Personal items, info and things that don’t fit into my other blog projects… including the occasional rant.
From ABC13’s consumer blog:
IF YOU GET UNWANTED TEXT ADS ON YOUR CELL PHONE TEXT THE WORD STOP TO THE NUMBER AND IT SHOULD END. IF THAT DOES NOT WORK, CALL YOUR WIRELESS PROVIDER AND ASK THEM TO STOP THIRD PARTY TEXTING ON YOUR DEVICE. IF THAT DOES NOT WORK CONTACT THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/canspam.html
THIS LINK WILL HELP YOU FILE A COMPLAINT AND GET THE MESSAGES OFF YOUR MOBILE DEVICE.
McDonald’s may end $1 cheeseburgers
ABC 13 reports that the price increases in gas, and food, is being felt by fast food too. We should all prepare to see the $1 cheeseburger disappear. Prices will go up, or changes will be made to the food, but it won’t remain the same.
And an era ends…
Starbucks is running a sale, sort of
The Houston Chronicle reports that Starbucks will begin to offer customers a $2 iced coffee drink after 2 p.m., if they show their receipt from the cup of coffee that morning. They call is a response to consumers’ requests, I call it a sale to get customers back in in the afternoon.
No money? Visit your library!
It seems that I’ve seen a rush of stories about how great the library is, especially is you’re strapped for cash. The Houston Chronicle joins the ranks of library fans with a story from the Newhouse News Service which, basically, discusses libraries’ importance all the time, and especially when economic times are hard.
Old office buildings are going green
The bizjournal’s green channel reports that San Francisco is seeing a trend where old buildings are being brought up to LEED standards for “existing building.” This is a step to make the older buildings more competitive with new, sustainable buildings.
Gates to fund new “green” campus
Again, from the bizjournal’s green channel, a story about the Gates Foundation creating a new green campus for themselves. The 900,00 square foot project is expected to cost $500 million, be built to LEEDs gold standards and will be one of “the largest energy-efficient office complexes in the state of Washington.” Very cool.
Need to figure out how much money you need to retire? Wikihow has step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish this. Putting it on my to do list. (Found via Lifehacker.)
On a personal note, I think I need to sign up for Lifelock to do something to safeguard against identity theft. I’ve had some stuff happen lately that’s made me wary. A friend recommended it as something that’s worked well for her. Just something on my TO DO list.
A vacation you can afford
Get Rich Slowly gives some great advice on being a tourist in your own hometown. Tips:
Cool clothes for big kids
BusinessWeek has an interesting article about retailers filling the need for plus-sized children’s clothes. I hadn’t considered the fact that the national trend for bigger kids would produce a related need in clothing. Nice to see that this is finally getting addressed, although slowly.
The Houston Chronicle’s Shannon Buggs has some great tips on being thrifty:
Today is the day I’m supposed to do an end-of-month inventory on my goals. But I won’t, I know it. I’ve been avoiding looking at my status against what I’m supposed to be accomplishing.
I don’t want to know.
I haven’t reached my financial goals, I know without even looking. I haven’t achieved my weight loss goals, I know without even looking. I haven’t reached my professional goals, I just know. I don’t need to see it on a sheet of paper to know that.
I worked really hard to make sure that the goals I set this year were realistic. And I’m still falling short.
What’s my problem? If I had a therapist, this is the part where I’d moan about my counter-productive attitudes, my self-destructive tendencies.
The good thing is that these tendencies never make it into my workplace. No matter how much my personal time is wrecked by my personal foibles, they don’t seep into my job. I get my work done, and done well, regardless of what I have to suffer through to make it happen.
A friend of mine convinced me to start the program through “An Artist’s Way at Work.” I’m finding that the daily pages are getting my creative juices flowing. The words that were stuck in my brain, in my throat, are getting out in the pages of my journal, and now in here.
Unfortunately, I’m being slow in actually posting the words, but I am writing them.
Just losing the weight I have lost required tremendous willpower, especially as the people around me were ever-so-subtly attempting to sabotage my commitment. I don’t know if they were aware that that’s what they were doing, but it is. And I survived it.
Thankfully, the sabotage attempts from family have stopped. They seem to understand that I am fully committed to seeing this through.
I spend far too much money on small things. My budget is sinking, one penny at a time.
Got a text message alert from my bank that an account has insufficient funds. Insufficient funds? Not possible.
I logged into my account and checked against my spending list (that I keep on my PDA). It didn’t add up. Until I realized that I had logged an expense under the wrong account.
Very odd. I don’t do things like that. Is it a sign of other things?
Headlines to note:
Today I made out my last payment to Consumer Credit Counseling, or rather to Money Management Inc (the by mail service). This is the last credit card payment I have. All of them are up to date and paid off, or will be shortly — once MMI sends out the payment this month.
Of course, I know now that going through MMI hurt my credit score. And, yes, I’ve looked at it, it did hurt my score.
I didn’t know any better when I started. All I knew was that I was drowning in debt and needed help. MMI helped me.
I still have a few outstanding debts. Things that are overdue or have gone to collection agencies. My next step is to settle those.
Then I will start to rebuild my credit score. At the same time, I will save and invest money for my future.
Wish me luck
My two favorite daily podcasts:
I play these on my computer throughout the day. They’ve been very helpful and incredibly informative.