American Express Savings

Recently American Express has been sending me flyers and emails regarding opening a 1.30% interest rate High Yield savings account with them. Ok, so first I thought...right, I don't want that. But, after looking at my last bank statement received and seeing that I am only getting .25% on my savings of almost $6,000 I figured it would be worth it.

I took the bait and just opened the account a few minutes ago which is managed online similar to ING accounts.

After using a savings calculator online to see what the difference would be on one year of having $5,000 in an account, I see it isn't much, but every little bit helps right?

Looks like this for one year:

$5,000.00 @ .25% = $9 interest

$5,000.00 @ 1.3% = $46 interest

Therefore, I would be getting an extra $35 in "free" money. Worth it in my book, and actually it will be a bit more because I will make regular deposits into this account.

Crazy as it sounds, I feel sad to have to tell my Branch Manager that I will be pulling the funds out of my account and why, the next time I go to put money in there to transfer it to Amex. No, I don't HAVE to tell her, I WANT to.

Really hoping savings interest rates get better, in the meantime this will help a bit.

Children and Savings

When I was a young girl, I liked selling things and making money. I would be out with a typical lemonade stand, pushing a cart around and selling candy to the neighborhood kids, selling different beverages which parents thought was coffee (it wasn't)...anything to make money. The problem is...I never saved it. Most likely it was spent on penny candy from the corner market! Oh, which by the way, I always counted the pieces I received...if I paid 50 cents, I wanted 50 pieces, or whatever it came to before tax.

Seems like I always knew I wanted to make and save money but didn't have any teachers or role models to follow or look up to in this regard. However, when I was about 10 years old, I asked my mom to take me to the bank because I wanted my own savings account. She took me, and I got one. Unfortunately I never had more than about $10 in it and eventually closed it.

If I had proper direction, I could have had a LOT more saved! My mom is not a saver, and my dad isn't either although I thought he was. I wanted it, I craved it, but didn't know how.

When I was 15 years old I went out and looked for a job because of wanting to buy my own things, and got hired making $4.25/hr. Unfortunately I didn't save money then either, but I sure did have the coolest clothes I could afford!

The savings only started a few years ago and I emptied it when I did the Dave Ramsey thing and got out of debt. It was around $1k. So, now, I start again.

All this brings me to the reason I even posted this. Today I visited a branch of a bank I have an account with, not my primary credit union. While there I heard a lady behind me ask who to talk to about setting up a savings account. The teller told her where to go, and shortly after I heard someone ask how old he was, and a boy's voice said, "Twelve."

This made me remember wanting to set up an account when I was so young. It made me smile and feel really good that this boy was getting a savings account at a young age. My only hope is that someone teaches him how to save and it benefits him in the future.

Hindsight is 20/20

Savings Interest Rates

You know what really irks me? Current interest rates on savings accounts. My basic savings account is only at .25%! Yes, a quarter percent! I have another "special"savings account which is fluid, but if I take money out then I don't get interest on the remaining amount for a quarter, or something like that. Anyhow, that savings account gives me 1%, and with the small amount of just over $400 in that account, I earned a whopping 89 cents this quarter.

On the other hand, my basic savings account has close to $6,000 and this quarter I earned $2.76 at a .25% interest rate.

This "special" savings account requires a set amount to be transferred into it on a monthly basis from my checking account. Besides this, I am only allowed to change this set amount and add money to it once a year. When it was "open" this year, I kept the transfer amount at a measly $30 per month because it was so close to my debt free date and I didn't want to take any chances.

I'm thinking that at my next opportunity I will transfer a chunk of my savings to this "special" account and increase the transfer amount to at least $100 per month.

Oh, how I wish the rates would go up. Yes, I know I need to put money in other places, like maybe a CD or Money Market account, but feel like I have lots to learn before I can do this.

Work, work, work

Just got home from work a short while ago, settled in and got a glass of water. I proceeded to go in my room, turn the computer on...and back to work I go. My eBay is waiting for me as well as another side project to make money. Maybe I should do laundry too.

Sometimes I feel like I work too much, but really maybe it's just that I have so much going on. I'm not one to go home, turn on the TV and relax for the rest of the night. I like to keep busy, but times like this make me feel like I do too much.

My ex-BF told would remind me occasionally that I'm a human being, not a human doing, therefore, I should relax and just be...not do. He always joked about how busy I always was. We still talk every so often and he still makes comments about how busy I always am.

I hope and pray that one day it will pay off...

Symphony

A few days ago I bought my mom a last minute ticket to go to the symphony. I don't know when the last time she went was, but it sure felt nice that I could do this for her.

I'm not much for doing those types of things (symphonies), but they are nice occasionally. The guy I'm seeing suggested that I go with her, and surprise her. I agreed to this and while she was getting ready to go, I was too.

When I asked her how I looked, she said, "Beautiful, where you going?" :) I said, "The symphony." Her response was, "Eeeeeeeee! Seriously?!" ...pause... "Eeeeeeee!" She was so happy that I would be accompanying her. Made me feel good.

It was a really nice show and we had a good time. Afterwards we went for a snack and then home.

Things like this, make the sacrifice of getting out of debt, totally worth it.

Not Much

Yesterday I dropped my new phone and I didn't have a phone protector on it, reason being, they add so much bulk and the rubber ones get stuck in my hair. :( Yeah, I know, sob story, but it's the truth. It got lightly damaged and I had to use some E6000 glue on a small piece where they had super sticky double sided tape. I think it will hold up now. It's ok.

On another note, today I went to lunch at an Asian place and my fortune cookie said:

"You should do well at making money and holding on to it."

Thought that was great :)

Cell phone died

My cell phone quit working a couple nights ago so I had to go to Verizon yesterday to see if they could tell what was going on. They couldn't, but since I pay for insurance and there were no visible signs of damage, they gave me a new one at no charge! I'm sure it's a refurbished one, but at this point I'm happy, it works :)

I had been wanting to get a new one because the other one was constantly acting up. Now I have it, and am quite pleased. Lately it seems the customer service has not been the greatest at VZW, but yesterday they were awesome :). Keep it up guys!

Just Waiting

It's Sunday, and I've been sick since Wednesday. Haven't been able to do much because of being weak and needing sleep and rest. My head hurts quite a bit, I'm still coughing, and my sinus keep acting up.

However, it feels like I'm getting better since I've been able to get up and do laundry without getting exhausted. :) I can't wait to be back to my normal self, a busy body.

Well, at least I've watched some movies which I never seem to make time for. :) I will watch some more today.

I like New York...

New York City was a lot of fun and I really like that place! Went to a Mets game (free 12th row tickets behind home plate courtesy of some chick!), took a free ferry to Staten Island, pasta and wine in Little Italy and a quick trip to Central Park on a rainy day.

Didn't buy anything to bring back home, I don't believe it! All I wanted was a sweatshirt but couldn't find exactly what I wanted. Seems like I spent lots of money on the taxis, the subway, the LIRR and Amtrak to NJ.

My friend's luggage didn't arrive and Delta did not deliver it until 60 hours after we arrived which was the day we were leaving. Actually, it took them about 36 hours to locate it...and it was a direct flight!

Poor guy had to go shopping and use some of my toiletries, I felt really bad for him but he was a great sport about it. He did have to do some shopping since all of his clothes were in the checked luggage.

We'll see what Delta has to say about this, an email has already been sent.

On another note, my poor friend was sick the whole time we were there. Our stomach flus were gone, but he had sinus issues and upon our return, I got sick! So now, I've been sick three time within a month...lame. I'm in bed now and just waiting to get better.

While we were gone, I left my car and $700 with a mechanic to fix the timing belt, water pump, bushings on both sides, oil change, brake fluid flush and fill and transmission fluid flush and fill. Since my car registration with safety and emissions ($160) are due this month and I just spent $700 on the car, plus $150 for two new tires and an alignment, I think I'll be keeping this car for at least another year to make it worth what I put into it. It drives a lot better too, since the bushings were changed. I definitely notice that!

I was just happy that this crazy car bill didn't set me back since I had money in the bank to cover it. It was a great feeling when I was able to go to the bank and withdraw $700 cash to pay for the car repairs rather than using a credit card!

Lovin this feeling and hope it stays forever!!!

NYC!

So much has happened since my last post that I don't know where to begin, so I will just jump in to the present time.

Tomorrow I leave for a short trip to the Big Apple, New York City! This is my first time going there and I'm excited! Relatives of my guy friend are going and told us we could join...and the room would be paid for, but we are going to stay with his cousin in Manhattan.

They've all been there before so know it a bit, I'm trusting them for a great time! They are fun people.

Best part is that I didn't charge my plane ticket and don't need the money for missed work while I'm gone since I'm debt free!

On the downside...I caught a stomach bug and am in bed right now since last evening. My guy friend got it too and we just hope we're better by tomorrow. As of this morning my stomach didn't hurt (since it was empty after last night), but I have terrible body aches and am weak. Wasn't able to work today either.

Hoping all goes well.