My wife pointed this out to me last night as she flipped through this week’s Walmart flyer full of deals for the upcoming long weekend.

Now, obviously Walmart is trying to mimic Old Navy’s $5 flag t-shirt idea (a strategy which Old Navy has apparently abandoned) and then undercut them somewhat. Looks like a pretty good deal.

For all I know, they’ve been doing this for a couple of years now.

I’d never heard of this line of clothing before — though the “slogan” they chose — “Faded Glory” can be interpreted many different ways.  That’s a different discussion and not something I’m about to go into.

But what really struck my wife is that Walmart is advertising that you can clothe your family for less than you can clothe your dog.

The dog outfit costs more than double what an adult t-shirt costs?!

How messed up is that?  Maybe the dog version is of a better quality?

But hey, it also says at the bottom that they’ll cash my economic stimulus check for FREE!

Oh, now I’m totally sold.  I’ll take 400 Men’s Faded Glory Flag T-Shirts please…

It was just a year ago that I wrote my initial rant about the price of gas. May 10, 2007 to be exact.

At the time, it was $3.19 per gallon in my neck of the woods.

Media reports preached that breaking the $3 mark would change the driving habits of Americans.

I didn’t see any difference.

So, today, we officially hit the $4 mark in Connecticut.

I’m not complaining though.

When they’re not covering the typhoon in Myanmar or the earthquake in China, the news reports have been exactly the same as they were a year ago with catchy titles like “Pain at the Pump”.

I wouldn’t be shocked if they’re just recycling old archived stories — they could, few would notice.

Sure, the price has risen 81 cents for me in 12 months, but as with May of 2007, I still feel the same way:

…even with the price rising, it’s not affecting my budget at all. It’d have to raise at least another $2/gallon before I’d even have to reconsider my driving habits…

I went back and did a little research on my gasoline expenditures over the years. So far, in 2008, from January 1 thru May 15, I’ve spent $483.14 on gas. That works out to $24.87 per week. Not a budget breaker.

               Gasoline Expenditures  

          Year     Total        Per/Week
          2008    $483.14        $24.87
          2007    $402.11        $20.85
          2006    $403.29        $20.91
          2005    $463.27        $24.02

So, you can see, the upswing in the price of gas isn’t as significant as they make it out to be on the news — at least for those of us who don’t drive for a living.

A four dollar per week increase shouldn’t cripple your finances — I wish these folks they interview on the news could see the actual difference. For those smokers out there, that’s far less than a package of cigarettes. Think about that for a second…

I understand that the price of gas causes the price of food to go up as well (along with countless other consumables), but really, we’re talking very small amounts in the grand scheme of things.

So, again, I’m still not anywhere near the point that I’m about to change my driving habits. In fact, we’re planning a cross country driving vacation right now.

And I’m not even sure I still agree with my guesstimate of $5.19 per gallon being my limit. Hey, if the daily doomsday predictions in the media are correct and on target, we’ll see that price by Labor Day.

I’m not happy about it, but I’m also not about to cry poverty over it either.

Monday night my wife and I went to the grocery store.

The past few weeks we’ve been going to a different grocery store each week, you know, to add a little excitement to the routine of, well, grocery shopping. So far, it’s been a pretty good experience.

This week, though, we weren’t able to go grocery shopping on the weekend as we were out of town. It’s thrown the whole week off to a certain degree, but to get it out of the way quickly (on a week night), we went back to our usual grocery store that’s just a stones throw from our house.

I’m not much help at the grocery store. I don’t even push the cart.

My job is generally to look at people (I enjoy this) and scan the items at the automated check out — unless of course someone is in line behind me cause then I get all stressed out and move even slower than I already do.

But this time, when my wife set me free in the cereal aisle to pick my cereal for the week, something caught my eye.

Product 19.

I couldn’t place it. Where had I seen that red box before? Hmmmm… something from my past…

Then it hit me.

Remember those single serving variety packs of cereal Kellogg’s used to sell in the 1980’s? They were essentially just a bunch of little cardboard boxes — miniature versions of the real box — shrink wrapped together. I think there were 8 boxes in each “bundle”.

(These days, I know they still have single serving sizes of cereal available but they come in their own little plastic bowl now. Totally different experience. Back then, you still needed to supply a bowl.)

Anyway, our family summer vacation each year would involve camping for a few weeks and my Mom would buy us these variety packs for breakfast during the trips.

Obviously, Frosted Flakes was the top prize. Froot Loops were right up there too. Apple Jacks were an excellent choice (though they tend to tear up the roof of your mouth). Corn Pops weren’t exactly a favorite, but a nice treat now and then. Rice Krispies and Raisin Bran, with tons of sugar added manually, were both still edible.

But when it came down to the fourth day of the trip, my sister and I would have to make a decision.

Which was worse?  Special K or Product 19.

We’d fight over this.  It was important — I mean, breakfast IS the most important meal of the day.

More often than not, Product 19 ended up being the worst of the two evils.

Product 19 was like a lump of coal.

It was like eating poisoned Frosted Flakes.

No amount of sugar could, well, sugar coat it.  We tried.  Really, we tried.

I’m not sure my parents would even eat Product 19 — and my dad is a fan of liver.

Yeah, it truly was *that* bad.

Worse, even, than Grape Nuts. (Who’d have thought that was even possible?)

I’d venture to say that the last time I saw Product 19 was in 1985 while on vacation.  It blew my mind this week to see that it was still on the market.

But I certainly wasn’t about to give it another try.  No way.

In the end, I chose Frosted Cheerios to be my cereal of the week. Sadly, they’re tearing up the roof of my mouth as well.

Last night, my wife reminded me that it was exactly one year ago that we got into our car accident.

It was hard to imagine with it being in the windy and cold 40’s yesterday while a year ago we were cruising with the top down in the sunshine — it just doesn’t seem like it was the same time of year.

But honestly, it’s one of those points of reference that I’m able to immediately go back to. When I think about all of the things we’ve accomplished since then, it makes me feel pretty good.

No, I’m not going to go all wishy-washy here and talk about how a near death experience changed my life for the better. Hardly.

It wasn’t a near death experience in my head — my thoughts as we were sliding sideways (and backwards) towards the guardrail were:

• Please don’t let another car hit us.
• Why aren’t we slowing down - my foot *is* on the brake!
• There’s plenty of shoulder for us to stop before the guardrail.
• Oh crap — this is going to hurt!

When the car finally hit the guardrail, and stopped, it turned out that we didn’t hit any other cars and there really wasn’t enough of a shoulder. Oh yeah, we weren’t hurt either.

Since then, going back to my reference point, the thing that I notice that has changed the most, physically, is the exterior of our house. It’s all new — and somehow we managed to pay for it too.

On the inside, we tore out a ton of plaster, fixed a plumbing problem, and threw out tons and tons of junk that we had sitting in a storage unit (to the tune of $140/month).

Financially things have been nothing but positive, with the credit card debt eliminated and my 401k finally maxxed out.

Over this last year, things even got comfy enough that I threw in the towel and stopped working so much (outside of the office).

Quitting the hockey team was the first big step — dumping a long time difficult and frustrating client was the next. Can’t tell you how nice it was on Sunday to return from a weekend away and not have a single business related email in my inbox. Not one.

That’s been a huge change for me — and in just one year.

We’re well into the month of May now, and after my April in the clouds financially, let’s see if I’m on track again…

I ended up going back to my tried and true weekly payment system. I’d never done it with the auto loan before so I tested it out with a couple of e-payments initiated through my checking account last month. Success.

To meet my original goals for 2008, it basically came down the fact that I had to set aside $2000 per month in order to meet them all by the end of December.

I’m sticking to that plan, and though it seems as if I’m far ahead of schedule, having wiped out the credit card debt, I’m actually not far ahead at all. In truth, I’m actually behind.

There are almost 8 months left in the year and the total cost of my goals is still a little over $16k. It’s going to be tight.

The current strategy is to split the $2000/month right down the middle with $1000 going towards the auto loan and $1000 towards savings in the ING Direct account. Any extra I’m comfortable parting with will go towards the mortgage.

So, I’ve completely automated the auto loan side of things. Each Wednesday, I have $150 being transferred from the checking account to Toyota. In addition, I increased the regular $289 that Toyota pulls from my checking account on the 15th of each month to $400. Together, my monthly payment is now $1000.

At this rate, the auto loan will be eliminated sometime in the Fall. Not exactly as soon as I’d hoped, but it’s a sure thing at this point and I like that aspect.

For the other $1000, I’ve got $75 being transferred over to ING each week on Tuesdays.

True, this only adds up to $300 worth of automatic transfers each month but I’m transferring in the remaining $700 on a manual schedule based on when payments from my side business come in.

Of late though, the side business hasn’t brought in nearly $700 so the remainder is coming from my regular paycheck after the mortgage and all of the bills have been paid.

So far this month, if I include the $75 transfers already scheduled, I’ve accounted for $800 — partly in thanks to the economic stimulus check. Making up the remaining $200 from the paycheck I’ll receive on the 22nd shouldn’t be an issue.

That will put me right on track — and I should also have some left over to attack the mortgage principle as well (to eliminate PMI).

Hopefully, a month from now, I *really* will be ahead…

A guilty pleasure of mine is the television program Survivor.

This season I think I may have missed one episode — and it only snuck by me because of some wacky scheduling on CBS because of March Madness College Basketball.

Last night was the finale where they crowned the winner — Parvati outlasted Amanda to take the $1 million prize.

For those that aren’t familiar with the show, when the game gets down to the final two contestants, their peers (and former rival contestants) are permitted to directly ask them a question (or in some cases, just vent).

Based on the contestant’s answers, these eliminated players get to determine who wins the game. Usually it’s just a fluff/spite fest full of uncomfortable moments. If anything, the final episode of each season is usually the worst (not to mention the least climactic). It’s just not great television.

But on last night’s episode, one of the contestants, Eliza, really ripped into both of them by saying things that I think a lot of people feel, but rarely express.

For the record, Eliza was never a popular player (this was her second run on the show). She’s one of those people whose face can be read in an instant — she doesn’t seem to have the ability to be subtle, it’s all out there all the time. Not exactly a great character trait.

So when she gets her chance to speak to the remaining two players, she vocalizes her feelings. She calls Parvati a “mean person”. A person who very openly insulted her, put her down, talked behind her back, and was, in essence, downright rude for really no reason.

Essentially, this was the unpopular girl telling the popular girl, “You know what? You might think you’re so awesome, but you’re a real jerk. You hurt me, and I want you to know it.”

I know people like that. There was a guy in middle school, Rick, who would just walk right up to me and say out loud, “Why don’t you have any friends?” It was bizarre. I didn’t have a real answer, other than a befuddled, “What?” But he kept doing it. Day after day.

I was embarrassed.

Why was I his target? I mean, how do you answer that? I had friends. Did I have to justify it to him? Why should I have to justify anything to this prick?

At the time, I just couldn’t figure it out… He sat at a lunch table of sports losers. You know, the guys that could recite the 1927 NY Yankees batting order or tell you how much Charles Barkley weighed on any given day. Real important stuff.

At the same time, these were also the guys who always wore sweatpants in gym class and never actually participated in any of the “sports” we were forced to play. To them, talking about sports was what mattered, not actually participating in them.

They threw like girls. The kicked with their toes. They couldn’t sink a foul shot.

In the grand hierarchy of social order in our school, I was easily 200 seats ahead of this guy. What was his problem?

Plain and simple, he was a prime example of a mean person. He carried it into high school even — at which point we were segregated and herded like cattle based on our academic, athletic, and artistic talents so thankfully we never really crossed paths again.

Back to Survivor — for the second remaining contestant, Amanda, Eliza calls her really disingenuous. You know, the type that smiles at you, moves in for a hug, and says something like “Oh, it’s so great to see you!” with a slightly ‘off’ tone of voice.

There’s being polite, and then there’s going over the top, and that’s called insincere. Amanda was the type that would turn on the tears to get a reaction. She’d bat her eyelashes and frown. On a genuine person, both would be very meaningful expressions, but on her, it was so openly fabricated. And Eliza called her on it.

Relating, again, to my own experiences, I can’t stand when kids say “thank you” like robots. You know what, if you don’t mean it, don’t bother saying it. I’ll be a lot less offended — and I don’t think I’m alone.

Even better, most cashiers these days… I know that they have a “script” to stick to, but please, don’t bother saying “Have a nice day” if you’re going to say it like you really couldn’t give a crap how the remainder of my day goes. Just don’t bother.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I find it more polite to say nothing rather than saying something I don’t actually feel. A slight smile will do. No, not a smirk. A smile. Thanks. Oh yeah, no eye rolling either…

In the end, it was Eliza’s vote that determined the winner of this season. I’m sure the show was edited heavily to make it look like Eliza debated longer and harder than she actually did on whom to award with the million dollar prize — the mean girl or the phony girl — but in the end, she chose Parvati (the mean one) to be the winner.

In the same situation, I think I would have done the same. Rick, from my middle school days, certainly wasn’t fake. He was just a mean-spirited loser. Sad that someone like that could be rewarded for it. Society… ugh.

That’s the part that sucks about many of these reality elimination shows… When you get right down to the end, you’re left with two people who don’t really deserve it. Erik and Cirie should have been the final two, at least I like to think so, but between them, there wasn’t enough meanness or fakeness to get it done… Hey, even Eliza would have been more deserving…

The plumber came out yesterday morning and did his thing to fix our basement sewage problem.

When I arrived home, after the bank incident, I took a trip down to the scary basement to see the fine workmanship.

Eh, it looks alright.

He tucked the new pipe real high and tight among the floor joists, which was nice, and he connected to the main sewer line in a convenient spot — all he had to do was unscrew a cap on the cast iron pipe to make the connection so I don’t think they’ll be raising the estimate any either.

Speaking of the estimate, I think they should actually lower it.

See, what is blatantly apparent to me is that they went out of their way to unnecessarily remove as much copper piping as possible — all the way up to the kitchen sink trap. They then replaced it all with plastic.

Hmmm, think that has something to do with the fact that scrap copper commands over $3.50 per pound these days?

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, we’ll be out of town this weekend for a wedding, so the sludge clean up will have to be put off for another week.

Hopefully, by then, the standing water will have evaporated and clean-up will be less of a project…

I can’t really say that I’m good at making money. I also can’t say that I’m very good at saving money either. Neither is one of my strong points.

I am, however, confident in saying that I’m very good at paying down debts.

Yeah, I know, making money, saving money, and paying down debt should all go hand in hand, right? For me, I’m not sure why, they just don’t. Yet.

Through my quest of paying down debt, I think I’ve mastered the secret of delayed gratification — I’ve put off a lot of things that I certainly wouldn’t have in the past. And now that I’ve got my debt under full control, I still find that I’m able to walk away from the things I want. That’s progress.

Where am I going with this?

Well, April was a pretty mundane month for me. I knocked just $1722 from my debts.

I know, I know, that’s a boatload of money but when you compare it to the previous 5 months (when I was still paying down my credit card debt), it’s not really very impressive:

NOV '07       -$3285
DEV '07       -$4798
JAN '08       -$4859
FEB '08       -$2521
MAR '08       -$3924
APR '08       -$1722

See what I mean? I’m hoping April was just a speed bump and that I can eliminate the last of the auto loan at a comparable rate.

And then, hopefully, I’ll figure out the “saving money” idea and see my savings increase by thousands of dollars each month…

On a related note, does anyone else look at their numbers and wonder where on earth the money comes from?

The idea that I actually have nearly $4000 of disposable income each month to send towards debt is unfathomable. My take home pay doesn’t even approach that?!

Granted, I’ve had at least one 3 paycheck month in the last 6 months, and I was still earning a decent income for my job with the hockey team back in November and December…. Add in the big refund from my tax return… I guess if I spread all of that around, it adds up…

Sure, the numbers don’t lie, but they certainly can be deceiving…

I’m definitely not in any position to set up a budget with $4k of monthly expenses though the number may indicate that I could…

Tonight I stopped by the bank on the way home from work — you know, the drive up ATM…

Well the car in front of me was one of those beat-up used sub-compacts like in the catchy FREE CREDIT REPORT .COM commercials.

Seriously, it was even the same color.

I didn’t pay them too much attention until they peeled out after completeing their transaction… Real winners, let me tell you.

I mean, the squealing tires immediately solidified their “coolness” in my eyes.

So I pull up to the ATM and their receipt is still in the machine. Now usually when this sort of thing happens at a gas pump or something, I just grab it, crumple it, and tuck it into my pocket.

But due to their obnoxious behaviour, I took at look at the receipt.

Wow.

Can you imagine? I had to look at it twice to make sure I was reading it correctly. Yep, 95 cents.

I mean, I’ve run my checking account down pretty low, but never this low.

I also thought it was kinda funny how the little advertisement up top is for “Debt Consolidation”. My receipt advertisements are never for stuff like that — usually it’s BoA’s “Keep the Change” program.

I wonder what the balance threshold is to get the “Debt Consolidation” header… Under $1 perhaps?

Anyway, little things like this make me feel even better about my current financial standing.

Earlier this week I came upon a couple of acquaintances discussing some sort of financial matter. I didn’t get all of the details, but it was apparent that one was giving the other some advice.

It was sad to me in that it was the one who is openly terrible with money doling out the advice as if they had all the answers — and the receiver appeared to be accepting it as sound guidance.

I didn’t say anything. Though I wanted to, it really wasn’t my place.

But it did get me thinking…

Was this person seeking financial advice blind to the obvious fact that the “expert” advising them didn’t have their own financial house in order?

Sure, their exterior might look well-off, but it’s a paper thin veil. We’re talking onion paper. Yeah — it’s that sheer.

Perception is a strange thing.

Do they really want to follow such a lead? I know I wouldn’t.

Perhaps I was just over-analyzing the conversation…