Deciding to be car-free

I agree with EcoGeoFemme! It's been far too quiet around here lately. I wrote this post ages ago but for some reason never posted it. There's no time like the present, right?

Living car-free (either as a continuation of your current situation or getting rid of the one you have) can be a way to save on expenses. These days it seems that nearly all of our communities are designed around cars, which can make a car-free lifestyle difficult, unpleasant, or downright impossible. But, it is a decision worth considering especially if you're moving to a new city.

Cars are expensive. During the time I lived in a small town and drove 28 miles one-way to work, in one year (when gas prices are lower than they are now) I spent $4,600 on my car, gas, and maintenance. This amounted to 27% of my expenses. While I loved living in the country, working at a field station, and listening to NPR for half an hour on the way to work, I knew that in the next phase of my life I wanted to be able to walk or bike to work. I love walkable communities and neighborhoods. Recognizing this allowed my partner Jon and I to prioritize proximity to school when apartment hunting.

I think that the best time to consider the costs and benefits of a car-free lifestyle for yourself is when you are moving. Here are some questions to ask yourself when deciding whether or not you really need a car:

1. Where can I live that will be convenient for me to walk/bike/bus/train to work every day? Look at the public transportation system (I'm assuming one exists if you're contemplating this decision). Which neighborhoods are nearby or on major public transit routes? Which neighborhoods can I afford to live in? Can I easily do laundry and buy groceries if I live there without a car?
   
2. If I lived in a place where I wouldn't drive my car to work, what else would I use my car for? How much will I use it? How inconvenienced would I be if I didn't have it for those things?
   
3. How expensive will it be to maintain a car where I am moving? Will my car insurance go up? State/county/city vehicle registration costs? Parking fees? Parking tickets? Gas prices? If you are moving across the country, how expensive will it be to tow/drive my car there?
4. How and how often will I travel outside my city? Can I travel by bus, train, or plane for trips that I might drive if I had a car? How expensive/inconvenient will it be to visit my family/significant other/best friend without a car?

If you're the kind of person who likes to look at numbers (which you probably are since you're reading this blog about money), try adding up how much you spend (or would spend) on your car in a year (or month if that's easier), and compare that to estimates of how much you would spend on public transportation, taxi rides, and traveling you would've otherwise done by car. What value do you place on the convenience of using your car to get around?

In 2008, about 6% of my expenses (combined with my car-free partner) were spent on transportation and travel. In 2009, we've spent about 5% on public transportation and car-related travel (rented/borrowed cars). Financially, it makes sense for us to not own a car and we aren't seriously inconvenienced.

I am looking forward to remaining car-free for the foreseeable future, but it isn't without its inconveniences, and I admittedly rely occasionally on friends and family with cars. Even though I sometimes use cars that belong to other people, I prefer to use the term car-free rather than describe my situation as car-less. I am free from worrying if my car will need expensive repairs, that it will get ticketed, or how much gas costs this week. For me, it is a liberating rather than an inhibiting choice. Would it work for you?

It's the MOST Wonderful Time of the Year....

Given that the holiday season is upon us, I thought I would ask for reader insight on gift-giving on a budget.

Some of my tricks:

• Establish a money cap by relationship definition (x for friends, y for siblings, z for parents, etc)
• Keep an eye out for movies priced extremely competitively.
• $5 gift cards to a place like Starbucks are always appreciated. You can even give them without looking cheap!
• If you need to purchase a durable item for yourself (like a shirt), be on the lookout for "Buy One, Get One" offers.
• Consider "Yankee Swap" exchanges with friends.
• Create dollar store grab bag presents.
  

Other ideas?

the Economy and the Academy

With all of the dire news about the state of the U.S. and world economies, I'm wondering how the academic readers of this blog are feeling the effects. How is it affecting you, your department, or your institution? How are you dealing with it?

If you're not really feeling the effects yet, what do you think might happen? Will you lose research funds? Ability to fill positions that lighten your load?

Getting the most out of craigslist

I love craigslist. It works because it's just so darn simple. If you haven't made craigslist a part of your life yet, go find your city and spend some time perusing the listings. Or better yet, start searching for something you need.

When I was apartment hunting before starting grad school, I searched for apartments exclusively on craigslist. We found plenty of listings and ended up with a great, affordable apartment. We also made it a goal to spend less than $100 on furniture for our apartment by using craigslist. We ended up spending nothing. The trick with craigslist is that the in-demand items go fast-- whether it's an awesome apartment in August or free beer. Free things go especially fast, so you have to be ready to act quickly.

Assuming that you have better things to do with your time than check compulsively for a Wii under $300 in Houston, you should use RSS feeds to find things on craigslist as they're added, just like you (probably) do with blogs. Craigslist is probably the single best use for RSS that I've ever heard of. Craigslist is perfect for things that you would like to have but don't need immediately, and getting things second hand can save you a lot of money.

Here are some examples:

You would really like to replace your couch that is older than you are. You're willing to spend up to $100 for the right couch. You search Lexington craigslist for couches up to $100. It also never hurts to check for free couches. At the bottom of any search, you'll see a little orange RSS icon. Click on it, and it will take you to the feed page for that search. You can subscribe using whatever you use for blogs, or you can bookmark the page. All of my RSS feeds are in my Safari toolbar so I can easily see whenever something new is posted for one of my searches. It works similarly in Firefox, but I think Safari is better.

For big cities, you can search a specific part of the city. For example, if you live in Washington, DC you can restrict searches to the District of Columbia rather than the whole Washington metro area. Let's say you're looking for a cheap desk, but you live in Georgetown without a car. You have some strong car-free friends who could carry a desk for a few blocks if someone nearby was getting rid of one. So, you search for desks in Georgetown under $50 and free desks in Georgetown and then RSS them. This is the kind of thing that won't come up very often, but when the right one does you'll want to know about it. Also, you'll get some posts that aren't offering what you're looking for, such as the "free desk" in Georgetown right now!

Scoring free or cheap furniture on craiglist can be a real deal. The biggest problem is usually figuring out how to get it home (especially if you don't have a car). If you are moving and renting a moving truck anyways, it might be a good idea to plan your move so that you have an extra day or afternoon with the moving truck so that you can go right away to pick up free furniture (which you have found out about right away from your RSS feed). This is what we did because we had the moving truck for up to 4 days at no extra cost (we used three for moving). We were able to pick up two large bookcases.

It also might be worthwhile to keep tabs on free things in your neighborhood by searching for your town/neighborhood name in the free section of your city (eg. Lakewood, OH). This is a way to get things that wouldn't be worth it if you had to go across town, but if someone nearby was giving away pink flamingo lawn ornaments...

Remember you can also use craigslist to sell or give away your own things! This could be a source of extra cash if you find there are some things you just no longer need (or perhaps never even needed in the first place).

One final note about craigslist etiquette: If you've told someone you're going to pick something up, you should actually do it when you said you will, or be sure to tell them otherwise. It is really annoying to wait around for people who never show up. This is why many listings say they won't hold items for anyone and it goes to the first person who shows up. Be sure to heed the scam warnings as well.

Happy Craigslisting! What have you found?

Deciding to be car-free

Living car-free (either as a continuation of your current situation or getting rid of the one you have) can be a way to save on expenses. These days it seems that nearly all of our communities are designed around cars, which can make a car-free lifestyle difficult, unpleasant, or downright impossible. But, it is a decision worth considering especially if you're moving to a new city.

Cars are expensive. During the time I lived in a small town and drove 28 miles one-way to work, in one year I spent $4,600 on my car, gas, and maintenance. This amounted to 27% of my expenses. While I loved living in the country, working at a field station, and listening to NPR for half an hour on the way to work, I knew that in the next phase of my life I wanted to be able to walk or bike to work. I love walkable communities and neighborhoods. Recognizing this allowed my partner Jon and I to prioritize proximity to school when apartment hunting.

I think that the best time to consider the costs and benefits of a car-free lifestyle for yourself is when you are moving. Here are some questions to ask yourself when deciding whether or not you really need a car:

1. Where can I live that will be convenient for me to walk/bike/bus/train to work every day? Look at the public transportation system (I'm assuming one exists if you're contemplating this decision). Which neighborhoods are nearby or on major public transit routes? Which neighborhoods can I afford to live in? Can I easily do laundry and buy groceries if I live there without a car?
   
2. If I lived in a place where I wouldn't drive my car to work, what else would I use my car for? How much will I use it? How inconvenienced would I be if I didn't have it for those things?
   
3. How expensive will it be to maintain a car where I am moving? Will my car insurance go up? State/county/city vehicle registration costs? Parking fees? Parking tickets? Gas prices? If you are moving across the country, how expensive will it be to tow/drive my car there?
4. How and how often will I travel outside my city? Can I travel by bus, train, or plane for trips that I might drive if I had a car? How expensive/inconvenient will it be to visit my family/significant other/best friend without a car?

If you're the kind of person who likes to look at numbers (which you probably are since you're reading this blog about money), try adding up how much you spend (or would spend) on your car in a year (or month if that's easier), and compare that to estimates of how much you would spend on public transportation, taxi rides, and traveling you would've otherwise done by car. If it would be cheaper to not have a car, think about the value you place on the convenience of using your car to get around.

So far in 2008, about 6% of my expenses (combined with my car-free partner) have been spent on transportation and travel. This is waaay down from the >25% I was spending a few years ago. Financially, it makes sense for us to not own a car and we aren't seriously inconvenienced.

I am looking forward to remaining car-free for the foreseeable future, but it isn't without its hassles, and I admittedly rely occasionally on friends and family with cars. Even though I sometimes use cars that belong to other people, I prefer to use the term car-free rather than describe my situation as car-less. I am free from worrying if my car will need expensive repairs, that it will get ticketed, or how much gas costs this week. For me, it is a liberating rather than an inhibiting choice. Would it work for you?

Thank you ecogeofem and psychgirl for creating this blog and letting me contribute! In the near future I'll write another post about getting the most out of craigslist.

Cash management

In the process of making a budget it is helpful to have "goal" targets, particularly for the areas that can be highly variable such as groceries, gas, and entertainment. These goal numbers allow you to meet your savings goals, without being terribly restrictive. Say I have budgeted $50/mo for entertainment (I include eating out in this category). This money does not go to the same place, so I will take the $50 cash and put it in an envelope in my wallet labeled "Entertainment" I spend only from this envelope; when the money is gone, entertainment for the month stops. As a personal incentive, when I come out ahead of my budget for the month, I take my savings and place it in my travel fund.

If I find myself always shopping at the same place for groceries or gas, I may look at a store debit card. Groceries tend to be a larger part of my budget; I do not like carrying around that much cash at the beginning of the month. Gas can be trickier, so I work the envelope in reverse. I write my gas target on my envelope, put the gas on my credit card, place the receipt in the envelope, and write the remaining balance on the front of the envelope.

I stumbled across 6 Budget Bombs when preparing this post; I think they are worthy of direct comments.

1) Entertainment: without some of your budget alloted to entertainment, it will feel like a burden. A reasonable aim is 5%; but if you are spending 10%+, it may be time to scale back.

2) Savings: Pay yourself first and be consistent. I've addressed this with this previous post.

3) Debit cad reliance: While I do not advocate a strict cash-only budget, it is necessary to have a system to track expenses so you know where your money goes.

4) Credit card "minimum" payment: Often the interest rates on credit cards are higher than any sort of investment you can make. Personally, I try to avoid using a credit card at all costs.

5) Emergency savings: This is a savings goal to have 3 to 6 months of income tucked away. Having emergency savings helps you plan for the unexpected.

6) Live within your means: If it means cutting back, then do it.

This all said, do cut yourself a break when you do not meet your budget goals. Life happens. Always look to the future when budgeting.

Paying (and reducing) taxes on grad student stipends

Note: this post is based solely in personal experience. Feel free to offer corrections if you know that something is wrong or misleading, and by all means consult someone actually trained to do your taxes if your situation warrants!

This is intended to be a guide for those of us getting paid semi-off-the-record (i.e. without a W-2) by our grad institutions. To use my own example: my school reports income to the IRS, and deducts taxes, only for semesters I am teaching. But I'm also lucky enough to have some fellowship years, where I don't do any "work" for the school directly, just research and write. Unfortunately, the IRS says I still have to pay taxes on this income. Same goes for any outside fellowship I win*.

How does this work? Here's what I did this year:

1. At the end of January, my school sent me a W-2 for the semesters I had taught. You probably got one too. Hang onto that.

2. Around February, my school sent me a letter stating that it had paid me $X,000 in fellowship money. It took care to disclaim any and all responsibility for paying taxes on this money -- but don't be fooled, that just means you have to pay the taxes. Even if your school doesn't send you this letter.

3. Here's where you can get sly, though: you can deduct "mandatory educational expenses" (that's the rough phrasing) from this amount before you include it on your tax return. This can include anything you can justify as necessary to your academic career. Books and school supplies, yes, but also computers/computer repairs; conference fees and travel you had to pay for out of pocket; membership fees for professional organizations; the amount of electricity you estimate you spent at home doing academic work; commuting costs to and from campus; special dissertation paper; job search mailing and copying expenses... etc. etc. BUT in case of an audit, you'll need receipts or documentation for these expenses, so it's better not to just make up a number. Subtract this from your fellowship amount to get a number like $Y,000.

4. Now find the line that says "Wages" on your 1040. This will be either line 1 (for those filing 1040-EZ) or line 7 (for those filing 1040A or 1040**). On the dotted line between "Wages" and the box at the right of the page, put SCH $Y,000. (SCH stands for "school," as you can probably guess.)

5. Now add the SCH amount to your W-2 income, and the income from any other W-2s you have. Put that total amount in the box at the right. Remember to attach your W-2(s) to your return, if you're not filing electronically.

6. Now you're done for this year. But wait! Will you be earning fellowship or other unreported income next year? You might have to pay estimated tax for next year, or you might want to spread out your tax payments so you can avoid paying them in one huge lump like I did. I am too lazy to calculate the exact value of my own estimated tax (talk about an oxymoron), but I did estimate, based on this year's taxes, around how much I'd end up paying next year, and divided it in 4 for my quarterly payment.

That's it! Drink a beer! And I'll do my best to answer any questions.

*While I know some people who take their chances and don't report this income, I've heard enough stories of audits [n=1] to make me too nervous not to.
**Questions about this? Here's a seemingly adequate place to start. I'm unfortunately stuck with the 1040 because of self-employment income from singing, but most people will at least be able to simplify to the 1040A, if not the 1040-EZ (even better!).