'Single Ladies' is Tom Hanks' song of 2009 (AP)

AP - Tom Hanks is down with the single ladies.

Read more of ‘Single Ladies’ is Tom Hanks’ song of 2009 (AP)…

I wish I had a magic carpet.

Image via http://flickr.com/photos/37996646802@N01/

I would be able to go fly all over the world on my magic carpet. I would probably be able to see things that nobody has ever seen before. It would probably do all that it could to keep me from getting hurt.

I wouldn't fall off and die or anything because it would just go down and save me. I wonder if it would be really heavy. Carpet tends to be really heavy sometimes.

I wouldn't like to have to move it around ever. That would be really annoying. I just want it to be magic so it is alive and doesn't need me to keep an eye on it all of the time.

The Origins of the US Dollar

Philosopher Ayn Rand once pointed out that it was Americans who coined the phrase “to make money.” Rather than seeing wealth as something looted or distributed, Rand conceived of it as being earned and produced. In America, the embodiment of financial wealth is the US dollar, also known as ‘the buck’ and ‘the greenback’. It seems fitting, then, to reflect on the origins of the dollar – both where it came from and how it evolved into the fiat currency that it is today.

Early Origins

(Squeaky Marmot)

Contrary to general assumptions, the dollar existed before the United States was an independent and unified nation. Prior to the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress had authorized the government to issue dollars and coins for use as widely accepted tender amongst the thirteen British colonies. The term “dollar” itself actually owes to Spanish currency of the time, specifically the eight-real coin (also known as the Spanish dollar), and U.S. dollars were used side by side with their Spanish counterparts – which were accepted as legal tender until 1857 – during colonial times. In fact, the dollar wasn’t the only monetary system vying for widespread use in colonial America. In the Dutch New Netherland (New York) colony, for example, the lion dollar was the currency of choice. However, the U.S. dollar began separating itself from the pack following a Congressional resolution on August 8, 1786.

It was Alexander Hamilton’s leadership at the treasury department, however, which truly cemented the dollar’s status as the basic unit of account in the U.S. with the passage of the Coinage Act of 1792. The act mandated that a “dollar” be between 371 and 416 grains of silver and an “eagle” be between 247 and 270 grains of gold. (An eagle was said to be with 10 dollars, and a dollar worth one-tenth of an eagle.) Here, again, we see the influence of Spanish dollars on the fledgling American currency, as Hamilton based these silver and gold weights on the average weight of worn Spanish dollars. This act also commissioned the opening of a mint in Philadelphia, then the capital of the nascent country. Incidentally, the mint was the first federal building opened with authority from the United States Constitution.

Interestingly, the practice of putting presidents on the front of U.S. dollars is a rather modern tradition, beginning only in the early 1900’s. George Washington, the president most readily identified with the dollar, scoffed at the idea of using his face on money. To Washington, the very notion smacked of European monarchical tradition. As for the ubiquitous dollar sign ($), various theories have been proposed to explain its emergence. Rand, for instance, claimed that the dollar sign represented “U” and “S” superimposed, although this theory is questionable because the dollar sign predates the formation of the U.S. as an independent nation. Other theories reference the coat of arms found on Spanish colonial currency or suggest that it is nothing but an evolved scribal abbreviation for Spanish and Mexican pesos. The latter is perhaps the most widely believed, but historians remain divided on the exact ori! gin.

The Gold Standard

(Mykl Roventine)

Realizing that pieces of paper had no intrinsic value (and the inflationary dangers this posed) the U.S. government eventually put the dollar on what is known as a gold standard. Essentially, this meant that every dollar in circulation was “backed” by a certain amount of gold that citizens could demand in exchange for their dollars. The gold standard became law in 1900 with the passage of the Gold Standard Act, which aimed to, “…define and fix the standard of value, to maintain the parity of all forms of money issued or coined by the United States, to refund the public debt, and for other purposes”, according to HistoryCentral.com. Specifically, the Act mandated that each dollar in circulation be valued at $20.67 per ounce of gold. Under such a system, the treasury could not simply print money on whim, but only when and if ther! e were sufficient gold reserves. While the gold standard did indeed restrain inflation and promote sound monetary policy, it proved incapable of adapting to changing circumstances like wars and recessions. The standard was suspended twice during World War 1, for example, because European entities began owing by U.S. corporations in the form of gold. Thus began a massive gold outflow that continued unabated until the New York Stock Exchanged closed in 1914 and the gold standard was put on hold. To its credit, the U.S. restored the gold standard when the NYSE re-opened in December of that year, making the U.S. the only nation in the world to maintain its gold standard by that time.

It was not to last, however. When the Great Depression set in, currency speculators began demanding gold in exchange for their dollars en masse. While the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in an attempt to protect the gold standard, bank runs persisted throughout the early 1930’s. Finally, in 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt suspended the standard and revoked gold as universal legal tender for debts. Interestingly, even this suspension was considered to be temporary at the time – it was only the growing chaos of the depression which kept the restoration of the gold standard permanently on the back burner in terms of political importance. Nevertheless, the U.S. dollar’s relationship to gold grew more and more tenuous over the years.

The Fiat Standard

(Noellium)

The dollars we all use today operate independently of gold prices or any precious metals of intrinsic value. This is known as “fiat currency” – that is, the dollar’s value is only that which we collectively ascribe to it. Insofar as we value, accept and seek dollars as compensation, they have and will continue to have value. Transformation of the U.S. dollar into a fiat currency began in earnest in 1963, when the words “payable to bearer on demand” were left out of all newly printed Federal Reserve notes. Holders of pre-1963 currency could still redeem it for gold until 1968, when redemption was discontinued. Additionally, 1965’s Coinage Act stopped the practice of using silver in quarters and dimes, which were composed 90% of silver prior. In sum, this means that all of the roughly $829 billion worth of U.S. currency estimated to be in worldwide circulation in 2007 is redeemable for and intrinsically ! worth precisely nothing. The “real” value of U.S. currency begins and ends with the value of the paper it is printed on.

Despite being a fiat currency, the U.S. dollar serves as a sort of barometer for the health of the world’s financial system. Today, entire countries (such as Panama, the British Virgin Islands and El Salvador) peg their currency to the dollar just as the U.S. once pegged the dollar to gold; others go so far as using dollars in lieu of – or alongside – their own currencies. Evidently, the fact that the the dollar is backed by nothing but “the full faith and credit of the United States government” is convincing enough for our citizens and the rest of the world. Whether faith in the dollar will withstand unprecedented debt spending and a shaky world economy, however, is a question yet to be answered.

Read more about The Origins of the US Dollar…

Isn’t it funny how dads are so protective of their daughters?

Everything is different with their daughters than it is with their sons. I have a friend. He has one daughter and two sons. Whenever she brings home a date, he will get so mad. He pulls out his gun and makes himself look really scary and like he might be a problem.

Whenever one of his sons goes out on a date he makes sure he congratulates them and gets really excited for them. He encourages them yet he keeps his daughter in the house as often as possible. I think it is pretty funny to see. I guess that is how all fathers tend to be.

I've always wondered what it would be like to have a twin.

They wouldn’t be just like you, and they may even be extremely different, but that’s not what I would be concerned about. There would be someone out there who looks exactly like me, or enough like me that they could probably pretend to be me and confuse a lot of people.

We could have some fun with that sometimes, but there’s only so many times you can switch places and pretend to be each other before it gets old. I don’t think I would like having a twin, but if I did I’m sure I wouldn’t mind it at all.

But that will probably be because that’s all I’ve known; I would not know what it would be like to not have a twin.

Did President Clinton meet N. Korea's Kim Jong-il or his look-alike?

Seoul, South Korea – Will the real Kim Jong-il please stand up? A number of analysts here are convinced that not all the photos being released of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il, are really photos of Kim Jong-il.

Read more of Did President Clinton meet N. Korea’s Kim Jong-il or his look-alike?…

Saving Up For Your Future?

It’s never too early to start your retirement plans. After I graduated college my parents kept nudging me to start my retirement savings and I finally took their advice. Now I’m finding out that an IRA and Social Security alone might not be enough.

Top Searched Retirement Planning Techniques on AOL Search:1. Stocks
2. 401(k)
3. Mutual Funds
4. Savings
5. IRA
6. Bonds
7. Certificate of Deposit
8. Money Market
9. 403(b)
10. Preferred Stocks

For those of us who aspire to retire wealthy, and even better, wealthy and early, there are many financial planning options that’ll help us meet our goals. The three options AOL users are searching for most are, as you can see from the list below, stocks, 401(k) and mutual funds.

A recent article in Money Magazine shows a comparison of retirement planning at diffe! rent ages. They calculate how much money you’ll have at age 65 if you contribute 10 percent to your 401(k) beginning at 30, 35 or 45, with a starting salary of $40,000 and a 4 percent annual raise. They estimate that the 30-year-old will have $1 million while the 45-year-old will have $461,000 (a great reason to start your retirement savings as soon as you can).

Do you have any advice on saving for an early retirement? For more information on retirement planning, go to AOL Money and Finance. Also search for retirement savings on AOL Search.

More Offers: retirement savings, retirement planning, retirement investing

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read more of Saving Up For Your Future?…

Announcing Astute Actions Inc

Yours truly recently incorporated.

I’ve often mentioned how much I believe in taking action, but now that’s proof – I named my company Astute Actions Inc. (Now on to something I really want to tell you.)

• Thank you for your early support that led me to jumping into this full time.
• Thank you for pointing out my mistakes and teaching me how to be better.
• Thank you for sticking around to continue our journey to financial freedom.
• Thank you for helping me realize how important taking action is. Now it’s my turn to remind everyone else…

Stop sitting around the TV and TAKE ACTION.

Your finances, career and relationships are all waiting for you to take the next step. We hate to fail but don’t stop trying because you will eventually get it right as long as you never give up. Don’t worry about failure. We are all trying and falling down too.

So. How are you going to spend the rest of the week? If you ask me, I will be picking myself back up to try again.

—
Related Articles at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning:

• Your Chance to Win a Copy Of Microsoft Money Deluxe 2007 Ends Today
• Igniting Your Desire to Splurge Until It Disintegrates
• Boost Your Self-Esteem by Taking Control of Your Finances
• Side Hustle, Self Employed, Entrepreneurship
• Announcing The Little Budget Travel Book

Read more of Announcing Astute Actions Inc…

Sell Your Halloween Candy Back To Dentists

Have you heard of this? A network of dentists will buy back your Halloween candy for $1 to $2 per pound at HalloweenCandyBuyBack.com. After a few zip code searches, there actually does seem to be a few dentists in many metro areas. They are then encouraged to donate the candy to be sent to troops overseas.

Seems like an idea with good intentions, but somehow seems funny to me. Candy is bought by my neighbors, which is given out free to kids in costume, which gets sold to dentists for cash, and then is finally donated?

As a kid, the best part was trading candy between friends afterward. (I’ll add that I was always made to brush regularly and have never had a cavity in my life.) What was your favorite Halloween candy? I still love Dum-Dum lollipops.

Read more about Sell Your Halloween Candy Back To Dentists…

It would be so sad to be mute.

In my family it would be a problem. Everyone in my family is so talkative. My mom and dad probably trained us to be like that. They could talk forever to people. I know that my siblings and I all talk all the time. It is pretty funny.

My younger siblings could never get a word in edge wise. They ended up being shy because of that very reason. I can probably blame my parents like every good child does with their problems. It is only a problem for them. It can be a problem for the rest of us as well on occasion. Luckily it's not too often.

I get so sick of the computer sometimes.

I will spend so many hours on the computer doing things that I don't want to do. I don't understand how some people can spend so many hours playing computer games. World of Warcraft is one of them that I don't understand at all.

I don't understand how someone can have that much fun being someone they really aren't. I don't know why an alternate reality would be better than reality. I think that people who use their pathetic lives as an excuse to do it are being really selfish. They need to get off the computer and make a life for themselves.

New autopsy results came out today in the Michael Jackson death case

It turns out Michael Jackson was incredibly healthy. We think of him as being so frail and weak but he was actually 136 pounds. At 5 foot 8 inches, they say that is a normal weight. They say his heart and kidneys were healthy and strong.

The only problem seems to be that he was administered drugs that should have only been administered in a hospital and he was full of other drugs and tranquilizers. It is always such a shame when someone who should be a hero dies of a drug overdose. I have the same problem with Elvis. Such great music, such a shame.

That Elizabeth Smart is such a brave girl

Seven years ago, when Elizabeth was a young teen, maybe 14, she was kidnapped for I think 8 or 9 months. My sister's children, for some reason, seemed to have some sort of a mental tie to her. Maybe it was because they lived in the same state where Elizabeth Smart had lived.

Where they once were happy go lucky children, my nieces and nephews started to be scared. They started locking the doors of their home which they had never done before, never needed to do because they were living in a safe, rural neighborhood. They started watching out for each other, walking each other home from school. When one of the children was late coming home, even from next door, the brothers and sisters would go looking for them.

It was very touching to watch these children care for each other. As siblings, that is not always the way it is. This family hoped every day for the safe return of Elizabeth Smart. Well, finally, maybe nine months later, someone found her. She has been very quiet all these years about what really happened to her but she testified in court this week that the crazy man who kidnapped her, who thought he was inspired by God to kidnapped her, married her in his own quickie, weird ceremony and had actually raped that poor little girl sometimes three and four times every day.

Elizabeth Smart is amazing. Instead of just climbing in a hole, with a therapist, she chose to go out on the road and talk. She is 21 years old now. She is an advocate for kidnap victims. She talks. She helps. She has now graduated from college and is going on a two year mission for her church. She has said you can either feel sorry for yourself or get over it, basically. What an example. What a tremendous young woman.

Obama Family Portrait

Every year my parents made us take a family portrait. My parents started when they were married and before children even came, they had a yearly portrait taken on their anniversary. Then as the children came, every summer, we had a family portrait.

My mom put all 20 years of them in one book and it is very fun to look at all the years and watch our family grow from first just mom and dad and then babies as they came to the family until finally the family was grown. As I teen I hated the yearly portraits. My mom would make us wear color coordinated or matching outfits and some years it was just plain embarrassing.

One year she bought us all orange t-shirts and we looked like a bunch of orange pumpkins. Usually she made us wear dress clothes. Some years the outfits weren't so bad. But I still hated the pictures anyway. The worst one was one year when I was a teen she made us all wear pajamas. Matching red pajamas. And then she made us go to the mall in the pajamas to the photography studio.

In the mall in our pajamas! I saw some of the kids from my high school. I thought I would die. And you know, now, as an adult, that is my favorite family picture. My family is no longer all here, but those portraits are. I want to do that same thing with my family. It's a great family tradition. It looks like my family isn't the only family to have this tradition.

I recently saw the Obama family portrait. It was just beautiful. Of course, they can afford the best photographer out there. But it really doesn't matter. You can take your family portrait with a camera at home. We did that. We had one we took in the front yard in the snow in our sweatshirts. Another one of my favorites. Don't miss the opportunity to take your family portrait this year.

U.S. Bank Failures Top 100 For Year

The closings this year compare with 25 last year and three in 2007. It’s the highest number since the savings and loan industry crisis in 1992. With unemployment rising, consumer spending slack and businesses shuttered, experts say, up to 400 more banks could fail in the next couple of years.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Read more about U.S. Bank Failures Top 100 For Year…

I sometimes fantasize about living in a simple white apartment in New York City

White walls, white couches, white tile floors, a little color in some artwork very carefully placed. No dog hair. No messes. No fingerprints. Just a shiny and clean room. I love that room idea. I really do.

Or part of me does, anyway. No car to drive. Take a taxi everywhere I have to go. It’s a fantasy I've had, a long-standing one, and as much as I’ve moved, I assure you, if it weren’t just a resting place for my mind, I’d have lived that way already!

Stuck under a desk

My nephew was playing the other day around the desk area and somehow got his head stuck underneath the desk. It was really funny to watch him trying to get his head out of it. I laughed a lot at it. I couldn't figure out how he managed to get his head stuck down there.

I thought it was hilarious. I tried not to laugh as I helped him get his head out of where he got it stuck. After we got it out I laughed a lot. He was a little bit mad at me for laughing at him but eventually got over it when he realized that it was really funny. I guess he decided that it really was funny. He was ok with it I guess.

Ex-Auto Task Force Chief Sees Hope For GM, Chrysler

Steven Rattner, who headed the Obama administration’s efforts to stave off the collapse of U.S. automakers, says GM and Chrysler are “viable” and — given time — capable of providing “good returns for their shareholders.”

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Read more about Ex-Auto Task Force Chief Sees Hope For GM, Chrysler…

Can Unsecured Loans Really Provide Instant Cash?

Borrowing Money, Made Easy

She's looking for instant cash without the hassle. She's looking for unsecured loans. (Photo: picasaweb.google.com)

Most people want to find a way to borrow money easily; unsecured loans could be the ideal solution to this problem. Almost everybody needs to borrow money at some time in their life. Borrowing money is seen as a very normal thing to do. This is because we sometimes need to spend more money than we can afford at a certain moment in time. Everybody has credit cards, mortgages and personal loans. These are used to supplement your income and make it possible to buy large purchases up front. If it wasn't for our ability to borrow money, then few people would be able to buy a house, car or cope with any unexpected expenses. … click here to read the rest of the article titled “Can Unsecured Loans Really Provide Instant Cash?“

UCSB

USCS is the University of California at Santa Barbara. My sister-in-law went to UCSB. It was wonderful to visit her. The campus was right on the beach, northwest of Los Angeles about 100 miles.

I know UC Santa Barbara is a good school, rated high for colleges, has something like 5 Nobel Prize winners, requires a 3.71 GPA just to apply, etc. etc. But that's not why I liked to visit my sister-in-law. It was for the beach, the bike riding along the beach, the swimming in the ocean, the friendly students, the warm weather, Mission Santa Barbara, the museums, the zoo, the arts, sailboat cruises, the golf courses, the Botanic gardens, tide pools, open air markets, the parties, well, you understand.

There's even a butterfly reserve. It is free to go in and the butterflies land right on your hand. They are gentle and graceful. And don't forget to visit Solvang, a Danish town with the best pastries and shops around. If you are thinking of attending UCSB, I would say, Yes.

Angels baseball

What an awesome game. 11th inning tied 4 to 4. Then the Angels hit one, it looked like it was going to over the back fence but it fell just inside. But it was too late for the NY Yankees. The Angels had one on base and he was already home. I was watching A-Rod, Alex Rodriquez. A-Rod used to play shortstop for "my" team which is the Seattle Mariners.

A-Rod is an interesting person. He's the youngest player to hit 500 home runs, making him one of the best baseball players ever. Yet, he admitted using steroids, which is not good. He has actually been called The Cooler because when he plays for a team, they become "cold" rather than "hot." Controversy has also followed his personal life. He cheated on his wife, and she filed for divorce from him, amid rumors that he was then seeing Madonna.

I actually was watching to see if Kate Hudson was there. A-Rod is dating Kate Hudson, the daughter of Goldie Hawn. A-Rod dating Kate Hudson is almost as big news as the Angels baseball in the playoffs against NY. What are you watching?

Austere

I have a really close friend who is really harsh and severe in their approaches with people. This is really a bad thing considering she works with people a lot. I told her that is extremely austere in hopes that she might go look up the word later when I'm not around and be less offended. I was hoping that she then could change a little bit. Unfortunately, that plan did not work.

When I told her that she was austere, I neglected to remember that she got her undergraduate in English. Of course she already knew what the word meant. I felt a little bit bad. I didn't know what to do. Of course, telling someone who is austere that they need to change is probably a bad idea as you can imagine. It was pretty humorous.

At least I got a good laugh out of it later on. The moral of this story is to never tell someone who is austere what they really are. It might prove to be funny but still isn't worth it.

Richard Yarosh Painter Could Win $25,000

Richard Yarosh sets a good example

Smithsonian American Art Museum. Image from Flickr.

Some teenagers want to skip school when they get an acne breakout. Some women refuse to leave the house without makeup. However, Richard Yarosh — who is missing the tip of his nose and his ears and has a face completely covered in scar tissue — says “I’m proud of the way I look. I’m proud of the reason for the way I look.”

He isn’t the only one. Painter Matthew Mitchell has turned Richard Yarosh’s head and shoulders into a work of art — one that will be on display at the Smithsonian. The Associated Press reports that Mitchell’s portrait “is a finalist in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, which recognizes modern portraiture at the gallery known for its collection of notable Americans.”

If Mitchell wins the competition, he won’t need to worry about finding a money lender before he can start his next series. First prize is $25,000.

What happened to Richard Yarosh?

A bit more than three years ago, Sept. 1, 2006, Richard Yarosh was in Iraq “manning the turret of a Bradley assault vehicle,” says the Associated Press. The vehicle hit an explosive device, and the fuel tank, the vehicle and Richard Yarosh went up in flames. At the time, Yarosh was 24.

Richard Yarosh miraculously survived, though he suffered third-degree burns to 60 percent of his body and had his lower right leg amputated. “His fingers are permanently bent and rigid,” says the Associated Press. To read a full account of Richard Yarosh’s accident, check out the AP story, where you can view a photo of Richard Yarosh. … click here to read the rest of the article titled “Richard Yarosh Painter Could Win $25,000“

Frances Farmer

I can picture someone named Frances Farmer. I picture her as someone who gets up at 4:30 in the morning and immediately gets on her knees to thank God for all of her blessings. She sweeps the kitchen floor (which she does just out of habit and to think about her day to come, because she already swept it the night before).

She starts the breakfast, oatmeal with milk that was milked from the cow the previous morning, homemade biscuits, with sausage gravy. She makes the children's lunches. She sets the wood table and wakes the children. Her husband comes in from having just fed the chickens and milked the cows. They then say grace and eat breakfast as a family. There is no TV, no Nintendo or playstation. The children grab their book bags and lunches. Then they head out the door to walk the long dirt road to the bus stop. They head to school.

Frances Farmer kisses her husband who heads out to the fields to begin his long day. She then starts her chores. She'll start the bread dough; she'll need it and let it begin to rise. She'll have to do all of the laundry, clean the house, wash the dishes and vacuum the floors. She'll then have to make lunch for her husband and get dinner started. She takes the milk that her husband brought in earlier from the cow and make homemade butter and cottage cheese and puts the bread into the oven to bake. She makes the beds and tidies the rest of the house.

Then the children will return home from school. She'll help them with their homework and put the finishing touches on dinner. After dinner, she'll do the dishes and sweep the floor. She'll read to the children and tuck them into bed. She'll rub her husband's sore tired shoulders and they all go to bed early. How do I know so much about Frances Farmer? Because I had a Frances Farmer for a mother once. I miss her and that style of life.

Mega Millions Lottery results

The Mega Millions Lottery results are in. The number are 51, 45, 34, 31 and 17. Do you know what this means to me? It means that I did not win.

No new home with a swimming pool and spa, tennis court and basketball court, tile entry, lots of bedrooms and bathrooms for all of my new friends (who want some of my millions), right next to the ocean, no quitting my job, no new sports car, no European cruise, no new diamond jewelry, no new art collection, no Cessna jet, no mink coats for my friends.

The mega millions lottery results are in and I didn't win. Probably for the best. I don't think I would like the me that I would become.

Nip Tuck season premiere 2009

Have you ever seen Nip Tuck? Tonight is the Nip Tuck season premiere 2009. I don't like Nip Tuck. I watched it once and it was pretty graphic to me for a TV show. There was way too much violence, sex and the operations were more than I wanted to see. I didn't become a doctor or nurse because I'm not good with graphic operations. So relaxing TV doesn't seem to fix with this kind of show for me. I didn't relate to the characters.

But many must watch it and like it because it is back for the sixth season, has made over 100 episodes and it was the highest rated new series on cable. It is a drama about a plastic surgery office and practice following the doctors and patients. It is set in Los Angeles but began in Miami. It is unclear to me why it changed to a new city. If you know, maybe you could post it here. If you like this show, maybe you could let me know why.

Book of odds

There's a new online statistical encyclopedia and it is called the "Book of Odds." If you want to know the odds of anything, it is in this "book." What are the odds that you'll be struck by lighting? Will you survive two atomic bombs? What are the odds you'll marry this year or that you will have a son? What are the odds you'll be in the Bahamas for Thanksgiving?

I don't know if all of these odds are in this website but I do know you have the greatest chance of getting the odds to any question you could possibly have by looking in the book of odds. I'm sure if you're like me, you're thinking, how is this possible. Well, it turns out that everything you can imagine is on the internet and the site's founder has found a way to put these statistics to an odds formula and next thing you know, you have an answer to everything. Well just about. We'll see if it really works

Cheap Halloween costumes for adults

I need ideas for cheap Halloween costumes for adults. Children are easy. But I guess if you think about it, adults can wear the same kinds of costumes as children. You can just find clothes that are too big for you and just look kind of droopy. You could take a sheet and cut out holes to be a ghost.

Paint on the face is all you need to look dirty and bummy. You could find someone you know who has an army or navy uniform. Or pull out an old letterman's jacket or sweater. You could take a black blanket and turn it into a cape, to be a witch or a vampire. Harry potter glasses are a nice affect. You could go to the dollar store and find all kinds of wigs and witches hats and ideas. Glow sticks from the dollar store could make a halo and wear white.

Shorts and a Hawaiian shirt or lai. Wrap a towel around your waist and put one in your hair. Put a hole for a head and arms in a big black garbage bag. Tape purple balloons all over you and be grapes. Put clothes pins all over you. Pull out an old wedding dress or tuxedo. Wear a bathrobe and slippers. There are no rules, just fun and creativity to come up with cheap Halloween costumes for adults or kids.

Couples Avoiding Debt Relief and Planning Discussions

Financial discussions

Couples need to make debt relief a priority discussion when considering marriage. A new national survey for Fidelity Investments is showing some interesting results. Many couples aren't in agreement on basic financial issues and don't even discuss finances in any depth. Here are some of the topics those questioned stated they didn't cover with their significant other:

• When is each person planning on retiring?
• How much money do they need to save to retire on time?
• What types of debt will be considered priorities to pay off?
• How much insurance coverage is each expecting to have?
• What budget will they follow and for how long?

Oddly enough the same poll was given two years ago and there has been a general decline in communication, although the economy has drastically turned for the worse. For example, two years ago 79percent of couples stated they didn't agree on retirement plans, including the time to retire or if they would continue to work after retirement.  This year's survey showed that same number is up to 82 percent. Other numbers in the most recent survey follow suit.

An expert predicted the results

Nicholas Yrizarry, a financial adviser in Virginia, stated that he thinks the results of the most recent survey are accurate and logical. His belief is that the recession has pushed people to focus on "putting out fires, dealing with debt relief, worrying about interest rates, credit card debt, over-mortgaged homes and job insecurity." … click here to read the rest of the article titled “Couples Avoiding Debt Relief and Planning Discussions“

I’ve always wanted to go to a fat camp

I need to lose weight and have tried everything out there, diets, diet pills, Atkins, low carb everything, counting calories, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, lettuce, grapefruit, you name it, I have tried it. And nothing works. I can never lose a pound.

I have had money refunded to me from all these companies that guarantee you will lose weight or your money back. I get my money back. And they always say, we've never seen anything like this before. The only hope I have left is a fat camp. I feel like if I could just get a boost, just get those first pounds off, maybe the rest would fall off.

At a fat camp, I think you eat really great foods that they fix for you, but that are low in everything bad for you and high in everything good for you. I imagine the exercise programs would be easy to start, because if you can't do it, they wouldn't give up but help you succeed. I would imagine there are Jacuzzis and hot tubs and saunas and massages to help you deal with the pain associated with losing weight. This is my last hope, a fat camp.

The McDonalds monopoly game is being played

It is a great opportunity for McDonald’s to make a lot of money and to give away prizes to people. I wish that I could win some of the prizes that they have in that game. People tend to eat a lot more at McDonald’s when they have their monopoly game going.

They don't have any hope of actually winning but they eat there a lot just so they can get the pieces just in case they win a big prize. If one were to win, it would be worth eating there all that time just so one could say that they won it all with all the game that they had no hope of winning with.

Igniting Your Desire to Splurge Until It Disintegrates

Moving can sometimes be a sad ritual as you throw, throw and throw more junk away, only to realize that you actually paid good money accumulating “them”.

Let’s face it. Most of us have a little special something we like to spend money on. Whether it’s cars, HDTVs, luxury vacations, hand bags, shoes or even ice cream, we simply identify the following equation as fact.

Stuff We Love > Price We Pay

Lately, I’m starting to come around on splurging. I used to think that it’s not okay to spend money on non-essentials, but I don’t feel that spending a few bucks to make me happy is all that bad anymore. More truthfully, I am not afraid of buying anymore. After all, we work hard to earn money just so we can spend it. I think spending is okay if:

• You know what the consequences are.
• You have logically thought about it, as opposed to being pushed by emotions.
• Owning it actually makes your life better and/or you happier, even if it’s temporary.

But what if you thought about it, know that it’s useless but still can’t seem to control your desires? Here’s what you should do.

Buy it.

Yes, that’s right. But after you do, leave it out in a visible place in your house even after you are done with it. Some examples…

• Don’t put away those shoes in the depths of your closet. Stack them neatly in your shoe racks so you see them every time you need a pair of shoes.
• Don’t throw away your magazines and comic books once you are done and don’t put them in a box tucked in the corner of your storage, organize them in your room’s bookshelf. Once they overflow, start stacking them all over (hopefully neatly).
• Keep the boxes of the electronics that you bought and put them in your closet so you can see them every day.

You see. Part of the problem with spending is that we never truly see the consequences of our actions until it’s too late. It’s only a couple dollars to buy a cup of coffee, but if someone will give us $100,000 dollars to never have Starbucks again, it will make us think twice before taking another sip. This is because in the latter case, we clearly see the long term results of our immediate actions.

Along the same lines, once you start seeing how much you are starting to accumulate daily, you will understand just how much money you’ve spent on whatever you’ve been buying. Instead of just having an idea of how much you waste, you will eventually know. Some time after you know, you will start to feel it in your gut. It’s like a light bulb that turns on, because only then will you be able to decide whether you should keep buying or not.

Practicing this will be cumbersome and it will never stop you from buying something now. But, it will give you a choice in the future.

I moved, and we threw and gave SO MUCH away. Perhaps more appropriately put, I just had a date with the trash collector.

—
Related Articles at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning:

• Freeze Your Credit Cards to Ice Your Spending
• Another Way I Use Credit Cards to My Advantage
• Screw The Depreciating US Dollar
• Counter Intuitive Way of Lowering Your Spending
• Motivation Monday – Everyone Slacks Off

Read more of Igniting Your Desire to Splurge Until It Disintegrates…

My sister in law is recently engaged

She’s spending the summer with her parents and siblings that live near by and all day long she complains about how she misses her finacee. It’s soo annoying! He’s all she ever talks about and gives anyone who will listen a play by play of every conversation they’ve had since the last time she saw us and tells us the same stories about him over and over again. We’re all ready to scream at her that we really don’t care but we all give her some slack.

I’m sure we all were like that or will be like that at some point in our life. We still love her though and tolerate it because we are excited for her that she found such a great guy. Luckily school is starting for her soon so we don’t have to listen to her crying much longer.

My hair just grows too fast.

It seems like right after I get it cut, I need to get it cut again. But I know that in reality it has been at least a couple months since I got it cut. Sometimes I get desperate and I have my sister cut it for me. Don’t worry, she makes sure it looks good. She even cut her own hair a couple times. Granted, she is a little crazy, just like the rest of my family. But I have my hair up most of the time anyway so it doesn’t really matter too much. One time my mother got desperate like that and she had me cut her hair.

I had never cut hair in my life and she trusted me with those scissors. It took me quite a long time, but I had to make sure I did a good job. She got a lot of compliments on it, so I guess I did a pretty good job on it. I don’t think I could ever cut hair for a living though. I get too caught up in it and it takes me forever. It never seems to come out the way I want it on the first try.

I suppose if I actually learned proper techniques and methods then I might be able to decently cut hair in a short amount of time. But I don’t think I would be able to sit through lectures on hair cutting. It just seems too boring. And then I would have to practice the things I learned on other people and I would be too nervous to do a good enough job. I would probably mess it all up and someone else would have to come and fix it.

I misread words all the time.

I think that I may be partially dyslexic. I feel sorry for people who really are dyslexic. They have such a hard time reading anything and I don’t think I could deal with that. I love to read. What on earth would I do all day if I couldn’t read?

I couldn’t go to school, I couldn’t read the morning newspaper, I couldn’t read or send important emails, and I couldn’t read the mail. I couldn’t do a whole lot of things, because there are so many things that require the ability to read. I suppose that I would be able to get by with not knowing how to read, but I don’t think I would like it very much.

I like to look at pictures

I like to look at pictures of me and my friends and family, but I don’t like to have my picture taken. So you see, I have this awful dilemma. How am I supposed to look at pictures if I don’t like to have people take pictures of me?

I used to never let anyone take my picture, but lately I have been a little more lenient. Sometimes I just get in a mood where I don’t care as much. I think these are the times where I’m just having too much fun to bother with stopping people from taking my picture, because it does take a lot of effort. And I do realize that pictures help us remember those fun times, so I want at least a couple to remember the fun I am having.

Consumers Look to Debt Relief Options as DOW Changes

New Dow Jones

<div style=”float:right;margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px;width: 210px”

Image from Flikr

Most people have a wedding cake at their wedding reception

When my friend got married a couple years ago, she decided to have pie instead. I think she had a small cake though, but that was mostly for the sake of taking pictures with a cake, I think. I think it’s funny how many traditions we have and the need that we have to follow them.

Who invented them anyway? Do we really know? I suppose the origins of these traditions are probably somewhere floating around. There’s probably a meaning behind all of them that has gotten lost in all the formalities. We don’t absolutely need to know what the meanings are, but wouldn’t it be nice to know why you do certain things?

Students Worry about Debt Relief as Parents Struggle

New poll highlights economic woes of college students

<div style=”float:right;margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px;width: 310px”

(photo by flickr)

100 Free Continental OnePass Miles

Continental Airlines is offering 100 free OnePass miles for registering and learning about Continental's PetSafe® and PetPass® programs. Valid through November 30, and the miles will post 4-6 weeks after that. Via Gary of View from the Wing. Like the American Airlines 150 miles offer, this is handy for resetting the expiration date of miles if you don’t fly frequently.

Continental likes to state that their miles have “no expiry date”, but “if no mileage is deposited in your account for 18 consecutive months, your membership may be canceled, and your miles may be forfeited”. Gee, that sure sounds like an expiration date to me.

Read more about 100 Free Continental OnePass Miles…