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
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May 24, 2010
While I apply for regular credit cards with almost reckless abandon to get a new round of bonuses every year (no more than 3 per year, noted on a spreadsheet for maximum bonus and cancellation efficiency), my store credit cards have been limited to Macy’s (unused), Victoria’s Secret (unused) and Best Buy (long since canceled).
And now, Banana Republic. On my Desperate for a Sweater shopping trip, there were no coupons or sales. Le horror! Unfortunately, I simply wouldn’t have time to shop again for weeks and I wasn’t going to survive another week in the frozen tundra of an office space so I bit the bullet and bought a lightly discounted sweater.
Confronted by the usual “do you have a store card, and do you want to sign up for a 20% discount today?” I halfheartedly waved the baited hook away until I realized that that was the only worthwhile discount option. No gift cards in hand, no coupons, no cashback. It was the store card or nearly full price. My bargain dependent heart couldn’t take it and so I did. Take the card, that is. Oddly enough, I promptly forgot about the card. Three weeks later, it appeared in the mail, I paid the bill and noted the various ways they get you to keep the card:
1. Bonus points for purchases at their stores
2. Loyalty tiers for spending at least $800. per year.
3. Cash outs for every 1000 points, which means any points that are leftover are held prisoner until you spend more.
4. Bonus points for making a purchase outside their stores within 30 days of activation. This is to get you accustomed to spending with their card all the time.
I’ll keep it open long enough to benefit from the bonus point for signing up for paperless statements (500 points) and for making an outside purchase (2000 points). That nets me a $30 credit. But beyond that, is it worth keeping this card?
May 23, 2010
This is the clearest, possibly best round of chicken stock cooked up yet!
As I write this, I’m watching people on the water with my feet hiked up on a deck chair, squinting in the sun. Max brightness setting has nothing on the direct sunlight! I’ve been firmly scolded that weekends are not for working. Luckily, I did bust my butt to finish up a major project two weeks early just so I could invoice it out and claim that income for this challenge, so I can cooperate with my “orders” to rest and relax.
The reports on the challenge for last week:
Ciawy saved $215 of the intended $250 per week, brought lunch and snacks to work every day and fell to the siren call of the farmers’ market. But she bought fruit so I can’t really argue with that!
Candace of Cody and Candace saved another $124 which brings her to 57% of the goal.
The Fit Lounge committed to saving at least $1000.
Anyone else out there? @ConvertingMe? @tiredofbeingbroke? Frugal Scholar? Funny about Money? I know you’re working at it, and I’d love to hear about your progress!
My progress this week was incremental again: $2,179.18 [43%]
Not so incidentally: Single Ma is tearing up the Fitness part of this challenge, blogging about it every day AND experiencing all the glorious ups and downs of training.
May 21, 2010
Speaking of weddings ….
The furthest distance I’ve ever traveled for a wedding was Miami. [2348 miles]
The furthest distance I’ve been invited to go is Greece (no go, sadly). [6900 miles]
Before age 25, the furthest I’d ever gone was Atlanta, and that was also the furthest I’d been invited to travel. [2190 miles]
The lowest cost (to me) destination wedding attended: Nashville [$350]
The highest cost (to me) destination wedding attended: Miami [$500]
The lowest cost (for them) wedding attended: Los Angeles [under $100]
The highest cost (for them) wedding attended: tie between Miami and Napa [both were six-figure weddings]
May 19, 2010
It’s amazing how much you can get done without a regular 9 to 5 taking up most of your day. Your day can start as, well-rested and refreshed, you have that leisurely cup of coffee or tea, basking in the morning sun with the paper. Work and errands are queued up, run on your schedule and so much more gets done.
Or does it?
Sometimes, after a round of several appointments and errands I’d feel terribly accomplished, but there was a sneaking suspicion that it simply wasn’t sustainable productivity. After all, it was rarely producing any income. On the flip side, getting up pre-dawn for work five days a week and squeezing in the personal stuff when and if you can feels so constrictive that the lure of the open schedule is a siren song. Of course, that alone is hardly good reason to stop working full time and I’d be unhappy if I weren’t being productive and earning money to hoard like a treasure-loving dragon.
There are days, though, that the idea of building an empire of something that is nearly self-sustaining, doesn’t require endless meetings to keep alive or keep moving, and doesn’t rely on the vagaries of a single entity for survival is awfully enticing. That and all the new Dr. Who and Caprica episodes that I know I’m missing are nibbling away at my patience. Ok, again, I know, not a valid reason. As a reforming workaholic, I claim right of not yet knowing how to balance work and play.
Have you considered the merits and drawbacks of being your own boss? If you could make an honest and respectable (however you define that number) wage, would you?
Mrs Micah recently asked Are You Ready to Become Your Own Boss?
I know that’s Nicole of RainyDaySaver‘s goal;
VH of Funny About Money is doing quite well sort of running her own show between the CopyEditor’s Desk and her community college classes;
Mrs. Money’s really liking the idea of ditching her full time position because she’s not happy with her job, thence to perhaps become a SAHM for at least a year;
On the other side of the fence, Paranoid Asteroid has no intentions of going freelance or entrepreneurial, and several people agree with her. Unfortunately I can’t find that post!
Which side of the fence do you prefer?
May 17, 2010
Crystal of Budgeting in the Fun Stuff and Simple Life in France recently imagined their lives without debt. Having spent a full quarter of my life in the state of debt repayment, I’d like to point out some potential lingering effects you might observe after you bid adieu to your personal interest-sucking leech.
Facial tics: when people who brag about taking on unnecessary debt. As witness, Jersey Mom’s overheard conversation by the Woman Who Wants to Wear Her House.
More severe side effects may include the barely suppressed urge to slap the person in question, or a totally reasonable rage.
Ulcers: when a loved one reveals plans to embark on a fantastic unfunded business venture. Without funding. Or a business plan. Or an exit plan. Or anything except blind optimism.
Migraines: when you discover someone deep in debt or without sufficient cash flow has purchased Yet Another Gadget.
I take a few pills of Mind Yer Own Derned Business every morning now, to offset those ingrained reactions. That and a pair of earplugs means much less stress and (verbal) slappin’ all around, at least for the people I’m not related to.
Do these sound familiar to anyone or is it just me?
May 15, 2010
It’s been long enough since any graduations of my own that graduation ceremonies are now utterly unmotivating. Or so I say now. May is a bit early for my taste, but maybe around June I’ll feel the energy from Pomp and Circumstance!
In the meantime, there’s something about a) coming back to my old room and b) traveling on a Saturday that makes me just want to hole up like a hermit and so that’s what I’ve done today.
I’ve emerged to spend $30 in pursuit of grooming and feeding. Both were good.
The latter was a catch-me-up session with a dear friend whose family news left me stunned and wandering the mall with unseeing eyes for half an hour until my brain cleared. While there were no deaths, there was a close call, and several other life events as defined by say, your health care provider for qualification to change your plan have or will occur. None of the good ones, though. The best I could do with give great big hugs and wish things would improve, rapidly. Y’know the weird thing? I felt guilty. It all happened after I moved, and I thought, “well crap, my world didn’t completely fall apart aside from that one really tough week, but your family took the hit.”
It felt like the odd void of disaster in my family was moved to someone else I love. Crazy, I know.
In any case, I’ll be writing the usual cousin check for a graduation and another four years completed. As always, I’m inmensely proud and scrambling for an appropriate card to tuck it into because darned if I didn’t take the box of cards up north with me when I moved!
And can I say? I’ve missed this crazy SoCal sun!! I’ll have to remember how not to get sunburned tomorrow.
May 14, 2010
This gorgeous, thick, almost plush orange envelope landed in my mailbox yesterday. It was addressed to “Revanche and Guest” – you know what that means!
Wedding bells are ringing in honor of my dear old friend. He was my one of my favorite freshman year teachers and we’ve kept in touch lo these many years – through college, through the dissolution of his marriage, through some incredibly tough job hunting and soul searching years. And he’s found the woman who, without even meeting her, it’s plain she so matches his personality that reading her writing is like reading his. They’re not the same, but it’s close enough to make no never mind.
I’m delighted for him. He’s a warm and loving soul; a troubled marriage, divorce, ex-wife’s hasty remarriage to the strangest match ever (oh yes, we knew the guy) and the loss of his beloved pets who were children to him didn’t tarnish his quest for beauty (Whitmannish, Emersonian, Byronlike) and love.
My hope is that sometime after the wedding, I’ll get to know his wife and we’ll get along, and we’ll continue meeting up at odd times in our lives and be friends until the end of time.
In the meantime, it’s a scramble to make sure that I’ve travel funds for another trip back down south to witness their nuptials and wish them well. As luck would have it, they’ve scheduled it for the holiday weekend in July so with that Monday off as buffer/recovery time I’m considering driving instead of flying. It’s more cost-effective when you have more than one person in the car. Tallying for two: driving would probably cost less than $200 for the weekend, compared to 2 plane tickets at $180ish each. And if any other friends want to hitch a ride down to LA for the weekend, that’d defray the cost further.
Between this unexpected news and the flight back home for a graduation I neglected to budget for, I’ve emptied the well of travel money, travel credits, and travel anything else! But I wouldn’t dream of missing it and can’t wait to see him again.
