how hard is it to save money? i mean, honestly. how hard is it to save money? money goes to gas... money goes to food... money goes to xbox live... all necessities of life. and don't get me started on credit card stuff. i never considered myself a spendthrift, but i mean, a guy's gotta get his fix of fast food. and i 99.99% of the time get value menu stuff. VALUE menu.
quick bump: i was watching tv and i saw perhaps one of the most disturbing commercials. it was a breast milk commercial. yes yes, it's a beautiful thing, but a commercial? www.breastmilkcounts.com? don't worry, it's not a link to a dirty website. i promise. anyways, it was just weird. i feel like ross from that friends episode when he freaks out about the breast milk.
ok, back to life. back to reality. those dollars add up. those mcdoubles, hot 'n spicy's, crunchy tacos, large powerades from mcdonald's, really do add up. wow, when i put it that way, no wonder it's hard for me to save money. what a revelation! by george, i've got it!
so anyways, what am i doing to counteract this? well first off, i'm taking some classes. i've enrolled myself in a principles of accounting course and macroeconomics course. perhaps, i can control my spending and monitor my expenditures with a magnifying glass and a fine tooth comb. i always wanted to take some business courses just to familiarize myself with financial terms so that i sort of know what people are talking about when it comes to words like 0 down APR financing or consolidation or liquidity or variable rates? yeah, need to read up on those again. secondly, i started investing my money.
another quick bump: thanks laura for letting me borrow your investing for dummies book!
yes, i'm looking to become a day trader... yeah right. swing trading is where it's at. all i've heard is NOW is the time to invest... start when you're young... etc. etc. so, i'm going to do so. i have a penchant for gambling and i guess playing the stock market game is sort of like gambling. ups and downs, peaks and valleys, bears and bulls, buying and selling, stocks and bonds. don't worry, i, for the most part, still don't know what i'm doing yet. to make another friends reference, i feel like monica in that episode where she goes crazy buying stocks and invests in ones that sound cool, like ZXY because it sounds ZEXY. nice reasoning, mon.
hope you're doing well, scrooge! to all you kids, start saving! buy a piggy bank if you can... however, ironically, you would have to pay for the piggy bank. sometimes life can be so cruel... oh well. this little piggy is going to the market... the stock market that is. all you other piggies can stay at home, have roast beef, or have none. either way, at the end of the day, we're all going wee wee wee all the way home.
thanks for reading!
-jdv
A penny saved is a penny Earned
Good to be Back
ok ok. so i haven't been in the philippines for the past months that i haven't made an entry. i actually got back a couples months ago but have just been LAAAAAZY to put in an entry. and that retroactive diary of recounting my EVERY day in the philippines/malaysia.... yeah, not going to happen. why? probably because of what i just said. "LAAAAAAZY." anyways, i will say that the trip was quite a trip. it was good getting back to the roots and seeing all there was to see there. it made me truly appreciate what i have here and even more so, what my parents left behind and will end up going back to one day. although i won't do the retroactive diary, i will post the promised picture of "neckstache".
isn't that awful? will i ever get one of those? to quote one of the little pigs answering the wolf: no. not by the hair on my chinny chin chin.so so so, what's new? i'll start with the most recent and work backwards. so i literally just finished watching this show on abc i think called "dating in the dark." it is exactly as it sounds. people getting to know each other in the dark. and yes, it is as creepy as it sounds. there were 3 girls and 3 guys talking to each other... in the dark. then, they went through each other's cars to find out more about them. and then, they picked who they thought would be most compatible and entered the "dark room" and the light was shed individually on them so the other person could see what they looked like. and finally, the guys sent invitations to the girls to see if they would meet up on the balcony and the girl could choose to do so or leave the house.
i must say, why did i even watch this kind of a show? easy. it came on after millionaire (which makes me feel smart since i know most of the $100-$1,000), and i couldn't find the remote. and plus, the show was HEElarious. one of the girls said about one of the "dark dates" that it was one of the best dates she'd ever been on. really? .... really??? maybe she's literally been on ONLY "blind" dates. are there people out there that strictly go on blind dates, literally? wow. i must say though, the show did make me think. making a connection with a person that you can't even see? getting to know them without seeing them? it is an interesting twist. as weird as it sounds, i got a glimpse of seeing through the eyes of the blind. and then i thought about if a person went through my car, what would they think of me? hmm, an umbrella... he must be afraid of water. an iPod dock with iPod... he must listen to music, let's see what party shuffle song it's on. "mickey mouse club theme song." what is he? a 5-year old? what else? what else? a million taco bell/mcdonalds receipts. wow, he must definitely watch his weight and eat healthy. why else would he be getting hot n' spicy's and double cheeseburgers BUT with a powerade? and oh look, raspberry brisk iced tea from taco bell with 4 crunchy tacos. he watches what he drinks. so many empty calories in coke.
quick quick tangent: so at mcdonald's the other day, i was ordering the double cheeseburger, plain. (that is, just meat and cheese and the bread. that's how i like it). and for the longest time, it's been on the dollar menu. i say i want two double cheeseburgers and my total is something like 2.50. now, i'm no finance major, but the last time i checked, i'm pretty sure tax on a two dollar purchase wasn't a fourth of the cost. i got to the 1st window to pay and asked about the price. apparently, APPARENTLY the double cheeseburger is $1.16 or something like that and that the "mcdouble" is the one on the dollar menu. the difference? one slice of cheese. the double cheeseburger has two slices... the "mcdouble" has one. what the?!? thanks mcdonalds for officially confusing me. they both have double in their names! anyways, i digress...
what else in my car... oh. an EZ tag. he must always be late if he needs an EZ tag to rush through toll booths. and finally, 24 inch rims! ohhhhhhh snap! what. a. thug. ok, that last one i made up. but anyways, yeah... that's my car.
speaking of cars, i was watching sportscenter (big surprise there.... not really) and one of the highlights was of a nascar race. it showed highlights of the race, but the interesting part to me was at the end. when the guy won, he and his pit crew literally pulled out bottles and bottles of champagne out and starting drinking like crazy in celebration. who's the designated driver? if i was a cop, i would work at those speedways and wait for the winning driver to leave and bust him (or her, right danica patrick?) for drinking and driving. BAM! gotcha.
anyways, there's more for me to ramble about... like a full-time job at a dental office, and "preventing sexual harassment as a whataburger manager." ok, that last one was random, but that is what i just heard coming from the computer in the other room. apparently, my dad is taking an online course on that.... yeah.... i'm just as weirded out as you are, don't worry.
"get your hands off my buns!"
thanks for reading! hope you're doing well.
-jdv
i must say, why did i even watch this kind of a show? easy. it came on after millionaire (which makes me feel smart since i know most of the $100-$1,000), and i couldn't find the remote. and plus, the show was HEElarious. one of the girls said about one of the "dark dates" that it was one of the best dates she'd ever been on. really? .... really??? maybe she's literally been on ONLY "blind" dates. are there people out there that strictly go on blind dates, literally? wow. i must say though, the show did make me think. making a connection with a person that you can't even see? getting to know them without seeing them? it is an interesting twist. as weird as it sounds, i got a glimpse of seeing through the eyes of the blind. and then i thought about if a person went through my car, what would they think of me? hmm, an umbrella... he must be afraid of water. an iPod dock with iPod... he must listen to music, let's see what party shuffle song it's on. "mickey mouse club theme song." what is he? a 5-year old? what else? what else? a million taco bell/mcdonalds receipts. wow, he must definitely watch his weight and eat healthy. why else would he be getting hot n' spicy's and double cheeseburgers BUT with a powerade? and oh look, raspberry brisk iced tea from taco bell with 4 crunchy tacos. he watches what he drinks. so many empty calories in coke.
quick quick tangent: so at mcdonald's the other day, i was ordering the double cheeseburger, plain. (that is, just meat and cheese and the bread. that's how i like it). and for the longest time, it's been on the dollar menu. i say i want two double cheeseburgers and my total is something like 2.50. now, i'm no finance major, but the last time i checked, i'm pretty sure tax on a two dollar purchase wasn't a fourth of the cost. i got to the 1st window to pay and asked about the price. apparently, APPARENTLY the double cheeseburger is $1.16 or something like that and that the "mcdouble" is the one on the dollar menu. the difference? one slice of cheese. the double cheeseburger has two slices... the "mcdouble" has one. what the?!? thanks mcdonalds for officially confusing me. they both have double in their names! anyways, i digress...
what else in my car... oh. an EZ tag. he must always be late if he needs an EZ tag to rush through toll booths. and finally, 24 inch rims! ohhhhhhh snap! what. a. thug. ok, that last one i made up. but anyways, yeah... that's my car.
speaking of cars, i was watching sportscenter (big surprise there.... not really) and one of the highlights was of a nascar race. it showed highlights of the race, but the interesting part to me was at the end. when the guy won, he and his pit crew literally pulled out bottles and bottles of champagne out and starting drinking like crazy in celebration. who's the designated driver? if i was a cop, i would work at those speedways and wait for the winning driver to leave and bust him (or her, right danica patrick?) for drinking and driving. BAM! gotcha.
anyways, there's more for me to ramble about... like a full-time job at a dental office, and "preventing sexual harassment as a whataburger manager." ok, that last one was random, but that is what i just heard coming from the computer in the other room. apparently, my dad is taking an online course on that.... yeah.... i'm just as weirded out as you are, don't worry.
"get your hands off my buns!"
thanks for reading! hope you're doing well.
-jdv
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
