Ah, the conflict between reason and desire. Mankind’s age old quest to do what he should while still having what he wants. To save or not to save, that is the question. How do I answer? Well, I gather up all of my lose change, hit Ebay, and buy the Sansa M230 that I wanted! I searched our home and gathered over 60 dollars in “silver” change (my daughter keeps all the pennies for learning to count) and then I went on Ebay, and purchased a brand new M230 MP3 Player for 54.95. Hey, I can take my extra 5 bucks and go buy a sandwich. Yeehaw!

Have your recovered from “Turkey-Fest 2005″? Wow, I ate a ton of turkey. I am pretty sure that I now have sharp talons and tail feathers.

Debt re-payment is on pause for a day or two, as we assess the damage from Friday Christmas Shopping. We did really well, purchasing just the items we wanted to get for the kids, and we did not spend too much money. We DID not use our credit cards, for the first time in our marriage. Wow, what a concept! We used OUR money to buy what we wanted. Seriously, every year at this time we would get all worked up, and rack up tons of credit card debt. This year? If we don’t have it to spend, we don’t spend it. Cool beans…

By the way, there were two “comments” left here at No Credit Needed that I just HAVE to say something about. I left one of them, but I had to delete the other, because it was just TOO stupid. 1st, someone asked about how I felt about debt CONsolidation companies. I hate them. They take away personal responsibility, they allow laziness, and they end up costing their clients money. Plus, in some circumstances, they can hurt your credit score. If you want to get out of debt, you can do everything that I consolidation company can do, and you can do it better, faster, and CHEAPER. 2nd, some dude left a link request to a home-equity-mortgage site. Ummm…NO! I HATE home equity loans. I think that it is FOOLISH borrow against your HOME. Putting your primary residence up as collateral to buy a car, refinish a floor, or to “pay-off” other debts is just dumb. WHY? It’s your HOUSE! It should be a refuge. The home-equity loan should be a loan of “last resort”, not the first option because of the supposed tax advantages. STOP looking for ways to move your debt around, and get to paying it off and saving money so that you can PAY for things!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope you are looking forward to a blessed, stress-free Merry Christmas. (Sorry, around here we don’t say “Happy Holidays” … )

Edit: I have been checking out the links that I have on the right side of the page, and some of the blogs I read have not up-dated their content in some time. I have decided, because of the long list of sites, to remove any blog that does not update at least once every two weeks. Also, if I have linked to your site, and you wish to be removed, please let me know. Lastly, if I have linked to you, and you’d like to be cool and link back, that would be really, really awesome.

I think it would be cool if the following were available for managing personal fiance…(and some of them may be, and I just don’t know it! If so, please let me know in the “comments” section.)

1. Instant, fluid transfers between all financial institutions. Not “bill pay” but an instant inflow and outflow among checking, savings, and credit accounts. Hit a button, and boom, your “money” is in another account. Hit another button, and it goes into another account.
2. Simple, direct, no fee stock purchases. I do not understand why I can’t purchase stock, any stock, without a fee, directly from an exchange. This should be do-able in our electronic age. Why can’t I simply “zap” money from my account to your account and buy your stock. Why the need for fees?
3. Easy to understand insurance options. I would like to purchase auto, home, and life insurance in one nice, neat package. In other words, I enter my age, my health, my number of autos, and various other information, and “boom”: out shoots my monthly premium for a “total life” policy. Why do I need three or four or more policies? Why not one policy for my entire life.
4. Simple, cashier-less checkout at the grocery store. Put a scanner-scale device in my cart, let me fill up with the items I want, scanning them as I go, and then let me swipe my debit card and hand over my coupons on my way out.
5 Per number 4: Why paper coupons? It is 2005, do we really still need paper coupons. And why coupons anyway. I love to use my coupons, but they are a hassle. There has to be an easier way to get my discount. Perhaps all coupons could reside on a “card” like my grocery discount card, and I could just swipe it. (Kroger already has this functionality, but the coupons they offer at their site are mainly junk.)
6. This one is EASILY doable. Grocery stores should stop selling items with price tags that say: 2/5.00 or 3/9.99. Please, please, please! Just put the PRICE PER ITEM, and then PUT THE PRICE PER OUNCE, FOOT, POUND, whatever. This would be so simple, and I wouldn’t have to bring my calculator with me every time I go grocery shopping.

Well, there are 6…if you have some, post below.

(You can probably tell from my last few posts that I have very little to report on the old debt-reduction front. I can’t get blood from a turnip…)

I am just kinda treading water these past few days. So, here is a quick update/summary of the past few weeks, and where I am at.

Credit: Total balance down to 2990, now spread across 2 credit cards, one with 990, the other with 2000. Both at zero percent. New goal of January 13, 2006… I set the goal back 1 more month, so that I will have a little extra cash for Christmas.

Savings: As you will remember, I wanted to get my savings back up, because I had totally used up my emergency fund in an effort to reach my first goal of 10-10. I now have 500 bucks in ING and 500 in our “secondary” checking account. So, the ole 1000 dollar emergency fund has been built back up.

Money Games: I love checking out the finance forum at fatwallet.com, but some of the finance “ideas” are quite silly. BUT, I have decided to get 50 bucks for signing up for a free Bank of America checking account. I should hear in a couple of days about the status of opening my account.

Weight Loss: UMMM..Well, no “gain” and no “loss”.

Cool Idea: Check out www.howtobepoor.com for a unique “twist” on the whole pixel sale idea. (Thanks Max for placing my butt-ugly pixel design on your blog page!)

Ad Removal: Okay, I hated the big blocky Amazon ads, too. So, they are gone, for now at least.

Cooking: I have a “new” hobby. I have started cooking for our family, trying to prepare 2 or 3 days worth of food at one time. I baked some “oven-fried” chicken breasts and made a pot of yellow rice. These should last for 2 or 3 days, and are great as left-overs. Also, I made some homemade applesauce for the baby boy, and HE LOVED IT. Awesome.

Okay, here are the oxymoronic money habits that I know that I have… I do these things over and over and I KNOW that I do them, but I keep doing them, even though they make very little since…

I will drive around looking for a gas discount, for a saving of 2 or 3 cents a gallon, for a total savings of about 1.00 per tank of gas! But, I will go into the store, pay 1.29 for a diet mountain dew, and 50 cent for a paper to read. In other words, I will SEARCH for cheaper gas, and then pay WAY over what is necessary for a soda and a paper.

I will go to MULTIPLE grocery stores in order to save 5 to 10 dollars on groceries, and THEN go to a fast food restaurant and buy a 5 to 10 dollar meal. I think, if I would just go to one store, I would do MUCH better, save gas, and be home in time to fix a cheaper lunch or dinner for myself at home.

I will not pay more than 1.00 for a 2 liter diet mountain dew, but will pay (as mentioned earlier) 1.29 for a 16 ounce diet mountain dew at the convenience store. This makes no since, but I do it over and over and over and over.

I buy cheap, inexpensive tools. Then, when they break, I have to replace them. I THINK I am getting a deal, but in reality I end up paying much more than I would have had I gone with quality initially.

I am obsessive about turning of the lights in rooms where no people are (a good habit) BUT, I leave the computer and the TV on almost 24 hours a day! This is crazy.

I change my own oil, but I will pay 10 dollars for a drive-through car wash! Insane.

I NEVER buy clothing at retail, I NEVER buy anything for myself unless it is on sale… Great right? Then, I turn around and eat so much food that I have to buy bigger clothes, thus wasting the clothing that I just purchased.

I Pay 30 bucks a month for a gym membership, and I go 4 times a week. This is a good deal. But, I usually blow all of the work-out goodness by eating junk food the other 3 days of the week. Self-sabotage!!!

Do you have similar oxymoronic financial habits? I’ll bet you do. (Well, not actually BET you, because I don’t gamble…BUT, I do from time to time purchase stocks based on nothing more than the recommendation of some dude on CNBC…Crazy)

After some reflection, perhaps I do the “smart” things that I do with money, just so that I will be able to turn around and do “dumb” things with money. Maybe that’s how everyone has to be, to some extent. If you ALWAYS do the “smart” thing, you might go completely insane, and, if you ALWAYS do the “dumb” thing, you just go broke. Perhaps the key is to maximize the “smart”, and enjoy an occasional “dumb”.