Live Real, Now

The no-pants guide to spending, saving, and thriving in the real world.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-17

Misc

  • RT @mymoneyshrugged: The government breaks your leg, and hands you a crutch saying "see without me, you couldn't walk." #
  • @bargainr What weeks do you need a FoF host for? in reply to bargainr #
  • Awesome tagline: The coolest you'll look pooping your pants. Yay, @Huggies! #
  • A textbook is not the real world. Not all business management professors understand marketing. #
  • RT @thegoodhuman: Walden on work "spending best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy (cont) http://tl.gd/2gugo6 #

New Year Goals

Misc

I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions.  They are generally drunken promises made  on December 31st that are broken by the middle of January, if they are remembered at all.  I don’t make resolutions.

My goal for 2010 is to complete one major self-improvement project each month.  That’s an entire year of 30-day projects.   As each month goes on, I will be updating this blog with the status of each project.  Some of the projects will be physical, some will be mental, some will be improvements on my relationships.  My goal is to do something meaningful, useful and challenging each month.

Here’s my list:

  • January:   Wake up at 5am AND read to my kids every night before bed.
  • February:  Do 100 push-ups at one time by the end of the month.  There is also a secret project this month.  I’ll be keeping notes and posting in March.
  • March:  Do 100 sit-ups at one time by the end of the month.
  • April:  Spring Cleaning.  I will declutter every room in my house this month.
  • May:  Have a sit-down dinner with my family, at the dining room table at least 3 times per week.
  • June:  No computer use, while anyone else in the family is awake, except for household necessities, such as bills.
  • July:  Write fiction every day.
  • August:  Buy nothing new this month.
  • September:  Attempt to learn a new language.  http://ijaar.com/29-free-websites-to-learn-a-new-language/
  • October:   No yelling at the kids.
  • November:  No complaining.  Not at home, not at work.
  • December:  I will have done 14 projects this year.  December is a month off.

Regret

Life

There comes a time when it’s too late to tell people how you feel.

There will come a day when the person you mean to talk to won’t be there.  Don’t wait for that day.

“There’s always tomorrow” isn’t always true.

Credit Peril

Finance

When my mother-in-law died, we went through all of her accounts and paid off anything she owed.

The Discover card she’d carried since the 80s–a card that had my wife listed as an authorized user–had a balance of about $700.  We paid that off with the money in her savings account.  They cashed out the accumulated points as gift cards and closed the account.

A few months ago, we decided it was time to buy an SUV, to fit our family’s needs.   We financed it, to give us a chance to take advantage of a killer deal while waiting for the state to process the title transfer on an inherited car we have since sold.

Getting good terms was never a worry.  Both of us had scores bordering on 800.   Since our plan was to pay off the entire loan within a few months, we asked for whatever term came with the lowest interest rate.

Then the credit department came back and said that my wife’s credit was poor.  I chalked it up to a temporary blip caused by closing the oldest account on her credit report and financed without her.  No big deal.

Since we decided to rent our my mother-in-law’s house, we’ve discussed picking up more rental properties.   That’s a post for another time, but last week, we went to get pre-approved for a mortgage.    During the process, the mortgage officer asked me if my wife had any outstanding debt that could be ignored if we financed without her.

Weird.

A few days ago, we got the credit check letter from the bank.   Her credit score?  668.

What the heck?

I immediately pulled her free annual credit report from annualcreditreport.com, which is something I usually do 2-3 times per year, but had neglected for 2012.

There are currently two negatives on her report.

One is a 30 day late payment on a store card in 2007.   That’s not a 120 point hit.

The other is an $8 charge-off to Discover.  As an authorized user.  On an account that was paid.

Crap.

We called Discover to get them to correct the reporting and got told they don’t have it listed as a charge-off.   They did agree to send a letter to us saying that, but said they couldn’t fix anything with the credit bureaus.

Once we get that letter, it’s dispute time.

 

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-29

Misc