I agree that automatic billing would probably be less good for me. Also, the whole shared apartment thing might make it weird, in that I don't send a hundred dollar check to the electric company each month, I just give a thirty dollar check to Ria or something.
I do need to get a credit card, yes. Recommendation for before/after I get out of college? Any thoughts on getting ricockulous airline miles credit cards (my gut feeling is that they are all scams) or other rewardy things? Or is this totally just an "ask mom" situation.
Over small (within Boston) distances, the T is cheaper than driving. Subway is (usually) faster, bus is (usually) slower, but I think the times are close to comparable. Depending on time of day and where I'm going to, bike is often faster than T, and can be faster than cars.
Larger distances result in the pros/cons analysis of owning a car. For at least the next three or four years, my preference is to not, if that's at all possible. If I stay in Boston, I think it might be --swap gas money for rides when I need to get out of town, use ZipCar when I need to borrow a pick-up, and commute to work via bike or T. I'm not sure how much monthly car insurance is, but if it's more than a few hundred dollars, I'm pretty sure it's more expensive than public transit and networking.
I don't want to totally remove the idea of my bike from monthly expenses, at least partly so maybe I can save some money and not be totally doomed when something breaks (like happened recently). But right that it's more of an initial expenditure (tools, tyres, etc) than a reoccurring thing.
The idea of saving up for a new computer every half-decade or so actually sounds really reasonable. I do know I want to get something more modern than Vera sometime in the next year, though I'm torn between going for a desktop and continuing to use Ver' as my out-and-about computer, or a netbook, and leaving her at home most of the time. I know TB are getting cheap --really, it's just where I need to have the spare 50 bucks so that when I see the sale, I can jump on it without worrying.
A thousand sounds like a good emergency fund. I like your concept of making it harder to access, though I worry about getting tied up in something where I have to pay immediately and can't access it. I don't know how plausible that situation is though.
Spend as little as possible and save as much as I can sounds like a pretty damn good plan. I'll see how well I can do that.
And yeah, I'd love the full e-mail, if you want to write it. I always like receiving such things from people!
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2011-03-22 03:49 pm (UTC)I do need to get a credit card, yes. Recommendation for before/after I get out of college? Any thoughts on getting ricockulous airline miles credit cards (my gut feeling is that they are all scams) or other rewardy things? Or is this totally just an "ask mom" situation.
Over small (within Boston) distances, the T is cheaper than driving. Subway is (usually) faster, bus is (usually) slower, but I think the times are close to comparable. Depending on time of day and where I'm going to, bike is often faster than T, and can be faster than cars.
Larger distances result in the pros/cons analysis of owning a car. For at least the next three or four years, my preference is to not, if that's at all possible. If I stay in Boston, I think it might be --swap gas money for rides when I need to get out of town, use ZipCar when I need to borrow a pick-up, and commute to work via bike or T. I'm not sure how much monthly car insurance is, but if it's more than a few hundred dollars, I'm pretty sure it's more expensive than public transit and networking.
I don't want to totally remove the idea of my bike from monthly expenses, at least partly so maybe I can save some money and not be totally doomed when something breaks (like happened recently). But right that it's more of an initial expenditure (tools, tyres, etc) than a reoccurring thing.
The idea of saving up for a new computer every half-decade or so actually sounds really reasonable. I do know I want to get something more modern than Vera sometime in the next year, though I'm torn between going for a desktop and continuing to use Ver' as my out-and-about computer, or a netbook, and leaving her at home most of the time. I know TB are getting cheap --really, it's just where I need to have the spare 50 bucks so that when I see the sale, I can jump on it without worrying.
A thousand sounds like a good emergency fund. I like your concept of making it harder to access, though I worry about getting tied up in something where I have to pay immediately and can't access it. I don't know how plausible that situation is though.
Spend as little as possible and save as much as I can sounds like a pretty damn good plan. I'll see how well I can do that.
And yeah, I'd love the full e-mail, if you want to write it. I always like receiving such things from people!
~Sor