Behind the Headlines

By Dean Cousino

It was refreshing to finally find someone familiar with the “Dave Ramsey show,” a radio talk show host who gives financial advice on saving and getting out of debt. One of Dave’s favorites comments when someone asks him how he’s doing is “Better than I deserve.” I’ve been repeating that for months, yet no one seems to know what I’m referring to. But yesterday when I stopped at the Michigan College of Beauty to get a hair cut, the lady at the counter heard my comment and said “Oh, you listen to Dave Ramsey.” I said “you betcha.” The program is really helpful for folks like me struggling to stay out of debt. You can hear it every weeknight from 7 to 9 p.m. on WMUZ-FM (103.5 on the dial).

By Danielle Portteus

I’m pretty much a newsy and read three or four different print publications daily, listen to NPR regularly and visit other media Web sites when I have the chance. I keep hearing about people being “too scared to spend” money.
Now, I’ve always been rather frugal with my money trying to save as much as I possibly can. When I bought my first car, I paid for it myself. The same with my second and third. The first two were not very expensive.
Last year I paid for two weekend trips to New York City. That was the first time I visited a place outside of Michigan and Ohio in a very, very long time.
And I love to shop. A lot. Clothing, shoes, purses. I don’t spend a ton of money on them, but I’ll admit, I spend more than I should.
In the last few months, I haven’t been spending money on anything but gas, bills (including my rather large student loans) and once in a very blue moon, lunch. I usually bring my own every day to save a few extra bucks a week.
I’ve been in the market for a laptop for about a year and a half now. When I bought my first one, it was $1,800 and I was getting ready to start college. I considered it a necessary expense.
Now that same laptop takes about 30 minutes to start up, 15 minutes to place two sentences in a Word document and about an hour to shut down. Not exactly the best thing to take to a public hearing that lasts about an hour, like the Bedford Township Planning Commission meeting I attended last night.
So, I need to get off my wallet and buy a laptop right? Wrong. I can’t even seem to bring myself to buy a similar model that’s like $500 nowadays.
I guess I’m a victim of the times.
Just don’t judge me too badly if my Tweets- posts on the Web site Twitter– take hours to show up.
I’ll just blame it on the economy.