What Kind Of Fool Am I?

OK, just for the record: I make the singular worst April Fool’s joker in the UNIVERSE. I totally spaced out coming back to fallible and making it clear that I am NOT entertaining an offer in the six figures for the fallible name, though such an offer would be entertaining indeed. Sadly, I’ve been offered nothing at all—-but neither am I in the market to sell.

Next foolish item: I have decided to try my hand at veggie and fruit gardening for the first time ever, except for that one year when Scotty was a toddler and he’d pick the tomatoes and eat them whole before I could catch him. We only attempted tomatoes and green peppers and succeeded at both, but our next-door neighbor was a gardening guru and made us feel inadequate with our pitiful offerings, just over the chain-link fence from his bounty.

But now, 28 years hence, I’m feeling braver. I also am not as deathly frightened of bees and wasps as I used to be, perhaps because I’m deaf in one ear and therefore buzzing is automatically reduced by 50%, tricking my brain into believing the threat has diminished. Also, I forced myself finally to first read and then view “The Secret Life of Bees.” I’d resisted the book for YEARS because I knew darned good and well that it would end up having SOMEthing to do with bees, and I just couldn’t handle that.

Reading the novel first eased me into the whole bee-keeping story, and I asked myself, “How bad could the movie be, really? Those bees don’t want to sting you!” (Yeah, right, that’s what they all say….) The movie was as amazing as the book, and helped me overcome another layer of fear.

So….I’m planning on trying to grow tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, lettuces, carrots, strawberries, green beans, and peas. I’ve already sown some seed in tiny paper cups, pushed my large breakfast table under the big bay window in the kitchen, and added cookie sheets of seedling-hopefuls to the sunny spot.

Who can say whether I’m being foolish to think I can learn some new tricks at my age? All I know for sure is that I’d better take notes about what works and what doesn’t, because by this time next year, I won’t remember!

Finally, on this Foolish Monday, I’m thinking more about our finances than ever. Here’s the deal: We’ve been going through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at our church, and it’s been great. I think we’ve done 6 of the 13 weeks now. We have heard some sad stories from others in the class about foreclosures and job losses and uninsured medical bills, and since we go to church in a prosperous part of town, it’s shed a lot of light on how some of our own parishioners are hurting. I guess I was not expecting there to be such serious difficulties as are represented by this group, but it just goes to show that the economic downturn is no respecter of persons.

We decided to take this class (even though we have no debt except for a small mortgage) because we knew we could buckle down and do better for our own future and in order to be a blessing to others. I’ve found myself second and third-guessing every frivolous unplanned purchase, until by now I usually skip all the guessing completely and simply walk away. Continuing to add to our travel fund is MUCH more important to us than geegaws and trinkets and whatnots, so why waste time shuffling through bins of junk?

Maybe I’m more of a fool than I know, but I read a Money Makeover online this morning that really got me going. A forty-year-old childless couple, combined take-home income of $75,000. No debt except for the house, on which they have THREE mortgages—-one of them an adjustable ready to re-set this month. That, evidently, is why they panicked sufficiently to seek a makeover.

They purchased the home five years ago for $325,000, requiring two mortgages just to make the deal happen. Since then, they’ve opened a HELOC and borrowed extensively. They now owe $400,000 on their home, and the article did not say what the current value of the home is. I can only imagine that it’s less than $325,000.

Here’s the kicker: They are budgeting a TOTAL of $100 for savings per month. They have NO retirement accounts at all, and only a few $100 bills have actually accumulated in this savings account. Now, they used to have credit card debt which they managed to clear up, so turning that around and beginning to save of course is a positive. But then the article revealed how much cash they each receive per month to spend “on anything we want that’s not in the budget.”

People! The husband and wife EACH get $560 per month to blow! Doug and I each get $50 per month, and we feel rich at that! Ha.

Tell me if I’m the biggest fool alive or what, but I do not think this couple needed a money makeover. I think they need to split the monthly $100 they are now putting in savings, and call that their splurge money. Then they need to EACH send $560 per month to their savings/retirement accounts. Problem solved.

Am I missing something? Besides a six-figure deal for the sale of fallible.com, that is?

If you’re feeling foolish about something today, go ahead and weigh in here!

Posted by Katy on 04/06/09 at 10:35 AM

Fallible Comments...

Katy,
Anyone who spends $560 x 2 on frivolous stuff does need a makeover - a common sense makeover. I would like to have that kind of money floating around to put to any use. It would buy Bibles and feed hungry chikdren and oh..get put in savings :)
How did we get here?
Posted by Sandi Thompson on 04/07/09 at 09:14 AM
You're SO not foolish; just the opposite! Mike and I went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University through our church last fall and observed/witnessed the same things as you and Doug. VERY eye-opening.

Are WE foolish? We're taking the whole program one step further and this very week we are moving from our large four bedroom, three bath home that is entirely too large now that that the kids have moved out and we are moving into an apartment an hour away while I finish up the last three semesters of my degree. THEN we'll take the money we're saving (plus the money from the sale of the house) and put a big 'ol down payment on a home in the school district where I begin teaching. Even then, the PLAN is to stick that teaching salary into a retirement plan and continue to live on the one income.

A friend told me last week, "Yeah, but you know...the best laid plans..."

Yes, I know. But I believe you have to have a plan.

Even if that makes me foolish.
Posted by Staci on 04/08/09 at 06:19 AM
What kind of fool am I
Who never fell in love
It seems that I'm the only one
that I have been thinking of
What kind of man is this?
An empty shell-
A lonely cell in which
an empty heart must dwell
Posted by Johnson on 06/08/09 at 01:13 AM
Thanks ;)

<a href="http://osymacikogretim.blogspot.com/">Öss tercihleri</a>
Posted by ek tercih on 07/18/09 at 05:10 PM
Your involvement proves that you are not foolish at all,Katy.To me also a premeditated plan to purchase anything is better than any unplanned purchase.
Posted by life cover on 09/07/09 at 11:43 PM
Does anyone else see the correlation with US job losses and increased minimum wage?
Just wondering... it went up at the end of July and 84K jobs were lost in August. It's going up again July 2009 so we'll see if the jobless claims rise again at that time... I'd bet it will be the same scenario.
Posted by Freelance Jobs on 09/21/09 at 05:55 AM
Ah! its like me a popular song...
What kind of fool am I
Why can't I fall in love
Like any other man
And maybe then I'll know what kind of fool I am
Posted by Money Vision Forum on 02/18/10 at 05:57 AM

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Personal blog of christian writer & fallible mom Katy McKenna Raymond in Kansas City, Missouri Katy is represented by Greg Johnson at WordServe Literary Read more Katy at LateBoomer.net Follow Katy on Twitter Follow Katy on Facebook 123 Recent Posts Try Becoming Brenda Starr Off Beat Scattered That’s It So I’ve Finally Signed With An Agent. Now What? The Spoon Sciatica Sweetheart A Woman’s Train of Thought Has No Caboose However much we own, we are all still living on borrowed time After all, when restaurants shrink portions, they don’t shrink prices. As with everything in life, balance is key. Slow down, you move too fast… Yeah, I know. I have issues. Search Advanced Search Syndicate Login E me at katy @ ngenius.com	What Kind Of Fool Am I? OK, just for the record: I make the singular worst April Fool’s joker in the UNIVERSE. I totally spaced out coming back to fallible and making it clear that I am NOT entertaining an offer in the six figures for the fallible name, though such an offer would be entertaining indeed. Sadly, I’ve been offered nothing at all—-but neither am I in the market to sell. Next foolish item: I have decided to try my hand at veggie and fruit gardening for the first time ever, except for that one year when Scotty was a toddler and he’d pick the tomatoes and eat them whole before I could catch him. We only attempted tomatoes and green peppers and succeeded at both, but our next-door neighbor was a gardening guru and made us feel inadequate with our pitiful offerings, just over the chain-link fence from his bounty. But now, 28 years hence, I’m feeling braver. I also am not as deathly frightened of bees and wasps as I used to be, perhaps because I’m deaf in one ear and therefore buzzing is automatically reduced by 50%, tricking my brain into believing the threat has diminished. Also, I forced myself finally to first read and then view “The Secret Life of Bees.” I’d resisted the book for YEARS because I knew darned good and well that it would end up having SOMEthing to do with bees, and I just couldn’t handle that. Reading the novel first eased me into the whole bee-keeping story, and I asked myself, “How bad could the movie be, really? Those bees don’t want to sting you!” (Yeah, right, that’s what they all say….) The movie was as amazing as the book, and helped me overcome another layer of fear. So….I’m planning on trying to grow tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, lettuces, carrots, strawberries, green beans, and peas. I’ve already sown some seed in tiny paper cups, pushed my large breakfast table under the big bay window in the kitchen, and added cookie sheets of seedling-hopefuls to the sunny spot. Who can say whether I’m being foolish to think I can learn some new tricks at my age? All I know for sure is that I’d better take notes about what works and what doesn’t, because by this time next year, I won’t remember! Finally, on this Foolish Monday, I’m thinking more about our finances than ever. Here’s the deal: We’ve been going through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at our church, and it’s been great. I think we’ve done 6 of the 13 weeks now. We have heard some sad stories from others in the class about foreclosures and job losses and uninsured medical bills, and since we go to church in a prosperous part of town, it’s shed a lot of light on how some of our own parishioners are hurting. I guess I was not expecting there to be such serious difficulties as are represented by this group, but it just goes to show that the economic downturn is no respecter of persons. We decided to take this class (even though we have no debt except for a small mortgage) because we knew we could buckle down and do better for our own future and in order to be a blessing to others. I’ve found myself second and third-guessing every frivolous unplanned purchase, until by now I usually skip all the guessing completely and simply walk away. Continuing to add to our travel fund is MUCH more important to us than geegaws and trinkets and whatnots, so why waste time shuffling through bins of junk? Maybe I’m more of a fool than I know, but I read a Money Makeover online this morning that really got me going. A forty-year-old childless couple, combined take-home income of $75,000. No debt except for the house, on which they have THREE mortgages—-one of them an adjustable ready to re-set this month. That, evidently, is why they panicked sufficiently to seek a makeover. They purchased the home five years ago for $325,000, requiring two mortgages just to make the deal happen. Since then, they’ve opened a HELOC and borrowed extensively. They now owe $400,000 on their home, and the article did not say what the current value of the home is. I can only imagine that it’s less than $325,000. Here’s the kicker: They are budgeting a TOTAL of $100 for savings per month. They have NO retirement accounts at all, and only a few $100 bills have actually accumulated in this savings account. Now, they used to have credit card debt which they managed to clear up, so turning that around and beginning to save of course is a positive. But then the article revealed how much cash they each receive per month to spend “on anything we want that’s not in the budget.” People! The husband and wife EACH get $560 per month to blow! Doug and I each get $50 per month, and we feel rich at that! Ha. Tell me if I’m the biggest fool alive or what, but I do not think this couple needed a money makeover. I think they need to split the monthly $100 they are now putting in savings, and call that their splurge money. Then they need to EACH send $560 per month to their savings/retirement accounts. Problem solved. Am I missing something? Besides a six-figure deal for the sale of fallible.com, that is? If you’re feeling foolish about something today, go ahead and weigh in here! Posted by Katy on 04/06/09 at 10:35 AM Fallible Comments... Katy, Anyone who spends $560 x 2 on frivolous stuff does need a makeover - a common sense makeover. I would like to have that kind of money floating around to put to any use. It would buy Bibles and feed hungry chikdren and oh..get put in savings :) How did we get here? Posted by Sandi Thompson on 04/07/09 at 09:14 AM You're SO not foolish; just the opposite! Mike and I went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University through our church last fall and observed/witnessed the same things as you and Doug. VERY eye-opening. Are WE foolish? We're taking the whole program one step further and this very week we are moving from our large four bedroom, three bath home that is entirely too large now that that the kids have moved out and we are moving into an apartment an hour away while I finish up the last three semesters of my degree. THEN we'll take the money we're saving (plus the money from the sale of the house) and put a big 'ol down payment on a home in the school district where I begin teaching. Even then, the PLAN is to stick that teaching salary into a retirement plan and continue to live on the one income. A friend told me last week, "Yeah, but you know...the best laid plans..." Yes, I know. But I believe you have to have a plan. Even if that makes me foolish. Posted by Staci on 04/08/09 at 06:19 AM What kind of fool am I Who never fell in love It seems that I'm the only one that I have been thinking of What kind of man is this? An empty shell- A lonely cell in which an empty heart must dwell Posted by Johnson on 06/08/09 at 01:13 AM Thanks ;) <a href="http://osymacikogretim.blogspot.com/">Öss tercihleri</a> Posted by ek tercih on 07/18/09 at 05:10 PM Your involvement proves that you are not foolish at all,Katy.To me also a premeditated plan to purchase anything is better than any unplanned purchase. Posted by life cover on 09/07/09 at 11:43 PM Does anyone else see the correlation with US job losses and increased minimum wage? Just wondering... it went up at the end of July and 84K jobs were lost in August. It's going up again July 2009 so we'll see if the jobless claims rise again at that time... I'd bet it will be the same scenario. Posted by Freelance Jobs on 09/21/09 at 05:55 AM Ah! its like me a popular song... What kind of fool am I Why can't I fall in love Like any other man And maybe then I'll know what kind of fool I am Posted by Money Vision Forum on 02/18/10 at 05:57 AM Page 1 of 1 pages Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Next entry: Bowing To The King Previous entry: Ten Years And One Little Fallible Word Later << Back to main


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Personal blog of christianwriter & fallible momKaty McKenna Raymondin Kansas City, Missouri

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What Kind Of Fool Am I?

Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri