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First, Happy Birthday to my godson, Cal! Sixteen? I may faint.
This one is for all my preggo friends.
Tomorrow, May 21st, Baskin Robbins is honoring all of your cravings by offering pregnant women a free soft-serve cone. “Bump Day” starts at 11 am and runs until 10pm at participating shops.
Enjoy!
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In two weeks I go for my annual skin cancer screening.
I was always the one would could get a sunburn on a cloudy day. My Dad would say, “Impossible!!” even as the Solarcaine was being sprayed on my tender, red skin. In those days people put oil on their skin, not sunscreen, and since I was the only one in my family with very fair skin I was the only one who suffered.
I’m a huge believer in sunscreen, despite the controversy surrounding it, which Wikipedia sums up pretty well.
From the Mayo Clinic’s website:
No studies have proved that ingredients in sunscreen are linked to breast cancer. However, some animal and laboratory studies have shown that some ultraviolet (UV) filters in sunscreen may mimic estrogen, which could disrupt or alter your endocrine system. No evidence has shown that exposure to endocrine disruptors in low levels, such as those in sunscreen, leads to health problems.
One study with human volunteers found that the UV filters in sunscreens were absorbed into the skin, but they didn’t have an effect on the health of the volunteers, or their levels of estrogen or any other hormone.
Further studies are needed to see if humans could be harmed by the ingredients in sunscreen. For now, the American Academy of Dermatology still recommends these precautions before heading out in the sun:
- Use a sunscreen with UVA and UVB filters with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15 on all exposed skin.
- Wear protective clothing, such as a long-sleeved shirt, pants and a brimmed hat.
- Stay in the shade if possible.
If you’re still concerned about the risks of traditional sunscreens, you can use a sunscreen containing zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as an alternative. Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide aren’t absorbed into your skin, and don’t mimic estrogen.
More good info is at the Yale-New Haven Hospital site.
I’ve had two instances of skin cancer, one basal cell carcinoma and one squamous cell carcinoma. Luckily neither were melanoma. Still, I go for yearly skin cancer screenings, and am very committed to Son never having a sunburn. At three years and roughly three hundred days he has never experienced one. So far, so good.
Not only am I a believer in sunscreen, I’m a believer in using it daily. Whether you live in Fairbanks or Fort Lauderdale. There are moisturizers and cosmetics with sunscreen, so you don’t even need to add any steps to your daily routine.
I know there are risks, talk of a possible link between sunscreen and other cancers. But skin cancer is a reality for me, not a possibility. I’m more likely now to get more skin cancers, and that makes Son more likely to develop cancer himself. Since my Dad (of the darker skin) has also had skin cancer, Son is even more more likely to experience it.
Whether you agree with the use of sunscreen or not, I urge you to get a skin cancer screening. Today’s Deal of the Day tells you how you can get one for free.
Free is good. Free health care? Really good.
Please help spread the word.
Here’s the first medical Deal of the Day, courtesy of Vanessa:
Olay and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery are offering free skin-cancer screenings ffrom May through July across the country. To find a participating dermatologist in your area, log on to www.SkinCancerTakesFriends.org.
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This one is for Emily.
Get a free subscription to Country Home Magazine by clicking here and filling out the form.
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Office Depot has some great deals this week. First off is coupon code 99012634 for a savings of 10% on all purchases. Tech items excluded. Their Clearance Blowout boasts red tag savings of up to 80% off original prices, and they’re giving away a free Brother P-Touch PT80 Handheld Labeler with the purchase of 2 Brother high yield toners. Coupon expires 05/31/2008.
Also, I’m pretty sure that if you spend $50 or more they will deliver it free if you live withing their local delivery area. Of course you’ll want to top the driver…
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We can talk all we want about saving money and being frugal and all of the personal finance things we talk about, all designed to build and protect our wealth. We can save and buy smart and cut our own hair and buy low and sell high. We can amass a fortune.
But if we’re not careful it can all be for naught.
If you’re not even more careful than you think you need to be, you could wind up like these people, who got their assets seized by their state and sold.
“The 50 U.S. states are holding more than $32 billion worth of unclaimed property that they’re supposed to safeguard for their citizens. But a “Good Morning America” investigation found some states aggressively seize property that isn’t really unclaimed and then use the money — your money — to balance their budgets.”
Yes. And they’re taking the property with little or no effort to find the rightful owners. This woman had active accounts at the bank that held her safe deposit box:
“Carla Ruff’s safe-deposit box was drilled, seized, and turned over to the state of California, marked “owner unknown…Her great-grandmother’s precious natural pearls and other jewelry had been auctioned off. They were sold for just $1,800, even though they were appraised for $82,500.”
Also disturbing:
“California law used to say property was unclaimed if the rightful owner had had no contact with the business for 15 years. But during various state budget crises, the waiting period was reduced to seven years, and then five, and then three. Legislators even tried for one year. Why? Because the state wanted to use that free money.”
Really, click on the link. The whole article gets even more disturbing.
And it’s not just safety deposit boxes. It’s dormant accounts, or accounts your parents or your grandparents forget they have. It’s the savings account you started when you were six, or the stock account you started and haven’t looked at since the crash of ‘87.
We have to stay organized, or get organized. We need to know what accounts we have and where. We need to maintain contact with the companies we do business with.
It’s NOT just a matter of “set it and forget”, like my father’s favorite Ronco item promises.
We have to protect what’s ours. And a large part of protecting our assets is keeping close track of them.
Very scary stuff, indeed.
I’m going to reprint the information they suggest here:
So, the question for citizens is, how do you protect yourself?
Make contact with your bank, your brokerage firm, etc. at least once a year, in a way that creates a paper trail. Make sure they have your current address.
If you own stock, occasionally vote your proxies or take other steps to keep your stock ownership active. Stay in touch with your broker.
Write a list of all your accounts and keep it with your will, so your heirs will know where to look.
Consider insuring valuables even if you keep them in your safe-deposit box. That way, you’re covered financially if the bank or state makes a mistake and empties your box. Plus, safe-deposit contents have been known to be destroyed by fire or flooding. The insurance company I worked for offered a 70% discount on items kept in a vault as long as they were not removed for more than seven days per year.
If you want to search for unclaimed property in your name, you do not need to pay other people to do it for you. Check out the following links for more information:
National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators
You work hard for your money, and your family leaves you treasures because they want YOU to have them. Please, please keep an eye on them…
I bought a pair of OshKosh B’Gosh shorts for my son when he was just a few months old. I loved them so much I had him wear them to his 1st birthday party (they were a little big, but not overly so). He’ll be 4 in July and not only do they still fit (but not for much longer), they are in almost new condition.
OshKosh B’Gosh has some great deals this week! They’re offering 70% off during their Summer Blowout Sale. They’re offering a printable coupon for 20% off a $50 purchase through May 21, 2008.
You can also get a $10 off $25 Play Card with each $25 purchase through May 21, 2008.
Have fun shopping!
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Nobody tagged me for this meme (I don’t think!) , but plonkee started it. I’ve read many other’ ‘posts and decided to do my own. So I tag me, and if you want to participate, go tag yourself! Or, leave your story in comments.
Deciding to attend community college wasn’t only the best financial decision of my college career, it was one of the best life decisions I ever made.
After 13 years of public school I was burned out. I’d done the AP classes and the Drill team and DECA and Clique Avoidance and I was very much over all of it. I really didn’t want to attend college at all, but I knew that not only was a degree almost essential for success (and it really seemed that way in the 80’s) I actually wanted a degree. I just soooo didn’t want to go have to attend class to get it.
Then my Dad invited me to come to Florida and go to the local community college, aka Beer Can College. It was an opportunity to get to know my Dad better, attend a few classes and hit the beach. Dad was willing to foot the bill for my classes and my living expenses (he’d promised to rent me an apartment). It was a complete no-brainer.
At first it did not look like the best decision I’d ever made. First, I moved away from all of my friends and a life I was used to. I went from having a full social life to barely knowing a soul. Also, I did not get along with my stepmother. At all. I was living with them until we found an apartment for me (something that never came to fruition, by the way), and every day my stomach clenched as I drove up to the house.
And I was just not into school. At all. I spent two years going full time and only amassed ten credits. Ten. I never failed anything - in fact I had three A’s and one B. I simply lost interest and dropped classes constantly. Dad was paying, and I just wasn’t invested.
Then in the fall semester of my third year at Beer Can College a friend went on a student orientation to Florida State University and invited me along. I loved it. I wanted to go. But with only ten credits it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
The next week I had a session with my guidance counselor. She showed me how I could earn 55 credits and make it happen to go to FSU at the end of the coming summer. It would involve taking lots of classes in regular session and through both summer sessions, and finding ways to “clep out” of others (getting college credit for real life experience). She got my attention.
Suddenly I was a woman on a mission. I had a direction. I was excited and committed. I started paying for my own school, making a financial investment in my own future, though I did still live at my Dad’s.
I earned fifty-five credits that year, and got only one “B”. I didn’t ‘walk’ graduation, as I took classes up until the week before I left for FSU.
But I graduated Beer Can College Summa Cum Laude. And I was awarded a scholarship that covered all but $75 of my tuition per semester at FSU. My Dad paid my rent, gas, insurance and books, but I worked part time to pay everything else - food, phone, cable, water, electricity, entertainment, etc. I had to learn to budget and make my money last. This was really the start of my frugal ways. And by getting my AA at a community college I saved about 75% on tuition (versus FSU if I had gone there my first two years).
And I graduated without a penny in student loans.
If I hadn’t chosen to go to community college I’m not sure I would have gone to college at all, and I likely would have never completed my degree. But I did complete my degree, Cum Laude (it would have been Magna Cum Laude if FSU counted my Beer Can College grades in the ranking process), and that piece of paper is one of the most important pieces of paper I will ever own.
And in case you were wondering, my social life did improve. The people I met at Beer Can College are my best friends to this day, some 25 years later. One was the best man at our wedding, another is godfather to Son.
And I met Husband there. He was one of those best friends, though we would not date until many years later, and only married less than six years ago.
And since I stay home with Son and Husband supports us completely, I’m thinking you’ll agree that going to community college first was one of the best financial, and life decisions I’ve made to date.
You deserve a break today…
Today you can have a free breakfast and a free lunch on McDonald’s. During breakfast hours on Thursday, May 15, 20008 they’re giving away a free Southern Style Chicken Biscuit with the purchase of any medium or large drink. Head back at lunch time for a free Southern Style Chicken Sandwich with the purchase of a medium or large drink also. Valid on 05/15/2008 only.
Just please don’t go back for dinner…
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Emotional spenders beware! There’s a newish website whose gimmick is designed to separate you from your money.
If you send The Something Store $10 they will send you…something. Something random. It could be a wallet or a fruit basket or a hair trimmer or a wallet.
Blink.
You send them $10 of your hard earned money, and in return what you get is “maybe something you need, something you want or something you desire.”
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Clutter!
Why, why would anyone do this? Why would anyone spend their hard-earned money on this? Are there people that lonely, that frivolous, that bored, that wasteful with their money?
Yes. They are emotional spenders. People who spend money so that they will feel fill in the blank. Happy, loved, worthy, stimulated… there are many reasons emotional spenders spend. And there are a brazilian things emotional spenders spend their money on.
This particular venue gears their marketing message directly to the emotional spender. “How will you feel when your receive your something? ” they ask on their website. “Get Your Something and find out!”
Blech.
I can think of a thousand things for which I’d be much better off using my $10. Can’t you?
