Queercents

Last month I wrote about the trouble I have with staying at home because there are so many great places to eat and drink right outside my door. One reader named Julia left an insightful comment that made me look at what I’m really doing with my money. Here’s what Julia from Adventures in Debt had to say:

I think whether you live in the city or in a rural area isn’t really the issue, it’s whether or not you’re going to be tempted to spend money that’s the problem. If you don’t care about your budget, then you can always find places to spend money. It all depends on what matters to you.

In other words: she’s talking about priorities. I know that my social life has always been a priority, but so has debt reduction and saving. Julia’s comment made me realize that I’m treating entertainment as the greater priority. And unfortunately, I have the numbers to prove it.

Zac and I did some number crunching on our respective expense trackers, and we were astonished by how much booze and entertainment were robbing from our monthly budgets as of late. I won’t mention that monthly total, but it was clearly pushing us beyond our means. There was just one thing to do: go cold turkey — at least for the short term. Read the rest of this entry »

“May your charity increase as much as your wealth.” – Proverb

Way back when, I wrote a post about what to do when friends or co-workers ask repeatedly if you’ll sponsor them in their charity walk, ride or run. It shouldn’t seem that hard to wish someone well, and in the same breathe explain that you unfortunately can’t give this time. This is harder than you might think for most people. Just take a look at the comments if you need help.

In the same post, I mention a column at Money magazine where the writers advise that people shouldn’t be soliciting others for donations. Period. Don’t ask!

That seems a bit harsh… doesn’t it? Or not? I’ve worked remotely from home for a decade, but when I did work in an office, I remember the constant stream of requests from co-workers and their children. Girl Scout cookies, gift wrap, you name it. People were always peddling something for a cause.

In the virtual world, the request is now often sent by mass email which presents its own set of complexities. The Shifting Careers column offered a creative spin on the fund-raising email. The “office collection” of the old-fashioned variety was handled beautifully by MyOpenWallet last week: Read the rest of this entry »

It just occurred to me: a friend lent me the book I’m currently reading. Another friend lent us her box sets of “Battlestar Galactica” which Zac and I recently got hooked on. And yet another friend sent us a bunch CDs to enjoy.

Yeah, we have nice friends, but they’re also saving us a lot of money right now. I probably would have purchased Friend 1’s book because it’s not something I can find at the library. Friend 2 saves us trips to Blockbuster (we keep finishing discs of BSG before Netflix can get us the next disc). And Friend 3 kept us from having to buy new music.

None of the above are necessities, but for whatever reason, we buy them anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

Does being LGBT affect our ability to find and work with a financial services provider that we truly feels meets our needs? You bet it does and a recent national survey illustrates this very challenge, and often dissatisfaction.

Echelon Magazine reports this week that “GLBT Consumers See Financial Services Differently Than Others”.

According to a recent national survey conducted by Harris Interactive®, over half (54%) of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender adults report they are very or somewhat comfortable in the environment created by their current financial services provider, while two-thirds of heterosexuals (67%) agree they are very or somewhat comfortable.

In the scheme of things that is a pretty wide gap — just over half compared to two-thirds of the people surveyed. What can we make of these numbers? Read the rest of this entry »

Last night Zac and I spent more time than necessary deciding on whether we should go out for dinner or stay in — sometimes couples take forever just to make a simple decision. In this relatively mundane case, there was a lot to consider.

Reasons to go out:
- Change of scenery seemed refreshing after having made dinner at home two nights in a row.
- Potent margaritas and mouth watering burritos are served up just two blocks away at our favorite Mexican restaurant. They feverishly call our names when we don’t feel like cooking.

Reasons to stay in:
- Cutting back on entertainment due to rising prices everywhere.
- Trying to eat healthy, somewhat. Read the rest of this entry »

As the value of the dollar drops, food prices climb and the price of gas edges its way into every conversation, I’ve noticed more and more people trying to stretch their money farther. Of course, Queercents readers have been doing this for a long time and just yesterday Dawn pointed out the Joys of Frugal Living.

And if you’ve missed noticing that the increasing trend towards green life style (again, bonus points to Queercents readers for being all over that), you’ve been living under a rock. For me, there’s also a third factor that I’m constantly trying to be aware of when I make a purchase, and that’s making what I call ethical purchases, for lack of a better term.

While grocery shopping, I needed to pick up some more soap. Though I’m not immune to advertising, I’m not terribly picky about what amazing powers the soap may or may not have; as long as I wind up clean I don’t really care. However, I’ve been trying to stick to my resolution to buy products that aren’t tested on animals. Sometimes, it works out. In the case of V05, not only do they not test on animals, each bottle costs less than a dollar. A victory all around. For some products though, it’s not that easy, and on a student budget it’s sometimes hard to shell out that extra money for an ethical product, like Tom’s of Maine, which is all natural and not tested on animals but costs almost five dollars a container. It also takes time to look at all the labels for the disclaimer, and I typically don’t want to spend more time than I have to in the grocery store. What to do? Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the opposite of a pack rat? Whatever that is, it’s me.

95% of the time, I only buy what I need. I take good care of my belongings and make everything last as long as possible. But if something is beyond repair or just severely outdated, I toss that junk as if it smelled like rotting food. I have a zero tolerance policy on clutter, all thanks to certain family members who drove me crazy with their obsessive buying and hoarding, and then leaving their crap all over the house.

MP Dunleavey recently pointed out that the nearly eight-fold growth of the self-storage industry (from 289 million square feet in 1984 to 2.2 billion square feet in 2007) coincides with the explosion of credit card debt of American consumers. This could be pure coincidence, or perhaps as Dunleavey argues, it’s a sign that we have a “nationwide consumption disorder that needs to get better before things get a whole lot worse.” In other words: we’re buying too much stuff we can’t afford and have no place to put it.

I don’t always agree with what Dunleavey has to say, but this time I think she has a point. Read the rest of this entry »

If it weren’t for the 400 people arrested in the Justice Department’s probe of securities fraud leading to the mortgage crisis, I’d say most of the financial press news this week was a total snooze-fest. But then again, I’m in the camp that says these indictments are too little too late.

A more interesting bit of information is what Suze Orman had to say about her involvement in minimizing the mortgage meltdown. Here’s an excerpt from  a recent Money magazine interview:

Q. Some critics say all you do is give not-very-smart people not-very-original advice about getting out of debt.

A. I have to laugh to myself when I read things like that. The credit crisis has now dramatically affected the world economy. All of a sudden the actions of the little people matter. If more people had been doing what I do, if we’d cared enough to keep little people out of debt they couldn’t handle, the global economy wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in. So while some may think it’s a trite topic Ms. Orman deals with, it has brought down mortgage companies, brokerage firms and everything else. I think people who attack me don’t know how much they don’t know about making personal financial decisions. If they did, they’d understand the depth of what I do.

Personally, I’m not sure there’s anyone who can get through to a person who willfully walks into a multi-hundred thousand dollar debt with interest-only payments and adjustable rates. I don’t keep up with Suze enough to know that’s her target audience now. Is it? Read the rest of this entry »