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Just found this video tonight and I thought it quite humorous. Kind of a throw back to old school comedy like back in the 3 stooges era. Hope you enjoy.

So I was reading this article on men’s health and am quite alarmed.  For a while I started watching my calories and I think I am gonna get back into it.  That article was a very rude awakening.  I never knew how bad eating out for you really is.  How many of you go out and sometimes split an appetizer?  You may want to rethink that.

Worst Starter

Chili’s Awesome Blossom

2,710 calories 203 g fat

194 g carbs 6,360 mg sodium

Even splitting this appetizer with friends will set you back almost an entire meal’s worth of calories.  Like to dip each piece in the dipping sauce?  Better tack on a couple hundred calories to that.

Think by getting the chicken items from fast food places is “eating healthy”?  Maybe you should look at this one from McDonalds:

Worst Fast-Food Chicken Meal

Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips from McDonald’s (5 pieces) with creamy ranch sauce

830 calories

55 grams (g) fat (4.5 g trans fat)

48 g carbohydrates

 Don’t forget that you probably eat fries and have a soda with this meal.  That’s just the chicken by itself!  I really need to look into this a bit more and find out the actual calories of the places I frequent.  Maybe I’ll be bringing my lunch more often.  Would be a good way to save some money too!

As I was leaving to go watch the Rams game Sunday morning, I was able to snap a shot of my dad trying to contain a small blaze in our back yard. I thought it to be quite humorous.

I, like many Americans, have had a little problem with Credit Cards. I got my first credit card when I was 18 and didn’t stop spending. Movies, Denny’s for everyone, video games, and gas added up quickly. In the end I had to get a loan to cover my credit card debt after the interest rates jumped to 32%. (Always pay your bill!)

So in April my loan was at $21,236.80, which seems monstrous to me. I’ve finally calmed down my spending and am managing to make bi-weekly payments of $500 each. As long as I can keep that up, I’ll be debt free in April of 09 and looking at houses by the end of that summer.

For those of you who are not as lucky as I am and don’t have someone that can give you a personal loan, you should try the “snowball” technique that my buddy Eric Martin is using. Basically take your smallest loan or credit card and put any and all spare money toward that while paying the minimum on all your other cards/loans. Once that one is paid off, take the monthly payment and apply it to the next smallest. Each time you pay something off, the principle payment on the next bill gets larger like a snowball rolling down a hill.

Other tips for saving money in general:

1.Bring your lunch to work each day instead of eating out.

Most people will spend between $5 and $10 a day on lunch. Bringing food could save you as much as $250 a month!

2.Make your own coffee.

Buying a cup of joe from Starbucks every morning before work would easily set you back $75 to $100 a month which is more than enough to buy a coffee maker, travel mug, and coffee grounds.

3.Automate your home for temperature control, timers for lights, and much more

This can be done with Open Source software such as MisterHouse. Very interesting side project if you have the time.

4.Balance transfer debt from higher interest cards to lower interest cards

90% of the time you can find a new credit card that has a low introductory rate or balance transfer rate. By switching your debt over to one of these, more of your monthly payment can go to principle which will help that debt snowball start. If you do this though, do yourself a favor and don’t activate the new card and cancel the card you just transferred from. If you have it, you are likely to use it.

5.Don’t buy stuff you can’t afford!

I think this SNL skit sums this one up….