Do You Do Dumb Stuff at Work?

So, in the course of yesterday’s work day, my behavior was borderline freakish, I’m being serious. I honestly don’t know what was wrong with me, but I embarrassed myself not once, not twice, but a grand total of six times.

Here’s the rundown:

1. I misunderstood a caller’s name, talking with him for a good 10 minutes before realizing he wasn’t who I thought.
2. Once said caller realized I’d gotten confused and called me on it, I fumbled all over myself trying to explain.
3. After getting off the phone with him, I decided it was, definitely, a order-out-food day. So my coworker and I headed out. I took a wrong turn and got us almost lost.
4. Paying for my takeout at the restaurant, I knocked over the metal lid on the toothpick container, sending it bouncing onto the tile floors. Every head in the packed place turned to me.
5. I went down the parking lot lane the wrong way, almost hitting a car.
6. I messed up something in our records for the day.

And these are just the things I remember right now. Let’s be honest: I’m forgetting something, for sure.

Quick, someone: make me feel better. Tell me you do dumb stuff, too. Please?

Money Hacks Carnival #19

My recent post about loaning friends money (or not loaning, to be specific) is part of this week’s Money Hacks Carnival over at MoneyHackers.net.

Go on over and check it out!

Quote of the Day, from Mark Twain

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
- Mark Twain

HT: Brip Blap

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?

Finally! A use for bridesmaids’ dresses

I’ve already been in three weddings, and while I love the couples, I have no intention of ever wearing the dresses I had to purchase again (*shudder*).

Combined, I think we’re talking about $400ish I put into these gowns, and now they just hang in my storage closet, collecting dust, never to be worn again.

Last month, while she was doing her 29-Day Giving Challenge, One Frugal Girl pointed out that there are charities that take dresses and give them to girls who could use them for proms and formals.

Perfect, I decided then. Something (at last!) to do with these things!

Of course, life gets busy and the don’t-have-tos get pushed to the side.

But this weekend, I finally packed up the three dresses, plus a couple college formals (oh, if I had it to do over again) and mailed them off to The Perfect Prom Project in Illinois.

If you, like me, have some you’d like to donate, take a look at this site to find a donation center near you.

Image: The Perfect Prom Project

On Loaning Friends Money (or, I’d rather give)

True story: A couple years ago, someone I know asked someone else I know (let’s say persons A & B) for a favor. Desperate, tears running down his face, A asked B for $20,000+ to help finish his new home and to cover unexpected medical costs for his child.

B loaned him the money.

Weeks went by. Months. Then a big problem: Lender B’s home business was facing some problems, and he needed that $20K back.

He went to A; A didn’t have it and didn’t know when he would. Bigger problem. B wanted his money; A couldn’t believe B didn’t understand. Suddenly, what had been a good friendship became tense, awkward and stressful.

The good news is that this worked out, sort of. A ended up taking out a home equity line of credit to consolidate all of his many debts into one (same money, but one place owed). He paid back B just in time. The bad news is that their friendship was never the same.

I could tell you a lot of stories like this; you probably could, too. Somehow, when money gets involved, things can get ugly fast, even between good friends. I’ve always thought this, way in the back of my mind. I’ve always felt a little uneasy about the idea of loaning friends money.

When I was reading Total Money Makeover, Dave Ramsey pointed out the Biblical principle at work here: Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

Essentially, when you loan someone money, you change the dynamics of peer-to-peer friendship. Now you are one who loaned and one who owes. And that makes things complicated.

In fact, in Hamlet, Shakespeare writes something similar: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be. For loan oft loses both itself and friend…”

So here’s my personal philosophy: If my friend comes to me, needing money, and it’s a real need, I will give–no strings attached–what I can. They can think it’s a loan if they want to, but I’m giving it as a gift–no interest and no payment expected. If I’m unable to give them the money, I can offer to do anything else to help. But I won’t lend.

If I, say, go out to eat with my friend, and she asks me to lend her what she’s owes, I will. But I’ll just give it to her. I’ll tell her, don’t worry about it. If she pays me back, fine. If she doesn’t, it was a gift.

And, if at the end of my life, I’ve paid for more friends’ meals than I’ve been given, if I’ve given more money than I’ve received, if I’ve been the sucker as some would say, I’ll consider it a good life, indeed.

Image: aldoaldoz

A Video Blog Round-Up

I’m always honored when people include me in blogging round-ups, but this time I’m also WOWed.

Randy over at Watch my Money Maker (who was so helpful when I moved this site to its own domain) has created a VIDEO round-up of his favorite PF blog posts this week. You seriously should go check it out. It’s very clever, and I’d say that even if it hadn’t mentioned me.

Thanks, Randy, and very cool.

5 Things to Be Happy about, Now

1. Casual Thursday: yeah, jeans!
2. A three-day weekend because of a free nation.
3. Rainstorms (wishing to spread them to you guys in California!)
4. The ability to eat solid food! Finally, as the bug I caught on vacation seems to be leaving.
5. Completed financial goals.

What about you?

New Goal: I want to buy a house with cash! (or, I hate debt)

I feel somewhat hypocritical talking about debt as a bad thing, seeing as I never went into it. It’s a little like a skinny teenager lecturing a Weight Watchers group. True, I have no debt… BUT my parents paid my college tuition. BUT my parents let me live rent-free while I was in grad school. BUT I grew up in middle-class, affluent America, with all the comforts and privileges therein, and I didn’t pay for them.

The truth is, if I had had to pay for all the blessings I’ve been given, I’d be indebted up to my eyeballs. From orthodontia to college to eating out to my car, there’s no way around it: I’ve been given a lot. But instead of asking me to pay for it, it’s as if someone’s wiped my slate clean, forgiving all I could have owed. I get to be debt-free, not because of hard work, but because of grace. This is true in other areas of my life, too, but I digress.

What I’m getting at here is that I know I’m no expert, no authority. I know people in debt have many reasons and situations that have gotten them there, and many times, it’s the same kinds of things I’ve done. No judgment here, OK?

But I HATE debt.

I hate that it traps people, I hate that it takes away people’s homes, I hate that it makes us spend more than we should or buy things we can’t wait for.

After more than a year in the PF world, I’ve only just now read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. I’m not saying I see eye-to-eye with him on everything, but a couple things he writes really, really clicked with me. Things like paying off all debt with gazelle-like focus. Things like having an emergency fund in place. Things like not buying a brand-new car unless you have the liquid funds to do so. Also:

*Our society accepts debt as normal.
*Going into debt = paying interest = a larger purchase price at the end.
*There are a lot of things I don’t need; it’s possible to live on less.

Which leads me to the culminating announcement: I’ve made a change to my future home-purchase goal, and here’s my new plan:

When I buy, I’ll put down the largest down-payment I can afford (formerly aiming for 20%, now thinking closer to 50%, though 100% would be ideal and obviously would not require a mortgage).

If I do need a mortgage, it will be a 15-year. I will not purchase the home if my monthly mortgage payment is more than 30% of my monthly take-home pay.

My sidebar goal will stay at $50K, as that’s my 2008 goal. But I’d secretly like to get it up to $60K by December. A lot of people would say this is crazy, that going into debt for a home is not wrong (I agree!). But I’m thinking this: I’m still young, I have a great living situation, I have few expenses.

Why not set higher goals like these? Why not dream of a life with no debt?

Photo: sugu

Savings Updates (Goal #2 Accomplished!)

In the sidebar, you’ll notice a few updates to my savings goals. I’ve removed the Cali Vacation bar, as that’s completed and accomplished.

And there’s a new completed goal, too. As of this morning, at the open of the business day, I will have deposited the final $500 into my 2008 Roth IRA.

Two goal down; two to go!

Image: s2photo