FitBit Data - Update # 1

Earlier I posted about my new FitBit and improving my fitness through data.

A week or so into using the FitBit, I've determined the following.  I am averaging about 5,400 steps a day which is well below my goal of 10,000 steps per day.  On exercise days, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I obviously do better and approach 8,000 to 8,500 steps on average.  On non-exercise days (Tuesday and Thursday) I've improved a bit by watching my FitBit data, and I've moved my average step count from about 3,500 to 4,000 steps on average. Certain guidance I've found suggests a reasonable goal of improving week over week step numbers by 20%

Most surprising is my weekend step count which is dismal.  On days I have the most free time, it appears that I am stepping/moving the least.  I do know what happens, I get up and I go out to run errands (Saturday) which doesn't involve that much walking since I'm in my car.  On Sunday, I tend to either be at the office or relaxing at home.

Analyzing the tracking data from my FitBit also reveals that my activity level is color coded.  My exercise steps are coded as green, less active is orange and sedentary is red.  I can't find any information as to whqt the colors are supposed to mean, but I can guess.

I am working on setting up a TV/DVD player in the garage and I have a plan to do Zumba, which involves lots of steps, twice a week.  But, so far, I've been having technology problems.  Yesterday I had the video working but not the sound, then in trying to get the sound working I lost the video.  Mr. Sam said he would work on these issues for me today (I hope he does).

Otherwise, I need to walk Snarfle the dog when I get home each night.

Remote Check Deposit

Between the collection of rent checks and reimbursements from work, I can find myself at the Wells Fargo ATM depositing checks multiple times in one week.  While I'm happy to have the money, each of those trips to the ATM takes at least 15 minutes.  And, for some reason my local ATM seems to be out of order on a regular basis so at least one in ten trips requires a second trip to the next ATM.

I just recently learned, while I was at the ATM on Saturday, that Wells Fargo now has smartphone deposits.     I already had the Wells Fargo app for my iPhone so it was easy to simply click on a tab on the app to add remote deposits to my available services.  One of the helpful Wells Fargo bankers walked me through how it works and the process is super easy.  You simply sign into your account on your iPhone, you select mobile deposit from the menu options, take a photo of the front of the check and then the bank, select the account where you want the money to go, type in the amount and deposit the check.  Then you hold onto the check for fourteen days and then destroy it.

I'm very excited about this new option and I think its going to save me at least an hour of time a month.

Chase-ing Reward Points

At present, we have one credit card, a Chase Freedom rewards credit card.  As you know, if you follow this blog, we don't use credit on a day to day basis.  Instead, we use credit for travel and business related expenses.  And by business, I mean primarily relating to our full time jobs and not our real estate investments.     Although, at present we do have some, rental property related, AC repair charges on the card.

The Chase Freedom card provides a 1% cash back rewards on all purchases, and then 5% cash back on certain category of goods and services changes on a quarter basis.  And for the quarter beginning on July 1, 2012 the 5% cash back rewards are for gas and restaurant charges.

I don't normally chase reward points because it goes against our philosophy of:  (1) avoiding debt; (2) no credit for day to day purchases; (3) the zen of our allowance system; and (4) the zen of sticking to present dollars in our present day to day life.  So, I never seek out the 1% cash back in day to day transactions, but we do put large purchases on this card, i.e. A/C repair, Mr. Sam's recent certification classes, etc. to get the rewards (thereby getting a discount).  We do pay off the credit card in full without incurring interest fees since to do otherwise would wipe out any rewards benefit.

But, I'm tempted on this one (which is, of course, Chase's goal) to at least put gas on my credit card for the next three months.  I figure that our gas expenses are not going to be influenced by the carrot of reward points.  Our gas costs are what they are and if I'm not increasing my spending in this category, it probably makes sense to get that cash back.

What say you?  Do you chase rewards regularly, on a case by case basis, or never?  

Recession Map from Moody's Analyitcs

Here is a handy map from Moody's Analytics that you can use to figure out if your city is still in recession, at risk, in recovery or expanding.

For me, the map tells me that my closest city, the one in which I work is in recovery.

Carlos ???

We have lived in our house since 2004 and we are one of the few people these days that still has a home telephone.  The telephone number assigned to our home telephone has been my number since 1998.  

For the last few years, every six months or so, 70% of our home telephone calls, that we have answered, have been collection calls for Carlos [last name redacted].  At present, our home telephone answering machine is full.  When I get around to listening to the messages 90% of the calls will be collections calls for Carlos.  Bank of America is desperate to reach him and has been for years.  The calls come in waves, I will, at times, put in the effort to call back some of these collectors and ask them to "disassociate this number from Carlos."  Sometimes my effort pays off  some collection agencies are receptive and cooperative, others simply hang up on me.

One of my major complaints is that for the vast majority of these calls, which are automated, there is no way to indicate that they are calling the wrong number.  Often the only option is to press #, or whatever, if I AM Carlos.  Recently, I tried this option, I pressed # indicating that yes I was Carlos and was transferred to a live person.  Thereafter,  I tried to explain to that person that they were calling the wrong number, half way through my explanation they hung up on me.  Then 5 minutes later I got a second call, this time from a live person, who again asked for Carlos.  I'm assuming that the follow up call was from the same collection agency and I'm further assuming that I received a second call because I had positively indicated that I was Carlos.

My husband just doesn't answer our home phone, but it is my telephone number why can't I answer it assuming that it is a call for me or for him?  I pay for the telephone number and service, don't I have some right to use it.  I would send out cease and desist letters to set up a law suit for these automated calls, but I don't know how I could do so since I don't know who is calling, most of the time, and I don't have the account or loan number they are calling on.

Any thoughts?

Dynamic Pricing

You, like me, have probably experienced dynamic pricing at some point in your life.  We all pay more for airline tickets during the holidays.  Concert tickets for the most popular bands are way more expensive.  And Ticketmaster and some sports teams are embracing the idea, also known as real time pricing, with new vigor.  So soon, if not now, you may pay more or less for a similar seat at the ball game based on when you buy.

But, you might be surprised to learn that dynamic pricing is being utilized across many type of regular consumer goods.  Online, if you click on a particular shirt, dress or shoes, or save something to your virtual shopping bag or basket (which I do all the time, virtual shopping helps to satisfy my shopping urges) you might end up paying more for that purchase.  And if you are willing to pay more for goods, or shop at pricier web stores, think Neiman Marcus and Saks 5th Ave., next time you want to buy that t-shirt on line at J. Crew you might be surprised that you'll pay more than someone whose online history shows that they shop at Target.  This Slate article describes the mysterious practice of online dynamic pricing.

I swear, I recently fell victim to this practice at least twice that I know of.  I was in the hunt for a doggy life jacket for our old dog Snarfle as I plan for a west coast fishing trip.  I did some research and found a highly rated life jacket available online at Amazon.  The price was $18 when I saved it to my Amazon shopping cart.  When I went back to purchase the life jacket the price had increased to $26.  I assume, in this instance, the price had gone up based on inventory, there was only one life jacket in size large in stock.

More nefarious, I recently purchased a cocktail dress at Neiman Marcus (online) and did so at work using my work computer.  As an aside, the dress was on super sale and it was for a charity, black-tie event.  I'm not in the habit of shopping at Neiman Marcus.  And as a further aside, I ended up returning the dress due to fit issues.

Thereafter, I was doing some online shopping at J. Crew, J. Crew is my go to place for casual clothes, and had looked at purchasing some items for said upcoming vacation.  I was interrupted and so picked up my online shopping at home and I swear the pricing was different between my home computer experience and my work computer experience. I had read the Slate article, linked above, so I wasn't sure if I was just being paranoid.  But today I am at work so I double checked and the pricing at J. Crew is different using my work computer vs. my home computer.  So, I cleared all my cookies on my work computer and I got, wait for it, a third price.  As an aside, my work computer is routed through a server located in a large city in the north east.  So, if J. Crew is trying to figure out who I am and what price I'll pay for something, before I log into my J. Crew account, it thinks I live in a pricey city.

I assume there are pricing differences in brick and mortar stores as well, so I guess I should not be surprised that on-line retailers will work to charge the most they can depending on where I am located, but pricing based on perceived tolerance is beyond annoying.

Diving into 2012

While we have not finished out our 2011 year end assessment and we have not completed our 2012 Annual Spending Plan or 2012 Savings Goals, we have already started to make progress tidying up our financial house.

We were having trouble with our DirecTv box, so we had to call in to request a replacement box.  While we had them on the phone we spoke to customer service and requested a reduction in our monthly bill.  I have done this before and I have always had success.  This time around the reduced our bill by $20 per month for one year which will save us $240 in 2012.  We also got ShowTime, a premium channel, free for three months.  We will have to call to cancel ShowTime or we will be billed, so I put it right into my iPhone calendar while we were on the phone with them so I won't forget.  That is an extra $240 we can put towards prepayment of our mortgage or add to savings or even spend it on something more exciting.

Getting your financial life in order doesn't always mean you have to cut out things you enjoy, like pay t.v., rather you can ask for a deal and chances are good you might get one because DirecTv will spend less on giving us a discount vs. trying to get another new customer.

My First 2012 New Year's Resolution

Stop trying to be so dang efficient by multi-tasking.  Said another way, focus on task at a time.

Today was the second time I've bungled an iPhone software update by trying to do it at work on my work PC.  Of course, we are about to go out of town, tomorrow, of course I needed the update, but why try to do so from work when I know I might have trouble completing the update because (1) I am on a PC and (2) I am on a work PC with certain security settings.  So here I am, now, without a phone trying to figure out how to restore it which means from home on my Mac or a trip to the AT&T store or both.  And I'm distracted by this problem, which I created myself, instead of getting my work done before I head out on my trip.

How did I end up in this situation?  Trying to get it done now, in the background, while working because that would save me time.  Thinking that the work PC related problems I had before would be different this time.  Why would they be different because I've figured out how to work around them in the past (of course never with an update has it worked).

I really am going to resolve to do one thing at a time in 2012.  Multi-tasking never seems to save me any time.