Carpooling vs Public Transportation

I'm pretty late linking to the Saved Quarter Challenge : Saving on Transportation but I've been meaning to post this up =) It's a great way to save money!

Linking to The saved Quarter Challenge : Week 8

As much as I love my job, everyday is just another repeat. I have a 3-4 hour commute to work every weekday. It's a pain. It's a big dent. I HATE IT. Bay Area traffic is so not my BFF. I don't have the opportunity to relocate to a closer branch anytime soon, so I just need to roll with the punches.

Luckily, I'm not the only one who does the daily East Bay to San Francisco commute. In fact, there's a lot of people in our building that commute to scrape a few extra dollars/hour. After getting to know people, I found someone I was "compatible" with. We've been carpooling for more than 3 years! He's become a very close family friend & his wife became my best friend. I've tried carpooling with other people when I worked in San Francisco - and that didn't turn too good. They didn't share the cost of gas right or they complained wayyy too much. I can't tolerate complainers.

Three years ago, I didn't cook much. That changed when I started carpooling with Al. He's an avid cooker-faux chef. He's got recipes, tricks & techniques to share. Being "stuck" in commute together allowed me to pick his brains and come up with meals & menu plans. Sure, I could have learned how to cook watching Food Network, but it's nice to have a coach. We've had plenty of couples nights where we'd alternate cooking for each other. I always have a blast! Friends, Family & Food =) We all started snowboarding together & go on trips together & vent about work (because we both understand & know who we talk about) It's pretty therapeutic. I rarely need to vent with the Hubbs. He's pretty thankful, he hated coming home with work problems.

For the sake of showing you the cost comparison, I whipped up a nice little google spreadsheet. In the bay area, we have the option of taking BART - our Public Intra-County Subway. There are other methods of transportation, i.e. taking the Ferry, Rapid Busses, VanPools etc. I haven't looked into the other options since most weren't as convenient as BART. We live 5 minutes away from a station & work is about a 20 minute hike up a steep hill. Here's my spreadsheet =)




I can go on and on about why I hate driving alone, but I'd like to share some Pro's and Con's:

Bart PRO:

* You don't drive. Someone else does it for you
* You can sleep (with shades on)
* You can read a book, listen to your ipod, watch videos, surf the net on your cellphone
* You can do your makeup. I don't do this, but I see a lot of ladies do it. It's an attention getter . . I'd like to hide behind my shades.
* Bart Passes! They're electric now.
* Commuter Check Rebates from work. Some offer this, some don't.

Bart CON:

* You're stuck on their schedule. There's no fooling around here.
* If you snooze & miss your train, you're LATE.
* If it rains & you're underprepared, you're screwed.
* You can get stuck. I always listen to the radio. There have been plenty of times when BART was running late or a train is stuck somewhere for hours!
* If you're in the middle of the route, you rarely get any seats - so you'd have to squish with everyone during rush hour
* You never know who you're going to sit next to. I've been there. . bums, theives, smelly people, sweaty people, snoring & drooling people . .EEW!
* You snooze, you loose (your wallet, your phone, your bag etc. PICKPOCKETERS. . .)
* If you forget something on the train, consider it gone.
*
Bart isn't as convenient as other public transit - like NYC's metro.
*
Bart runs about every 20 minutes during rush hour. Not like NYC, was it every 5 minutes?
*
You can hop trains, but it isn't like (you guessed it) NYC. They don't intersect much. You're Sometimes better off staying in the train you got in.
*
You can't eat/drink. You can, but Please be respectful. The smell of burritos can make other people hungry, nauseated, etc. Plus, you don't want the train driver calling you out.
*
Public restrooms HIGHLY discouraged. You're gonna have to hold it!



Carpooling PRO:

* The money saved!
* Faster commute with the use of carpool lanes
* Carpool Toll Discount
* Building friendly relationships with carpoolers
* Sharing stories
* Aquiring new ideas
* Sharing food =) - Car snacks are a must in my carpool.
* Someone to talk to thru the traffic
* Just someone to be there when you drive
* Employer sponsored Carpool rebates
* You control your schedule. You can drive slower, or faster.
* If you forget something in your car, it will still be in your car.


Carpooling CON:

* It's hard to trust & find someone
* You have CAR OCD - you have to deal with the other person's sloppiness
* Awkwardness
* You can't talk on the phone
* Your time becomes their time too
* Careful with the attitude! If you're not a people person, then this isn't for you.
* You can still get stuck in traffic.
* The wear & tear on your car vs taking public transportation
* Shared lunches too? I take my lunch alone, and my carpool packs his lunch. We have free time
* Inability to run some errands after work - unless it's somewhere you want to bring your carpool too
* More likely to get into an accident vs taking public transportation

Hope this helps!

How to Organize Finance : Tax Papers!

Some love, some hate tax season. For me, it's usually a guessing game. I can never figure out how many deductions I should keep so I pay/refund a minimal amount. I'll add that on to my things to do. ;)

You know the time is coming around when you start to open up mail and you receive a whole bunch of tax statements. W2's, Mortgage Statments, Investment Statements, etc. What do you do with them? Put them back in the stack of mail you're yet to sort? File it in the "I'll deal with it later" pile? What happened to all the other papers & receipts you've collected thruought the year, like Donation receipts? Can't find them? I've been there. And I hated it.

This is an easy fix - and it works well for us.

A Tax Envelope!

Nothing really fancy here. It's just a durable envelope with little binder pockets inside. Anything that has to do with taxes goes here. It really helps to have this especially since I'm starting to make monthly trips / pickups to Salvation Army. After I get my donation receipt - I enter it into my .xls with details (optional) and into the Tax Envelope it goes.

I usually have a checklist of paperwork that my Tax Preparer requests - like receipts for deductions, unreimbursed business expenses, and the other regular papers. The checklist changes every year depending on what they need. It's a good reference - I check to see if it belongs in the envelope. If it does, in it goes. It's also a good idea to keep a copy of last year's Tax Return and copies of checks if you paid. I'm a little anal - I print out and highlight the line item of the tax refund/payment and file it with that copy. Better safe than sorry!
I also keep a list of Tax Identifiers for reference like my daughter's day care. Can't call the day care on a Saturday!

As soon as the checklist is complete (Mid February) I call and make an appointment. A few days before going to our Accountant, I do the following :

: Print an Avery Label Templates. One for me, one for Mr. Broke.
It includes --
Tax Year
Last Name,First Name
Last 4 of Social
Phone#
I do this because unorganized people can easily shove our paper into another person's file. I put the phone # in because I saw how hard it was to get out of the Tax Program just to call someone if they have a question about something. I want our Accountant to love us.
Sure most of the informaton is already on the paper/statement, but you won't miss my NEON PINK label! Haven't seen anyone do this - and they like it! I place the labels in a uniform spot - usually on the bottom left of EACH paper, making sure I don't cover any important information. These papers won't be sent off to the IRS - so I can do whatever I please. Should there be something wrong with my bright pink labels, I can easily retrieve another clean copy.

: I make copies of EVERYTHING in the tax folder and put it in a temporary Tax Folder. There was a year when another Accounting office lost some pieces of papers! When the Tax Preparation is done, I file everything away in the long term filing cabinet.

: I also COUNT how many papers I bring to the Accountant. It's simple for me, since I don't need to submit receipts. As soon as everything's done, I re-count my papers and make sure that each paper is accounted for. See, Anal. I'm sure it's safe at their office - they deal with personal stuff all the time - but I'd still like to keep my business confidential. No one needs to have my papers if they don't need them. If they need them, they know where/how to contact me. I don't want my papers mixed in with another person's paperwork resulting in a ugly audit. - It's happened (not to me, fortunately)

I know it seems like a long drawn process, but because everything you need is there already - it doesn't take me more than 20 minutes to complete this preparation. I don't fear tax time like I used to!

Hope this helps!
Linking up to :: Works for Me Wednesday [WFMW]

Food for the Brain : Rich Dad Poor Dad

I've been listening to the Dave Ramsey Show on Podcasts everyday. One day - one of the things he said really stuck.

There are only two things that can change a person. The people he meets and the books he reads. So read, read, READ!

Growing up, I hated reading. HATED. I'd automagically skip to the answer keys on the back and do homework in half the time. I'd ctrl+f anything I need. I wasn't a bad student, in fact, I was active, had honors and found other things to do with my time vs doing homework.

After buying our home, I bumped into an organizing book that changed my life.



The One Minute Organizer changed my life. I was 18. I didn't know they made organizing books! Then, the obsession started. I read about 100 organizing books and I can say I'm a 'pretty' organized person. Things are at my fingertips and I know where most things are. The cleaning part is Mr. Broke's Job.

After struggling in finances, I discovered a few finace blogs. I didn't think much of them till now. Then, everyone started talking about "Baby Steps" and "Debt Snowball" I did a quick google search and stumbled upon Dave Ramsey. Then the world of Financial IQ opened up and I didn't know they made books about personal finance! This was amazing. The last part of 2010 was about reading and re-reading. I really liked Larry Winget's books too.

This week's read is Rich Dad Poor Dad. A classic. I'm a little late - A better late than never, but never late is better. LoL.

This really hit home.

As your cashflow grows, you can buy some luxuries. An important distinction is that rich people buy luxuries last, while the poor & middle class tend to buy luxuries first.

The poor and the middle class often buy luxuries such as big houses, diamonds, furs, jewelry or boats because they WANT to LOOK rich. They look rich, but in reality they just get deeper in debt on credit. The old-money people, the long-term rich, built their assets column first. Then, the income generated from the asset column bought their luxuries. The poor and middle class buy luxuries with their own sweat, blood and children's inheritence.

A wakeup call.

It's hump day, and I'm half way thru reading this book. On Track!

Tinola : A Filipino Recipe

MMM. Tinola. This was one of the first meals my mom taught me how to cook. It's a Filipino Soul Food. About 3 years ago, I can only cook 3 meals. Tinola (Chicken Soup), Sinigang (Pork/Beef Tamarind Soup) and Filipino Sweet Spaghetti. That's all I had in rotation. Back then, we'd get tired of the same 3 meal rotation and would always go out to eat out or take out. No wonder our dining expense (per mint.com) was >$600 / month!

It's been a while since I cooked a good batch of Tinola. My daughter would always ask for Rice & Soup. I on the other hand, wanted to try out recipes - what can I say? I wanted to expand my baby culinary expertise. LoL.

Today, I went to Lunardi's
. It was traffic going back home & I thought I'd save some time and let the traffic die out while I shop for food. Before roaming around the aisles, I took a look @ their ad. Organic Baby Bok Choy? NO WAY! I.LOVE.Bok Choy. On Sale? HELL YES! Grabbed a few bunches and grabbed some Fulton Valley Organic Chicken Legs & Thighs which I asked the butcher to cut up in smaller pieces. Grabbed some other essentials - Milk, Yogurt (thank god I have an Ap for keeping tabs on what I'm out of. And back home I went. A soon to be organic meal + essentials for less than $10. I also saved $0.05 for brining my own grocery bag which I always keep with me in the car.

As soon as I got home, I popped the pot in the burner and let that heat up while I was putting groceries away.

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients :

E.V.O.O - enough to saute
Ginger - Peeled and sliced. Make them big enough to pick out before serving (although I like ginger, I hate biting into it thinking it's a big juicy piece of chicken. =])
Chopped Onions - I always pre-chop/slice onions and put them in a NonBPA plastic container in the freezer. Only have to cut up onions once all in 1 big batch)
Chicken - I like dark meat. I haven't tried Tinola with chicken breasts, but I would think it would taste a lot leaner. One of the joys of this is the Chicken Fat - explained later.
Water
Fish Sauce (Patis)
Bok Choy - or Spinach. Honestly think that any leafy dark green would do. I tried this with Brocolli before . . it wasn't the business.

Let's make it!
1) Heat up a pan and add a slash of EVOO. Toss in the ginger and stir until the pot becomes fragrant & ginger gets a tad softer. Add the onions. Stir for a little bit then add a sprinkle of Kosher Salt to speed up the process. I'm impatient and I learned this tip from one of my foodie gurus. Transfer this to a plate and set aside.
2) Chicken Juice. Filipinos would usually add chicken after the onions and let that brown, but I learned this trick from a friend. I've tried both ways and I think I get more flavor using this method. I know it's probably just chicken fat, but it makes any chicken dish so flavorful! Place the cleanly washed chicken into the pot and add a splash of water. Cover the pot and let it 'sweat' This process usually takes 10 minutes on high heat. Open the pot, get a nice chicken facial, and then re-place the ginger & onions. Add more water to cover the chicken & let it boil/simmer. Let the chicken cook - no to bloody chicken!
3) When the chicken is almost done, Add a splash of Fish Sauce (Patis) be gentle. It's some potent stuff! This is my mom's secret ingredient. Salt just doesn't give the soup enough soul.
4) About 5 minutes before done, add the greens. Let it wilt? a bit.
5) Serve over (brown) rice with a side of fish sauce to taste.

There you have it. My best recipe - in itt's Organic Version. $5.26 for an Organic Dinner & Left Over Lunches.

Let me know if you have any questions!
Kain Na (Let's Eat!)