True Confessions

Spending

Reversal of Fortune

What happens when you give a homeless man $100,000? That's the premise of a new Showtime documentary called Reversal of Fortune. A man who lives under a bridge in Pasadena agrees to participate in a film about the homeless, though he doesn’t know they’re going to give him money.

Debt

Credit Card Do-Si-Do

Last Saturday, I received my monthly credit card statement, which included a $49 fee for the privilege of allowing the bank to charge me 15% interest. Irritated, I decided to cancel my VisaMasterExpress card. The first sign of trouble was that there was no customer service phone number on the card. There was, however, a number to call if the card was lost or stolen. Think about that for a second. The number to report a missing card is on the missing card.

Debt

My Independence Day

The 4th of July is all about freedom, as we were taught about a million times in school. This year, in the run-up to the big celebration, I started to wonder: What if I took a different point of view this year? What if, this 4th of July, I applied the Declaration of Independence to my life around money?

Daily Life

Heaven is a hand-me-down

I know women are supposedly born with a shopping gene. If that's true, my gene is about as recessive as they come. What's that saying, "Shop till you drop?" I'm down for the count in 20 minutes flat.

Daily Life

Pole Dance

Driving isn’t one of my strengths. There are so many more interesting things to pay attention to than the road. Like architecture, professional dog walkers and flower stalls.

Debt

Candy from Strangers

I received a check in the mail today for $7000.35 in an unmarked envelope. It came attached to a letter which read: This is a real check for $7000.35. It’s valid until December 20, 2005.

Debt

Tricky Bastards

Corporations have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves to bamboozle us. Lucky thing I’m an obsessive-compulsive Virgo who reads the fine print.

Daily Life

Slogans for Success

So I have this coffee cup. On the cup is written a challenge: What would you do if you knew you could not fail? “Pour myself a cup of coffee sitting in bed where it’s cozy,” I immediately think. “Because I couldn’t scald my lap the way I did yesterday morning.” Not a very lofty goal. Let me think a little harder. What would I do if I knew I could not fail?

Daily Life

"I'll just shut my eyes"

I grew up with a single mom. She worked every day to provide for us, and she did a great job. Things were never easy. We always knew there wouldn't be enough money. Being a woman, my mom didn't get paid as much as the men she worked with. But when I got my heart set on something, she'd get her heart set on getting it for me.…

Daily Life

Feng Shui'ed

Can feng shui change your life? More importantly, what does feng shui have to do with money? A great deal, as it turns out.

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