Discounts: Ask and You Might Receive
I and other financial writers often tell people to ask for discounts, particularly on large ticket items, because you just never know when a retailer might be willing to cut you a break. Many people are reluctant to try it, however. Some are afraid of being embarrassed and some think it just won’t work. The [...]On Being a Number Monkey
(Yes, I realize that this is a chimpanzee which is an ape rather than a monkey, but I still feel as though this makes for a rather apt self portrait of a self-proclaimed number monkey who writes.)
Donna Freedman, one of my favorite personal finance writers/bloggers, once described herself as a number monkey. She was referring to her (and other bloggers') habit of checking, re-checking, and then once again re-re-checking the number of page views she got on her blog.
I really liked the term number monkey, because it summed up how I tend to look at life. For a word-nerd lifelong English major (and if you think you can't major in English in the real world, I would say you haven't met my overflowing bookshelves), I find it a little odd how much of my life I gleefully reduce to numbers. I, like Donna and other bloggers, spend an indordinate amount of time on Google Analytics trying to determine just how I got two readers in Slovakia to check out my blog, while also wondering how I can get those Slovakian readers to multiply.
But, of course, obsessively checking to see just how many people have viewed a particular page on my blog is not the only way I am a number monkey. No, I take my number obsessions to new heights. At the risk of having the greater internet (which has certainly seen some weird things) tell me "Dude, you are WEIRD," here are three of the ways I let my number monkey tendencies carry me through each day:
1. I create debt payoff thermometers.
I know others do this, but I derive an incredible joy in coloring each tiny increment towards $0. It's this bad boy that led me to sending another $20 to my student loan this month, because I was just a hair over $9000 owed, and darn it, I wanted to pass another milestone so I could add it to the thermometer.
2. I count down the number of seconds I have to run to finish the next mile.
Photo courtesy of Beyond silence.
So, there are 900 seconds in 15 minutes. When I'm slogging through a particularly tough mile and half or so on the treadmill, I'll count down the seconds ("900, 899, 898...") until I've reached whatever goal I've set. When I mentioned this habit to J, he shook his head and asked me "OCD much?" But I find the countdown both soothing and motivating. It also helps me push past goals I've set--even if I've promised myself a break at the end of the 900 seconds, I'll start over with another 900. Becuase it's really not that long.
I have to admit that this is a fairly weird number monkey habit. And it is kind of a crutch for my running. But darn it, those 900 seconds are a heck of a lot easier to deal with than 15 minutes.
3. I calculate percentages in my head.
This isn't just about the fact that I can calculate percentages in my head. (Which is really just about me taking 10% and then multiplying it). No, I spend a ridiculous amount of time thinking about the percentages of each paycheck I earn through my writing. 20% goes to retirement, 35% goes to taxes, 3% goes to LO's 529, and the remainder (42%) goes to the money kitty. (Something like a number monkey, except that it's not really a feline).
For most non-number monkeys, just knowing these percentages would be enough. This is why G-d invented calculators, after all. But for me, I love determining in my head how much each account will get while I'm also doing other things, like running, driving, taming lions, or other day-to-day activities. I particularly love it when the amount is not easily divisible--like a recent payment I received for $353. I'd come back to those percentages over and over again, just to check my math. Heaven!
Any other number monkeys out there? Or are Donna and I the only ones?
By the way, don't forget to enter my interactive giveaway! I will be giving away an Amazon gift card to one lucky reader who comments on this post by noon on May 31. The randomly chosen winner will receive a gift card--and the denomination will depend on the number of miles I run between now and 5/31! I will load $0.50 per mile on the gift card. Here are the numbers so far:
Miles Run: 4
Gift Card Amount: $2
Goal: 45 more miles
Mileage for Giveaway: 4
Mileage for the year: 145
10 Clues You Are Trying To Keep Up With The Joneses
It’s an easy trap to fall into. Your friends have cool stuff. You buy cool stuff. Before you realize it, you’re surrounded by the latest and greatest model of everything and working 3 jobs to pay for it all. The easiest way to stop the madness is to recognize the signs and break the cycle [...]Running Update #9: Amazon Giveaway Edition
Photo courtesy of Brandon.wiggins
We have reached the time of year when I most enjoy running. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, flowers are blooming, days are longer, and more people are out and about. It's a very good thing that now is when I most feel like running, since I am dreadfully behind on my 500 mile challenge. I had originally planned to run 42 miles each month, but I have only broken the 42 miles in a month marker once this year.
Still, I am hoping to reach 250 miles by the end of June. If I am halfway through the year and halfway through my challenge at the same time, I'll feel pretty good about tackling the second half of my challenge. It's not going to be easy to get there, though. Here is where I stand as of today:
Miles run in May: 23
Miles for the year: 145
Mileage breakdown: Week of May 1-8: 12 miles total, with one 3-miler, one 4-miler and one 5-miler
Week of May 9-15: 11 miles total, with one 2-miler, one 4-miler and one 5-miler.
I think that I can potentially run another 40 to 45 miles this month, bringing to 185-190 miles for the year, which will only leave me 60-65 miles to run in June to catch up with my halfway deadline. That's certainly doable, especially during my favorite part of the year. It's doable, but then again--yikes! So, I've decided that I could use some help with motivation. That's where you and the Amazon giveaway come in.
For every mile I run between now and May 31, I will load $0.50 on an Amazon gift card to be given away to one lucky winner on May 31. Each mile I run makes your gift card bigger--and gives you more reason to cheer me on.
To enter, write a comment on this blog post by May 31 at 12 noon. The lucky winner will be chosen randomly and alerted via email.
Between now and then, I'll keep a running tab--no pun intended--of my miles at the bottom of each blog post. I'm even going to start the giveaway with today's miles (all four of them!) to get the ball rolling, so that gift card already has $2 on it. Let's see just how high we can get this prize!
Please, leave a comment here to win the ever-increasing Amazon Gift Card. And may the odds be ever in your favor!
Membership Has Its Pitfalls
Photo courtesy of Crazycomputers
For my second ever Mother's Day, I requested that the entire Mensch family amble down to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Because nothing says maternal love like showing your toddler the 6-inch razor sharp teeth of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Between the baby play room, the real steam locomotive that is so big it had to actually be built into the museum and will rest there forevermore, the Legos, and of course, the aforementioned dinosaurs, a good time was had by all. And that was barely scratching the surface of all the museum has to offer.
However, on the way into the museum, a recording playing on continuous loop admonished us (and all the other patrons) to sign up for a family membership. The ticket booth made a similar pitch. I was putty in their hands, since there was so much cool stuff to see, and I loved seeing my little one enjoying himself.
Unfortunately, I seem to have some sort of brick wall in my head where the simple calculation of cost of membership divided by one time cost times number of planned visits per year--that is, cm/1c x vpy = it's still cheaper to pay as you go--seems to throw me into a delusional state wherein I think time flows muuuuuch more slowly. For some reason, I overestimate the visits per year (because we always have free time every weekend) and no matter what, I assume membership is best. Even when I've seen it burn me before.
This is why J and I make a great team. Last summer, when the water park that is literally across the street from our neighborhood opened for the season, I spent a ridiculous amount of time and brain space trying to determine if we would visit it often enough to justify the $100 season pass, considering it was just $14 for all three of us to go for the day--and $7 if only LO and I went.
The water park is just across the street, I reasoned. It's practically like stepping into our back yard. Of course we'll be there most days over the summer. We only need to go as an entire family 7 times to make membership worthwhile. My goodness, we'll knock that out before the 4th of July!
J listened to my reasoning. He, to his everlasting credit, did not make fun of me. He did not point out the amount of effort necessary for packing up, transporting, unpacking, repacking, returning home, and then laundering all of the required baby gear one must have for a quick jaunt to the pool. (If you've never done it, just know that some graduate degrees take less time.) He didn't even take the calendar down from the wall and point out all of the events we already had planned for the summer, and which were written on said calendar in my handwriting. No, the ever-practical J simply proposed that we go to the water park as often as we liked over the summer, and decide afterwards if it would make more financial sense to become members in 2012.
As of Labor Day, 2011, we had gone a grand total of twice. Score one for J.
So, when the siren's song of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis started scrambling my brain (which J could sense because a distinct burning smell accompanied my far off look into potential futures), J said "Let's treat this like we did the water park."
It's good to have a plan.
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