Loopy Fashion

So I overheard a woman trying to talk her best girlfriend into going shopping with her.  She got an email from the Coach purse outlet store about new arrivals and she was bored with the ones she had.

"I can go anytime you are free and I would like to go soon!" she said.  "Now that I lost my job I don't have to worry about the rush hour traffic, so we can go during the day."

Bear in mind she is pre-retirement age, unmarried, and living on a budget.   Fail.

The Donkey Adoption

So these newlyweds couldn't agree on who was going to make what sacrafices to boost their savings.  After many days and hours of having oxygen sucked out of the air with excuse after excuse came the straw that broke the donkey's back.

He was not willing to give up his expensive model airplane habit.  She adopted a group of donkeys in Iran.  I am not kidding.  They sent her photos of her donkeys.

I fired them as clients.

Your Dog Eats What?

After spending weeks getting a client to pour through checking statements, ATM receipts and every conceivable transaction and bill that is paid throughout the year and narrowing it down to what would be if evened out over 12 months we quickly realized she needed an average of $300 more per month than she was actually making in income.  That's $3,600 per year that she needed to pay for from somewhere, usually a credit card.  Desperately needed to save a few hundred a month into an emergency savings account.  So, really she needed about $500 per month from somewhere.

"I just don't know why I can't get this card paid down," she said.  So we went over her detailed list of expenses.  Dining out each month $200, Gifts to friends $80, Cosmetics $50, $100 to various charities as cash, $200 for doggie daycare (playtime for pooch) and $60 per month in fresh chicken for two dogs.  All of which she deemed necessary expenses and would not reduce or eliminate in any way.

Really?

I Need a Smartphone!

Smartphones are great tools to have if you need them and can afford them.  There are ways to have a Smartphone and manage your expenses efficiently.  Here's the rub:

If you cannot afford to buy the actual phone itself at the discounted price you can't afford the plan either!

If you need games and apps get an iPod touch or a tablet.  dumbass