Where I am on the Flea Ten

no cellphones - cellphones are the only way we can do our one-car household (commute coordination) and stay sane, but I have a cheap brick on a pre-paid plan that costs me about $25 every few months.

no cable - check

pack lunches for work every single day - very bad on this one, despite cafeteria hatred. Wake up too late to motivate. But I bought a lunch carrier thing (I'm trying to not do sandwiches) and will be boiling some eggs for it.

eat out once a week tops - I try that. Realistically, it's "eat out a bunch one week, don't eat out for a couple weeks" because so much of it is work-schedule based.

don't eat much meat - check.

don't drink alcohol - we drink moderately. If we're really budgeting, we split beers to make a six pack 12 servings.

buy it used or on clearance or do without or borrow it - this one depends.

for clothes, have a few quality things instead of many cheap trendy things - I have lots of random cheap thrift store clothes. Very little new stuff. My clothing budget is actually really small (and I think is spent mostly on bras), which shows, but hey, it's not like work has a dress code.

don't get caught up in competitive stuff (this goes for anything from kids' activities to clothes to going out for dinner with richer friends to family gifts) - really, we only see Jilli and Pete and one other couple socially, and it's never competitive.

find cheap splurges if you like presents to make yourself feel good (like a $5 bar of fancy soap, or new nail polish) - I need to do this one WAY less often.

I have a cellphone, but it's a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go, so I only pay $20/quarter for it.

Cable is my downfall; I don't pay for the movie channels, but I do have the basic digital cable package.

I'm trying to bring my lunch at least 2-3 times a week (I've been doing it 0 times so far, so this is a big step up).

Eating out/take out is another 5 times a week thing that I'm trying to reduce to 2-3 times instead.

Meat is about 3-4 times a week, but I'm trying to get that down to 1-2 times instead.

Alcohol is about 4-5 times a year, so that's not a problem.

E-bay is my friend, as are online coupons and store discount cards. I'm using my bookstore discount for as many presents as possible this year.

I go clothes shopping maybe four times a year for necessities only.

I've stopped worrying about keeping up with the Joneses years ago; if I can't afford it, I don't buy it.

Splurges have turned into what I can get at the bookstore or at the discount rack.

ChiKat can tell you that I fell apart on her, crying about my $2k in credit card debt. I know I can pay that off in a matter of six months or so if I really buckle down, which I'm planning on doing after the holidays. If I can get them paid off (one of the accounts has been closed for some time, but I've only been paying the minimum on the balance, and the other is only a small credit limit and will be easy to pay off), I'll be a lot less stressed.

It's funny that money is the topic of the day here, because I was just stuck with an unexpected expense this afternoon--a tire that had already been going flat when I drove out East for Thanksgiving, but hadn't shown any leakage while I drove around my mom's area that weekend, was flat again today when I came out of the DMV after getting my registration renewed, so I had to take it over to Just Tires and get it replaced. Between the new sticker and the tire, I dropped $200. Oy vey. So, the bookstore paychecks I had been intending to deposit for Xmas shopping ended up going into the account to cover the tire. I had to tell my mom that she'll be getting a postdated check for her Xmas gift instead of the Lowe's gift card she was going to get from me.

The more I listen to other people the more I realize that being a renter with no car and health insurance greatly reduces my likelihood of unexpected expenses.

Only 1000 dollars in savings -sorry that would cause a panic attack. But all insurance bills, property taxes , come out of savings when they are due. so maybe this isn't exactly what he means by savings but there is a base level which makes me very uncomfortable to drop below. We also have a house savings account where things like paint , screws, tools, etc. for home improvement come out of .

I've been fighting CC debt for ever. 5 cards , two are zeroed. My recent decision is that I need to pay the lowest one off first. because it would give me one less, and a little more flexibility. ( I've been trying to pay off all three- but it doesn't leave me much room to manipulate things if we need new tires for a car) I think I can do the small one in 10 months. and 10 - 12 on the one after that.

I under stand what you are thinking Susan - debt ending on a date - a good thing - go for it.

Only 1000 dollars in savings -sorry that would cause a panic attack. But all insurance bills, property taxes , come out of savings when they are due. so maybe this isn't exactly what he means by savings

His plan is pretty extreme. The $1,000 isn't savings, per se, like most people think of savings; it's an emergency fund, to be used only when an unexpected/un-budgeted for expense occurs, like car repairs, medical bills, new furnace, etc., so that you don't have to put those unexpected expenses on credit.

But as to the rest of your comment, yeah -- he *does* recommend no other savings than your emergency fund, b/c his plan has you throwing every single available cent at debt.

Also, I will never be packed. Ever.

Sure you will, Steph! Or, at least, you'll be moved.... (My worst move ever was just up a flight of stairs, because I figured I didn't really need to pack everything. I'm still apologizing to friends.)

Yes you will be - but the last packed bits will be strange.

and 1000 dollars - in the bay area you'd be on the street in a month or less if you lost a job. So getting out of debt more slowly - gives you more wiggle room if things go bad.

Man, when I got home from work I crashed. And felt better immediately. And then started to feel nauseous.

So, when I came out to watch FNL, I ate some crackers and now feel much better. I hope that I'm not coming down with flu. (My boss has it really badly but still came into work a couple of times this week.)

FNL: Smash at that college was hilarious. And uh-oh the feared Matt-Carlotta is a go. And I knew that Landry would confess. Knew it.

radical topic change

my sister sent me this link:

[link]

My sister says her dogs don't need this

worksafe rating: though I would share this with some of my co-workers, I would not share it on the public computers or send it through email.