Generic Claritin, Butt Ugly Package Almost Works

Today my nose has been running like a faucet so I decided to pick up some Claritin. Kroger makes a generic brand and the packaging was so horrible I almost didn't buy it. Literally this is one of the most brilliant examples of ugly generic packaging ever.

It has a hideous muted pastel rainbow going across the front of it, mixing terribly with whatever colors are underneath it and clashing completely with the yellow on red text boxes.

As a graphic designer I know that you don't charge by how good the design is. Anyone who can afford to carry their own brand can have nice packages if they choose to. Unless they just don't want the product to look appealing.

Which is exactly the case. It seems counterintuitive that a store would want to undermine their own brand until you think about it. The generic Claritin, made by Kroger, is $5. The real thing costs at least twice as much, which means more profits. In this case the ugly packaging is a marketing ploy to get me to buy name brand if I can afford it, by making me think it's not as good or won't work as well.

Well, so far... it does.

How I Lived on $10 of Groceries per Week

It was the summer of 2000 and I was unemployed. I made small change by participating in Mountain Dew surveys, publishing articles in magazines and doing small odd jobs for friends.

I would go to the store when they were having sales and shop according to what was cheapest or on special for that day. When something (non-perishable) was on sale I bought a lot of it. I would probably never live like this again voluntarily but I had a pretty good system for feeding myself.
All of the stuff I made could usually be prepared in less than 15 minutes using only one pan.

Spices. The main thing to make this diet less miserable is to have a well stocked spice rack. It can be a big investment on limited income but it pays off. I purchased spices from the Mexican foods section of the store because the Badia brand was always at least half off the McCormick.

Hamburger. This is another item that makes a regular rotation to the sale prices. I'd buy a 5 lb log of the cheapest ground beef I could find. Once I got it home I'd divide it into individual quarter pound patties and saran wrap them individually. I could put those in the freezer and have about 14 meals whenever I needed them for less than 25 cents a piece.

Beans and rice. Or more particularly mung beans and basmati rice. The ingredients were a bit more expensive but a 5 lb bag will lat you as long as you can stand it. I added curry, cumin, cayenne and cardamom.

Powdered Jello. I realize you can also cook Jell-O but this is something I learned from my college wilderness expedition. When you're really nutrient-deprived it can make you lethargic, depressed etc. After eating a few spoonfuls of these I always felt better.

Hot Dog "Salad" Hot dogs are a frequent sale item. Buns are a big expense so I usually used bread or just chopped them up into little pieces with relish, ketchup and mustard. If I had onions I'd a bit of one chop one up in there as well.

Potatoes. I usually added these to my rice dishes, possibly with onion because both are cheap and can last for months. You can also make mashed potatoes and fried potatoes.

Pasta and tomato sauce. There is always a sale on some kinds of pasta and the little cans of tomato sauce are usually several for a dollar. You can add basil or black pepper if the normal tomato sauce is too bland.

Lunch meat Sandwiches: I'd make sandwiches if I was feeling motivated. Otherwise I'd just eat the meat right out of the package.

Popcorn!!! Another cheap food that lasts a long time, but most importantly it's filling and doesn't take as long as rice.

Kool Aid. The poor man's soda.

Ramen Noodles. An overrated but efficient way to eat cheaply. Mix with frozen vegetables for extra pizzaz.

It's not a gourmet diet by any stretch of the imagination but it kept me alive for several months. I even gained some weight toward the end. Some weeks my expenses were actually more like $5, while others it went all the way up to $20.

Living on Half My Salary?

Seattle Simplicity asked they hypothetical question of whether or not she could live working half the time and making half as much. My current salary is $37K, so I would have to say "no" in my case.

I've lived on that kind of money before and budgeting is a lot less fun when you actually have to do it. I can probably live on less than most people I know and not be totally miserable, but the older I get and further I move up in my career, the more incredible it seems to me that anyone can survive on entry level salary.

Primarily, I'm accustomed to living intown, which has other offsetting benefits like no commute. There are other things I like to buy that are difficult to afford at $8 an hour wages-- especially food since I have never bothered to learn how to cook to a level I feel worth the effort.

I would however be totally amenable to working half time and earning slightly less than my current salary.... say $30K. My time is something I value more than money and having time to reflect, create, amuse myself and explore is far more valuable than what I do at work; though society understandably holds a reversed position.

The only dangerous proposition with having that much free time is that it begets bad spending habits. I've been in very unstructured situations where I worked very little and had days of down time. If I was bored, which was frequent because my friends worked, I'd go shopping or get my hair cut. I'd go out to the bars during the week (in addition to weekends) and party hard because it was never really a school night.

Use Everything in A Month or Throw it Away

My roommate is a recovering crapaholic. Recently she was fascinated by an article about someone who lived in a very small space and got by on throwing away anything he didn't use in a month. At first that sounded pretty hardcore but on reflection I'm very close to that, without really having any rules about it. Almost 90% of everything I own gets used within 30 days with a few exceptions.

Clothing: Obviously formal wear and seasonal attire gets stored. I'm also not entirely religious about throwing out my old daily clothes. I probably need to.

Computer Parts: When I was getting my certifications I became an old technology packrat. I had three boxes running on my network, two of them junk ones I fixed up. I've gotten rid of my ISA slotted motherboards and serial port mice but I do keep a machine up in my closet in case my current system breaks down. I use the internet for everything and having backup parts onhand is essential.

Hair Care and Medicine Cabinet: This is a mess, I admit. I could subsist on leftover hair care products till 2010 and that's exactly what I plan to do. I've also got some perfectly good skin care stuff I forget to use and fully intend to... One day. Maybe.

Books: I've actually gotten rid of my bookshelf and put them in a storage closet. I never re read books unless they're reference books. When I need to look up facts I use the internet. I'll probably sell these on Amazon.

Drawing Table: I got it with the best intentions but I never use it. It was a gift and I really wanted to get back into art. I'll sit and doodle at it occasionally. I wouldn't consider getting rid of it though because my interest seems to be perennial.

That's about it. But all of my possessions could actually fit in my bedroom, if I had to live in that kind of space (which I don't- my apartment is about 1,100 sq ft). This is nothing I directly aspired to. In fact, it's probably one of my most undisciplined behaviors. I have a really easy time letting go of things and not a lot of interest in having to take care of it.

Plus I hate the feeling of being tied down by stuff.

Free Dinners From Opentable.com

Besides being a very convenient (and totally free) service for making online reservations in most major cities, OpenTable also offer a rewards program for people who dine out frequently. Every time you complete a reservation you can earn 100 dining points with rewards of up to 1,000 for places that are really desperate for clientele.

Now before you get all excited, 100 points basically equals one dollar and you can cash out when you reach $10. It's not going to cut your dining out budget, but if you do eat out fairly frequently, it's a nice little bonus. I'd use the service without the points just because it's so simple and quick.

One thing you might want to do is set up an account and share it with friends. My friend and I just earned a collective 10,000 dining points, which is 100 bucks. It took us almost 2 years and nearly 80 reservations. He eats out a lot more than I do, but we'll go out together a lot. (He's also well off enough that he doesn't mind picking up the tab. Frugal tip #1: Make rich friends).

Consumer Psychology: Free Shipping

I am a sucker for free shipping. Amazon is really great about using this as marketing leverage. I buy some kind of expensive hardcover game rulebooks on a regular basis. I've started using Amazon rather than my local hobby shop because it's 30% cheaper on anything I want to buy. If I'm willing to wait that is.

The most recent thing to come out is 30 bucks. Amazon will sell it to me for $18. However when it's only $18 I have to pay $4 for shipping since it no longer qualifies for free shipping. I'd still be saving eight dollars, but of course now I'm trying to think if there's anything else I'd want to have... Obviously it's very ingenious.

Newegg did a similar jedi mind trick with my $300 video card-- it was free shipping for a limited time if you order TODAY. Now I was in impulse buy mode already, so it didn't take much convincing.

Compare that with the insane policies of my favorite popcorn company, Yoder popcorn. Yoder is great stuff but the minimum shipping for any amount of popcorn is $10!!! Often times shipping equals out to be twice the cost of the product itself. I probably wouldn't mind paying more for the individual bags if shipping was 5$, or free after a certain amount.

I'm sure there's a social psychology principle behind all of this, but it's been a few years since college etc.

Buyer Beware: Dollar Store Toothpaste

So it's probably no coincidence that many of the items purchased in the Dollar Store are produced in foreign countries or are edging on their expiration dates. It's something to consider when putting it in your mouth and gums.

Some toothpastes, like from South Africa, actually have 10 times the flouride of our domestic brands. That is considered "prescription strength"which is not even really legal to buy for a dollar. Though I'm sure it's a great buy for people with really nasty teeth.

Snopes has a full article on the pros and cons of dollar store dental hygene.

Don't Buy Office-- Word Processing for FREE

Okay so maybe you will need MS office, but there are a lot of new uses of Ajax technology out there that are bringing the functionality of word processing applications to the web... and for free. I wouldn't write necessarily my great american novel with one of these things (though they look like they have some impressive advanced features) but if the most you do is the occasional letter or a kid's essay for school then you might want to check these out.

Best of all you don't need to install it so you can use them from any computer. I haven't had the chance to play with either of them but they come pretty highly recommended from pundits of the web industry.

Writely is owned by google and is in beta. You can load from and save to your desktop so you don't have to worry about storing your data online. It's currently closed for new signups while they move it to google's server. You'll even be able to use it to compose blog posts.

Ajax Write just lanched today and reminded me to post about this. It requires firefox with java and is still in beta.

Zen and the Art of Laundry

My obsession with efficiency has nothing to do with a desire to be more organized or to optimize my productivity. My main concern is eliminating work with as little effort as possible, so that my time can be spent being comfortably UN-productive.

Example: The task of laundry is to me what the boulder is to Sisyphus-- an unending toil and a personal hell. Washing machines in general have introduced MORE work into the household since they were introduced in the 1950's. Sure you don't have a washboard, but the ease of use in washing machines means that people ended up doing their wash much more frequently... And more than necessary IMHO.

Over the years I've learned to adapt some routines that help me liberate precious minutes of my life from this onerous domestic burden. For one, everything is machine wash cold and 60 minutes in the dryer. Everything-- whites, colors, towels, sheets... My laundry loads know no boundaries. And my loads are LARGE.

Sure some clothes get ruined because I don't properly wash them. But the truth is they were weak and unworthy garments and would have been ruined eventually. Nietzsche had a similar philosophy about human existence.

Of course keeping things out of the laundry helps as well. Since I have to dress semi nicely for work I like to change when I get home. If I can remember I hang up the nice white collar clothes for another wearing since they rarely even see perspiration. The grungy around the house outfit is usually on the floor by my bedroom door. It's nothing I care about and is fine for comfortable lounging and brief forays into public. I use the same clothes all week for this.

I re use workout clothes too. This may seem nasty at first but the only purpose in keeping them clean is to eliminate persistent odor. I don't sweat that much so I can get away with it.

The primary goal is to get down to one or (at most) two loads a week. I could probably go longer but there are two things I don't re-use: underwear and towels.

300$ for a Computer Upgrade

I got a call last night saying there were suspicious purchases on my credit card. I guess I don't shop online too much. The 300$ charge from newegg.com is valid. Yesterday marked the much anticipated release of Elder Scrolls IV, a follow up to the 2003 game of the year. As touted by everyone the graphics, even on the lowest setting, were spectacular. My PC, however was ground to a halt.

My CPU is a decent 2 gigs; my RAM an ungodly 2 gigs; but my video card is a 5600 and I still use AGP. Translation: It's not a bad system , except for the ancient fossil from 2003 that my monitor plugs into.

Without a moment's hesitation, I jumped on newegg.com and bought the first Nvidia graphics card I could find for 300$. I couldn't even tell you what it was exactly other than it's a GEForce 7800 with 256 RAM. Three day delivery was free.

I've never bought from Newegg before and normally I like to comparison shop with something like Pricewatch But since I don't know a lot about the new video cards that are out I'm not sure exactly what I want. Newegg has good sales, of mouth reputation and users with high technical proficiency rate the hardware. (According to Pricewatch, I still couldn't have found a better AGP card for less).

My computer is one area where I don't mind spending money, because I spend so much time using it.

[NOTE: I'm glad I posted about this because I suddenly realized while writing that I ordered the wrong thing. Canceling online was easy and I picked something else that's even better for the same price.]

Internet Success Story: Homeless to CEO

See how the web changed this homeless man's entire business model in this humorous commercial from web.com:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=A8WuMRK9fBE&search=ebeggar

:P

Take this Job and... Reassign it!

It's time to think about my job. I don't care for it at the moment and it's time to look for a new one. It was something I was assigned because one department was shorthanded and it's not a good fit for my skills, interests or lifestyle.

I feel I'm in a pretty good position financially. I have about three months of my current salary sitting in liquid assets. I can afford to leave if I wanted-- or had to. I live below my means so I have considerable flexibility in what I can live off-- if needed.

I'd obviously like to make more and given my salary is not even 40k I think that's pretty realistic. (Though important non-monetary considerations are: communte time, stress, vacation, health plan, travel and whether the job requires weekend or evening hours. )

I really hate job hunting by the way.

Energy Saving Lightbulbs: First Impressions

I bought the energy saving compact florescent light bulbs and I have to say I'm not entirely happy with how they look. I use full spectrum light bulbs normally because they balance the yellowishness of incandescents. The environmentally friendly fluorescents seem even more yellow to me. Still, I think I can find places for them in the apartment. The bathrooms, laundry rooms and closets are not areas where I'm particularly concerned about the quality of light.

I've put off on getting the energy saving bulbs because I wasn't ready to replace all of the light fixtures. Plus my roommate refuses to give up full spectrum. Still, having them in three locations will save some money. To quote one site: "If every American home changed out just 5 high-use light fixtures or the bulbs in them with ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR, each family would save more than $60 every year in energy costs" So at 5$ a bulb I'd be looking at a savings of $5 this year (plus free 5 year lightbulbs that I won't have to change) and 20$ next year. Still not bad.

Our apartment is all electric and the AC bills add up-- as does the heat from my light and computer in my bedroom. My Summer resolution is to keep costs down.

Adsense Profits MTD March 2006

I have, so far, earned one cent from adsense in March. My traffic is light with only a handful of returning readers, though from my site stats it looks like more people are adding me to RSS via bloglines which cuts down on the amount of pageloads (since my statcounter isn't in the xml).

As I've mentioned, I also run an adult website that does generate revenue. I got a check for 40$ from them today. It will probably never explode into crazy revenue but I don't really have to put any work in it for people to come back and click the ads.

But it got me thinking that sex probably sells a lot better than frugality, simple living and smart investing. And probably generates a lot better click traffic than shady google ads for secured credit cards. (They do know their audiences, huh?) I'd be curious if any PF bloggers are making money from adsense. .. but more specifically, because I can probably name the ones who are-- I'd be curious if any C or D listers like myself are making money with affiliate programs.

Investing

I don't invest in the market. It actually occurred to me that I wouldn't even know where to begin. I have more than enough in my emergency fund, so I could afford to play.

I would probably feel comfortable putting up a thousand and bailing out if I lost 500. That seems about right. I'm not planning on losing money, obviously but these things are never guaranteed.

I am a total beginner. I know about the big corporations and the hot new Web 2.0 businesses on the market but not what makes them valuable. Unless it's something blatantly obvious like GOOG.

I'll need to talk to some financial advisor people. Another interesting route looks like these prosper loans...

Whole Foods Bag Refund

Did you know that you can make a whole nickel every time you buy from Whole Foods, just by bringing in your own bag? I know, I know-- you're reading this and are thinking, "NO WAY! How can they stay in business if they're giving THAT MUCH money away?" Well before you dump all your stock in the company, take a moment to think about how wasteful it is to constantly give out plastic bags.

My roommamte has one of those ugly stretchy yarn bags that makes me feel like a ridiculous homeless person. You can buy them at the store but at 20$ a pop, you'd need to make 400 trips to whole foods before you'd see a profit so I recommend just re using your old plastic bags. I use hers because I didn't pay for it.

Anyway, I decided that since it's right next door and I need the exercise anyway that I would maximize the savings power of the cloth bag by buying things one at a time. So rather than buy two jugs of lemonade or some chips to eat tomorrow I can just walk over tomorrow and get another 5 cents off stuff I would buy anyway.

In 20,000,000 trips to whole foods that's almost a MILLION in savings! And that's not even counting the compounding that would occur during the 54,795 years it would take me to complete said daily trips.

Financial Simulation

One game I loved to play was the Sims. In it, you control the lives of various virtual reality people or don't and watch their lives fall apart. It's a great way to simulate different kinds of financial scenarios. It can actually be very educational.

I had one completely nuclear family-- man as breadwinner, stay at home wife, two kids. Another was a gay couple: double income no kids. Single parenting was an absolute nightmare-- I think the game deliberately makes stuff break and catch on fire when kids are home alone.

And then there were more alternative variations: I had a farm house that existed without technology. The family grew their own food and supported themselves with arts and crafts (their bills were almost nothing). I had another house where the people made themselves rich by collecting and selling art. Some houses operated more like barracks or cults, with all of the occupants getting jobs in the army and living regimented lives.

The more working adults you can cram in a living space, the better for household net worth. Even if the jobs are low-income the money adds up quickly. When I want to create wealth I usually make a huge lot with a lot of Sims.

The Sims are really materialistic and some of their happiness depends on having new stuff in their house... So the game does force you to embrace rampant consumerism to a degree. But then how fun would it be to run a frugal house with all the same furniture for 10+ game hours?

Stupid College Finance Tricks

Back in college my cards were all maxed out except this Sears card. The only reason I even had that card was because they were giving away free Reeces Pieces if you signed up one day when I was in the mall spending other money I didn't have at various stores. Yes you heard me, I did it for a free pack of 16 peanut butter cups.

So there it was, a whole virgin 800$ credit limit, taunting me. Sure it was money, but there was nothing I wanted at Sears. Sears didn't sell booze, food or accept payments for the electric company. They sold electronics but I didn't want any electronics.... Or did I?

Someone certainly wanted electronics and surely there was a way to leverage that demand. So I bought the biggest TV I could find and took it to a pawn shop. Sure enough, they handed me a hundred bucks. A few weeks later I paid the loan off, got the TV out of pawn and returned it to Sears. I did this trick another time with a camcorder, since luggling the TV around almost broke my back.

I got two hundred bucks for the $700 camcorder. I paid that off and returned it.

I learned too late that I was misjudging my target market. They offered me 40$ for a Sears space heater, almost 80% of the price. They were really excited when I brought that heater too. As gratitude for their financial services I let them keep it. If I went back, I thought I might be better off with offerings of tools and car gadgets than the high end electtronics.

Please do not actually attempt to do this. In retrospect it would have been a million times easier if I'd just saved money and acted responsibly than sitting around cooking up crazy stuff like this.

Financial Vindication: Washington Mutual

I called WaMu and requested a refund, for the second time. Credit cards are a pain to negotiate with when you owe a balance. The main reason, besides the fact that they OWN you, is that at you can't cancel till it's paid, so threatening to do so when you have a large balance is not taken seriously.

Threatening to cancel services is unfortunately the only way to get anything done sometimes. When I worked in CS, I felt really bad for the happy go lucky non-argumentative friendly people because they never got any special treatment... and in my opinion, they deserved it more than the angry screaming individuals.

This time I had my balance paid down to zero and said (basically) "You can credit the 10$ finance charge or you can canel my card".

Amy, who answered my call, reversed the charge instantly and without any hassle. I had the distinct feeling that if I'd gotten her the first time, instead of Shameka, I probably wouldn't have had to make this call. Even where companies have uniform procedure, there can be a wide difference in how each CSR handles problems.

Now I still have the card.

Walk There!

As part of a local measure to promote walking and public transport, the Atlanta Midtown Alliance is issuing free pedometers and a competition between various companies to see who walks the most. There are also possible prizes for individual participants.

And I got two free MARTA tokens to intice me to use public transit. I don't normally but that's a trip to the airport and back next time I travel..

So anyway free pedometer and an incentive to walk. Actually I like to walk and do it whenever I can. Usually I walk to the grocery store and whatever place I'm going for lunch at work.

Whenever I drive I never spend any time hunting for a parking spot. I take the first open spot I see and walk, even if it's the farthest away. The parking lot is probably the silliest place to waste gasoline.

Starbuck's Free Coffee 22 minutes left

It's true that Starbucks nationwide are giving away coffe from 10AM to 12 PM. I just walked in and got a free tall cup of regular coffee. While the line was quick, you could probably save time by taking the coffee back to your local break room (provided you have one) and adding the cream and sugar there. The condiment station at the starbucks near me was a mess.

Crash and Burn: Financial Biography, Part 3

This is the third installment of my financial history. Last I left this thing off, I had just graduated college with no student loans and a clean slate. It was an opportunity to turn my back on a history of financial mismanagement. But by this point I felt I knew a lot more about how the real world worked. For one, I realized that there was no criminal prosecution for debt, and thus no real incentive to repay it.

I ran up a couple of cards upon first moving to Atlanta and deliberately just didn't repay them. I had no intention of using credit later and didn't want to be bothered with needless bills. I knew this would screw my credit score but at the time I just didn't really care (I figured some day I'd just pay it off). I had three grand in savings bonds that I quickly burned through while I struggled to find a job. Temp work only lasted so long and my job prospects dried up when I confessed to the placement agent that I didn't have professional attire.

After my bonds ran out, I put my car title up for cash. Please whatever you do-- don't pawn your title-- those loans are a scam. I could have lost my Tercel, except for a fortuitous ATM error where Wachovia's machine spit out $750 dollars because their main network was down. I was later hit with a $500 overdraft which I also didn't pay. With credit cards and banks now blacklisting me, I lived on cash alone.

I made some very rich, well-connected friends and ended up working when I wanted to, doing odd jobs for them. I'll leave it at that. Because of the various lines of business these people were in, they could buy basically anything they wanted. Hundreds of thousands of dollars went into buying televisions, DJ equipment, you name it. At this point I think I finally realized that money was not buying these people happiness.

On the other hand, I got pretty good with managing my money. Everything I had was in cash so there was no abstract credit account or sequestered assets. I could look at my net worth, spread it out on my bed and even roll around in it if I wanted. I actually started a savings pile. That lifestyle was fun while it lasted but as you could probably guess, everything came crashing down at once.

My friends were all arrested on various charges, my car broke down and I was left with no income. I learned how to be frugal. I scraped by completing online surveys for cash and eating 20$ worth of groceries a week. Eventually my roommates started to get sick of supporting me so they did what anyone would do to get rid of an unwanted layabout. They all moved out.

I was without a job or even a formal work history. I had a degree but at this point, I was convinced it was worthless so I applied in the soul crushing world of retail. Pounding the pavement was as hard as it ever was and lacking any job search skills, I came up with nothing. Eventually another friend offered me a real job making 8$ an hour at his accounting office.

This marked the turning point in my financial life from bad decisions to better. The biography also gets a lot less interesting. ;)

You Too Could Have Unclaimed Riches!!

Another hot tip from Free Money Finance. There are billions of dollars in unclaimed assets just laying around that people have either lost or don't know about. I've always been pretty careful with my money (at least making sure I got every dime I was owed so I could squander it later that week) and I'm not anybody's sole heir so I never figured there would be anything with my name on it.

But lo and behold, my old university owes me 99.99 in unclaimed wages. While I'm happy about the moderate windfall, I'm wondering how my minimum wage slave oppressors managed to short me so exact an amount. Still that's 100 bucks that DIDN'T end up going towards a fake ID, box wine or ramen noodles. Sweet!

If it happened to me, it could happen to you. No really. I found 200$ of my step mom's just by entering last names. And best of all it's free! Click here for the site.

More Protecting Yourself vs. Identity theft

With the proliferation of personal profile sites and blogs, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that whay you say can be used against you. There are two pieces of information that people often put online without realizing the danger for identity theft: birthdate and high school.

Obviously you should never post your full birthdate on an open forum, especially if you're not anonymous. If you want to put the date, leave off the year. This is a pirce of information that is asked over and over to verify your identity and probably not something you want to fall into the wrong hands.

The other is High School information. The growing trend in verification is to ask about high schools or mascots rather than mothers maiden name. With sites like myspace and friendster adding feature rich alumni groups, this information too can be readily obtained. If you do participate in features like this, don't use school information to verify.

Probably the smartest thing is just to make up information all together, like a password that you can remember.

Virtual Bank: A Slow Way to Make 42 Cents

I "recently" signed up for virtalbank's 4.6% money market account, to get their 20$ bonus for signing up. I'd found out about it through Neo's blog and the rate is far better than ING currently offers. Plus even if I decided not to go through the laborious process of withdrawing from ING and depositing to Virtualbank, I'd end up with 20$.

I filled out the online forms with my personal and bank account information and was told it would be a few days. By the way, "3-5 business days" is corporate euphemism for "a week". Monday, a week later I noticed two credits of 21 cents apiece-- the autorization deposits made by Virtualbank to validate my account. Of course I had no idea what to do with these until I recieved a letter three days later, welcoming and inviting me to go online to confirm the deposits.

I did that and was told my account would be set up in another three days. That was last week and I still can't log in, nor have I recieved any welcoming collateral. I don't even know if I want the account at this point. This kind of apathetic customer service does not inspire confidence.
Although I can't say it's a total loss. That's 42 more cents down the path of financial independence.

Beyond Platinum? The Billionaire's Black AMEX (with image)

I just read about travelling like a billionaire over in Free Money Finance. Apparently AMEX issues a black Centurion card with literally no limit and "...dedicated personal concierge as well as a travel agent, private-jet charter program, chauffeured limo service and international emergency health care. They can also get tickets to 'By Invitation Only' events, like seats onstage at a recent Rolling Stones concert, which cost $5,800 per pair."

Inflamed by curiousity I dug a little around the net and came upon an interesting article from Snopes. The cards are an example of an urban legend come to life. Rampant rumors of a mysterious black card caused AMEX to bust out with the real thing in 1999. It's $2,500 a year for the card and offered by invitation only. Can you imagine that bulk mail? "You've been Pre-Approved for the American Express Billionaires Card!"

I try not to get too upset by the fact that I will never own one of these or have a private jet. I am however, incensed that billionaires don't have to take off their shoes at airport security according to the original Yahoo article.

Compare Price, Speed, Value on Broadband Services

Inspired by a discussion on Madame X's blog-- Here’s another useful site tech people know about, but general consumers may not. If you’re considering getting high speed internet, dslreports.com is the place to go. Users compare the quality, stability and value of the various broadband services in each area. Given the number of factors that go into providing broadband service, individual experiences can vary widely so it’s always good to check and see what other customers are saying.

Since I get DSL discounts through work (17.99 a month) and I do web design, high speed is really a no brainer. Plus it's much faster than dailup or the alternate method of mailing a self-addressed stamped envelope a web host requesting a hard copy of their website.

Dealing with Rejection Citibank Rewards Visa

I got a lovely letter from Citibank thanking me for my interest in their Rewards Visa. While they would have valued me as a customer, they apparently didn't like the skull and crossbones Firstusa and Macy's scribbled in the margins of my credit report.

I can qualify for seemingly any 0% APR for 1 year card I want, but when I apply for a rewards or cashback card I get the smackdown. AMEX has been so hot for my business that it's getting a little embarrassing and they're like the most stringent. But I don't need an Amex, or a low interest line of credit for that matter.

So what gives? Is it possible that my checkered credit history has me marked as someone who will run up a bunch of cards, carry a crazy balance and pay dearly on their post-promotional 16% interest for the rest of my life?

I'm going to drown my financial sorrows in an entire tub of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Methods of Payment... or Pain?

No likes to spend time in a grocery store less than me, so I've naturally become aware of two methods of payment used for what must be the sole purpose of causing me anguish and wasting valuable minutes of my life.

The first is the personal check. I know the Consumerist has been on a sensationalistic tirade about ATM security of late, but there is really no excuse to go back to the stone age. At least the woman today had the wherewithal to have the carbon copy kind of check, rather than entering the entire details of her transaction into a manual ledger.

The second item is cash in the self scan lane. Some automated, self-service "conveniences" are introduced not to make our lives easier but to reduce the need for manpower. Most people cannot ring up their groceries with the same speed as a trained professional. Moreover no machine can accept crumpled up bills, fed individually into a slot, with any amount of speed whatsoever.

Also I think that there need to be on-site classes offered in the proper use of the pin pad.

Merit Increase

The results of my annual salary review are in and it was... (drumroll).... 5%. That raises my salary to 36,736.35. And yes, the 35 cents is actually on the paperwork. [EDIT: In case anyone else sucks at math the 5% works out to be 1749.35. 5% is also the highest I, or any other employee, could have gotten.] This is not the most money I have ever made in my life but it is the most I've made since the Internet boom of 2000.

It's surreal (and slightly exhibitionist) to be posting my exact salary to total strangers since it's one of the more private topics around the office. Even with close friends we've only dropped hints. Of course salary transparency would totally destroy the delicate social fabric of the corporate ecosystem as people learned how much their incompetent peers are raking in.

:)

Best Prices on Computer Parts and Accessories

Being in the IT field, I probably take it for granted that everyone knows about pricewatch.com. This site lists the cheapest deal on everything for computers. They aggregate hundreds of sites and you can browse by price, product or category. If you're buying from one of the big retailers, you could save up to 50% by shopping pricewatch.

The only problem is managing returns. I bought a system from a small company in California that turned out to have a defective motherboard. While I did get the issue resolved, I had to pay for the return shipping and handling.

That was an odd occurrence. As I look toward upgrading my video card, I'll be using Pricewatch. They also have cheap LCD monitors which produce less heat and use less electricity.... Something I probably want to consider for the Summer.

Blog Makeover

I designed a new header for my blog this weekend and am starting to get my layout situated. I think it turned out pretty well and Blogger is easy to customize-- compared to some other blogging systems that are out there.

I do graphic design as a side profession, which really helped me supplement my income when I was struggling financially. And of course I get ad revenue from some other sites which is a nice occasional bonus.

Since this is a finance blog, I might as well throw it out there that my rate is 20$ an hour.

Spending Addiction: Financial Biography, Part 2

This is a continuation of my financial biography. So last I left this thing off, I had just started college with a brand new Discover card.

Obviously if I wasn't good with money beforehand, this wasn't headed in a good direction. Finally being 18 and in control of my finances, I wasted no time in draining every last bit of savings my parents had set up to provide for me. I also ran up my "emergency" card quite a bit. Mostly it went towards pizza, alcohol, drugs-- the typical things one blows one's money on in college.

At the end of my freshman year my dad bailed me out of debt and I started at a new school.

This time it was worse. I was bad at managing the money I got from financial aid and called my dad repeatedly to demand more money. And I pretty much demanded it. I had some jobs through the schools slave labor program (also called "work-study") which involved a lot of being looked down on by pretentious faculty. Eventually I quit the job and just took out more student loans. I sold CDs for a while as well.

I made more bad decisions, loaning some friends a big chunk of cash which they were unable to repay. I also discovered the wonders of designer clothing. I had thought myself pretty cool with my grunge thrift store clothing but suddenly, going out to all these bars with my fake ID, I felt inadequate.

I developed a spending addiction.

Whenever I got a disbursement of money I'd already have spent it three ways-- cash, credit and bills. I opened more and more pre-approved credit cards with the intention of rotating the balance... Only I would just run them up buying more clothes and cologne and CDs and whatever else. Sales agents at the stores knew me by name and I liked being catered to because I was good commission. It was a ritual.

I needed the things I bought to feel good about myself. Plus I was still going out every night drinking. How I managed it for so long is really beyond me. But eventually I started to fall behind. I started missing minimum payments to save money. My checking account (that my dad got me) stopped covering my overdrafts. My salon called-- the check had bounced. I had seven credit cards.

I called my dad for help. I tried to tell him that I had a problem but he didn't listen. I'd lied to him habitually about where my money went and this time he didn't even ask. My grandfather passed away around that time and with one tragic inevitable incident, my 15,000 slate was wiped clean... as well as all my student loans. I was a 22 year old college graduate with zero debt, ready to start (yet another) new life.

I'd like to say I learned a lesson from the shame of admitting my failure. I'd like to say that I finally realized that all I'd bought myself with credit cards was misery. But of course I didn't. I did something even more stupid...

Venture Capital?

I have a great web 2.0 venture capital proposal that comes hot on the heels of news that XuQa's founders were just handed a check for 300k in spite of being quoted as saying: "With this dough, here's the game plan: Go party REEALLLY hard for like one weekend. Wake up with a hang over sooo heavy that we can't see the Error 808 on XuQa." They're giving it away like it was the 90's again apparently.

So here's my game plan: A site updated by live user voting (possibly with histograms) that says what the crowds at various nightlife establishmants are doing and what place is hot (hot people, hot music etc) . The site should be accessible through SMS where people can get a list of the hot places or vote by simple text messaging. Or if people have flickr or something like that they can post photos.

I kind of posted this to be witty but now I think it could actually work. So any VC's out there? I could definately kick it off for a mere 100k. ;) Or if you just want to steal this idea make sure you do it in Atlanta. Thx, it would really help me.

Consumer Confession

Forgive me PFBlogging community, for i have sinned. I just bought something at a store I could have got online for half price.

:P

Blogging: CoComment

CoComment is a new service that lets you track your comments in other people's blogs and notifies you when there's a response or other comments. It's still in beta (won't work with popup comments) but hopefully once it takes off it will be a huge improvement to everyone's lives. I know I miss things because I forget to check back where I posted.

One thing about Blogger is that there isn't a lot of interactivity in the comments section. My other blog is a LiveJournal and I get e-mail notification whenever someone comments on your post or responds to a comment you make in any other LiveJournal which is pretty nice. The PF communities there are nothing like pfblogs.org though.

Anyway try it out, if you're technically proficient-- it's pretty sweet.

http://www.cocomment.com/

Protecting Yourself: Online and Automatic payments

I worked as a customer service representative for several years and there are two things that I learned to avoid at all costs.

The first is setting up automatic payments to debit a checking account. I avoid automatic set ups anyway but when they're required I put them on my card.

There have been a number of times when for whatever reason, my company or the vendor who processed our payments would double charge, place "holds" or charge irregularly forcing a customer's account to become overdrawn. With credit cards, the customer can dispute the charge the credit card company will almost always reverse any overdraft charges or interest.

With bank accounts it's not the case. I've even called banks and directly requested that they reverse the charges for overdrafts that were our mistake. Most of the time they just say, "Sorry," and not like they mean it. Since my company didn't technically charge the overdrafts, I basically had to turn around and say the same thing to my customer.

Banks are also much worse about disputing charges to begin with, which brings me to item number two: Never buy merchandise online with a debit card or checking account, especially if it's not a major site like amazon or paypal. Your information can be stolen or the company (through no fault of it's own) could charge you incorrectly. Once that money is gone you are pretty well screwed unless the people who took it are willing to refund. And even if you can recover the cost of the charges, you will more than likely be stuck with overdrafts.

Credit cards are in a much better position to argue on your behalf if there is a dispute because they have standing agreements with the merchants. Checking accounts on the other hand, exist for the sole purpose of giving your money away never to be seen again.

Optimizing the Everyday Wardrobe

Clothing is an area where it's difficult to find a balance between frugality and fashion. Obviously a canvas sack, or the more comfortable nylon version, is the cheapest solution, (second to wearing leaves). But we live in a society that where that is not readily accepted. So I try to live by the following principles when it comes to clothes buying:

I never buy designer, even if it's on sale. 50% off a $120 shirt is still too much. Target and H&M are the only places I shop lately. Both offer (close enough to) designer quality clothing while being friendly to the 20$ price point. The clothes fit me well without being too baggy. I try not to pay more than 30 for pants, 40 for a sweater and 20 for a shirt.

I try to buy stuff that will stand the test of time aesthetically. Some trends have more longevity than others. I watch what real people are actually wearing rather than what's in magazines.

I will ruin clothes. No matter what my intentions I always end up spilling staining, ripping or in some way destroying garments. Dark and multicolored garments hide residual discoloration better. Black is good but tends to fade noticably so I stick with mid range colors that will look okay a little lighter. As much as I like to wear white, I can't buy it.

I machine wash everything cold. Moreover I try not to have to wash clothes at all. Laundry and drying will destroy the fabric more than daily wear; so if a shirt isn't dirty or stinky I say hang it back up.

Never buy clothes that mix materials. Blended fabrics are fine, but sometimes designers add trim or details that use different types or blends of fabric than the article itself. As the materials react differently to washing the clothes may pucker. Athletic apparel is really bad about this.

In answer to a question posed on Frugal for Life about the longevity of clothing, I generally aim for 2-3 years of wear out of my clothes before they start to fade, get stained or no longer look fashionable. But if they still hold together I'll use them for laying around the house for another three years. Having beat up old shirts saves wear and tear on my new stuff.

My closet is organized by use. All clothes that get washed are hung on the right side of the closet. When it comes time to donate stuff, I know that everything on the left hasn't been worn in a while.

Supplement: What You Pay for When You Buy Designer

While I'm no fashion expert, here are general reasons why high end stuff costs so much. Couture: You pay for the privilege of wearing it first. The more designers who make something like it, and the more widely available it is, the cheaper it becomes. Brand: It says Polo, Hilfiger, Timberland, Gucci...That alone justifies a 300% markup. Quality and Material: Some high fashion stuff is extremely well made so it will last quite a while, as well as feel smoother than garments with lower thread counts. Cut and Fit: Higher end stuff usually hangs more naturally, is less likely to be baggy and flatters the figure.

Financial Anger Part 2: WaMu MasterCard

Switching banks or juggling credit cards is a trap. I got my WaMu Mastercard because it had a 0% APR which I could carry some larger balances on and have more spending power by breaking a large amount of debt into two interest free payments. Sadly having your credit card and ATM through the same bank can have some confusing ramifications, especially when your ATM card has just been changed to a mastercard as well.

Long story short: I used my credit card at an ATM, incurred a 10$ cash advance fee and had to pay off the whole 1,000$ balance in order to avoid being further charged interest on the $60 I took out, (as cash advances aren't 0% APR). That utterly invalidates the entire point of having the card in the first place.

Shameka, the agent I spoke to, was less than helpful. I didn't push the issue... yet. They do have the power to waive the transaction, that much I know. I don't think it was acceptable of them to use my bank pin for my credit card to begin with. That doesn't seem very secure. (I would never set a pin on a credit card precisely because cash advances are such a ripoff.)

After the transaction clears, I'm going to call back to cancel. If they give me my 10$ back I'll keep it. Or at least I'll consider it. I thought I could use the system to my advantage but I slipped up. At the very least, it will be a ten dollar lesson in the importance of simplicity.

Generic vs Non Generic Round 1: Toothpaste

I realize that I buy a lot of brand name items for no good reason. One Example? Whitening Toothpaste by Aquafresh. I bought it because it's orange and comes in a silver tube. Oh and it whitens... supposedly.

I've been buying whitening toothpastes religiously since they came on the market in the 90's. While they can work for some people after about six months, they usually arent going to for the people who really need them i.e. smokers. coffe/soda/wine drinkers.

The paste is overrated anyway. The toothpaste marketers have us convinced we need their product to maintain clean teeth which isn't entirely true at all.

Most dentists will tell you that it's not the toothpaste, but the brushing, that actually cleans your teeth. I say "most" but I really mean "every one I've ever talked to". You should also only use a pea-sized amount of paste and not the big heaping amount on the product packaging. Too much can actually interfere with the brushing.

Final verdict? You don't have to spend money on brand name toothpaste. And if you want whitening consider talking to your dentist or getting a product that does that specifically.

Chapstick Addiction

I am trying to beat my addiction to lip balm. Unfortunately my lips like to peel like dry onions and only the compulsive reapplication of Blistex Herbal can sooth my desire to bite the dead flesh off mouth.

Blistex Herbal is exactly like Aveda Lip Saver which runs $15 a tube. However it still costs about 2 bucks (and I believe is unnecessary). There are cheaper lip balms out there but unlike shampoos, the manufacturers do a bang-up job making their low-end products waxy and unappealing. Generic ChapStick is vile.

There's two kinds of things people put on their lips and contrary to popular belief neither actually help with chapped lips. There's the medicated cold sore stuff like blistex and carmex-- this actually eats away at healthy lips because it's for eating away cold sores and raw dead skin. If you have chapped lips from skiing you'd probably want this. Then there's lip balms which are just moisturizer that helps your lips not feel like sandpaper. It takes care of the symptoms but not the cause.

The cause for chapped lips for most people is ..... Lip-licking. The saliva dries on the skin and causes it to peel and flake. It becomes a viscous cycle because many people think that licking helps, or at least soothes. I'm making a conscious effort not to wet my lips and it's surprising to note how much I actually do it, especially when I'm thinking away at something.

But I'm determined damn it. My lips, probably like the rest of my face, were not meant to be constantly moist and juicy. In the mean time I'm trying not to lick and weaning myself off my (hopefully last) tube of Blistex. After that experts recommend Vaseline because it doesn't dry as quickly.

Everything you wanted to know about (yet another) Cosmetics Industry Conspiracy:

http://www.kevdo.com/lipbalm/

The Price of Vanity (and Hair Loss)

In spite of all that crap they say about the mother's father, I'm starting to lose my hair. I've had suspicions and confirmations. Now that I've been actively observing it, I can see it's getting worse. My first instinct is to get the pill, Propecia, which isn't covered by my insurance. It worked for my dad, but it's about 50-60 a month and if I ever stop taking it I will go bald. Not a bad deal for Merck pharmaceuticals.

This officially makes my hair the most expensive part of my body. My hair is short and a lot of the hair care products will last me several months, but with the pill AND my salon, this will cost me over 1,000 annually.

Shampoo: 5.00
Conditioner 5.00
Gel: 10.00
Haircut: 30.00
Baldness Pill: 50.00

It's not too tough a choice. I'm still pretty young, and still single. Given the choice between paying 1,000 now or being bald and having to cut my remaining hair with my old set of Wahl clippers for the rest of my life, I'd pay the money. But I wouldn't be happy about it.

One habit I think I can break is buying my designer shampoo formulated for brunettes. Upon five seconds of reflection, I know better than to think it really adds anything. I've never noticed a visible or tactile difference between Pert and Aveda.*

I don't think I can bear to fire my stylist but I can have them cut my hair shorter so I don't need to go back as often. The cheapest and simplest solution would just be to shave it all off but I think that would look funny.

At least my friend is a doctor and can write me prescriptions free of charge.

*A caveat: When I used really high-end shampoos (like Aveda), they last an incredibly long time because they're concentrated, so they might end up being cheaper in the long run, depending on how far down the Brand ladder you'd be willing to go.... Obviously nothing beats the gallon jug of Champu Fantastico they sell at the dollar store.

Lazy Slobs Make the Best Minimalists

Most people aren't deliberately messy. The most important thing about being a slob is a certain obliviousness or ready acceptance to one's environment. So whether it's full of crap or a bare room with a single bulb, the true slob will adapt.

Keeping my room clean has always been a struggle for me. When I'm done with something, I leave it on the floor and forget about it. Oh sure I'll mean to put it back, but then days turn into weeks and the thing becomes a part of my mental landscape, no more noteworthy than empty carpet. "Those magazines have always been in the corner." It's not till I'd lose something that the situation would become intolerable and induce a three or four hour cleaning frenzy.

An organizational book suggested that you spend 10 minutes a day tidying which was a very helpful habit. But still, it was mostly a losing battle.

For me the real victory came when I threw everything away. And yeah I probably went a little crazy but everything that wasn't either financially valuable or used within the last year went out. Who needs CDs when you have MP3? Old books? Gone. When I was done, my room was practically empty. It stays relatively clean with minimal effort.

The spartan appearance of my bedroom may be a bit off-putting to visitors but at least they're not trying to think of the last time they had their tetanus shots.

Three Ways to Master Personal Finance

There are probably more than three, but I think it's safe to say that three big themes in PFblogging seem to be: Investing/Saving, Frugality and Simple Living. Collectively these habits can really optimize personal finance at any income level.

I will say far and above my strongest area is simple living. Being a minimalist means that I don't buy a lot of new things, so my expenditures haven't really grown to match my income as I've advanced in my career. The money that's left over from everything I don't buy gets thrown into savings. Savings is, by default, a strong area.

However, I am not frugal.

Example: I haven't cooked a meal for myself in over four months-- I've been living off restaurants and the Whole Foods deli. I know that for that kind of money I could be cooking for half the price but in the kitchen I'm terrible. This is one area where the path of least resistance works against me. It's faster, and usually better, to pay someone else to do it for me. Plus it frees up more personal time.

I'm also not a big bargain shopper. (I try to approach every sale like I do a Vegas casino: the house always wins.)

I'm perfectly happy with my bi-weekly massages, 30$ haircuts, regular clubbing and organic pork burritos but I think there are other areas I can trim down a bit and this is why I love reading PFblogs. There are obviously some ways to save money and reduce expenses that won't cramp my style.

I'd like to be better about maximizing my savings-per-transaction.

A Life of Crime : Financial Biography, Part 1

I'm starting a series of posts where I'm going to write biographically about my relationship with money. I think this is important to do, especially if buy in to the whole notion that your attitude toward money either limits or fosters prosperity. Actually I think my life proves it.

Growing up I was an only child with relatively well off parents. As you can imagine I had all the things a child could have wanted, within reason of course. I was pretty spoiled and always seemed to have more new toys than my classmates. I liked pretending that I was rich.

I had no real concept of money and purchasing goods was merely a matter of asking each parent enough times. There was always something I wanted: Dinobot, Inhumanoid, GI Joes...

Eventually they gave me a proper allowance of 5$ a week. I was terrible with saving it. Whenever I went in to a store, I would not leave until I bought SOMETHING, even if I had to walk around for an hour. My allowances were gone within days of getting them.

For money I occasionally ran a concession stand at my mom's place of business (she runs a horseback riding facility). She did the books for me and according to her it was a pretty good business.... Except I ate all the candy. More often than not I would just beg and harass my parents for stuff until they relented. After the divorce this was much easier.

My mom was much less well off than my dad-- she never took any kind of settlement and I spent half of my time with her. My dad remained affluent. Going back and forth between each place was like a schizophrenic double life-- a working class farm in the country one week, a sprawling suburban house the next. I learned that it was only worth it to ask my dad. Most of my money went to comic books, role playing games and occult references.

My mom put me to work at the barn, but I never really enjoyed horses or working for that matter. I was a little better at managing my allowance but not by much. I would gather rocks out of the paddocks to pay for things that were above my budget. I'd make 2 cents a rock. Dad just gave me a fixed allowance with periodic adjustments based on household chore performance targets.

By my later teens, I learned how to shoplift. I stole an entire library full of books and even submitted how-to articles to underground shoplifting zines. At the time I thought it was justified because big corporations were evil. I was critical of capitalism because that attitude justified my uncontrolled desire for commercial goods.

I liked having large impressive collections of "stuff" and felt that the world, much like my parents, basically owed it to me. And, as always, I was very good at getting what I wanted.

I retired my five-finger discount card around my 18th birthday, at which point I felt I was too old to safely shoplift. I was an adult now, and starting a new life at college. Plus I just got approved for a $1,000 Discover card... (To be continued)

Assertiveness Camp

I need to go back to assertiveness camp, I'm afriad.

I just went out to dinner with a large group of people and got a relatively unelaborate plate of Hamachi roll sushi. When the bill came around I saw it was 9.95 (!!) even though I could have sworn it was only five... but I told myself that maybe I read it wrong.

With my two drinks, side salad and plate the bill came to 23 which I rounded up to 30 to cover tax and tip. I was pretty toasty by the time so I just paid it. But the menu for the place was still up when I came home. They over charged me and this other girl 5$ apiece.

I should have said something. I keep a personal finance blog for goodness sakes!!! And yet I allow myself to get stiffed because I think it would be too much trouble to mention something.

But looking back, I'd really rather have the 5$... and I'm sure my friend who got overcharged would have too.

Cash Back For XXX Sites (No, I'm serious)

It may come as a shock to anyone who sees this blogger templated site that I actually do web design professionally. My interest in starting this blog was not to attract clients or anything like that. I just wanted to write about money. That said....

One of the ways I make a little extra change is through an adult website. Hint: if you want to make REAL money from the internet, forget blogging. Anyway every porn site out there has an affiliate program. Usually 50-60% of the cost a subscriber pays to sign up is paid to the affiliate. Pay-per-click affiliates usually aren't as profitable as revenue sharing, or wouldn't be with the moderate traffic my site gets.

If one was so inclined, a webmaster can use their own banners to access adult sites and weeks later (depending on traffic and payout thresholds) recieve 50-60% of that money back, in effect giving a discount .

However at that point it technically counts as 1099 income, unless you run an adult site, in which case it's a business expense. Most people are probably better off using bit torrent and getting the stuff free, but if anyone does avail themselves of premium sites... it's something to consider.

A warning to the Debt Free community: Paying off your credit card balance can raise a red flag with the DHS.

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RAISEALARM-02-28-06

http://www.sploid.com/news/2006/03/homeland_securi_1.php

Basically a man paid off the balance on his credit card and the payment wasn't reflected until Homeland security cleared the red flag. Why? I have no idea.

I recently processed a $625 balance transfer from my Visa to my 0% APR Mastercard. While the payment had been accepted it took nearly 20 days for the transfer to complete. I'm not sure if that's normal... I can't imagine that amount would raise any flags since I always pay my balance in full, but still... It makes you wonder.

Fuel Efficiency

Mapgirl had some good advice on fuel efficiency, which I also try to live by. To sum it up: if you maintain a reasonable speed on the highway, you'll get optimal mileage. When I haul ass at anything over 65 I can literally see my fuel indicator start to plummet.

Another trick I use to save on gas is to live 10 minutes from work and walk to the grocery store near my house. I end up filling my tank twice a month with a 2000 Dodge Neon. Of course my local grocer is a Whole Foods so it's probably not saving me THAT much money to walk.

In entirely unrelated news, I finally got my 401K information loaded into Quicken. I had to do it manually but after a few setbacks I think I have it working. Quicken pulls the quotes live for the mutual funds so that's pretty cool. I'm worth a little more than I thought. Maybe next I'll add in my stock otpions.

And I didn't win the Subnixus.com lottery... but it was fun to participate.