Yes, you read that correctly.

I deposited my paycheck of $1300+ on Thursday 5/31. My bank automatically credits deposits, so the amount was immediately available in my account. I took out my $200 allowance and the weekly $100 for groceries.

On 6/3 my monthly automated savings went through, removing another $817 from checking. Today I was notified that my paycheck was returned for non-sufficient funds and the amount was debited from my account. While I didn't have that full amount in the primary checking, I did have more than enough to cover it between my slush fund savings and (gulp!) my secondary checking account that I use for my side business...

So, here's the good news:

1. Even after temporarily loosing a paycheck I'm not broke.

2. Since I bank with a credit union, I am not faced with a returned check fee.

3. Also, the credit union representative automatically shifted my money around to cover the withdrawal before she even called me, rather than leaving me to take care of it my self.

4. I have $500 worth of courtesey pay on all three of my credit union accounts, so I have access to a total of $1500 should I actually have need of it. This is equal to one month's bills without groceries.

5. DH's bi-weekly contribution to the household account will hit today or tomorrow, so we shouldn't have to miss a beat when it comes to the bills that are automatically drafted from checking.

And the bad news?

MY EFFIN' PAYCHECK BOUNCED IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!

OK, sorry for the caps, but since I can't scream that out loud to the higher ups here I thought I'd at least try to get it out of my system.

Seriously, I bring home 60% of the income for our household. We live and pay debt off my money and save almost all that DH contributes for short, mid, and long term savings. It's a nice system, has worked for months now, and this is so putting a cramp in my fiscal style. GAH!!!

Not to mention the fact that, while a $1300 paycheck seems like an OK chunk of change, it really ought to be NOTHING for a corporation. INSUFFICIENT FUNDS? You've got to be kidding me!!! The word I'm getting right now is that they're expecting a wire transfer today and my bank can resend the check this afternoon. There are so many things wrong with this situation that I cannot even begin to list them...

And scariest of all? I'm supposed to get my next paycheck next Friday the 15th, when there's a distinct possibility I won't yet have the funds from this paycheck. What do you think are the odds that the next check will go through?

Oh, and 80% of my bills are due from the 15th through the end of the month. La la la...

So, here's my plan:

1. I just confirmed that no bills are set to be automatically drafted before DH's paycheck hits. This is good, our next 4 upcoming bills can be paid with no issue.

2. If I have to, I can pull 3k down from the NY savings account.

3. The money for the homeowner's insurance bill is still safe and sound in NY. I will leave it there until this mess is straightened out.

4. I'm making some calls and seriously considering jumping ship. I've already had someone ask if I was ready to come work for them, and I'm about to let them know the answer is 'YES'!

Another point of view: maybe this is a sign I should just focus my energies on my slightly super-secret side business.

Message to the Powers that Be: next I would appreciate a more subtle sign! Bah....

GAH!!!!!

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For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE don't wait for weeks and then come and say "thanks!" for EACH and EVERY freebie that was posted over the past month.

PLEASE!!! I beg of you, don't do it!!!

Just a quick story about why I buy organic tomatoes.

I have been stupid busy lately. That's right, it's not that I've forgotten that I have a blog for 2 months, there's actually been a reason for my hiatus.

With that said, I've not been cooking all that much. No real worries.

Well, tonight I made spaghetti. I reached under my chopping block for an onion, and came across this:



OK, a bag of tomatoes in good shape, no big deal right? Wrong!!! This next picture will show you WHY:



See that, highlighted in yellow? I bought these tomatoes A MONTH AGO!!!! I'm sorry, but it's just not natural for tomatoes from a month ago to be in usable shape!!!! What kind of freaky mutant tomatoes are these?!?!?!???

While it might be inconvenient and a waste of money for me to have tomatoes go bad because because I forgot to use them, I HATE TO THINK what is in these tomatoes to keep them usable after sitting on a shelf for a month.

So there you go. If possible, I'll keep buying my produce from the organic store or the flea market where I can see for my self that they are in fact capable of going bad. Because these tomatoes are just plain scary.

You shall remain nameless so I don't get flamed. But you know who you are!

I know you mean well, and I can appreciate that. You're right, it is polite to say thank you when someone does something nice and/or useful for you.

With that said, do you have to post a 'thank you' message for absolutely every freebie that's been posted? It would seem reasonable one is only obligated to say 'thanks' for the freebies one is actually going to use. Are you using all 126?

And if you want to say thanks to each and every one, so be it. In that case, please check the forums more frequently, so that you are posting a few thanks every day. As it is now, you come on once every week or two and post a thanks to umpteen freebies that have been posted since you were last here.

For those of us who use the 'show new messages' functionality of SavingAdvice.com, this is maddening! I jump on and see there are 100-200 new posts. ACK! I skim through page after page of threads that are 'new' so I can find the handful that don't show your name is the most recent poster. It makes it difficult to keep up with actual active threads, as opposed to simple 'thank you' replies.

So please, Freebie Thank You-er, please consider only thanking for the freebies you're using. Or at least send your thank you-s a few times per week, rather than saving them all up for one giant thank you bomb.

Just because you're driving a Beemer doesn't mean you can ignore all traffic laws, not to mention common decency!

Today during my 20 minute lunch hour, I went to get a cuppa joe. I was happily sitting at a red-light in the right-most left turn lane listening to NPR, and you Mr. Beemer Butt Munch were on my right in the 'go straight' lane. There was traffic everywhere.

When our light changed, I and the car to my left both began making our left turns when you, MR. BEEMER BUTT MUNCH, gun your engine and make a swinging left turn in front of me from a NON-LEFT TURN LANE!!!

You are a lucky rat bastard that I know how to drive and do it well, otherwise me, you, and the car to my left would have all wound up on the news tonight. Bad news for you, Mr. Beemer Butt Munch, because the county sherrif, a state trooper, and a SLED agent are all loyal cigar store customers!

I know for a fact you saw me. I drive an 'Egg Yolk Yellow' Ford Focus, for cryin' out loud, how could you not see me?!??

Granted, I know this car does not scream "EFFECTIVE DRIVER" or "FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE", but beleive it or not that is WHY I DRIVE IT! I drive this car so my property taxes will be lower, my gas bill will be lower, and I can afford a $250 deductible and 100 grand in liability coverage in case I ever happen to run into a MR. BEEMER BUTT MUNCH such as yourself.

I admit, I was sorely tempted by you today, Butt Munch. I had a golden opportunity 5 feet from my front bumper. My car would have been totalled, but I have GAP insurance which would have paid off my loan in full. Your car would have been totalled, but me, the guy to my left, and the 50 other cars at that intersection (NOT TO MENTION THE FREAKIN' TRAFFIC CAMERAS) all would have stated it was your fault.

I could have made your life miserable today, Mr. Beemer Butt Munch, and I chose not to. Next time, why don't you try and do the same?

Somethings are worth paying money for, and in my opinion flipping off Starbucks is one of them.

Background
My parents currently own a coffee/cigar store, and used to have another coffee shop in a nearby town. We are all bona fide coffee snobs. We take our own coffee pot, filters, and coffee when we stay in a hotel. We tried 20? 30? kinds of coffee before deciding on the blend to serve in our store. At home, I go through a half pound of a fair trade, organic, shade grown coffee blend called 'Bean Martin' every week.

I kinda like the stuff.

With that being said, Starbucks charges obscene money for what is, to me, really bad coffee. They roast the beans a tad too much, and as a result when they grind then up they overheat and wind up tasting burnt. Bleech! In our shop, we have a bumper sticker on the counter that says "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Starbucks". HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

There is another coffee place here that actually has good java. They only have 2 locations, it's all drive through (therefore not really our competition), and their prices are acceptable for retail coffee. For me, the biggest selling point is that they are a locally owned business, and even sell locally baked muffins & cookies (from the same baker we used to use, actually).

Anyways, I've always had a hard time rationalizing buying their coffee when I'm out and about b/c I can get piping hot coffee from our store at, ahem, no charge. See the quandry? But I silently root for them to keep afloat b/c they're local.

Enter Starbucks (aka StarCrooks)
One of the locations for this local chain is in front of a shopping center with a grocery store in it. Said grocery had a StarCrooks inside. Not really any competition for our hero the local coffee business, since drive through customers aren't likely to get out and go inside the grocery for coffee. No biggie.

Then StarCrooks, in their infinite !@$(*&# wisdom decide to close the location inside the grocery and build a brand new buiding, you guessed it, right next to the local chain. Those dirty dogs!!! Corporate America strikes again, trying to push the little guy down!

So What Now?
Well, as I said at the beginning of this post, I feel that flipping off StarCrooks is worth spending a little money on. So, every Friday afternoon during my lunch break, I go through the drive-thru and get a $2 cuppa coffee even though I could drive the same distance and get it for free at our store.

Why?

Well, our store gets 95% of its traffic from the cigars and there's no way StarCrooks can change that. The coffee is just a bonus. This little establishment, though, is likely to go under once StarCrooks opens, and I hate the thought of our area loosing yet another local business.

Remeber: "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink StarBucks. At Least Buy Local!"

You know the one, that you're being taken advantage of? Yeah, that one...

I'll just start by saying I love DH and I know he loves me. But we're all grown, and we know that loving someone doesn't mean you always treat them the way you should, and doesn't mean you don't take them for granted.

So, with that being said, I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a pretty crappy deal aroud my house, and I'm about fed up with it.

Monday I got home from work before DH. Actually,he'd been off work a few hours and was at my dad's cigar store, but whatever. I got home, built a fire in the wood stove, started dinner, put laundry on, yadda yadda. He gets home, sits down in his chair and says something to the effect of "There's a fire going and dinner's cooking, all I need are slippers and a drink and I'll be happy."

I looked at him and simply said "You know, I thought the same thing when I got home from work."

ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!

I know the example above may not seem like much, but it is as they say the straw that broke the camel's back. We both work full time, we both do our own personal laundry, but that's where the equitable split of labor ENDS, and I'm getting fed up with it.

He cooks once every other week or so, but hasn't washed a load of dishes since we bought this house in July. Washes his own clothes, but dirty towels and sheets could sit around and moulder to rags without him thinking to put them in the wash. Likes to snuggle the cats, but hasn't touched their litter box in a year and a half. It goes on and on an on...

I get home around 6p during the week and have 5 hours before it gets to be bed time. I start dinner, do dishes, put on laundry, clean the cat box, fold laundry, sweep the floor, take out the trash (!!!), put on more laundry, and DH will yell from the den "Hey, whatcha doin'?" WHAT? What the hell do you think I'm doing?

Long story short, I'm starting to feel more like a single mom than a married woman with no kids. It's been annoying for a while and it's starting to move towards creepy. I have to remind him to take medicine, I have to remind him to collect days worth of dishes from around his chair and at least bring them in the kitchen. I go to the fridge and find out he's left an empty milk & OJ container in their rather than setting it out on the counter (or heaven forbid even rinsing it out and putting in the recycle bin).

I've asked him nicely to help, that didn't work. I've broken down in tears about this, that didn't work. I made up a chore list (because he asked for one saying he didn't know what needed to be done), and that didn't work. I'm running out of options and it scares me. I found out he almost cheated on me about a year ago, and he said it was because I was tired all the time. Well what the #$*^!@ do you expect when I work 8 hours and then come home and work 4 more?!? No wonder I'm tired all the time...

At any rate, I'm getting more and more frustrated and, as you can probably tell, I'm starting to seriously resent my DH. Any practical suggestions would be greatly appreciated.