i feel a wussy wednesday coming on...

wednesday wussy, budget edition. please take the following post with a hunk of cheese, 'cause it's a whiner.

i do not like being on a budget. i do not like not being able to spend money without thinking about its very real impact on other areas of my life. oh, to be single again, and in a time not of economic recession, and saving all my dollahz for fun and frolic while living off daddy's charge accounts. all i'd have to do is not eat much for a while and save up and then purchase away, guilt-free, and worry about it later. the only reason i even got a job in college was for dating purposes. plane tickets to see the law student cost money, and i'm pretty sure the parents would not have footed that bill.

enter marriage (or heck, even just adulthood). budgeting is hard. it's hard for two people living on one paycheck, even with some familial assistance. it's hard to cancel travel plans because of rising gas prices, or choose to cook at home instead of going out for dinner. it's hard when you're having a wardrobe crisis and you can't really afford to revamp it, only mix pieces differently. thankfully, my weight has not drastically changed since college, or i'd really be in the hole! of course, even if i didn't have a budget, i probably still would be a bad shopper and just as indecisive to boot. but that's a separate problem.

but a budget is necessary. my paycheck only contains x amount of money, and we have to make it work, and we have to do it together. fighting about money is not an option in our marriage - we flat-out refuse to do it. we reached this decision before marriage, thankfully, and not after an issue arose. our personal budget is pretty simple. i bring home a paycheck (yes, ben adds whatever he makes too), the law student faithfully designs our budget, and i trust his judgment. even though i work for a CPA, i could not make or stick to a budget on my own. i can barely work my calculator, and have never balanced my checkbook! this way, we control our finances instead of them controlling us and plan for expenses ahead of time. we work to balance wants and needs, the fun things and the necessary ones, so that we're not crying at the end of every month and/or up to our ears in credit card debt. budgeting is a great discipline and though uncomfortable at times, it is good for us and keeps us making smart choices in how we use our money.

unfortunately, insurance, groceries and bills take precedence over fancy nights out, wardrobe updates and gifts. and that's about where i am right now. sigh.


in other news: i'm working out in the mornings (i'm as surprised as you are), the law student is semi-employed and in an office of his own, entertainment icon elizabeth taylor has died, and i found out roseanne barr lives on a nut farm.

see a penny, pick it up

U.S. Mint rolls out a new penny

The Lincoln Cent has been redesigned again. But not everyone is celebrating.

Posted by Money Staff on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 12:18 PM

This post comes from Anna Vander Broek of MSN Money.

Those of you who still use the penny as currency (rather than as a screwdriver or for scratching off lottery tickets) may soon notice America’s 1-cent coin has gotten a facelift.

The U.S. Mint has changed the design for the reverse -- or “tails” -- side of the 2010 Lincoln Cent, which entered circulation on Feb. 11 (everywhere but Puerto Rico, which received the new penny in late January). Michael White from the U.S. Mint says penny inventory is very high, however, so you may not see a new penny right away.

The U.S. Mint kicked off the release of the new penny during a ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill. The design was chosen out of 18 candidates. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made the final call.

The penny’s new reverse side features a union shield with 13 vertical stripes and a scroll draped across reading “One Cent.” (Check your nearest couch cushion and you’ll see the old penny portrays the Lincoln Memorial.) The Web site of the U.S. Mint explains that the stripes represent the 13 original states and the banner signifies “a single union in support of the federal government.” The new penny’s front face will continue to illustrate President Lincoln, designed by American sculptor Victor David Brenner back in 1909.

The 2010 penny follows the four different reverse designs, each one depicting a stage of Lincoln’s life, used on the 2009 Lincoln pennies. The special pennies were produced last year to commemorate the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth and the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln Cent.

A penny for your thoughts

Not everyone is excited about the prospect of a new penny. Some would rather see the coin disappear altogether. The anti-penny group Citizens for Retiring the Penny explains on its Web site why it believes the penny is a waste of time and money.

The half penny was eliminated in 1858, when it was worth over 10 times what the penny is worth today. Assuming that the timing was correct before, this means that we should have eliminated the penny 50 years ago.

Some Americans won’t even accept the penny as currency. Alko Office Supply, owned by Gary Shows in downtown Berkeley, Calif., has a sign hanging over the cash register that reads, "We are a penny free store,” reports NPR.org in a story debating the worth of the penny.

Even President Obama seems to think the penny has overstayed its welcome. “We have been trying to eliminate the penny for quite some time -- it always comes back,” he said at a press conferience in 2008, according to a blog post on Politico.com. (Although in 2005 when Obama was a senator from Illinois, he co-sponsored the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial One-Cent Coin Redesign Act, which required the new penny designs in 2009 and 2010.)

A penny actually costs more to make than it's worth. In 2009, the unit cost to produce the penny was 1.62 cents, according to the U.S. Mint.

Find a penny, pick it up

The penny still has many fans. Pro-penny group Americans for Common Cents "aims to inform and educate policymakers, consumers and the media about the penny’s economic, cultural and historical significance." The group also emphasizes the penny’s importance for charity through organizations such as Penny Lovers of America and Habitat for Humanity’s Parade of Pennies.

A poll conducted by Coinstar in 2006 found that only 27% of Americans want to get rid of the penny. Four out of five Americans will still pick up a penny on the ground.

so, what do you think? i am personally a penny supporter, simply because of math. 1 is a factor of 5. so until that changes, i'll still be saving pennies.