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Monthly Archives: February 2009
My version of Valentine’s Day
When I was a kid, I think that I probably had a romantic vision of what Valentine’s Day would be like when I was an adult. My suitor would dazzle me with a dozen long stemmed red roses and would whisk me away to a romantic candlelit meal complete with steak, wine and cheesecake. Jewelry would likely be involved – some sort of sparkling piece of bling. In those visions, I was really skinny and had awesome hair. Here’s my … Continue reading
A couple short ones …
This one is from my friend Jodi who is a single mother. I’ve known her since I was a kid and adore her entire family – her daughter Ashley, now 16, is particularly funny. Here’s Jodi’s thought: “When Ashley was about 5 I was taking classes and the subject of poverty came up. Technically, we were probably living below the poverty line, but I asked Ashley–”Do you think we’re poor?” and she said “Poor?! What are you talking about, we … Continue reading
CAD: Being satisfied with what you have
CAD is another college friend who hails from a small town in Iowa. One of the things that has always struck me about CAD is her practicality – then again, she’s a scientist (and a PhD to boot!) What’s interesting is that sometimes I feel like CAD and her husband are the “Jones” that Future Husband and I aspire to be someday – this might be influenced by the fact that CAD’s husband was my Future Husband’s roommate in college … Continue reading
Posted in Good Reading, Reader Input
Tagged keeping up with the Joneses, poor, retirement
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D: Poor means having no choices
D is my ex-editor and is my former “work spouse.” These days, D lives way the hell near Fargo and is living life as a single dad to his two sons. During our tenure together when we worked at the newspaper, I had the pleasure of meeting D’s mom – the formidable Mama D. I met Mama D shortly after D separated from his wife and was constantly impressed by this amazing woman who had left a bad relationship when … Continue reading
Posted in Good Reading, Reader Input
Tagged commodity food, luxuries, Mama D, poor, work spouse
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Victor: Keeping up with the community
Victor is one of my best friends from college (second only to Future Husband although I’ve known Victor longer.) Victor grew up in an affluent suburb of the Twin Cities and continues to be an active community member in his hometown and owns an independent bookstore. Victor’s sense of poor is influenced by the community around him … “I think that the definition of “poor” depends on one’s own relationship with the community around them. I, for example, am also … Continue reading
Posted in Good Reading, Reader Input
Tagged bookstore, credit card debt, keeping up with the Joneses, People
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CNN takes on food stamps
OK – I’m apologizing in advance for the glut of posts today. It is an extremely slow Sunday at the cab company and I’ve been catching up on unread articles, emails, etc. I stumbled across this article and a corresponding blog on CNN this morning and couldn’t wait to share it. The article looks at the growing usage of food stamps in the country and how although stamps are to be used as a supplement to people’s food budgets, families … Continue reading
Got Facebook?
I would fairly call it a time suck, but I am a big fan of Facebook, the social networking website that recently turned five years old. If you’re already on Facebook, I’ve now created a group for this blog called DebtReduction101.com. If you’d like to join, go to the search engine in the right hand corner of the page and type in “DebtReduction101″ and the group should pop up. Looking forward to seeing you in cyberspace.
What it means to be poor …
Last month in a moment of writer’s block, I asked readers to submit questions to me and I would do my best to answer them. (And THANK YOU to you guys who participated … you’ve made my life easier by your ideas.) Emily asked me a question that even gave my Future Husband pause. “What does it mean to be poor?” Actually – I do her question injustice by summarizing the gist of her question – here’s the whole text … Continue reading
Found money as a frugal hobby
I thought this was a neat article from CNN.com. It follows the Humphrey family who take family excursions and pick up “lost” money – i.e. that penny you saw in the parking lot but passed up. The part that totally blew me away about this article is that the mom in the family has been doing this for 3 years and has found about $1,000 in change. And the best part? When they hit $10,000 they are giving the money … Continue reading
Tomorrow is going to be a good day
My paystub from the full-time job came today and over lunch, I got to indulge in one of my favorite past-times … figuring out where my money is going to go. This is exhilerating when things go my way and I feel like I made a dent in all that I owe with my paycheck. I’ve been making a concious effort to pay off my uninsured root canal and although this has pushed back my progress on the credit card … Continue reading
Posted in Debt Reduction, Where My Money Goes, work
Tagged cab company, Future Husband, gas, groceries, rent, root canal
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