Joan's randomness: May 2009 Archives

Went to the library on Wednesday night and, among other good books I checked out, I picked up a copy of the book pictured here - "Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan," which should be subtitled "What, almost nothing in savings? Lots of credit card debt? YOU SUCK!"

(And to be very clear: That subtitle applies very much to yours truly.)

The good news is, I've found the advice to be pretty helpful. Besides reading lots of sites about organizing, I also like to read Web sites about debt-free living, money-saving tips, frugality and so on, and I do try my best to put some of those ideas into play.

I think the biggest thing I took from Suze Orman's 2009 book was that you HAVE to plan for the worst. Hopefully, Hubby and I will have our jobs here at the paper for a long time to come. Hopefully, no one will get seriously ill. Hopefully, our daughter will not need braces. (OK, not too hopeful on that last one, but that's another story.)

But the fact is, those hopes are just that. They're things we have no control over, and that means, no matter how much I don't want to give up certain expenditures, I need to - at least for a while - in order to build up a good savings account and pay down our credit-card debt.

And what can I say? As much as I might want to kick poor Suze in her smiling-book-cover face, it's not because she's wrong about any of this. It's just that the truth hurts.

If you're interested, besides her Web site, here are pretty much the top five money-saving blogs I like to read:

The Simple Dollar (this is my new favorite)
Get Rich Slowly
Man vs. Debt
Money Saving Mom (good for coupons)
Confe$$ion$ of a Coupon Queen

These library books show just a few of the things the library can help you do - beat debt, kill clutter, get in shape, and more.

Today's post will be one of the notable exceptions.

At the meeting of the Southern York County Business Association I went to earlier in the month, I had the privilege of chatting with Demi Fair, library director at the Paul Smith Library in Shrewsbury. At the time, she mentioned that certain proposals at the state level stood to cut library funding significantly, and I heard similar news at my last visit to my own library in Dover.

Today, I received an e-mail from the library system, asking me to write to my legislators to ask them to reconsider cuts to library funding. As I'm not normally an "activist" of any sort, I almost passed it by. Then I started reading. The e-mail, from York Libraries President Trish Calvani, says:

Blog readers who've been around since last summer probably know what made my finger stop before hitting the delete key - the possible cuts to summer programming. You might remember that we spent all last summer finding 30 "letterboxes" as part of a partnership between the libraries and Keystone Activity Zone. It was free - and educational - and essentially comprised most of our family time last summer. If funding for activities like that were cut, we'd all be heartbroken.

I'm no political genius, but I do know that if library funding does come, it will be at a cost elsewhere. While I realize that, I also know how much the library has brought to my family, and I'm willing to explore other cuts in order to keep this valuable resource around. You're welcome to disagree, and if so, thanks for reading this far and for respecting my opinion. If, however, you happen to agree, I'm sure the libraries would appreciate your support in their letter campaign.

You won't see me or the family out and about in York County today, but for VERY good reason.

My sister Carol is getting married today in New Jersey. I couldn't be happier for her and her (well, at this point, soon-to-be) husband, John.

I love you guys!!

One unusual hobby that Hubby and I share is the love of decrepit places. We love nothing more than going for a drive and finding buildings falling down. One of our best finds was an abandoned mini golf course - that was amazing!

Anyway, we love to take pictures of these things, mostly all around Pennsylvania. Our dream is to start a photo gallery Web site with a name like "Pennsylvania in ruins" to chronicle all these, in which we'd post ours and also take submissions or suggestions.

Well, on Sunday, while Chris was leaving Heritage Hills, where his family had a scrumptious Mother's Day brunch, he snapped this photo at Mount Rose Avenue and Route 24.

We think it's a shame that this intersection - one of the county's most congested, I'd wager - has such a falling-down building on one of its corners. I was talking to my boss about it; his wife works at a facility inside the HardKohr gym there (formerly Yorktowne Racket & Fitness), and he said the problem is that it's possible they could want to widen the road there to allow for turning lanes. So, of course, all the business owners are worried about how much of their property would be taken for that, and that means this lot likely won't sell.

I can definitely see why that's a problem. But, come on. Only in York County do you have a building that still has "Vote Kerry" graffiti in 2009.

I got another cat. But I do have an argument to make in my defense.

If YOU saw the picture above, and you got an e-mail about poor Mitts, who is 7 or 8 years old and whose owners left and abandoned him, leaving him outside, wouldn't you want to give him a home? He was very lonely, and he'd run up to almost anyone who came near, hoping for some attention.

On top of it all, he is mitten-toed, a congenital deformity that gives him extra toes on some of his feet. On his front feet, they come out sort of like thumbs, and look like mittens. Hence the name Mitts, I guess.

But he's a very nice boy and he seems to be settling into the house. What's great is that we have family visiting this weekend, and in about an hour, 12 people will take part in a big dinner. Twelve people... four cats... a dog... can't forget the goldfish... what a house!

(If you have a soft spot for sad cats or dogs, you should check out our featured pets listing of those that need homes. Please!)