I read about this today (a fire at a no-kill animal shelter in Texas):
http://www.centexhumanesociety.com/fire110109.shtml
So I decided that I would like to help and made a $50 donation. I support no-kill shelters and adopted my own two cats from a no-kill shelter (though not this one.) If you can help, here’s the paypal link:
http://www.centexhumanesociety.com/html/support.shtml
When Brian and I bought this place, we never dreamed we would live here for so long.
It is small.
It is a loft.
There is no bedroom.
It isn’t in the ideal location, or even one that we really enjoy.
There is no neighborhood bar.
Our friends moved away.
And the list goes on, BUT we got awesome news today. We got a five year ARM for our mortgage thinking that we would be out by now. Clearly, we aren’t. The mortgage readjusted to a LOWER RATE! WHAT????? How awesome is that? I had no idea that could happen.
We are either going to:
A. Pay the additional $ (so it would be the same amount) to the principle
or
B. Put the saved $ in our downpayment account toward our next place
What would you do? Advice please.
I am ridiculously excited about this. I feel like a grown up. I got myself into a bit of a credit card mess, so now I need to get myself out. Buying things in cash only and I have an emergency fund for unexpected expenses, so I feel good.
Image from: http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:QL0FUDoY0z-tyM:http://www.savingadvice.com/images/blog/hello-kitty-credit-card.gif
I am revamping my finances so I am not living paycheck to paycheck. As I am an adult, I should get serious about my finances so I am acting like one. I am horrified by my spending and seeing it right in front of my face is giving me no choice but to shape it up ASAP.
As I am a complete nerd, I frequent a money message board. One of the people was saying how she is a teacher and qualified for student loan forgiveness for part of her loans. I am filling out the paperwork since I work in a low income district and am a special education teacher. Who knows if I qualify, but that would be awesome.
Since visiting lottery hq yesterday, winning a million dollars has been on my mind. How awesome would that be? I know it is only $36000/year after taxes so it isn’t like you could quit your job (but I wouldn’t anyway since I am fortunate enough to have a job I truly enjoy.) Anyway, it is fun to dream. This is what I would do:
Split the $36000 in half. Keep $18000 for me and Brian and distribute the rest among our family.
Of the $18000, I would give $9000 to Brian to do with it what he pleases.
With my $9000, I would donate $1000 to the QAS (quincyanimalshelter.org.)
I would donate $1000 to our Special Olympics team.
I would take an excellent vacation with $2000.
I would save $2500.
I would pay some bills with the other $2500.
In subsequent years, I would continue to split the money with our family, donate to the QAS, and to the SOMA team.
Dear God, please don’t let me become a scratch ticket maniac. However, I promise to share, as outlined here in my blog. You could hold me to it. So if you let me win, I wouldn’t end up on the E! True Hollywood Story of Lottery Winners Who Lost it All. It would do good things.
I learned a few things:
I. If you have a gambling problem, this is not the place for you.
A. You can buy lottery tickets out of not 1, but 2 vending machines.
1. One machine is red.
2. One machine is blue.
3. The “winners’ circle,” home to these machines, is about 400 s. ft.
B. You can also play Keno.
C. Winning feels pretty good.
1. $1000 is a good amount.
2. More would have been better.
3. Winning a million dollars on a scratch ticket would be the
best and weirdest day of your life.
4. You get your picture on the website only if you win a large amount.
D. They take out state taxes right away.
E. You get a tax form for federal taxes.
All in all, an interesting experience. FYI: I resisted the temptation to play any additional lottery games while on the premises.
EDIT: Sorry for the horrendous formatting and the random bolded words.
*Happy Birthday, Checkers. Miss you!*
No joke- it was awesome. I had a scratch ticket that I forgot about that was a ten dollar winner. So we cashed it in yesterday for two $5 ones for kicks. The first one won nothing and I thought we won $500 bucks on the second. Whoo! I was so dazzled by the two dollar signs (you win that prize automatically) that I did not realize that one of our numbers matched the winning numbers. That was another $500 bucks. Sweet! So we split it and are using it for fun money.
Note: This is more money than I have spent on gambling in my life. I am not a scratch ticket, casino, SuperBowl squares sort of person on a regular basis.
I am in love with Dunkin Donuts. Don’t get me wrong- I love Starbucks and Honeydew as well. But Dunkin Donuts is holding strong at #1. So I haven’t had any Dunkin Donuts product since Lent began. As I live in Massachusetts, this is quite difficult. From my home to work (just over 2 miles each way) there are six. In walking distance in my neighborhood, there are two, one of which I am looking at right now out the window. From a bank account standpoint, skipping DD is pretty good. Perhaps I shouldn’t limit myself to just DD (I’ve been to Starbucks 3x since Lent started.) Maybe, in the interest of saving money, I should just drop the whole buying coffee thing for awhile. Hmmm… I’ll think about it.
Cost: $1/bet
Time: We were there for about an hour
Brian and I went to dinner at the Ale House and we decided to play a little (only 6 games at $1/apiece) Keno. Never has either of us won more than a dollar but tonight I won $30 and Brian won $20 which more than paid for our dinner. Sweet.
