December 14, 2006
Kira pointed out that Suze seems to think that no one can afford anything. I’m totally the same way. I always think that people spend too much on their purchases even though I keep this to myself (hah! Unlike Suze!) like my coworker’s $50 sheets or well, ok $50 sheets are all I can think of right now. But I definitely always think I can’t afford anything.
This miserly approach to spending really helps when it comes to trying to save as much of my income as possible, but I always wonder if I’m taking my Cash Nazism to extremes. I mean, other people have to make a living too. How happy is that ending if I stashed every dime and dollar and starved to death clutching the laptop with all my bank accounts funded and safely stored away? Yeah ok, other extreme.
Anyway, I was thinking about this because BoyDucky will be home for Christmas and wanted to spend a couple of days together. We don’t usually get much quality time together so that’s a definite yes! But he wants to do a little trip which is a definite *ooh* This isn’t budgeted! (yeah, I know, whatta Scrooge!)
SO, I have rallied my budget travel troops (me) and started researching like crazy to find something affordable that wouldn’t be over the top budget-cheap.
This is my challenge: Can we do 2 days and 3 nights in San Diego, a visit to the Wild Animal Park, renting a car, and eating 3 meals a day in $300 or less??
(Does that sound right? About $100/day for two people’s lodgings, transportation, food, parking, and entertainment during a high demand season?) Hm, that sounds vaguely impossible now that I break down all the categories like that.
It’s about time! Borders has a 30% off any one item coupon good through 12/18.
December 12, 2006
Can you be a serial marriageist?
I just talked to my one of my former coworkers. He’s overworking, as usual, and I asked if his latest wife wasn’t supposed to keep him from doing that. Turns out she turned the tables on him a bit and left him six months ago when she decided that at her age (mid-30’s) she wanted to have another baby. Her age and the baby thing isn’t so much a problem, but his age (60) and existing number of kids (4) would be, one would think. I knew the age difference was going to get in the way at some point but, geez, I thought this would be something that you’d talk about before marriage, especially since she’s the same age as his eldest.
I wouldn’t imagine that this is something you can just *convince* your hubby about after marriage. Besides, there are all sorts of things to consider about having kids at such a late age, being around for one thing. He’s already going to have to work ’til he drops to paying child support for his younger kids. Having a new baby at the age of 60 means he’ll have to work at LEAST until he’s what, 80? And then you get to say “Sorry kid, you’re on your own for college; your dad isn’t Hugh Hefner.” [Then again, being able to tell your kid that Hugh Hefner’s not his papa? Priceless. ‘Cause I mean, yuck!] Not that I plan to put my kids through college, but expecting him to support another dependent at an age when he very well may need care doesn’t seem realistic.
In any case, you would think that he would have learned that divorce is expensive by now. It only cost him his previous two houses before.
December 10, 2006
BoyDucky and I were walking the [big one, not the little munchkin] dog today when a strange dog came bounding out of a sideyard, collar and leash-free, headed straight for us. Of course, I hauled my dog behind me to hide her from the other dog. Of course, she pulled so hard on her leash and collar that the collar snapped free and they clashed amid my shouts and those of the neighbors’ kids. And of course, I broke that cardinal rule of dog fights: NEVER jump in the middle, you will get bitten. It’ll be accidental because neither dog will realize that it’s YOU they’re biting and not the other dog, but the only foolheaded adult stood in the safety of his yard shouting at his dog and made NO attempt to help. But PLEASE, there was NO way that I was going to let my old arthritic dog get hurt. I don’t know if he just got tired or my fury scared him off, but the other dog finally stopped attacking long enough to be driven back to his home while BoyDucky kept her from charging after her attacker.
I was so angry I was shaking. That idiot dog owner never once bothered to come ask if she was alright, he just waited for his dog to come back and then hid in his house. If you’re dumb enough to let your dog run free and attack other dogs wearing NO collar so no one can get a hold of him, have the plain decency to check and see if your dog did any damage!!
What a jerk. His behavior only reinforces my belief that it’s not the dog you have to be worried about, most times it’s the people who own him.
My dog is mostly ok, no real harm from the biting that I could find, but I’m sure her hips and knees are hurting like the blazes. She’d yelped once during the fight, and it was the sort of yelp she can’t hold back when her joints hurt. She’s hanging out with ole geezer now, having had a liberal dose of joint meds, multivitamins and a coated aspirin. Geez. Kids are stressful.
Oh and by the way, if you ever come across a dogfight, don’t ever physically put yourself in the middle. If you can, grab a hose and turn it on both dogs full force, it’ll scare them and force them to break it off long enough for owners to pull them apart. This goes double, triple! if you don’t see any owners in the vicinity: strange dogs may not turn on you but they definitely have no reason to worry about whether that mouthful is you or their antagonist. If you don’t have a hose, REALLY loud noises will usually get their attention and break it off. It’s the best you can do. I remember having to clean up a little old lady who got into the middle of a dogfight trying to save the little dog being attacked and that’s really traumatic too.
From now until December 28th, you can use fewer points to redeem for gift cards and certificates.
[Check it out at their website]
The pricing:
$50 gift card: 4500 points (instead of 6000)
$100 gift card: 9000 points (instead of 10,000)
$200 gift card: 18,000 points (instead of 20,000)
The options, mostly in increments of $50 or $100, sometimes $200:
Banana Republic
Crabtree & Evelyn
Eddie Bauer
Gap
Lands’ End
L.L. Bean
Macy’s
Pier 1 Imports
Spa Finder
The Sharper Image
Avis
Carnival Cruise Lines
Marriott® Cheque
Ritz-Carlton® Currency
Royal Caribbean® International
Bennigan’s
Legal Sea Foods
Omaha Steaks
Wanda posted a link to this nifty calculator that just panders to my love of online calculators that crunch my retirement goals and the likelihood of reaching them.
Answering the questions based on the real amount of money I’m taking home as opposed to base salary, I find that I’m not on track AT ALL:
Age: 24
Savings thus far: $5000
Contributions/month: $400
Investing Style: Aggressive Growth Goal: 2,943,000
On Track for – Poor Performance: 745.00
On Track for – Average Performance: 1,737,000
Boy, and I was all proud that I had racked up 4k in my 403(b) in that last nine months!
My insistence on funding the e-fund more has a lot to do with that, maybe I need to reduce the amount I expect to save in my cash savings monthly now that I’m so close to my goal and increase the retirement funding. Or I should reach my goal first? Hmmm ….. It looks like I have to double my contributions to make a significant change, otherwise the most I could expect from even average market performance is possibly making my goal. I suppose there’s only so much I can save every month, now it’s just a matter of making adjustments like putting more into a Roth, the 403(b) and less into cash savings.
December 5, 2006
My friend’s wife’s the kind of person who HAS to finish what she commits to and just started a major project in her current job that will keep her busy until March. A few months ago, she was recruited by another department in her university for an executive position, and didn’t even feel very comfortable accepting the interview appointments because of the timing, but felt she should at least give it a chance. Obviously her boss doesn’t want to lose someone like her, but decided after a lot of thought that she couldn’t hold her employee back from such a huge promotion and raise and has encouraged her to do what’s best.
So the new department head wants her. He wants her enough to push back the start date until January if she’ll accept the offer which includes a 22% raise. They don’t NEED the money and she loves her job. She’s also concerned that she’ll be less busy. [Yes, my friend thinks she’s weird for worrying about making more money for less work. I think it’s the best of both worlds, more money and more time to do stuff?? Dude.] Because she still won’t be through with that project until March, she feels like she just can’t accept the offer.
What would you do?