About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
Read MoreDecember 10, 2009
If anyone is flying between now and January 7th, and would like to use the internet for FREE, email me or leave a comment with your email address and I’ll send you a special code. Don’t be shy! Inflight internet is FUN! Free inflight internet? Even better!
Edit: Little Miss Moneybags had a good question: Which airline is this for? It’s good on AirCanada, AirTran, American Airlines, Delta, United, Virgin, and coming soon to US Airways.
My friend is an employee of the UC system and, like other California government agency employees, subject to the state-mandated furloughs. She estimates that she’s taking a 15-20% paycut with the 17 furlough days, or nearly a month’s worth of workdays.
Another friend, listening in to the conversation, mentioned that Californians are able to claim partial unemployment, much like Funny About Money’s experience:
….we can claim unemployment for each furloughed day. That will be a HUGE hassle: you apparently have to fill out all the forms and jump through the hoops for every single claim. So it may not be worth the trouble. But it’s there.
My furloughed friend, however, smiled and said that while it bit into her budget enough that she had to decline the trip to Hawaii invitation, she wasn’t in trouble and preferred not to tax the state’s coffers any more than she had to.
Initially, my reaction was: that’s taking the long view. Admirable. If everyone was as careful about accepting “free” money (since she wouldn’t be working for that partial payment, rendering it similar to vacation pay) as she was, perhaps it’d make a difference.
But that’s a slender reed to lean on. So do you think this is actually a shortsighted decision? Should she be taking that money and banking it even if she’s comfortable now in case it just gets rougher or she’s laid off? There’s really no such thing as long-term job security for her, she’s employed by the state of California.
That’s right, the place that’s hiking in-state tuition and setting off protests [where riot cops beat peaceful protestors, and broke a friend’s camera], and closing medical facilities.
There aren’t many indications that California’s on the way out of the frying pan anytime soon. To temporarily stave off disaster, they’re implementing short term fixes like taking an extra ten percent from taxpayers through April 2010, and taxing medical marijuana. [Thanks to Kay Bell]
Times are tough. We get that. And when times are tough, we have to do things we don’t necessarily like to get out of it, we get that too. But without much more serious efforts to mend the budgets, dire predictions prevail:
The deficit is expected to be worse in the years beyond 2011, as temporary taxes expire and raids on local government funds must be repaid by Sacramento. Taylor projected a $21.3-billion deficit in fiscal 2011-12 and a $23-billion shortfall in fiscal 2012-13. [LA Times, November 19, 2009]
What would you do in her shoes?
December 9, 2009
Editor’s Note: Issue resolved & closed now.
December 8, 2009
I’ve always been an advocate of just asking for a discount, negotiating, or requesting fee waivers. Negotiating and haggling take a lot of practice, but you can always start small with requests for refunds, discounts and waivers. It’s a simple question, and worded politely, can save you a bundle!
November’s forays:
Success! Requesting a little stand to go with the piece I’d picked out as a gift from Little Dipper Castings. I knew my giftee would never wear the piece as jewelry, but would love to display it. The seller was nice enough to throw in the requested display block, free. [saved $9 on the chain]
Success! Chase charged me an incoming wire transfer fee of $15. As I’d called 4 times in the past verifying that I would not be charged, and been assured that I wouldn’t be, I called them back and the CSR immediately reversed the charge. [recouped $15]
Success! My wireless optical mouse rolled over and died. I love this thing and desperately needed it to keep my hands from seizing up with cramps from using the [I think] mildly insane touchpad. It’s got a few bats in the belfry. A call to Logitech, and five minutes on hold, and voila! A new mouse will be shipped out [via slowest ground shipping possible] without my having to return Defecto Mouse. [saved ~$45]
Work in progress! That pesky rebate: Those guys aren’t keeping my money! I called and pestered them, and tried to point out that they’re idiots for recording the shipping date as the order date nicely, and the guy acknowledged it, but couldn’t get them to process the rebate without sending in a second resubmission. It’s been sent in, and I’ll follow up again until they send my check.
Success! AT&T hasn’t been applying the FAN (15%) discount to my account since my contract started 19 months ago despite my verified eligibility. Three phone calls later, the last of which was more than a little frustrating, yielded both the $6 discount from now on, and a credit on my account for the entire contract period. [recouped $114]
This set was about small wins for me, but Oil and Garlic recently had a great fat honkin’ win!
It’s kind of fun keeping track of these wins, big and small. If anyone wants to join in the fun, or submit their own for inclusion, please email me!
December 7, 2009
What’s in my wallet is about to be changed: I’m subbing in a new credit card to earn car repair purchase points.
**Please note that I don’t use the card any more just to earn points and I definitely don’t carry a balance. That would defeat the purpose of creating this passive income stream.
Chase Cash Plus is my daily go-to card earning 5 points per dollar back on gas, groceries, and drugstore purchases, 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. My favorite redemption is the 5000 points = $50 check. It’s a tiny drop in the bucket, but it’s cash and who doesn’t love cash? [SingleMa. But she has a point. My cashback goes straight in the bank so I don’t spend it.]
Right now, though, I foresee minor problems with my car cropping up again, in addition to things I never bothered to fix: the fog light housing, the dings and dents, the self-inflicted injuries. As usual, the cosmetic surgery will wait, but the lock repair is necessary, the light goes wonky and only works if you set it just so, and the smashed housing should be fixed sooner rather than later.
Thanks to the Drive Miles Options, I have $75 worth of points rolled up, but don’t forget the fine print! Miles redemptions requires an equal number of purchase points. This means switching over from my Chase card to the Driver’s Edge card for all regular purchases. I’m not sacrificing the 5-1 points ratio on the bonus purchases, just the 1-1 dollar-point ratio.
I’ll have to spend a hefty sum on the Driver’s Edge card to rack up the required points, but when you combine the purchase points with the matching Drive Miles, it’s a 2-1 ratio and free money for car repairs to boot. Not a bad match, considering I’m saving myself from spending cash ($150) out of pocket. Compared to the delayed $50 cash redemption ($40 of which is already earned), it’s no contest.
December 5, 2009
December 4, 2009
I was recently roundly scolded by my mentor for not having business cards when we met a potential professional contact.
Me: But .. but .. we’re on vacation!
But she’s right: you should always have some sort of contact card to give to people you meet in case you’d like to keep in touch. Even if they don’t keep the card itself because they input the information into their preferred electronic device like FB does, they will have gotten your information. That’s the idea, anyway.
I’m so of the electronic age that I’ve just gotten by exchanging phone numbers via email or inputting a phone number on the spot and calling the other person so they can save my phone number. Who hasn’t done that? That’s just not good enough for professional purposes, though, it’s just too informal for certain contacts.
Ordering cards had been on my list of things to do anyway, so what was I waiting for? I hopped on the computer that same night and took a quick Twitter poll about whether or not Vistaprint was any good. My main concern was that the cardstock would be some cheap shoddy material, but …. (thanks @gingercorsair and @punchdebt!)
It seemed worth the gamble so I clicked through the Vistaprint options and ordered a set of 250 business cards with blank backs ($1.99) instead of their printed logo, 21-day slow shipping ($5.67) and matte finish (free) for less than $8.
My other options were Uprinting.com and @TheyCallMeCheap recommended that I try Moo which I’d never heard of before. If I didn’t like the cards Vistaprint produced, I would try Moo next.
The cards were ordered on the 18th and delivered on the 27th – less than 2 weeks! That’s pretty good for someone who neurotically tracks shipping as soon as an order is placed.
The cardstock is average and acceptable for my purposes – they’re not flimsy but they’re not the super thick 100-lb weight premium paper that could inflict a life-threatening paper cut either. Best we keep it that way.
This website and its content are copyright of A Gai Shan Life | © A Gai Shan Life 2026. All rights reserved.
Site design by 801red