Wednesday, February 16

MSN Money advise BLOWS

In the past week, maybe two, certainly to coincide with tax season, MSN Money has had articles on "great ways to save money"...

They all assume that we are blathering idiots who throw our money away willy-nilly until they swoop in with their sage advise to save us. Give me a break...

Examples? You want examples? easy.

"Stop buying those $4 Starbucks coffees every morning on your way to work" Um, dumbass, I never did that... next.

"Stop going out to lunch with coworkers, bring leftovers from home instead" Not only do I not really care for most of my coworkers, I sure as hell wouldn't go spend my LUNCH with them, I use that time to get away from them; I sit out in my vehicle, drink a Diet Pepsi (from home) and smoke. No food = no expense. try again.

"Try store brands instead of name brands when grocery shopping" Dumbass, that's pretty much ALL I get.

What brought this rant on was the crap they spewed yesterday...
"Try the 50-30-20 budget"
50% for needs
30% for wants
20% for savings

They gave readers the opportunity to plug in their numbers, see where they sit. I tried it, just for "fun"... what a load. Now, we are doing better than we used to, we opened a savings account at a different bank than our normal... direct deposits from both of us each payday. Being at a different bank than usual, it's out of our way if we wanted access to the money. We don't have online access to it, no card access, nothing. It's working pretty good so far, but it sure as hell isn't anywhere near 20% of our monthly income.

But some is better than none, right?

I guess what I'd really like is some REAL advise, tips, ideas on how to shave a bit more off the monthly expenses. Main reason: shave some off the wants and send it to the needs, er, um, bills.

We'd be sitting pretty good without that one credit card bill. Not that it's hard to pay, the minimum in only $150 per month. But we send them $300 every two weeks. They get $600 from us each month. That's because the balance on that one card is so damn high, it would still take probably 3 or 4 years of payments that size to get rid of it.

Thought about/ thinking about looking for a part time job, Hell, I work 5 am to 2pm, so I've got time in the afternoons. Even if I only made $150 per week, that right there would be the $600 we send to Discover.

If anyone reading this has any advise for people who are already doing the basics, the obvious things, people who want REAL ideas, please, post them in the comments.

Other than that, I just wanted to whine and bitch a bit. I am a woman after all...

Sunday, February 6

Pooper Bowl

this post is not going to be about how much I hate the packers. just wanted to start off by saying I do tho. hate them.

I have an appointment tomorrow for our taxes. crossing my fingers big time! Any of that money is for Ireland. Oh, hells yeah, I'm going to Ireland the end of March.

I have a cool idea, inspired by things going on recently in my life. Don't know if it would make a good book, but maybe a good movie. So, Flat, you and Brianne can rest assured, it is NOT about killing people. Inspired by my life, and I haven't been on a bloody rampage lately.

I just need to get pen to paper, or um... fingers to keyboard (?) and get it hammered out. Its about something that happens in my life "Every Two Weeks". That's what I'm calling it in my head as I think it out and try to work on it mentally. And no, Scott, it isn't sex!!

It's not as dark and scary as "Does it hurt?". Maybe that's because when I started that project, I was a teen and everything was dark and scary. The FBI doesn't give too much weight to psych evals on teens because they all profile as psychopaths... maybe that's how that little tale came out of me back then.

But this one, I could see going towards more romantic/comedy/drama. THAT describes my life right now. 3 reasons: I love my husband, he's a goof and I have teenagers. See? romance, comedy and drama...

And now to go back to compiling my 2010 life for the tax guy and cursing at the TV. goddam packers. hate.them.