- I tried to avoid it. I really did, but I’m still getting a much bigger refund than anticipated. #
- Did 100 pushups this morning–in 1 set. New goal: Perfect form by the end of the month. #
- RT @BudgetsAreSexy: Carnival of Personal Finance is live 🙂 DOLLAR DOODLE theme: http://tinyurl.com/ykldt7q (haha…) #
- Hosting my first carnival tomorrow. Up too late tonight. #
- Woot! My boy won his wreslting match! Proud daddy. #
- The Get Home Card is a prepaid emergency transportation card. http://su.pr/329U6L #
- Real hourly wage calculator. http://su.pr/1jV4W6 #
- Took my envelope budget out in cash, including a stack of $2s. That shouldn’t fluster the bank teller. #
March 30 Day Project
For March, my 30 Day Project is to do 100 sit-ups in a single set.
Based on the results of my February project, I will be doing 5 sets, morning and night, as follows:
Set 1: Half of my maximum amount.
Sets 2-4: 3/4 of my max.
Set 5: Do sit-ups until my abs start to cramp, thus setting my max for the next session.
This month, I only have one project.
Memorial Day
JUST A COMMON SOLDIER
(A Soldier Died Today)
by A. Lawrence Vaincourt
He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.
And tho’ sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we’ll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world’s a little poorer, for a soldier died today.
He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won’t note his passing, though a soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?
A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.
It’s so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?
He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor while he’s here to hear the praise,
Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,
Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.
Ending A Streak
The first year I decorated our yard for Halloween was 1999. The first year we through a Halloween party was 1998.
Our parties tend to fall on the legendary side. Between setup, cleanup, and out-of-town guests, the party is a 3-4 day affair. People reserve our spare beds a year in advance. The day of the party itself, we’re going from 10AM until 5AM, cooking, drinking, and talking. Over the 10 hours the party is actively going, we have 50-60 guests in and out.
Our yard is a neighborhood attraction. We’ve been on the news and in the newspaper. By the end of Halloween night, the path through the yard is nearly worn down to bare dirt. The spot the large coffin sits takes 6 weeks to rejuvenate in the spring. I’ve literally scared kids right out of their masks. Little old ladies have jumped out in the air, shrieking, only to ask me to hide again, so they can bring their husbands over to enjoy the startle.
This year, we end the 13-year unbroken streak of fear and debauchery. We’ve been doing this since before any my oldest kid was weaned.
It’s hard to take a break, but…
Dealing with my mother-in-law’s house has been far too much work for us. We spent all summer cleaning out the hoarding mess.
And fixing up the yard.
And replacing the boiler.
And fixing the plumbing.
And updating the electrical system.
And fixing up the basement.
And patching the walls.
And selling the cars.
And sorting through 30 years of every scrap of paper that has ever come through the house.
And dealing with all of the memories, and the pictures, and the past.
It’s been too much, and it’s not done.
Now, it’s the middle of October, and the idea of stealing the extra time to add the extra stress of setting up the yard and throwing a big party makes me want to break down.
Two days to set up the yard, only to have some kid steal my favorite, irreplaceable pieces, then two days to pack it all up.
A day of decorating inside, followed by a party and a hungover day of cleaning it all up.
All of that, while losing time from the side business and pushing through to the end of the property preparation from hell.
I can’t do it, so, as sad as it makes me, we’re taking the year off. No Halloween events at my house this year.
Living the XBox Life on an Atari Income
- Image via Wikipedia
At some point, everyone has “champagne wishes and caviar dreams.” Over the last 25 years, we’ve even been peddled the “you can have it all” myth from every direction, including the media and the government.
The truth is simple: you cannot have it all. You can have anything, but you can’t have everything. In order to have one thing, you have to give up something else. It’s a law of nature. If you have $5, you can either get a burger or an overpriced cup of coffee, but not both.
“But wait!” you shout, rudely interrupting the narrator, “I have a credit card. I can have both!”
Wrong.
And stop interrupting me.
If you have $5 and borrow $5 to get some coffee to go with your burger, you will eventually have to pay that money back with interest. You will have to give up a future-burger AND a flavor shot in your overpriced coffee.
Everything you buy needs to be paid for, some day.
If you have an Atari income, but insist on living the XBox life, you will wake up one day, buried in bills, forced to live the Commodore-64 life out of sheer desperation.
There is a solution.
Don’t get all XBox-y until you are making XBox money. That way, you’ll never have to worry about going broke tomorrow paying for the fun you had yesterday.
Even when you have an XBox income, ideally you’ll restrict yourself to living a Gamecube life, so you’ll be able to put some money aside to support future-you instead of constantly having to worry about your next paycheck.
My First Storage Auction
I’ve mentioned before that my wife is unemployed. Please note, this is unemployment, not “stay at home mom”. The differences are simple:
- She’s looking for a job
- The kids are still in daycare
While she’s looking for work, we’ve decided that it’s a good time to explore some other options for income. Recently, we decided to look into storage auctions.
For the uninitiated, a storage auction is held when someone with a rented storage locker quits paying their bill. Eventually, auctioneers come in and sell the unit–with minimal inspection–to the highest bidder. If you’ve watched Storage Wars or any of the dozen spin-offs or rip-offs, you’ve seen a storage auction.
Yesterday, a local auctioneer ran a circuit of 7 auctions for the different locations of one company. At 10AM, my wife set off for the first one with $1000 of seed money, a flashlight, and a couple of padlocks.
She didn’t get anything at that auction and she skipped the next two because they weren’t in very good neighborhoods. Poor neighborhoods come with safety issues and low-value stuff.
The 4th auction was just 2 miles from our house, so she picked me up. We got there about noon and were told they weren’t expecting the auctioneer until 1. They couldn’t tell us exactly because the auctions take as long as they take. If a lot of people show up, the inspection can take a long time, since everybody has to stand in line to get a minute or two to peer in at the unit up for sale. The auction actually started about 1:30.
There were 3 units up for sale. The listing said 4, but one of the renters ran in at the last minute to pay her bill.
None of the units were anything special. One had two dozen boxes of Grainger catalogs and $50 worth of tools. Another was full of broken box springs, but may have had a dresser in the back. The last had a tub full of (frozen) paint bottles and a box full of kids’ books.
After that, I went back home to work, while she left for her third and final auction of the day. Again, she didn’t get a locker, but she did convince someone to sell her a fancy mirror out of one of the lockers. She paid $60, and after a bit of touch-up, it should sell for $2-300.
We didn’t buy anything, but it was interesting to see the process. Dealing with an auctioneer rattling off numbers isn’t nearly as intimidating as it seems.
The whole setup is pretty simple.
My wife registered at the first auction, so we didn’t have to worry about that at the later auctions. That consisted of reading the rules, writing down her name, and signing the paper.
At each unit that was up for grabs, the door was opened and all of the potential buyers lined up to take a minute to see what they could. We weren’t allowed in the unit, and we couldn’t open any boxes.
Once everyone had a chance to peak, the auction started.
When each unit was sold, the winning bidder stuck a lock on it, and everybody moved to the next unit to repeat the process. The three units were done in 15-20 minutes.
If you’re going to a storage auction, you need to bring cash, a flashlight, and a padlock. Without those three things, you can’t inspect a unit or pay for it if you win.
Finding auctions isn’t intuitive, in any way. The best sites I’ve found are AuctionZip.com and StorageTreasures.com.
My wife also got contact information for the largest storage facility chain in the area and we got on that list so we’ll get the full schedule of their storage auctions each month. Next week, they have auctions in some of the richest suburbs in the area.
My wife is planning on running that circuit at least one day next week.
It’s not “easy” money, but it should be a good way to bring in a little more money. If we can make enough to keep her from having to get a traditional job, that’s gravy.
Have you ever tried out a storage auction? How did it go?
