We're Moving...

...to Columbus, OH! Well, we now know what we're doing and where we're moving. It's a big relief, but now we have the harder part to get through. Finding an apartment. We've been using Craig's List and other apartment searching sites, but Craig's list is my favorite. We have a few to look at this weekend, and we hope to find the perfect place and put a deposit on it this weekend. It would be great to have our new address so that we can get a lot of little things done. The most stressful part of our move is that it's out of state, so we need to get new driver's licenses and a new tag. Then there's all the utilities, deposits, etc. We're kind of used to the process, but it doesn't make any less of a hassle.

SMB

Bank Shopping

I have been researching the best banks in our area lately because I'm not really 100% happy with Chase. I like some things about them though. Their online banking interface is nice and they are quick to process things, but I don't like the "free" checking account we have because for us, it's hardly free.

If you have Direct Deposit and don't plan on using outside ATM's then Chase would be fine for you. We don't have Direct Deposit, and are often places that don't have a Chase ATM, so it's not that great for us. I'm trying to save as much as possible, so $4 for withdrawing at a non-chase ATM ($2 Chase charge, $2 other bank charge) plus the $6/mo service fee that we get charged for not having DD adds up. Lets say we use a non chase ATM three times a month and let's add in our $6/mo fee. That comes to...

$144 in ATM fees per year and
$72 in Service fees per year
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$216 Total for our Chase "Free" Checking Account

Luckily we probably only use a non-chase ATM about 8-10 times a year. That still adds up to approximately $112 a year. That's just not good enough for me. So I am bank shopping with the help of Bankrate.com.

So far the best-looking account to me is the National City Free Checking Account. This account IS ACTUALLY free. Check it out.

And even better if you:

"Have monthly automatic activity — ACH direct deposit of your paycheck, Online Bill Payment or ACH debit (car loan or utility payment, etc.)" and choose the "Free Checking Plus" account you'll get any fees charged by other banks for ATM use refunded to you.

Sounds like an awesome account especially since both the "Free Checking" and "Free Checking Plus" come with free checks.

Any thoughts?

SMB

progress report

In the list of things I put in my last posting, the first thing on my list was "Start walking/running". So that is the first thing I have decide to make a routine of. I'm proud to report that the next morning after I wrote that entry, I got up and walked at 7:30am for about 15 minutes. That's not a lot, but it's a start. This morning I didn't do as well with getting up, (I stayed up too late) but I still got up at 7:30am and took a walk. When I got outside, it was starting to rain, it was light, so I decided to go anyway so that I wouldn't get out of my routine so early. By the time I got almost to the place where I turned around last time, I turned around and started running back because the rain was getting harder. So, I have been doing good for the last two mornings, and I hope to keep it up.

My goal is to be able to run that distance every morning. I'm not sure how long that will take, but hopefully only a couple of months.

SMB

so inspired.

I just subscribed to zenhabits. A really motivating blog that inspired me to really start trying to tackle certain things that I keep saying "I'll do one day". What really got me thinking that I want to finally start making myself do the things that I really want to do, but just keep putting off, is Leo's (the blogger behind zenhabits) story. So here's my list. I wont try to tackle everything at one time, but I want to get it onto something more visual.

01. Start walking/running.

02. Read more.

03. Spend less time watching tv.

04. Build a good-sized emergency fund.

05. Learn French.

06. Learn Spanish.

07. Draw and paint more.

08. Reduce clutter.

09. Eat healthier.

10. Take vitamins regularly.

11. Learn to enjoy cooking.

12. Get into a regular cleaning routine.

So that's a pretty long list, but only a couple things require money, I can do 10 of those things without spending an extra dime. Pretty good reason not to put them off anymore. I'll try to get started and post updates on how I'm doing on my list.

SMB