Thursday, November 27, 2008

Don't over eat on Thanksgiving!

It is a big day for yummy food! But that also means that it is a big day for overeating! And when the food is as yummy as it is on Thanksgiving, that usually does mean overeating. If you are worried about that then you can find all kinds of tips on how to avoid overeating on the web.  Like How to avoid overeating at your Thanksgiving Feast. Of course, if you are like me you will likely overeat anyways cause it will be so yummy!

Free Holiday MP3s

I love me from freebies. And I saw on Slickdeals that there are some holiday MP3 freebies to be had. And they are courtesy of Oprah. So if you want to score a few sweet holiday mp3s then I have a link for you to check out. There are only 8 mp3s though. 

You only have 48 hours to score these though:

The songs include:
Faith Hill “Joy to the World”
Tony Bennett, “I’ll be Home for Christmas”
Il Divo, “O Holy Night”
Josh Groban, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”
Brian McKnight, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
Amy Grant, “O Come All Ye Faithful”
Harry Connick Jr., “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
Aretha Franklin, “Silent Night”

To download, visit here.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Best money lessons to teach your kids

I saw an interesting post on CNN today. It is called the Best money lessons to teach your kids. And it is actually from Oprah.com apparently. There was an interesting quote in the article. One dad said "It made me proud to give them what they wanted." And that is just it. That is how parents get into financial trouble. And that is how the kids learn bad financial habits. It's so simple but so interesting.

Stock market watching

I've been watching the stock market. You know, just trying to get a feel for how things work. I don't really know anything about investing in the stock market. But it is something that I would like to learn about. And it seems very nerve wracking!

When I started watching the share of GM they were around $2.00 and today they are around $4.75. Knowing that if I had the money at the time that I could have doubled my investment just makes me sick! Of course, if GM goes bankrupt then you lose everything. At least I think that is the way it works. Interesting stuff.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Yay cheap prices

I heart shopping at this time of year. It is always an awesome time to get good deals on things. But I am not talking about just anything that you want. I am talking about things that you need. Me, I am hoping to get a good deal on some cookware. That would be pretty sweet. But I don't know if I will find it or not.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Food costs, oy

Food costs seem to be going up, up up. At least that seems to be the case where I live. Out here on the west coast. Since the weather is nicer out here I am thinking of starting a patio garden. Supposedly there are some things you can start growing in December here in So. Cal. I figure that is a good way to lower my food costs. But I have never done anything like this before. So it could be rather tragic!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Could you use a second stimulus check?

I keep reading things on CNN and other blogs about a second stimulus check. I used the first stimulus check to pay down some debt. That was nice. And what would I do with a second stimulus check? Sadly, I would have to put it towards debt as well. Of course, I suspect that if a second stimulus check were to hit around Christmas that most people would use it for things like buying presents. Or maybe even for holiday travel. And I can't help but wonder - was the first stimulus check program really a success?

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

New president, new economy?

Well, now we have a new president. And the question for me is likely the same as a lot of people. Can he fix the economy? And if so, how fast? Sure he won't take office till next year, but still. I dunno what he can do, but I sure hope he is able to get in there and get something positive going for the economy ASAP.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Voting day freebies

Wow, how exciting that so many places are offering freebies to people that come in with the 'I voted' sticker today. I do not remember this sort of thing happening in the past. Sadly though I voted by mail this election. It is the first time I have done so. So that means I miss out on a lot of the freebies. Although some places are offering freebies to everyone. I know Ben & Jerry's is. And I think that Starbucks also changed to allow everyone the freebie. Did you get your freebies today?

Monday, November 3, 2008

Construction building and the economy

My dad works in construction, so he has been hit pretty hard by the economy of late. He has spent weeks without a job to go to. And just last week he told me that he was working on a commercial building and once it was completed he had nothing lined up. So, I was relieved to see on Yahoo the heading Construction spending falls less than expected. I just really wish he had been smarter about saving money for these tough times. Here's hoping that the election brings about an upswing in the economy.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

ouch, bad economy hurts

I was updating some of my spreadsheets. I dared to venture a look at my rollover IRA. Ouch. Double ouch. Infinity ouch. It is worth half what it was on July 1st of this year. That is so not cool. Seriously. Granted, the bulk of that money is in a natural resources fund. And it was doing awesome as the gas prices were rising. And now that they are falling? Well, not so much. It's painful to see. I know I have like 35 years before retirement, but still. It is hard to see half of it just gone.