March 2009

[Honeylioness]

30 March 2009

shopaholic1965 - 03/30/09 08:24 AM

Where can I find what all the initials used stand for?

Honeylioness - 03/30/09 09:01 AM

shopaholic1965 - Welcome. Do not worry about not being "Board Savvy" - there are still some of us who can barely find the shift key on their keyboards!

I too was a bit overwhelmed by all the initials and acronyms so here are some quick references for you so you can understand some of the standard posting "shorthand".

• D = Dear. Used in a variety of ways such as:
  
• DH = dear husband
  
• DS = dear son
  
• DD = dear daughter
  
• DF = dear Fiance
  
• DOM / DOD = dear old mom / dear old dad
  
• DBF = dear boy friend or best friend
  
• BFF = best forever friend, usually someone's best friend of either gender
  
• MIL/BIL/SIL - Mother-in-law, Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law
  
• Furbaby = refers to the dogs/cats most of us own
  
• YO = Years Old. So 45YO means someone is 45 years old
  
• PITA or PIDA = Pain in the A$$
  
• NS or NSD = No Spend or No Spend Day. Each of us defines what that means for us whether it is spending nothing at all or nothing outside of the budget
  
• CS or CSD = Controlled Spend or Controlled Spend Day. Some people allow themselves say $5 a day to spend without accounting for it.
  
• NEO = No Eating Out
  
• CC = Credit Card
  
• MOAN = Moving Our A$$ Now. We started this a few months back as a way to motivate and track physical activity or excercise.
  
• NK = No Kill. This is used to blow off steam - as in "I am trying for a 31 NK co-workers month"
  
• QVC = An on-line and television shopping show that some are trying to stay away from.
  
• Carp = MSN is ultra sensitive about certain words. So we have learned to reverse a couple of letters to get by the censors
  
• RME = Rolls my eyes or . Used when you just cannot believe what someone did or said.

That should get you started for now. Some here have nicknames they have picked up over the years - do not be shy about asking who we are talking about if you are confused. Some of those you will see often are:

• Toasty = Sharing the Simple Lifestyle
  
• Smokey = SingleMom-KY
  
• Pointy = pt_in_NY
  
• R2B2 = Red2Black2011
  
• JMO = JennysMom
  
• MK = MittenKitten

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[Honeylioness]

MP Dunleavey - 03/30/09 07:23 AM

I sometimes like to forget that I am. But with recent family stress this weekend--which happened to coincide with a trip to a High Shopping Area--I really wanted to go to the mall. Fortunately, my dh wouldn't let me out of the car. Besides that wouldn't have matched my aims as a new member of the WIR Savers. But it was a live example of something that Eldar Shafir pointed out to me, he's a psychologist at Princeton, which is that there's the part of you that knows better and the part of you that doesn't. When dealing with difficult financial impulses, you have to find ways to engage your smarter self.

*****************************

Honeylioness - 03/30/09 03:47 PM

I know that I not only have the same problem with emotional spending, but with emotional eating as well – both I think are a form of subconscious compulsion. For me there is something almost primitive about the hunting and acquiring of a fantastic deal, as though it becomes almost a symbol of what a great shopper you are when you can tell someone “Oh yes, this jacket was originally $275, I found it in the clearance section marked down several times, and with the daily discount – well I only paid $10” Or perhaps this is the “woman” equivalent to the stories my uncles share about how long they had to remain still in the deer blind before bagging that 8-point buck.

While the Mall for me is no longer a pleasurable experience as I find it much too noisy, frenetic and overall a major sensory overload – I unfortunately found alternative avenues to indulge my impulse buying when it hits: online auctions, boutiques carrying unusual one-of-a-kind objects or antique/thrift stores.

I like the idea of finding “…ways to engage your smarter self…” I used to find that when I got home with my prizes I no longer felt all that good about them, and occasionally even started stressing out about how much I had spent or charged – to the point that I would take the items back. I have also found that while it is easier for me to identify those “triggers” that make me want to go spend money on non-necessities, it is not as easy yet to pause and look at them rationally before the cash leaves my wallet.

[Honeylioness]

29 March 2009

I went back and forth about going out yesterday with my best friend and another woman. These are the two I mentioned months ago who I went to Brimfield with and they dropped so much money on jewelry. But Saturday morning I decided sitting around alone brooding may not be the best thing I could do for myself. So we went to "Woolapalooza" at a nearby Audobon sanctuary. Now, without any conceit I can say that the Sheep Shearing festival I work at the Gore is a much larger and varied event. However the weather was incredible, it got up to 60, beautiful grounds, we got to see some rescued animals the Society cares for like a Red-Tailed Hawk, Screech Owl, Horned Owl, a rare black and white Red Fox and the most gorgeous Woodland Grouse.

We also ran into the man that does the shearing at my event. It was nice to sit in a field and just talk with other women about life and non-work things. But it was a spend day. We had visited the barns where one of the mules took a real liking to me, especially when he discovered that I knew how to properly scratch and rub behind his ears which he can't reach. Ruth took some pictures of me and the mule "snuggling" which I hope she sends me soon. After leaving my new buddy we were looking at some of the vendor booths when I saw some incredible wooden items hand made by a local carver. I bought a heart shaped hair clip in cherry wood, a large barrette in ash wood, and a shawl pin. This is a lovely round carved ring with martching long "pin" - you place the ring over where the shawl overlaps and "weave" the pin through the weave of the cloth inside the ring and the shawl stays put - you can also use it in your hair.

I need to find some time to focus and really look at my budget and bills since in the last couple of months it feels as though I am not handling my money as well as I should - but at the moment I cannot seem to pinpoint just what the problem is. I just know that on paper it should work, but Friday I had to transfer money from savings to pay some bills - which almost made me cry.

[Honeylioness]

31 March 2009

Does anyone remember "Young Frankenstein" with Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman? There is a great scene where they are digging up a corpse to use for his experiment when Dr. Fronkensteen says to I-gore

[Froederick and Igor are exhuming a dead criminal]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: What a filthy job.
Igor: Could be worse.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: How?
Igor: Could be raining.
[it starts to pour]

Well, that is one of my favorite lines - Could be worse, could be raining. Or in today's case - Could be worse, I could have worked at Dyax.

That is where my best friend works - or did until yesterday. I got a message from her around 10 am that the company had laid off HALF their staff with no warning or notice - and she was one of those now unemployed. Yes, they have given her two month's severance, and two months of continuing health coverage. But in this economy I am worried for her and her husband. She did not sound all that stressed yesterday when I spoke to her - but I don't know. Perhaps it has not yet sunk in.