On the same path

   I ran into a friend of mine at the Gay Pride awards this weekend, and it reminded me of how two people can be so much alike, and yet so different.

    Jason Dilts is so hilarious, if you’ve read his work in Naked City you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Jason is the author of “Homo on the Range.”  Yes, he’s gay, and he’s happy to tell us all about it.   The really weird thing about Jason is he and I are in the same place right now.

   Okay, what does a red-headed single gay guy have in common with a blonde former news-anchor, who’s married with two children?  Turns out everything.  Career-wise we are both on the back side of very demanding yet rewarding jobs.  Jason was involved in politics and that’s a lot like the world of TV news.    We both gave up 9 to 5, or maybe we should say 24/7 jobs to find a more scenic path.  

    As we caught up this weekend we both agree the only thing we miss about our old lives is the money, and at this point, neither of us is willing to give up what we’ve gained to get that back.  So for now, at least, we’re planning to meet at the pool, not to discuss get rich strategies or map out our master life plan…..we’ll probably just grab some rays and talk about the path we’re on, and whether it’s leading to happiness.   My guess we both will answer Yes.  I’m Anita Cochran and that’s what I really wanted to say.

 

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Me & My Big Mouth

  Just when I think I’m really smart, I say something really dumb.  Or in this case, just say something I should have done my homework on before SPEAKING up.  Remember last week when I whined about having to use paper envelopes to carry my cash around?  That’s a tip from Dave Ramsey, and I’m sort of giving his Total Money Makeover a run for my money.  

     Well, as soon as that little dittie of mine hit the air and internet I had mail.  Apparently, my idea that he make a leather version of envelopes to cut down on paper cuts, had already been sent to the Mr. Ramsey, and yep, he’s hawking them on-line.  Guess how long it took me to order one?  I think less than 40 seconds, but don’t quote me on that.

    It is kind of funny he’s selling stuff to people who aren’t supposed to be spending money!  But he’s doing it right.   First, I’m serious about the little paper nicks…and his version looks like that will be nearly impossible.  Second Ramsey is smart  enough to price it right.  Wallet sold for just 10 bucks.  Breaking News, I’m broke, but even I can dig up 10 bucks.  and last but not least, Ramsey who won’t let us use credit, only accepts debit cards on his site.  (Or at least it only CALLS it a debit card which is exactly how I paid for mine.)

So it’s all confirmed and that little envelope replacer should be in my grubby little hands this week, great timing.   Payday is coming so we’re gonna have some money to put in it.  I’m so excited I can hardly stand it, and since that was so easy, I’m now gonna suggest Mr. Ramsey send us all 100 bucks to get us started on his smarter spending habits.  Man I can’t wait for the email that tells me that’s already being done too.   I’m Anita Cochran, for KKRD online.

 

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Gay Pride

  Wichita’s Gay & Lesbian community gathered Sunday to cap off Gay Pride Week.  I was there to celebrate with my friends and pick up an award.  I was recognized with the 2009 Humanitarian Award, but I have to admit I felt like a fraud.    This is one of those awards that I didn’t really do anything to qualify as a nominee for, much less be the one they called attention to at the awards ceremony, but I was honored even so, and will happily place my purple plaque on my new workspace.

    I have long been active in the Wichita Gay community, not so much because I wanted to right social wrongs, or because I was taking a stand, I sort of fell into it as a local celebrity.    Granted I’m asked to do a lot of things, or was….as a local news anchor,   but back in the 90′s when I was a health reporter and focused a lot of attention on HIV/aids, I didn’t realize that just showing up at some events made you an activist.    

  Someone once said to me, “I’ve been a fan of yours for so long because you were so brave to come out for HIV/AIDS back when you did.”  I admitted to everyone at the Gay Pride Awards ceremony….I wasn’t brave at all.  I didn’t even think about the consequences of supporting my gay and lesbian friends, it just felt right and I did it.  I may have been naive or just plain stupid, but I didn’t realize there was a whole other side out there.  

    That’s when I finally got it.  Maybe I was the right person for this award.  I’m not saying I deserve to be singled out, but as I explained to my kids I am sort of a humanitarian.  Look it up, it’s simply  a person promoting human welfare and social reform.   I guess that’s what I am about.  I believe if we all just looked at each other as humans, most of our problems would go away.   Then again, maybe I’m just crazy, because I’m Anita Cochran, and that’s what I really wanted to say.

 

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Zero spending – NOT

  Just as I prepared for a sad weekend of Zero spending, JACKPOT.  I totally forgot my husband was out sweating his hiney off for the last week or so.  Yep, wheat harvest was here and as a hired hand, when the crop was in we got paid. (Okay he got paid, but we all know it’s OUR money.)

   So instead of zero spending, we blew one hundred bucks.  Was that stupid?  Yes.  Could it have lasted longer?   YES, but we did it anyway.  So for those of you wondering who ended up with our hard earned money.  Take two guesses.  Yep, a weekend at the Cochran’s isn’t a weekend unless there’s food and a movie.  So instead of eating at home all weekend, we went to Pei Wei that was 30 plus bucks gone….and we went to the movies to see “My Sister’s Keeper.”  The good cry was totally worth the 50 bucks we spent to see it.  And the other 20, will just disappear somewhere between Sonic Happy hour and a trip to the grocery store for whatever else we end up needing let’s just say, it’s gone. 

            Having just blown that 100, I only feel a little guilty….because that was our splurge, and I never wanted to change our lifestyle so much that my family felt punished.  I mean that crap about “Nobodies happy if Mamma ain’t happy” doesn’t hold up when there are two other young women in the household, and a man who gets really p-o’d when we’re all three whining.

 We had a great family weekend, and it only cost us 100 bucks.  Think about it!!  How much did you spend this weekend.  Count it all, from filling up the car with  gas, to what you threw in the basket in church.  Those of  us who did it for less than 100 bucks (or 25 bucks per person in this family…) We did good.  Breaking news folks….I’m Anita Cochran, and I’m still broke, but with practice I’m getting better at it.

 

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Princesses

  I’m pretty excited, I just confirmed I gave birth to princesses.  No I haven’t been pregnant recently, but the royalty of my two daughters is certain now that we’ve ventured out for Wheat Harvest 2009.

    I have pictures of the kids and grandpa on the combine since they were babies, but this year at 12 and 8 they were really priceless.

 You may not know this but before I was a TV News Anchor, I was a farm girl.  I showed cattle and horses in 4-H helped with wheat harvest, though how much help I was might be debated.  The thing was I was a transplant.  Yep, I was faking it.

   I was born and raised here in Wichita.  My parents didn’t move us to Garden Plain until when I was 10, and when I turned 19, I moved right back to the City.  I always considered myself a city girl with country roots, and unfortunately the country roots are being lopped off by the next generation.

   Lexy, the 12-year old climbed into the wheat truck for all of two seconds, before the kernels got in her shoes and she squeeled, “I’m out of here.”  My 8-year old Tanza, took one look at her and said, “I’ll pass.”  

    When Papa finally came to take them on the combine, I was already riding with my Brother and to my horror, figured Dad must really think my kids are sissies.  There they were waiting for him to pick them up standing in a wheat field with their big ole shades on, and picking kernels out of their shoes. 

    That wasn’t really the worse part, by the time my niece came out….a 13-year old farm kid from Pretty Prairie, the education had begun, but my heart raced as the three girls raced on top of the round hay bales across the road.  Obviously, I wasn’t cut out to be a Farm Mom, and as Tanza begged for a leg up to get on it was obvious my girls weren’t meant to be there either.

    So, to make a long story short, we managed to get priceless pictures, check them out over on Facebook but if one of my kids ends up on a farm, I’ll be SHOCKED.  My kids were whining so loud about how HOT it was,  that threatening them wasn’t enough to shut them, we finally just had to high tail it back to civilization, and I took them swimming.

    While I was somewhat disappointed that I didn’t teach my kids to love the farm, Today I’m a  bit more honored, because now that I know I do indeed have two little Princesses, that makes me THE QUEEN.  I’m Anita Cochran, and that’s what I really wanted to say.

 

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Weekend Plan

  Confession:  this is one of those weekends we are broke.  Now, if you see Kent (that’d be my husband) don’t tell him I told you all this, I’m gonna see if I can figure out how to tell him we’re in for a ZERO spending weekend.

   The problem started earlier this week, I had all my cash pulled out, the bills were paid but my daughters wanted new swimsuits.  Granted, that 30 bucks wouldn’t have made the weekend a “Girls Gone Wild” option but it would have helped.  Then after we got swimsuits, I took them out for lunch …oh wait I did that twice.   Did I mention Lexy got sick, needed Ibuprofen, and the list goes on.  The swimsuits were really the only “could have done without”…..well that and my Starbucks spending, but let’s just get this straight, giving that up is not an option.  

   So here we are, with wheat harvest over and my family of four actually set to spend the next three days together….and Breaking News honey, We’re Broke.  Here’s the plan.

   Some of that money I spent at the grocery store, which means we can eat at home.  It’ll take a little planning though because the real key will be getting them (the husband and kids) to think it’s all their idea.  I’ll let you know how it goes next week.

    We really want to see a couple movies, I’m gonna try and convince them, the new ones out at Family Video will be better, (did you know family video gives free movies for your kids report cards…I have six coupons left!!)   And the rest of the time, I think I’m just gonna pretend to be sick, say the girls really need to practice golf….or convince them we HAVE not been at the pool all week.  Remember it’s FREE.

    I’m finding the deal with changing the way your family spends money on a daily basis is, isn’t just about what I do……it takes the entire family to make it work.  Since I have my work cut out for me this weekend, I think I’ll also root around in the drawers for loose change, after all it all adds up.  I’m Anita Cochran, and Breaking News…this weekend, I’m BROKE.

 

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My bad

I pride myself on picking out perfect presents. I think the most successful present I ever gave someone, back in the days when I spent more money than I should of…was a Kindle. My step-mom Carla, LOVES to read…so when Oprah said, the Kindle CHANGED MY LIFE. I thought, well, then Carla must have one. I ordered two.
I tried mine out first, and yep, fell in love. The kindle for those of you who don’t know is an electronic book. Actually it’s an electronic LIBRARY. You can shop for books and download them instantly. Not only are you saving trees you’re saving money, typically a Kindle version is half the price of the book itself. It’s also great for travel, you can take all your book with you wrapped in something the size of a book. It’s great for the treadmill, it sits there and you simply press a button to turn the page. It’s just very convenient.
Now on the other end of the spectrum I once gave my BFF a Yurman bracelet. Turns out she can barely wear jewelry, it makes her itch. I’ve since asked for that baby back, and now I wear it! SO while it was a bad gift, at least it wasn’t a waste of money.
Speaking of waste of money, I’m afraid that’s what this years Father’s Day present will end up. I thought I was exceedingly clever, to order my dad a pair of golf pants. Here’s the catch, not just any golf pants, but LOUDMOUTHGOLF.com pants. Have you seen John Daly in the plaid pants? Those are LOUDMOUTH pants. Their website says they want to bring back the days of loud crazy golf pants, and when you see them you’ll say, well they did it.

Trouble is when Dad opened his present and saw those pants, (appropriately named, Disco Balls) I thought he was gonna puke. He ended up laughing but I could tell inside he was thinking, the only way I’m wearing these in public is if someone pays me. He is afterall one heck of a businessman.
Since I’m not paying him to wear them, I think it would be funny if someone else would. So any if you big dogs out there who need a golf partner, ask Larry Steckline to play, and require him to wear the Loudmouth pants….then when he shows up in his disco balls, the laughs on me….and just maybe that present will be perfect after all. Sorry Dad. I’m Anita Cochran…and that’s what I really wanted to say.

 

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Pass the Envelope

 Trying to live on one-fourth the money we’re used to spending is in a word….different.  In a way it’s like a big ole game…..a puzzle, where you only have so much money, and if the pieces fit you get a pretty picture.  When the pieces are missing, you just get pissed and want to fling it across the room.

  Let’s just say I’m about to fling the envelopes across the room.  Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover which I’m sort of following gave me the idea.  It starts with a budget in which you are required to spend every bit of your monthly paycheck before you get it.  I LOVE that part.  Here’s the part that stinks, you then have to budget every dollar  to a category, and carry those categories of cash in envelopes.  Seriously, look at the inside of my purse.

  Not only did it torque me off everytime the envelope came up empty.  (Try the first day, when I went clothes shopping for my kids.  Didn’t budget enough, had to pull my birthday money out and spend that….talk about not feeling like a present!)  Well anyway, after I emptied all the envelopes I had to quit spending that wasn’t as bad as all the little paper cuts I experienced from digging into those envelopes searching for any lost coins or lone dollar bills.  Here’s what I can’t figure out, you know Ramsey is making a pretty penny by now telling all of us to quit spending, so why doesn’t he at least sell a wallet that comes with nicely partioned off dollar slots??  Maybe in a soft velour or heck, why not leather for those of us who aren’t yet in the don’t splurge mode.

    I’m gonna suggest it to him, but I doubt that the money-man is going to do more than say, what’s up with the nut from Wichita, who doesn’t like the paper envelope system?   Well you know, Breaking News Dave Ramsey, we’re broke but we’re not bag ladies, at least not yet.  If you’re gonna make me use envelopes make mine leather.  I’m Anita Cochran, you’re listening to KKRDonline.

 

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Internet love

You  know what I love about the internet?  Okay my husband would say EVERYTHING! But, that’s not exactly true.   I love how you can use it for EVERYTHING.  For instance, when my daughter Lexy had the chills this week, I turned to the trusty internet . Kent was out cutting wheat and since I’m actually the rookie at home with the kids, I frankly, didn’t have a clue what to do.   I’m smart enough not to start with google, after all Lexy was on the couch crying, “I don’t want to die.” The last thing I wanted to do was confirm her self-diagnosis of swine flu. So I put in a call to the experts.

Enter Facebook and Twitter, within seconds of posting I had twenty responses most of them saying make her sweat the fever out in a hot bath, and as I was already doing give her Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  We did that and by the next day, she was alive well, swimming at the pool (she is her mothers daughter..).

  While it would be really handy to call my mom, rest her soul…..or my sister, usually when I need help I can’t find anyone, lucky for me someone is ALWAYS on there.  Which does kind of make you wonder…..do some people just not sleep?

   I check the iphone each morning before I roll about of bed, and this time, at band camp…I mean this one time this week…..almost all the comments to me from different sources were posted between one and two am…  Dudes, go to bed!

   There’s the obvious reasons we all love the internet, shopping, google for looking stuff up (other than medical symptoms, trust me that is just scary, I recommend doing that with extreme care.)  There’s spying on your friends, code name…facebook.  There’s spying on your enemies, code name….hack into facebook, and of course, there’s blogs so you can see how many other people out there are funnier than you, smarter than you, or just more creative than you.

   There’s one other thing I love about the community you build via the internet, how come everyone is so darn willing to help you break into it?  In TV news where I grew up, there’s comradarie but don’t expect your co-workers to actively share their secrets with you, most are too busy protecting those trade secrets so they can steal your job…….but on-line it’s apparently not like that.  My friends are bending over backwards to help me find a place here….and while it may just be a big ole conspiracy to watch me fall flat on my online face, I’m happy here in honeymoon land, and plan to wallow in the internet love, as long as you all will let me.    I’m Anita Cochran, and that’s what I really wanted to say.

say0624

The Last One To Know

  So here I am, unemployed and following this new path.  My idea when I left TV news, was to find a new life with my family that could be supported on one-fourth the income we’re used to.  Now, no matter what you’re making take three-fourths of that paycheck and chuck it out the window…now see who’s broke.

    As I’m getting rid of the debt, stopping the use of credit cards, and clearing out the house of all the junk (okay, inappropriate spending I had done over the years) something weird  happened.  I had a garage sale, that in and of itself, should be werid enough…but when a woman walked up and handed me 20 dollars, said I saw your blog, read this book.  Everything changed.

   The book is Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover.  Dara is a Wichita Mom who has been following the Money Makeover and has been blogging about it for weeks, and let me just say, she’s good.  The really stupid thing about all of this, is apparently I was the only one who had never heard of Dave Ramsey, or that the common sense principles I thought I was adopting had been a tried and true plan for many of you ALREADY.

   Now everywhere I go, including Garden City this weekend, I’m meeting people who are following Ramsey’s advice. (A lot of you even took his classes, but I think if I do that it would be hard to cheat on this dollar diet.)  You can spot the TMM’s a mile away…We are the ones spending cash only, unfortunately storing that cash in silly little envelopes, Dave, we must chat about that……and we’re the ones who are living like no one else, so that someday we can live like no one else.  Dudes, there’s a bunch of us out there.

    The great thing about that is I’m betting that I am one of the last to know, that money isn’t the greatest resource we have, it’s time.   Not only am I having to learn how to spend money, in this new life I’m learning how to spend my time.   I get that now, that I actually have time to spend….and you know what, I’ll take time over money, any day.  That might explain why Breaking news folks…I’m Broke.  You’re listening to KKRDonline.  I’m Anita Cochran.