My aughties in review

The first 10 years of the '00s were a busy time for me. A lot of stuff went down. I:

• Left four jobs (2000 [layoff], 2001, 2004 and 2009 [layoff]);
• Filed for unemployment (2001, 2009)
• Moved twice (in with M in 2000; 2002)
• Got married (2002)
• Bought a house (2002)
• Turned 30 (2003)
• Saw M's grandmother, grandfather and uncle die (2000, 2001), as well as my uncle (2009) and other loved ones.
• Went to Italy (2004)
• Found out M has lupus and went through chemo with him (2005; worst year of my life)
• Won a large amount of money on a scratch ticket (2006)
• Cruised to Bermuda (2006, 2009)
• Hit 1,000 posts on this here blog (2007)
• Had a baby (2008)
• Became a working mom (2008)
• Lost power for four days in the ice storm (2008)
• Became a SAHM (2009)

Busy, busy. It's a new dawn, a new decade, and I'm feeling good. I just wish it would stop snowing before I pull a Jack from the Shining. I haven't left the house (except to pull the Boo around on his sled for 10 minutes) since New Year's Eve. Which was also pretty much spent in the house.

5 things that make my life easier

• Super Wal-Mart a mile away (let the haters hate, but it sure is convenient)
• Direct deposit
• My MIL as babysitter
• Boo's sweet disposition
• My HE washer and dryer

Jon Stewart, I am in awe

Everyone is talking about Jon Stewart handing Jim Cramer's ass to him. I just watched it. Check it out -- Jon, you are a god. Jim is reduced to a stammering idiot. Although to be fair, it's not entirely his fault.

Good weekend, all.

In these tough economic times

Some financial advice from everyone's favorite lesbian, Suze Orman. Hysterical.

Damn you, partisanship

I'm mad at both Democrats and Republicans. Put it aside and pass a bill that will save our economy, willya? This is too important to keep putting off because you can't stop fighting.

A public service announcement

I don't know anything special about surviving the current financial crisis, but considering my number one search term has been "how to survive the depression," some of you may think I do. I do know how to survive the mental illness. Just clearing that up.

Breaking through the stagnation

I tend to be a procrastinator, and never is that more apparent than when I have to deal with money or bill issues. And it drives M insane. He's had a couple of things he's been nagging me to do, and it's been one of those things where every day I swear I will do it, and then the day gets away from me.

Not today.

I was tired of having this crap hanging over my head, so I made a list and ticked those suckers off one at a time. Money is moving around. Bills are getting paid. Necessary confrontations (the other thing that makes me procrastinate) have been had. Now I feel as light as air. I rock. Booyeah!

Money, money, money

I feel like I'm caught in a media circus, perhaps, but the cost of everything going up is really starting to get to me. Almost $80 to fill my Camry from the bottom of the tank. Higher grocery bills. Everything just seems so overpriced, and lately everyone seems to have their hand out -- the checks have been flying out of our checkbook for various things. Granted, if you want to live a certain way, you need to pay for it. But maybe it's just time to simplify. As much as I dislike Wal-Mart, it does burn significantly less gas to go there than Target or even Market Basket. And the prices are better. Every time I go in there, though, I wind up walking out with a ton more stuff than I intended when I went in.

Dooce has been talking about a detox diet lately, with a lot of support from people who've done it, and it appeals to M and me. We are thinking of going on a modified cleanse, both to simplify, lose weight and get all the crap out of our systems. If you have any thoughts, experience, warnings, etc., I'm all ears.

What's that thing on the sidebar?

I have joined the BlogHer advertising network, which means I get a cut of their ads. So if you like what you read here semiregularly here at Overthink, tell a friend, click on the ad or better yet, tell a friend and BOTH OF YOU click on the ad. Else I will be forced to blather on about my sex life for the Google search results. And no one wants that. Cool?

A real uplifting story

About how hard it is to make ends meet. Check it out. I will say that budgeting has been the key for us, with an occasional splurge.

My thoughts on the mortgage mess

In case you haven't turned on a TV, listened to a radio or read a newspaper in the last few months, a lot of people are in a lot of trouble over their mortgages. They've bought houses they can't afford, with an adjustable rate mortgage or other comeon from some mortgage company, and now that the rates have gone up, they are quite simply screwed. Foreclosures are reaching epidemic proportions here in Massachusetts, the home of ridiculously overpriced real estate, where people are so overextended it's a wonder they can leave the house in the morning.

Here's what I think: The ol' chickens have come home to roost. You cannot expect to have a half-million-dollar house (the going rate in the Boston area for anything decent) and corresponding mortgage and not make sacrifices. There is no such thing as a free lunch (or home). As a homeowner for almost seven years, I can tell you: Paying that mortgage comes first. Before fun. Before clothes. Before vacations. You need a roof over your head. M and I work hard to make sure we have a nice home and keep our debt down to the house only. It pisses me off that others don't do the same. Really, it can be done.

Rest assured I am not addressing this little screed to people who come on hard times or have a situation out of their control come along and affect their finances. Or people who plan carefully and live frugally. I'm talking about people, and I know some personally, who continue to party when they have the responsibility of a house payment and then bitch they have no money. Should have thought of that before you insisted on living in an area with overpriced, limited real estate stock. You need to live within your means. Period.

OK, I'm done now. Back to your regularly scheduled blog.

If you can't pay your mortgage

Don't live in California.

Don't get audited

Saw this article on CNN about audit red flags. While I spent quite a bit of time organizing our tax info earlier this month, getting audited is one of my nightmares. Gaah.