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Archive for August, 2009

Its all a matter of perspective

August 31st, 2009 at 06:47 pm

I'm sure everyone has heard this. You talk to someone from ... say Africa... and they would say you have a lot. Talk to someone from the rich enclaves here in the USA and they would say you have so little.

The thought came to mind when I went to a "grand opening" sale at the local Giant grocery store yesterday. I don't normally go there, as even you take coupons into account, I find going to Aldi's much less expensive. But they had special double your $1 coupons for up to 4 of them, so I decided to go with some coupons and get some brand name things.

As I checked out, and went through the coupons, my purchase of 13 items totalled $14, and I thought thats nice, but I was hoping for better. The lady at the register goes "Wow, you sure got a fabulous deal today." I guess its a matter of perspective.

BTW, if I hadn't gotten the "California Pizza" specialty pizza for $4.50, the purchase would have been under $10, so maybe it wasn't that bad. It included 4 boxes of Kelloggs Raisin Bran, 2 big bags of Lays chips, big Heinz ketchup, two boxes of whole grain pasta, 2 Campells Select soups, and 1 Classico tomato sauce. So no complaints but I was hoping for better!

Books, books (and oh yeah, books)

August 29th, 2009 at 06:23 pm

A sorta rant here, as I try to extricate myself from the overwhelming piles of books left with me from my ex. While this wasn't her only problem, it certainly contributed to her complaining she didn't have any money. She kept buying books, reading a few pages, then buying more books. I know because they are like new, and I often find book marks in them, usually somewhere within the first 50 pages.

Previously I could return some to Barnes & Noble without receipts and get store credits (I was able to get DVDs there for over two years without paying for anything!), but that isn't an option now. So I am selling on Half.com, and this month I have 15 sales (on top of another 25 sold earlier this year). I still have almost 150 listed, and I am still digging out books and listing them when I get the time. Plus I have probably another 200 in boxes that I already checked and won't sell for enough to bother with, so I either sell them at a yard sale for a pittance, try Craigslist, or give them away. Ugh.

I used to like reading books, and I do like to get some money from selling them, but this has really turned me off of books.

OK, rant over. And as an FYI, the sales for this month totalled about $75, so at least that's something worthwhile.

Squeaking by on $300,000

August 16th, 2009 at 04:06 pm

Yes, that is the title of today's front page story in the Washington Post. Of course they understand how it will sound absurd, so in the story they go over the numbers for this family living in their own named house on Long Island Sound. The Post has been doing a number of stories on how the recession has been hitting people around the country, with people ending up in some really bad positions. But wow, this one sure comes at it from the other direction.

A few highlights:
A live-in nanny.
$75,000 in child support.
Her bonus will only be 90% of what it was last year.
She'll only make $50,000 on investments this year.

I don't want to be judgemental, but you can

Text is read about it here and Link is http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/08/15/ST2009081503017.html
read about it here!

Ahem, any sympathy?