Empty Storefronts During the Holiday Season?

It’s tough to fathom all of these retailers bowing out just when the shopping season gets going.

Why would they do that?

I mean, if my business had a good season and a bad season type of cycle and I were on the verge of calling it quits, I’d drop out just after the good season.

I’m sure that there’s more too it, but you’d think that some of these companies could ease their losses just a bit during the holiday season.

I mention this because my wife and I headed out on a Steve & Barry’s run this past weekend. They’ve been my favorite store for at least a year now — I wish I’d found them sooner — and I knew that they had filed for bankruptcy protection.

Last I heard, they were going to be liquidating during the holidays — you know, like I said, to take full advantage of the high shopper traffic before disappearing from the retail landscape entirely.

I checked their website for locations (I was looking for what time they opened actually) and one of the stores in our area was gone from their list. Must’ve been shuttered already.

Two others were listed as “Closing Soon“. Sweet!

We got in the car and headed out. I was giddy with excitement imagining slipping on a brand new $2.50 tuxedo t-shirt…

When we arrived at the mall, this is what we saw:

Yeah, that’s right, they thought they could hide it with some potted plants and some dealership’s cars…

Just an empty shell was left. They even took the sign down.

All that lingered was that familiar Steve & Barry’s smell.

I’m not certain what that smell is, I’m not sure I want to know, but it’s unforgettable.

No matter, there was another location no too far away. We hopped back in the car and headed to the next mall.

I wasn’t real familar with this next mall so, of course, we parked at the wrong end.

We walked around the mall looking for either Steve & Barry’s or even just a directory. Neither could be found.

I take that back, we eventually did find a directory, but only after catching a waft of Steve & Barry’s. I took this photo:

Closed. Cleared out. Even the sign was gone. And Macy’s had taken over their window with some sort of winter sale promo…

Disappointed, we headed home.

I guess I’ll never get a tuxedo t-shirt.

At least not at a price I’m willing to pay for one.

Posted on December 9th, 2008 at 5:40 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events | 3 Comments »

Photo of the Week: First Snowfall of the Season

This is what I woke up to this morning… That’s the view out of our back window.

According to my wife, I apparently, to my own benefit, slept through the snow plow driving by at 3:17 am. That’s not usually the case.

Now, you don’t think that I’m about to go out there and shovel my walk, do you? On a Sunday?

Please…

I mean, since becoming debt free we’ve started frequenting the opera.

Opera-goers do not shovel on Sunday.

And who could forget that we hire out the task of picking up our fallen leaves?

Obviously, we’re too “well-off”, now that we’re debt free, to shovel our own snow…

I kid.

Can you imagine actually being like that? I certainly can’t.

Now it’s not a lot of snow, maybe 3 inches, but it was our first accumulation of the season.

I was actually pretty excited to get out there and shovel — using my favorite shovel that was doomed to plaster duty just last month. I’ve missed that shovel — for snow NOT plaster.

Twenty minutes later, the walk and the driveway were clear.

As I said, it wasn’t a lot of snow, but I’m glad my first snow shoveling expedition of the season wasn’t one of those monster three hour projects at the crack of dawn before a long day at work.

That’s never the way to start a day.

Neither is being awoken by a passing snow plow at 3:17 am.

Thankfully, neither happened today.

Posted on December 7th, 2008 at 9:31 am by Brainy Smurf
Photo | 4 Comments »

Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas

Often times when I mention it, the response I get is a blank stare.

“Emmet who?”

Emmet Otter.

“Never heard of him…”

End of discussion.

Seems you have to be of a certain age while also having been fortunate enough to have lived in an area where HBO was available in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s. Yeah, we’re a select bunch, it seems…

It’s sad, really. It’s one of the best Christmas specials ever made and so few have ever even heard of it.

A couple of months ago I read some where that the average 5 year old these days can’t name any of the Muppets — even when shown their pictures?!

Crazy how quickly they became, well, irrelevant.

Replaced by the likes of SpongeBob, Shrek, and well, not that he’s age appropriate, even, Glenn Quagmire.

Giggity – Giggity.

Furthering my disappointment, and confirmation of the Muppetdom’s decline, while down in Florida at some sort of Disney souvenir tourist trap, my wife and I purchased a small Gonzo doll.

At the checkout, my mother thought he was “cute” but had no idea who (or what?) he was. What the hell is Gonzo anyway? I’m not sure that was ever answered…

But seriously, my mom had no recollection of Gonzo. None. And she’s not old enough — not even close — you know, where you’d almost expect people (I used the term loosely) like Gonzo to be forgotten.

Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. The Muppets have been collecting dust for nearly 20 years now — except for a few Miss Piggy cameos in Pizza Hut commercials.

Jim Henson’s death is partially to blame, sure, but so is Disney. They took over the Muppets in 2004 and then shelved them.

So it was a pleasant surprise when, earlier this week, I read in the newspaper that a local opera house was going to be putting on a production of Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas this holiday season.

No. Freakin’. Way.

Seriously.

And this isn’t just some community theatre group putting it together — it’s a real full blown production in a real opera house.

Needless to say, after all of this build-up, we’re going.

In true Muppet fashion, to be like Statler and Waldorf, we selected seats on the balcony to the right of the stage — but unlike them we’ll try to keep out comments to ourselves during the show. Tickets were pricey, a little over $50 each, but that’s to be expected for the opera.

Yeah, that’s right, I just made it sound as if we frequent the opera house.

For the record, we don’t. In fact, I’m not really sure what I should wear. I’m guessing that an airbrushed Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem t-shirt would be frowned upon…

Realistically, though, I think I’ll be a little disappointed, you know, expecting to see an all Muppet performance but having many of them as live action people instead — but hopefully as the show goes on, I’ll be able to “connect” with the new look Emmet.

But it’s the music that I’m most looking forward to. You can’t beat a Christmas themed show with a song about barbeque as one of the main features.

And hopefully now I won’t be afraid of the Riverbottom Nightmare Band. Really, even in high school I avoided the metal-heads because of the Riverbottom Nightmare Band…

Anyway, the world premiere musical production of Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas will be running from December 7 through January 4 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. If you’re in the area, and you’re familiar with who Emmet Otter is, you might want to check it out!

Posted on December 6th, 2008 at 1:48 pm by Brainy Smurf
Life, Music, Retro | 4 Comments »

Credit Card Roll Call – December 2008

With all of the reports that I’ve been hearing about people who have seen their credit lines decrease by numbers like 45% over the past few weeks or months, it seemed like a good idea to revisit all of the credit lines (and rates) on the cards that I have in my arsenal.

Last time I did this was in April and my total credit line back then was $110,820.

Here are the specifics as of today:

Bank of America Business MasterCard
Originally an MBNA account before they were bought out by Bank of America, I opened this account in March of 2005 when I started to divide my personal and business expenses and keep track of them separately. Turned out to be a great move as it was shortly there after I realized how much money I was bleeding on business expenses. I do not carry this card, but automatic payments are set-up for my monthly business expenses.
Current Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $26620 (No change)
Rate: 9.9% (No change)

CitiBank AT&T Universal MasterCard
I opened this account in April of 2007 utilizing a 0% for 12 months offer. I wrote a $6000 check to myself, which I originally dropped into my ING Direct savings account to jump on the “arbitrage” bandwagon. Shortly afterwards, I pulled the money out to finance the siding project. Now paid off, this is the only card I carry in my wallet for things like gas.
Current Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $9500 (Up from $8500)
Rate: 9.960% (Down from 11.26% — though this is the card where my rate was supposed to go up yesterday but still hasn’t.)

Chase Bank Visa Card
This was one of my first credit cards. I opened the account in 1998 and it was one of the cards that I ran up a considerable balance on before I got my act together. The highest it ever went was $12905 and that was in October of 2005. By August of 2006, I’d eliminated the balance, but continued to use the card for gas and the occasional purchase. Balance was always paid in full each month. In June of 2007, I took advantage of a 4.99% for the life of the balance offer to fund the siding project. I don’t carry this card.
Current Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $19200 (No Change)
Rate: 13.99% (Down from 15.24%)

Bank of America NHL MasterCard
Another of my original credit cards originally opened through MBNA in 1997 for a free t-shirt. This is also another card that I ran up a 5-figure balance on. In May of 2004, it topped out at $10915. By November of 2005, I had wiped the balance out. Now I have my internet service provider automatically bill to this card each month, and like clockwork, I pay back the $42.95 automatically on the same day using an autopay set up from the MBNA days. I do not carry this card and have not carried a balance since November of 2005.
Current Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $27400 (No Change)
Rate: 17.74% (Down from 18.74%)

Bank of America Platinum Plus Visa Card
Originally opened in March of 2005 as a failed plan to use balance transfers to consolidate balances at a lower rate. At first I transferred $5000 to this card. Evidently, not having learned my lesson the first time, I transferred another $5000 to this card in March of 2006. Luckily the rate was only 6.25% for both transfers. I wiped out the balance, which topped out at $6925 in March of 2006, in January of 2007. I do not carry this card.
Current Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $15400 (No Change)
Rate: 14.99% (Down from 18.24%)

Bank of America LendingTree GoldOption Loan
This was a loan for $10000 I took out in December of 2002 to, again, consolidate a few balances and put some much needed cash in my hands. At the time, it was LendingTree.com that found me the loan at 9.9%, and when the big check made out to me came in the mail, it was from MBNA. After a couple years of paying it down in regular $226 intervals, MBNA sent me a credit card attached to the account and started treating it like a credit card. With each month, the rate would rise another half percent or so. Not cool. I made my final payment in March of 2005 when the rate had climbed to 13.24%. I do not carry this card.
Balance: $0
Credit Limit: $13700 (No Change)
Rate: 12.99% (Down from 24.99%)

Okay, so amongst all of the discouraging reporting of credit lines dropping and rates rising, somehow I find myself with a total credit line $1k higher than 8 months ago and that none of my rates have gone up.

Most went down, actually, and that last one was cut in half!

Really, all of the changes have been beneficial to me.

So is credit really that hard to come by?

Maybe I’m in for a rude awakening…

Posted on December 4th, 2008 at 7:37 pm by Brainy Smurf
Credit Card, Finance | 3 Comments »

Brainy’s PF Goals for 2009

I suppose it’s time to set and log some goals for 2009…

When I set my goals for 2008 back in December of 2007, I thought they were a little lofty but somehow I managed to tackle every one of them.

The only one still remaining is the $10k in savings, which isn’t likely to happen after my Black Friday episode, but it’s still a possibility, albeit dim.

Even if I don’t manage to achieve that one, I’m still far ahead of where I was at this time last year. Far ahead.

My goals for 2009 aren’t going to be as specific as my goals for 2008 were.

I don’t have any debts worth paying down at an accelerated rate anymore and, while I’m still struggling to get a grip on how to save money more efficiently, I think I’ve made HUGE strides in the past year.

Just having a few months worth of expenses up your sleeve, or in an ING account, really does take a load off of your shoulders. I didn’t think it would, but it did.

So here are my ultra-vague goals for 2009 that will be all but impossible to track throughout the year with colourful side-bar graphs:

1. Find a contractor to gut and remodel the entire first floor of my house. New kitchen, new bathroom, new floors, new walls, and new ceilings throughout.

Preferably, I’d like to have the project nearing completion by May 2009.

2. Pay for all of the work done by the end of the year. Realistically, we’re going to have to find financing for a great deal of the work and, again, I’ll probably use my credit cards for most of it.

That said, I’ll have to cross my fingers that I don’t receive more “Change of Terms” letters like the one I received from Citibank earlier this week. That would be bad.

So far, we haven’t really done much in regards to these goals.

We’ve briefly researched a few general contractors, two of which I’m all but certain we’ll seek out for quotes when we’re ready to get things started financially, but I can’t, for even a second, claim that we’ve looked very hard or even thought about exactly what we’d like done.

On the financial front, we’re saving like we’ve never saved before while also reading the fine print on every credit card convenience check offer that comes in the mail — just waiting for the right offer and when it comes, we’ll be sure to take full advantage just to have the cash in our hands and readily available.

The 100% credit card financed method has worked in the past so I’ve little doubt that it will work for us again.

So that’s it.

Pretty short list this year but pretty lofty at the same time…

Posted on December 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm by Brainy Smurf
2009 Goals, Finance | No Comments »

Sucks to be You! Sucks to be Me! Citi Jacked My Rate!

MoneyMateKate mentioned this a few weeks ago on her site and I kinda selfishly thought to myself, “Wow, sucks to be her…”

But now, after the letter I received yesterday from Citibank, well, sucks to be me too.

Here’s the body of the letter:

I know, it’s tough to read but the main line reads:

We are increasing your variable APR for purchases. Your purchase APR will equal the LIBOR Rate plus 13.99%, with a minimum APR of 16.99%. As of September 17, 2008, this purchase APR is 16.99%. This APR equals a daily periodic rate of 0.0465%.

Okay, so the purchase APR is 16.99% and has been since September 17, 2008.

That’s news to me.

In fact, logging in to my Citi account, it clearly states that my purchase APR is 9.960%.

Nice of them to mail it so late that I received it in December, huh?

Wait, they mentioned something about December 3rd too…

Let me read it again…

Okay, so this means that tomorrow my purchase APR is going to jump from 9.960% to a minimum of 16.99%? Wow…

It really sucks to be me.

Honestly though, I’m not too worried about this because I don’t use the card for anything other than gas these days (so it’s easy to pay in full each month), but at the same time, I’m a little offended that they’d jack my rate so high for no apparent reason.

I know it’s their right, but still…

And sure, it may be because they’ve never made much money off of me. I mean, this is one of the accounts I opened to finance the siding project. I put a quick six or seven grand on it, at zero percent, and then put it away until the balance was paid.

Or maybe it’s across the board, you know, in an attempt to keep the company afloat. That’s probably more likely…

But for those that do carry a balance from month to month, this is like a death sentence.

I used to carry 5-figure balances at rates comparable to 16.99% (or, gasp!, 24.99%) and I’ll be the first to tell you, it’s hard getting hit for $200+ in finance charges each month. It’s a tough hole to dig out of…

If your in that situation and you get hit with this letter, I strongly suggest that you respond to the letter opting out and declining the change in terms. Sure, they’ll close your account, but I’m sorry, better credit card offers are still out there and you should look for them.

Citi’s days are numbered, I’m afraid.

No, “afraid” isn’t the right word… Have I mentioned before that I’m not a fan of their online interface? If not, I just did.

(Actually, I mentioned it here back on July 24)

They’re the only credit card company I have an account with that actually makes it difficult to make payments…

Looks like I’ll be swinging back to my Bank of America cards to pay for gas again.

You know, just in case I don’t pay in full one month…

Anyone else get this letter?

Posted on December 2nd, 2008 at 7:19 pm by Brainy Smurf
Credit Card | 9 Comments »

Net Worth Update: December 2008 (-$5830)

On the bright side, my net worth didn’t drop 5-figures like it did last month!

On the really bright side, I can now claim to be 100% debt free — with the mortgage as an exception.

We’ll see how long that lasts though…

But on the other hand, my net worth is continuing to fall — just like everyone else.

It’s not bothering me (yes, still!) because all of the sizeable losses are coming from my 401k and my home value.

Neither affects my day-to-day finances one bit.

Ignoring those two rows, I’m cruising along at a pretty nice clip…

Here’s the breakdown:

Cash:
Nothing really worth mentioning here. It’s a bit lower than I’d like, but the new savings plan I have going is keeping it that way.

Savings:
Wasn’t able to “save” as much as the previous month, but $1200 is nothing to sneeze at. I’m pretty content with this number and I expect it to increase next month.

Gov’t Bonds:
Up another three bucks!

401k:
It’s funny how it dropped another $3k, but I still feel like it made a recovery… Perhaps it’s because it was down $10k on November 20…

Home:
The value fell almost the exact same percentage as last month. At least it’s consistent!

Auto 1 & Auto 2:
Nothing to report. They’re both paid for so any “value” is nice.

Credit Cards:
Done. Gone. Again. My Black Friday expenses haven’t hit the cards yet, but I expect to have them paid in full before this coming month is even over. It’ll be like the transactions never existed.

Auto Loans:
Have I mentioned that I paid these off?

Other Loans:
Nothing to report.

Mortgage:
This was the least movement I’ve had all year — by far. Partly due to the increase in my mortgage bill but now that it’s gone back down again, I hope to have this hover between -$500 and -$1000 each month.

Posted on December 1st, 2008 at 1:25 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | 1 Comment »