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Robbed!!!

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While working yesterday I was robbed.  They didn’t get much of my money, maybe $20 at most.  Unfortunately, they also took my cell phone and keys.  I thought they were going to steal my car but apparently they just wanted the keys so they could go through my car looking for more to steal. And perhaps to keep me from following them since they ran off on foot.  After they left I had to walk over to the apartment office so I could call the police.  Having my phone stolen created another problem becuase I don’t know any phone numbers that I keep programmed into the phone.  I didn’t know my work number and had to search a while to find it so I could report the robbery to them.

After the police came they wanted me to go home and get my other set of car keys to make sure that the robbers didn’t come back and steal my car.  This also was an ordeal because I didn’t know my landlord’s number either.  Once I got hold of him it took about 45 minutes for him to get there and open my apartment.  He gave me a new set of keys too since my apartment keys were on my car key ring.  That is going to cost me $10 on next months rent.  After that I was finally able to return to work where I had to file a report with the central office.  Then I was able to leave early and go home.

Besides the cash that was stolen I’m going to be out the money for a new cell phone, $10 to replace my keys, whatever it costs to get another spare car key, and the money I would have made the last three hours of my shift. I’ve got one year left on my Sprint contract and they told me my price for a new phone would be the two year contract price plus $75.  I’m thinking I’ll try to find a used phone to save money there. Anyone had any experience with a used phone?

Where I work it was almost inevitable that I would eventually get robbed.  Now that it has happened though I’m seriously considering finding new employment.  I’m going to work today and I won’t make a decision just yet but this is another factor against keeping the job.

Passion Saving: Review and Giveaway

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I received a copy of Passion Saving for review last week. This is the first review copy of a book I’ve been sent but if there are any other personal finance authors out there who would like me to to review their book feel free to contact me. I won’t guarantee a good review though. In conjunction with the review I’ll be giving away a copy of Passion Saving. Just leave a comment by noon CDT Monday and I’ll randomly pick a winner then.

The full title of the book is Passion Saving:The Path to Plentiful Free Time and Soul-Satisfying Work and the author is Rob Bennett. Rob managed to retire early and in this book he shares how he did it. This book is more about motivation than nuts and bolts. He distinguishes between what he calls Sacrifice Saving and Passion Saving. If you can change your mindset to see saving as buying you a little bit of freedom rather than something you have to do that you won’t be able to enjoy for many years than saving will become much easier. Another point he makes that I like is that 10% of your income is probably the worst percentage of your income to save. It is just enough to be painful but not enough to quickly see results. If you want to retire early you should be increasing the percentage of your income that you save. The main focus of this book is changing how you think about money and savings.

There are only a couple of things I didn’t like about the book. He seems to like creating buzz words such as Fun Units, The Freedom Store, etc. This seems to be pretty common among personal finance writers now so I won’t fault him too much for that. My other criticism is a mild one that if you have read Your Money or Your Life you really shouldn’t need this book. If after reading YMOYL you still need motivation than this book might work for you. You can only order this book at Passion Saving.com.

If you would like a chance to receive a free copy of this book just leave a comment to be eligible for the giveaway.

Got My Tax Stimulus Rebate Today

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It was scheduled to be paid no later than the May 9th and I got it today the 9th of May.  It was in the amount of $368 which was somewhat surprising. I only heard of the amounts being $300 or $600, I wasn’t aware they did amounts in between as well.  I was thinking I was only going to get $300 so I’m happy to get the little bit extra.  I had hoped to use this amount to either invest in my IRA or pay down my student loans.  Instead I’m going to use it to pay next month’s rent and hope that will result in my having a surplus of money in June to save or invest.

The Power of Blogging

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Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised when I blog about a company and then get a response from that company. My blogs only get a few thousand visitors per month, they don’t get anywhere near the traffic of the major blogs but they somehow get the attention of these companies. I suppose they have someone doing blog searches for the company name.

At my other blog Bank Bonuses I wrote about the problems I had with Revolution Money Exchange. I signed up for the service but I wasn’t able to complete the registration because I have a fraud alert on my credit report. They were supposed to send me an email telling me how to complete my registration but apparently it went to my spam folder. My emails to customer service went unanswered and calls to customer service were met with the reply to just wait for the email. After blogging about my experience though I received an email from Revolution Money Exchange explaining there had been some problems with their contact form and apologizing for my problems. They approved my account so I could complete my registration. This improved my opinion of them but made me wonder what would have happened if I didn’t have a blog. I might never have been able to open an account. Since this company is an alternative to PayPal,which I’m not a big fan of, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. If you want to give them a try I’ve added a sign up button in my sidebar.

I Got A Summer Legal Job!

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Today I was offered an internship working for the Missouri State Public Defender’s office which I accepted. I’m looking forward to putting some of the knowledge I’ve acquired in 5 semesters of law school to practical use. Since I’m Missouri Rule 13 eligible I should get the opportunity to appear in court. I’ll be working in the town where my mother lives which is considered a rural jurisdiction. Since the state has a hard time placing attorneys in rural jurisdictions they have a program where they hire 3L students 3-4 months before the bar if the student wants to work in a rural office. After I finish working this summer I’ll know whether I want to continue to work in this field. If so then I plan on taking advantage of this program.

There are some drawbacks to the position though. The main one is that it is unpaid. I’ll have to find another job in the evening to make some money. I’ll be staying with my mom for the summer and my niece and nephew usually spend the summer with her as well. That will probably be a little too much family time for me since I’m used to living alone. My lease here doesn’t runs through the end of October though and I can’t justify paying rent on two apartments even if I could afford it. I’m sure it will work out okay and I’m looking forward to getting started.