fiscal (ir)responsibility

[mellowtigger]

Semi-unrelated news: I noticed a few weeks ago that the pay-by-thumbprint device at the local Cub Foods (local chain of stores for cheap groceries) is gone. I asked, and they said the company went bankrupt. *sigh* Luckily, I had cash in my wallet at the time.

I'm still $3k in debt on my credit card from living on credit while I was unemployed. It'll be a long time (more than a year) before I can pay all that off. The money from my tax refund is still in my checking account, and I'm looking forward to an $800 save-the-economy-now tax rebate coming soon. What I should do is dump it all into my debt.

I even have plans this weekend to visit thrift stores to check out what eyeglass frames they have. I figure if I can find something wearable that way, I can save money when I go to the optometrist for new prescription and lenses. My current eyeglass frames have been busted for a few years now. I took them to 6 or 7 different offices to get them repaired and all of them told me that they couldn't be fixed. So I need new frames.

So I'm trying to be responsible in my spending, really.

And yet just this morning while searching for motherboards with DDR2 memory (which has significantly lower power requirements than DDR3 with nearly the same performance, and much cheaper)... I found this motherboard and am now sorely tempted to charge it to my credit card. Argh!

ASUS Rampage Formula motherboard (NewEgg price: $289, Anandtech review, product info)
Intel Core2 Quad cpu (NewEgg price: $275, product info)
G.Skill 4GB memory (NewEgg price: $150)
Then for video do I want a $300 9800 GTX or a $205 8800 GTS?

Altogether about $1000 for a new system, plus some odds and ends.  At this point, I'm having to consciously resist the urge to pull out my Visa card and charge it.

Comments

[randomcub.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you're a Costco kinda person, but I have heard from a local friend that they have a substantially discounted price on frames compared to other retailers.

[mellowtigger]

Ooh, that's something to check out, thanks for the tip. Aren't they like Sam's where you need a membership card?

[randomcub.livejournal.com]

You do need a membership card. *nod*

However, if by getting a $50 membership you save $200 on a pair of frames, that might be worth it. . . The friend we talked to was our nice lesbian pastor; she said the frames she got were a designer brand and were like 1/3 the price she saw elsewhere. So that's hearsay, but she's pretty trustworthy!

[mellowtigger]

Do you need to show your card at the door to get inside or just at the counter to purchase?

[randomcub.livejournal.com]

I think they will let you inside as far as the counter. You could ask. . . there's the one in Saint Louis Park and the one in Maple Grove.

[nudewoody.livejournal.com]

Have you considered the concept that credit card debt is just one more tool for wealth to move from the bottom strata to the top, further increasing wealth inequality? If you look at it this way it might make you more resistant to using your card.

[mellowtigger]

Absolutely. I already see it much like that. I figure that my "debt interest" helps pay somebody else's "savings interest" that they collect for no reason whatsoever but somehow they deserve it anyway. (Golly, how opinionated!)

I'm nearly at the point, though, where I want to actively bring about the collapse. Financial. (ramp up that debt!) Ecological. (burn that gasoline!) Modern life is so screwy that I don't see an easy path for getting from the proverbial here to there. Which means catastrophe is the obvious solution for returning to some kind of equilibrium. The sooner, the better.

I am, also, far too amused at the prospect of taking my save-the-American-economy money from Bush and just forwarding it to Asia for my technological parts. How daft is that? Yay, me. :) Give me another sabot, please, I seem to have already thrown my shoes away.

hm

[arkanjil.livejournal.com]

The company that was running those kiosks was the one my bear was let go by, some five months back. The Cubs foods was separate division, but apparently all over but the shouting- they couldn't find vc funding int he current credit environment...

And if your prescription hasnt changed, you can always order glasses online- the savings are very high that way

[ranger1.livejournal.com]

Ah, I hadn't noticed those evil pay-by-fingerprint devices were gone. Good riddance.

Re: hm

[mellowtigger]

What is "vc" funding?

And the online ordering is another good idea. Unfortunately, I also need a new prescription. It's been a very long time (5+ years?) since my last eye exam and should get checked out.

[mellowtigger]

What was evil about it? I actually used it a few times before it disappeared. It seemed okay to me, but I didn't check out the details on it.

vc

[arkanjil.livejournal.com]

equals venture capital, the process by which the dot com boom was born and busted- easy money, if you got the right deal, and your willing to settle for thier price...

[ranger1.livejournal.com]

Identity != payment. Something bothered me about the the way that it conflated those concepts.

Also, Cub pushed it heavily and that annoyed me.