bookishbiker’s blog

I use PayPal, and it's a handy way to transfer money from my checking account to various online vendors. However I've also used it a few times to receive money from friends for group purchases, and I think it sucks that they charge a fee.

Enter Revolution Money Exchange, who say they will NOT charge fees. Better than that, they'll give you $25 to register (as SOON as you register, no hoops required (for a limited time only)). Further, if you use this link, you'll get me an added bonus as well. Let's try it!

The NY Times has a fascinating article/graphic that breaks down the average American's spending.They've got eight main categories (food & beverage, misc, recreation, education/communication, transportation, health care, apparel, and of course housing).

I'm sure they are using before-tax figures, but I always find it more interesting to calculate these things based on my  take-home (which means I'm not counting my taxes, retirement savings, and health care expenses), so I ran the numbers both ways. I'm geeky that way.

So how do I line up?

Category...         Average American...     My % of gross/% of net
Food & Beverage            15%                            8% / 13%
Recreation                      6%                             4% / 6%
Education/comm             6%                             1% / 2%
Transportation                 18%                            1% / 2%
Apparel                           4%                             3% / 5%
Housing                          42%                          20% / 33%

I didn't calculate: Misc or Health Care. Misc seems too vague. Health Care is not something I feel I can control, but I feel like I have a good deal in this regard courtesy of my employer.

Apparel is a very spotty category for me. I can spend nothing for several months, then a couple hundred dollars, and I haven't been tracking my spending long enough to have a good feel for this category. I did use my numbers for the first four months of this year, so that's probably a good rough number anyway.

I'm glad my housing expense is lower than the average. That seems really really high to me!

In the recreation category, I did include my hobby spending, which is bike maintenance, bike club & organized ride fees, and my knitting expenses. However that doesn't cover all my knitting expenses, as anything that I am buying to give away gets stuck under the Gift category (helping me in my knitting expense denial, I'm sure). I didn't include Gift spending in the above numbers because I'm not sure where that would fall.

One category I didn't see, though it's got to be in there somewhere, is travel. That's a big chunk of my income, 13% of my gross/ 21% of my net. And I still haven't bought my Christmas ticket! Note that this is 21% of my net income so far this year.. I expect my travel expenses will drop sharply as a percentage of my monthly spending, since I've paid for several trips that are happening later this year.  

The above numbers account for 61% of my net income. Adding in travel accounts for 83%. Where is the remaining 17% going? Well, off the top of my head (and with the help of my spending notebook):
gifts (2% of net)
school loan repayment (4% of net)
household/upkeep (decorating, laundry, shampoo, etc.) (4% of net)
charity & miscellaneous spending round it out at another 4% of net

... and a little bit is getting tucked into savings. That's my biggest gap right now. All told that adds up to 97% of my net income accounted for (i.e. spent!) each month.

In an ideal world I'd like to save 20% of net every month. So far it's not even close to happening!

Allow me to insert that I JUST finished paying off my car (whoo! go me!) so my transportation costs don't count a car payment.I WAS paying 8% of my net income, and I'm looking forward to doing something with that money that is more satisfying than paying off a loan.

I'm already pretty peeved at Delta for vanishing my old air miles account. Yeah, it had languished for a long time, but it makes me pissy anyway. Especially since I flew on them at Christmas and will be flying on them for my pending trip to NYC/RI/BOS/NYC.

But now! I just realized that they really screwed me. Okay, I got the ticket cheap, and it's a direct flight out.. but the flight back? has a FIVE HOUR LAYOVER in Cincinnati. It was only an hour layover when I got the ticket.

*sigh* guess it's time to get on the phone and see if there is anything they could possibly consider doing to improve that day. I briefly considered just tossing out that half of the ticket and buying another direct flight home, but the best price I found was $175. That's most of a whole ticket to Portland in December, so I really can't see doing that.

I hate you Delta.

At the end of May I'll be attending a college reunion: my fifteenth. Which, frankly, isn't possible. I'm sure there's been a mistake somewhere!

At any rate, I have extremely mixed feelings about this event. On the one hand, I'm single, childless, and still in an apartment: therefore a failure (before my Dear Readers leap loyally to my defense, I don't really believe this.. but I think you know what I mean). On the other hand, I've lived in three cities, packed up my life and jumped to a Scary New Thing not once but twice, traveled a bit, gotten my master's degree, pursued a successful career, met lots of interesting people, and experienced a lot of great things. Therefore, clearly, a success.

For the most part I'm really great with where I am in life. I feel good about where I am and who I'm becoming, and I am aware there are things I'd have different, if I ever found that magic wand, but all in all things are great.

I'm excited about the people who I'll get to see:

• J, with whom I shared an apartment for three years in Boston post-college. I recently spent a week having her here for a visit, after way too many years of brief Christmas visits.
  
• S, with whom I traveled up the West Coast in a rented car in 1995. He was the one who told me that Portland existed and was the perfect answer to my quest. He was so right! I got to spend another trip with him in 2005 when he came to visit and we drove/took the ferry to Victoria BC. I hadn't seen him in ten years, but it was as if no time had passed. I guess I should bookmark 2015 for another trip with him.
  
• J, who went on to law school, a great husband, and four (four!) daughters, three of whom are reportedly as hell-bent on destruction as she was, which is only fitting. She loathed Hillary Clinton back then, so every time they bring up Clinton, I think of J. It'll be great to see her and see how she's doing (and how she feels politically these days). I visited her in Chicago twice while she was in law school, but haven't seen her since her wedding in (I think) 1997.
  
• M, who still lives near Boston and claims that he has become quite fat. I don't know what to expect on this one! He was sooo skinny in college.. perhaps life IS fair and he will be pudgy now.
  
• M, who is married now and participates in something like the organ transplant recipient Olympics. They're adopting twins soon.. which is a crazy thought.
  
• M (yes, another one!) who apparently has 3 kids. I don't know anything else... I seem to think when I worked in software I actually went to her company in the Boston area, and we met up.. but that is so vague a memory I can't pin anything else on it.
  
• D & T who met at our school and have two sons.. who are probably, um, 8 and 9? 9 and 10? I missed their wedding as it was in 1996 or 1997 and just didn't fit into my schedule, but I regretted missing it, and I think it's the only friend's wedding I've missed (when invited, of course... I'm not a wedding crasher!)

• D, who was last seen on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? She called Regis "dude" and lost pretty quickly.
  
• K, who was the editor of the paper; I was the copy editor. He was a cool guy and hooked me up with my first real post-college job.
  

It's still a full month away, so I'm rather premature on this. But oh, the agony of never fully growing up, huh?

Last night I went to see a digitally broadcast version of Puccini's Madam Butterfly at the lovely Castro Theater (they spell it Theatre, but that convention really bugs me... is that wrong of me?).

It was a pretty full house, as well it should be - this was an airing of the version performed in December at the SF Opera. Castro Theater tickets cost $20; the nosebleed seats at the SFO cost $25 and leaped sharply upward from there. I really enjoyed the production, even though I went in knowing nothing about it.

I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the guy next to me. The minute the lights dropped and the music swelled, he started breathing funny. First I thought: That's odd. Maybe he has a cold. Then: Maybe he's hyperventilating? Having a panic attack? Finally I realized he was ... crying. Weeping, even. For basically the whole thing. It was really beyond bizarre.

First I worried that he was going through a bad breakup, and the themes of love and passion were hurting him. Then, I thought, well, he's gay, so maybe the themes of familial rejection are breaking his heart. Then, I wondered if he'd had an affair with one of the principals and painful memories were flooding him.

Nope, turns out he just really really loves opera in general, and Madam Butterfly specifically. He told his friend he always weeps at the show, and I asked if he saw it at the opera in December. He had, and I reflected that I'd be pretty pissed if I paid $100+ and this guy was audibly crying the whole time.

But since I'd only paid $20, I thought it was charming bordering on hilarious. My friend poked me once when he started up again and I almost burst out laughing. On the other hand, I think it's really cool that he finds the experience of attending opera so incredibly moving, and that he had no real problem with the fact that he was a basket case in such a relatively public arena. Rock on, weeping guy!

whew, back from my trip to Key West. It already feels like a MILLION years ago.. even though it was less than a week. I flew into Orlando on Thursday, and drove to KW with my sister & brother on Friday... it's a loooong trip but we made it in time for the sunset:

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The sunset event is carnival-like, with lots of street shows, booths selling random stuff, and people milling around with Frosty Beverage in hand. The weirdest show was.. this guy.. so odd.. he did a trained cat show, complete with flaming hoop and tightrope:

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Apparently he's been doing this for 20+ years. Certainly his picture on his web page shows him looking MUCH younger than he is now.

Saturday we hung out, visited a cool old cemetery

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which has a famously amusing plaque:

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We ate some delicious Cuban food, and then hit a museum with a VERY funky art show going on. The artist recreates famous artwork in three dimensions... sometimes three very LARGE dimensions:

The rest of the day included birthday presents for my sister and hitting a few bars... including one that doesn't require clothing. It was awkward... a lovely rooftop bar, a bunch of people dressed, a few people naked, and no one really knowing where to stand or how to look. We didn't stick around too long, but it was a very novel experience.

Sunday included yummy food at a tropically-decorated restaurant. If I lived somewhere like Key West, I'd love to have my home decorated this way:

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But all in all the high point of the trip was hanging with my sibs:

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... and enjoying the gorgeous flowers.

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I just bought more yarn. And I'm about to go out of town for a few days (Key West recommendations, anyone?). And I'm traveling to two cities in May/June (seeking recs for NYC/Boston...). And though my car is paid off as of a few days from now, AND my raise will hit soon, I'm already seeing my spending creep back up beyond the nice healthy place it was for several months.

But, you know, it's hard to not just spend spend spend. Plus it's not that much fun to be smart with my money! So, my goal for April is to spend LESS than I bring in (this should be easy, folks, but I blew it in Feb & March). In May I'll actually stash some money a little out of the reach of my oh-so-profligate hands.

I really want to buy a new bike seat but I think I'm going to have to actually save up for it, and then get it. I've got a couple of months before I really HAVE to have it (want to have it a few months before my weeklong bike ride).

In the meantime: here's me with my tiara helmet! I'm tempted to leave the tiara on... but not really. Only a little.

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For the first time ever, I'm not going to bring a ton of books on my trip. I've got three knitting projects and an ipod to keep me occupied. And, back to the top of this post.. I now have enough purchased yarn for two sweaters, a market bag, and three gift/swap projects, plus some bonus yarn. True, some of those projects will require that I purchase needles, but I *think* I'm on the downhill side from my yarn spending. For now.

Look what I did yesterday! (well... try to look - it's a bit blurry)

Photo_040508_001

I rolled over four THOUSAND miles on my bike! That represents a hell of a lot of sweat and discomfort, but also SO much that is rewarding: fresh air, sunshine, friendship, and meeting challenges. Go me!!!!

The breakdown of those miles is roughly thus:
270 miles so far this year, 88 miles in 2007 (so shameful), about 300 miles in 2006 (the majority of those ridden in the spring before I moved), and the remaining 3342 were pretty evenly split between 2005 and 2004 (I got the bike in March of that year). I've ridden that bike on two Cycle Oregons and a host of informal rides.

Yesterday I participated in a women-only bike ride, capped at 2,000 riders, called the Cinderella ride. Women wore tutus, boas, dresses, and all manner of sparkles. I had a tiara on my helmet!

... when you get a shot of anesthetic at the dentist, does your heart pound? Mine does. And it's not a needle phobia, though it could be my body wondering why the HELL I'm holding still for this abuse. Seriously though, I wonder if they stick some adrenaline in the shot to get the stuff circulating faster.

So anyway, I had a root canal today. Nope, not fun. Yeah, it's feeling achy. Actually, you can make that:
Yeah, I've got stabbing pain in the jaw area. Owie. Guess I fell behind on the advil.

Yeah I've been quiet lately - super busy! I had five houseguests in my one bedroom apartment recently, and lived to tell the tale. I may do another post with pictures and everything at some point, but suffice to say: I live! and ouch.

I thought this was a trick at first, but it's not. I'm impressed by the cleverness, and sobered by the message.

See for yourself!