Getting a Teenager motivated to work

No real news flash here, but being a parent of a teenager can be expensive. As a recent letter writer to Business Week wrote, if the government gave teenagers the money from the tax rebates, watch out economy! That money would be gone in the blink of the eye. On what? Fast food, electronic devices, games and like everyone else, gas.

Currently we have a 17 year old that needs to get back out working and I think I finally came up with the best incentive yet. (My nagging just wasn't working!) He wanted to go to a Magic card tournament today and first I had him work for part of the money by sweeping the sand from our garage and driveway. Secondly, I then lent him the rest and wrote it down. Yes, I wrote it down, it's now a permanent IOU. When I mentioned there might be jobs at the Hospital in the food services, he actually seemed interested.

The next incentive will be the colleges we will be looking at next week. His brother with great grades is going to our state university, thanks Loyola, but we decided to pass on the 26,000 loan for each year. Second guy knows how we feel and it's up to him to figure out the college options. We tried to save some, but somehow life got in the way. Our retirement fund is much better, because as they say, you can borrow for college, but you can't borrow for retirement.

But there is a part of me that feels badly for all young people right now. The price of gas is beginning to limit other purchases. Can this administration get away with saying we are better off after these 8 years......I don't think so! Younger people will have to learn how to budget their money, there's hope yet for my second. My first is doing really well with limiting purchases and not spending much while at college. Call him cheap, but he won't be facing massive loans.

State of the Union and a Tax Rebate

Tomorrow night we will get to hear the last State of the Union Address from President Bush and he is going to give us some money in the form of tax rebates. I don't know where that money is coming from, but we're getting it. The country has spent over 1/2 a trillion dollars on the war...can't even fathom what that amount equals, I don't think I learned trillion in school forty years ago. Now we drop trillions like pennies.

Money in May, gee, I wonder what I will do with it. Today, our local paper had an article about what people will be spending their tax rebates on. Like a writer on the opinion page noted, anything we buy to "stimulate" the economy basically works to keep shelf stockers and cashiers in jobs, most of our goods are made in other countries. My prediction is that for those who have credit card bills, they will use the rebate to pay off some of their charges and those who don't have bills will be saving it. Rising gas prices lead to increased food bills and combine that with medical insurance increases leads me to believe that won't be much local economy stimulating going on around here. Based on where we will be bill wise, I think our rebate check will be going to the bank. Time to save for the leaner times that I see around the corner. ( Tough choice, HDTV or college tuition...NOT!)
I guess that means I have to thank President Bush and our politicians, but I would like to know, where are we getting this money from? Will this just be added to that debt that you have built for my children to inherit? What do you think about this rebate? Good or bad? Will it work to stimulate the economy?

A Shopping Alternative for the Best Deals for the Holidays

Still on the Christmas shopping theme because here's an on line site to save time and money. Have you ever done the whole getting up early and racing from one mall to the next the day after Thanksgiving to get all the "Black Friday" Bargains? The reason why it's called Black Friday is because retailers would show big profits and go into the black during the holiday shopping season for which the Friday after Thanksgiving is considered to be the beginning. So for stores to make a lot of money, they need a lot of people in the stores. That's where on-line sites such as Black-Friday.net has 2007 thanksgiving specials where you can skip the stores on Black Friday and do all your shopping from home.

If there is an item like an extra memory card for a camera that you have your eye on, you can sign up in advance for email alerts to find out which store has the best deal. Currently, Staples and Best Buy are already listed and the geek that I am, I will be checking out those ads to see what I can order on line once the stores start releasing their ads. Give me my laptop, a hot cup of coffee and the ability to compare video games' prices from the on-line stores listed on www.black-friday.net and I think I will skip out of standing in lines on Black Friday. Running around on one Black Friday was enough for me!

Would you consider this selling out?

Pearl at Interesting Observations has a post up about Pay Per Post and I did sign up for it. But fear not, my ranking is not high enough to have the "opportunity" to write posts that I would be paid for. However, when I read a few of the blogs that do have Pay per post, it left me with the question of what do they have that I don't? Can't figure that one out. In my typical fashion though, I looked up the negative information about something after I signed up. For example, this Business week article from July 2006 wasn't exactly complimentary to the concept.

I know that in the past I wrote about blogging being a creative outlet for me and a chance to make connections with people around the world. But the lure of making a couple of extra dollars a month is appealing. What are your thoughts about Pay Per Posts? Are they turn offs for a blog? I am just looking for a few extra bucks, for those Starbucks coffee and designer sneakers. Seriously, we have had some serious talks about money in our household and it's not there like it used to be. What's different? Yes, we have a son in college, but he is paying the majority of his tuition. The differences in money going out revolves around health insurance premium increases along with paying for our healthcare until we reach a maximum, utility bills have almost doubled in 3 years, our property taxes have doubled in 10 years, gas prices have increased and home heating prices have increased. When the question is asked, is your life better than 4 or 8 years ago, our answer would be no here.

What are your thoughts about Pay Per Posts? Are they turn offs for a blog?

Thursday Thirteen #29, 13 Ways to waste money

Another cheat on my part, One Gal over at One Gal's Musing had her thirteen up wicked early and as I glanced through her list of Tips for hanging onto more of what's yours, 13 ways to save money, I thought to myself, self, I know how to waste money and what a great complementary blog to go along with One Gal. If you do what she says and not do what I say, then you should end up with more money. Now if you resemble any of the following, fear not, I have first hand experience with a few of them, it's just if you do all of the thirteen then it might just cost you.

1. Buy a large coffee everyday at Starbucks and if it takes you more than 1 minute to describe what you want then it's worth every penny.


2. Buy a scone or 10 inch tall coffee cake to go along with your coffee.


3. Get yourself a nordic track anything, they make perfect clothes hangers in your bedroom after you have completed your exercise program.
   


4. When you want a car, lease the biggest one they got on the lot with all the accessories, Dvd player, OnStar, and seat warmers even if you live in Florida, you are worth it!


5. If your kids need sneakers, go for the brands endorsed by NBA or Football stars, particularly if they are in middle school and still growing.


6. Buying a pet...forget about those animals at the shelters or rescue organizations, go for the $1500 designer dog. Because it will look good.


7. Don't bother waiting for sales, because if you want something, you should get it now because it might not be there tomorrow.


8. The only way to travel is first class, because you get to see where you are going before the people in the back of the plane and cloth napkins are so much gentler on the skin.
   


9. Credit cards were meant to be used often! It's okay to keep that balance, it will make your credit look good.


10. Appearances are important, so make sure you get your hair trimmed every four weeks.

11. Looking for something to read? Go buy a book or join a book club.

12. Bored? Buy a few magazines at the checkout in the supermarket.

13. Your lucky day could be any day now, buy at least 5 lottery tickets every week.
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20 Days to Christmas and......

I haven't really started shopping. Got ideas, lots of them, but not much cash. Thanks to college tuition, increased property taxes and utility bills, we are cutting back. But why not? I think we have enough stuff for awhile. The boys are chipping in for a gaming computer and we are having it built locally, so that should keep them busy.

With the increases that everyone must be going through, I can't imagine that there will be that much being sold this year. Look for sales in January. Can we honestly say that we are better than we were five years ago.....umm, don't think so. Just look at the cost of health care and medical insurance, it's pretty scary. Especially the costs to have insurance, but it is necessary to have! In one week alone- $60 for two doctor visits, $106 for a skin prescription and $30 for two other prescriptions. Plus got an $80 bill for a doctor visit that we made to the ER to rule out a broken leg this past October. And we are basically healthy, how do other people do it? This is on top of over $300/month for health insurance.

Looks like a rant blog and so it is. Time to be light hearted--> Check out this site and amaze your friends with your religious sense of humor: Church Sign Generator