Ups and Downs
Didn't have a great week last week, money-wise.
My quarterly 401(k) statement showed up and the news was predictable: heavily invested in stocks as I am, the fund lost about 10% of its value last quarter. Which is not bad, overall -- until you remember that last quarter ended on 9/30, so those losses don't take into account what's been happening to the market over the past three weeks. So, yeah. Ouch.
On the other hand, I'm not planning to retire for another 30 years, so it's not that big a deal. What goes down must come up; and the cheaper shares get now, the more of them I can buy with my contribution.
I also had a visit from the capricious Car Gods. Since I had to come in early for Open Enrollment on Wednesday (we're switching health care providers this year) I decided it was a good time to get my required emissions test done. The closest full-service testing station is in Schaumburg, not far from where my folks live, but it closes at 6:00. So I'd need to go on my lunch hour on a normal day, but an early schedule gets me out of work by 4:30, and it worked out fine. The test itself took about five minutes, and my car passed without incident.
Thursday, however, was another story. Driving into work, I blew out my right rear tire on 355 and had to change my first flat on my own (I've had only one flat previously, and it was changed for me by a bored Rolling Meadows cop with nothing to do at 2:00 am) in the left breakdown lane with traffic going by at 75 mph, which was a little alarming. But other than bashing myself in the face with the lug wrench as I tried to pull off the wheel cover, everything went according to plan. One of those Illinois Tollway Authority H.E.L.P. trucks pulled up behind me just as I was finishing up, so I even got a little help re-tightening the lugnuts.
After half an hour's labor, I was on my way again, making plans in my head as to how I was going to make time to buy new tires. But just as I got onto the exit ramp at Higgins MY OTHER REAR TIRE WENT FLAT. Two tires in three miles! Now I've not only bashed myself in the face with a tire iron and wasted half an hour, but I had to call for a tow anyway and get tires replaced at the crazy-expensive garage across the street from where I work. And to top it all off, the mechanics discovered that the front two tires, which have been having trouble holding air, were full of dry rot. So rather than worry about that, and try to remember how old two different sets of tires are, I decided it made more sense to replace all four.
Total damage of my Thursday commute: $175 for a 2-mile tow and $560 for four new tires. Double ouch. Between that and Christmas presents in a couple months, my Disaster Fund is going to be about $1000 light by the end of the year. But that's what it's there for, right?
On the bright side, since I've been too broke to take a second vacation this year, I have enough vacation and personal days left over to take every Monday off in November and December. I put in the requests on Friday. Two months of four day weeks...exxxxcellent.
--- Ajax.
My quarterly 401(k) statement showed up and the news was predictable: heavily invested in stocks as I am, the fund lost about 10% of its value last quarter. Which is not bad, overall -- until you remember that last quarter ended on 9/30, so those losses don't take into account what's been happening to the market over the past three weeks. So, yeah. Ouch.
On the other hand, I'm not planning to retire for another 30 years, so it's not that big a deal. What goes down must come up; and the cheaper shares get now, the more of them I can buy with my contribution.
I also had a visit from the capricious Car Gods. Since I had to come in early for Open Enrollment on Wednesday (we're switching health care providers this year) I decided it was a good time to get my required emissions test done. The closest full-service testing station is in Schaumburg, not far from where my folks live, but it closes at 6:00. So I'd need to go on my lunch hour on a normal day, but an early schedule gets me out of work by 4:30, and it worked out fine. The test itself took about five minutes, and my car passed without incident.
Thursday, however, was another story. Driving into work, I blew out my right rear tire on 355 and had to change my first flat on my own (I've had only one flat previously, and it was changed for me by a bored Rolling Meadows cop with nothing to do at 2:00 am) in the left breakdown lane with traffic going by at 75 mph, which was a little alarming. But other than bashing myself in the face with the lug wrench as I tried to pull off the wheel cover, everything went according to plan. One of those Illinois Tollway Authority H.E.L.P. trucks pulled up behind me just as I was finishing up, so I even got a little help re-tightening the lugnuts.
After half an hour's labor, I was on my way again, making plans in my head as to how I was going to make time to buy new tires. But just as I got onto the exit ramp at Higgins MY OTHER REAR TIRE WENT FLAT. Two tires in three miles! Now I've not only bashed myself in the face with a tire iron and wasted half an hour, but I had to call for a tow anyway and get tires replaced at the crazy-expensive garage across the street from where I work. And to top it all off, the mechanics discovered that the front two tires, which have been having trouble holding air, were full of dry rot. So rather than worry about that, and try to remember how old two different sets of tires are, I decided it made more sense to replace all four.
Total damage of my Thursday commute: $175 for a 2-mile tow and $560 for four new tires. Double ouch. Between that and Christmas presents in a couple months, my Disaster Fund is going to be about $1000 light by the end of the year. But that's what it's there for, right?
On the bright side, since I've been too broke to take a second vacation this year, I have enough vacation and personal days left over to take every Monday off in November and December. I put in the requests on Friday. Two months of four day weeks...exxxxcellent.
--- Ajax.