Being Boring Saves Me Money!
Sunday, May 31, 2009

Last night, some girls and I from work were supposed to go out salsa dancing. But after a really long work week, we decided it was time for a rest. Not only was that a good thing because I have an awful cold right now, but it probably saved me at least $20! The salsa club had a $10 cover charge, not to mention any money for parking, food, and drinks. Most clubs do have at least a $5 or $10 cover charge on Friday and Saturday nights, plus outrageous drink prices. I rarely, rarely drink so that isn't a problem for me and I go out to bars and clubs even less!


I never go out dancing with friends. My fiance hates bars, clubs, etc., so we usually Netflix in our weekend entertainment. If we go to the movies, we always try to go to a matinee to avoid those high ticket prices and we never buy food or candy from the movie theater. This can save couples a ton of money!


Last weekend, my dad invited me to see the new Terminator Salvation. We went on a Friday night at 7pm. Our two tickets cost a total of $20. Then my dad got popcorn and I got a delicious ICEE at the cost of another $10 or $15. What an expensive night out! Now, since my father makes well over six figures, he doesn't mind treating his eldest daughter to a movie and I'll let him spend the money on me because I don't get to see my dad all that often even though we live under the same roof! We both work long hours (his are longer) and you can say I got my strong work ethic from him.


Truthfully, I'm a really boring person. I typically prefer to go to the gym on Friday and Saturday nights because there aren't a lot of people there. And usually on the week days after work I am too tired to do anything but sit in bed with my laptop, surf the 'net, read a book, or watch a DVD I already own. Entertainment is one of the least largest portions of my budget, so I don't feel too guilty when I make a Starbucks run before work.


By the way, I really enjoyed Terminator Salvation.


- Bank Gal

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posted by Bank Gal at 7:52 AM | 0 comments
Starbucks Double Charged My Debit Card!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
A transaction I made at my local Starbucks over the weekend for $6.88 charged my debit card twice! This is the first time anything like that has happened. So I went down there on my lunch to ask if they could credit it back. The lady at the register was just going to give me a coupon for free drink, but I purchased two drinks (one for myself and one for a co-worker) on the charge they billed me twice for. Why would I want a coupon for one free drink when I really paid for two? She didn't seem to know what else to do and asked me to come back tomorrow when the manager was in, which was okay with me since I am not working tomorrow.

I got back to my branch (I work for a very large bank, by the way) and was telling a co-worker about the Starbucks slip-up and she said "Didn't you read your e-mail? The bank was notified by Starbucks that they had a glitch in their system and some people got double charged on their debit cards and it'll be automatically refunded in a couple days." What a relief! I had no idea! I should've taken the free drink coupon, Lord knows I spend enough money there. But oh well! I just thought it was funny I was charged twice since in all my years of banking and working in a bank, I'd never had this happen to me before. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

I'm also patiently waiting for the bank to reimburse me for mileage and parking due to me from a training class I took for work a couple weeks ago. I submitted the reimbursement last week and I still don't have it in my account. I'm hoping it'll be there tomorrow. I don't need the money right now, but it's around $70 and I plan on putting that $70 toward some debt! Anything is better than nothing, right?! I'll call our Travel Reimbursement department on Friday if it's not in my account by then.

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posted by Bank Gal at 7:06 PM | 0 comments
Bank Gal Returns!
Monday, May 25, 2009
First off, I should apologize for not updating sooner. I haven't forgot about this blog! Work has been crazy, I worked a little overtime this week, which is always good for the paycheck, but not so good for my personal sanity. ;) I want to update this blog at least once a week with stories about my life as a Personal Banker and my own personal finances.

On Wednesday, I applied for a new position within the bank I work for. I stayed up all night to work on my resume and even skipped dinner to make sure it was absolutely perfect before I applied. Everyone has been busy due to our recent merger with another bank, so I don't expect to hear from the recruiter until late next week or even the following week. I hope I get the job, because it is a nice raise in my base salary, plus higher commission payouts. It also involves working with a more sophisticated clientel, specifically our business clients.

As I promised in my first post, I should probably give you a list of my personal debts/assets. I would very much love to be debt-free. Even if I only had my car payment, that would be fine with me. Now, it seems as though the more money I make, the more money I spend. I used to have quite a bit of money in the bank and no credit card debt. But that has changed over the last few years. I hate to admit it. It seems ironic that a banker who knows all about personal finance would have such debt. I don't have as much as some people, but I have way more than what I'm comfortable with.

I'll be the first to admit I've made some stupid choices. I haven't used all my money wisely. But that stops now. No more. I'm getting rid of my debt once and for all. Not all of it is from unwise spending, however. I did have several large medical bills that needed to get paid, so I put those on credit. But I am absolutely done spending on unnecessary items. I want this debt gone!

Here is a look at my income, expenses, debts, and savings. As I said in my previous post, I do work on commission, so my projected monthly bonus fluctuates. My goal is to put all of my bonus checks towards my debt. First, I'll tackle the BofA Loan because it has such a high interest rate. I want that gone ASAP. Next I'll focus on the credit cards. And lastly I'll tackle the car loan. I plan on putting most of what is in my emergency fund account toward my debt. I'm not worried about losing my job, so I'll probably leave around $500 in my emergency fund and put the rest toward the BofA Loan. I'm pretty happy about how my 401k is looking, I didn't think it was that high, so I'm very excited about that. I will probably continue to add $100-$150 each month to my various savings accounts to keep those growing, but the bulk of my money will be going to pay off debt!

It was quite a shock to tally up the debt totals. I feel ashamed and embarrassed. A lot of the PF blogs out there talk about their debt and income and savings. I hope to achieve financial freedom and build my savings/retirement!

If anyone has any blogging tips/paying off debt tips, please share them! =)
- Bank Gal

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posted by Bank Gal at 10:38 AM | 0 comments