I finally opened a Roth IRA

After making it a goal probably about a year and a half ago, I finally opened a Roth IRA. I chose to do so through Vanguard because they have a pretty low expense ratio, and because they are well-rated. I went with their Total Stock Market Index Fund, because it's pretty steady, and I'm not a big risk-taker. :)

Vanguard makes the whole process very easy. The main painful part is reading the long documents that you have to agree to before completing the process. However, the material in these made me think that they were probably pretty standard. The other annoying thing was that I filled everything out, but then wanted to print out the documents and read them before signing, and I couldn't find an easy way to save my progress once I got to the point of printing out the documents.

They require an initial investment of $3000, so you do have to save up a bit before you can open one. I also plan to continue to contribute monthly in order to max out my yearly allowable amount, which I had thought was $5500, but is apparently only $5000.

But hooray for FINALLY opening a Roth IRA. Next to find out more about Lending Club or a similar service. It's sounds like a good way to invest some money and earn a higher rate of return.

Wedding Nonsense, Part I

My boyfriend and I are nearing the point where a wedding is probably somewhere on the horizon. Still very faint in the distance, but there. As a librarian, I have of course been reading about weddings and the wedding industry. I discovered a term that I absolutely love: The Wedding Industrial Complex.

Such a great descriptor. And all too true. I simply cannot fathom spending $10,000+ on a single day, but the wedding industrial complex makes it so hard to avoid it. So this is the start of a series of posts on the various ridiculous (as I see them, anyway) aspects of the wedding industry and ideas for avoiding them.

Post I: Everyone always says you should get a diamond engagement ring. "Diamonds are traditional." "Go for a big diamond, especially if your boyfriend has the money." Well, I have recently read in two different books that the idea of a diamond engagement ring became popular when one of DeBeers' marketers came up with the slogan "A Diamond is Forever" in the 1930s or 1940s. So really, a diamond is not all that traditional. I will probably be skipping that and going for a gemstone. :)

Living with One Car

Last December, I was in a rear-end collision. Minus some whiplash discomfort, I was fine. My car, however, was not. It did what any good Honda Civic should do. It crumpled. And the frame was damaged, thus the car was totalled. I got a reasonable amount of money for it from the car insurance of the woman who hit me. No real complaints there.

Not particularly in the mood to shop for a new car, my boyfriend and I decided to see how things would go for us with just one car. We'd been talking about it for a while anyway.

Six months later, things are going pretty well. We really don't have too much trouble with it - sometimes I have to get up at 4:30am to take him to the airport for work, or we have to rearrange a bit, but it really hasn't been all that inconvenient. Of course, we are within walking and biking distance of our places of work, which helps a lot. Public transportation is also an option, although we haven't resorted to it yet.

He has a 1997 Civic (mine was a 2002, and we joke that the wrong car was totalled), so we'll probably need to replace that eventually, but for now, it's fine.

It's great to save money on car insurance, annual inspections, license renewals, oil changes, maintenance, etc. Well worth trying if your situation would make it possible. Plus, walking to and from work is so freeing! :)

I had no idea I could eat that!

My boyfriend and I are participating in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year. It's both wonderful and challenging. It's great because it's all so fresh and local. And we get more than just fruits and veggies - free range eggs, cheeses, potted herbs, cider, mushrooms, and more! But it's also a bit tricky for two people to eat all the food we get each week. I've resorted to giving away a few things, which my coworkers certainly don't mind. It can also be difficult to figure out things to make with everything we get.

Another interesting aspect of the CSA has been eating foods that I've never eaten before - kale, broccoli rabe, scapes, ramps, and more. This week we'll be receiving purslane, which I've weeded out of many gardens without ever realizing it is an edible and tasty treat (so they say - I've yet to try it). I don't know why, but the fact that such a common weed is edible is just crazy to me. I know we can eat dandelions, but they're so bitter that I wouldn't want to. This one is supposed to be quite good. We shall see.