February 3, 2008
Since I wasn’t returning to Vietnam this weekend, I activated my iPhone. Yeah, it’s not exactly the most logical progression of actions, but that’s what happened. I was unexpectedly the lone holdout in the office by the end of the month because my fellow resister’s Verizon coverage pooped out and she was able to cancel her plan without penalty.
Running through my head before pulling the trigger
Activation Fee: $36
Monthly Fee: $60, plus tax
Only 450 minutes per month unless I’m talking to my coworkers.
Only 200 text messages!
An additional 1300 messages would cost $10/month. Weird options.
Only 5000 night and weekend minutes! (I actually don’t need that many.)
I might have the option to extend nights and weekends by 2 hours (7pm to 7am) for an additional $9/month. Worth it?
2-year commitment to AT&T and this asset-draining plan.
I freaked out, pretty much. I just didn’t want to let go of T-Mobile and my golden, affordable, plan. I’ve already had too much change recently!! R had to hold my hand over the phone, lead me out to the ledge and tell me to jump. Repeatedly. But I finally did it, and have been acclimating to the phone ever since. Several hours later, I’m still not done inputting all the phone numbers from my old phone because there’s no easy way to transfer the numbers that I know of, and I have to organize it precisely the way I want it. Typical.
I have, however, discovered that this phone will only fuel my email addiction. Especially as I’ve set up both my personal and work emails, and figured out the server settings to make it receive AND send messages.
I haven’t figured out if I like blogging from it because I’m actually not fond of the keyboard, much, but that might mean I just need to trim my nails even shorter, as though I were a professional pianist.
The cell phone bill is going to be >$100 next month. Argh!
But I can check weather reports, maps, and email wherever I am, almost. That’s … pretty spiffy. BoyDucky tells me that I’ll learn to love it. And that’s what I’m afraid of. I’m not an early adopter of technology because I don’t want to love things that have increasingly higher associated costs to adapt to. It’s not likely that the iPhone related costs will stop at the activation and monthly fees. I’m going to need an extra travel charger because I’m a neurotic phone charger loser (not a loser in the judgmental sense, a loser in the sense of losing things), a case to protect it, and who knows what else will become essential? It’s a slippery slope, my friends.
The Wall Street Journal online subscription is now a major possibility, and I’m already ogling the Kindle and thinking, hm …. I could read ALL KINDS OF THINGS on that. Mmmm.
September 24, 2007
Earning a sticker for each no-spend day thing is simply not working for me. I love stickering the planner, but simply haven’t matched up the sticker and the behavior at all. It turns out that simple withholding of spending privileges is more effective reinforcement than is the reward of a pretty Pochaco sticker for every day I don’t spend money. Somehow I’m spending more, and more frequently, than I anticipated.
That’s weird. I used to respond quite well to my dad’s incentive plan of 1 Slurpee for each 10 “good job” stickers earned at school; what’s changed since kindergarten? Well, I guess getting a sticker on the planner doesn’t actually mean anything in my everyday life; it’s not tangible the way saving money is. That’s what happens when you choose a method of reinforcement that doesn’t actually correlate well with your goal: it doesn’t work!
In the interest of full disclosure: I spent over a hundred dollars *cringe* at Forever 21 before the conference. I got two nice basic slightly ruched tank tops for only $3 each, a lovely kimono dress, a kimono style shirt, a black and white chain-design strapless top, and a lusciously silky gorgeous handkerchief style dress that looked almost exactly like a $300 version that my friend had bought last year. It was expensive for the store ($40), but oh so irresistible! I can only find the picture of the kimono dress to post, so you’ll have to trust me on the irresistibility of the other dress.
The two tops were necessities because I didn’t have any nice tops for a couple business casual dinners, t-shirts simply wouldn’t do, and the dresses were lucky finds that’ll be used at a later date. I hate panic shopping like I often have to before an event, so I now have two nice dresses for work-related events and won’t have to scramble for either the X-mas party or whatever else comes up.
Since my return, I’ve spent money on breakfast and lunch foods because I still haven’t gotten myself to the grocery store. Bad Ms. M! Bad!
And then … the (work) girls sent me to eyeslipsface.com whereupon I spent $12 on 3 lip glosses, nail polish remover, and some experimental makeup pieces that I’ve never tried on my own before: eyeliner, eyeshadow, and a tube of skin color correction stuff. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to try them once, freak out because I just don’t DO makeup, and then try to find a happy, healthier home for them. It’s ok. Almost everything’s a dollar there, and using the coupon code “Carolina” we got another $10 off the total purchase. We three combined our order to save on shipping (6.95) and will receive 23 pieces of makeup and 3 makeup bags for a total of $42. We’re pretty impressed with the bargain prices. Even if I’m packing my bags for a guilt trip ….
Hee, BoyDucky was genuinely confused:
“So, how did you buy make-up … at work? And … but .. you don’t wear make-up!”
“Yes … yes I know. It just looked so pretty! All the colors looked so pretty. And they say they smell good. I’m a sucker for minty things.”
April 30, 2007
For every shopping window you open, open up a personal finance or investing research page, like Yahoo Finance, or the Motley Fool. At least, those were my Ghostbusters when I was idly listening to a Style sement from some random morning show. I knew there was a reason I never watch morning TV!
Trying to read about 3 Stocks that Missed the Mark and the market moves of the Starwood hotels while browsing the shoes at PaylessShoeSource.com and trying to find that REALLY cute denim dress featured on the show caused such a mental disconnect that my brain fizzed and I had to close up all the shopping windows.
You could practically hear the “zhoomp” of the shopping lobe shutting down, cowering in fear of the investing/saving lobes. I know, it’s two against one, hardly a fair fight. But when you figure it’s a zero-sum game with my paycheck, thank goodness the odds are weighted against spending!
