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 More
February 15, 2009
While arranging a baby shower, I sent out all the emails to the family invitees, but had to call the grandparents because they don’t use email. The extended family is like my adoptive family, and I’ve celebrated countless holidays and life events with them, but I’d never really just called up and chatted with them. Sent holiday, birthday and thank you cards, talked to them on the phone when they called friend’s home, yes, yes, yes, and yes, but this was a first.
You know you’ve got an entirely different generation on the phone when the second question they ask, 90 seconds into the conversation is, “where are you calling from? Home? This call is going to cost you a fortune!”
š
“Sorry, I misunderstood what you were asking; I’m on my cell phone and have unlimited minutes, don’t worry!”
And with that, I had a lovely 30 minute conversation with each grandma, each happily assured that they could chat with me as long as they liked without incurring long distance charges. They’re great!
The first one wondered why I was doing “so much work” for the shower, and why I was doing it. Well, I said, gosh, her momma told me to. š Oh, and besides, she’s my BFF. (Haha, her mom really did, but I would have anyway. The girl’s like my sister, and her family’s always been so good to me, there’s no hesitation in making parties happen for her.) She cracks me up, she told me that Grandpa wanted someone in the family to marry me so they could keep me around. Well, the boys are like my brothers, so that’s totally out.
The second one wanted to know all about how I was doing, and we talked about the economy, the family, her kids, how she’s taking care of herself. I subtly suggested that we get her computerized to get rid of her paper files since she was having trouble finding some boxes since the holidays, but she’s a packrat. The second I asked, so you really want to do this? She backed out! Oh well, thought I’d give it a try! š
Sometimes I forget how great family can be when they love and support you. And they’re hilarious too, because G2 tried to freak me out telling me that she was fine because all her investments were “with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG. You know, all the financials.”
“…….. you’re just trying to give me a heart attack.”
“haha, no no no …. ok, yes, I am.”
February 13, 2009
It just occurred to me that the silver lining to the car thing? Is that it eliminates the car payment, due to end in August, right now. The total amount deducted from the insurance settlement is a blow, as long as we get a used vehicle for less than $5000 – I’m willing to kick in a few hundred, up to a thousand – it increases their cash flow.
Now I can reproject the 09 family budget. Happy Friday?
Oh, and I guess I won’t be paying for car insurance in the meantime, either.
Am I numb because I’ve balanced out negative thoughts with positivity this week? Or is it because … well … it figures??
The car is totaled. It will cost more to fix than the book value. After the deductible, after they cut the check, after the car is paid off, we’ll have a bit more than $3000 in cash. Instead of a working family sedan.
Now we need to car hunt.
I’d curse but I just don’t have it in me.
February 11, 2009
Gripey: Upon receiving my email about feeling worse than yesterday, I got a call from work: “Well, I just wanted to talk to you about [whole slew of projects] before [that person] leaves.”
Yeah, no. I’m not going to remember anything from this conversation so let’s try this later. I might even be less grumpy about it. C’mon people, I’m home SICK. Not home until you think of something for me to do!
Gravy: Food! There’s food in the house. I so love food. Whole wheat bread, peanut butter, eggs. Leftover tofu soup. Leftover pasta and meatballs. Bin bin rice crackers? Where have you been hiding? Peach carrot juice. Um, what? Whatever, tastes fine.
I’m going to be eating myself into oblivion if you don’t mind, and perhaps even sating the craving for an awesome bacon cheeseburger later this afternoon if my friend will indulge me and go with. In my diseased state of mind, $4 doesn’t sound bad at all for what I’m assured will be a Fantastique! burger experience.
P.S. I love Twitter right now, it’s slowly making me feel human again after not talking to anyone for what feels like days on end.
February 10, 2009
Status: Miserable
But am seriously glad I’d the luxury of deciding at 6:30 am that, no, the hour+ long train ride to sit at my desk and be miserable, possibly a little productive and a whole lot irked was just not worth it. With plenty of sick hours on my account, there’s no financial reason to be torturing myself.
And thank heavens for my FSA and that stop at the CVS over the weekend: I picked up two boxes of Nyquil/Dayquil combo packs which I’ve already gone through half of, and will be set for a few more days.
I only wish that I were coherent enough to use this time to get better and apply for more jobs. Drat. No multitasking for me today.
MSN Money’s 6 financial milestones before 30 seem a little…. well …. blah. They really don’t light up the fire of my imagination, really.
1. Scale back the credit cards.
2. Own a home — or have a plan.
3. Have skills.
4. Give money away.
5. Know thyself.
6. Know smart people.
It’s not bad advice, it’s just kind of vague and run of the mill.
Then again, who am I to complain in this economy, right? Let’s see what we can do to personalize it a little, instead.
1. I don’t have credit card debt, and have canceled a number of cards that I don’t use. Where possible, the credit lines were transferred to the remaining cards to preserve the illusion of higher credit available. This inadvertently messed up my insurance premium refund, unfortunately, because they credited an account that no longer exists! We’ll see if I can get the insurance company to cut a check.
2. Um, I have a whole hundred dollars put away in lieu of a plan. So a plan might be a good idea. In fact, this will regain line item status on my next budget whenever I land a new job. More concretely, I would like to have my down payment (20% of course) and house maintenance saved, apart from my emergency fund. That’s a lot of cash!
3. Oh, I have skills. They’re good ones, too. But they could use some flair and I do have a plan for that. Girlfriend of mine has the Adobe Creative Suite with extra downloads and she offered one set to me when the new laptop was up and running. It is, now, so it’s time to take her up on that offer and start learning how to Photoshop and maybe even InDesign. And a friend’s friend is a web designer who might be willing to teach me some of his awesome designer skills; that would come in handy in any number of ways. Can you say (watch out, corporate speak!) value-add?
4. I’m guessing that giving money to the landlord, the electric company, the city, and gas companies don’t count, huh. Nor does feeding my family. I could and must do better here. In the past, the NYC medics were recipients of my generosity, as best as I could afford, as well as my extended family. My goal is to comfortably afford to give an average of $50/month. I know it’s not much, but it’s a start and y’know, family to feed and house. Another budgetary line item.
5. Ok, this one is a little tougher than it sounds. For me, anyway. It’s easier to know my goals, my challenges, and my shortcomings than myself as a whole person. It’s been years since I’ve asked myself what I wanted or dreamed, and I’ve only just begun to explore that area this year. Turns out that I’m a bit more complex than my finances: I am not my money, nor am I my family or my job. So what am I?? This could take a while ….
6. Yep, I know all of you smarties, and my high school friends are no mental slouches either. I like being surrounded by smart people, and sometimes even smart people who disagree with me. š This is great advice because I firmly believe that you rise and fall to the levels of the people around you; so you can only rise naturally if you’re learning from wise people in a learning environment. It’s a tough climb, and lonely to boot, otherwise.
Items 3-6 are all actions I can begin now and should continue well past my thirties. I’d love to be well on my way to achieving Item 2 in the next three years, and have a more developed career plan on the table by that time as well.
Let’s not limit this to your thirties: what’s on the horizon for you? What does your five or ten year plan include?
February 9, 2009
It just occurred to me that I should take a look-see at my Thank You points: earnings rates and redemption value.
The rate of TY points accrual depends on two things: my spending and my use of Citi products. The former is dictated by monthly expenses and needs, so it ebbs and flows naturally. The latter is dictated by whether or not I remember to pay at least one bill from my Citi checking account. When I remember, I earn 400 points a month, when I don’t, it’s only 200. With the addition of a Citi CD, though, I’ve been bumped up to the 600-points-per-month tier. Miniscule, but still points.
Looks like my Diamond Preferred card is still earning me two points per dollar, that’s cool. The double points promotion was a result of my cancellation spree last year, who knows if I can sweet talk them into giving it to me for another year.
On to the rewards!!
I just want a GC that will defray my everyday costs: nothing frivolous and at a 1 point: 1 dollar redemption ratio.
Gas cards are my first choice now …. and completely gone. No BP, no Shell. Dang! Oh wait, they have a Sunoco card, but I don’t think we have that here in California. After checking the site, it looks like their cards can only be used at Sunoco stations, unlike BP cards which can be redeemed at Arco stations. Ah well.
Retailers:
If that no-wrinkle ladies’ shirt from Brooks Brothers truly doesn’t wrinkle, it might be worth picking up a $100 card. I used to like ironing, but not anymore. Bed, Bath and Beyond and Macy’s are still going for $100/10,000 as well.
Amazon: $50/6000 – handy for ordering birthday and Christmas gifts
CVS: $50/6000 – if I wanted to start doing the CVS Extra Care game, this could get me started without using cash of my own.
Banana Republic: $50/6000 – nice to have one or two GC for BR around in case of awesome clearance sales.
It’s a shame that the redemptions are getting both scarce and … sort of pathetic. It’s the ongoing entropy of any loyalty program, though, they always tend to reduced value over time. Meantime, I’ll keep an eye out for newer, better programs, like Chase’s Cash Plus card which gives me five points per dollar at gas stations, grocery and drugstores. That gives actual cash back.
Note: The WSJ just ran an article on the banks’ pulling back of rewards.