Some folks get me thinking. That’s not always comfortable.

Sweeps posted in a Thread entitled Where Do You Draw the Line: “I was a little disappointed when I looked in this thread because I thought it meant: Where do you draw the line on being frugal? I don't mean to offend anyone, but I think there are a few people who have gone to the extreme with being frugal…. What really makes me scratch my head is when someone works so hard to save a few pennies while they overlook very big things like:
» Taking advantage of the tax savings and potentially company matching of retirement plans
» Dropping unnecessary insurance coverage and/or raising deductibles
» Using cash-rewards credit cards (or even cash-rewards debit cards)
» Paying bills with online bill pay to avoid the use of envelopes, stamps, checks and wasted time
» Paying down highest-interest debt first, instead of paying off something else that may give a warm-and-fuzzy feeling but makes less of a financial impact.
» etc. etc. etc.

So I am evaluating…am I sweating the small stuff without paying attention to the big stuff?

Well, no work match on retirement, so I'm okay there. I’m good on insurance, high deductibles and not over insured. I don’t have a cash-back card...I could, and should, look into it, but say I got 5% on everything on my card, I’m looking at maybe $15 a month maximum. Now that’s more than eight pound s of cheese, which is real, but for me, not a “very big thing.” Online bill pay? Yeah, I love it, but at half the postage for 4 household bills a month that’s 78 cents for me. And I have no debt, so I don’t need to worry about paying off in a different order. So the initial list, I’m okay with.

But how about that [etc. etc. etc,?

Here’s where I am tackling my own issues. I am socking away big bucks on My Challenge. Prior to The Challenge my savings were in good shape. The bad thing is until recently I let my savings sit in a 1% account. I had a IRA (rollover from prior 401k) that I didn’t add to and I didn’t manage its allocation. I have a 457b deferred compensation plan that I make contributions but I don’t manage the allocation.

I am making progress. I just opened a Roth IRA. I moved a large chunk of savings into ED and ING accounts. (I know ING isn’t great but the $25 bonus was compelling, and it’s not 1 %.) I am facing my fears and working at not being intimidated.

Okay, boring banking chatter in the middle of exciting frugfality. But that’s the problem in my head; garage saling is fun, finding out how to invest for retirement is not. Sweeps point is well taken; while saving the (shiny!) pennies, I’ll make sure that all aspects of my financial house are in order. It will be a journey-I didn’t become frugal overnight-but I should continue to make solid progress.

Why doesn’t that Sweeps character have a bog, huh?