Ham and cheese omelets for him and exactly whatever you want for yourself? Man, that's crazy tough. If I were married to your husband, we'd both have starved to death long ago.

I'm lazy, and only want to make two meals (food for us, rice for Mal). But yeah, this is a big reason we ate out a lot in the States. Our food preferences have almost no overlap.

I just got accepted to the Msc I applied for in Sheffield University, and I remember some of the Buffistas helped me with the wording of my application a ways back, so thanks! Yay!

Yay! Way to go Jars!

Go Jars! Congrats!

I don't know what to tell you, Raq. I'm out of ideas myself, which is why we had pizza last night and will probably do some form of takeout tonight. I imagine you probably have less access to that, though.

Something of a PSA:

Many credit card issuers to double minimum monthly payments

So far the bank that holds all three of our cards where we're carrying a balance (Chase) isn't among the ones who've announced plans to do it. But if they do? The point when they start is when I'll absolutely have to be in a job. Because we're paying more than the minimum now, but nowhere near double the minimum.

Argh.

Chase recently bought Bank One. I have to get used to them being my bank. This'll be the third bank name on our main account.

In some cases, minimum payments are composed only of interest, not principal. Pay that amount, and the debt never gets paid off. The regulatory agencies want credit-card minimums to cover interest, fees and a reasonable amount of principal, said OCC spokesman Dean DeBuck.

Yeah, the fact that some credit card companies' minimum payments just cover interest has been controversial for some time.

Personally, I think the law's a bad idea, as you can always pay more than the minimum amount, but sometimes when you're low on money it's nice to only pay a smaller minimum, even if you're just covering interest. But if that's all you ever do then you're screwed. So this is pretty much an attempt to legislate common sense.

Perkins, I bet the Neptune Society send a receipt type thing to people's next of kin when the contract is signed.

I wondered about that, but this was from my parents' home address.

I think, in the long run, it is a good idea. People often keep charging, as long as they can swing the minimum. Then something happens, and they're screwed, because they've been paying all this money out for yonks, and the principle has never been touched. But in the shortrun, it's going to hit a lot of people, really hard.

Yup. If my calculations are correct, if worst came to worst and Chase ups their minimums before I find a job, I could temp, and the typical local pay rate for a highly skilled clerical temp would be just enough to cover Annabel's day care and the increase in the minimum balances. But most households don't have a spare skilled worker sitting around who just needs to find the right job to get them out of paycheck-to-paycheck land.