digging out of a stinky pile of debt after realizing we are well past fucked

I am pretty stoked about the so-called economic stimulus checks. I have no plans to stimulate the economy though. I plan on using it to pay down a little debt.

So, when I read that the checks were coming early I got excited. You see, my last two digits are “06″ and this week they were sending out money for “00″ to “20″ so I was expecting that money early in the week.

Yesterday it still had not shown up in my account. I was getting nervous here.

Luckily there is a toll-free IRS stimulus check status hotline that you can call for updates. All you need to do is call 1-866-234-2942. Enter in a small amount info (your social, your filing status and your exemptions) and then it tells you when your check is to be deposited.

I called it last night and it said my stimulus check is being deposited today.

I just checked my account - score! It’s there!

So, if your economic stimulus check is MIA, just call 1-866-234-2942 before getting all worried like I did.

Want some free money? Get $25 for free when you sign up with Revolution Money Exchange!

We live in an apartment. It is not a particularly nice apartment, but it is not a dump. The people across from us smoke. And that’s fine - if they want to do something stupid even though they have 2 small kids then that is their own thing. However, it becomes my thing when I can’t leave my apartment without walking through a cloud of smoke. You see, apparently they are in on the little secret that smoking is stinky and clearly they do not want to do it inside of their apartment. So, they do it outside where we all get to enjoy it. I’m so glad, as I never would have found the time to give myself lung cancer.

We also have smokers that live beside us. Our front doors are pretty far apart so you would not think their nasty habit would have much of an effect on us. Ha! These people apparently like to smoke in their bathroom, which is just great since our bathrooms are basically connected by the little fan in the ceiling. When we shower, we usually turn on that little fan to prevent the mold & mildew buildup in the shower. Since these people moved in, turning on the fan seems to just suck the smoke into the apartment. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering that the fan is supposed to be sucking air out. So, now we have to choose between cigarette smoke or mold & mildew. Of course, sometimes it does not matter. Sometimes you can just walk into the bathroom and be knocked over by the smell of cheap cigarette smoke. I love those moments. In fact, I just experienced one of them.

Renting an apartment might be a great choice financially, but it sure does suck sometimes.

I firmly believe that people will buy just about anything on eBay. I know this because I have sold some pretty random stuff on eBay myself in the past. But selling your debt on eBay - that really takes the cake. In case you missed it, someone in Pennsylvania apparently also thinks that people will buy anything on eBay and is trying to sell $103,245.11 of debt. So if you are debt free or only, say $10,000 in debt, and want to up those numbers, now is your chance to be over $100K in debt!

And just what is this debt made up of? Well, according to the auction:

• $48,815.56 Large part of home loan
• $12,439.49 2nd part to home loan
• $12,692.22 Student loan
• $11,840.03 2nd student loan
• $3,204.36 Credit card husbands
• $292.71 Credit card self
• $4,744.88 Personal loan home improvements
• $9,215.86 Ford Focus 2004
• Total= $103,245.11

The auction even says that you can take the house and the car if you want. But you do not have to. How gracious. No word yet though on if you get to take possession of all the crap she has been buying on eBay the past few months, as evidenced from her feedback profile.

We have a lot of student loan debt. If you look at the sidebar you will see that I am not joking. While there are a few private student loans in that mix, the majority of the loans are the super low interest rate ones. Currently the highest rate on the private loans is 8.00%. And our lowest student loan rate is 2.65%.

I was doing some thinking recently about all of these student loans and their interest rates. And then I was thinking about how you can get 8% or better return on some mutual funds. With that in mind, it seems to me that any extra money that could be applied to paying down student loan debt would be better served in a mutual fund with a good track record. I would think that as long as you are earning more than the interest rate on the student loans that you are coming out ahead of the game.

Is my logic flawed on this? I mean, sure, you could have a bad year with the mutual funds and not only make less than the 8% but even lose money. But still….it seems logical to me.

Many thanks to Money Under 30 for including us in the Carnival of Twenty Something Finances for April 21, 2008 yesterday.

And thanks to Can I Get Rich On A Salary for putting up in the Carnival of Money Stories #56—Once Upon A Time.

A big shout out to Credit Card Lowdown for including us in the Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness #41. Not only did they include our article How much is your time worth? It is a cost that needs considered. but they also did not censor our good name.

From this carnival I enjoyed the following articles:

• the cheeky “Up Yours Mother Teresa” at Hennie Grove
• Barcelona on 10 Euro Per Day For Two People at Me, My Kid and Life
• Which is Better Roth or Traditional IRA? at David Makes Cents (I just added this blog to my reader)
• Debt and Depression at Debt Prison
• Are You Happy? If Not, Here are 25 Ways to Get There at Slow Down Fast

The Carnival of Personal Finance is up today at The Happy Rock. They did not love our submission apparently, but there are still some article worth reading from that carnival…

• How much interest do you earn on one million dollars?
• Should you Pay off your student Loans?
• How To Create An Alternative Source Of Income Part 7
• The 9 Or So Paths To Getting Rich—And My Purported Analysis Of Them(Part 2 of 2)

We eat a lot of salads in the Bumblefucked household. I am more of an iceberg person and Riley is more of a fancy pants lettuce person. So, she prefers to buy the triple washed lettuce packs that have fancy pants lettuce in them. I see why she prefers it - there is nothing worse than having a salad where all of your lettuce is holding water. So, I get it, I do.

Yesterday I was at Kroger and they had some of those triple washed lettuce packs marked down to $0.99 to move them out. We both needed lettuce and the iceberg looked horrible, and was more than $0.99, so I grabbed a couple of the triple washed lettuce packs.

When I got home I made a salad. The first piece of lettuce I pulled out had a nice dead spider in the fold. Yuck. I told Riley. She then told me how she never washes that lettuce because it is supposed to be triple washed.  Triple washed? I don’t think so. There is no way a spider of this size could have made it through three washings. It wasn’t huge, but it was about the size of a thumbtack.

I chalk it up to a fluke. Maybe it made it’s way inside after the washing? I expect a bug or two from iceberg, but not this.

So, today I get out the same lettuce pack. I take out a piece of the lettuce. Guess what? Two bugs! They were small gnats, but gnats none the less.

Next time I’ll stick to iceberg.

Many thanks to Be Thrifty Like Us for including Bumblefucked “Bumble” in the latest Money Hacks Carnival. Our “How much is your time worth?” article was included in this week’s carnival.

Check out the The 8th Edition of the Money Hacks Carnival! There are some good reads in it. I mean, besides our little entry.

Like Kick the vices, save the dinero - we’re all about blogs that write in Spanglish.

In the name of saving money or being frugal, I do a lot of silly things. These things could be considered only one of three things:

• frugal
• cheap
• stupid

So, which is it? You be the judge.

Baggies

I always try to re-use sandwich baggies. Of course, there are some that can’t be saved. For instance, a baggie that has had a PB&J in it usually has some residue that makes it not usable again. I’ve even been known to wash out baggies in the past. I think I remember Riley recoiling in horror at that.

Moldy cheese

I am a cheese snob. It is just one of those things where I have tried to go generic and just can’t. I have to have Sargento cheese. I even tried Target brand cheese. And Target brand everything is always good in my experiences. Well - not their cheese. It is Kraft. So if you like Kraft cheese then buy Target brand. Anyways, so, I spend a lot of money on cheese which means that I do not like it to go to waste. Just this week I was trimming mold off of some Sargento cheese cubes. I looked it up online and it is perfectly safe for hard and semi-hard cheese to do this. I just can’t bear the thought of wasting some lovely Sargento cheese.

Heat and A/C and unnecessary electricity

I hate high electric bills. For the past two months our electric bill has been around $100 and that is just unacceptable for a tiny 2BR apartment. That means that I am always looking for ways to cut electricity. I do things like plug all electronics in a room into a power strip that I turn off when the stuff is not in use. I unplug toasters and coffee makers too. And if it is cold outside I will bundle up and even use candles that I have been given for free. All to avoid using the heat. Sometimes I will let it get below 60 degrees before turning on the heat. But it is hard to type when my fingers are frozen. The same applies for the A/C, only in reverse of course. I will try to endure up to 80-something degrees inside before turning on the A/C - until Riley says to freaking turn it on! But I can make it with shorts, a tank top and some ice water!

Buying ugly

Today I had to go to Big Lots to get a gift bag for a birthday present for Riley’s brother. I went to Big Lots because they usually have great prices on solid color gift bags. When I finally found the aisle with gift bags I was met with two viable options. They had a solid purple bag for $1.00 or the hideous bag below for $0.80. Yup, I chose the ugly one to save $0.20. And before you say that it is not that ugly - remember, it is for a grown man. (I think Riley would have preferred the solid color bag - but his gift is blue, so I think it will be okay)

Office klepto

I have been known to come home from work with staples or scotch tape. However, if I need a lot then I will buy it myself. For instance, around Christmas I will go to Big Lots and buy tape instead of swiping it from work.

Shop at discount stores

I *love* going to Big Lots. They always have the best prices on stuff. And if you have not signed up for their email Buzz Club then do it - NOW! Every so often they email out 20% off coupons to Buzz Club members. I used one of those on a mattress once - it was awesome. Then I ended up selling the mattress for more than I paid for it. That was really sweet.

Free samples

I love free stuff. So I am always filling out things online for free samples of this or that. And that just means that I end up with a cabinet full of random shampoo samples in my bathroom. Well, in my experience, those samples are not enough for two hair washings but way too much for one. In the past I have been known to pour them all together in an empty bottle. Just give it a good shake when you’re done and you’re good to go. Of course, the actual shampoo might be an ugly brown color, but don’t let that deter you.

Free condiments and napkins

We do not dine out often. And we go to fast food restaurants even less. But when we do end up at a greasy fast food place I take a little extra ketchup, napkins and such to bring on home. Sure, it can be tedious opening up several packets of ketchup to refill your bottle, but you could always leave them as individual packets.

Going “college clean”

Typically I will wear my pants more than one time before washing them. That is assuming that I do not spill anything on them. Not only does this save money on detergent, water and such but it also extends the life of the clothes. Most things I wash after one wearing, but pants almost always get worn more than once.

Library card supa-star

I heart the library and all of their books and movies. I have not been in a while, but I love being able to get the latest books and movies for free from the library. The important thing is to be mindful of those due dates so that you do not end up paying late fees. And sometimes you have to wait on a list to get something popular, but instant gratification is for the Joneses!

Buy used movies and re-sell

I think we have gone to the movies three times in the past year - and one of those times we used free passes! We hate paying movie prices and movie food prices. And rental prices are not cheap either (unless you have a RedBox near you). If we watched movies regularly then I suspect Netflix would be a good deal for us. Instead, we watch for Blockbuster to do their “4 for $20″ sale on used DVDs and make a shopping trip. We look for not only things that we want to see but things that we think we will be able to re-sell. Indie movies are awesome for this as their retail price is pretty high. We typically end up making money on the indie movies that we have scored for $5 used from Blockbuster. Of course, with some of the movies we buy we either can’t sell for a profit or just plain can’t sell at all. In the end though I think we come out ahead.

Foil

I admit it - I re-use aluminum foil. Often.

Target bags as trash bags

I never buy trash bags for our small trash cans. Why? Because Target bags and other similarly sized bags make perfect trash bags. I must have inherited this one from my dad - except he has a serious bag problem. No joke. The cabinet under the kitchen sink in his house is packed full of bags. My mom tries to toss them at times - his feelings get hurt. It’s almost too comedic to be true, yet it is. (Riley says everyone uses bags like Target bags as trash bags. Well, everyone - do you?)

Thoughts? Tips? Suggestions? Profanity? Throw ‘em in the comments.

Here at Bumblefucked we have been fortunate enough to make it into a few carnivals. Thus far two of those carnivals have felt it necessary to censor the blog name. One made us known as “Bumble****ed” or something silly like that while the other simply called us “Bumble.”

I find the censorship more offensive than any profanity. (Never mind the fact that I would never call a site “bumble”, wtf?)

It is also quite absurd.

Profanity in a word does not make that work profanity by association. For instance, the word “embarrass” is never thought of as profanity, even though it clearly has the word “ass” in it.

In fact, choosing to clearly censor the word makes it more profanity than not as it makes it seem taboo or something.

And now, back to the regularly scheduled programming here at “Bumble”