modern life

Ode to my COVID shot.

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Finally, finally got an appointment to get the doggoned COVID shot. I thought they’d never ask.

In fact, I was a bit surprised it took so long. The vaccination door has been open to the 65-and-up-crowd for weeks and weeks. Yesterday they opened it up to people over 55, and I pounced on the opportunity like a raven on a French fry.

The website kept telling me that I could get the COVID shot at this pharmacy or that pharmacy – except that those pharmacies didn’t seem to have any vaccine available.

A very kind woman at the state department of public health stayed on the phone with me and walked me through the signup. I can’t quite remember what I was doing wrong, but she somehow figured it out and made it possible for me to get an appointment at 9:40 a.m. today.

My arm is a bit sore but I haven’t developed any major complications. I still intend to go to bed early because heck, why not? I love to sleep.

I was so happy to get the COVID shot that I felt like singing. Which is probably why I found myself humming the song “Maria,” from the musical “West Side Story.”

Moderna

I’m getting a shot called Moderna…

But first, let me acknowledge that Dolly Parton – who also got the Moderna shot – did the song parody better. (She also donated a bunch of bucks to help get the vaccine developed in the first place, bless her heart.) 

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Monday miscellany: Love and money edition.

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If the Policy Genius “Couples & Money” survey is any indication, one of the things COVID didn’t change was love and money. Specifically, it didn’t change how paired-up households manage their dough.

About 40 percent manage their finances together and 22 percent “keep and manage” money separately, which is consistent with PG’s previous two surveys.

A few other interesting tidbits:

About two-thirds (66 percent) say money doesn’t have any influence on their relationship.

Almost one in three (30 percent) have paid off a partner’s debts. In that group, 44 percent have plunked down more than $10,000 to settle their loved ones’ obligations.

Lots of partners aren’t sharing money specifics. That includes topics like salary (41 percent), retirement savings (49 percent), credit scores (54 percent), debt (42 percent), investments (48 percent) and monthly spending totals (53 percent). And one out of five respondents say they don’t know any of those things about their partners.

Speaking of not-knowing: Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of those surveyed said that lying or hiding money could mean the end of a relationship. Yet one in five of them have an undisclosed will or some kind of secret account (credit card, banking, retirement, life insurance).

One way to get around all the secrecy is simple: Talk about money.

 

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Monday miscellany: Gig-worker taxes edition.

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Instacart, Uber, Amazon Flex, DoorDash – these and other gig-worker jobs were a nice side hustle for many people. Since the pandemic began, they’ve helped some laid-off workers keep the wolf from the door. When you spend all your time putting out that day’s fires, you might not have stopped to think how gig-worker income … Read more

Found money in 2020.

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This was not a good year for found money. In the last 12 months or so I picked up just $5.88.

Frankly I’m surprised I found more than a buck all year, given that I (and everyone else) stayed home a lot during the pandemic.

In addition, my gut feeling is that COVID-caused unemployment/fear of unemployment might also have made people clutch their coins a little tighter. It might even have made some folks  stoop to pick up that dime they dropped at the cash register.

Or the dime that someone else dropped. Maybe more money was out there all year, but other people found it before I could.

That’s fine with me. I don’t technically need this found money, being one of the lucky ones whose job did not fade away in part or in full in 2020. The reason I pick up cast-off coins all year long is that I donate them.

As always, I’ll round up the donation. This year it’s going up to $30, which is what I sent to the Food Bank of Alaska yesterday after a Facebook friend asked everyone to donate to FBA if they could. Doing this reminded me that I hadn’t counted my found money yet this year.

Now I have. Here’s the total:

 

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COVID fashion: Puttin’ on your grubs.

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When I got home from a dental appointment recently, I told DF that I couldn’t wait to put my grubs back on. They’re what I also call my freelancer’s three-piece suit: sweatpants, T-shirt and bathrobe. In other words, I was COVID fashion before COVID fashion was cool.

Sure, some people still dress up to work at home. (Although some dress up only from the waist up: Business upstairs, sweatpants party below.) My guess is that a lot fewer have been doing this as the pandemic stretched on and on.

And speaking of stretch: COVID has also given us “the quarantine 15,” as people exercised less and ate their feelings more. Stretchy waistbands are a crucial part of COVID fashion.

I’ve been seeing a lot of “athleisure,” “leisure wear” and “comfortable WFH clothes” ads. Again, I’ve been dressing like this since I went freelance full-time, way back in 2002. My grubs are not just comfortable, they’re frugal: no more spending money on shirts with buttons, pants with zippers or, heaven forfend, pantyhose.

Instead, I wear my grubs. Damn right they’re comfy.

Within half an hour of my arrival that day, DF handed me a few verses of a song parody: “Puttin’ on your grubs,” to the tune of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

Can’t help lovin’ that man.

I tinkered the verses a bit, making this our first satirical collaboration.

Before I share the words, I will share a bit of backstory. Like “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the song “Puttin’ on the Ritz” has an introductory verse that uses a different tune than the following verses. Listen to the following video clip as Fred Astaire sings that first verse: 

 

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Monday miscellany: Frugal February edition.

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Longtime readers know that I consider all months to be frugal. But since at least 2012 some folks have observed Frugal February, for one (or both) of the following reasons: Holiday bills have hit with a vengeance. Doing something for 28 days sounds lots easier than doing it for 31. Whatever the reason, Frugal February … Read more

Frugal stimulus spending.

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My fiscal stimulus* check got deposited a day earlier than the projected Jan. 4 date. Thus far I have used some of the money to:

Award $25 each to my great-nephew and great-niece, asking them to go forth and support the local economy.

Donate $25 to a GoFundMe for a Fairbanks woman in a tough situation.

Give $50 to the Food Bank of Alaska.

Buy $300 worth of gift cards at a small local restaurant. The young cashier was startled when I asked. “How much?” she said, and when I confirmed the figure she ran to get her boss. The supervisor thanked me several times and when I told him I’d done the same thing with the previous stimulus he said, “You’re helping us keep the lights on.”

Not sure where the rest of the money will go. But it will definitely go, i.e., it will definitely be spent. This is despite the advice I keep hearing to “invest it” or “save it.” Back in 2008 I resisted spending the fiscal stimulus, because I was anxious to rebuild savings depleted during my protracted divorce.

But that’s not what this money is intended to do. The idea is to give struggling businesses (local or national) a bit of a goose.

To be clear: I understand why some people would much rather build their own savings, or give the landlord a bit against the back rent, or pay down their credit card debt. I was there myself. But now I want to play some small part in helping others.

Some of you probably want the same. And I’d like to point out that it doesn’t all have to be bonbons and pretty shoes. You could also opt for frugal stimulus spending. That is, spending with an eye toward getting not just the most bang for your buck but also the most value from the result.

 

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Monday miscellany: Sleazy scammer edition.

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Lost your job due to the pandemic or looking for a side hustle through a work-at-home job? Be careful where you click. The increase in work-at-home jobs is a perfect fit for an Internet scammer, reports Kathy Kristof on the SideHusl blog.

“Crooks hide in the crowd, making their offers appear so similar to real ones that it’s hard to tell the difference,” says Kristof.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, job scams have cost U.S. residents at least $150 million in the first nine months of 2020. I say “at least” because who knows how many people who were victimized bothered to file an FTC complaint, or who didn’t know they could?

Here’s what the thieves want:

  • Personal information, such as a Social Security number
  • Passwords to accounts
  • Access to your computer (for example, the crook might send you a link to fill out an application – but it’s a spoofed site that will infect your computer with malware)
  • For you to cash a personal check or write them a personal check

To be clear: There are loads of legitimate work-at-home jobs out there. But you need to be cautious about any offer, even if you think it’s legit. Kristof’s article can help.

In addition, the Internal Revenue Service reports a new text scam: Messages saying, “You have received a direct deposit of $1,200 from COVID-19 TREAS FUND. Further action is required to accept this payment into your account. Continue here to accept this payment …” 

 

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Monday miscellany: Disastrous beginner mistake edition.

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The delightful but definitely NSFW (in a good way!) personal finance blog Bitches Get Riches has tackled a topic that needs a perennial takedown: what to do with retirement funds. “PLEASE tell me you’re not making this disastrous beginner mistake with your retirement funds” is an essential read if you’re just starting out, but also … Read more