SmartyPants's Personal Finance Blog

A happy new year to you all, albeit a little late.

Am I really done with all of my finals?
Pinch me, coz I think I am dreaming. What am I going to do with all this free time?? It's snowing really hard here today. I am sitting in watching dvds borrowed from the library.

No? Okay then. Off to hit my books. Wednesday night I will be a free person! What will I ever do with all that free time? Meanwhile, I still need to work on my project. I haven't heard from my teammates. I mean, hello, it's due on Wednesday! I am done with one final. I did pretty well. Which brings me to - I was studying at the uni library the other day, and am I crazy or students have gone all disrespectful these days? They were eating, talking loudly, taking up laptop spaces for playing video games. I think this one group was having a "around the library desk" party. Granted it's the finals week - still. People are trying to study! I could hear them over my headphones. Way back when, 10 years or so ago when I was an undergrad, I don't remember being this disrespectful and inconsiderate!

I spend mine drinking coffee and watching "Meet The Press" and "The Wall Street Journal Report". After which I will be studying for my finals. Yuck! I have left my place to such negligence due to time crunch and stress level that I can't remember the last time I cleaned it. I HAVE done some (very) light cleaning just so that it doesn't turn into a pig sty. However it needs a thorough "Fall cleaning"- cleaning out all the closets, donating everything I don't need to cut clutter and to receive tax benefits next year and all and all a total organization. I also need to go for eye and dentist appointment before the end of the year etc. Oh, and start working out! Too many things to do and too little time!

This week was not so great in terms of spending money. I am not such a fan of cold cuts, but it's easy so I eat it. However, when I was making my lunch a few days back, I noticed the low sodium ham I had bought had some kind of painty/waxy looking small spots on it - the same color as the meat - maybe a little darker. I don't really eat meat that much, and I know cold cuts are processed. But I don't really know what it could have been. It could be part of the meat itself. But I am picky, so I chucked the whole lot out. Didn't even feed it to my dog. So my sandwich consisted of cheese and lettuce. Hence I had to go out and buy some soup to balance it out. The next day I didn't even bother bringing lunch. I just got some Indian take out. I love spicy food, and I had a perfect excuse to buy it.
Yesterday, I was so preoccupied, I got on the wrong train while I was coming home. It was not such a big deal, only meant I had to walk a few minutes extra and walk by Starbucks. Hence I treated myself to their coffee and I don't even like their coffee. I need to pull myself out of this rut. However I won't be so hard on myself since next weeks is finals and I am stressed. I can't wait for this semester to be over!!!!!!!!!!! One more week!!

To keep up with my goal, I have started to bring my own lunch figuring every little bit will help towards saving for down payment. I have been eating ham sandwich with cheese and butter or a week now, and frankly I could do without looking at one for a long time. Do you have any other interesting sandwich ideas? Or any other kind of lunch idea. (Not leftovers though) Thanks!

I wish I could say that I am sitting on a pile of down payment and waiting to pounce at the exact right moment. I am not. I only just recently started putting money together for it. I am in my early 30's. Why so late? Well, life happened. The areas that I will be living in, I can't see myself being able to buy a house for less than 350K. I only have about 10K saved up. Realistically, I won't be able to buy a house for 2 years if I diligently saved anything I can . Even if BF gets on board and contributes, it will take us about 2 years to be able to put a decent down payment. Do you think I would have missed an opportunity by then? I am having a mini panic attack. I would appreciate your thoughts on this topic. Thanks.

It's turning out to be quite windy and cold tonight. I wish I didn't have to go out for the night, but I do need to take my dog walking for his nightly duties. Every time it's very cold outside, the heat in my apartment doesn't seem to work. I personally think they scrimp on the heating and turn the heat off late at night. Sometimes I feel that this building must have so many violations. Isn't it required for apartment buildings to have full time supers? Or is that not the case? Every time I ask my super to fix something, he says "I am only the part time super". And then he gets mad that I am not home during the work day! Hello, I work, I go to school, and can't sit around waiting for him to show up. Especially since there have been times when I have actually waited for him to show up when he said he would, and have him not show up! I don't know. It's so frustrating. The only reason I am in this apartment is because the rent is not horribly overpriced (although it is still a lot)as it would be if I were to move some place else right now. Plus everywhere I go, I am sure I will face the same bs. I wish I had the down payment amount ready already to buy a house. And I wish the economy was better, and that the job market was better. And that I was already done with my graduate studies. And that I had enough self confidence in myself. Okay, now I am depressed.

Testing. Testing! Welcome to my new financial blog. I will add more specifics as I go along. For now, here are some short and sweet goals I have.
#1) Save 1k each month towards home purchase

#2) Loose 10 pounds by exercising, eating healthy, and refraining from alcohol and hence also saving money as a result.

#3) Preparation for advancement in my career for when the market picks up.