I spend about $.10 per mile to commute

Squawkfox posted a handy tool the other day, the Gas-Mileage Calculator, which will show you just what gas prices are costing you.

I drive about 15 miles each way to work (give or take) and spend roughly $.10 each mile. In other words, I spend $3 a day (not counting tolls, which add another $1.60 each way) to commute to work.

On top of which, there’s the time factor: I spend 30 minutes there and 45 back. (TRAFFIC!!! AHH!)

Still better than public transportation for me, if only for convenience: I can leave as soon as work is done and get there just as it begins.

What about you?

I Asked for a Raise, and Here’s What Happened.

OK, blogging buddies: Thank you again to everyone (especially Full-Grown Single and Ronnie Ann) who weighed in on my March post, When Do You Deserve a Raise?

I had written it to express my frustration with an employee who wanted, but I didn’t think earned, an increase, and you wrote back with strong instructions for my own future raise-wanting. In my head, I was fully with you, planning to ask for an increase when I hit one year. In the three months since then, though, I’ve grown less sure, as the company struggled and made cutbacks.

Today was my one-year anniversary, so this morning I Googled: How to Ask for a Raise When Times are Tough and found this Forbes article.

Logistically it’s easier to e-mail my boss than meet in person, so I followed the Forbes tips, via print rather than face-to-face. I bulleted my contributions and explained what the median pay rates are in our area for jobs like mine. I said I thought a raise would be fair.

He wrote back immediately and said he totally agreed. He needs a little time but will fight for me.

Stay tuned.

How Movies Set Us Up To Want

If you, like me, find yourself more interested in movie characters’ real estate or wardrobes than the plots or story line, you’ll appreciate this post over at Escape Brooklyn.

In it, she cites a recent MSN Money article that points out the discrepancies between what movie/tv characters have and what they supposedly do for a living.

Among the examples are Eva Mendes’s character in Hitch, a gossip columnist with a $5,000/month-rent New York Loft and Ann Hathaway’s Andi in The Devil Wears Prada, who gets loads of free designer clothes at work.

I’d add the following:

Gilmore Girls: A beautiful Victorian house, all meals ordered or eaten out & gorgeous, new clothes every season… all on an innkeeper’s salary? OK, they couldn’t pay for Yale, but even still!

27 Dresses: Katherine Heigel’s character lives in a beautiful, vintage apartment in NYC. Her sister visits and calls it “cute.” I think we all know that had to cost a pretty penny. And she’s someone’s assistant.

The truth is, as a manager in the Chicago area making a mid-level salary, I can’t even afford a two-bedroom condo in my area. So do you think movies set us up to want more so that we’ll spend? Or is allowing us to pretend we can afford X, Y & Z part of a movie’s magic?

$4.19

More than the cost of a medium-sized cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee.

More than four candy bars from the vending machine at work.

More than a round-trip ride on Chicago’s El.

More than a milkshake.

More than a bottle of nail polish or a new chapstick.

= The cost, right now and climbing, of ONE gallon of gasoline in my neighborhood.

What are prices like by you?

OK, Boss, Just Pay What You Feel

What would Friday’s paycheck look like if your boss got to pay you what he thought you earned this week? What if she were able to add/deduct at will, with no constraints upon a predetermined value for your time? Does it make you a little nervous, or are you excited about the possibilities?

That’s the strategy Radiohead made famous with their pay-what-you-want CD offerings. And while it hasn’t extended to workplaces yet, it is growing.

Now, restaurants in places like Seattle, Salt Lake City and Australia are doing the same thing: come on in, eat on us and leave what you feel is fair. It’ll all work out.

According to this recent article from Budget Travel, pay-what-you-like restaurants are changing the expectations of typical eat-out experiences. Rather than telling you what to pay, you tell them.

Imagine! That distgusting cup of coffee you got at the corner bakery? $.10. But that burger from In-N-Out that you raved about? Well, does $6 sound fair?

What I like about this is the innovative, new feel. I like shaking things up and trying different methods. But what I don’t like is the relativity of it all. I do very much want to get paid what I think I’m worth, not what you do. And if I owned a restaurant, I’d want to be paid what I felt the food was worth, not what you’d name the price at.

What do you think?

Everyone’s Talking Recession. Why Don’t I Feel It?

You really can’t go anywhere lately without talk about the struggling economy. I read an article recently that highlighted pending layoffs, lowered revenues in the retail sector, plunging home sales.

To quote that author directly: “What happened with Bear Stearns was the closest we have come to a run on the bank since the Great Depression…The 1929 market crash, contrary to what many believe, did not cause the depression–a run on banks over a protracted period of time did.” He goes on to suggest that the war is actually a money-making strategy of the government’s. Very interesting stuff.

Here’s the rub for me, though. Why don’t I feel like we’re in a recession?

I mean, I’m not complaining. But am I so middle class that my life stays the same even in the midst of major economic problems?

What do I mean? I have a good job. Yes, gas (well, diesel!) is expensive, but I can afford it. I’m going on a vacation in June. I still eat out, I have a comfortable place to live, I even have money to give.

And it’s not just me. One of my friends, also in her twenties, put an offer in on a townhouse last week. Then there was a condo I looked at last month, which ended up selling in 22 DAYS!

This article, “What’s the difference between a recession and a depression?,” made things make more sense for me. I think when I hear “recession,” I think of my grandma’s stories of quitting school in eighth grade to earn money for her family of seven. I think of grocery stores being out of food.

That, though, is a depression. Let’s hope our country never gets in that situation again.