How are you spending your money?

Here are some stats regarding US money management that I found from these websites:
http://character-education.info/Money/money-studies-and-statistics3.htm
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php

* 93% of retirees carry some debt
* Real Median Household Income = $48,201
* Official Poverty Rate = 12.3%
* People without health insurance = 15.8%, or 47 million (From U.S. Census)
* 32% "love" their jobs. "Only 9% dislike or hate their jobs."
* "Being married is also strongly related to life satisfaction and happiness, and may be a more important predictor of these states of mind than income."
* "Over half of Americans under 30 expect to be rich some day, but by the time Americans reach the age of 65, only 8% have that dream."
* A new Gallup Poll Social Audit on gambling shows that 57% of Americans have bought a lottery ticket in the last 12 months...."
* "...according to a Gallup poll conducted October 21-24, (1999) 60% of American households are now invested in the stock market."
* 73% of teens whose families discussed the importance of savings reported saving 25% or more of their income.
* A high school diploma increased earnings by $600 per month over those who never completed high school.
* "Thirty-four percent of the adult population (18 and over) had degrees or certificates above the high school level in 2001."
* Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $15,799
* Average number of credit cards held by cardholders: 3.5, as of yearend 2008
* Total U.S. revolving debt (98 percent of which is made up of credit card debt): $793.1 billion, as of May 2011
* Total U.S. consumer debt: $2.43 trillion, as of May 2011
* In 2006, the United States Census Bureau determined that there were nearly 1.5 billion credit cards in use in the U.S. A stack of all those credit cards would reach more than 70 miles into space -- and be almost as tall as 13 Mount Everests.
* Half of college undergraduates had four or more credit cards in 2008. That's up from 43 percent in 2004 and just 32 percent in 2000.
* 76 percent of undergraduates have credit cards, and the average undergrad has $2,200 in credit card. Additionally, they will amass almost $20,000 in student debt.
* At about 20 percent, New Hampshire and New Jersey have the largest concentration of consumers with 10 or more credit cards.
* 58 percent of Hispanics have not used a credit card in the past 30 days.
* Penalty fees from credit cards will add up to about $20.5 billion in 2009, according to R. K. Hammer, a consultant to the credit card industry.
* 36 percent of respondents said they didn't know the interest rate on the card they use most often.
* In the last 12 months, 15 percent of American adults, or nearly 34 million people, have been late making a credit card payment and 8 percent (18 million people) have missed a payment entirely
* Nearly one in three Americans -- 29 percent -- said that in some of the past 12 months, they paid only the minimum payment on their credit cards.
* When finances are tight, 59 percent of people would pay their credit card bills last. A majority -- 52 percent -- would pay the mortgage first and 38 percent say they would pay for utilities before paying other obligations.
* The first widely accepted plastic charge card was issued in 1958 by American Express.
* Between 1989 and 2006, the nation's total credit card charges increased from about $69 billion a year to more than $1.8 trillion. (Source: Demos.org, April 2008)
* It is estimated that there are 10,000 payment card transactions made every second around the world.
* The number of U.S. identity fraud victims rose 12 percent to 11.1 million adults last year, the highest level since the survey began in 2003.

Thank goodness I didn't buy that...

So I was about to buy this today when I was at the store. I need some kind of rolling pin for something I am doing and I thought this was so cool with the alligator on the top and bottom and put it in my shopping cart. After a few aisles I thought to myself "self, what would Chris say if I brought home this ridiculous contraption?"
Always a good thing to think because I am pretty practical when it comes to money and spending but Chris will be even two steps beyond me. So I went through my mental checklist of what would happen if I came down with this 6 inch alligator rolling pin. It would go something like this:

Did you actually buy this? .... Yes!
You know it has an alligator on it right? .... Yes
It's like 6 inches could you even roll out anything with it .... Oh good point
Is that going to fit in the cabinet or drawers? .... Ohh, hmmm yeah true.
How on earth would you use that? .... Hmm
We don't have kids why is it an alligator rolling pin ....

Anyway I answered yes to all of them so I found some place to put it back and felt really good about my decision. How ridiculous would it be if I had gotten that, I can't believe I almost got that thing and besides it was very light and my hands would have hurt using those alligator scaled handles. Anyway, Chris has taught me so well, I'm glad he is my little conscious at the grocery store :)

Rainbows

Wow, moving is the worse. I forget how bad it is until all of my stuff has to be put into boxes. I was thinking that I have moved a ton within the last few years, especially in college, and when I counted I have moved 9 times within 5 years. AHHHHHHHH. I mean most of the time was across campus or somewhere in the same city, but either way, moving required getting everything out of the old apartment and everything back in the new apartment. I also remember the days when everything I owned fit into a car.... no more. Now we have furniture and everything to fill our place but they take up room, we had a hard time putting everything into a 17 foot moving truck which shocked us. Either way we are safely here and are so grateful for family helping us out.
We are in our new place and love it. It has been so fun exploring and figuring out fun things to do. The day we moved in we saw two rainbows which was a tender moment because it symbolizes new beginnings, promise, etc.

My Dad's favorite child, THE DOG

Our dog Bella LOVES my dad, and my dad totally admits he has a soft spot for the dog. She is a sweet little thing. This is her with "Snuggle Puppy" but he had to be tossed because she started eating the fluffing hahah. (Snuggle Purse is in the back along with other pics too)

Her again with Snuggle Puppy.

Sometime we dress her up like for Christmas. That's her only wild outfit, she even has a jingle bell collar. Usually we just have her in jackets because she gets cold in the winter and needs something for walks.

Ok brace yourseslves. Here is Bella on my parent's bedside. She sleeps in their room and my Dad will tuck her into this orange blanket every night. He will get woken up once or twice in the night from her wimpering because she needs the blanket put back on him... and he does it!!! This thing is so spoiled
Here she is looking for deer. We have many deer go through our backyard on a daily basis so she will wait to hopefully find them.

Here she is inside. She gets really mad when we go outside or get into our car because I swear she thinks our lives are one big "WALK."

Bella either wanting some of our food or to go on a walk. (Snuggle Purse is in the back). Oh and if a guest comes, she will run up all over you and have an accident.

Bella loves walks.

Snuggle Purse!!!!!

She loves playing with her bones. Cute!!!


Here she is sunbathing. She loves being in the sun and she gets burned and even turns a pink color if she stays out too long. She likes eating the nuts that falls from the trees.

How I got the Cricut on the plane

There was no other way, kind of embarrassing. But it worked and I got it safely to Utah. So I got it on Saturday for the deal I previously mentioned and I went back on Monday and Tuesday to a few locations and the deal was no longer going and everything was full price.

Another funny story, so I put the cartridges in my purse and my sisters and I went to the mall to shop. I walked in the first store as people were coming out and the security in the store went off. I kept walking and the people opened their bags. Same thing happened as I walked in and the people with their bags started going through it. When it happened in the second store I realized it was me and it was so embarrassing because I beeped off the security in every store and the car was so far away. Oh boy.

Crazy Encounters at the Airport

I totally people watch at the airport. It is so interesting to me, on my way to and from Michigan I took notes of interesting things I saw in the airport and on the plane... ENJOY

• A man standing up and putting deodorant on
• We hadn't boarded for moe than two minutes and the woman in front of me changed her babies diaper
• Waiting at the gate and a woman doing the splits on the ground and staying like that as she read a book
• A lady was checking in her and her dog and she asked if the dog could get sky miles (maybe they can but it sounds so dumb).
• Too many pillow pets and one shaped like a pokemon.
• At the gate, a guy sitting three seats away from me asking me to save his spot. I felt so bad bc I wasn't paying attention and a businessman on his phone say there. Oops
• Two girls carrying fake bats ... Yes like the animal.. Onto the plane. I have no idea why, they were over a foot long
• A really presumptuous lady w a huge hat. She would have fit perfectly I the royal wedding
• A girl with panda ear headphones
• People bringing a longboard and rollerblades on the plane
• I swear I saw an Amish person on a cell phone.
• A man was flossing his teeth at the gate.
• One flight attendent started singing the Tigger song... "the most wonderful about thing about Tiggers, are Tiggers are wonderful things..."
• Oh, and a girl wheeling a Cake Cricut on the plane (ME LOL)

The Zelmgid, finding the good in others

My parents would always read this story to us before the school year. We had some kids over for Family Home Evening so we shared this story. The pieces are separate and we would put them on the board one at a time when they were read.



THE NEW ANIMAL

A new animal was coming to live in the zoo, and the other animals were excited. One morning a big truck backed up to an empty cage, and out stepped the new animal. The zookeeper going a sign outside the cage that said "ZELMGID."

The other animals stared in amazement. The zelmgid did not look like any animal that they had ever seen. He had a long neck and a long tail, and when he opened his mouth, he barked. One by one the other animals turned away from the cage. Because the zelmgid was so different, they were not sure how to treat him.

The zelmgid was very lonely. The animals ignored him, so he had no one to talk to. He was so sad that he didn't eat. The zookeepers began to worry. People stopped visiting the zoo because the new animal was sad and the other animals his in the backs of their cages.

One day the elephant heard the zelmgid barking to himself. "The zelmgid does have a good truck," he told the giraffe. "It's not as long mine, but it's really quite nice."

The giraffe stretched her neck to take a closer look. "Look at his strong neck. He can reach as high as I can."

The lion was looking quietly at the new animal's mane. "My goodness! He has an excellent mane--- almost as thick as mine."

Just then the zebra trotted by the cage. "His coat has a very nice pattern," she said.

"And his horns are curved just right," the ibex said, "just like mine."

When the monkey came swinging from the trees, he said, "Look at that handsome tail. I wonder if the zelmgid would like to play tag?"

Finally the duck waddled by the cage. "What fine feet you have. You probably can swim faster than I can," she said to him.

The zelmgid stopped crying and thanked the duck for the compliment. Soon all the animals were talking together. They felt much happier. Even though the zelmgid looked different, the other animals had all found something about the new animal that they liked.