Green Panda Treehouse

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I went online to make sure my individual checking account transferred the money to my joint account. It did. I then noticed that the balance available seemed off. My credit card payment was going to be sent tomorrow, so I check my pending bill payments and it didn’t show up. Alarmed, I went into the bill pay system to check it out and sure enough it was there. Why is Wachovia hiding an upcoming withdrawal? It’s like the bank is setting up people to fail.

I really appreciate how ING Direct’s Electric Orange account shows you upcoming bill when you select your account. It helps me keep track of my balances. Ok, that’s it for my little vent. How do you feel about your bank’s online system? Is it easy to use? Is it accurate and/or helpful?

I found some great articles on managing your bank accounts:

• Simple Banking — Alien Abduction Packet Part 1 from Mrs. Micah.
• The Simple Dollar presents  How To Compare Competing Bank Accounts
•  Get your bank accounts in order from Ramit
• Gather Little by Little shows you that can Save Money with Wachovia’s Way2Save

Photo Credit: by alborzshawn

Welcome!

If you’re visiting from US News’ AlphanConsumer, thank you for visiting my blog. The post was inspired by my last 2 apartments.

Here’s an overview of some of my most popular posts to get started:

Banking

• Does Your Bank Care About Online Banking Security?
• Another Reason Why I Hate Bank of America
• Make Banks Treat You Like The Valued Customer You Are
• Bank of America Raises ATM Fees

Budget & Savings

• His, Mine, and Ours: How We Pay Our Bills and Budget
• Rebuilding An Emergency Fund
• Eat Healthier & Save Money: Brownbag Your Lunch
• Build a Doable Budget in 2 Weeks
• Easy Ways to Get an Emergency Fund Started

Credit Cards

• How to Use Credit Cards Wisely
• I Got a Lower Rate on the Credit Card I Use
• Rich College Student: Understand Your Credit Cards
• Top 5 Credit Card Mistakes

Debt

• Worst Credit Card Offer I’ve Seen
• 5 Ways to Get Out of Debt
• Pay Off Debt First or Start Savings (Chicken or the Egg)

Education

• Getting The Most Financial Aid
• CLEP Can Reduce Your Student Loans
• Which Foreign Language Should I Learn?

Life

• What’s in My Wallet?
• Frugal Pet Care
• How to Avoid Arguing About Money
• 3 Ways To Wisely Spend Your Bonus
• Family and Finances

Here’s a series describing our struggle to get our money back from a car mechanic’s negligence.

Car Repairs Gone Bad Series:

• Car Repairs Gone Bad: When a Shop Refuses to Pay for Damages
• Car Repairs Gone Bad: When a Shop Refuses To Pay Part Duex
• Car Repairs Gone Bad: When a Shop Refuses To Pay Part Three
• How to Pitch Your Story to the Local News
• Small Claims Court: Basic Information
• Our Day in Court
• Win in Court!

Feel free to subscribe to my site to get the latest delivered to your inbox.

Photo Credit: ivanx

A new month means an update of the progress we’ve made on my goals so far this year. I’m hoping that by sharing it, it holds me accountable.

Let me first review my goals for this year:

• Income: I would like to earn $37,000 for the year.
• Spending: I’m going to continue cutting back on eating out to twice a week, including weekends.
• Investing: I’m going to enroll in my company’s 401(k) and meet the employer match. I’ll also continue to contribute to my Roth IRA.
• Saving: I will have $2,000 in my emergency fund by September 1, 2008. I would also like to put our income tax return into our house fund toward paying down the car loan.
• Debt: I would like to pay off my car loan by July 31, 2008. I would like to have my car loan out before I have to start paying student loans.

Here’s how I’m doing:

• Income: I am happy with this goal and unless something major happens, I’m good to go on this one.
• Spending: April took a lot of money out of my budget and I spent my emergency fund getting settled in the new city. I have rebuilt it back up to the pre-move amount.
• Investing: I’ve been investing n my Roth IRA still. The balance is starting to rise again. I use index funds and they were fluctuating a bit.
• Saving: I’m glad that I’ve automated my savings. The hectic pace of the move has distracted me on keeping tabs on everything.
• Debt: I’m still pushing back the car loan pay off to August 31,2008 as this move depleted some money from our savings. Whenever we get the stimulus check, we’ll put it towards the car loan. Any income from the blog is also going to go towards this debt. Thank you for all your support.

April has definitely been a month of adjustments. My work schedule is 1/2 day on Monday and regular hours Tuesday through Friday. I really my job and I love my coworkers. We went salsa dancing Thursday with some coworkers and had a blast.

We got the cars registered and I have to get an inspection done on Wednesday. My car failed today due to a sensor light. It should be fine the second time around. I’m hoping May will be a great month for my goals AND just overall.

I just want to congratulate my brother-in-law who’ll graduate Friday and my best buddy from high school who is graduating Saturday. They’ve both worked hard and I wish them the best. I’m looking forward to celebrating with them.