Areas of Unrest

12 March 2000 - Girls Just Want to Have Funds

QOTD: "My formula for success? Rise early, work late, strike oil." - Jean Paul Getty

Reading: Laurell K. Hamilton, Bloody Bones

Listening to: Brazzaville

Wednesday morning I called the L.A. County Registrar of Voters again, this time with my voter ID card in hand. When I gave them my voter ID number, they insisted that they had me listed at my old address, despite the card having my current address and my having voted at this address twice before. They have no idea how this could have happened and all they could tell me to do was reregister. It's a minor hassle, but that makes it no less annoying. This entire election had me in a bad mood, since there is nothing like the California initiative process to bring out the worst in me. Idiocy like Proposition 22 (the so-called "defense of marriage" initiative, which means that California will not recognize gay marriages should they ever be legalized in other states) passed, despite being clearly unconstitutional. At least half of the initiatives that pass end up tied up in the courts for years and end up modified or just deleted. Sane states either understand the concept of representative government or have a review of initiatives for legality before putting them on the ballot, but not California.

While I am ranting about the absurdity of where I live, I read that the City of Los Angeles may have to cut city services to handle the financial fallout of all the lawsuits resulting from our latest police scandal. (In case someone doesn't know what I'm talking about, there's been a major probe of corruption in anti-gang units associated with the Rampart police division. Faked evidence, planting drugs on suspects, etc..) My immediate reaction to threat of reduced city services was to say, "but how would we notice?"

On a cheerier note, my trip to Boulder on Wednesday and Thursday gave me a chance to try out a new restaurant. We had actually been planning to try 15 Degrees but it seems to have closed. So we headed to this new bistro, Le Rocher. It was reasonably good, though they had a somewhat heavy hand with the salt. I had salmon in a very citrusy sauce, which was fine, though the accompanying veggies were oversalted. Lavender creme brulee for dessert was lovely, though. I'd be willing to eat there again, but it's a bit pricy and, in that price range (about $40) I think Full Moon Grill is much better.

I spent most of today with various errands. The one I have the most sense of accomplishment over is having caught up on a lot of assorted household paperwork, much of it financial in nature. I finally got around to recording the numbers of savings bonds I've gotten in the past several months and remembering that I have all these bonds made me feel wealthy. I also balanced my checkbook, which is always satisfying, though I felt less wealthy after doing so. There's actually plenty of money but much of it is already allocated. I'm roughly 2/3 of the way towards a new computer. My 486/33 is really pretty pathetic and I really need a CD-ROM drive and a faster modem, though I will probably go for DVD-ROM instead, especially if I get another laptop. And, if I don't get another laptop, I have more than enough money allocated already. The other big ticket item I've got money allocated for is my trip in August, and I've really got to step up my savings for that. I may have to stick a few travel reimbursements in my checking account, instead of sending them to my money market account like I usually do. Alternatively, I could pay for it out of the money market account, but I prefer to use that for the longer term.

What this means is that I probably won't increase the weekly credit union deposit out of my paycheck. I will, though, start up a Roth IRA, since I can do that via payroll deduction now. I should also start looking at sticking some money into the optional part of the company retirement account, though that can wait if it has to. It's not like I'm not saving for retirement; I've been putting money into a 403(B) account since I started working and it's accumulated quite nicely so far. I also need to think about whether it's worth doing regular monthly transfers into my brokerage account.

The really big financial issue is whether or not to buy real estate. I do keep looking at the Westside Homes section of the L.A. Times every week and I regularly pick up the Homes and Open Houses magazine. But prices here are so ridiculous. What I really want to do is buy something in a place that I would want to retire to eventually (e.g. White River Junction, Vermont). But long distance home ownership seems awfully complicated. If I bought something now to use as a sort of vacation property in the meantime, I'd probably not be able to get to it more than a couple of weekends a year. It still may be feasible, but I have to research it more.

Oh, well, there's nothing urgent in any of this. In the meantime, I'll continue to budget compulsively enough to afford books, CDs and interesting vacations. The truth of the matter is that I enjoy budgeting. This probably goes back to my childhood when I was eager to save as much of my allowance as I could so I could get to the unimaginable goal of $26, which is what a 3-speed bike cost. And then I wanted to have $100 because that seemed like more money than anybody could ever possibly have at one time. A hundred dollars could buy all the Wonder Woman comic books and grape soda I could ever want and leave me enough for a teapot at Mr. Kenny's antique store and the build your own electric motor kit I saw at TSS (a local department store) and how could anybody ever spend all that in a whole lifetime?

Nowadays I know that $100 buys me a good pair of shoes or a week's lodging and meals in a third world country. I can choose between buying 7 CDs or a new briefcase (which is something I really do need; mine is so worn out that it is getting embarassing) or sending it to a foundation that will help illiterate adults learn to read. That $100 could be a moderately expensive dinner for two, a third of the visa fees for my trip in August, or 0.01% of a house in Cheviot Hills. Weighing the options, choosing where it goes (or whether it's better off not going at all) is infinitely fascinating. Do I buy that cherimoya in the supermarket (delicious but $5) or do I use that money on needles and thread to make that blue dress last just a little bit longer? Will that theatre ticket really give me $60 worth of enjoyment or should I go to a movie for $8 or rent a movie for $3.50 instead? Do I want my charity dollars going to the museum, the public radio station, the relief fund for flood victims in Mozambique? Every decision reveals as much about values as it does about value.

How can people deprive themselves of the pleasure of contemplating these decisions by not budgeting?