A Costly Wrong Turn

I recently designed a path of frugality and was on a steady course until I reached a crossroad over the weekend and made a wrong turn. I was impaired by my desire to spend a weekend away from home -- for a change. I have never been on an out-of-town trip in a while and the lure of free hotel room got me excited. As it turned out, I practically ended up coughing up six times the cost of the hotel room. The slot machines took more than what the hotel didn't. I blame no one but myself. It's an expensive lesson learned.

The Cash You Want Is Already In Your Hands

I have decided to give Corporate America a little reason to frown about: I am reclaiming my pocket -- or at least the control over it.

Uncertainties that hover around my fiscal house provided a wakeup call to take a careful and serious look at my personal finances. How much am I paying -- or will end up paying -- my credit card providers in interests? What are my credit cards‘ APR? Am I paying too much? Is it time to consolidate?

I am not in the business of checking APR on credit card offers. I have always thought that if a credit card company is dangling a plastic in front of someone like me who has significantly less than stellar FICO score, the only sensible thing to do is grab the offer and swipe away. They make the offer even harder to resist with the promise of the new credit card helping you establish a better credit history.

It turns out that all they actually do is bury you deeper in debt. I recently filled out a pre-approved application for a credit card. When the plastic arrived in the mail, it came -- on a separate envelope -- with a bill for $79. The first thing I did was call the credit card provider and close the account. The hell will I keep a credit card that bills me even before I could even have it activated.

And all the while I thought my existing credit cards were doing me a huge favor by keeping some money readily accessible at times of need. Believe me, I have lots of times like that. Then I realized the only ones getting a favor were the credit card companies because they were charging me interests that practically buried me in debt up to my neck.

I applied for membership in a credit union and was eventually approved for a loan that allowed me to consolidate my money-making debts to a stress-relieving, low-interest loan. Now, my credit cards have been paid in full. The savings amount to about $200 a month in extra cash awesomely nestled in my pocket.

With Wells Fargo starting to charge $15 a month so I could keep my checking account, I am seriously toying with the idea of entirely banking with the credit union. That would translate to $180 a year ($15/month Wells Fargo fees) in extra cash staying in my account.

Add to that, the savings I’m making by modifying my wireless phone plan that would cost AT&T at least $10 a month. That would make my pocket $120 fatter. I’m also starting to pack lunch for work at least twice a week, which translates to a savings of $11 a week or roughly $44 a month.

This little OCCUPY MY POCKET movement will make me over $3,200 richer by end of the year. Sometimes, we're so engrossed with making more money without realizing that the money we want to make is already in our hands.

Your Loot Made My Eyes Turn Green

Dear Empty Head,

Maybe it's the envy talking but my jaw dropped to my crotch when I saw the pictures of your collection of nice and expensive things that you posted on Facebook. I was arguing with myself when I laid eyes on the images; I couldn't decide whether I'd feel envious of or sorry for you.

You see, I know that those expensive things that you have in your so-called collection were borne out of unpaid credit card debts that you racked up, after which you filed for bankruptcy to legally excuse yourself from paying your financial obligations.

I was partly envious not just because I don't have such pretty, expensive collection but also because, damn I could have done the same! I mean, max out my credit cards and take refuge on Chapter 7.

I was feeling partly sorry for you because you're stupid enough to think that people don't know what you're trying to do here; hide your failures behind a collection of semi-wealth, which, let's face it, you have because you practically stole from credit card companies.

Your collection and how you built it would've been none of my lowlife business had you not dangled them on my face with the obvious purpose of making me feel bad for not owning the same.

Well, you have succeeded but not for long. Because you've made me jealous enough, now I will start telling people about the process by which you acquired all those nice, expensive things you've got in your loot, err, collection.

Sincerely,

Your Super Jealous FB Friend

That's Why It's Called The WORKplace!

Dear Lazybones,

The place that we go to between 9am and 5pm is called the workplace. Majority of the people that go to the workplace -- myself included -- go there with a very specific mission, to get the job done. If yours is to simply clock in and clock out to accumulate hours so you can shamelessly cash a check every 15 days, please at least have the decency to conceal your irrepressible lack of shame, dignity and respect for others who value their job.


Sincerely,

Your Utterly Upset Co-Worker

Or

Sincerely,

An Upset Someone You See Monday-Friday During
Office Hours at the Place Where You Clock In and Out

Red Light! Camera! Action!

Have you ever received a Traffic Violation Notice with four frame-by-frame pictures of your car (1) running a red light, (2) making a turn, (3) your car’s license plate, and (4) what appears to be you on the driver’s seat?

I have and boy did it shake the living hell out of me! After a few phone calls and text messages with friends whose driving history had been graced with the same picture not-perfect notice, I was fazed by an impending $600+ traffic ticket -- at a time when my fiscal house was one flick away from collapsing.

Clouded by desperation, I turned to my new BFF, Google, for help. Maybe, just a tad maybe, there’s a way to get out of it. Google directed me to www.highwayrobbery.net, which talked in length about traffic tickets in general and camera-captured red light violations in particular.

In California, it turned out, there are two Red Light Camera tickets: (1) the Snitch Ticket that practically tricks you into blowing the whistle on yourself or whoever’s driving your car at the time of the supposed violation;  and (2) the Real Ticket that identifies you as the driver, the due date to respond and the name and address of the courthouse.

According to www.highwayrobbery.net, the Snitch Ticket usually asks for additional personal information such as your full name, driver’s license number, date of birth; it also asks that you acknowledge that you are the driver or name the driver at the time of the violation. Also, it asks you to NOT CONTACT THE COURT. It doesn’t have a due date, the amount you need to post bail, and where you can post bail.

The actual ticket contains the law-required NOTICE TO APPEAR phrase, the name of the courthouse, the due date and the bail amount.

The Highway Robbery Dot Net website offers ways you may take in relation to the snitch or actual Red Light Camera ticket you got in the mail. I have taken a cue from the website and here’s to hoping that I made the right move.