That is a quote from the legend himself - Thomas Jefferson, aka The Man. (Even though he did pass away w/ a crap ton of debt!) I like this quote because it really is true - the more work you put in the closer you get to your dreams, and the more "luck" finds you. Every successful person I know puts in their time, the trick of it all is to find something you *enjoy* doing so that it's no longer "work," but fun! Or inspiring, or exciting, or it just plain allows you to make a difference in this world of ours.

The same holds true with personal finance. Sure you could win the lottery tomorrow and have all the money you could ever ask for, but will you know what to do with it? Would you become one of those sad statistics where you lose all your winnings only to end up poorer than when you started? I hope not, but it's something to think about.

The thing I like about hard work is that it forces you to LEARN how the world works. You make exceptional mistakes, but then you turn around and blow the socks off something! It's navigating through all these bumps and craters in life that really gets you closer to your goals, whatever they may be.

So keep on saving. Keep on investing and experimenting with different ways to get rid of your debt. It's not always easy, but the payoffs (no pun intended) are guaranteed to be enormous. You might not have the same impact on America as Mr. Jefferson did, but you sure can lead a more debt-free life! And that's something to be proud of.

Labels: life, money quotes, personal finance

Whatcha know about that? Fellow blogger Anne wrote a little on it the other day, and it really hit me - Live like you're broke! Yes, nice & simple, I dig it. I'll probably forget this by next month (you know, A.D.D. and all), but for now let's roll with it ;)

If you were really broke, here's what what would happen:

• First, you would still live! It would be harder, but it's not like you'd die.
• You'd cut out spending. Because you "can't" spend - you're broke.
• You'd save as much money as possible. You might have to turn around and pay the bills with it all, but you'd still be saving better.
• You'd get creative! Probably the best reason to get in this mindset.

I think we all "live like we're broke" to some degree, it just comes down to the amount you're willing to give up (unless, of course you *are* broke, in which case you've probably perfected it!). I'm sure I could cut out 1/2 of the things I do now to save some cash, but it's just not worth it. On the other hand, there are plenty of things I COULD cut (and would cut) if I were indeed broke. Regardless, it's always good to stop and consider the way you do things. Do that enough, and you're bound to stay focused!

Labels: money management, money quotes

Don't ask me how I came across some of these, but I did. And lucky for you I will now share them ;) I'm sure you have better stuff to do w/ your time right now, but seriously - can you really help yourself? It's Friday! So sit back, grab some coffee, and enjoy a little off-colored financial humor.

5 Pick Up Lines Associated With Money:

1. "Can I buy you a drink or do you just want the money?" Classic, and to the point. I'm not sure how well this actually goes over in real life, but I'd be interested in finding out.
2. "I hope I haven't given you the wrong impression. I'm actually taller and richer than I look." Now this one I can see garnering a few laughs :) Not at the beginning of chatting up a girl or anything, but like slipped in there casually. At the very least you wouldn't get the *eye-roll*!
3. "I have a small penis, but a big bank account." I've never heard of this one before, and I kinda wish I never did to be honest...whenever a guy mentions anything to do with a penis in order to win a girl over has already crashed & burned.
4. "Did I tell you I'm filthy rich and my mother's dead?" Horrible! (and skeevy).
5. Now, I actually couldn't find a good #5, but when I googled (not binged!) I found some awesome ones by Dave Ramsey. So instead you shall get a few zingers that I find pretty clever:
   "You're so hot you could melt my debt snowball."
   "Call me your mutual fund, honey...'cause with you, I'm showing interest."
   "When I saw you, my jaw dropped like the value of a new car."

Hah! It's hard not to laugh at these no matter how lame they are, but it sure proves money & pick up lines mix well together! Although I'd be more impressed if anyone actually pulled any of these off ;)

Labels: money quotes, randomness 3000

Spoken by the brilliant Henry David Thoreau. That quote sums up exactly what's on my brain today - charity. The last time I wrote about this I decided to donate $25 to a new organization every month. Sadly, I continue to forget this every month until one pops along my radar or I specifically get asked to contribute to someone's latest cause.

Today I vow to make 2 changes. The first - to actively stay on top of this once and for all. Not only will I be upping this amount to $50, but I shall set up a google calendar item and have it alert me once a month to make sure my goldfish memory gets pinged on a regular basis. This should work swimmingly as I'm always connected to the internets!

The second is to create a list of great organizations and charities to pull from. If that list is always full and constantly being updated, I'll be more inspired to donate as I see an immediate impact when each charity is crossed off. Plus, I'll then have an easily accessible place to mark (and support) those favorites of mine whenever I come across any dry spells in the collection process.

This is where YOU guys come in :) I would like to create a solid list of those organizations nearest and dearest to your hearts - big or small. I know when I get passionate about something I want to tell the world about it, and I'm hoping we can do something about that here.

If there are any organizations you feel deeply passionate about, or want to spread the word on, please tell me about them. You can send details, brief bios, contact info, or simply a link where we can find it. If it's important to you, I want to hear about it :) At some point I'll be publishing this list in hopes to spread the word even more, so be sure to holler (you can email me, twitter-tweet me, or drop a comment on me, whatever's easiest.)

This is my attempt at spreading a little love, and making a difference in this crazy world of ours.

Labels: charity, goals, in the real world, investing, money quotes

Haha...courtesy of the infamous Woody Allen. Just had to throw this out since it made me smile :) Hope everyone's doing well out there! I know I am....Blogger is finally workin' again.

Labels: money quotes

Haha, whatcha know about that? I don't agree all the way, but it's a helluva good quote :) Also found a few more around the web that I enjoyed:

"Money shortages will only get worse if you spend to feel better." - Hmmm...again, don't agree all the way (i'm a huge fan of blowing a little here and there & treating yourself), but overall I dig it. Esp. if you're one to splurge all day and all night.

"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." - I'm a sucker for the whole word switcharoo here, but it's def. true! Guess it's all a matter of appreciating your health and family over killing yourself to bring in more & more money all the time.

Labels: money quotes, randomness 3000

My brother wrote up a pretty clever "life plan" for himself the other day (which is quite interesting in itself), and under his finances category, he jotted the following:

"Stop worrying about money - you'll get it when you least expect it, and you'll lose it when you least expect it."

My brother, getting philosophical about money?! I couldn't believe it! This is the same brother that needed to borrow money to help finance his condo, and whom needed help erasing his debt - i love it! The teacher is now learning from the student ;)

I really think there's something to that quote . DOING something about it instead of WORRYING is the ultimate way to go in my opinion, but on a general level (say, after you've already put a game plan in action), I believe he's got it right. Get ready for word vomit:

Last Friday I opened up my mailbox, and there was a lovely card from mom in there. Now, usually she sends me stuff for holidays, birthdays, etc in the mail, but i couldn't quite figure out what was coming up. I tear open the envelope, and out drops a check! WTF? She already gave me her wedding gift (for $1,000!) so I was confused. As always, i wanted to read the card first before seeing how much was written on that bad boy. This is hard to do, mind you, but it's always important to read it first ;)

It turns out it was a thank you note! A what? What have i done lately that didn't require anything selfish? haha....Wellllll, it turns out to be a thank you for helping her win a potential lawsuit! You see, my late grandpa had some pretty shotty care over at a nursing home last year, and the facility didn't seem to care. There was a lot of back and forth talk between my mom and the managers there, but ultimately they told her to just F off (they didn't put it that way, but they might as well have!)

All my mom wanted was a sincere thank you, and half off one month's rent there - about $1,200 I believe. I told her to basically say she'll sue (in hopes they meet her request), but they just shrugged it off. My mom was pissed off, but wasn't about to push harder as it was becoming too stressful. Well, I personally wasn't too happy with that.

It just so happened that Mrs. Budgetsaresexy worked directly FOR a lawyer, particularly one who manages unlawful injury cases, so we had her run it by her boss to see what he thought. And what do ya know, he thought we *might* have something here! He promised to draft a letter (which Mrs. Budgetsaresexy actually did for him), and said that the nursing home's legal representation could either throw it in the trash, OR they could rebuttle and try and settle this thing w/out going to court - something the letter mentioned, but something we def. weren't gonna do.

Well, with everything in life, you never know unless you try right? And that we did. And a few months later, after a few back and forths and a LOT of heavy researching by the Mrs., the "case" settled! Would you like to know how much my Mom/Grandma got out of the whole thing? $75,000! Can you believe that? All my mother had wanted was that sincere apology with a measely $1k credit, and they snubbed her. But look who got it now b*tches! haha...

So yeah, it was a thank you for the Mrs. and i doing all of that for her ;) I kinda went overboard w/ this post a bit here (at least i warned you), but it does have some points!

1. Ask for what you deserve. You may not always get it, but it sure doesn't hurt trying. And you might even get surprised every now and then!
2. Encourage your family members and friends. Even though your parents are your parents, they don't know everything out there, and sometimes we can help teach THEM ;)
3. "Stop worrying about money— you'll get it when you least expect it, and you'll lose it when you least expect it." That check my mom sent us? It was for $500 smackers!!! Woo-hoo FREEEEEEEEEEE Money! he he...we, of course, tried to refuse it, but you know how moms are...so here we are, $500.00 richer and another mark down for growing a pair and speaking up.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be posting this before i get off on another tangent....which is very bad considering i'm at work right now and couldn't tell you a thing that's been going on around me in the past 30 minutes. Yikes!

Labels: advice, life, money quotes

Words of wisdom from the queen of finance herself - Suze Orman (who seems to be popping up everywhere these days!)

I don't know much about her, but it sure seems like she wants me to :) She's on every other magazine, or financial show i check out - my favorite being the SNL skits they always do on her! haha.... she's got one helluva marketing strategy!

But this quote of hers, "You have to look at what you have, not at what you had." is really something to think about. It's SO enlightening, yet so simple. I love it! With all my bitching about sucky cab rides, friends trying to "split" the tab, and those whacked-out investors feeding off of emotions, it's a nice slap in the face to get back to reality. (you can check out her wiki here)

The truth of the matter is that I have a LOT more than I sometimes think, and I'm willing to guess the same goes for you too. Having stable jobs, good families, and nice financial safety nets (even if in theory), beats out those trivial complaints by far. The only problem, of course, is REMEMBERING that you are fortunate enough to have these things - something I should probably focus a bit more on.

That being said though, a little financial bitching every now and then never hurt anyone ;) In fact, it makes life (and blogging) even MORE interesting, not to mention accurate. Not everything that happens to us can be positive, I don't care if you're George Bush or Barack Obama......haha sorry, i'm really not sure where i'm going with this...the words just typed themselves out :)

I think there's a healthy mix of appreciating what we all have, and learning from the reasons why we don't have what we did yesterday ... sprinkled with rants and raves throughout! As for this Suze chick, I'm gonna have to do a little more research and find out how she got this cult following. I heard "The Money Book for the Young Fabulous & Broke" was pretty good, anyone read it?

ps: Thanks for emailing me the quote RSB , it sure got my brain thinking!

Labels: advice, education, inspiration, life, money quotes, suze orman

Before I share my own, totally boring, advice from over the years, I wanted to share my fav. quote from an article in this month's Money Magazine (Aug). It comes from their "Smartest Advice I've Ever Got" article which covered 30+ smarty pants, and the one thing that stuck by them over the years.

My awesomest was from Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, on her father being the "most frugal human being" she's ever met:

"Borrowing money is like wetting your bed in the middle of the night. At first all you feel is warmth and release. But very, very quickly comes the awful, cold discomfort of reality."

How awesome is that? I seriously WISHED someone had told me that back in the day...i'm not sure if it would have changed anything, but it sure would have stuck :) I think i need to start hanging around some more clever people...

The smartest advice I ever got isn't nearly exciting, but it IS helpful! While my mom and grandma have always been the most frugal of the group - creating my addiction to yard sales, thrift stores, and Ta Ta Ta TJ Maxx - it's my dad who's usually the go-to guy when it comes to the overall picture.

The one thing he's always harped on, along w/ many others, is to "never put anything on a credit card that you can't pay off". Plain and simple, but oh so true! It may not be as sexy as Elizabeth's quote, but it sure is smart. And while I may not pay the purchases off asap, I ALWAYS have some sort of plan and timeline in mind before swiping.

What about you guys? Do you recall any helpful advice over the years?

----------
Here's another post I wrote on the role money has played growing up.

Labels: advice, education, loaning money, money quotes