Some authors have to hustle to promote their books.  They struggle to get a book deal, sometimes they self-publish. They contact reporters and beg for reviews. I get contacted by these hard working artists trying to make a difference, write a story, people with something relevant to say.  
But, not Jenna Bush. The President’s daughter has been on my television all day long because she wrote a book.
Which brings me to a post I wrote earlier on Quit Coping, called Fair Smair, about fairness and how it’s futile to think about it.
I mean, I could bring up how my family’s economics are …read more

The other day in a matter of minutes myself and my two kids were overcome with congestion. We were fine, and then all three of us weren’t. There was something in the air that we just didn’t respond well to.
In the same way I’ve noticed there is something in the air breeding discontent. By discontent, I mean dissatisfaction with the present situation. Nearly everyone I know is, all the sudden, dissatisfied.
You just can’t stand your living situations, homes, clothes, cars, budgets, hair style, etc. And it feels like an emergency. Like you can’t take the present situation one more freaking second.
You want a …read more

This just in from The Economist, in a global study, Gallup’s pollsters asked a standard question: how satisfied are you with your life, on a scale of nought to ten? In all the rich places (America, Europe, Japan, Saudi Arabia), most people say they are happy. In all the poor ones (mainly in Africa), people say they are not.
 Freaking Duh!
Multiple surveys backed it up with other statistics connecting optimism with gross national product growth.
The survey also asked questions about confidence in the future, whether your children will be better off than you are, and so on. Regardless of countries’ current income, …read more

In Suze Orman’s Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destinyshe gives women a reality check on their financial security.  

41% of marriages end in divorce. (I commonly hear 50%, but she states 41%)
Women live 6 years longer than men.
Many women stay in violent relationships because she’s financially trapped.
Many women stay in relationships with a cheating spouse for financial reasons.
2/3 of women have not talked to spouses about life insurance or preparing a will.
90% of women reported feeling financially insecure.
Women are 2 times as likely to retire in poverty.
50% admit becoming a bag lady had crossed their minds.
1% of women …read more

I checked this book out of the library because I love its catchy title: How to Survive on $50,000 to $150,000 a Year by Stanley J. Cohen & Robert Wool, copyright 1984.
Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

Ten, fifteen years ago, when you looked ahead you thought that if you ever earned $60,000 say, or $90,000 with two incomes in the family, you’d be rich. Yet here you are, you and your wife are pulling in $90,000, and one thing you’re sure of: You’re not rich.
First, Perception. You are not earning what you think you are earning. Or what you thought you …read more

I have a confession. Though Dave Ramsey fanatic and groupie I am, I have in my hands a credit card that I accepted. In In Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny Suze Orman recommended that I get one in my own name. I did.
Don’t tell my Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Counselor.
 Truth be told, and I’ve been candid about this before, my husband and I got into some financial trouble a few years ago and cut up every credit card we had. We had vowed never, ever to get another credit card as long as …read more

Find out what Suze Orman has to say about happiness and money on So Sioux Me.
Pssst . . . It’s not what you’re used to hearing.
Save Yourself With Savings
Orman and Ramsey Duke It Out (in my head)
Unearned Loyalty
Are You On Sale?
Blame and Shame
Virtual Book Club
Money & Happiness
Cleanliness
New Money
Who Are You?

In Women & Money, Suze Orman says women walk around as if they are “on sale.” Not for sale, because everyone gets paid to do something or has a monetary value applied to what they do, but on sale.
 As in Clearance: 50% off!
 This is wrong, Orman says, because if we don’t value what we do enough to charge full price then no one else will and that’s why we’re behind the game when it comes to money.
Clearance Prices
1. You accept the 3% cost of living raise your boss offers every January. Women could earn $1 million a year by telling their boss …read more