No to Debt; Yes to a Credit Card Critic

I got two more credit cards in the mail today and I found it so funny, I actually burst out laughing. I don’t get it, I really don’t. Are times so bad banks now send plastics via mail even though their recipients didn’t sign up for anything? The two plastics were from different banks but both had credit limits that easily quadrupled my present credit line - which is hefty enough to put me in the poorhouse for a loooong time.

Fortunately, I’ve done a lot of growing up since last year. I no longer trance out on all things shiny and pretty. I can now pry myself away from everything with the word “SALE” stamped on it. Most importantly, I have learned to say no - and where credit cards are concerned, I now say no an awful lot. I said no to the two credit cards, too. Even though we don’t have a consumer’s resource center for credit cards hereabouts, I learned enough about finance in accounting classes to know that 3.5% interest a month is not nice. Oh no, it’s far from nice. It’s an ugly stepchild with more warts on its face than Nanny McPhee pre-transformation. I already have 4 of these stepchildren; I don’t need 2 more!

Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if we’d have a counterpart site to TheCreditCardCritic.Com? All credit card owners - the wise and the wisecracking alike - could surely benefit from a one-stop resource center. I, for one, don’t know the difference between a Visa and a Mastercard, a classic and a gold. So, to cover my bases, I got myself one of each. Tsk, tsk. Now you know the kind of credit card user I used to be! I wasn’t just swipe-happy; I was  estafa-waiting-to-happen on two legs!

Shopaholic in New York (Virtually, Anyway)

I’m big on getting people presents because I think there’s something sad about someone not getting any present on Christmas Day. This year, I did a ton of saving and got the hub a Compaq Presario CQ40-109TU notebook. I didn’t buy myself anything because I’m on ’save up so you can splurge soon’ mode. If I had all the money in the world, though, I know where I’ll go shop - New York! I’ll go uptown or downtown on board a New York Bus Charter. Getting a cab is out of the question because cab rides in NYC will make a huge dent on my shopping money. So, I’ll go get me an NY bus charter and grin at the poetic justice of it all.  A big bus for a big spender - what could be more apt?
Now, on with the virtual tour. I know anyone worth her Manolos will drop by chic little boutiques as much as established stores. I’ll do Bloomingdale’s first then Barney’s for their Miu Miu dresses and Habitual jeans. Then I’ll go snag me some good bargains over at H&M, Zara, and Century 21. Afterwards, it’s off to Bergdorf Goodman’s so I can buy a shoe and score a suit. Naturally, all these bustling and buying will make me one very hungry woman. I’ll pop down Grand Central Station for the famed NY cheesecake. When I’m done, I’ll go to geek-tech haven a.k.a the Apple Store SoHo so I could test-drive all the gadgets on sight. Last stop would be the American Girl Place for a peek at life-sized, 18-inch dolls in historical costumes, the theater where you can see the dolls’ stories told, and the cafe and the bookstore that will complete my tour of the Old West and everything that is offbeat and quirky in the U.S.  Think you my bus driver will humor me and not toss me off the bus? I’m sure of it. NY bus charter bus guys have been taking people like me around New York all their life. I’m sure there’s nothing I can do that will stun them - except perhaps sit on their lap and take over the wheel.

Pregnancy - Not the Season to Be Frumpy

Is it me or is there an unspoken rule that women should look drab and frumpy the moment they get pregnant? It never fails to get my goat each time I am pregnant (and I’ve had two pregnancies, mind you!) that there are simply no stores to buy fashionable maternity clothes from! I mean, pregnancy is difficult enough as it is. Spending it looking dowdy makes it even tougher. If I dress up with care when I’ve a waist to show, doesn’t it stand to reason that I would dress up with even MORE care the moment my waist turns into one elastic balloon? When you get pregnant, you lose your figure. Your armpits and neck darken. Your nose bulges. Your feet become fat. You become fat. If not for that little bundle of joy growing by the way in your tummy, pregnancy would be pure torture. I haven’t even started on the back aches and the belly aches.

So really, shops should provide pregnant women everywhere a rich trove of dressing options! I thought this then, I think this now. And if I have my way (and lots of choices too), I’d even go for maternity jeans. They’re comfy and they emphasize the sleekness of the lower limbs - a good thing since the legs are probably the only part of the female anatomy that do not bulge during a pregnancy. Stretch fabrics, in particular, are good for expecting women because they hug the legs thus giving an oomph factor to the pregnant woman playing dress-up PLUS they are made of Lycra, so they provide the necessary stretching power to accommodate a growing belly.

The next time I get pregnant (and I plan on two more pregnancies at least), I will get me some maternity jeans and have ‘em shipped all the way from the U.K. Pregnancy is not the time to be frumpy. If anything, it’s the perfect occasion to be all dressed up and glowing.

A Chance at Redemption - Credit Redemption, That Is

If you have bad credit, can you take out a loan anyway? Most people would tell you no but this is not exactly the truth. The truth is, even with bad credit, you can still take out a loan. The catch is that you will be slapped with higher interest rates. Then again, there’s every reason you should be slapped with higher interest rates. The fact that you have bad credit means you reneged on loan payments in the past. Thus, whoever loans you any sum now has to shoulder the risk that you may not be able to repay the loan at all.

Fortunately, there is a silver lining to this dark cloud. If you get a bad credit loan, you also get the chance to improve your credit store. Online lenders like Badcreditloanshop.com offer loans to people with bad credit. This is a good thing, methinks, because getting approved for a bad credit loan is a wonderful opportunity to regain the trust of banks and other lending institutions. Most importantly, you can say goodbye to your old record that’s riddled with bankruptcies, past payments that went unpaid, and an incredibly low credit score. Now why am I writing about this? I’m not entirely sure. Perhaps I’m just covering my bases. I’ve only recently repaid ALL of my credit card debts you see so perhaps it’s relief about this change in my financial status that’s making me turn into an advice-dispensing machine.

NY, Stilettos, and Clever Commuting

If I could live in one city for a year, I’ll choose New York - and it’s not just because it’s Carrie Bradshaw’s city, or that it never sleeps, or that it oozes cosmopolitan chic from every nook and cranny, from every manhole and pothole. I’d love to live in New York because to quote Frank Sinatra, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” And “making it there” or anywhere for that matter is literally a problem in New York. In all the movies I’ve seen, hailing a cab in New York is like trying to outbid competitors at an auction. There are just too many people in NY and too few cabs.

Naturally, if I lived in New York, walking IS not an option for me. I can’t go around in flats in the city of chic after all. I’ll be wearing platform shoes, towering boots, and pointed stilettos so running after a cab is out of the question. So how do I get around then? If I’ve the money for it, I’ll hire a limo or buy myself one and get a uniformed driver to take it around. If I don’t, then I’ll make reservations for a JFK Airport Shuttle. Who says only tourists can use their service? They provide transportation throughout NY and its neighboring suburbs so I might as well turn JFK’s shuttling service into my own version of a liveried chauffeur. Frank Sinatra may have sung, “These vagabond shoes are longing to stray right through the heart of it,” but I’m sure he did not mean that literally. Wear out the soles of his Armani-clad feet? I doubt it!