Crazy Lawsuit Game

If you get that fairly obscure quote then you have seen Trainspotting way too many times.

However, no joy yet. We weren't able to finagle Subaru's transmission back onto the engine. But I saw Protege out at the Research Park this morning and he said that he had an idea about how to get it to go. Lube, lube everything and then we should be able to pop that sucker into place. Not bad and it's worth a shot because for the 1.5 hrs we tried yesterday, we barely made any progress and tried every idea our minds could come up with.

According to Facebook I'm currently reading "To The Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf. Wow, it's such a fanciful writing, it's a mental workout just reading it. And it is apparent why she is regarded as one of the greats. Even with so many commas, commas here, commas there, it all makes sense and flows. Sure I have to reread the occasional sentence but I like it. I'm only about 40 or so pages into it, but hopefully I can finish it this weekend. I was planning on attending an autocross on Sat. but Protege backed out and I don't have any tires that are worth driving 3 hours one way to race on, so I'm staying home, cleaning and getting some work done.

I want to be rich. So does most everyone. But J and I just want the Office Space dream. To do nothing and be happy. There's more to it than that but that's where the dream starts. But what got me really thinking about it and finally spurred me to get off my ass and get involved was this article about 4 "secret" millionaires. Here are their "secrets" with my comments:

• Get educated for a high-paying job; max out your retirement accounts; take some risk; buy disability insurance - well sure, I still think insurance is a scam but I guess that's because I've never really had to use it
• Buy (and hang onto) real estate; invest in your 401(k); watch your spending - Again retirement accounts, and you need to watch your spending, ALL your spending, it is possible to nickel and dime yourself into the poorhouse
• Contribute to retirement accounts; have a good-sized emergency fund; drive older cars; watch your spending - huh, retirement accounts, I sense a theme, emergency fund can be interpreted as SAVE, the drive older cars bit I'll discuss below
• Buying food at a grocery outlet. That sounds scary, so we'll ignore that one and I'm not even sure if there is one around here. I am NOT shopping at Big Lots every week. On the other hand, you shouldn't shop at Whole Foods every week either. They're delicious but pricey.
• Using half a cup of laundry detergent for each load versus a full cup. Half a cup of laundry? Sounds like my clothes won't get as clean, but I guess I could use 3/4 a cup.
• Buying cleaning supplies at a dollar store. My cleaning supplies cost a dollar at the grocery store, thank you. How about you clean less and use less cleaning supplies? Yeah, thought so.
• Cooking most meals at home (although they eat out once a week as a family for about $30 a pop.) This is what actually sent me on this kick. J and I gave up eating out for Lent (I think it's a Catholic thing, not Lent, the giving up thing) so we'll be cooking at home more than we were. Hopefully this catches on because I think anything more than eating out once a week is excessive in my book. My family rarely went out to eat. Mostly big occasions and visitors. But we took advantage of Domino's 2fer Tuesday deal alot. The way around not eating out during Lent according to J is it's okay for us to eat out if someone else invites us out, because then we would just be anti-social. Whatever. Don't blame me when the Pope sends down a bolt of lightning for eating at Applebee's.
  
• Using plastic grocery bags to line small wastebaskets. Who doesn't do this? Does anyone really spend money on tiny grocery bags? If you do, stop it, or go out and buy smaller trashcans for your house. We have one regular sized kitchen trashcan and 3 or 4 grocery bag sized cans around the house. Also good for wet clothes on trips and disposing of used kitty litter. You know the grocery bags are free right? And also recyclable if they don't contain cat poo or other trash.
  
• Waiting until movies come out on DVD. It's "cheaper and quieter, too," she says. Very true especially since movies in SC are up to $8 a person and don't even get me started on the over-priced candy, drinks and popcorn. If you watch enough movies, maybe Netflix is for you. Or the other more corporate one with stores all across America.
  
• Buying clothing at Ross and shopping early in the day for the best savings. I personally enjoy looking through racks and racks of clothes to find something I like, it's like a treasure hunt, and I also care very little about clothing or "fashion". I also rarely buy anything full price in stores. I'm still proud of my $3 Gap t-shirts. But this isn't for everyone, J hates doing this.
  
• Avoiding discount warehouses. "I stopped shopping (at Costco) about nine years ago when I realized I was overspending in a feeble attempt to save money." Yep, figured this one out a couple years ago. $35/year to shop in bulk just to end up throwing away 14 apples because you only ate 4 out of the bushel. Bulk doesn't always equal savings.
• Own a home; stay out of debt (other than a mortgage); contribute to retirement accounts; invest automatically - Definitely invest and save automatically, you won't even have to think about it and you may not even miss it

They also talked about the differences between the richies and the brokies. Richies own houses, brokies don't. Richies have little debt and the debt they do have are mortgages on their houses. But one article led me to an article about values. You don't need that new CLK 63 AMG. A 92 white Toyota Tercel will get you there too, albeit with less comfort and a little slower but MUCH cheaper. Everyone feels like we're in America and Bob over there has the new 450 GB Ipod and I want one too and dammit, I should have one. So we whip out the plastic and figure we'll pay it off in time. Just because we live in America doesn't mean we're entitled to all this stuff. It's been proven time and time again that the majority of the wealth lies with a very small minority. It's slowly trickling down but not fast enough for most.

Personally I would much rather retire a couple of years earlier than get the new Iphone right when it comes out. Sure I can afford a Wii, but I know I don't need one. My PS2 and Xbox still work just fine (I think the Xbox is hurting though). It comes down to values and what you really think is important and what actually is important. The basic human needs are: Shelter, Food and Companionship. Not Blackberries, Dubs, Whips, Blahniks, Iced Double Mochachinos or Astrolabes.

I think you just need to find a balance. Find the line and cross it occasionally but you can't put your future in jeopardy to live on the other side of that line. Live within your means. Live below your means. Live well below your means for a few months out of the year and see what happens.

The areas I need to work on is: Gadgets and cars. I want them all. Each and every one. But I'm slowly coming to the realization that they're luxuries and I'm going to need to give up something else in order to get them. So think about your finances. Anything you could live without? Anything you could live without to get something you really really want?

Also I added my new fancy gmail email address to my profile. Woohoo! Thanks go out to my good friend Dave for inviting me.

Labels: advice, finances, reading