My Urban Sherpa

AVOID THE RECESSION DEPRESSION

It’s usually enough to see April 15—the dreaded annual Tax Day—looming on the horizon. This year, however, you also have the Bear Stearns collapse and UBS write down making you wonder about your neighborhood, your tips, your sanity. Can we regulate the financial markets or (as Senator Dodd asked at the FCC hearings last week): “Have we socialized risk and privatized reward?” Regardless of what the financial markets hope or believe or hope we’ll believe, there are lots of folks whose ARMs don’t mature until the spring of ’09 – oh no! more gloom…and I really was going to be optimistic.

Well, I’ve gotten tired of the worrying—just like I got tired of watching for the next terrorist attack in 2001. I want to enjoy my life so the only counting I’m gonna do involves my lucky stars. The good news is it’s fun to be thrifty:

*I helped my stepmother save $20/month by canceling her dedicated fax line and instead having a dedicated signal ring added to her phone line.
*My husband and I feel extremely pennywise with all the money we’ve saved by having sex with each other.
*Today I found that my favorite default “I’m alone, hungry, and in a rush” lunch place, Zen Palate, is offering my favorite meal, Sesame Medallions, normally $10.95 (which I considered a bargain) for $8.95 and that new lunch special, which runs Monday – Friday 11:30 – 3:30 includes an iced tea, normally $2.75.

Zen Palate; 104 John Street and 663 9th (46th Street) – excellent food, excellent service, excellent ethics.

We’ll be posting our free money saving ideas here for you – from now until tax day. Yep, free—as in the “best things in life are…”

(ADD YOUR MONEY SAVING IDEAS HERE)