Thanks be to Mint

i use two credit cards on a regular basis. Basically so it doesn't appear quite as large because it is divided on two bills. i always hear about those scams where bad guys charge small amounts to people's credit cards unknowingly. Geniuses. Just $1 to 100,000 credit cards is a decent payday. Do it once a month and life is good...until you get sent to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.
Despite my knowledge of these potential fraudulent activities, i typically don't peruse my statements too intently on a regular basis.  Every once in awhile, i go through them using the Mint app on the iPhone. In doing so this past week i noticed two charges from Buy.com on the same day at the end of December. i order so many random unnecessary items from so many different places online, it's hard to keep track. However, i would remember two purchases the same day from the same company. After not finding any order history through Buy.com...apparently i don't even have an account. That's what they get for making it so damn easy to use other payers (paypal, google, even amazon).
So to Paypal i went where i found the two payments for the same item. If you must know, it was a 12-month Xbox Live card. i still have no clue why they got paid twice, maybe there was confusion since i purchased the item from Buy.com via Ebay using Paypal. After just one email to Buy.com, they apologized and said they saw both charges but only had one linked to any purchase. i guess they thought i was trying to get in my charitable donations at the end of the year. Either way, they told me they would refund the money. i was very satisfied with their speedy response to my concern. So no hard feelings. Moral of the story...you should be using Mint to monitor your financial well-being.
i suppose i should probably keep an eye on my statement to see if i ever actually get my refund. 

Coupons in November

We eat out more than we probably should, but it's just one of the things we enjoy doing. We love trying out new places and searching for new favorites. In an effort to potentially save money, rather than lying and saying we are not going to eat out at all, we will only eat out at places where we have a coupon.
The month is young, but so far we've enjoyed two meals out with a successful two coupons used. Order waters to drink and it's practically just as cheap as making dinner at home...ish.

So far...
Taxco Mexican restaurant in Belmont - Buy one get one free entree. From the expiring 2010 Entertainment book.
Sake Express in Belmont - Buy one get one free entree. Printed from the Entertainment.com Web site.

i made a nickel today.

i love money. Despite the overwhelming belief that money cannot purchase happiness, i would argue that it can. At the very least, it definitely provides a very satisfactory unhappiness that i could live with. Whether you buy TVs, video games or just spend money on other things that you don't really need, there is most likely a better way to spend it (at least one that would benefit someone else).
Donating money to support causes other than my personal drinking habit actually does provide a good feeling. i definitely don't give enough to those in need or any noble cause, aside from my monthly donation to Aunt Sallie (bitch).
So, the other day, Megan was opening the mail and there was a letter from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Not only did they send her free mailing label stickers, they sent her a nickel. i'm not sure how i feel about that.
In the letter, it says "please return your nickel along with your most generous gift to help save the lives of children" Hey now, Indian-giver. If you wanted your nickel, you shouldn't have sent it to us. i like how they send us a nickel, give us ownership over it by calling it 'your nickel' and ask for it back all in the same sentence. Not that we want your precious nickel, i mean the last time i used one was probably 3 years ago taking the toll road to Chicago.
So what are we supposed to do?
A) you keep the nickel and use the labels hoping God doesn't hold it against you for taking from a charity without giving.
B) send back just the nickel and a letter that says you can't be bribed (unfortunately, the stamp would end up costing you money).
C) send back a dime and tell them to keep the change.
D) just donate money to another cause you feel like supporting (including the nickel you were sent)
E) just send them some money and congratulate them on their ability to guilt you into donating

We still haven't decided on our course of action, but i did check them out at www.charitynavigator.org (a review site for charities) and they do have an overall 3 out of 4 rating. Sidenote: While i was at that site, they asked me for money. So i attempted to find a review for Charity Navigator. They do not have a review, but they did give reasons why.

But really, is spending 50,000 nickels cost effective?

Conclusion: That's only $2,500. If just 1 out of every 100 people are guilted into donating $20, that's $10,000 or a profit of $7,500. That leaves 49,500 people sitting there with a nickel writing a blog about how a charity made them feel shitty about their life and proving that maybe money can't buy happiness, but a lousy nickel can cause certain levels of distress. Not to mention, my whole life i have been spelling nickel with the L before the E, and now i have that to worry about.