Friday, December 22, 2006

Young and Thrifty

"Anyone can make money, but it takes special skills and dedication to keep it."

Wow, that is so true. A couple of years ago I made the decision to go straight to graduate school, while most of my girls hit the working world. I realized that grad school made me realize the value of the dollar even more than undergrad. Some of my friends make twice as much as I do, however very few are even thinking about buying a house, saving for retirement, or even having an emergency fund. They blow the pay difference in eating out every meal, going out , and extremem shopping. I personally rather have the peace of mind and it is all about delayed gratification. Check out this great article on the Minneapolis Star Tribune and they even give a shout-out to one of my favorite PF bloggers Boston Gal.

Merry Christmas!!!
PP

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Free Sample


Hey ya'll,

Check out this new freebie on the Walmart's free sample site!

Happy Holidays!

PP

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Holiday Travel

Wow...I can't believe it will be Christmas in less than a week. Just a couple more days of work and then a much needed relaxation. Or as much relaxation I will be able to get with a house full of people. Saturday I will be traveling to Memphis to visit the parents for a few days. I found this great tool to help me cut down on wait time at the airport. You what they say," Time is money!" Cuz you know that I am one of those people who is ALWAYS fashionably late to everything except important things like meeting at work ( haha!). Well , Merry Christmas and don't gain too much weight over the holidays.

PP

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

8 Smart Moves to Make Before 2007

The new year is fastly approaching and as a newly employed career woman, I am trying to do all that I can to maximize my money. CNN Money has a great article " 8 Smart Moves to Make by year end" to help individuals like me. Below are what they list as well as my comments.
1. Take your losses ( investments): I have very few investments personally. I have a couple strong savings accounts ( PNC and ING), plus a mutual fund I opened when I was in high school. So I think, I will stay put in this category.
2. Buy some aspirin ( flex spending accounts): So, I just began working about six months ago in what I like to say is my " career" job. I didn't know about this wonderful thing called a " flexible saving account." But, now that I know what it is I opened one up for $300 dollars for the coming 2007 year. I am still holding off on getting the laser eye surgery; still seems kinda sketchy to me.
3. Be generous ( charity): Along with tithing to my church, I also sponser a World Vision child and give to a couple local charities. I also discovered by donating items to the Goodwill or Salvation Army, you can claim a deductible on your taxes. So " Give, people, give."
4. Get IRA smart ( retirement): Like I said, I just started working, however even at 24 I understand the importance of saving for retirement. I have already started investing 6% of my earning into my company's 403 (b). So between saving up for a house and trying to pay back one of my loans ( in full) by the end of the summer, I don't have much extra money to play with. However, I do have a little extra money coming in this month that I will put towards opening a Roth IRA.
5. Set your sights early ( saving): Save, save, save. I tell my baby sister who is 17 to start saving now. My savings have REALLY helped me out of a situation or two while I was in college. Especially since she is still in high school and living at home. Once she gets out in the real world in a few months, she will realize that BILLS and RENT are no joke!
6. Make some adjustments ( Taxes): Yeah, this is something I am going to look into...
7. Play catch-up ( retirement): Check!
8. Have the talk ( family planning): Um...yeah. Me and Mister aren't there yet. I ain't trying to have anybody's babies anytime soon! Thank God for birth control!

Monday, November 27, 2006

Some things in life are still free...


This morning I saw an interesting article on NYT about free features for your cell phone: Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone ( see link below) . Um...I think I am going to have to give a couple of these a try. I recently moved and was trying to order pizza and found myself spending an extra $5 trying to get the local number for Pizza Hut.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

So like everyone else on the world wide web, it is off for the holidays. I will be traveling to visit relatives this year, so it means no cooking and cleaning for me. For everyone who is interested in Black Friday sales, check out http://www.blackfriday.info/. As for me, I have done most of my shopping and trying to stay on budget. So my butt will be sleeping in to and not out in the stores. However, I do admit, I will miss the thrill of getting a good sale. As for my Thanksgiving list

First and foremost, I am thankful to God and his continuing blessing on my life. Without Him I am nothing, with Him I can accomplish anything, including buying this house.

Second, my family. They are a true testament to what you can do with hard work and determination. My parents came to the US with nothing and have provided the American dream for my sisters and I.

My " Mister"- he is truly the love of my life and he's on a budget. I hope I have had some positive influence on him. A great start in the right direction, especially if I am ever to become " Mrs. Penny"

My friends and line sisters- they are all truly my extended family and I love them!

Lastly, my job! I couldn't be on my way to building wealth if I didn't have some type of income coming in. It is a great position that I was blessed with a few months ago and I thank God that I am being paid to do what I love.

Whew...well that is it for me!

Happy Thanksgiving

Monday, November 20, 2006

Little bit more about Penny...




"So why the alias Pittsburgh Penny? "you may ask. Well, I figured if I am about to do this whole blogging thing, I wanted to be as completely honest as possible. Hence, I needed to come up with an alias. So I figured, I would like my pen name to be catchy as well as have some type of
meaning. Throughout college, my friends always commented that my bank account always looked better than theirs. We all had the same job as RAs, however my $525 a month seemed to stretch longer than theirs. Whereas they had to have the latest styles from the mall, I would buy things online, at TJ Maxx, or at Ross's. I went to school in Knoxville, TN, so the shopping pickings were slim. However, don't be fooled, I looked as jazzy if not jazzier than all of them. Just because you buy things on sale, doesn't mean you have to sacrifice style.

My frugal nature is helping me as now I am starting my career and trying to buy a house. I went to grad school right after undergrad, so I know a little about delayed gratification. So part of the job of this blog is to keep me in check ( believe me, easier said than done!)

Friday, November 17, 2006

So let's give this bloggin thing a shot...

So I was introduced to the idea about blogging a couple of weeks ago through reading an article on the New York Times entitled What Do Women Want? Just Ask (Oct 29th). Since then I have been introduced to the wonderful world of personal finance blogging. I have to give a shout out to the women who gave me the inspiration to start this blog: open wallet, boston gal's open wallet, and my favorite single ma's fabulous financials. Although my finances are a major " to-do" item on my life's list, I also wanted my blog to include other areas of my life as a twenty-something newly graduated professional. So welcome to my blog and please leave comments, questions, etc....