for this job.  Let’s hope all goes well!  Aside from that it’s Friday so it’s a good day to list my favorites of the week.

After combing through my favorite blogs, here are a few articles that really stood out to me:

• Pet Owner?  The HAPPY Act Might Bring You Tax Deductions - 20SomethingFinance
• 2010 Income Tax Rates: What’s Your Bracket? – FiveCentNickel
• All About Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) – MoneyUnder30
• Financial Infidelity – Why It Happens and How to Confront It – OwntheDollar
• Common Questions About 529 Plans – PTMoney
• Government Spending: State by State – Shrinkage is Good
• 5 Effective Ways to Protect Yourself From Rising Inflation – MoneyNing

Anti-Aging Beauty Smarts

As a female who is turning 30 next year, I’m beginning to notice things like fine lines and saggy skin and scars that seem to never go away.  Although these are very subtle changes right now I fear that in another 10 years I will look like a completely different person!  I’ve decided to *gasp* look into anti-aging products.

Now since my husband is still out of a job right now, there is no way I am going to spend $100+ on a small jar of  cream extracted from kangaroo poo and infused with diamond shavings or whatever hot anti-aging product that claims to take 20 years off your face.  All I can do now is think prevention, prevention, prevention!

So after digging around online, here are some things I will do to keep myself from turning into a raisin.

1) Sunblock. 35+ SPF.  I’ve been putting it on my face and my hands everyday since my hands are starting to look veiny  and Angelina Jolie-like.

2) Sleep. OK I know this is hard for a lot of people but I try as best I can to get 8 hours of sleep.  Even if I’m busy, I’ll usually make sleep a priority because I’m the type of person who cannot function properly if I don’t get at least 6 hours of sleep.  Sleep is important because it allows your body to heal and repair itself.  Without sleep, not only would we be tired, weakened and sick but it would be reflected in our faces and skin.  They don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing!

3) Antioxidants. Antioxidants are not only important in repairing damage to the skin, but they’re also good for preventing cancer and other health problems.  I’ve been loading up on blueberries, raspberries, green tea, pomegranate seeds, tomatoes, grapefruits and as many greens as I can.

4) Sunglasses. With 100% UV protection.  I like the fact that I’m shielding the area around my eyes from UV rays and I’m not squinting as much if the sun is shining in my direction.

5) Humidifier.  Now that it’s winter, the air is pretty dry and my skin dries out very fast and starts peeling no matter how much moisturizer I put on it.  I noticed that after I got a humidifier and ran it everyday, my skin did not dry out the way it did before.

6) Exercise. Exercise is so good for you that there is no doubt in my mind that it has anti-aging benefits.  We all know that it keeps your heart healthy, keeps your bones strong and promotes longevity.  There are many studies that show that exercise may also have anti-aging effects.  Although this has not been proven yet, why not go ahead and keep your body and heart young with exercise?

7) Skin cream with Retinol. Retinol is one of the few vitamins out there that have proven to be effective against aging.  I usually don’t buy into claims made on packages of moisturizers unless there have been studies on the ingredient and it has been proven effective.  Retinol is one of those ingredients.  I use the RoC products and you can usually get a tube at around $20.

Water. I’m trying to drink more water to keep my skin (and everything else) hydrated.  We all know that water is good for us and our health and when I don’t drink enough of it my skin looks dehydrated.

That’s all I have for now.  Once we have steady income coming in again, I will definitely look at things like chemical peels and microdermabrasion.  I’m really not into the whole Botox thing and I think I’m way too young for that anyway.  Do any of you have any suggestions on cheap or free ways to prevent/repair the effects of aging?