Because I’m on many deadlines this week, but hate to leave the blog just hanging: Verizon Math Fail It’s a fast laugh, even if you’ve already heard this recording of a customer trying to teach customer service reps about decimal points. Favorite line: “.002 what?!”
Entries from February 25th, 2009
Thanks, Mystery Baby!
February 23rd, 2009 No Comments
This book arrived in the mail over the weekend, along with “Baby Fix My Car,” two in a series of anti-board books by Lisa Brown. I thank you, mystery gift giver. And my kids thank you. Because seriously, they will love these. I love these. They are personal finance as visual haiku.
Tags: Baby Do My Banking · fun
Nut Goodie Challenge: A Word Problem
February 19th, 2009 7 Comments
You want to send one Pearson’s Nut Goodie bar to a friend representing each of his 40 years, making up for missing a milestone event by way of volume and exclusivity — he can’t get Nut Goodies where he lives. How many will you have to send per month to get them there before next [...]
Tags: just for fun · word problem
Twin Cities Mortgage Hunters Take Care
February 17th, 2009 No Comments
A recent Twin Cities study found that the color of your skin still affects what mortgage rate you will pay or how likely you are to be denied a mortgage, regardless of your financial circumstances. In a Star Tribune story about it, the president of the Minnesota Mortgage Association said not enough data about credit [...]
Tags: Asians · blacks · Hispanics · mortgage discrimination
Experiencing a Few Technical Difficulties
February 14th, 2009 No Comments
Working on a few little changes here that seem to have messed with the post content. We’ll get it resolved soon!
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The Fix: Planning Ahead for Car Maintenance
February 12th, 2009 No Comments
Image via Wikipedia Timing Belt. Once in awhile I am smarter than I think, but only, of course, in hindsight. Last month, after finally paying off the Volkswagen, we took it into the dealer for the 60,000 mile service. And were surprised by a $2,190 bill to replace the timing belt, water pump, and leaking [...]
Tags: MoneyNing · timing belt
Refinance? What to Consider
February 10th, 2009 No Comments
We’ve entered the homework phase of looking into refinancing. Here are the steps to take: 1. Check our three credit reports so we know our scores. Possibly also talk to our financial planner about whether refinancing makes sense for us. (See Reasons Not to Refinance.) For us it would be the pros and cons (savings [...]
Tags: All Your Worth · refinancing steps
And the Rain Came Down: Putting off Small Repairs
February 6th, 2009 1 Comment
Image by Augapfel via Flickr Scenes from the House of a Little Bit Broke: We’ve got a big birthday party coming up this weekend for my son, who’s turning five. Naturally, then, this is the week that his little sister comes down with croup, and has been up all hours the past two nights in [...]
I Hate Tuesday, and So Does the Post Office
February 3rd, 2009 3 Comments
What good is Tuesday? It lacks the rev-up of a Monday and the cruising altitude of Wednesday. Tuesday’s paper is slim and tight-lipped, still recovering from the Monday blues. It rarely has a thing to say. And TV — well, before Tivo, anyway, the only thing to look forward to on a Tuesday night used [...]
Tags: Buffy the Vampire Slayer · mailman · post office · Tuesday
Cutting the Big Stuff: Considering Refinancing
February 2nd, 2009 No Comments
Just three years ago was a pretty good boom time for us. We had just our son in day care three days a week, I was going gangbusters with work and my husband had a nice bonus, too. We took out a home equity loan to get the house painted and have some landscaping done, [...]
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