Penny For My Thoughts

I don’t get Kohl’s

hedy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:39:09 +0000

I’m sorry, I don’t. I like it for socks and jewelry, but otherwise-bah. I returned a necklace* I’d received for the holidays there, and had a credit of around $18. I started off looking at clothes, but there was nothing that fit me that didn’t appear cheaply made, or that I liked. I then paused at the Simply Vera by Vera Wang area, but found that a sweater I liked was $54! And this was during a “two-day sale!” That’s another reason I don’t like Kohl’s-the sweater you’re looking at is one price tomorrow, another one next week-and it always seems to be “on sale.” I’m also not a huge fan of the number of house brands Kohl’s has-if I’m looking for a cheap Nine west purse, I’d rather get last season’s Nine West purse at Marshall’s than a “Nine and Co” purse at Kohls. It’s not even that I’m a snob-most of my clothes is bought off price, but Kohl’s just doesn’t have that many good deals.

Are you a Kohls fan? Is there something I’m missing?

*In Kohl’s defense, it was one of their house brands, so it was easy for them to confirm that they had sold the necklace although I had no receipt.

Dividends are fun…

hedy — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:42:25 +0000

Dividends hit my rollover IRA and Roth IRA’s at Fidelity on Monday. They were close to $150, which is no small amount. Wellheeled may not have been far off from the truth when she stated that they were a girl’s best friend.

In less responsible news, I remembered to renew my iPod’s warranty…40 days too late. Grr. However, the nice person I spoke with at Apple told me that if anything goes wrong, they could see what they can do. Apple’s customer service is one of the best in the business, in my book-I’ve had my other iPods fixed with no trouble.

Today I learned that a branch of a local chain restaurant closest to me is closing. It was kind of an upscale place, so I’m not surprised-sign of the times, as they say. But they e-mailed everyone on their list a free coupon for a dessert at their other locations, so I’ll live-LOL. I’d actually gotten an e-mail from Restaurant.com on Tuesday, saying that the certificate I had for that location was no longer being offered. I was able to exchange it for another Restaurant.com gift certificate.

If you have any thoughts on my 401(k) dilemma from yesterday, please feel free to weigh in.

As always, if you like what you’re reading, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed!

January 1, 2009 Networth

hedy — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:28:16 +0000

Due to my job changes, my Networth is not fabulous this month, but I’m going to report on it anyway:

Assets

ING-$ 9694.17
Roth IRA-$6563.51 (I had some money that was waiting for the rollover to finish)
Emigrant direct-$5311.22
SIP-$335.02
Rollover IRA-$2835.86

Total Assets $24,739.78

Debts

Student loan-$12,085.72
Car loan-2874.10

Total Debts $14, 959.82

Net worth-$9.779.96

Termination Travails V-New benefits update

hedy — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:20:51 +0000

Enrolled in my new benefits yesterdayy. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my new medical coverage includes an eye exam, so my concerns regarding vision coverage are moot.

I was, however,slightly disappointed to learn that I don’t qualify for the HCFSA until 90 days after my date of hire-I need to order contacts, and I had been hoping that I could put some money in there for that ( their plan year starts April 1).

My new 401K; however, has me in a dilemma. I need to fill out the paperwork for it. Problem is that they’ll match a percentage at their discretion. However, this is not linked to my deferral. As I’ve always belonged to the school of thought that I would contribute whay my company matched on, I’m a bit lost what to select as my deferral. My tax bracket is pretty low at the moment, so focusing on my Roth IRA had made sense, but I hate to give uo free money. Any thoughts?
Happy and a prosperous new year!

Zenni Optical-your source for Holiday Frames

hedy — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:00:31 +0000

One stocking stuffer which I am fond of getting for my mother’s Christmas stocking (and Easter basket, as well) are reading glasses, especially ones which are a little different or fancy. However, I have found that the price of non-prescription reading glasses that are cute are becoming pricier and pricier (I blame the aging population, myself). Given that non-prescription glasses are getting so pricey, I think that her next pair of Holiday frames may come from Zenni Optical. Their low prices are less than a lot of boutique reading glasses, plus they have the obvious bonus of having her real prescription, rather than just a generic strength, on them. I think that this frame, in the brown/silver option, really look like something she’d wear (plus they have sparkles just like the boutique kind) . Zenni optical’s prices are so reasonable, I could get her a couple of pairs-even get some with clip on sunglasses for when she reads in the sun, or tinted lenses. If I do end up ordering some for her Easter Basket (erm, I mean if the Easter Bunny brings them) I will be certain to report back.

“I thought there was supposed a recession economy”

hedy — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:53:30 +0000

Thus was the sentence utter by a shopper next to me at the local Coach outlet yesterday; which was quite crowded. Of course, the 50% sale plus the 10% off coupon handed out as you enter the store (which isn’t a localized thing, I got handed the same coupon at the Las Vegas outlet two weeks before) might have had something to do with it. More noteworthy-there was a queue to get into the Uggs and Burberry outlet. There was an actual queue rope at Uggs, and Burberry had signs on the door stating that the had reached their capacity, and another customer would have to enter before you could be let in.

Anecdotal to the above, I have had muhch better luck online than in stores-the brick and mortar Torrid stores near me did not have the boots I wanted, but Torrid.com did. I also have already taken advantage of the Victoria’s Secret semi-annual sale online.

If you’re looking for ways to save money on a night out, or looking for a cheaper night out for yourself or your family, see what local discount options are available. Here in the Boston area, we have Mix 98.5’s 50/50 deals. NECN has their Project Half Price, which I originally saw advertised on the JennyCam of TV Diner. I actually just made my first Project Half Price order on Friday. Despite being minorly irked at shipping costs, I will report back on how it works.

Saving $ on a Vegas vacation-reality

hedy — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:55:30 +0000

So I’ve been home from my trip to Vegas for a bit, so I thought I’d do a wrap up on what worked and what didn’t:

I used one of my Restaurant.com gift certificates, the one to the Ocean One Bistro at Miracle Mile Shops-it was quite inexpensive and good. I did not use my gift certificate to Ben and Jerry’s, but that’s the way the ice cream cone crumbles. I did not use my Rainforest Cafe/Landry’s, but I can use that elsewhere. I did, however, strike gold in my discovery of Tix4Dinner, an offshoot of Tix4Tonight. You buy a “ticket” for either a buffet or a restaurant, which gives you a discount. In our case, for $3 each we got 50%off our meals at Enoteca San Marzo, which ran in the mid-teens.

We signed up for multiple slot clubs. While some had mediocre rewards, some has good ones. Total rewards, for example, gave us two-for-one comedy act tickets, a hat/scarf/glove set, and beads. But the best sign up was for Planet Hollywood’s a-list club. You get $5 in FREE slot play, and another $15 if you play $40 (which includes your free slot play), and you can spin a slot once a day. I did this our first day and won FREE tickets to Stomp Out Loud. w00t!

Also, ALWAYS pick up those promational magazines they have lying around-I got 10% at an outlet store, and 10% off a lunch buffet. Our LasVegasAdvisor POV coupons were nice-we used the half off Mme Tussad’s, and at the Eiffel tower (although to be honest we got the same Eiffel tower coupon when we checked into Bally’s). I wouldn’t subscribe to LVA just for the POV, though-JMO.

Termination Travails IV-Piecemeal updates

hedy — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:46:53 +0000

I received my COBRA packet in the mail. I was able to enroll online in my medical coverage (I am still waiting on my benefits orientation, to see if I want to COBRA my vision coverage). Of course, I received my bill as I was leaving for Vegas (I couldn’t pay online, and I had to send a check…I’m irked to miss out on the credit card points. But the company has since cashed my check, so that’s good.
I sent in my distribution forms to my old employer for my 401k. I received my checks from my old employer in a timely manner, and forwarded them onto Fidelity. Fidelity has applied them, so that’s done.
I successfully set up direct deposit (this was my first time giving an employer my Electric Orange non-check voided check for direct deposit). I got my first paycheck today, but am not going to set up a new budget until I get my first one with all my weekly hours.

How very vintage!

hedy — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:56:26 +0000

In perusing the latest round of news about the economy going to heck in a handbasket, I’m struck by how vintage, or “old school” some of these money-making ideas are-they make eBay looks absolutely new fangled. I was reminded of pawn shops today when Good Morning America discussed the high-priced items* that are currently being hocked at the Beverly Hills Pawn Shop. I remember being surprised that pawn shops still exsisted in the era or eBay and prosper.com when I watched Maxxed Out last year. Perhaps more retro, Boston Gal reports that people are selling their hair , my first thought was “How very Jo March!” Indeed, Jane askes if there was enought for Marmee to get on the train to see Father. Of course, a Gift of the Magi reference would be more seasonal.

I’m going to Vegas on Friday (Oh my!)

hedy — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:33:48 +0000

Yes, I am off to Vegas on Friday, and thought I would do a quick pre-trip from a financial standpoint.

Perhaps the biggest thing, money-wise, is that we just switched our hotel on Sunday. We’re staying at a hotel which is signifigantly cheaper than the one we were staying at to begin with. While I had used SmarterVegas to look for codes before, I actually got said deal via an e-mail. I strongly recommend you sign up for e-mails from any Las Vegas hotel you want to stay at, I signed up with the Harrah’s group, the MGM/Mirage group, and Planet Hollywood.

I checked SmarterVegas for show codes as well, but there were no codes when we were going for the show we wanted to see. Oh well.

I did buy the Ben and Jerry’s coupon at Restaurant.com, as well as a gift certificate to the Ocean One Bar and Grill. It’s always such a gamble with Resturant.com gift certificates on vacation though-if you don’t use them, you lose. I also have a $25 Landry’s gift card from Mypoints, which I can use at the Rainforst Cafe at the MGM Grand, or the Golden Nugget.

I subscribe to the Las Vegas Advisor. I subscribed to it, frankly, because of name recognition-someone in a travel forum posted a link to their site and I remembered my dad subscribing to it when it was a little two-page deal in the late 90’s. It has a great list of the top ten values in Vegas every month. It also came with a coupon book-I’m curious to see how many of those coupons I actually use.

I got a decent deal on my plane tickets, but I bought them in May.