Happy Halloween, everyone! It's so nice that it falls on a Friday this year. No worries about getting up tomorrow after being out late. I don't have any really big plans for tonight. My boyfriend and I are eating a nice dinner out with another couple and a friend. I've never been to the restaurant before, but it's a really nice steakhouse and the online menu doesn't list prices. That can't be a good thing, right? We're going there because my boyfriend has a $50 gift certificate. I'm thinking that won't even be enough cover his portion of the bill. But oh well. I love trying new restaurants and we are saving $50 overall (well, he is).

After dinner I'm thinking that we'll just go back to someone's place and hang out and drink. I'm awful at dealing with large crowds, so being in a packed bar isn't really something I want to do. And most bars are really packed on Halloween. So, getting some booze and staying in will be really cheap. Maybe it will even out the large bill for dinner.

Everyone have fun tonight and be safe!

I think that I came up with a strategy to pay off my student loans from undergrad. I only owe about $7,220 right now. These were subsidized loans, though, so they've gone into deferral while I'm in grad school and the government pays the interest during that time. Not bad, huh?!?

The loan will be in deferral until May 2011. So, I'm going to start stashing money beginning in January 2009. If I put away $260 every month for 28 months, I'll have $7,280 by May 1, 2011!! That will be enough to pay the entire loan off!! And there's no point in me paying it off early if I'm not being charged interest during the deferral period, so I'll be making interest off that money too (I'll just create a new ING Direct account).

I'm excited that I have a plan for that!! Woo!

So, the post about how I just paid a huge bill in because I'm impatient got me thinking about other ways that I'm awful with money. Here's a few (I'm sure there's more):

• I've never balanced my checkbook. I never saw a reason too. I always have a general idea about how much is in my account, so I don't keep track of what's going in and out. Now that all of this information is online, I check that quite often and peruse through it to see if anything looks out of whack.
• I don't pay myself first. When I get paid, I look at what money was left at the end of the previous pay period and move that over to my ING Direct account. I think that's safer than paying yourself first and possibly running low on funds. Of course, that could probably be avoided if I balanced my checkbook, right?
• I'm not a DIYer. I'm awful at home improvement type stuff. I'd gladly pay someone to do something for me in order to avoid the hassle. Usually if I try to do something, I make it worse and it costs me more money in the long run. I'm more than willing to pay for convenience.
• I've never lived off a budget. I've made them before, but never actually tried to keep to them. I'm thinking of trying, but there's always something fun that comes up that I can't say no to. Maybe I'll work on this.
• I'm an impulse buyer. Sometimes I just get the urge for something and go out and buy it. I have restraint for the most part, but there's definitely times when I just want something regardless.

So, there it is. Lots of flaws (and probably a lot more I haven't admitted to)

So, my checking account has a maintenance fee of $9 a month if your balance goes below $2,500. I usually move all my money over to my ING Direct account, so my regular checking account always falls below $2,500 at come point in the month. I've been meaning to change it to a free checking account that doesn't have any maintenance fees, but, well, I was lazy. I just switched it over.

Laziness can be expensive!! At $9 a month, that's $108 a year!

I just cashed out my points in OpinionOutpost.com for a total of $51.70. It takes me a couple-few months to hit the $50 minimum to cash out, but I hit it yesterday, so I'll take the cash!!! The check with take 4-8 weeks to get to me, though. Still, it's not bad.

So Prosper is down while they are registering with the SEC. I've been wondering if it's such a great investment now with the economy being what it is. Since people are experiencing tougher times right now, it seems as though defaults on loans would increase. And Prosper loans are unsecured, so lenders are taking on quite a bit of risk. I guess the only way to decrease that risk is to diversify by making many smaller loans to different individuals.

I only have 5 Prosper loans out and haven't had anyone default so far. Has anyone else had that experience and have some insight into the concerns that probably many people have?

Well, I was going to try to make it through October without turning my heat on at all. I was doing so good!! I got home this morning and the thermostat said 62 degrees, so I turned the heat on. That's acceptable, right? Hmm....