Well played, credit card company

I'm the kind of person who for a long time paid her bills the second she got them. Then I sort of slumped into becoming the kind of person who pays them on time. According to the $8 interest charge on my credit card this month, I am now a deadbeat in my eyes, but through no fault of my own of course.

If you've ever used the website I'm talking about (which I will not reveal because I dunno, couldn't someone steal my identity that way? Not that I'd even want to steal my identity), you'd know how disorganized and poorly laid out it is, and how I fear for grandmas and grandpas using it because apparently I can't even read it properly and now my perfect credit record has an $8 interest dent in it.

Here's a thought for that website: Invest in an Excel spreadsheet layout!

And that is why I am switching to a different company.

*fin*

John Tesh would marry my ass.

Tax return came this week, and since I don't really get to enjoy it (thank you, school that got me so many places), I'm trying to curb my spending. This is when my blog gets useful!

These links are British, so the tools might not work as well as you'd hope, but the general ideas are common sense and a worthwhile reminder of what little things you can do to save some money (if not for yourself, then to donate to a good cause now and then).

• Stop Spending: Tips & tools to help you fight yourself
• Festive Fivers - Thoughtful, cheap or free gift ideas
• Cheap Supermarket Shopping - Try 'downshifting' to save yourself a billion dollars a year

One tip that seems to repeat itself on all money-saving sites is to never shop when you're god-damn hungry. That always spells disaster.

Anyway.

On the topic of what's actually going on in life lately, there have been a lot of hard rains and storms, and the grass is radically greener this week than last. I'm in love with spring, but you've always known that. Right now the sky is a weird colour that it shouldn't be, and I'm playing elastic-band-fetch with Mixi while considering joining a baseball team this summer. Stranger things have happened to someone, I'm sure.

Lessons in Morality

On our daily post-lunch trip to the Tim Hortons drive thru today, I was telling Miki about the time *Alan found $50 on the ground opposite my cash register. It was a relatively slow night, so I knew who had dropped it, in fact I remembered the guy choosing a $20 instead of that $50 to pay for what he bought.

"It's mine!" Alan declared. While my interest was momentarily piqued, morality stupidly kicked in.
"It is not yours. What if that guy comes back?"
"He doesn't know he lost it!"
"I'm pretty sure he'll realize. Gimme that!"

I snatched the bill out of his hand and ran out to the parking lot to give the money back to the customer before he drove away.

Well, sure enough, as soon as I finished retelling this story, we handed the Tim Hortons girl $5.01 to pay for 3 coffees, and she handed Miki $15 back.

We both stared down in shock. The first thought in my mind, despite the conversation we'd just had, was a defiant "TAKE IT! TAKE IT!!!"

Miki gave the lady back the $15, as he should have.

[But really, as long as that girl didn't get in trouble for it, I wouldn't have felt bad about it with all the Roll Up the Rims I've please-played-again on this year. http://jui.cc/oE ]


* names have been changed to protect the greedy

Having an Alan Cross/Lasik moment

Here's the inside scoop. I'm someone who likes to spend money, and still have more for later. Flyerscoupons.ca makes me feel like a mom should. As the bass booms from the housing next-door, I am cutting coupons sent to me by Save.ca and pro-planning my shopping trips using FC's tidy, organized website for people who enjoy savings.

Not only do I find out about super deals, but people post about where to use which coupons to save the most money! It's also a really friendly and helpful community. So if you like spending $5 extra on razors, maybe this site is not for you. If you like keeping that money in your pocket for maybe a coffee later, or to put bit-by-bit into a savings account with your kid's name on it, I suggest you try it out.

One person I think could benefit from this site is Dan's mom. Probably even your mom. But especially you. So why not go on and check it out, if you're the type to buy food, or cleaning products, or clothes, or anything really!

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog.

Realizations in Life:

1. Old people have money because they are done paying their debts and thus can actually keep their money earned/received.
2. In that, I am nowhere near old yet.

We got business cards and I like them so much that it kills me inside to hand them out because they're really great quality. I told my dad to take some to work. At first he split the pile so he had almost 1/3 of them. I said "NO NO! Not that many!!" Do I want to admire the cards or do I want business? Next time I'm making sure they look like pure crap before I order them.

I've been workin' on the railroad, all the livelong day...

Make no mistake about it, I have not been working on any railroads. Actually, I've been paying $117 for a tire that decided to implode this morning. Better im- than ex-, I always say. It was that which had me decide to spend even more money on a load of shit that I don't really need. Nothing like a nice bill to break the spending seal.

I guess once in a while, when things are [as] golden [as they can be, for a recent graduate who hasn't found a job in her career yet], a tire pops to bring us back down to earth.

In other news, you may find me dorky for saying so, but I rediscovered today that "Brian Wilson" by the Barenaked Ladies rules.

Project: Pay Off Student Loan is in effect. I need some ideas that don't involve work. I've decided on:

• gambling
• selling my least useful body parts to science (good-bye, baby toes!)
  
• manufacturing and selling cat merchandise
• entering any and every contest with a cash prize
  
• more gambling

The bank ripped me off 20 cents in my roll of laundry quarters today. Opened them up to do my wash and what did I find, but a lousy nickel in between the other coins. Sure, half the quarters they gave me were American, but when I'm using them for laundry, I'm unlikely to enjoy the exchange rate. Lousy bank! They're a shifty lot. That's the economy for you.

And that's my old man rant for today.

I need a get-rich-quick scheme. This whole working full time thing probably won't work out, if I ever get that far.

Economic Peril

"Can I get $20 cashback?"
"Yep. Oh... sorry, we don't do cash advances" [as customer hands cashier her Visa]
"Oh.... well my daughter wants to go to Starbucks." [looks frustrated] [debit declines her extra $20]

Maybe it's time a few of us made some lifestyle changes. I mean, this recession thing's not exactly new anymore.