Money Talk$

In an effort to save on gas and therefore the gas money portion of the monthly budget, I started parking in the first space by the entrance. I do this for three reasons actually.

First, because they would tow my car if I parked on the side of the road before I entered the parking lot. Second, because that space is .125 miles from the good spot that I can usually get because I go in early in the morning. Third, it gets me an extra quarter of a mile walking distance a day to keep me in shape.

That 1/8th of a mile doesn't seem like much, but it is a quater mile per day or 1.25 per week times the 50 weeks that I work is 62.5 miles per year, which translates into ~$2.50 in gas per year. But wait there's more! I also save 62.5 miles per year on each of my tires meaning that I am extending the life of each tire by 2 weeks! I am also giving myself approximately two minutes longer before the change oil light goes on.

As if this were not enough, I get an extra two minutes of time each day as I walk that extra distance on the asphalt to reflect and get into a deep sense of calming 'me' time. This translates into time and money saved by not having to see a psychiatrist. Of course I have to fight the urge to get a recordable mp3 player so that I can record my thoughts as I walk alone, beyond the vehicles belonging to the rest of my collegues, who wasted gas, tire life, and reflective thoughts by parking close to the door.

I remember growing up in a two income family where my Father worked hard in a steel mill but was paid well to justify it. I was always good at math, numbers, calulations, finances and the like came natural to me. My Father used to take me to the bank and I would collect one of each of the pamphlets that they had on the tall turning wheel of information. They do not have those now days because banks want you to go to bankname.com to get the information as they can not outsource the paper pamphlets, or fill those pamphlet pockets with overseas staff to answer all of your questions cheaply.
From reading all of those information leaflets, I had quite the vast knowledge of all things bank, for a nine year old. It became the norm for my Father to discuss things with me that I assume most kids my age were not privy to, so that he could get my input. I helped him decide when the time was right to move his money from the old passbook account to a money market account. I had to do a little persuading, but I drew up the numbers of how much interest his money would earn in each, and he opened that MM account a week later.
I was distraught that I did not have the $1,000 minimum required to open the Money market account, but I did have more than $250 so I switched my own blue passbook account over to what they called the Money Manager account. I got half the APR and my interest was componded quarterly instead of monthly like that MM account, but it beat the passbook acount. I am talking about the early 1980's when that money market account was upwards of 6% interest, a number you would have a hard time matching on a 10 year CD today.
As the years went on, my Father went from moderately well paid when he was not laid off during the 'lean years' from the late 70's to early 80's, to working a lot of overtime and making a very respectable wage. Once the steel mills cut back the staff to a certain point, everyone left had virtually unlimited OT to actually keep the mill running while being understaffed.
What always struck me as odd, was how much money my parents made once this change occured. My Mother worked in the Hospital, starting as so many others in Dietary, delivering patients food, and slowly moving her way up. After two or three such upward moves, she made respectable money, and he doubled her salary. This was a lot of money for a smoke-free family of four. My Dad is a jack of all trades handy man so his car maintenace, home remodelling, and etc are all done for cost. If he bought a case of beer for the summer, it lasted the summer. So where did all of this money go?
There was no internet back then, and therefore no Savingadvice.com. But that is not where the money went. My Dad packed his lunch for work every day, he bought used cars or cheap cars like the Plymouth Horizon. I owned two of those myself as he had a veritable parts store for them in his garage. He did nothing to any form of extreme that would waste money. If he bought a car, he would have it for 10 years or more. He has two that were bought in '89 and '91 respectively to this day, along with a few more newer ones, but I am still thinking about the late 80s, when they went through what I thought was a lot of money and did not live high on the hog.
My Mother has too many shoes, that is a given. We threatened to COUNT them one day and she got VERY defensive. Clothes is her addiction, and clothes shopping, but not all for herself. She loves to buy cute things for her grandchildren. Her excessive wardrobe did not drain all of that money, so I had to look on. I mentioned my Father has a few cars, but back then he had a Truck, and two cars one for each of them to drive to work. Nothing too excessive there. Do you know what cost the most money....time. I had a great childhood, my parents have been married for longer than my brother has been alive, which is saying something.
The time my parents spent with us cost money. They took us to circuses and sporting events and science centers and bought us the things that we were interested in. My Brother and I both shared an interest in music with our Father. We all had nice stereo setups and got upgrades most Christmases. Christmas, that is where most of that money went. We can not afford to buy all of that stuff for our kids, but you know neither could my parents at first either. So instead of wondering where that money went I will remember were we went as a family. My parents are doing quite well financially, and one day, using a lot of the things I learned from my Father, with my Father , or for my Father, as well as from places like savingadvice.com (plug), we will too.

I guess my point is that my parents didn't have a lot besides a family at first and they cherished that family. They gave up a lot for family, and as times got better they never stopped putting family first.

It is a savings account not a holding account right?

I have a friend who has a slight difference of opinion with his wife regarding what the saving account is for.

He is old school and thinks it is for umm saving. YOu know put money aside for emergency purposes or protection in case of an unfortunate event or a great deal. If that 1965 car that he has always wanted to own was being advertised for $2000 it would be nice to have that $2000.

His wife seems to think it is for anything that they need but can not aford. She planned this trip to Disneyland and when he said where are we going to get that kind of money, even though she found some great deals and it was much less than he thought it would be, her answer was the savings account. They bought a bigger house (growing family can not blame them there) and she went and made a list of everything that they 'needed' to buy to have it just the way she wanted it. Again she turned to the savings account to pay for this instead of slowly acquiring the items as they atually were needed instead of 'needed' or went on sale.

Now I just hope he doesn't see that '65 Chevy out there cause his $2000 is long gone.

You go to the gas station and want to use your debit card to fill your tank. You have to click 'pay here-debit', then enter your pin number. Then you select the grade of gasoline you want and commence with filling the tank. All is going well, birds are chiping off in the distance, the sun is shining between a pair of clouds that are shaped like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Then the pump stops.

You place the handle back where it goes and screw your gas cap back in place. All you want now is your receipt and to be on your way continuing with your happy day. You hear the beeping indicating that the pay at the pump computer wants input from you. You smile and get ready to hit yes to the 'Do you need a receipt' question but just before you press that Y button you catch a glimpse of the display.

'Do you want a $9 Ultimate Super Dooper car wash Y/N' What the.... You almost got a $9 car wash!?! You am glad you looked before pressing the button. THat was close You press N and beep beep, there goes the computer again. The finger is going to the Y button and you read the display. 'Do you want a $6 pretty good car wash Y/N?' You sigh and press N again. Now you know better and wait for the beeps. 'Do you want a $3 cheap ass car wash Y/N'

The sun has faded and Mickey Mouse has grown fangs...Donald Duck is turning into the likeness of Satan. You press N again and notice that the birds are squawking that annoying song that the wiggles sing, yeah any of those songs, pick one. You will not be able to stop thinking about that song all day now. 'Do you want cash back Y/N?' Ok we are getting somewhere now. You press N and get ready for that receipt question.

Instead the display starts slowly scrolling the marquee 'Milk $3.28 1 Gallon' This takes twenty seconds to scroll across and you figure that if you press anything on the display it may skip the receipt question and you will have to go inside to get one, so you wait.
'Marlboro cigarettes at state minimum prices!' This is thirty seconds more. 'Do you want a receipt Y/N'

You smile and know that good things come to those who wait. Your hand confidently reaches out and you go to press the Y button. The display quickly changes 'Please select payment type.' What? You have to wait for all of that but you only get three seconds to hit the Y button?? Now you have to go inside to get the receipt.

All I want is to buy gas, if I wanted to wash my car I would get out a bucket and a sponge!!!

I am starting to get annoyed listening to the people around me complain about how hard it is for them, and then watching them go out to get fast food at lunch.

This guy and his wife both work. so they have 2 incomes, but they have to pay daycare and 2 car payments and had to get a house with a bigger garage for the 2 cars. He now has to pay twice as much for gas as I do, of course I only have 1 income but that is somehow looked over. He can barely scrape by, but that chick-fil-A sandwich sure smells good while I am eating ramen noodles for lunch. You know he is drinking that $1 water, too!

I am not even going to start on the guys who comiserate about money troubles while they are on the smoking deck.

I just smile at how much I have and how well I live on what I live on, and thank my wife for cooking extra at dinner so I can take a lunch to work the next day. That $5 a day lunch even just every Wednesday, which is 'order out' day at work would tighten my budget, but I get good home cooked lunches every day, except the days when the dinner was so good that there are no leftovers or when we had things that I don't like the next day like fried eggs or pancakes, then I eat ramen noodles.

I hate paying late charges on anything. They are stupid. It is a fine like getting a speeding ticket. The librarian says 'Do you know how stupid you were back there buddy?' Here is your ticket.' You pay the overdue charges and go on about your business. The clerk at the video store snickers and says you owe us $2 for being stupid.

There is nothing I hate more than paying my hard earned money for doing something stupid.

Most libraries will let you extend your books online. As for the video rental places, you can just drop off the movies on your way to work. Bank charges? If letting yourself go into overdraft protection costs you $10, then work a little harder to not go into overdraft protection.

I know I am putting this under the heading that has the word scams in it, but so many people think that everything that has to do with getting money is a scam.

My Category name is a play on the fact that anytime my friends or I had a money making idea, either my Mom or Grandma would call it a scam, so we just started calling them scams to, even the legit ones.

You talk to someone about signing up for an ING account and mention you can send them a referral and they will get a $25 bonus. The first thing they say is either 'can I trust an online bank?' or 'what is the catch?'

If you see something that you think someone will like on the freebies (thanx Kimmie) and send them the link, they will reply saying what is the catch. I talk to them and say hey did you get the free samples from that link I sent you and they tell me that they did not sign up because they did not want to be bothered with all of the junk mail and email that they figured they would get, or they read it twice and didn't see what the catch was.

The thought that someone, particularly a large company with a lot of money will give away something free or at a good discount, like a dealer, and then get you hooked before turning you lose to pay retail price, does not compute to most people.

Dove can and will send you a free sample of their new calming soap, because they want you to try it and like it and pay full price for it after that. Pampers sends out a free diaper in the mail to all addresses that they get for newborns from hospitals but there are still those out there that will not sign up for freebies at pampers.com because 'there must be a catch'

Take advantage of all the samples and freebies that you can get.

There are a lot of great coupon deals out there. But buying something you do not need and then claiming the $5 off from that coupon does not constitute an actual savings of $5.

I can recall going to visit my Aunt one time, she was a huge coupon freak. She asks my brother and I, 'Do you boys like Orange Crush?' We nodded expecting to get a glass to drink. Instead she takes my father to the basement and they come up with over a dozen bottles of fizzy orange goodness. She got them for a quarter each with a coupon but no one in her family drank the stuff.

My brother and I decided we had to go down and see what else she had in that basement that we could pillage from her. She a pair of very nice cabinets built in the wall and two shelves that ran a good eight feet long on either side of the cabinets and these were all stocked like a supermarket with goods she bought with her coupons.

She had dozens of boxes of this or that, scores or packets of dog treats and, her prized possession, about thirty travel sized tubes of Colgate toothpaste. You see she is the reason why coupons now say not to exceed value of the product on them. She bought trial sized Colgate that was on sale for 49 cents with a 25 cent coupon on double coupon day meaning the store gave her a penny for each tube of toothpaste that they had in stock that day. She got a lot of great deals, but some things that she bought and did not use, or need took away from her actual savings.


Look for a coupon for eveything you buy, but do not buy everything that you have a coupon for!

Anyone with an Ing account and children who did not refer their children and open an account in their names did not get as much out of the deal as they could have. Anyone out there saying but you have to put in a minimum if $250 to get the bonus needs to know that they only have to leave the $250 in the account for a month after the bonus posts and then they can take it back.

Did you know that the accounts you opened for the kids have their own 25 referrals to use?

It is water ... why is it so expensive?

Why does everyone pay $1 for a 20 oz bottle of Dasani and look down on me like I am standing next to Sally Struthers while she says 'for just the cost of a cup of coffee....' when I am filling up my cup at the water fountain next to the vending machine instead of buying one too?

And the funny part there Sally, is that the water costs more than the cup of coffee!!

Drink free water from the fountain, save your Dollars for something useful.