Image via Wikipedia Books & Memories is a secondhand book store in Syracuse, New York, with a terrible name and dead web site. 2600 James St Syracuse, NY 13206-2842 (315) 434-9268 But because visiting it made me enormously happy, I’ll describe it here, so that you may believe, despite the inability to click on it. [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Money Personality'
Happiness is a Warm Sparkler: Where Spending Overlaps Joy
July 3rd, 2009 2 Comments
Tags: happiness · money psychology · Venn diagram
Why It’s So Hard to Pack Light and Spend Well
May 27th, 2009 1 Comment
Items packed, but not used, on my trip to Syracuse, New York: Workout clothes (2 pr shorts, 2 shirts, 1 exercise bra, 4 pr socks) 2 work-related books 2 work-related files Why do we think we’ll work and exercise according to our everyday schedules while we’re on vacation? It may give you comfort (or an [...]
Tags: money · relative comparisons · time
I Love Me, Man: The True Target-Minnesota Connection
May 13th, 2009 2 Comments
Why do Minnesotans love Target so much? Recently, the Star Tribune reported that despite Target’s losses to Wal-Mart in the rest of the country, it was still holding its own here. To many Minnesotans, the equation is not “MN-heart-Target.” It’s “MN = Target,” says a University of Minnesota researcher. Carlos Torelli, assistant professor of marketing [...]
Tags: Minnesota identity · Target
Budget Buzz: Getting Over ‘I Don’t Know’
May 5th, 2009 4 Comments
Budgeting gets a bad rap as a giant drag. If you’re not someone who’s inherently organized, as I’m not, first thinking about the process feels like trying to corral the very air. “Money? I don’t know, I just, you know, wing it.” But winging it always left me uneasy. I’d think, “I must be overspending. [...]
Tags: Budgeting · money psychology
Tips for Deactivating Your Spending Triggers
November 18th, 2008 1 Comment
Knowing your weaknesses — what makes you pull out your wallet — is one key to spending less. By necessity, I’ve deactivated many of my “fun” spending triggers: The library has replaced book stores. A $10 monthly subscription to E-music has replaced CDs. Good old Walgreens has replaced the spendy gift store for greeting cards [...]
Tags: anxiety · stock-pile syndrome · time savings
Do You Want What it Takes to be a Millionaire Today: Sharp Elbows
November 12th, 2008 1 Comment
Famous !@&#-laden “Closers” speech from Glengarry Glen Ross. Definitely skip in mixed company. Apparently those of us in the middle class are better losers than middle-class millionaires. In what authors Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff called the “dark side” of their surveys for The Middle-Class Millionaire, they found those with the higher net worths [...]
Tags: John McCain · losing · Machiavellian · winning
You Are What You Eat, Not Where You Buy It
October 3rd, 2008 1 Comment
For one hot minute many years ago, I dated someone completely wrong for me. To this day, thinking of him makes me irrationally angry. Not because we had that wake-up, break-up moment over Steely Dan versus Nirvana. (Who the hell are you? I mean, I thought I really knew you after two weeks. Steely Dan?!) [...]
Tags: beans · groceries · identity · lifestyle · Nirvana · rice · Steely Dan
Why So Dumb: Second in a Series
September 5th, 2008 1 Comment
In addition to expenses going up and income going down, here’s another reason why sometimes we’re spending more than we earn. My husband and I took a money attitude quiz the other night that asked us to rate money’s importance to us on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being “the root of all [...]
Tags: money management · parasailing · scale of 1 to 10
Let’s Get Creative
August 18th, 2008 No Comments
My parents are moving to our city in order to see the grandkids and at least two of their daughters at least weekly instead of biannually. Unfortunately, they’re moving to a more expensive market. It’s been tough watching them scramble to find something nice on social security and my dad’s pension. If they don’t find [...]
Tags: magical thinking · scrambling
Anxiety Dream
August 16th, 2008 No Comments
I dreamed this morning that I was trying to balance my checkbook. In the Sisyphian melodrama that played out, someone (probably me) was telling me that not only had I never done this, but I never would. Thanks, brain!
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