Penny For My Thoughts

It is the holiday season again, which means that it is time for looking for a great gift. Even if you have an idea of a gift, finding the best price can be a hassle-especially in the current economic climate. One great hint can be to shop at places that are off the beaten bath. For example, if you are looking to get an uber-hip relative a trendily “green” reusable water bottle, it can be gotten at a good price on a Police Gear website-yes, they’re not just for 5.11 Tactical Knives and the like. Check out quirky stores like police supply stores while doing your holiday shopping.

So, remember a couple of weeks ago when I said my non-internet life was interfering with the amount of blogging time I had?  There’s a reason for that-I gave notice at my job (which was my first “real” job) on Thursday.  I’ve accepted a position elsewhere.  Of course, this means that there will be a new feature around here soon-the Termination Travails.  This series will include such things as:

• Benefits

• 401K and stock investment plan

• New budget

What a great, free way to do a little extra good this holiday season.  You may have seen the ad, but if you haven’t, Macy’s is offering to donate $1 for each letter to Santa mailed in their stores to Make a Wish!

Yesterday I went to a local shopping center to have snow tires put on my car. This is the first time I’ve had snow tires, but I drive a subcompact and felt like the grip would be good. I went with the Michelin X-Ice, which was a little more expensive than some tires that were on sale, but they’re very popular on the nissanversa.org boards. I had them put on at Sears. I opened a Sears charge for the discount. However, I was appalled by some of the things that went into that-I could choose between the Sears Mastercard or Sears card. The salesguy point out to me that the store card had an interest rate of 28%, where as the Mastercard was 16%. Yipes! I have the money in my car emergency fund, so I debated whether to go with the 6 months 0% interest or money off. I went with the money off. I was approved for $9,000-ridiculous. Also, while I get that salespeople are given incentives to upsell, it seemed a little disturbing that announcements kept on coming over the Intercom-”Mary just saved a customer in women’s fashions $15!”
I was surprised by how busy the mall was, but it’s something of a higher-end mall, so I think they’re not as effected by the current climate. Case in point-I had a girl next to me in Tiffany’s buying a pair of their earrings-for her friend’s sweet sixteen.

Halloween in over, which means that drugstore aisles everywhere are looking a little Nightmare Before Christmas-y. Yes, it’s holiday shopping season once again. This gift suggestion actually comes courtesy of a family friend-she gets everyone a Photo Calendar of their kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, etc. It’s easy for her, great for the recipient. If you think that sounds like a great idea, I urge to check out Vistaprint.com. Their products are of the utmost quality. Ordering your calendar couldn’t be easier-Vistaprint’s site is easy to use, and you pick details such as a Beach frame for that great picture of the kids at your stepmother’s Fourth of July bash, or ivory for that picture of your cousin at her wedding in June. The ease of use of their website allows you to personalize the photo calendar to the interests of the recipient (one of your cat for you mother-in-law’s gift, a vacation photo for your sister). Vista print has all sorts of products, from magnets (great Holiday cards or save the dates) to address labels. I urge you to check out Vista Print and see what they have to make your shopping a little less painless.

What else is new?  One of those blah blah blah foolish morning show deals had some expert on discussing the life of various electronics.  I think it may have been one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.  For example, they were saying that a laptop’s only good for 4 years.  Now, my laptop is 5 years old, and while I’d be lying if I said I weren’t tempted my the new micro laptops, it’s fine.  They also said that the cost to repair an iPod, even under warranty, was too great.  I was revolted by that.  I’d had my iPod replaced under warranty, and also had my nephew’s iPod shuffle repaired under warranty.

So, as always, don’t believe everything you hear, dear readers.

Sorry I’ve been so scarce this week-stuff’s been going on in my non-Internet life.  Yeah, I did not know I had one either.

Shockingly, it was not nearly as bad as I expected.

Assets

ING  $12,739.97

Roth $5,103.78

Emigrant Direct $5,285.5

SIP $400.01

401K $ 2,656.18

Debts

Federal student loan $12,320.41

Car loan $3,314

Net worth $10,  551.86

Woohoo!  I cashed in my coins at Coinstar, which was a pittance compared to what I had last year.  I’m not going to bother posting the pictures I took. 

This morning; however, I had a very important Vegas related task this morning-it’s the first of the month, so I wanted to get a 50% off at Ben and Jerry’s coupon at Restaurant.com. Mission accomplished. If you have any other Vegas must eats that are on Restaurant.com, be sure to tell me. I was on a local restaurant.com frenzy this week-the 80% code was too good to pass up.

Vote!  Please, if you’re a registered voter, vote on Tuesday, Nov. 4.  If you are reading this, I’m going to presume you have an opinion on some issue (maybe related to money, maybe not).  Vote!  You can even get Free Ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s if you vote.

I know I try to keep this blog apolitical, but if you vote in California, Arizona, Florida, or Arkansas, please review this post.

Yesterday I had a message from Sharebuilder.  They wanted to let me know I didn’t have the transfer fee-I had thought they would deduct it, but I needed to put it in my Sharebuilder account.  So it’s been transferred, and hopefully this is the end and my Roth will get transferred.