By Len Penzo on May 30, 2009
Some of the most important things in life are always taken for granted. In that regard, most of us drawing a straight salary don’t ever think about how fortunate we are to get a regular monthly or semi-monthly paycheck with consistent pay, especially as it relates to consistently paying our bills on time. But you can bet that people who work on commission and/or depend on tips for a significant portion of their income from month to month know all about the pitfalls that come with inconsistent paychecks.
This point was really driven home to me the other day when I got an interesting question from Anthony, who has a variable monthly income because he works on commission. In that regard, during slower months he was struggling with the best way to consistently save money for a down payment on a house and still pay all of his
Continue reading A Simple Trick for Managing Bills on a Variable Monthly Income…
By Len Penzo on May 24, 2009
First off, I don’t know who you are, but I want to thank those of you who have taken the time and displayed enough interest in this blog to subscribe to my RSS feed. There’s currently not a lot of you, but you are greatly appreciated. If I knew who you were I’d write you a personal thank you letter!
For the record, I currently have four hard-core fans following me: my dad, my mom, my cousin Kevin, and my father-in-law Tony. Notice I said “fans” and not “subscribers”. In fact, I hope my relatives don’t subscribe, or else I suspect my daily page count numbers will quickly converge to zero.
And, yes, I did have another official fan who wasn’t a relative, but Courtney the Waitress withdrew her allegiance from my blog.
I really would like to start improving my
Continue reading My Shameless RSS Subscriber Experiment…
By Len Penzo on April 26, 2009
Back in February I found a Chicken McNugget that was the spitting image of Connecticut. At the time I asked my dear readers to be on the look out for other chicken nuggets that resembled US states, Puerto Rico, Guam and/or the Canadian provinces.
To be honest, I was beginning to lose hope that I’d ever see another state chicken nugget. Can anybody really blame me? After all, it had been close to two months since my request first went out.
Then, lo and behold, I got a surprise in my mail bag the other day from a reader who was kind enough to send in this picture of a chicken nugget that is a fairly decent facsimile of Michigan’s lower peninsula. I’ll let the nice lady who took the time to get this picture tell the rest of the story.
Fellow chicken nugget connoisseur, Jill, writes:
Hi Len,
The other day my family and
Continue reading Another State Chicken Nugget Submittal…
By Len Penzo on April 14, 2009
Lisa Simpson: Grampa! Didn’t you wonder why you were getting checks for doing absolutely nothing?
Grampa: Not really… I figured it was because the Democrats were in power again.
– From an episode of The Simpsons
I’ve got some great news to share with all of you! Not only was one of my recent opinion pieces on the bailout mess featured in The Huffington Post yesterday, but I was also fortunate enough to get a letter from somebody I never heard of who wanted to pay me for doing, well, absolutely nothing!
Receiving that letter in my mailbag instantly reminded me of that legendary episode of The Simpsons where Bart and Lisa get a job ghost writing scripts for The Itchy and Scratchy Show using Grampa Abe’s name as their pseudonym. Eventually, after wondering why they weren’t getting paid by the show’s producers, they catch a totally clueless Grampa
Continue reading Beware of Strangers Bearing Gifts…
By Len Penzo on March 24, 2009
It’s time to dip into the mailbag again. I always love it when I get letters — especially the more, shall we say, interesting ones.
For example, I received one letter from someone who I can only assume is a card carrying member of a militant PETA splinter-group who apparently didn’t like my post on 10 Sure-Fire Tips for Minimizing Vet Bills. Specifically, Rose Jong castigated me for subjecting my dog, Major, to his recent lube, oil, filter procedure and suggested that I should suffer the same fate, saying “How could you be so cruel? If I could, I would happily pay the vet to perform the same service on you.”
Yeesh. Well, Rose, if it makes you feel any better, Major is fully recovered from his surgery. He is running around and is just as happy as he was before the surgery. Best of all
Continue reading The Middle Class Should Prepare for an Increasing Tax Burden…
By Len Penzo on February 25, 2009
I guess my first foray into the mail bag last week actually inspired a few more of you to write in. Most of the letters received were from President Obama fans who wanted to opine on my recent take on the $75B mortgage rescue bailout. Judging from the insults regarding my physical appearance (I knew I shouldn’t have put my photo on my personal info page), let’s suffice it to say that many of you disagreed with my point of view. Sorry folks, but I have an obligation to call ‘em like I see ‘em!
And bald is beautiful, folks. Don’t knock it until you tried it. As they say, sticks and stones…
Fortunately, this week I did have one positive letter in the mailbag that was not from my Mom or Dad. Naturally, I thought it would be just and appropriate to highlight that letter. Not to mention less
Continue reading Don’t Feel Guilty Tipping Your Server 15%…
By Len Penzo on February 16, 2009
This is a very exciting time for me because today I am dipping into the mailbag and sharing a letter with you for the first time. You know, I receive numerous letters each week and I always love to hear what my readers are thinking. I also enjoy answering your questions, and I always try to respond to all of them as quickly as possible.
As you might expect, I get lots of letters from folks who like to take issue with my writings. Maria S. in Sacramento complained about my recent take on Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that’s okay. I appreciated the fact that she took the time to pass along her thoughts, biased and misguided as they might be.
It is also very humbling to read letters from those of you who think I am the greatest thing since sliced bread. So, please
Continue reading Fun with Chicken McNuggets…
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