[Finances] Those mega-annoying “Save a Dollar A Day!” posts and why I hate them.

Cribbing the list that Dawn C. has posted over at Queercents right now. Ok, just the middle section, because it was taking too long.

Adding to what you already do:
9. Round up in your checkbook to the next dollar amount – bank the extra money at the end of the month
What the hell is a checkbook? Who accepts checks any more?
10. Use coupons and consider them money – every coupon used (or doubled) means you put that amount away
When you’re buying beans and rice, they don’t offer many coupons
11. Find more and don’t spend rebate checks, cash back refunds, etc
I don’t know when the last time I bought something that had a rebate was. I mean, again, I don’t buy things like TVs or cell phones, and again, beans and rice rarely comes with a rebate offer
12. Found money in washer/street gets saved
Think hard. When was the last time you found even a penny in the street?
13. Borrow from the library when the urge to buy comes up – put that money away
Ok, this one is all my fault, but I’ve got several hundred dollars in fines at the library. Stop looking at me like that.
14. Bring lunch to work- calculate what you normally spend on lunch and save that amount
I’ve been bringing my lunch to work for about, oh, 10 years? I allow myself to eat out for lunch once a week because otherwise I would probably just fling my beans and rice at someone’s head.
15. Buy generic and save the difference – keep a pen and paper with you to figure the savings
I buy bulk. It’s like generic except you don’t have to throw away boxes.
16. Check around to make sure you are getting the best deal for insurance – the difference goes into savings
17. Call credit card companies to get a lower interest rate – calculate the saving for the lower interest rate based on what you owe, divide by 12 and put that amount away each month
Don’t have a credit card.
18. Write checks for over the amount instead of paying bank fees
Again with the checks.
19. Rent a movie instead of going to the theater and put the difference into savings
Renting a movie: $3.99. Going to the Bagdad Theater: $3.00.
20. Stop off at the thrift store to find what you need before spending money at the department store
De-part-ment store? What’s that?
21. Sit down and do a budget- find out how much is going out from what is coming in and cut back on the areas that you are spending to much
Um, yes. Did dang done.

I think the problem is this list (and the forty eleven dozen others like it that are appearing all over the blogverse as we reach January 1st) is aimed at the newbs to personal finance. And then there’s a wide swatch of blogs aimed at people who make a lot more money than I do and have a lot less student loan debt (for those of you who don’t remember, my student loan payments are 39% of my take-home pay, and my rent, church tithe, and something else I can’t remember off the top of my head is 35% of my take-home pay).

I need something in between, people!

[Finances] A Conversation

Moi: We get paid on Friday!
Coworker: Yay!
Moi: Hot damn!
Coworker: You’re not happy?
Moi: No, hot damn is a good thing. *beat* I’m not sure why, but it is!

Snowpocalypse Funnies

In consoling a friend who’s worried about her canceled flight’s replacement flight getting canceled due to forecasted OMFGSNOW:

The weather people are attention whores.

Snowpocalypse Visualized

How else would a Napa girl measure accumulated snowfall?

Snowpocalypse Redux

I walked from Division to Hawthorne, then from 34th to 20th, with a pause at 27th and Hawthorne for a donut and coffee at Safeway. Caught a 14 Hawthorne to 2nd and Alder. Walked from there to 1st and Harrison. Squeezed into the Streetcar. Told off some of the fleet guys who were griping about getting yelled at for not showing up yesterday. Walked to the warehouse. Climbed two flights of stairs; found the third flight locked. Clocked in on the phone, and then went outside to try and go around the building.

Went hip-deep in a snowdrift and thought to myself, “I did NOT come this far to break my gorram leg!”

Got inside and changed all my clothes from the skin up.

I’ve been working hard since 5.45am! I just want to sleep now!

Snowpocalypse

It took me over two hours to get four miles on TriMet today. I would have walked it, except the snow was literally mid-thigh in places.

Now, they’ve announced that most-all bus routes are canceled.

People are frantically searching for rides. I’ve got a coworker who’d offered me a lift this morning already, so I’ll be fine.

Hopefully.

[Fangirl] Only two words can describe my reaction to this

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Awe. Some.

(If you weren’t aware of my Smithsonian love, DUDE I LOVE THE SMITHSONIAN SO MUCH OMG!)

(Oh, and I don’t want to talk about the fucking snow, ok? It took me two and a half hours to get to work, and walking a half mile through mid thigh drifts with an icy center is NOT FUCKING FUN.)

[Fangirl] Oh, Warren.

Dear Warren Ellis:

You sure know how to make a fangirl smile.

Love,
Mary Sue

Open Letter To The Smokers of Portland

Dear Smokers:

I understand your plight. I used to be one of you. I’m not one of those annoying ‘used to be one of you’s who will demand you quit whenever you light up, though. I don’t mind cigarette smoke usually.

There is one place I do mind it. Upwind of a bus shelter.

How to tell if you’re upwind of a bus shelter: exhale a plume of smoke. Does the smoke head in the direction of the bus shelter? Then you’re upwind. Move away.

Oh, and if the smoke goes up and collects under the roof of the shelter? Move away, jackass.

I know you can’t tell any more because you’re so used to smelling nothing but smoke, however it still stinks even when it’s not visible. You may be standing at SW 3rd and Alder, but I can smell your cigarette smoke a block away.

And because it’s winter, a lot of people with lung issues (you know, from smoking two packs a day for three years and then quitting) are getting more colds. And their lungs are more susceptable to irritants. So if you’re blowing columns of smoke upwind of a very crowded bus stop (like, I don’t know, SW 3rd and Alder) and someone starts coughing and moves upwind of you, don’t glare at her.

Instead, be thankful she was too tired to call TriMet on you since that stop is posted No Smoking.

Best regards,
Mary Sue

OMFGSNOW!

We got like three inches in the city of Portland yesterday.

This is enough to bring the city to a standstill.

Except for me. I’m considered critical to patient care, sitting down in my office on the third floor of the warehouse, half a mile from the nearest patient bed.

So I got up an hour early because I always ride TriMet to work, and I know that they can’t keep the buses on schedule when it’s 70F and partially cloudy.

On the Streetcar, I ran into my coworker K. She was wearing pointy toed boots with three inch heels.

I was wearing a tiechel, a hat, a hoodie, a scarf, a peacoat, thermals, two pairs of socks, and sneakers. Because I’m from California.

Guess who fell on their ass?

GO ON, GUESS!

(Ow, my bum hurts.)