Day 102 - 2010

Yet another Monday, where does the time go (again?)

this week is action packed with activities, hopefully the weather will hold for the week.

GOLF:  Congratulation to Phil Mickelson for winning the Masters, well deserved. Tiger Woods was there too, although most of the cheering of the crowd went for other players, he kept it somewhat together.  By doing so wasting a lot of energy for just the mental balance.  His plays looked unimaginative  and he still can’t hit the fairway with his t-shoot, at least that did not change.  It will take a long time for him to be back in the “swing” of things.  Having no spousal support during the game was a downer as well, contrary to Phil Mickelson who bloomed once his wife was there.

My all time favorite is Fred Couples, I think he is the coolest of them all.

Hugh Hefner will turn 84 this week, check out his plans for his celebration.

Here is a great explanation of Web 2.0 and what it stands for.

 

BTW

Live is expensive Being forced to think about every penny I spend I discover every day how expensive living is in this area.  TIP:  Create a budget (ok, so you did) – be precise, if you fudge (as in the budget at work) you burn yourself.  Track the costs for a while (this is where the cell phone comes in handy), the most important once being the rent/mortgage utilities (electric, water, gas, association fees) groceries (make a meal plan, plan for lunches for the kids), membership fees (fitness club, kids activities) gas (be as detailed as possible, write down the miles you drove per day, figure out the m/gl) Entertainment (movies, rentals, games online) credit card payments (some budget programs offer payoff schedules - Quicken) plan on tax deductions (don’t wait until December) make contributions to the college fund (if you have the money – also tax deductible/saving) You get the picture.  It might seem time consuming, a pain in the #$%^&, unnecessary etc etc excuse etc. However, if you want to know where your money goes and how much you have to spend, dig in your heels and do it.  Don’t just do on paper – that never worked – use a reputable budget program.  One of the better ones is Quicken, online ones are Mint.com (although it mostly tracks your money), don’t go by whatever the description says for the software on the free ware site – look under the hood, this is an investment for the long run.  If you have trouble with this concept or need to know how to get started contact me, I’m more than glad to help (free). Extreme thought: The biggest privately sail boat yacht cost $45 million before renovation, the next generation of yachts is somewhat in the price range of $50 to $100 million, not counting the crew, cost of maintenance, and more. To fill up one of the more advance yachts it costs $50,000 for one refill, estimated for about $350 an hour at sea for just the gas.  The most expensive golf club asks for a membership fee of $750,000, that’s just to be permitted to open the front door. Taxes and green fees cost another $80,000 or so.  $500,000 deposit gets you on the plan of a $5 million dollar home, custom made (interior design is extra), that’s one of the smaller ones in this area. Lastly, get your own plane, you actually can park it in your driveway.  $150,000 is not that bad, considering that the more expensive cars are up there as a base price. And on and on…. Facebook CEO Zuckerberg reportedly made $3 BILLION last year.  Plenty of Fish CEO, Markus Frind averages about $10 million a year working about 20 minutes a day (or so he says) – all of it on a gizmo online which was called Bulletin Board when it started. Here are some examples on daily spending, most of the time it is on a credit card so it is not that apparent that you spend the money. GAS : As I mentioned before, there has to be a correlation between the DOW and the Gas prices. As the DOW goes up so does the gas price per gallon.  You know it is bad when you have to calculate how many miles you might drive and get gas accordingly.  Gone are the times when a Sunday afternoon drive was a given, at least for now. Car gets 19 miles a gallon – you drive 100 miles for the heck of it - $15.31. To fill the tank at $2.86 costs $57.20 and right now it lasts for 10 days which equals about $2,059.20 a year ( I don’t commute). If you have a commute of 40 miles one way, you end up spending $12.04 a day (not counting variables like stop and go traffic which brings down the miles per gallon) - $60.21 a work week - $3,010.53 a year. TOLL:  I you have to commute via a toll road (in this area Northern VA) $4.00 one leg, $.75 second leg - $9.50 a day round trip - $47.50 a work week - $2,375 a year counting 2 weeks of not using it. That is about $5,385 a year you have to spend to make money, that’s just driving.  That is about $2.59 and hour based on a 40 hour work week. COFFEE: if you an avid Starbucks customer, like I’m, here is the math I did after following my spending habits for 3 weeks using the Starbucks card (just for coffee): Grande Coffee $1.94 – 7 times a week - $13.58 - $54.32 a months- $706.16 a year (bonus free coffee after 15 = a $50.44 saving a year).  A can of coffee at the grocery store $8.67, makes about 40-50 8oz coffee servings – that is a saving of about $40.00 a month. Food: Lets say you eat breakfast at home.  You might buy lunch at work, or lunch in general.  The average cost for a sandwich and a drink is about $6.50 (if you don’t indulge in lunch at a restaurant) - $32.50 a work week - $1,625 a year. MOVIES: 2 Adults, 2 Kids = $35.00 (3D is a $3.50 surcharge similar to the phone companies who charge extra for existing services), small popcorn, small soda (2 each) = $25.00 for a total of $60.00. Cost of buying a DVD $9.99, renting between $2.99 and $5.50.  Lets say you see a movie once a month just to get out - $720.00 a year.

Quit smoking progress Day 7.1:  Still not getting the hang of it :{