777.68

Is how much the DOW dropped today.

Pardon me if what keeps going through my head are a few rotating phrases: "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!" "seven hundred billion WHAT?!?" "George Bush said it was going to cost less than that ungodly sum? well sign me up!"

I'm just glad I don't have much money in my 401(k) at this point. I'm in a mutual fund anyway, so I probably didn't lose much overall. But still.

I am also glad that I bank with USBank, one of whose directors in charge of deciding whether they should get involved in sub-prime mortgages said, "I don't understand these" and so it's currently the most stable bank in America.

I'm also glad I don't work for a company whose sole function is financial services. The stock of my company dropped only $2 today, which is fine by me.

But yeah. Henny Penny.

On Budgeting

One of the things I always enjoyed about reading classic non-fiction literature is the chapter headings. Rather than trying to find something funny to say, such as "Flaming Toasters," a chapter in a Dave Barry book I read about toaster pastries getting jammed into a toaster, lighting on fire, and burning a house down (the name brand toaster pastries do indeed burn at heights of a foot or more, more than enough to light your cupboards above the toaster on fire, which Dave Barry apparently tested himself, in the true spirit of scientific discovery), the chapter heading would have read something like, "On Dumb Things That Can Burn Down Your House," or perhaps just, "On Stupidity."

Today, I wrote up my first budget in awhile. Not having money makes budgeting rather a waste of time. There isn't anything coming in at all, so how is one to organize one's expenditures? Well, now there is money coming in, although deplorably little in view of my spending habits to date. I have a lot of traveling expenses to pay back to my cards. Yes, plural. Although, I did lose one of my cards - I know it wasn't stolen because nothing's been charged, but I was actually dumb enough to simply lose it. Anyway, the budget - my apartment in Seattle will eat up a significant chunk of my monthly income, approximately 35% of my monthly income after taxes. I feel that that is an acceptable percentage, if not ideal. Until April, I'm still in hardship deferral on my giant student loans, but as soon as I start paying them back, they will eat up approximately 23% of my monthly salary. So, until April, I budgeted 23% of my income for "me" stuff - I'm getting my brother a camera, I'm getting myself a new lens, and I'm buying some sort of loveseat/couch and some art prints for my new apartment.

I have found that the primary problem with a budget is not not having one - I've never really had a budget I could stick to - the problem is when your income is spotty. When it's nonexistent, you realize that, and plan accordingly. When it's spotty, for whatever reason, then you get into the "I know I have $25 remaining, so I can safely buy $20 worth of groceries" mindset. Then you realize that the National Park Service has finally deposited the $5 parking check you wrote four months before, and you actually have $19 in your account, and your $20 worth of groceries just pushed it over the edge into "fee-land." "Fee-land" is a place where the bank, correctly deducing that you have no money, has decided to charge you for the privilege of pointing out that you have no money. Then, once they charge you to the point that you not only have no money, but you won't for quite a while, they charge you again for having the temerity to have no money in your account. It's a happy place, and it ought to be entirely illegal. I would vote for someone who promised to adjust banking laws regarding overdraft charges. It should be a percentage of what you overdrafted (what Bank Austria did on my account in Vienna), or a flat fee, whatever is LESS.

But I digress. Now that I have a steady income, and I have bothered to work out some sort of budget, I'm looking forward to not receiving any more of those nasty little postcards in the mail that informed me - and not particularly politely, either - that I had, once again, entered "fee-land."

'Budget' vs. 'budget'

I am going to Melaka this weekend, and I have just booked my hostel for the night I'll be there. It cost me $5.39. No joke. It looks clean, has good reviews, and is on the studentuniverse site, so I figure it's probably a perfectly acceptable hostel. I've never had any problems with studentuniverse endorsed hostels, and in fact, when I had the opportunity to compare notes with other travelers about their hostels, the studentuniverse hostels usually were better for the same price.

When I was planning my trip, the boys' father suggested a nice hotel in Melaka that he called a 'Budget hotel.' He said, "I think you can get a room for under $50/night. Really quite reasonable." $50?? $50 is a lot of money! I will pay $50 for a good pair of shoes, or perhaps for a truly well-made piece of clothing. I might even pay $50 for a ticket (I would have shelled out $50 for Ian McKellan playing King Lear here in Singapore, but unfortunately, it was already sold out except for the $200 seats, which made it a moot point since I can't afford $200 seats at all). But, I will, under no circumstances, pay $50 for a hotel outside of the United States. Hostels are gross in the US, so I will spring for a hotel if I have to at home. But outside of the US, most backpacking hostels are perfectly acceptable, clean alternatives. And it's just sleep - my bed would probably be just as lumpy in the other hotel. I can sleep anywhere anyway.

Tomorrow, we're going back to Sentosa. We were thinking of doing the 'swimming with the dolphins' package. Then I looked on their website and realized that for 3 people, there is a Trio Package of S$425 to swim with the pink dolphins here. This is a savings of S$25 from paying for three people individually at S$150/per person. So, we're going to watch a movie instead.

Tonight at dinner, their father was talking about a new electronic Chinese language dictionary that he bought. He said the salesmen were trying to sell him the cheaper model, but he opted for the more expensive one. He said, "It was only S$100 more." I don't think I've ever said that in my life. What gets me about that sort of cavalier approach to money is that he's such a tightwad about anything the boys and I use, but it's okay to splurge when it's for his own use (seriously, he won't buy me the granola cereal I like because he thinks I should eat the cereal he buys for the boys. I hate shredded wheat).

Both of these brought me back to the question of budget, and what exactly it means in an individual context. To me, $5 is a fairly significant amount of money, but not enough to freak out over, and I've never been much for coupon cuttings. But starting at $10, I start getting antsy, and something has to be really worth it for me to shell out more than that. I will pay for good chocolate. The imported organic European dark chocolate at the grocery store costs S$6. I pay for that - Asian chocolate has the consistency of melting rubber.

But I hope that, no matter what job I get, or what happens to me in the future, I always remember how I used to laugh at a $50/night hotel being in any way 'budget.'

Sadly, I do have to grub for money

Today was a happy day because I was paid. This means my rent is paid, I can buy yummy food (bratwurst mit senf und kraut, in this case the Austrian skinny style bratwurst with spicy mustard and non vinegary sauerkraut) for lunch tomorrow - since I don't plan on waking up earlier than lunch - and some bio-yogurt, cheese and roggenbrot. It is good to have money.

I find my thoughts increasingly occupied with my concerns about my finances. This is bad obviously for a number of reasons. First, I think it's exacerbating the latent ulcer that I'm slowly nursing into mondo proportions. Second, I would much rather be thinking about something else. Third, I can't change it anyway, so why am I stressing? Probably because stressing is something I do very well.

I will be pleased to be gainfully employed in no less than two years. I will get my teaching certificate as fast as possible. I believe I can finish all the classes in one year, do my student teaching in the fall, and be teaching somewhere within two years. Who knows where, and I have to say I don't particularly care where (okay, Saudi Arabia is right out); as long as I'm making a living wage and can pay $1000/month on my student loans, I'll be happy with my job.

It will be nice to re-enter the safe haven of university life for a short time, although I'm REALLY not excited about taking courses like ANTH 107 (Intro to Anthropology) and POSC 201 (American Politics) with a bunch of undergrads. Shoot me now.