Lessons Learned: Traveling After Graduation

I believe everyone should travel after graduation if they have the time and money. I was lucky. I managed to negotiate with my job to have me start working a month and a half after graduation. This gave me time to travel back to Thailand to visit my extended family there. I had saved a bit of money, enough for airfare and that's all I needed since my family took care of the rest.

It was nice to be in Thailand. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or I have a very giving extended family. My dad gave me money, his wife (my stepmom) gave me money, and my "uncle" gave me some, too. My aunt took me sightseeing and my other aunt had arranged for us to stay with her friend in Hua Hin (their house was amazing and my boyfriend aspires to have an even better one than the place we stayed). Below are pictures from Hua Hin. It helps to stay with friends and relatives when traveling to cut down on hotel costs.

Little Mom vs. Big Credit Card Company

Being a dutiful daughter I am helping my mom pay off her credit card debt. For the past 11 months I've been sending my mom $300 per month. What I should have done was asked to see the credit card statement. Had I taken a peek early on I could have help reduce some of our payments, our headaches, and most of our heartaches.

Decision: High-Yield Savings Account

It's been a while since I last post. I had a few good topics to write about, but finding the time to write them is getting a bit harder. I might have mentioned that I'm moving to a new apartment at the end of the month. That's one step in the right financial direction - I'll be saving $237/month in rent. Yay! I've been packing some of my possessions and trying to assess what I should throw out. It's a very hard decision to make. Seems like I'm having a hard time making decisions this month.

I want to open up a high-yield savings account. After doing a lot of research over the past two weeks, I decide go with the Personal Savings from American Express High-Yield Savings account. I like that they have no minimum balance requirements and no fees. They're interest rate is currently 1.30% which is good, but not great. I think it's more for the piece of mind. It's definitely a high rate than the 0.1% I was getting at Bank of America (BoA) for my regular savings account. I hope this will be a good online banking experience without any hassles. I might put some of my emergency fund money in a CD through American Express in a year. We'll have to see about that.

Now that I made that decision I feel better. Okay, I'm off to make dinner.

Big Yarn Stash, Little Closet Space

Yes, you read this right and didn't stumble upon my other blog. My hobbies can be stressful. To be more specific it's the supplies I acquire for my hobbies that really stress me out. I started crocheting about a year and a half ago in 2008. Two things I needed were crochet hooks and yarn. Lots of yarn.

Every week A.C. Moore, Joann's Fabric, and Michael's Arts & Crafts would send out e-mails about their latest coupons and sales. I'm a sucker for them. Yes! I can save 40% on one item! 25% on my entire regular purchase! I would go into the stores and buy $30-40 worth of yarn with the good intentions of making this or that project. The end result? I have over 200 balls of yarn and about $600-$800 in yarn debt. Not only did I spend a lot of money buying yarn but my closet is overtaken by them, too.

One Year After Graduation: Advice for College Students

Today is May 1, 2010. It's been exactly one year since I graduated from college. Where did the time go? It's been an interesting year to say the least. Going to college was great and all, but the one thing I wish they taught me about was personal finance. There should be a mandatory freshman year course on personal finance. If not during freshman year of college then during senior year of high school. So many college student graduate with huge credit card debts and even bigger student loans.

Lessons Learned: The First Paycheck

Ah, the first paycheck. That paycheck was my green flag to spending. That paycheck supported my materialism. That paycheck never had a chance to make it to my savings account. Why? Because I made the classical mistake of spending it all before I paid myself.

Growing Up with Mommy

My childhood. Growing up almost poor but not knowing it...

When I was 4-years-old my mom remarried and moved my family (I have a younger sister) to the United States. My stepdad was an engineer working in Manhattan. We lived in a one bedroom apartment in Jackson Heights, NY. It small, but cozy in it's familiar way. It was a normal childhood really. Nothing changed until the day my stepdad had a heart attack. That's where this story really starts.