My neighbor, her life has continually gone down hill since we moved here 3 years ago. Now she is having another "moving" sale. I do not know if she is really moving or just raising cash by selling her stuff. She had a moving sale 2 years ago and sold her ballgowns and evening clothes. Then her bmw and Jeep vanished. Her second husband is mainly gone, maybe for good now. Her house has been in default a few times, though not recently. Her utilities are regularly disconnected.
Earlier this summer she closed her office and sold her office furniture. Now she is selling her furniture and professional clothes. The crowds looking for a bargain are getting wet now. Frankly I would not want anything of hers, all the angry words, the yelling, the obscenities soaked into the varnish. These objects are just silent witnesses to the chaos. Not to mention all the dog hair, saliva, and other dog fluids all over everything. Darla
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Storm pictures from Tues July 10
We went to the Magic Kitchen Restaurant in the old Romanesque building on N. Lewis St. Right after we arrived the storm came in. I took these cell pics from the window at our table. The direction is looking north. The dark cloud is the windy roll cloud preceding the gray horizontal streaky rain area. It was so dark the streetlights blinked on. The UFOs in the pictures are the table light over our table reflected in the window. Darla
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Bad Credit-Good Credit and some good tips!
I spent a day off last Thursday thinking about this subject all day. I began this by checking my credit reports on www.annualcreditreport.com. Then today I picked up a copy of the June 2007 Capitol City Courier www.capitalcitycourier.org and read the article by Kim E. Gordon entitled "Why Do So Many Blacks Have Bad Credit?". I will not go in to all the historical stuff and racism and classicism things. This is just a brief tale of one once mired hopelessly in bad credit and how I got out.
For many years I toiled at very low paying jobs with no medical insurance, accumulating various types of bad debt including hospital bills, student loans, credit card debt, and other debt to utilities, stores, etc. During those times (age 20s through early 30s) I was in despair over the subject and mainly tried to ignore and avoid it. Much of my problem was ignorance about the whole credit thing.
Eventually I made it a goal to better my credit. Paying bills on time, not buying unnecessary items, educating myself, and taking concrete actions to improve my credit. I paid off medical bills by going in every payday and paying at the hospital. Phoned all my debtors and worked out payment plans. I secured a better paying job with benefits. I dragged my student loans out of default and got into a program that assisted me to that goal. I started checking my credit reports on a regular basis.
I purchased a new car in 2001 and had a hard time finding credit, I ended up taking the credit from the car company with a slightly elevated interest rate. My credit score at the time was 600 which was much better than it had been, though not very good. I remember being shocked they actually gave it to me! I made all my payments on time and paid off the car in May 2006. Also, I finally paid off my student loans 2 months ago at age 42. Yes it was a long hard road to get to this point but I am actually proud of myself and in disbelief that I actually did it! When I checked my credit report last Thursday it had no negatives on it and my credit score was 800, I nearly fell off my computer chair! Damn, success! It did require a decade of hard frustrating time, but it was sooooooo worth it!
Following are some handy tips:
Tip 1-Check your credit report on www.annualcreditreport.com, it is free. There are 3 credit reporting agencies, and you get a separate report for each one. If you want your credit score, you must pay a small price, 4-7 dollars. You can check them free once a year, I recommend checking one of the three every 4 months, then you have the ability to have year round information.
Tip 2-Savings account-I did not have a savings account for many years. A few years ago I shopped around Springfield banks, and was looking for the best interest bearing account with a low monetary requirement for opening. The local banks all had very low interest rates, in the order of 1-2% annual return, to get higher rates you had to deposit $10,000 Dollars (yeah right, as if someone just happens to have a spare 10 grand). Luckily, I found one better, the "Capitol One High Yield Money Market Account". www.capitalonedirect.com. I only needed $100.00 to open it, and get an annual rate of 4.75%. I checked online Thursday and it is still rated in the top 10 of money markets for interest rate, and one of only two with a low initial deposit. In fact, now you do not need to keep 100 dollars in it, and the interest rate is the same no matter whether you have $100 or $100,000,000 dollars. I use it as my savings account and can make 6 withdrawals a month, but try not too as it is a savings account.
Tip 3-I found some current information about credit scores etc. at CNNMoney.com and www.howstuffworks.com/credit-score.htm
Darla
For many years I toiled at very low paying jobs with no medical insurance, accumulating various types of bad debt including hospital bills, student loans, credit card debt, and other debt to utilities, stores, etc. During those times (age 20s through early 30s) I was in despair over the subject and mainly tried to ignore and avoid it. Much of my problem was ignorance about the whole credit thing.
Eventually I made it a goal to better my credit. Paying bills on time, not buying unnecessary items, educating myself, and taking concrete actions to improve my credit. I paid off medical bills by going in every payday and paying at the hospital. Phoned all my debtors and worked out payment plans. I secured a better paying job with benefits. I dragged my student loans out of default and got into a program that assisted me to that goal. I started checking my credit reports on a regular basis.
I purchased a new car in 2001 and had a hard time finding credit, I ended up taking the credit from the car company with a slightly elevated interest rate. My credit score at the time was 600 which was much better than it had been, though not very good. I remember being shocked they actually gave it to me! I made all my payments on time and paid off the car in May 2006. Also, I finally paid off my student loans 2 months ago at age 42. Yes it was a long hard road to get to this point but I am actually proud of myself and in disbelief that I actually did it! When I checked my credit report last Thursday it had no negatives on it and my credit score was 800, I nearly fell off my computer chair! Damn, success! It did require a decade of hard frustrating time, but it was sooooooo worth it!
Following are some handy tips:
Tip 1-Check your credit report on www.annualcreditreport.com, it is free. There are 3 credit reporting agencies, and you get a separate report for each one. If you want your credit score, you must pay a small price, 4-7 dollars. You can check them free once a year, I recommend checking one of the three every 4 months, then you have the ability to have year round information.
Tip 2-Savings account-I did not have a savings account for many years. A few years ago I shopped around Springfield banks, and was looking for the best interest bearing account with a low monetary requirement for opening. The local banks all had very low interest rates, in the order of 1-2% annual return, to get higher rates you had to deposit $10,000 Dollars (yeah right, as if someone just happens to have a spare 10 grand). Luckily, I found one better, the "Capitol One High Yield Money Market Account". www.capitalonedirect.com. I only needed $100.00 to open it, and get an annual rate of 4.75%. I checked online Thursday and it is still rated in the top 10 of money markets for interest rate, and one of only two with a low initial deposit. In fact, now you do not need to keep 100 dollars in it, and the interest rate is the same no matter whether you have $100 or $100,000,000 dollars. I use it as my savings account and can make 6 withdrawals a month, but try not too as it is a savings account.
Tip 3-I found some current information about credit scores etc. at CNNMoney.com and www.howstuffworks.com/credit-score.htm
Darla
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Really now
Hello all, I am a very lonely person. Smart, good looking, lived in Springfield for 9 years. Yet I know no one. My job takes me away often, especially in summer. I have a good sense of humor, love, good ideas. However, for some reason unknown to me, I am very different than most women. I have never had a good relationship with a female friend, I like male friendships better. Could it be my interests? I have alienated many in my life, even though I never do them wrong. Opinions desired! I will take any opinions and think upon them. Thank you, Darla
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Strom double take
Arrived home late this evening to find several political mailings waiting for me. I see two mailings from underdog Strom, one addressed to me, another addressed to a misspelled me.
In two different types of envelopes no less. The misspelled me addressed me as a Smoke Free Springfield Supporter, I nearly choked on my cigarette here. It contained a Dear Smoke Free Springfield Supporter greeting letter and a resume. The correctly spelled me envelope contained two identical copies of a different, more generic letter to Dear Friends, and talked first about his wife Lois. I feel he could be spending his money a little better. When is Davlin going to send me his resume? Darla
In two different types of envelopes no less. The misspelled me addressed me as a Smoke Free Springfield Supporter, I nearly choked on my cigarette here. It contained a Dear Smoke Free Springfield Supporter greeting letter and a resume. The correctly spelled me envelope contained two identical copies of a different, more generic letter to Dear Friends, and talked first about his wife Lois. I feel he could be spending his money a little better. When is Davlin going to send me his resume? Darla
Davlin has rainbows over Springfield
I heard a political ad today from our mayor. Oh my god! It sounded like a new age lovey dovey goo ga Saturday Night Live fake ad! I am not saying that is a bad thing, I just never heard a political ad that sounded like a self help endorsement. What kind of Harley rider is he? I want to hear it again and get that warm fuzzy feeling I had this morning before the coffee kicked in. Darla
Jesse, you let me down! And public service announcement.
That would be the venerable Jesse White, our Secretary of State. We received our registration renewal puzzles yesterday. I call them puzzles as you have to carefully remove certain fragile pieces in a certain particular order to use them. Anyway, it looked like they always look. My husband wrote his check, sealed the puzzle back together and put a stamp on it. Later, I opened my puzzle, and fearing I would rip the wrong piece in the wrong order, I carefully scrutinized the subject matter. It said, now you have to provide your insurance information on the back. In a tiny little fragile piece of the puzzle, you had to write in tiny little letters and numbers your information. Gosh, my eyesight is not that bad, but it was very hard to see. It also said in about size 3 font, Mandatory Insurance Information here. My very smart husband did not even see this and failed to fill out the Mandatory Insurance Information. What is Jesse going to do with about 50 percent plus of the population who fail to notice this subtle order and fail to fill out their MANDATORY information? Darla
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