Storage Wars Facts

Storage Wars is an A&E show about people who bid on storage lockers in the hopes of finding treasure. So look at this Creative Commons photo from we-make-money-not-art and see if you can guess what it is before reading the answer.



Anyone? Anyone? Of course a pipe seemed like the logical choice and I think on the show some people were even pretending to smoke out of it which is especially disgusting when you find out what it actually is. These are ear trumpets. It's basically an old fashion hearing aid.

Other Secrets to Happiness

This was a secret to happiness that Oprah just couldn't believe. The expert said that the base line for happiness as far as money goes is $75,000 per year. That's the amount of money that will bring you joy. Anything over that, it doesn't seem to matter unless you invest that matter in a good location to live in. I guess it's because that's where your basic needs are going to be met where you can have a house and swing sets. I know they always say that money can't buy happiness, but I would sure like to try that theory out sometime.

How Starbucks Saved My Life Facts

When I picked up this Michael Gates Gill book I had one question: “How much of a memoir was this?” It was like going from a conference call to coffee. I kept thinking "When does he quit and write a book"? I wanted to know if he still worked there. I've looked online and the closest I could find that said that he still worked there was in 2009. I was just wondering if all of the happiness that he found there could be kept over long term, or if it didn't lead to a book deal. However, that's the cynical side of me. Part of me really hopes that somehow the job is so fulfilling that he's still there. Does anyone know if he still works at Starbucks?

The Secret to Happiness

Yesterday was one of those Oprah episodes that I desperately hope is true, but it’s very difficult to hunt down actual facts about it. Happiness is very hard to quantify, but yesterday’s show was trying to do exactly that. At the end someone said something like “It comes down to where you live”. In fact, that is a good summary of the ideas of shorter commutes and knowing your neighbors leads to happiness. I think it’s a package deal. They also cited that happiness is 60 percent genetic and 40 percent learned behavior. I still don’t know what the secret is, but surely living somewhere you truly love can’t hurt.

New Age Facts

Whenever you look at most posts about the law of attraction they talk about the same thing. It usually references the fact that most people who win the lotteries lose all of the money shortly after because they can’t hold the vibration. At first I was so focused on the vibration part that I didn’t stop to think if the other part was true. Do people who win the lottery usually lose their money within a short period of time? I looked it up and saw a bunch of new age stores.

Some were more legitimate with actual names. This Money Central article features people who ended up in debt by hundreds of thousands or even millions. I'd rather read something more concrete like accutane reviews. However, isn’t this a limiting belief that the new age people are always warning about, yet they are setting it up. The underlying message is don’t win the lottery, you’ll lose it all. Isn’t that the exact opposite of the law of attraction? I can’t find actual statistics on this phenomenon.

My New Favorite Word

I was watching HSN and they were talking about the gems and I thought that they had made up a new word, or even a new gem like they usually do. However, it was such a cool word that I couldn’t resist looking it up. I thought that it was malachite, but instead it is maw-sit-sit. It’s officially my new favorite gem just because of the word. I’m sold on the name alone, even if it does just look a lot like malachite. That's right I will buy anything based on which product has a cooler name whether its a honda generator or a gemstone.

That's Really a Thing?

I was watching The Nate Show and all of a sudden he mentions laughter yoga. It's one of those things that I can't believe is really a thing. It's a great idea but the laughter seems really forced and even annoying. However, I think if you just start laughing it eventually becomes very genuine. Has anyone else ever been to laughter yoga?

A Little Too Random

So, I finally ran across a recipe that was too random for even me to try. I was like umm wasn't anyone with management jobs supervising it? The recipe was for a walnut, pear, blue cheese, onion, and vinegar flatbread. However, I decided to modify it a little bit and use honey instead of vinegar. I just left out the onions altogether. For me just the walnuts, pears, and blue cheese was random and daring enough and I really fell in love with it. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try the onions next time.

The Difference Between Gross and Net

There was an interesting point brought up on Til Debt To Us Part. She said that most people think of how much they make in terms of before taxes and their expenses in terms of before sales taxes as well. So they make more then they think they do and they always think that they are spending less than what they really are. She broke down how much something would actually cost you in net pay, as in what you take home after taxes. So, you can still buy nice houses or a diamond tennis bracelet as long as you really know what you are taking home. This was really eye opening. So how do you think about your money, gross or net?