2 posts from September 2008

I was born in the 70's in a Christian commune.  Music consisted of a lot of Christian hymns and non-secular (i.e., religious) songs. After my parents let us rejoin civilization in the late 70's, they listened to their music - songs from the 50s and 60's, not the then-popular 70's songs.  It wasn't until the early to mid-80's that I got to choose my own music.  So, I'm firmly an "80's child", but I have very very little knowledge of 70's music.

It's always puzzled me how the theme music was selected for my favorite crime dramas, the CSI suite.  I hate the CSI: Miami theme, and barely tolerate the CSI theme.  I do love the CSI: NY theme, but only because I heard it with my mother at a Blue Man Group performance so it reminds me of her.  Before that, it was just tolerable, too.

I finally looked up the theme songs and found out that they're all done by The Who.  No wonder I'm not familiar with the music.  Though, it could just be that I've got PTSD when it comes to The Who, because I know that my dad has mentioned listening to them. I just don't know the songs.  So here they are - enjoy!!

 

 

No, I'm not consolidating.  Or shirking my responsibilities by looking for debt reduction.  I'm paying the same amount each month, but in a SMART way.

Last night, I couldn't sleep.  I had my mind on my money and my money (or lack thereof) on my mind.  Yod and I make enough to not live so hand-to-mouth, even if we do have pretty expensive tastes.  We're cutting back on some expenses (so we can make room for others), and I want to do my part by restructuring the unsecured debt payments.

Credit cards have always bothered me.  I hate the idea, and hate how easy it is to put something on credit.  That $20 meal you bought on your 14.99% APR MasterCard ends up being a $40 pay-off 5 years later.  In addition, you're reducing your income by having to pay those interest charges that keep accruing.

I knew there were calculators for all sorts of things out there -- mortgage, how much house can you afford, cost of living, etc. -- so there just had to be a site that would do the math for me and tell me how much to pay each month to get out of debt.  It's a simple principle, and one I should've been able to do in my head, but CNN Money has a very elegant calculator and plan that takes most of the guesswork out of it.

By paying the exact same amount each month, but concentrating on the highest interest card first and paying minimums on the others, and not scaling back that payment as cards go kaboom, I'll be debt-free years before I thought I would.  Years.  That's a lot of money not paid in interest.  And the best part?  A lot of money now available to do things like take vacations. Travel. Not have to be house-poor to buy a house.

Get your own payment plan at http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/debtplanner/debtplanner.jsp