Links to from Frumpy to Fabulous

Of course there's a website for the show, Extreme Makeover. How else can it become net fodder to be tossed around from blog to blog? And go check out Layne's new styling look.

And the important page? Yeah, here's the gallery link to check out the five photo galleries for all these people. The one that Paula was talking about is the second from the top, Karen, and she really does go from "yawn" to "hey" pretty nicely. And Sandra went from a sharp, hawkish look to a softer, much more feminine look although I personally think they tried to go a bit too young a look for her but hey, what do I know?

Yeah, they make a huge difference but are they better or happier people inside their newly shined up shells? They're certainly better looking but looks are transitory. I wonder if they included any therapy along with the knife work?

Other news: How to Save a Chunk of Money Without Even Really Trying
Well last night was the first night of the rest of my financial life and I started to take the reins on some of my consumer debt to wrangle it into shape. And the first step was to call all the card peoples and see if I could get an interest rate reduction. I won't even say how high one of the bills is but let's just say that they're a no bullshit, eight points higher than what the flipping Mob charges for interest. And yeah, that's outrageous.

But the best call was the first where the woman on the other end was super cool, super nice (we ended up just talking for about forty five minutes). And she did me up right. Took a 20% interest rate and dropped it to, are you sitting down?, zero. None, nada, as in "We're not going to make any money off this debt for a while". Which means I'm going to save $80 a month just off the top and can re-invest that money into paying down the debt altogether. Other calls to other card companies resulted in varying degrees of success. And the next step is to sign up for automatic bill pay online so that the bills are always paid on time and without my double paying (did that on two cards last month, sent in a payment and then another one like five days later, can you say DOH!).

So its the first step in a long walk I'm embarking on but I've come to realize that I will never feel wholly secure until I'm free and clear of all debts (with the possible exception of a home loan and a nice shiny new car loan). And while it is incredibly tempting to go the online begging route (or the blegging, blog begging, route) I think I'll tackle this bugger all on my own (but feel free to send me extra money you don't need anymore, or if the money doesn't fit or is the wrong style, send it on).

My Friday night? Going to be spent putting masking tape price tags on things as well as signing up to have money automatically sent to lenders. Get it regular, call them up every few months to get the rates reduced and soon the big numbers should start to tumble down into smaller numbers and then disappear altogether.

And wow, I just realized that I've really got a lot on my mind today. More to write about as the day comes along.