I like to think of myself as one of the more transparent personal finance bloggers out there. You all know how much we spend on groceries, how much I make on this blog, and how I proposed to Girl Ninja. I guess this makes you stalkers, right?

Well today, I wanted to give you an opportunity to step up the creepiness factor to a whole new level and get inside my brain. I have the day off work, and since the only thing on my calendar at this point is “Sleep in” and “Listen to MMMmmm Bop on repeat all day” I thought it would be cool to dedicate a day to conversing with you all.

Typically I’m not the best responder to comments. I try and limit my time on PDITF to writing posts. That way I can give Girl Ninja all the attention she deserves when she gets home from work. But since I will be home all day, and she will be working all day (this is how life was meant to be) I will respond to EVERY question left for me. Pinky promise.

So reader, do you want to know more about my thoughts on marriage? Do you want to know how much I made blogging last month? Do you want to know what scares me (besides clowns)? You ask, I answer. It’s that simple.

Let the games begin.

p.s. If you have no interest in asking me a question or getting to know me better, perhaps you would rather read this interview I did for MSN Money (You have to scroll through because I’m the 8th “Financial Expert” interviewed).

p.p.s. If you have no desire to ask me questions AND no desire to read that article then this should be up your alley.

p.p.p.s. I grew my facial hair out for a week so I could rock a monkey-tail-beard for a day. How do you think it turned out?

Girl Ninja and I have made multiple intentional decisions on how we can best reign in spending and control our costs. We don’t have cable, we rent a one bedroom apartment, and we try to buy as much stuff as we can on sale. We intentionally cut costs to save money.

Last night, however, I started thinking about all the ways I unintentionally save money. Turns out, I’m even more thrifty than I realized. Here are some ways I’ve unknowingly been saving some serious coin…

Alcohol:

I only know a handful of people like myself. People that hate alcohol. This is not a religious thing, but more a I-hate-the-way-it-tastes kind of thing. It amazes me how much some people wish I drank. I swear every time I go out someone is begging me to try their glass of wine, their beer, or their rum and coke, as though, my taste buds will suddenly do a 180 and be in alcohol heaven. I’ve done a lot of taste tasting over the years and the scale in which I use to describe alcoholic beverages ranges from “extremely disgusting to moderately disgusting”. I’m yet to find a drink I legitimately enjoy. Since I’ve never bought alcohol before, I don’t really know how much I’m saving. I’ll make a completely uneducated guess and assume most other 20-somethings probably drop between $30 and $200 a month on alcohol. Is that a good guess? How much do you spend?

Haircuts:

If you haven’t noticed in the various pictures I’ve posted over the years, my head is shaved. After my freshmen year of college I decided it was time to say goodbye to my long flowing locks and get the clippers out. That was seven years ago. I haven’t paid for a single haircut since. Prior to buzzing it all off, I was probably getting my hair cut once every two months. At $20/cut that works out to a total savings of $840 over the years. The only thing I miss about going to get my hair did, was the way the stylist would massage my scalp under hot water. Can I get an amen?!

Coffee:

I must have some extremely jacked up taste buds, cause not only do I hate the taste of alcohol, but the taste of coffee (or anything with coffee in it) makes me want to projectile vomit all over a white cat (I hate cats). Girl Ninja loves her some Starbucks. It’s a good thing I don’t, otherwise we’d probably be there every day. She does her best to minimize her “Tall non-fat vanilla latte” purchases, but probably averages two a week. If I was joining her each trip that would be an additional $7/week out of our pockets, or $364 over the course of a year. Extrapolate that over the last 10 years and we are talking THOUSANDS of dollars saved by not liking the flavor of coffee. Booya for sensitive taste buds. 

Video Games:

I may have to give up my man card for mentioning this one, but I don’t really get the point of video games. I played them in elementary and middle school, but by the time I got to high school I cared more about my outfit, girls, and sports then I did about what type of gun Lara Croft used. While video game consoles are reasonably priced (most around $200), the video games are a budget killer. At $40 to $80 a pop, I don’t know how gamers sustain themselves. Oh that’s right, they never go outside and they all live in their mother’s basements. Kidding….kind of. Thank goodness World Of Warcraft and NCAA Football ain’t my thing.

Okay now that I’ve pissed a bunch of video-gamers off, it’s time I step down and give you an opportunity to share some ways you’ve unintentionally saved some scrilla (that means money for the less cultured). Do you hate sweets? Never shave your armpits? Or do use public transportation? It might take a minute to think something up, but when you do drop a comment below.

It seems like for every one awesome company there are about 50 bazillion horrible ones. I personally believe in the power of voting with your dollar. If a company sucks, I wont shop there. If a company is amazing, I become a loyal customer. Pretty straightforward if you ask me. Today, I figured I’d share with you the businesses I heart the most.

Am I the only person out there that feels like a kid in a candy store when you enter Costco? Seriously, it’s the best place on earth. They have gadgets for the guys, clothes and jewelry for the ladies, and toys/books for the kiddos. Unlike most shopping trips, everyone looks forward to Costco…especially on Sunday when they offer a million different free samples. I think I ate about 20 of the chicken teriyaki samplers they were passing out last weekend…shhhh, don’t tell on me

Uh oh, are you noticing a trend here? Both Costco and REI were started in Seattle, WA (representin’ the Pacific Northwest like a boss). Now REI is definitely not as cheap as some of its competitors, but it’s definitely the best. Their return policy is incredible and their customer service is second to none. I’m always down to pay a little more up front if it means I’m going to get great service down the road. Do they have REIs in your area?

I swear I’m not doing this on purpose, but yes another Seattle based business tops my list. While I definitely don’t worship Nordies like Girl Ninja does, I totally understand why she shops there. The staff is helpful and the clothes are of highest quality. I only shop at Nordstrom once a year (on my birthday), but the clothes I get from there always seem to be my favorite. Like REI and Costco, Nordstrom also has an incredible return policy. No receipt? No problem!

While I’m not lucky enough to be a member of USAA (have to be in the military or the offspring of a vet to qualify), I’ve heard nothing but good things. They pride themselves on serving their members, and serve their members they do. Because of their sound business principles, they’ve weathered the economic storm and are as popular as ever. Places like Bank of America, can’t say the same. You know why? ‘Cause Bank of America sucks. USAA doesn’t.

I’m tempted to keep going, but I should probably stop with these four because they really are in a league of their own. My runners up would be Amazon (yet another Seattle company), Target (not as great as Costco, but miles ahead of Wal-mart), and the non profit Invisible Children (they’re just cool dudes doing cool things). What are some of your favorite businesses? What makes them so special to you? Where will you NEVER shop again? Do you believe in the power of voting with your dollar?

From time to time I like to challenge you creepy blog readers to get a little vulnerable by answering a few questions. These five simple questions say a lot about a persons current financial state. Yeah I know it’s taboo to ask most of these questions in the real world, but this is the virtual world so normal rules don’t apply. Provide as much information as you want (you can comment as “anonymous” if you prefer). Okay, on to the questions…

1. How much do you make?

2. What is your job title, or what industry do you work in, how old are you, and where do you live? This will help provide some context for question one.

3. How much debt do you have? Break it down by type ($10k student loan, $5K CC, etc)

4. How much did you pay for your car?

5. What’s your net worth?

Simple enough? I wanted to keep it pretty straightforward because YOUR responses are what will make today’s post interesting. We shouldn’t use this information as a means to measure our own success, but as a resource to discuss what are often seen as “inappropriate” questions. Obviously, honesty is crucial so please don’t pretend you make $150,000/year if you really don’t. Be sure to check back throughout the day to see a small financial snapshot of your fellow debt punchers!

My responses…

1. $73,420/yr

2. I work in the security sector of the federal government.

3. Fortunately I’ve been debt free for 13 months.

4. I bought my car brand new for $17,500. Last time I’ll do that

5. Roughly $100k

Alright y’all, this will hopefully be my last day being a lame blogger, but when Girl Ninja flies 4,000 miles to come see me the last thing she wants to hear about is Punch Debt In The Face. So in the name of brevity I’m keeping things simple. As in 140 characters simple.

If you don’t have a Twitter account then you can’t follow me on twitter. And if you aren’t following me on twitter, you’re either super lame or a pedophile.

The thing that makes Twitter so interesting is you have to communicate an entire thought using no more than 140 characters. Sometimes this is easy, for example, “My farts smell like burnt toast.” But other times it can be quite difficult. Let’s make things a little interesting and try and communicate our entire financial history via a 140 character (or less) sentence. Here’s mine….

$28,000 student loan debt. Punched Sallie Mae in the face. Now just trying to be Less stupid with money. Oh and I hate cats.

See that was easy wasn’t it!!! Alright I have to get off this iPad before Girl Ninja starts beating me (she’s been known to be abusive ).