The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[Mental Magpie]

I just have to ask this. Dad and I had a laugh talking about this.

Earlier this year, he got married in Second Life, a virtual online world. Next year, he will be marrying her in real life. He wanted to know if he was doing an etiquette blunder of having two weddings.

Sadly I was unable to attend the first wedding and I hope to make the second. They live several thousand miles from each other and plan on a Vegas wedding in the middle.

Virtual?  To me that means it's not real.  So he had a not real wedding in a not real world.  And he's wondering if his real wedding is not etiquettely correct?  Am I missing something here?

I think Doll Fiend's dad is just joking.

I would hope so, but Doll Fiend said she couldn't attend the "first wedding."  But there wasn't a first wedding.  It wasn't real life. 

Is this a joke or what?

Yes, it's a joke.  She couldn't attend the first wedding because it was online in a virtual game; that's part of the joke.

Okay, that's good.  Whew!    You never know sometimes!

Haha, you're right...now watch me be completely wrong 

[rose red]

Does anyone know if you can have both DirectTV and Dish Network hooked up to one TV at the same time?

[RebeccainGA]

Does anyone know if you can have both DirectTV and Dish Network hooked up to one TV at the same time?

Sort of. You'd have to have them set up as an a-b input, on a switch (like we used to have the Pong game and the Commodore 64).

The better question is - why??

[Virg]

rose red wrote:

"Does anyone know if you can have both DirectTV and Dish Network hooked up to one TV at the same time?"

Assuming your TV can handle multiple inputs, you certainly can.

Virg

[rose red]

Does anyone know if you can have both DirectTV and Dish Network hooked up to one TV at the same time?

Sort of. You'd have to have them set up as an a-b input, on a switch (like we used to have the Pong game and the Commodore 64).

The better question is - why??

My parents subscribe to an international package in our language on DirectTV and they dropped those channels and Dish picked that package up.  DirectTV now has a new package for less than $15 so we figure we'll check out those new shows before deciding to cancel or not. 

Thanks for the answer from you and Virg. 

[Mental Magpie]

Is it hard to budget when you only get paid once a month?

[Dazi]

Is it hard to budget when you only get paid once a month?

It can take some getting used to.  Also, more taxes tend to be taken out than if you were paid biweekly.  A friend of mine told me it took her about 6 months to really get the hang of it, but I confess she isn't the best with a budget.  She said the hardest part was paying her bills on time...she finally learned to pay them all the day she was paid regardless of what date they were due during the month, then to split the remainder for the next few weeks.

[Luci45]

Is it hard to budget when you only get paid once a month?

It can take some getting used to.  Also, more taxes tend to be taken out than if you were paid biweekly.  A friend of mine told me it took her about 6 months to really get the hang of it, but I confess she isn't the best with a budget.  She said the hardest part was paying her bills on time...she finally learned to pay them all the day she was paid regardless of what date they were due during the month, then to split the remainder for the next few weeks.

I actually found it easier. I knew that out of every paycheck exactly how far it had to stretch. So much for mortgage, about this amount for electricity and gas, 1/12 of the insurance and real estate taxes, etc.

It forced me to think in the long term and know that we couldn't fudge during the pay period that didn't have the mortgage payment, for example. No wiggle room meant not justification for going off the budget. That may be my own little mind-set quirk.

[lady_disdain]

Monthly payments are the norm here, not fortnightly, so it seems natural to me that pay frequency match the frequency of bills, which are also monthly. I also set up my bills so that they are all due early in the month (around the 5th, so I have time to fix things if anything messes up my pay deposit). Then, the amount in my account is what I have to spend until the end of the month. To me, that is easier than having to consider how much will be deposited in the middle of the month and what bills still have to come in.

[mechtilde]

Monthly payments are the norm here too- so a lot of people make sure that any large payments (mortgage/rent, bills etc) go out just after payday. Monthly direct debits are quite popular.

[Dindrane]

I am also paid once per month, and I don't find the frequency of paychecks to be a problem. I think it helps a lot if you have enough of a financial cushion that you aren't counting down the days until payday. I am always paid at the end of the month, and I try to pay my bills as close to the first of the month as I can, but I could pay them earlier than that. So if for some reason I had to pay them earlier, I wouldn't be in a financial bind. Essentially, I've gotten myself into the position where I'm really spending October's paycheck right now, even if I don't actually pay any of those bills until December.

The only thing I truly don't like about being paid on a monthly basis is that, the way my employer does it, I am not paid the exact same amount each month. My pay periods actually run from the middle of one month to the middle of the next, and then I am paid for those hours at the end of the month. So instead of an averaged monthly amount, I'm paid for the actual hours I worked, and every pay period has a slightly different number of hours. I end up using an averaged amount of money (my annual salary divided by 12) for budgeting purposes, and just remind myself that some months will be less than that while other months will be more.

[Slartibartfast]

[snip] I think it helps a lot if you have enough of a financial cushion that you aren't counting down the days until payday.

POD!  I was amazed at what a difference it made once we had amassed (and kept) enough money in our checking account to cover pretty much any individual bill.  Not everything all at once, but enough that if I messed up and forgot to record a check I wrote or if a bill got mislaid or if I had to write a largish unexpected check.  I had no idea how much stress I had been putting myself under by running close to the margin and having to constantly check whether we were overdrawing and worrying about whether I got my paycheck in the bank on Friday versus Monday. 

(I know it's really hard to get ahead financially when you're paycheck to paycheck, so please believe I really don't mean this as a judgement!  It is a goal worth pursuing, though!)

[jpcher]

New silly question --

Grocery shopping for Tgiving day. When is the best time to do this in order to avoid crowds while making sure your produce is still fresh?

Is Sunday too early? Or will the stores be just as crowded due to working people doing their weekend shopping?

When do you shop?

[Slartibartfast]

New silly question --

Grocery shopping for Tgiving day. When is the best time to do this in order to avoid crowds while making sure your produce is still fresh?

Is Sunday too early? Or will the stores be just as crowded due to working people doing their weekend shopping?

When do you shop?

Try some of those green produce bags - your store probably has them in the produce section.  They really do work!  Then you could shop a week ahead of time and wouldn't have to worry about the produce issue.

[Ceallach]

Is it hard to budget when you only get paid once a month?

Monthly is normal here (for salaried employees), and I don't like it.  All the money has to be allocated and planned out and stretched. Now at my new job I get paid fortnightly and it basically feels like a constant stream of money coming in, we love it!  We are still saving etc but don't have to strategize cash flow as much.   DH is still paid monthly so we have direct debits etc happening on that date, then my money is our living money. So  from my perspective I'd say yes, not hard but harder.