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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November 13, 2008
Because BF is sweet and loves a useful bargain, he gifted me with a lovely vanilla white fleecey jacket for no reason whatsoever. Because I’m me, I wore it to work today, and promptly got a smidgen of purple ink on it. I don’t normally even keep uncappable pens at my desk for fear of this of stupid problem, why would I do that on the first day I wear a brand new white jacket?? Honestly. At least it matches my shirt and socks?
Never mind. I should have these sorts of things memorized by now, (and should carry my Tide to go pen!) but since I don’t and didn’t bring the pen, this is courtesy of HowStuffWorks.com:
Remove Ink Stains From:
Acrylic Fabric, Cotton, Linen, Modacrylic,
Nylon, Olefin, Polyester, Spandex
Try a light spray of hair spray to loosen the laundry stains. Soak in a solution of 1 quart warm water, 1/2 teaspoon dishwashing detergent, and 1 tablespoon white vinegar for 30 minutes; use care when using vinegar on cotton and linen. Rinse with water and allow to dry. If Stain persists, apply rubbing alcohol to the stain and cover with an absorbent pad moistened with alcohol (use alcohol sparingly on acrylic and modacrylic). Let stand as long as any stain is being removed. Change pad as it picks up the stain. Keep both the stain and pad moist with alcohol. Flush with alcohol and allow to dry. If any trace of stain remains, soak in a solution of 1 quart warm water, 1/2 teaspoon dishwashing detergent, and 1 tablespoon ammonia for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with water and allow to dry.
And I’m banishing the pen to the bottom of my desk drawer. Again. Let’s hope it stays there this time.
I went outside exactly zero times Sunday. Not to enjoy the sunlight, not to bask in the gusty windiness of the day, not to buy eggs. And I needed the eggs for breakfast.
Instead, I read the news. For hours. Read blogs, commented, read emails, even replied to a couple of them. Received multiple Twitter-like phone calls from a friend whose day out seemed more traumatic than my day in, thoroughly justifying my recusal from the outside world: I’m at the mall with my significant other, and her relatives. They’ve been shopping all day. I’ve abandoned them for the Apple store. They’ve been invited to dinner, can I hide out at your place later?
Instead, I spent hours on the internet, perusing sites that needed perusing, completed online tasks (3 of them!) that needed completing. Even initiated another project that I don’t quite have time for but will be good for me, I think. Discussed plans with a girlfriend I’ve not spoken to in ages. Chatted with another friend who I have snailmailed recently. Nearly completed a letter of recommendation for yet another friend, which probably doesn’t count since I’m not actually done with it. Unsuccessfully tried to initiate a GChat with another friend who is probably still trying to figure out GChat. Ah well.
And, discovered that in the recesses of one of my bookshelves, I still. Have. These. Does anyone on earth still have an old GameBoy that plays these games??
Filled a sack of Things to Discard, and Things to Give Away.
And collected stacks of books that I can bear to part with. I even found my old retainer! Which makes me think, I should call my old orthodontist, my teeth are … er, on the move again after many years of freedom and I should hate to think all that expense (thanks Mum!) and pain (thanks, Mum) were for naught. (I’m a little irritated that my dentist removed my permanent retaining wire two years ago without so much as a by-your-leave. That’s why the teeth are shifting.)
In my own little world, progress was made. Not a ton, but y’know. Enough to justify a day, almost.
November 12, 2008
I don’t think I’m going to succumb, but feel a little weak in the will at the moment. I know we’re playing Emergencyopoly, or just saving my butt off, but this month’s bedeviling loan statement came in and the balance is only $3130. Once that’s paid off, I free up almost $400/month of cash flow.
Then, “inspiration”: Why not pay it off now? Then I free up that $400/mo now, and stretch the e-fund by $2400.
Internal debate:
Well, not really, that $3000+ has to come from somewhere, doesn’t it now, silly girl?
Erm … efund?
No, NOT an emergency.
But *squinch* … better cash flow?
No. Less emergency money and you’ll have to make up for it by saving that cash flow anyway. Same end product.
It’s so tempting to take the cash and pay it off.
But, the interest rate is very low (1.9%), I’ve only about 8 more payments to make and this move is clearly motivated by antsy impatience. The cash on hand is more important than getting rid of a single payment (probably). Slow and steady saving and payments may win the race, but sometimes I crave a big splash of change to fend off that plateaued feeling.
November 11, 2008
There are days I’m great at watching the food spending, like today, a can of tomato basil soup ($1) and a baked potato ($0.75) from grocery shopping.
Some days, a little less good: yesterday, bought a cheeseburger with extra veggies ($3).
Other days, I’m tempted to just throw caution aside and go for the gusto. Is it so reprehensible that the following announcement had me reaching for the phone and my credit card? (And we all know I only use credit cards because I want to, not because I have to, right?)
LA’s first Zagat Presents event takes place at Josie on December 2nd. For the night, chef Josie Le Balch’s eponymous restaurant will be all about pears. The four-course dinner will explore pears from Bosc to Bartlett showcased ripe in a pear salad, distilled as a sorbet intermezzo and roasted alongside a Maple Leaf Farm duck breast. And, of course, there will be a pear dessert. Plus, a pear cocktail will be paired with each course. If you’re interested, reserve quickly ($65 for four courses with cocktails; call 310-581-9888 and mention Zagat Presents).
I’m a sucker for all things pear. Mmm…. and duck? Plus pear? I’d try to deny being a gourmand, but that’s a lie. I love food. And I really love good food. It’s a bit of a battle, keeping the balance between budget and feast, though.
Image credit: Like a Local
A routine is a good thing, but when it causes you to forget things at home when the routine is altered just a tiny bit, it’s time to start paying more attention.
Mornings aren’t my strong suit so I minimize the number of things I have to remember before leaving the house. Normally works pretty well: only keys, phone and headset, and a book are taken out of my handbag each night, and they go right back in on my way out. Except I received a phone call in the middle of getting dressed, put the phone down on my desk instead and walked out without it. Dangit. Now I keep hearing other people’s iPhones dinging and chiming and wanting to check mine.
It probably wouldn’t be a problem if I’d not had unconfirmed plans to have lunch with a friend today. Or if I didn’t need to text a friend for his mechanic’s phone number. Or if I didn’t go home in the pitch black darkness with potential late-running trains. Boo. While I never wanted to be dependent on a tech device, it sure would be handy.
My online “high interest” savings accounts are anything but by now, and it’s past time to do something about it.
The odd thing is that I remembered seeing a 4.0% APY offer at Citi a couple days ago, and it’s still there when you use the navigational rate selector to check rates based on term length, or amount deposited. In other places, though, like the advert box or when you actually click through to apply, it’s 3.5% APY. What gives?
I should roll over some of my emergency money (it’s spread across three different accounts because I didn’t want to be stuck without any e-money if one of the banks were to encounter problems) in the Citi and ING Direct accounts to CDs since they’re short term and I don’t anticipate needing all of that money upfront. (Oh great, way to tempt fate, self!) Looks like both of them offer a 6-month 3.5% APY right now, so I don’t even have to feel torn between one or the other product.
Then again, I could create a CD ladder with ING:
The only question is, is that really feasible considering CDs are just a bit less than liquid vehicles? I’m crap at math sometimes, bear with me. If my e-fund is at 6 months’ worth of expenses, and I don’t need to touch it for another two months (approximately), I would be safe putting up to 2 months’ worth in a 6-month CD. If I were to need access to the money starting in two months, I would need four months’ of cash (12,000) before the remaining money (8,000) was available at maturation.
That puts paid to the idea of creating a ladder with this money for now. Oh well, just a thought.
November 10, 2008
Not when it comes to electronics.
A friend purchased a cheap laptop for a few hundred dollars over a year ago and is now struggling with it because it can’t load or run Vista properly on the amount of memory that came with the laptop. Since mine is over five years old and still runs Windows 2000, I had no helpful personal experience or advice.
I canvassed computer savvy friends on what to do about “shoddy Vista” which resulted in admonitions that Vista isn’t the problem, it simply requires at least 2 GB to run well. And sure enough, Q has less than 1 GB of RAM. Even better, Q called tech support and found out that the computer can only be upgraded to 1 GB, total. Uhhh…
She definitely cannot afford to simply replace the laptop because her personal finances, and that of her partner’s, are not especially stable. Bad enough that the economy’s so shaky, their household situation is such that she’s carrying most of the financial burden.
It’s a grim reminder not to lowball electronics. I’m not advocating buying first generation hardware, but if she’d spent a little more for a machine that could accept a few more GBs of RAM, it wouldn’t cost as much to upgrade memory as it would to replace the entire computer. Also, I’d much prefer upgrade existing equipment than replacing it entirely as you get more life out of the original machine and keep more junk out of the landfill. It’s not much, but preventing a habit of treating our electronics like they’re disposables can make a significant difference over the years.
My only really useful suggestion to date has been to replace Vista with an older OS with lower memory requirements. That way, she can actually use the machine. And that’s all you really need.
