Overdue post about weekend

For an uneventful weekend, I sure got a lot done. I wasn't working this past Saturday, so I decided to go hunting for wedding clothes. So far in the past, especially with shoes, I often find this one pair, that is alone and one of a kind in this store, and it is exactly my size. And on clearance. I often take that as a sign and buy them. Well, this pick was no different; it was my size, it was on sale, and best of all, it was bought in Delaware, so it was tax free. However, it was $40. That is the most I've spent in a single clothing item, but I am mostly happy with it. And I met my mark for that shopping trip, so go me!

I must be one of those weird people that can go to a mall, go through 12 different stores, and walk out with exactly one item. And lunch. I did cheat and bought some chinese food at the mall, since it was close to 5pm by the time I was leaving (got there at 1pm), and boy was I hungry. That added another $8.

As far as gifts go, I will be spending approximately $50 on the wedding gifts, and I am teaming up with another friend and to buy something nice for our graduating friend. I'm glad we're teaming up, because I had no idea what to get. Also, sharing expenses will be mighty nice.

Last... They say you never forget how to ride a bike... so that either means I never learned, or I'm beating the odds and actually forgetting how to. I spent a good hour on Monday night riding the bike, and it is quite challenging. I didn't fall, so all of my bones are still intact, although I'm quite sore and was severely out of breath when I stopped. I can't make turns yet, but I sure learned how to use the brakes. I've already tried it once again, for 20min around the neighborhood, and boy did I make a fool out of myself. Still no broken anythings, and I havent fallen, but I can't make turns or go in a straight line for long. Oh well. Fun things!

Budget Recap 5/24/12

Well, this was a very messed up month. And an even messier past 2 weeks. I had reached my limit too early on this past pay period, so that meant I had to borrow from this one's. Last time I had considered multiple versions of how to pay for allergy medication, and decided just to throw it into this coming paycheck instead of taking it from an over payment to CC1, because to be honest, I feel pretty darn good about paying $400 to it. It's down to $2200!  In about 2 months or so, it'll be at 50%. I've come a long way and I'm just excited to see this number continue to fall down down down.

So let's see what happened these past 2 weeks:
No spend-days: 8/14
Food: $36.95 / $60
Misc: $83.16 / $40 (includes $26.29 for Claritin and TP)
Gas: $104.54 / $50 (tank for me, partial for my dad's car)
Over by $74.65. Granted, this overage is distributed between replacing my computer's keyboard which mysteriously died, putting some gas in my dad's tank because we had to switch vehicles again, and allergy medication.

(Also, THANKS to Newlyweds' Erika for sending me some Zyrtec that she had! I really appreciate that. Zyrtec does seem to work better for me that Claritin, so I may at some point invest on that. My symptoms seem to be declining now, so I'm hoping that's over for the season... fingers crossed!)

After balancing all accounts, including the paycheck from my part time job, I have come up with $75. That's all the money I have (after gas for my car) for the next two weeks. I KNOW for a fact I'll be going over this month, but I'm not too worried. Even though I don't have an EF yet, I know I wont get to invest on it until Sept. I have $150 that I can use as a Murphy fund to cover for the dress/gifts for the upcoming wedding and graduation, and I'm at peace with this concept.

I'm hoping for a much, much quieter next 2 weeks. Have a great weekend, everybody. Stay SAFE during Memorial Day!

It's just like riding a bike.

Stepping away from finances for a bit, I have a confession to make. I don't know how to ride a bike. I never learned. But I shortly will.

For those that didn't know (me included), May is National Bike month. Even if it's almost gone, it's never too late to celebrate, right? I received a very inspiring article about riding your bike to work and just riding it as a form of entertainment and exercise. I would love to just ride away the afternoons for an hour or two after work. And definitely, I'd love to ride it to work.

I brought her with me Monday, but I had to go to the store and did not feel like trying afterwards. Tuesday, I had to cook. And that took too long, since I cooked for the whole week (go me!). Wednesday, it was pouring. Today, I have a meeting at my other job (ugh! I'll spend more $ just in gas going there than what I will get paid for), so I won't get home til after 9pm. Tomorrow is Friday, so I am hoping it doesn't pour down again. I'll be going down to a little park, and hope there are not too many people there.

There's something a bit bothersome about not knowing how to ride a bike at my age. It's something I am expected to know, since everyone else does, right? It's a rite of passage for many. Not for me or my family. So I'm slightly troubled to make a fool out of myself falling down repeatedly, or worse, hurting myself. But you know what? Meh. Since when do I care what other people think?

There are a lot of 'basic' skills that not everyone has. There are some skills that not everyone has bothered to acquire or worry about. There's cooking, DIY'ing, effectively using coupons, changing your car oil, or brakes, or windshield wipers, riding a bike, balancing a checkbook, creating a budget, hanging a photo without breaking a wall, etc.

So what's a skill that you have not learned yet that you think everyone thinks it's pretty basic? If you can't think of any, what would be the last skill you acquired that you think you should've known sooner?

Lack of Consistency

The morning woke up to fog and gray skies, all the way up until noon. We were bestowed graciously with some sunshine. For about 2 minutes. Then a thunder that made paper clips shake on desks marked the start of a good 10min torrential rain pour down. Then it was calm and gray again. Until the sun came out to shine for a grand total of 7 minutes. Torrential rain followed for 15min. Gray skies claimed the scenery once more. It's only 4:40pm at the time of this writing, and we saw the sun for a mere few seconds... you guessed it; torrential rain. There goes my plan of riding the bike tonight.

So besides updating you on our bipolar weather conditions, why am I bringing this up?

I seem to do this a LOT of the time. I get extremely motivated, because I have received some extra money, either from my PT job or a bonus or just saved some money by doing something right. Then bam; I get hit with a storm of bad things that last just as much. Then I'm back to the gray skies. Some days are non-issue financially, but I must say that my lack of EF makes me extremely anxious about money, even if there's no money movement for 10 of 14 days per 2wk period.

I'm worried about having to buy a wedding gift and a graduation gift. I'm worried about having to buy a proper wedding attire. I'm worried about the cost to go down to the graduation. While I could certainly skip it, I'd rather have that experience. August will be my bail-out month. August will actually bring a lot of good things (except another birthday, boo!). But this lack of consistency is really getting to me, and I need to focus on the days when it's actually blue. Which hopefully will be tomorrow. Or as soon as it stops raining.

How's your day going? Sunny, gray, or stormy? What's your personal forecast?

Why, Verizon, why?!

One of the things I do splurge on is my smartphone. Yes, I know about prepay plans and a more basic phone, and this is entirely a want. I don't go out to for entertainment, so I consider my phone part of my entertainment budget. All in all, I pay $75/mo, which includes unlimited data, and the minimum amount of minutes I can get. The data plan is really important for me, as most of my friends are out of state and we keep up by chat or email.

I've had unlimited data for my phone since I first got it. That is $30/mo. Which is cheaper than all other current offerings. Verizon stopped offering the Unlimited plan last June, but those that still had it were allowed to keep it. Now, it seems that they're making a move to get rid of it.

According to the news, Verizon is trying to force people out of Unlimited plans and into what they call "share data". I won't go into the nitty gritty details of it, but what really affects me is that they MAY let users keep their unlimited plans, as long as they give up the subsidy when upgrading phones. That is, that instead of the $100 phone with a 2yr contract, I'll need to pay $550 for the phone myself. I guess that I will need to create a separate fund to pay for my cellphone at full price.

Thankfully it is payday this Friday, so I'll take a second look at my budget.

Checking up with goals

I had completely forgotten about monthly, quarterly, semi annual and annual goals. It just escaped my mind entirely. So since May didnt have any goals to start with (and I wish it did!), I've decided to look at my more long term goals.

I still have until December to complete my goals, but I am very behind on some. I have not finished one book. I'm not sure what it is, but I haven't really looked around for something that interests me. I've cooked about 3 cookbook recipes, and they all came out rather decent. But I blew my EF and Murphy funds on my parents, and thanks to the tax I owe, I won't be able to fully work on either until after September.

However, I'm doing very well on some of the smaller ones. I know not everyone is a fan, but coupons have saved me a lot of money ($200!), which has helped me with my goal to donate things/money to charity (up to $65 donated!). It also has helped me experiment with my cooking and try new products. Thanks to my new credit card, I'm well ahead of my snowballing quota (I know, I keep making it sound like it is a great thing and some of you cringe, but it really is good for me). So even though my CC1 wont see any more snowballs until about the end of September, I've made bulk payments in March, April and May that total 6 month's worth of snowballs. The bulk payments also mean smaller interest! By a bit, but it counts.

I know I shouldn't even be looking that far ahead, since it seems I've come to depend a little bit on these 3-paycheck months, but my next one is in August, and that will help me finish boosting my EF and Murphy funds. Once summer is over, I am ready for things to calm down and stay down. Yes, I'm probably the only person around looking forward to the end of summer.

After all, it is wedding season.

I got invited to a wedding for 6/16. I knew the wedding was coming, but I guess I never connected the dots. It's for the company owner's son, and we're excited he's finally getting married. But that means I need to buy appropriate wedding attire, which I don't own. Boo... Think I can borrow Mysti's stuff once she's done with hers? Weddings are a completely different story when you're working them vs when you're attending them as a guest... I find it a bit unnerving, so pardon me while I panic about it in the upcoming weeks.

I work in about 40 weddings a year, so you’d think I’d know exactly what to wear. But I don’t! So wish me luck… I’ll go to consignment stores within the next few weeks and see what’s out there. I most certainly am not looking to spend more than about $40 on wedding clothes… as unrealistic as that sounds. I don’t anticipate wearing whatever I pick more often than once a year after June, so I definitely am not looking to invest a lot on it.

I've also gotten invited to a graduation on 6/8. It's in SC, which would be a 6hr drive each way trip, or 640mi, $100 in gas, $40-60 in tolls total. Yes, I did break it down to cost. That, plus some sort of graduation gift, would be my total expenses. The family of the graduate is willing to let me stay with them for the weekend. Whatever I buy for the wedding, I can use at the graduation. Win win!

Another thing in my mind is my vacation. I thought I had the dates and everything straight. I've been tracking airfare with Yapta. But... things have gotten unnecessarily complicated, and I am not sure when or if I will be going back for a second visit this year. I'll still save for it (about $400 total), and I’m about 80% sure I am using it, but still that 20% is a very nagging portion.

June is approaching a LOT faster than I thought. I'll start re-evaluating May (since it started without goals) and checking what I can accomplish in June.

Suddenly: Allergies!

I won't lie. I messed up again. At this point, it is costing me more to WORK on my part time job than NOT to work. I made about $78 net by working on Saturday. On Thursday, my dad asked to switch vehicles, since mine was the only one without a check-engine light on, and my younger brother needed it to take his driver's test. My car had a full tank at the time. I got the big SUV with no gas. So I put in $45 (which was barely half a tank!). I figured that since my car had a full tank, I wouldn't need to put any more gas on it for 2 weeks.

Yeah. Right. I get my car and they managed to put in over 200mi in a mere 3 days. I have no idea how that happened, but I had to put more gas on my car. So there went $35. That's $80 in gas, which is more than what I had just earned that weekend. It left me with $70 for all other purchases, except... oh, yes. I had agreed to pay their electricity with my card, because my dad had his money on his Paypal and wouldn't be able to transfer it on time to make said payment. But he only had part of the amount and not all. He was $40 short, which he'd deposit in my account on Thursday. I didn't get it. So that's another mark off. $30 left for the next 2 weeks.

I bought some groceries, but not a lot. Not enough, for sure. But all in all, I have a LOT of stuff I need to buy, at least $20-$30 of stuff (including allergy medication, because it seems that suddenly I've acquired allergies to any airborne particle, and I've sneezed so much in the past 2 days that my nose hurts). But guess what? I have $0 left for another 10 days. This is a dilemma.

Should I:
1) Charge it to Chase and pay it off with the next paycheck (accruing no interest, since the payday and payment due date are the same)?
2) Underpay the over-payment to CC1 (I got a second bonus from my Chase credit card, $300, plus the regular $100 payment makes a total of $400 which will be transferred the 18th)
3) Use the reward points I've gotten from Chase so far ($45 or so worth, which I was going to keep as an ongoing Christmas fund)
4) Hold off until next pay day and bear it. I am really hoping this allergy thing doesn't stick around for long. Because for someone who has never really had allergies, this is REALLY uncomfortable.
5) Use emergency $15 in the car's glove compartment

I'm leaning towards 1. I would do #4 as a punishment, but I am so unfocused and borderline miserable at work, that I will have to get something and hope it works. I've been recommended a generic Zyrtec, so I'll go with that. Hope everyone is having a better night! I'll try to get some rest, slathered in Vick's vapor rub. It seems to calm my head a little.

Have you seen my Student Loan 1?

It was here last week... did you check behind?

Have you seen my Loan1? Because I most certainly cannot find it! When logging in last night to make the payment that will drop me from the $9,000's, it said that the loan had been paid up. Yeah, right. I am sad to report I wasn't even excited (or tricked) for half a second. So looking around, it had actually gotten transferred. Without notice. Right that day (5/10). I have to wonder if I had made a payment on Wednesday, what kind of disaster might've happened.

It's a Federal Loan and they've changed their websites at least 3 times in the past 4 years. But at least they'd give us notice. This time? Not as much. And I can't find any redirection, emails, mail pieces, nothing pertaining this change. Hmph. I am sure THEY would not appreciate me moving and not giving them a forward address...

I have their number and info written down and will call them at some point today. I am working tomorrow, so I'll try to stay busy and keep my spending under control. It is already looking bleak, as I may have to put gas on my dad's car just to get to work. My car (which is the oldest!) at their house is the only one really trouble, check-engine/oil/motor/trunk light free, so one of my younger brothers needed it to take their driving test. They get my full-tank car, I get the really big SUV with less than 1/5 gas left on it. Joy. I know how some parents feel with their teenage kids when they start driving...

Let the weekend begin!

EDIT: Found it. Boo! It's now been transferred to Mohela, but Laura mentioned hers went to EDFinancial.

Thursday Budget Recap 5/10/12 & They want me back!

It almost feels weird to have to do a budget recap. It's like you all are keeping tabs on me. I am keeping tabs on me. It was fun to just be freed from that during Mar/Apr, but no more! 

So, my variable budget remained unchanged:

Groceries: $57.10 / $60

Misc.: $35.90 / $40

Gas: $46.51 / $50

Total: $139.51 / $150.00

All in all, I'm still under by $10.49. Now, I wish I could say it was otherwise great... but besides me not working and still recovering from Mar/Apr, I have certainly not made a lot of forward moving. 

On other more interesting news, CC1 is actually a Bank of America card. If you know a bit about me, you know already this card that is "mine" was actually opened by my mother without my consent/permission/knowledge. But it is legally mine. I also have a Bank of America checking/savings account. Which gives no benefit whatsoever, but it does have free checking. The savings account has given me a total of about $0.05 in all of the past 5 years. Needless to say, it sort of sucks. I am now a happy ING Direct customer.

But the reason I am telling you all this? It seems that BoA is noticing my movements. I stopped Direct Deposit. I keep my bank account with pretty much no funds. Same for the savings account. I removed my Paypal links and deactivated any direct payments to/from that account.  Since doing these things, I have received at least 6 emails from BoA telling me about their features, how to use their mobile banking, how to "save" and how to avoid overdraft fees. I mean, those were all nice and dandy. But then while touring DC, I see this:

Is this their version of a love shack? Sorry, BoA. But we really need to break up. Permanently. I'm still keeping your account out of habit and convenience... but your credit card is falling rapidly. Eventually, you and I will simply be no more. I hope you understand. And if you don't, well. Tough. 

I must be enjoying having my OWN stuff too much. My own bank accounts, my own credit cards. Makes me wonder if I would've made the same mistakes as my mother (overspending, over-drafting my accounts, maxing cards) had I been given the chance. I guess that'll be forever a mystery! 

Net Worth: A first look

I have gotten really, really curious about what my networth would look like. I know it is negative, but how negative? Let's find out.

Assets:
Retirement funds: $6,904
Cash (including EF): $150
Car (scrap value): $300
Total: $7,354

Debts:
Studen Loans: $10,899
Credit Card: $4,142
Other: $4,426 (dad's car)
Total: $19,469

Net worth: -$12,115

I have mixed feelings about this. It is lower than I thought it'd be, considering my debts, but it is also higher than $10k, which surprised me upon seeing the number. Granted, if I were to decide to be a jerk and drop my dad's car loan on him, that'd bring my total debt to $15,043 and net worth up to a mere -$7,689. I'm pretty sure we've established I am not a jerk, so I'll leave that up there. For now.

All in all, I am kind of happy with these numbers. Two things about my retirement funds:
1) The bulk of it (almost $6,800 of it) is from my full time employment, and I think it is rather low...
2) My PT employer "forgot" I had qualified for the 401k over 6-7 years ago. So I really did not sign up until about March this year, when I received a random booklet about it. This really bites, because they do a match, albeit a small match (3% at 1:1, the next 2% at .50:1). My FT employer does not do any matches, but they do contributions if the year turns out ok, which is a great help.

I can't say or promise I'll increase this amount any time soon, because I wont, but I am definitely going to be looking at that a bit more closely.

Losing my cool

As many of you know, I can't really stand my mother. And not in a pre-teen/teenager fashion, but as an adult can dislike another adult person for the choices they impose on others. In contrast, I am supposed to like my dad a lot. Or so I thought until recently, where that is also beginning to fade.

My dad is an awesome person. But he hates confrontation to the point he will willingly let my mother (mis)manage his money, just so that he can point to her and not be accountable. All the mess in the house? Her fault. All the debt? Her fault. It's raining today? Her fault. Which is true (except the rain part), but he isn't helping. Neither am I, but we talk about me enough on this blog. So let's talk about my father.

Last night I went to bed very, very ticked off at him. Why? Long story short, here's what I was told:

- I was to call my dad's cellphone provider AT&T (which is still in my name... I know, I am working on changing it!) to investigate why my younger sister's phone had not been shipped.

What actually happened?:

- They had attempted to move my mother's line from her old Verizon account. So they were moving her phone, without really moving the line, in order to 'score' a new phone for my sister, who had used her upgrade status earlier this year.

So there I was, clocking in at 2hrs, with a supervisor that thinks I am trying to scam the system, and me rather embarassed. I end the call as quickly as possible and call my dad. Who thinks that it is nothing out of the ordinary that he knowingly has, once again, just lied to my face. So I yell (in texts) and tell them to figure it on their own and go to bed.

I spent a better part of this morning thinking about apologizing. It isn't his fault. It is NEVER his fault. But conceiling information is just as bad as lying. Then I get an email from AT&T saying that the phone has been ordered. I guess they did get it resolved, but... It really pains me to get on my dad's bad side, because I know he feels like he doesn't have anyone trustworthy anymore. My older brother isnt. He's too in-league with our mother. The younger three are worse and very uncaring. So I know my dad depends on me to help him out, and though I'd hate to burn that bridge, I think it's time for me to start walking away. Sad to see some things come to this. I guess our relationship will be just another casualty in this war.

After-weekend post

Stuff has been weighing on my mind recently, so I had thought about going driving down to places I hadn't been to before by myself (like Delaware) to clear my mind. Before I knew it, I had chosen to do ALL of my chores first which I had been putting off for a while. I guess it's still a win, but needless to say, I didn't go anywhere. Which works for me, as I have $0 to spend!

One (of two) of my managers at my part time job has been on paternity leave, so we only have 1 manager on staff, which is the fewest we've ever had. But this one manager has never really liked the fact I only work Saturdays, so besides putting me on a 20hr shift (5am-12:30am) a couple of weeks ago, he's been keeping me off the schedule. I'm trying to make the best of it, since it is the busy season and I would normally get no time off, but it irks me slightly that they are REALLY busy at work, and he refuses to put me on.

Last weekend I went wandering with my half brother around DC and had lunch with him (about $45 after all was said and done, including gas, tolls, food and spending money). This weekend? I spent zero and stayed in. Next weekend I'm back to working, so that extra money will be welcomed as I am sending in the extra payments for my taxes.

Another good thing about this coming weekend? It seems I may be getting $300 back again from my new credit card! The check mailed last week, so hopefully I get it before Friday. If I do, that will be yet another unexpected snowball on my CC1. I know that I shouldn't be getting excited about using a credit card, but if this card (Chase Freedom) has already paid me $600 in just promotional bonus offers and I have collected over $45 worth in points without accruing a cent of interest. I must say I am all up for this. I know that the $600 is definitely a one time deal, but the $45 I got for 2 month's worth of regular spending and can take out right away, is a much better reward than I could ever get with CC1 or CC2. And a better reward than if I had just paid with cash.

Here's to hoping for a great week! I'll resume my bi-monthly money checkups on Thursday, in anticipation for payday on Friday.

Me and my loaner (car)

I know I may sound too upbeat about my most recent mess up, but for some reason, it doesn't bother me as much as it should. Maybe because I didn’t give them the money forfeiting the intention of getting it back (like I normally do). But anyway, yes, I screwed up and I’m working my way up… again.

A few of you had some questions, so let me try to address them quickly:

- The Honda car was supposed to be for me, so I could return the loaner car and have a more reliable ride. Then my parents attempted to hide the car from me since my younger sister also wanted the car. I wouldn’t have minded either way.

- The Honda then was supposed to be for my younger sister and I made the mistake of offering to pay for a (large) portion of it so she could take it. My sister would repay me back.

- The Honda car didn’t sell, so my parents took my money and bought a Saturn which needs transmission work. I wasn’t involved in the decision and didn’t learn about it until much after the fact.

- Furthermore, the Saturn is now my parents’, since it’s an SUV type car. My younger sister will probably inherit the other small car of the house (not my loaner). This means I wont be getting paid for it. 

- I could claim the Saturn as my own, since it was my money, but it just doesn’t feel right to do so. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

However, a few of you including Rafiki brought up a very good point:

With this new vehicle, once it is fixed, does that mean my loaner remains a loaner? Or can I claim it for my own, fully and rightfully?

I thought about this, and I realized I don’t like the loaner. I never have. When my car died, which was a car I truly liked, I had to take the loaner. And I hate it. It’s too long and wide and hard to park. It does takes me from point A to point B, but it is lousy. But you know what? It isn’t about me liking it. It is about having a reliable car. So whether I like this car or not, I have decided it is mine. It is no longer a loaner, and though nothing has changed/has to change except my mentality, it makes me feel a bit better to know I have a car that is mine. I may not like it, but hey, can’t win all. It's probably not worth anything as a trade in and it is likely it will get damaged/die in the next 3 or so years, and it already needs new brakes. It needs a VERY thorough cleaning inside and out. But it's my car. Welcome to my family, junkie ex-loaner! 

What became of April

So, let's talk numbers. My budget remained the same. Which was $150 food/misc/gas every 2 weeks. I paid all of my obligations, and then some (thanks credit card bonuses!). Thanks to the VERY unhealthy habit of not going grocery shopping, I didnt really overspend, though my grocery budget had to be allocated to... the parents.

What in all was the damage? Let's count it. Actually, let me show you to the store where you can buy pitchforks and some torches, while I go run up some dark castle in a stormy night...

My dad had told me that there was this awesome 2004 car for sale, for the low price of $2500. Fully working, no major issues. I have REALLY been wanting a car to call my own. He told me this one Monday, and did not communicate with me for another 4 days.

I then offer to help with the money, since the car for that price IS an outstanding deal, and younger sister could use a car for her commute to/from college. (She can't pay for it, of course.) I had told them that Monday that the most I could lend was $1500. Yes. That was my BIG mistake. But let me finish the story before you hunt me down. Sister could pay $500. So the plan was to offer $2000 in cash and walk away with the car.The owner wouldn't budge.

So what happened, may you ask? They went out and bought another car. A 2006 (I think) Saturn Vue. Gorgeous looking car for the price of $1500. MY $1500. It needs transmission work, but even after that is repaired for a total of about $800, they are getting a car much newer than any they have owned before, for a fraction of the price. Did I mention it looks great?

Right. Back to the story. The $1000 came from my EF, plus $500 total overflow from my vacations and part time job. As a last defense of mine, let me say this: the only reason I gave them my money was because my sister would be the one paying me back. And I had no doubt she would pay me back. But now that the car is more of 'my parents's car, I know I won't be seeing that money.

I can't even think of rebuilding my EF yet, either, but I have managed to hide $150 away from my part time job. Gotta start somewhere!

Possible events coming up? I might go to a graduation in June for a very good friend of mine (driving 6hrs each way, about $140 in total with tolls and all), then a convention ($60 tops spent, including hotel room for a day), and shipping myself back to Chicago for a week in July ($400). All of this equals $600, which will be the overage from a 3-check month in August.

In defense of free food

You know, when I first decided to read up on PF type blogs, I read somewhere what was said to be a very important rule: 'never turn down free food.' I was young and naive back then, and didn't even know who Murphy was (but he was known by all! How could that be?!), or what PF stood for (Personal Finance). Now, for someone that is hard pressed against receiving help of others, and someone who is a bit shy about accepting things, this was a tough principle to accept. So I remember thinking it must've been really important and took it to heart. As the months went by, I've warmed up to the idea, and I've learned to appreciate free food and I'm not awfully shy to volunteer to take leftovers home.

The reason I brought all that up is because there was an offer for a free pizza, and I decided to chance it. I had already partaken in their campaign last time it happened at the beginning of April, and scored a free pizza. That was 4 meals' worth! Counted, it's just me, but still. It's a lot. So I saw that the promotion was up again and waited. And waited. And waited. Score! A second one. Since it had to be ordered by this weekend, I wanted to offer it to my half-brother. He not only turned down the offer, but looked down on my offer to him, since the pizza is inferior to his expectations (how come I get paired up with rich snobs like him?), it was 'too far and out of his way' (4 blocks from his school) and not worth the hassle.

Ok. I respect that. I just didn't need to be lectured, especially after he told me how he ate 5lbs of gummy bears in 3 days, and bought $25 worth of 'snacks' while he watches playoffs at ungodly hours of the night. But moving on, I decided to offer it to my brother. I thought the kiddo and wifey would appreciate a nice break. The pizza is small, supposed to be for 2 people, but pair it with a nice side of salad and you can stretch it. Same situation: inferior, unhealthy pizza, not worth the hassle, and that it is probably free because it's junk.

Alrighty then. I guess I'll have a nice Friday night meal for myself! That'll be $8+tax I will be saving on my food budget. Yes, it isn't your +10 healthy food, but it is something I would've liked to eat, if I had extra money laying around.

What do you think of free food? Yay, nay, or depends?

For me, of course it depends. Pizza is definitely in my 'Yay' category.