Well, I did it. I reallocated my 401k. I was really nervous about it, and I’m still a little sick to my stomach, but I know in the long run that it will be much better because now I am more diversified. What really scared me was that almost 30% of my entire 401k was in company stock and if (God forbid) the company went under, well there goes 30% of my 401k money. I’d be stupid to leave that much in there. Enron anyone?

At first, I was worried about all the money that I lost by selling my company stock. After all, last year it was around $38 a share, and of course I was gifted shares and perhaps bought some too at that price. Now the stock is around $5 a share. That’s a lot of money to lose! However, I am looking at it like this: I didn’t technically pay for it, so I really haven’t lost any of my own money. Next time the company matches my 401k contribution, I’ll sell the stock they give me. I am not too worried about the company failing, but after all, it is a bank, and we all saw what happened with Indy Mac.

I feel good about my decision. Now I can sleep at night without worrying about having so much in company stock. It’s never good to have too many eggs in one basket.

Posted under Uncategorized

Yesterday I wrote about my bargains I got at our local Goodwill. Today I decided that instead of holding onto junk in our basement and shed for the yard sale it looks like we’ll never have, I would take the items to Goodwill so I can get a tax write off and make a donation and hopefully help someone in need. After all, what goes around comes around. I want good karma!

I have been holding onto these items and it was a hard decision to just drop them off. I keep picturing the boxes and bags with big dollar signs on them, like I just did a very unfrugal thing by donating the items instead of trying to sell them. This was my thinking: I’ve been waiting all summer to have a yard sale, I haven’t had time, the stuff is taking up space driving me crazy, and most of the items I donated ranged from 10 cents to a dollar. Am I really going to miss that? Probably not.  The money that I would have made would probably not be worth my time sitting outside, haggling prices with people.

Many of the larger dollar items I kept: a dehumidifier, pictures, tables, etc.  I figure I can always list those on craigslist and make some money off those items because those are actually worth selling.  The other things probably wouldn’t sell on craigslist.  When we get back from vacation I’ll need to list those as soon as possible.

Do you think I made a good decision?

Posted under Money, Money Mistakes

Today was a good bargain day for me! Next week we are going to be on vacation, and I decided that I needed some new clothes for my trip because I don’t have many clothes to wear while not at work.  I decided to hit up my local Goodwill to see what kinds of bargains they had.  I was hoping to find a few pairs of jeans or pants, and a few tops.  I did pretty well, scoring 6 pairs of pants and one top for $21! It amazes me how much money I save by going to the thrift store to shop.  It makes me so happy!

I also found 1/2 ounce of seeds for spinach and kale for around a dollar.  I was going to buy them online because Home Depot and Meijer were both out of seeds for planting.  I was really bummed yesterday when I couldn’t find the seeds, but I figured that I could always order them online.  Mr. Money had the genius idea of going to the Seed Depot just up the road from us, and lo and behold, there they had a bunch of seeds for great prices!  I am totally stoked.

I am really happy about the good deals I got today.  I figure as long as I wash the clothes I bought they’ll be fine.  I’m really anal about getting clothes that have no stains, or at least stains I think I can get out pretty easily.  That’s my goal tonight: wash and pack.  Wish me luck!

Do you like buying clothes at thrift stores?

Posted under Food, Save Your Money