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 MoreNovember 24, 2008
Well, drat, free flu shot my foot! I have a sore throat, headache and achy muscles today, and I’m half convinced that it’s because of that stupid flu shot I got on Friday. The other half of me darkly thinks that my coworker contaminated my work with his germs. That’s clearly the half that has faith in people.
Whatever happened, I don’t feel good. *frown*
November 23, 2008
I’ve been MIA for a bit; life has been a blend of all kinds of hectic, stress, and demotivation.
My doctor hunted me down, or his nurse assistant did, and made me come in for an appointment on Friday. This is how you know we’re grown up now: I may avoid the doc, but I’ll still take a day off, and go in knowing that I’m going to get poked with a needle. Back in the day, you couldn’t even get me in the car if I thought a doctor’s visit was in the offing! So yes, I’m all mature now. And I’ve got a quarter sized bruise where the phlebotomist more interested in gossiping with her fellow labbies jabbed me for several tubes of blood, and my left arm is still sore from the flu shot. They’re covered by my insurance, but I didn’t know that until this year because I avoid unnecessary shots like the plague. I still have to see the optometrist and the dentist.
On the way home, I dropped in on a girlfriend who has a brand new baby: only 6 weeks old! She was tiny. And very cute. I meant to spend an hour with her and go get some work done but she invited me to her girls-only lunch, so we sushied until one pm. [$18.50] My share should have been less as the other girls got $2 drinks each and I drank water, but s’ok. I haven’t seen them in many moons, and the opportunity to play with an itsy-bitsy baby was worth the detour.
Since I’m never in town on a weekday, I stopped into my salon to have my unkempt eyebrows groomed, my lady says that business is down about 50%! For folks who rent their station in these salons, that has got to hurt. [$12]
Last stop was for 4 hours of Scan-a-thon. Whoever “they” are, they’re right, by the way: no one works harder than a lazy person to avoid work. As this may be the last major batch of scanning, and the files have all been transferred to my laptop, and organized to boot, that was the most diligent effort I’ve ever made to justify not doing my actual work. But, I can now shred another huge sack of paper.
I was determined to make the most of Saturday: take the truck in for appraisals, get a haircut, get my work started/done, and finish a load of laundry all before a semi-formal dinner event that night. Then I changed my mind: just get all the work done at home (work and laundry) and work on the truck on Sunday. The change of plans did me in. We had an unannounced power outage “for maintenance” starting at 8:30 and scheduled to end in the evening. This meant no laundry, no computer to work on (my laptop can’t sustain life on battery for more than a minute) sooo ….. change of plans again. Running errands earned me $4 for dropping off a big bag of stuff at my friend’s garage sale, I got a very little work done, dropped off a ton of books for a friend. That was about all I could manage before getting ready to go to the dinner.
Dinner was good fun, lots of good food, friends, and a five month old baby needing babysitting. Let me tell ya, I needed that tequila on the rocks after toting him around for nearly an hour. Terribly cute, but he got awfully heavy.
Today? Wasted most of it resting, and am so very overwhelmed by all the things remaining to be done, much like FB was feeling. Just can’t seem to muster the motivation to get started on the thousand things that need to get done. Even though I purged another 30-40 books, there’s still have a long way to emptying the bookshelf, tons of containers under my bed and desk to clear out, the closet is still not pared down enough, I have work to do for the upcoming Monday that’s still not getting done, my tax records need updating and organizing, there’s a friend and movie I’ve rescheduled once already this weekend and would feel flaky doing it again, but there are still job related problems to address and resolve. Escape Brooklyn and the NYTimes are freaking me out with talk of a Depression, news of the continuing economic hardships, woes of public transportion.
It’s not just me, one good friend is going through similar work and family related stresses so I need to support him, another friend is pregnant and requires attention there, another friend is recovering from medical problems and is stressed about her schooling future and career.
And it’s Thankgiving weekend next week. I planned to be done with so much more by now! Or imagined that I’d be much further along. *sigh*
Sorry for the laundry list and venting, I know it’s not helping me get anything done when it seems like I have just over a month to go and more tasks than hours to do them in. And the grocery shopping needs to be done. Gah. Better get cracking. At least I slept off most of the pain in my arms, wrists and hands from stressing them beyond their usual limits while babysitting. Not crippled for a day or two: major plus!
Also a plus: despite all the crazed feeling, at the very least, my financial life is currently holding steady. Might not last too much longer depending on the economy, but for now, it’s ok.
November 20, 2008
For the past two days, I’ve been mulling over the idea of selling the truck at a much lower price than I had originally expected. Months ago, the plan was to recoup the money I had to put into the loan out of my own pocket, which wasn’t an unreasonable amount, it was well in line with Kelley Blue Book value. Of course, that was before gas prices went insane, the entire economy bit the dust and unemployment reached a record high.
After months of listing the truck with so few nibbles, I had written it off as an expense for another several months: I’d pay it off and hold onto it until the market was in better shape. It required too much energy during a stressful time. My rationale was that I was responsible for the loan anyway and I preferred not to sell at a loss.
Now, though, my higher priority is to reduce monthly expenses further, and possessions to an absolute minimum. Holding onto an unused vehicle for more than a few months just doesn’t work for me. I don’t know where I’ll be located or relocating, or when, but the fewer loose ends left to tie up when I know, the better. This means I have to accept a certain amount of loss for the convenience of selling to a vehicle dealer instead of a private party, ending the monthly loan and minimal insurance payments, and striking another thing-to-take-care-of off the list.
The question is, how much loss am I willing to accept? It’s not like the truck is a commodity that will completely lose value over time, it’s a good vehicle with low mileage.
KBB value is only half of what it was six months ago, just to give you an idea of where the market value has dropped.
Even at half the once-estimated sale price (or should I say, if I get at least half that amount?), I should still be able to pay off the loan and have some left over, which reduces the sting a little. Not a whole lot, but a little.
By the way, looking at previous KBB values? I totally suck for being lazy and not selling earlier. 🙁
November 19, 2008
I just read about an idea proposed by President-Elect Obama called the $1000 Emergency Energy Rebate on Five Cent Nickel, and I hope to goodness that it’s just an idea that dies on the vine:
While a great many Americans have been focusing on the possibility of another stimulus check, the $1000 Emergency Energy Rebate has been flying a bit under the radar. In case you’re not aware, President-Elect Obama has floated the idea of enacting a windfall profits tax on “excessive oil company profits” in order to fund an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate for American families.
When will this end?
I am not at all a fan of this idea because as Nickel pointed out, the companies affected would probably pass on the windfall tax’s cost to the consumers. Probably! And in all likelihood, the price hikes would benefit the oil companies in the long run because I don’t see them lowering rates sans legislation which would, of course, be at further cost to taxpayers. The idea of playing Robin Hood works better in fiction than as a form of government. (I’m reminded irresistably of Monty Python at the moment.)
I’m not moneyed, by any means, to fear for my pocketbook at the income levels that are most usually targeted by the take-from-the-rich theory, and I’m not all about pitying the corporation. The effects of failing corporations on the individual is awful and understandably evokes the need to do something. It’s just that the proposed solutions don’t seem to be more fleshed out than throwing money we don’t have at the problems. It’s frustrating that “bailout” is on the tip of so many tongues when addressing complicated problems. I’m a thousand percent more in favor of creating an environment that is more amenable to making my own way than one in which my hardships are alleviated by a savior. And that’s with a sick mother, a non-income producing father, and problem brother. I would still rather earn my way despite my own difficulties, illness, and lack of advantages than rely on someone to provide for me from the pocket of someone who had more than I by hook or by crook, by the sweat of their brow, or by virtue of the right relatives. I don’t claim to be better than anyone because of that, it’s just that ultimately the underlying issues aren’t addressed and creates a long term environment in which there’s not much incentive for anyone to do quite well when every solution starts and ends with: take taxpayer money, give it to the floundering.
Maybe it’s bailout fatigue.
November 14, 2008
http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2008/11/free-financial-advice.html
It seems that the average consumers interviewed for this NY Times article, Lower Gas Prices Don’t Make Americans Feel Rich, aren’t taking the relief at the pump for granted. With the increasingly bad economy, and fearful outlook for the future, it relieves me that people aren’t simply reacting to the lowered prices with the same exuberance as we’ve seen in the volatile stock market.
I’m glad. It’s time we were more cautious, paid down debt, and made plans for a rainy tomorrow because I’m afraid that many people are already headed for a rough time of it without such back-ups. Even with all my preparations, saving, and thinking ahead, I don’t feel quite as prepared for a downturn of the proportions that are likely to come. No, the sky isn’t falling, but some days it feels like the ceiling might start caving in, and the floorboards have a decidedly creaky feel to them.
Speaking of temporary reprieves, we just got news of a reorganization in our office, effective Monday. The manner in which this decision was made and the suddenness with which it came to pass took everyone aback, and I’m not convinced that they’re not planning to reorganize us right out the door. Might not happen Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of next week, but it could happen the day after. Or the week after. Nothing’s certain but at least I have an e-fund. And I haven’t tempted Murphy, thank goodness. Either way, it’s not exactly the Christmas present I was hoping for from Santa!
You may not know this, but I think about food 65% of the time. It’d be great, if it didn’t always lead to cravings. Everyone has been pretty bad about bringing lunch to work regularly, lately, so the next best thing is try to keep the frequency and cost low and the serving sizes large.
Sadly, no one likes to deliver to our little black-hole pocket of town (discrimination, I say! our money is good!), so it’s usually a challenge to combine low-cost, high volume, and free delivery. Recently, though, we were blessed by Google Maps.
A search of [restaurants] and [our zip code] turned up a well known Mexican eatery that literally caused heart palpitations when I floated the idea. Turns out that I’m the only unenlightened one here; others were regulars once upon a time and simply couldn’t handle the sizes of the servings any more.
They were not kidding when they called the Hollenbeck burrito a gut-buster! No matter the size, I’d normally have a hard time justifying more than ten dollars for a burrito except it lasted two full lunches, and very nearly did in my dinner on the firstday. Measuring in at 12 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 2 inches thick, the burrito was practically a deal for $11. That’s 144 square inches of burrito goodness, doused in enchilada sauce, and topped with more pork.
Mmmm …..
And to satisfy my bargain seeking soul, the restaurant misunderstood my delivery order for a pick up so they knocked 25% off the bill to compensate for the nearly 1.5 hour wait, making my burrito $8 after tip. We’ll be ordering from them again!
Image credit: Tales of an LA Addict
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