Finding Freedom

I am finding that many of the local newspapers here in Minnesota have coupons for some of the things that I was planning on doing anyway. So, it would seem, then, that even on vacation it is prudent to check the local papers for ways to save money.

After all, if you can save enough from not spending a couple dollars here and there, perhaps you will be able to do an entirely new activity that you may not have had money for before. Why spend it if you don’t have to, right?

Even on vacation, there are opportunities to save money.

I am staying, as a guest, with my girlfriend and her family in Minnesota (AKA The Land of 10,000 Mosquitoes). Her parents purchased into a timeshare, and so they can trade their vacation time for other resorts through the same chain.

Now, even at a resort, all things are not free. A round of golf is apparently in the neighborhood of a hundred bucks a person, and a four hour fishing trip with use of their lines and hooks is about forty-five bucks. This came as news to me.

However, there are certain activities that you can do for free, or at least for a very minimal cost. For example, I have gone out with people and played tennis for a couple of hours for free. This has provided some very low cost entertainment as well as some exercise to boot, and when you are hefty like yours truly, any exercise is a good thing.

I understand that swimming and spending time in the hot tub are also gratis.

In any case, I say, look for a couple of more expensive activities and save your money for them, as opposed to getting nickel and dimed (bikes are twenty bucks a day to rent!) out of the vacation money that you have worked hard to save.

I know for myself that one of my big expenses is going to be salve for all of the bites that I have been getting, but that’s another story.

I received my new credit card with the new lower APR than Chase has, and I called them up and transferred the balance right away. This means that I could, possibly, have money for forty more burritos in the coming year.

You see, in college, and largely because I am a glutton, I oftentimes measured my net worth in how many burritos I could afford. There are several delicous taco shops around here that provide exquisite California burritos for about three bucks a piece (with tax).

So, with the roughly hundred and twenty bucks that I will not be paying in interest, I can purchase forty burritos. Or, I guess, I could save it, or pay down other balances or something… .

I also received my new health insurance card in the mail from Kaiser Permanente, which I guess means that I can now get sick whenever I want to, so that will be good.

And finally, I don’t know how much I will be able to post over the next several days as I am going on a trip to Minnesota, and as we all know, Minnesota does not have internet access. In fact, I think that it’s illegal there. However, should I find some back room internet parlor, I will be sure to check in.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Something that I recently discovered is that I can choose to split up my paycheck into three different accounts with the use of my direct deposit program through my work. This will be quite beneficial to me when I get my savings account opened online, because if I don’t see the money in my checking account, odds are that I will not spend it.

What can I say? Some of us need to be tricked into saving money.

Now then, the real trick will be to “forget” that I have this other account. Anyone know how I can pick up selective amnesia?

Not that I want to appear to be cheap or stingy for my love, but I was just wondering if anybody had any money-saving tips for buying an engagement ring.

As it is, it’s going to be a huge amount of money to invest.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s probably a bad idea to put in on a credit card…

Can anybody provide any info about this? Are there good ways for going about shopping for a ring versus bad ones?

The luncheon was uneventful, although the CEO spent a lot of time talking about natural gas, which is what I work with, and he had many good insights about the natural gas business.

It was good for me to be able to spend some time with someone who obviously loves this business, as I am feeling kind of burnt out on it, no pun intended.

And, as far as questions, I didn’t even get to ask one. So, all that apprehension was for nothing.

Oh well.

Today, I get to have lunch with the CEO of our company (well, me and all of the other new hires from quarter one). This is kind of a big deal because we are a fairly large and successful company. We are in the Fortune 200.

In any case, they told us to come with a question, and while I know that I don’t have too much of a readership yet, I was wondering if anybody had any ideas about what I should ask him.

I know that this will be a difficult task for anyone stumbling across this, especially because I don’t feel like I can give away too much more about where I work. But if anybody has any ideas, I would be glad to hear them.

Hmm…Maybe I’ll ask him if he’ll give me a loan to pay off my credit cards. Yes, and maybe then he will ask me to leave…

Out of everybody in my family, I think that I respect my grandfather’s approach to money the most, and this is the fundamental reason why: the man hates to purchase anything with credit. If he does put anything on credit, he is sure to pay it off before the end of the month so that he doesn’t get zinged with an APR.

He is a small business owner, and his business does pretty well. Because of his relative success and keen financial savvy, the only large purchase that I ever remember him saying that he had to get credit for was the house that he and grandma currently live in. They have been there for thirty years, probably, and the value of that house has more that quintupled. Other than that, he pays for whatever vehicle he is buying with cash.

Now that’s freedom.

As I sit here writing this, I find myself remiss for not remembering his example earlier on in my current struggle. Namely, I guess, before it became a struggle would have been a good time to remember it.

Ah well, I guess we live and we learn, and some of us insist on learning the hard way.

I am currently gathering information on a couple different savings accounts. I would like to be able to put away a thousand dollars into one of these accounts so that I could have the money readily available for emergencies if necessary. Plus, these accounts are currently paying higher interest rates than any bank location in town.

I am considering both ING Direct and Capital One.

ING Direct offers a 4.15% interest rate with no minimum amount necessary and no finance charges, while Capital One offers a high yield money market account at 4.55% that has no finance charges with only a $1 minimum.

I will have to do some more investigating before deciding on anything, but I know that I like a higher interest rate.

I don’t know why, but the new credit card with the lower APR just can’t seem to get here quick enough. I find myself daydreaming about not having so much money on a card that is charging me up the ying-yang (which is the technical term, I believe).

What’s funny is that I never used to worry about money. Unfortunately, now I find myself worrying about it every day. I am looking forward to the point in time when I can just sit back and relax knowing that I don’t owe the credit card companies a dime.

That will be a sweet day, but in the mean time, as Richard Dreyfus’s character in “What about Bob?” says, I just need to take “baby steps.”