lately we have been feeling the crunch. i quit my job to work at home as a freelance writer and i spend a couple of hours each day at leelee’s (just a nickname) daycare, so needless to say not so much rolling in the dough. we further complicate our situation by purchasing this beautiful timeshare cabin in the great smoky mountains. only 100 each month, but still. so imagine my surprise when i come across other moms doing exactly what we do every so often. cleaning out the pantry and vowing to not visit the grocery store for one month. hell, not but once a month would do us wonders. we can eat. but with our anniversary coming up and we are making use of our timeshare (free condo and it has a kitchen! score!) and everyday as i sit with my hubby and leelee and we watch her play, it makes me happy. i don’t regret quitting my job. and i don’t regret quitting during this shaky economic time. there are more important things than money, and patience is a virtue. we can still do all the things we did before, but now we just have to plan better. i may not have much figured out yet about what will happen in the future, but God is good and he always gives you what you need. right now all i need is my hubby and my daughter, the rest will come when i need it. for the first time i can truly say i am happy.
ohbladee ohblada life goes on… September 13, 2009
Oh Sunday, why must you leave me so quickly. Sunday, you might be my most favorite day. Well next to Saturday during football season. GO CAROLINA GO CAROLINA GO! But Sunday, you give me more peace and relaxation than others. Your neighbor Monday, I really don’t like. I believe that he doesn’t like me eiter. I am clumsy on Mondays. Oh well. Sunday, I just wanted you to know, I love you.
When will it happen?!??!! September 12, 2009
i am ready. so ready. when i was growing up, why did i not listen to my father? when he said, ‘buckle down kid, it gets better.’ or how bout when he told me ‘stay in school, you wanna as everyone from now on if they want frys with that?’ i thought i was invinceable… like so many retarded teenagers. now many years later, while i have progressed in my unconsciencously chosen field, i still get to ask people if they want frys with that. lucky me. while restuarnt management has afforded me luxuries that other 9-5 jobs would have not, it has also taken from me one of the most important things i could ever hope to do. spend time with my daughter.
my article on liability insurance September 9, 2009
What are the benefits of obtaining liability insurance for your car? Well to begin with it is illegal in most states to drive without, at the very least, liability. What is liability coverage, what exactly does it cover? It covers the damage that you do to others in the event of an auto accident, including bodily injury and property damage. Which means if you get into an accident your liability coverage would cover the cost to fix the others car, their medical bills, lost wages, and if you damaged any property in the accident. It would even cover part of the cost if you were sued because of the accident. Providing, of course, that you have enough to cover it all. The one major drawback, however, is liability coverage does not cover your damages.
The cost of your auto insurance can vary for many reasons. One of which is the level of coverage that you have. For example, your insurance provider may have many levels of property damage liability. Usually the minimum is $10,000, then they go from there in ten thousand increments up to $100,000, all for a higher premium. So for instance if you pay $50 per month for your property damage portion with a limit of $50,000, and you decide that is too high, you can effectively lower your monthly premium by just lowering the limit. Reducing it to say $25,000 can cut your premium in half! Rates vary from company to company for the same coverage also. A rate with Travelers, on of the more established insurance companies, for that coverage was around $90 per month. But a lesser known company, Unitrin direct, the monthly rate was around $80. And Esurance, a company that prides itself on ‘saving time, saving money’ was around $70 per month.
Let’s look at the liability rates in Texas. For a married female, age 25-65, no traffic violations, average credit, driving a truck to and from work, with a comfortable 50/100/50 (meaning $50,000 per each injured person, $100,000 total per accident, $50,000 property) coverage, the range is astounding.
From the least expensive at $199 annually all the way up to $810 annually! If you lower your coverage to 25/50/25 which is the states lowest minimum allowed coverage the range shifts to low end $97 annually and high end $505 annually. This also is many different companies which have many different formulas for calculating the how much of a risk they perceive you to be. Check out multiple companies before going with one, different companies offer many discounts for the more types of insurance you carry with them.
California has stepped up and decided to help out some of the lower income drivers out there with the California Low Cost Automobile Insurance Program. It was designed to stem the tide of uninsured motorists on the roadways. Millions of dollars are spent annually by motorists who had their insurance paid and up to date, but got hit by someone who didn’t. With this program insurance companies are required to offer a reduced rate to motorists with clean driving records whose annual income is less that $50,000 per year. The rate is around $330-350 per year depending where you are located in the state. But they also have some of the lower requirements for liability at 15/30/5. The state requirement for all others not on this program is 10/20/3. In the end you must decide by weighing all of the different aspects of liability insurance to determine the level of coverage that is right for you.
