Additional Income: September 2008

This month has FLOWN by for me, and, thankfully, that doesn’t mean my additional-income plans took a backseat to other life activities. Here’s the breakdown, in approximations to make it easy:

Work bonus: $300
Blogging: $120

= TOTAL $420 additional income for September.

Previous totals:
August: $15
July: $22
June: $668

Congress Listens!

So I’ve never, ever written a letter to a congressperson before, even as I listen with admiration to my friend’s husband talk about calling his senators. But this bail-out thing got me so worked up, it was time.

And it seems like they listen. This weekend, my state representative, Congresswoman Judy Biggert, wrote back and said she was fighting for us. Today, even with a close vote, the bail-out was turned down. Now we’ll have to see what happens next.

Saturday Round-Up 9/27

Here are some highlights from the last week. Enjoy your weekends!:

• WaMu Bought by JP Morgan, Don’t Press the Panic Button
• Practical Steps in This Economic Mess
• Win an HP Laptop!
• Alternatives to the $700 Billion Bail-out
• Evaluating Job Offers: How Much Do You Really Get Paid

What the Market Means to Me

OK. So about the economy.

First of all, I am against the bail-out because it will raise our taxes and put us further in debt to foreign nations. I even wrote my congresswoman and one of my senators, as well as e-mailed a bunch of people in my contact list. Bottom line: whatever happens, I *hope* it won’t be the $700 billion proposal. But whatever the case, I feel pretty sure the market will be OK. I’m going to leave my money in there.

(for more on the bail-out: read this or this, or even this.)

At the same time, I don’t feel OK enough to want to put a lot more money into the market now. So I’m going to take a break from the stock market (my Roth IRA is already maxed, and my other nest egg can just grow or not grow). The $5 I’m investing will go in a new ING until I can think of a better alternative–feel free to offer suggestions.

What about you? Are you changing or more greatly diversifying your investments in light of recent events?

Dave Ramsey’s Take on the Bail-Out

“I’d rather them work their own crap out than have us bail them out with $700 billion of our tax dollars.

I don’t like giving them any money or any help with my tax dollars. But I’d rather see that than see the whole thing turn completely upside down in a fruit basket turnover than have a whole meltdown or something and freak out here in the middle of the election season. Why don’t we just take the FHA insurance program and extend it across these sub-primes? What that means is that you and I are guaranteeing the lender that they’re not going to lose as much or any money on those mortgages. Now I don’t like guaranteeing them, but I like it better than buying them. In other words, instead of $700 billion in tax-payer debt going out there to bail out these companies, just extend the insurance out. You could probably do that for less than $40 billion. It’s like a 95% savings!”

Read the rest here.

Enough Doom and Gloom…

You guys are great. Really. Thank you to the really gracious, insightful commenters who gave me some food for thought about the maybe-Depression-like future of our economy. I have some responses, but they’re still mulling, and I will post when I have more clarity.

But what I really want to say is that, in light of all I have to be thankful for, it’s about time I posted something happy. Turn on the news if you want to be depressed… Read this post if you don’t.

Reason #1 to feel a little more up: This Video, from Discovery Channel: “I love the whole world” LOVE IT!

Reason #2 to feel optimistic: This recent Reuters article
A clip: “But today’s overall U.S. economic picture is quite different.
‘With just 6 percent unemployment, we are having a debate as to whether we are even in a recession,’ said Richard Sylla, professor of the history of financial institutions and markets at New York University.”

Reason #3 to stop with the whining already: Baking cupcakes last night, topped with cream cheese frosting

Reason #4: Friends, family, relationships

Reason #5: All my needs are provided

Are We Ready for a Depression?

I was listening to someone this weekend talk about how our country is headed for further economic disaster. It was enough to make you want to take all you own and go hide away in a hole somewhere. Nonetheless, the doom and gloom did get me thinking: If a serious economic crash (we’re talking even bigger than the Fannie/Freddie issues), what should I be doing?

I currently have around $40K in stocks, all reliable ones, nothing mortgage-related, thank goodness. I also have my ER fund and my regular bank accounts. Wouldn’t it be terrible to just lose the whole nest egg because of a massive crash?

Then again, where would I be safe putting my money? I guess ING or some other savings, but those give very little return by comparison. And also, doesn’t the stock market always right itself, one way or another, over time?

Has anyone else been thinking about this? Not to be all Chicken Little, but I just wonder if we’re being given warnings for a reason.

Credit Card Shopping

This weekend, I used my GAP credit card for the first time in months, which was fantastic, especially since I’ve been carrying around a $10 rewards card for the same amount of time. I bought some baby clothes for friends who are expecting and other friends who just had their second.

I also went to Wal-Mart and Urban Outfitters, netting me a total spending of about $160 or so, all on my GAP and Visa cards. When I was checking out, I got to thinking about how the credit card system works. As I’ve said before, I rely on my Visa debit/credit card, but I always, always run it through on credit. Anyone who has a bank debit/credit card knows about how you have to hit “Cancel” then “Credit” then get the cashier to hit something before you sign.

When I was at Urban, the cashier looked at my card before swiping it and said, “Debit?” I told her no, actually, credit, and she looked surprised.

I run it through as credit because I was told that my bank would charge me for using it as debit too often (true? untrue?) and also because I’m too lazy to punch in my PIN.

Does anyone know if it makes any difference one way or the other?

I’m Back

We have Internet again!

Information of note from the past week:

*I got my first bonus at work
*I was, for the first time, under budget with my food spending for the last two weeks
*I’m thinking of buying a camera on eBay, the Canon Powershot G9, to be exact, after seeing it on Martha Stewart’s blogging special
*My investment funds are temporarily on hold for the week, long story, but will be back on track by Friday, I expect

*I realized I can get a lot done when I don’t have Internet access: running, lifting weights, shopping, cleaning, reading!, talking on the phone more, sitting and chatting with friends more

True Story

Then, right after she has the whole learning-she-was-racking-up-huge-cell-phone-bill discovery, the home Internet goes down, meaning she’s without a connection to all the things she’s used to doing, all week.

I’ll be back soon, I promise.