Money, Matter, and More MusingsMoney, Matter, and More MusingsDiscussions on money making, money management, personal finance, debt, credit cards, interest rates, and other financial matters. The blog focuses on financial issues related to youth. Articles
Money Links For 09-13-07
2007-09-13 14:10:00 Links to some recently published interesting articles on personal finance blogs. Does Cooking At Home Really Beat The McDonalds $1 Double Cheeseburger? by Trent @ The Simple Dollar. Home 1 vs. McDonalds 0. Renting vs Buying a Home: A Detailed Calculation by Casey (as a guest blogger) @ Clever Dude. This stuff is pretty detailed - ... More About: Money , Links
When The US Postal Service Says ?We Care?, They Mean ?Oops, We Messed Up?
2007-09-12 17:00:00 After waiting patiently for about 3 weeks for a particular piece of international mail, I was finally rewarded with this: Yeah, that is one end of the original envelope (or whatever remains of it) that was mailed by the sender. It almost looks like a dog ate it or something. Among the contents of the mail, ... More About: Service , Postal , Care , Postal Service , Mess
A Pay Cut, A Raise, And An Incredible Coincidence
2007-09-11 16:20:00 Yesterday was a pretty exciting day (from a graduate student’s perspective). I bought a few SPY shares at $144.53 each - when the market was almost at it’s lowest point in the day; was called to our payroll office for the first time since the last couple years - met some new people; got a ... More About: Incredible , Coincidence , Cide , Coin
Jobs That Pay Badly And People Who Choose Them
2007-09-10 16:11:00 Sometimes, I wonder what will happen if everyone chose jobs that gave the best returns on investment - the world would have been filled with disproportionately large numbers of lawyers, doctors, software engineers, people who own popular websites, etc. I am not quite sure if our life would have been happier (because everyone is ... More About: People , Jobs , Choose
The Sunday Review #37: People Who Lick Their Fingers Before Turning Pages E
2007-09-09 16:30:00 OK, what is it with people who lick their fingers before turning pages in a book? It’s a question of somebody’s saliva getting on my brand new $147 book. I watched this dude for a while with his hand going to his mouth a few times and landing near the lower right hand corner ... More About: People , Review , Sunday , Pages , Fore
Interest Rates For Dummies
2007-09-07 19:57:00 Let’s talk a little bit about short term interest rates in a layman’s language. The US Federal Reserve controls the short term interest rates according to market conditions. The most *popular* of these rates is the Federal Funds Rate - that’s the one you usually hear about on websites, TVs, and newspapers. This ... More About: Dummies , Interest Rates , Interest , Rates
Stop Going Crazy With Birthday Parties For Kids
2007-09-06 16:30:00 Kids’ birthdays are meant to be celebrated for various reasons - sharing the kids’ and parents’ joy, creating memories that last forever, generally having a good time, etc. However, now-a-days, it appears that the term “celebrations” have somehow taken the meaning of “spending large amounts of money in trying to prove how our party ... More About: Kids , Crazy , Parties , Birthday , Stop
A Little Pizza Problem
2007-09-05 23:56:00 Here is a 5-minute pizza workout for you. A quaint little pizzeria sells the following specialty pizzas at the prices mentioned: 9″ pizza: $8.00 13″ pizza: $12.00 16″ pizza: $15.00 19″ pizza: $26.00 You have been given $26 for buying some pizzas and you are asked to “make the best of it”. If you get some change back from your ... More About: Pizza , Problem , Litt
Top Posts From The Month Of August
2007-09-05 16:23:00 Here are 10 popular posts that led to a lot of interesting discussions last month. 12 Things I Will Never Spend A Dime On (73 comments) Why Do People Accept Wedding Gifts? (50 comments) Interesting Facts And Confusing Thoughts About The American Poor (47 comments) Is This Frugal? .. Or Just Not Quite Right? ... More About: Posts , August , Month , Mont
Rising Milk Prices, Emerging Economies, And Stolen Cows
2007-09-04 16:15:00 Milk seems to be the next hot thing after gasoline. Yesterday, at our local SAM’s club, milk was priced at $3.49 a gallon … and gasoline was at $2.55. Anyways, did you know that milk prices are rising globally because affluent people in emerging economies are drinking more milk? Here is what the NY Times ... More About: Milk , Stolen , Cows , Prices
Is Your House Burglar-Proof Or Burglar-Friendly?
2007-09-03 16:15:00 Yesterday, I was reading this article about a personal finance blogger’s conversation with a burglar, on where to hide money in the house. Although, the article probably written in a serious frame of mind, I couldn’t suppress a few chuckles (I don’t know why) before I finished reading it. According to the article, basically, to ... More About: House , Proof , Friendly
The Sunday Review #36
2007-09-02 16:00:00 Here are a few articles that will keep you busy through the rest of the day. First, some healthy thoughts: 15 Tips To Reduce Your Appetite And Promote Healthy Eating Habits: Health is wealth - I don’t need to say more. There are certain aspects in the post that can go very well with frugal eating ... More About: Review , Sunday
The Worst Credit Card I Have Ever Seen
2007-08-31 15:30:00 I often wonder about the irony of subprime lending - whether it’s made available through mortgage or through credit cards or through any other source of credit. I mean, people with bad credit are the very people who should be staying away from subprime borrowing. These people are already in the subprime category ... More About: Card , Credit , Credit Card
Extended Warranties, Envelope Cash Video, And Alcoholism: Money Blogs Round
2007-08-31 03:52:00 I intended to publish this earlier, but simply forgot about it (.. yeah, just forgot). So, I am just going to stick with the “midweek” in the title and you can assume that I published this on Wednesday. Upgrading My Living Room Entertainment, Part 2: Extended Warranty by Flexo @ Consumerism Commentary. Flexo ... More About: Video , Money , Blogs , Cash , Round
What Are Your Money Leaks?
2007-08-29 20:03:00 Earlier on this blog, I have actively supported the concept of assigning higher priorities to bigger expenses in your life to improve your financial situation. However, every now and then, it helps to look at the smaller things that might be steadily leaking money from your wallet. Occasional indulgences are perfectly fine, but if you are habitually spending money on certain items, then some financial plumbing might be in order. The point is to either seal the leaks completely, or to keep them in check so that, eventually, they don’t grow into massive drains on your resources. Some typical popular sources of money leaks are as follows: Paying for cable - in spite of the fact that you don’t regularly watch more than a few channels and don’t even have enough time to watch TV. *Addiction* to certain foods/drinks. The habit of not shutting off electronic equipment after use. Making only the minimum payments on credit card balances (other than 0% APR balances). Making ... More About: Money , Leaks
If The Market Is Scaring You Now ?
2007-08-28 16:15:00 … Then you probably have been through more than a dozen panic attacks and at least one major heart attack within the last 10 years. Here is why. Look at how the S&P 500 index (SPY Exchange Traded Fund) has performed during the last 10 years: It certainly doesn’t look like a place to ... More About: Market , The Mark
No More Free Money - Pulling The Plug On Credit Card Arbitrage
2007-08-27 16:46:00 After a year long run with 0% APR credit card arbitrages, it looks like it’s time to pull the plug. The sole reason for ending this free money run is the lack of *good* 0% APR offers to continue transferring the existing balances. Most credit card companies now impose balance transfer fees at about 3% ... More About: Card , Credit , Money , Free , Credit Card
The Sunday Review #35: Awesome Marble Counting Machine Edition
2007-08-26 13:46:00 Check out this video of a wooden counting contraption.. it’s really interesting. Watch it till the end.. it’s totally worth it. [Feed readers, problems with the video? watch it by clicking here] ~*~ Now, here are some interesting articles published over the week. Related to market jitters: Nervousness and the markets by MBH @ Mighty Bargain Hunter. A Stock Market ... More About: Machine , Review , Awesome , Sunday , Marble
Barry Bonds Squash And Some Random Thoughts
2007-08-25 14:49:00 Things have been a little crazy on the work/study front this week as I am trying to come to terms with my schedule for the fall semester. It looks like I might get more obsessed with saving minutes instead of saving dollars for the next few weeks. Also, with each passing day in grad ... More About: Barry Bonds , Random Thoughts , Random , Thoughts , Bonds
The (Lack Of) Relationship Between Intelligence And Wealth
2007-08-23 15:56:00 According to the results of a study conducted at Ohio State University’s Center for Human Resource Research, super-intelligent people are only as good as (or as bad as) people with average or below-average intelligence, when it comes to better management of finances. The study concludes that, generally, income increases with IQ; but, the increased income does ... More About: Wealth , Intelligence , Relationship , Relation , Lack
Is This Frugal? .. Or Just Not Quite Right?
2007-08-22 00:43:00 I ran across this article on Wisebread (a great read, by the way) titled “Frugal Things My Mom Does“, which talks about this ketchup story: Our kitchen has drawers stocked with drive-thru napkins, straws, plastic silverware, chopsticks, and all variety of other things. But what I find the strangest is the drawer in the refrigerator ...
Why Do People Accept Wedding Gifts?
2007-08-20 15:45:00 It appears to me that this whole wedding thing has become a profit-loss business for some people. Just read this ungrateful rant on Yahoo! Answers: I myself am planning a wedding. It’s costing me about $35,000 give or take. (And that’s not a big number for a wedding) Now I understand if you are ... More About: People , Gifts , Wedding , Accept
The Sunday Review #34
2007-08-19 15:30:00 Here are links to some top articles published over the week. The Dow is Falling Through Support Levels: Is the Worst Yet to Come? by Jeremy @ Generation X Finance. An excellent analysis of the latest stock market stumble. Fortunately, I think Bernanke heard Jim Crammer’s rant and acted on it - that gave some ... More About: Review , Sunday
The Weight Of Stolen Money
2007-08-17 16:00:00 There are some burdens in life you carry forever. These are memories of things you wish you hadn’t done, but did nevertheless. Here is one such burden that I have been carrying for years. It was a stupid chewing gum that started this whole thing. The gum came with some kind of a scheme in which ... More About: Money , Weight , Stolen , Eight , Weigh
12 Things I Will Never Spend A Dime On
2007-08-16 15:30:00 Here is a list of 12 random things (popular or not) that will never find a place on my shopping list. 1. Neon Lights Under the Car: Yeah, what? $199.95 for lighting up the underside of the car? Now, as frivolous as it may sound to me, I have seen more than a dozen cars ... More About: Things , Dime
Life Is Like A Game Of Chess
2007-08-14 16:30:00 I spent a better part of last night thinking about the analogy between chess and life. It turned out to be a very interesting exercise. As always, images get formed in my head before I can gather the words. So, here is how it appeared to me after some elementary thinking: Now, it’s time for ... More About: Life , Chess , Game
Starbucks @ Target - Buy One, Get One Free Coupons
2007-08-14 16:00:00 Just found these coupons on Spoofee.com while randomly searching for something else. Click on this link to view and print the coupons. Accepted at Starbucks outlets in Target stores. Drink responsibly. Too much of Starbucks coffee has been known to lighten wallets in certain instances. free stuff, promotions More About: Free , Coupons
My Relationship With Television
2007-08-13 15:30:00 First, the big picture with a time frame: Obviously, my relationship with television hasn’t been very rosy. Here is a brief description of how things have unfolded over the years. The Prehistoric Days It started long long ago with a 14″ Philips black and white television. It didn’t have any *buttons* or remote or any fancy stuff; ... More About: Television , Relationship , Relation , Levis
Mystery Money Image And Some Quick Facts About The US Cent
2007-08-12 16:30:00 I was just having some fun at work creating images of a penny to demonstrate a certain technology to some new students. Here is an example image: Can you guess how this image was created? Hint - think out of the box; except for the size, it has not been edited in any way. Interestingly, not ... More About: Facts , Money , Cent , Quick , Mystery
The Sunday Review #33
More articles from this author:2007-08-12 15:30:00 Here is this week’s list of interesting thoughts. Comment on “Think About Your Finances Before Having (More) Children” by Stidmama on this blog. This is one passionate comment by one of the most loyal readers of this blog. I would encourage readers to go through it carefully and think over it for a while. Make Money ... More About: Review , Sunday 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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