What Credit?

A wise person once said that "poverty takes planning," and that wise person is me. These challenging economic times bring about some nightmare moments for those of us holding it together on one income. Here are some of my best financial tips to get you over the hump.

• You have to save money ~ We all felt this crisis months ago. The news is reporting it now because it is catching up with people that have money. Having said that it still does effect you. The crunch that everyone is discussing relates to credit. Cash is still king! It would have taken a prayer for many of us to qualify for a loan from an institution before and now it will now take a parting of the red sea sized miracle. The good news is the FDIC, the organization that makes sure the local bank can still give you your money, is not failing. Your cash is still safe in the banks. Now is the time to up the amount of money that is withdrawn from your paycheck and goes directly to your savings account. With credit being so limited even those emergency pay-day loans that we sometimes have to get may not even be an option. Do yourself a favor and start saving. $5 a week adds up. ANY amount of money you save today will be there for you tomorrow and trust me you will need it.
  
• Stop drying your clothes ~ For those of us who pay to wash and dry, this is a no brainer! You can double the power of your laundry budget by getting a drying rack and allowing the stale air of your apartment to dry your clothes for you. If you have a washer and dryer in your house, think about the amount of money you will save on your electric bill. Drying racks at Walmart are 10 bucks. Clothes lines are plentiful at the dollar store. You don't even need clothes pins. Use your kids jump rope. I sacrificed and brought a drying rack and it paid for itself in two weeks and I washed twice as many clothes. (If anyone wants to come over and help fold them; send me an email.) I will be honest and say that I still dry huge things like towels but clothes never again. Lastly, it is great for the environment.
  
  
  
• To Be Real, Stop buying processed food ~ This probably seems counter intuitive and down right mean. There are so few comforts in the single parent life and one of them is definately not having to cook dinner! But it is actually so much cheaper to buy real food. For example, that big bag of chicken nuggets I used to buy for $5.89 at the Walmart can get me three packs of meat (usually chicken legs, turkey burger and some beef cubes) at the same Walmart. Another tip for the meat department, if you eat pork go for it. Swine is no longer in favor so it is dirt cheap for great cuts.
  
  
  
• Stop saying I deserve it ~ I spend money that I don't have on things I don't need becasue it makes me feel like I am in control. All the while, I am singing to myself "I deserve this!" It is my way of getting back at the job that under pays and over works me, the child that doesn't let me sleep and apartment I live in that doesn't have cable. For the moments it takes to walk from the aisle to the cash register, I am a regular American not a working poor one. The other side of that is anxiety I feel when I try to pay bills and have spent it on my sense of control. Do yourself a favor and realize that what you really deserve is stable financial ground to stand on and the kind of success that wisdom and sacrifice only brings.
  

Of course I have more tips because I am me but this should get you started. Happy saving.

MCCAIN

Lord HAVE MERCY! I am so disappointed in him. I used to be a strong McCain supporter but he is killing me. Once upon at time, he was a strong ali on crossing the aisle and doing the right things for the country. But then he realized how old his ass is getting and decided that he had to run for president.

His performance on this debate was childish, rude, and condescending. His repeated comment that Obama doesn't "understand" chaps my ass! Obama has a JD from Harvard. There isn't much he doesn't understand and he didn't get to Harvard by being a double legacy; the way McCain got admitted to the Naval academy. McCain has become a fear monger. He chose to invoke fear toinght, i.e. by talking about Putin's Russia as being a new KGB regime, rather than educate and inform us about his policies. Of course, one would have to have real policies and strategies devised in order to tell people about them.

I don't even have the energy to talk about what is wrong with Palin.

Underwhelmed in 19138

I am all for taking refuge from your life's troubles in the problems of your garden variety over acted teen TV drama series. However, this 90210 remake leaves a lot to be desired. With all the modern trappings there are still some very old problems with the character development of a certain negro young man. While I know how grateful I should be for his token representation, and at the risk of biting the hand that scripted "us" in to the Beverly Hills elite; um not so much! For starters it is completely implausible that some upwardly mobile family from Kansas would adopt a black child in the 90's; hello, everyone knows that Chinese was the ethnic group du jour! If that isn't enough to satisfy the gods of 80's diversity, this week he discovers that he is attracted to emasculating women. To coin a phrase from one of the best shows to jump the shark......Seriously!

In other news, what is up with Mary Tyler Moore's face?!!!

When Celibacy Is Too Much

So this morning, I caught a glimpse of the television in a rush to the bathroom and my son was watching Curious George. That's when I had the dirtiest thought of my life. "I wonder what else is big on the Man With The Big Yellow Hat..." I know. I deserve to be arrested. I should be purged in the town square; tarred and feathered, quartered even!! What is wrong with me? I will tell you: celibacy. Like too much sex can cloud your mind, too little will make you loopy and a border line degenerate.