Money Shuffle

One of my most favorite possessions is my iPod. I love the entertainment it provides and I relish in the escape I get from music. I appreciate all kinds of music (with my favorite being the overall rock genre), and my iPod reflects my eclectic taste.

I also am a regular listener of Preston and Steve (for those not in the Philly area, this means nothing but they are, hands down, the best morning show I have ever heard) and have been for about 10 years. They play an assorted amount of on-air games, one of which is…well, I don’t exactly remember the name of it but it involves their iPods and 5 songs. So I decided to play my version of this game. I’ve named it “Money Shuffle”.

The rules are simple. I set my iPod on shuffle and wrote down the first 5 songs (yes, the actual first 5 songs. I didn’t skip if I didn’t like the song) that came up. Then I thought of a financial situation that I was in that was related to the song title but not necessarily the subject matter of the song. And now, the results:

Song #1 “Where Were You” by Journey–This one gave me some trouble but I eventually realized that this applies to every time I lose a coupon that I planned to bring with me on a shopping trip. I have a terrible habit of misplacing coupons right before I need to use them. I will often find them a week later and think “where were you when I needed you?!”

Song #2 “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack–The easiest one of the 5 as it was the song my husband and his mother danced to at our wedding. I was then prompted to think of the cost of a wedding, and how ridiculous people can get. Going into debt for a wedding is so not worth it!

Song #3 “Your House” by Jimmy Eat World–Buying my house was both the smartest and dumbest decision I have ever made. I love that I’m a homeowner and have learned so much about budgeting and how to afford to take care of a home as a result but I really wish I’d waited to purchase a home. Lesson learned from that scenario: never let your emotions dictate a major financial purchase.

Song #4 “On Fire” by Switchfoot–This song reminded me of the time I melted our kitchen floor and was fortunate enough not to actually set my house on fire. It speaks to the importance of not only kitchen safety but the importance of having insurance and a home repair fund because let me tell you that replacing that floor was not cheap.

Song #5 “Desperately” by Slaughter–Oh, how many situations does this apply to? Too many to count. But I’ll tell you about the time I was so desperate that my then-boyfriend (and now husband) were a day away from payday and were were literally down to nothing to eat in the house. Literally, nothing. We went on a virtual scavenger hunt for any sort of loose change we could find. No stone was left unturned (seriously, no stone. I think we even were looking on the ground). We finally collected enough and went to nearest grocery store with a CoinStar. We made about $20, even with the 8.5% fee that CoinStar takes. We bought a box of pasta, some sauce and English muffins for breakfast the next day. That cost about $5. What did we do with the rest? We went drinking! How’s that for priorities?

Well, that’s it for this edition of “Money Shuffle”.  Thanks for tuning in!