Love what you have…

Posted by random olio

Do you enjoy your life? Do you work hard to meet some unattainable goal? Do you ever wonder why you try so hard, and whether you are missing out on some other aspect of your life in the process?

I woke up this morning (of course not wanting to get out of bed), with an immense amount of gratitude and appreciation for what I have today. It is so easy to look forward at what is next, to anticipate that x or y will happen, and in doing so we lose sight of what is NOW, what is today. What if you were able to only look at what you had to accomplish today? What if we had no capacity to wonder how we will ever accomplish what is on our ongoing plate of to-dos, and we could only do what was possible today?

For those of you that know me well, or who have been following my blog for a while know that I have an interest in personal finance. As I have grown up, I’ve been in situations where life has forced me to understand the steps to take regarding wills, estates, living wills, life insurance, etc. This has led me to want to know more and understand what we can do to set up our financial future for ourselves and family (or future family).

Due to my interest in personal finance, I follow the LearnVest newsletter each day. Recently I found a newsletter I saved from January that really spoke to me about gratitude. While I do not think I have Money Comparisonitis, this newsletter on “Money Comparisonitis” (specifically the 4th bullet) can cross over to any area of our life. I also think the following points in their newsletter are good reminders:

“Be grateful for the things you already have, whether that means your health, close friendships, the love of your family or your fulfilling career.”

Later it says:

“One way to better appreciate the good things is to make a gratitude list every day, which will remind you of everything in your life you’re already grateful for. And, ultimately, that’s the best way to keep comparisonitis at bay.”

What if we lived in present gratitude instead of moments of anticipation? What is on my gratitude list will be different from what is on yours, but nevertheless we all have a lot to be grateful for.

It is almost time for the weekend. What if we focused on gratitude and appreciation for the next few days?!

Emotional decisions: Another cookie? New jeans?

Posted by random olio

So I just found out that yesterday was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. I had no idea. I did not see any details about a national day when I did my research for this blog post about Chocolate Cookies being the default cookie. On Sunday, I made the cookie recipe found on this blog post. So my heart must have known that National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day was just around the corner.

I digress. Enough about cookies. It is, however, a great introduction on an idea I just read about called: “gorging on gratification.” The idea comes from the book: “The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money” by Carl Richards. It is a great book on money and life planning. Carl is a financial planner by trade, but he talks about money in conjunction with life issues. It is a thought-provoking book since money is so intertwined with the choices we make in life. How does this pertain to chocolate chip cookies? Instant gratification. This article from The New York Times discusses Carl’s term: “gorging on gratification” and gives four ways we can delay or stop immediate gratification and keep more of your money in your bank account. I also appreciated this quote from Carl’s book on emotional decisions:

“Money decisions are emotional decisions—and making good money decisions requires emotional clarity. So try to pay attention to your emotions around money. This can be as simple as considering how you feel when you get your monthly investment statement or when a medical bill arrives in the mail. Acknowledging those feelings and being aware of their potential impact on your decisions can be important, often in ways that aren’t clear right away. I’ve found myself asking some really fundamental questions during the last several years. Who I can trust? What’s really important to me? What do I really value? How much is enough? How should I really be spending my time?” page 93

So maybe those freshly baked chocolate chip cookies are not so far from your credit card statement. Maybe self-control with cookies is not that far from self-control with money. Is it hard to control how many cookies you eat, or are they too hard to pass up? How about after you have had 5? Do they still taste as good as that first one? How about that 10th pair of jeans? Do you need them? Or are they different from the others in your closet?

Emotional clarity. Maybe that is a quality we need in all facets in our life. It is something I am definitely going to explore further!

What is your money pledge?

Posted by random olio

Thank you, again, LearnVest. I have blogged before about LearnVest. This week one of their email newsletters mentioned the LearnVest pledge. While I really have no desire to participate in their LearnVest pledge, I do appreciate what they are trying to do. I guess I am not really into things like this that is sponsored by a massive corporation. Since LearnVest is doing it in connection with Chase, it makes me want to run the other way. Having said that, I love the idea of the LV pledge, and I do appreciate the pledge they have put together:

“I pledge to live my richest life, take control of my money, and be a source of support & inspiration for others striving for financial freedom.”

What would your money pledge be? I continue to work on my own money issues. I grew up poor for many years of my life, and spent a lot of time with my grandma. She grew up during the Depression so had quite a Depression mentality in regards to money. Spending so much time with her, and living with her for a few years, I think I took on some of her financial tendencies. When you grow up poor, and constantly watched your parents fight to just put food on the table, keep the electricity on, and the phone in service, it creates a feeling of lack. I am not sure I ever felt there was much of a surplus growing up. When I went to college and then began working after college, I still was often in debt. Whether it was credit card debt to pay for unexpected expenses, in addition to car and student loans, it often was hard to feel like there was ever extra that I could devote to an emergency fund or even to splurge for once.

Today I constantly look at purchases and money decisions in a way that would make you think I live in poverty. I am hard-core about how we spend our money and I think that is my way of trying to make sure I never end up in the situation I was in when I was young. So maybe I overcompensate for my past. Chris often has to get me to see that the decisions we are making are good, progressive, and that we can afford it. It is like he constantly has to bring me into the present. Based on my history with money and my Depression mentality, my money pledge would be more in the lines of:

“I pledge to free myself of the chains I feel around money. I can feel liberated while also making smart choices. As I let go of my past tendencies I hope to inspire and help others who also care about their financial future.”

What is your money pledge? Feel free to share in the comments section of this post if you feel so inclined!

Customer Service – UGH!

Posted by random olio

I have a rant. So our contract is almost up with our Internet/TV/Phone provider. We called today to find out if our rates would increase. They are. By $50. Gulp. Seriously. It does not make sense. We have been a customer for over 3 years and they (ahem – Frontier FIOS) are doing nothing to keep us as a customer. It makes no sense to me. We are researching other companies, and we could move to Comcast, Century Link, or some sort of arrangement with satellite (Dish or Direct TV). So with so many competitors, why would Frontier do nothing to keep us as loyal customers? Their response was that their system no longer allows discounts and the only way to get a deal is to sign a new contract for new service. Again, this makes no sense to me. Why should I have to sign a new contract to continue paying what I am currently paying?

I have had an iPhone for years. My rates have never changed. I was grandfathered in with the unlimited data plan, and yes AT&T I will not leave you, because my unlimited data plan I believe is golden. I never think about how much I am on my phone, using my apps, the Internet, doing email. AT&T never changes my rates from year to year, and I appreciate it. Thank you, AT&T.

So, Frontier, we are looking to change companies. Wouldn’t you? Why should we stick with a company that has always given us bad customer service, messed up our billing for over 9 months, and has done nothing to keep us as a customer? Does anyone have any experience with Century Link or satellite? We have had Comcast before and might switch to them. We will most likely cancel our phone plan and just stick to Internet/TV. I would like to find a TV/Internet provider that actually cares about their customers. Is that even possible? (Frontier could really learn something from Zappos). To find a TV/Internet provider that cares about their customers? I would love to be happily surprised.

Perplexed in Portland.

Warning: Mortgage Auditing Program

Posted by random olio

So this week we received a letter in the mail stating that we “may be owed a refund of several thousand dollars from your mortgage lender.” It then gives the date we signed our home loan and the amount of our original loan. The letter goes on to say:

“Government studies by the FDIC as well as financial audits of lenders have shown that thousands of mortgages contained mistakes or overcharges. Your monthly mortgage payment may have been miscalculated and you may be due a refund from either your current or previous mortgage lender. The average refund is $1,497.32 and one third of the refunds equal $3,000 to $7,500. You are eligible for a mortgage analysis and refund review.”

At first I thought wow, I would not mind a refund! Then I think…this is not from my mortgage company, and all it says for the return address is: Mortgage Auditing Program//Division of Consumer Services – of WHAT company? So I Google: “Mortgage Auditing Program” and all I find are tons of hits about how this is a scam. That you have to pay $249 to sign up, etc. Yuck, I hate stuff like this, because it always makes me think of my grandma and how if she had received something like this, she might have believed it. She was very trusting of companies she worked with, and this is just vague enough and enticing enough to mess with your mind. Who does not want to learn that they could receive a refund from their mortgage company?

If you stop to think about it, the only time you usually see any type of refund from a large company for a mistake is through a class action lawsuit. So if your mortgage was miscalculated, then most likely others were too, or it was part of a larger situation where large numbers were effected and charged a fee they were not truly required to pay. If that happened, you would hear about it in the news or directly from your mortgage company.

Further research shows that the Better Business Bureau gave this company an F rating and they had 41 complaints in the last 12 months. With the following comment: “For $249 the company performs a review of the payments you have made to your mortgage lender.”

I just wanted to share this in case anyone else receives a similar letter. It is frustrating because I do not want individuals to get duped and excited about the possibility for a refund from $3,000 to $7,500!