Posts Tagged ‘money’

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The World of Credit Cards

July 25th, 2011 by Manda | 10 Comments | Filed in Life

I was approved for a credit card at the bank today. This is clearly a sign I am Moving Up and Becoming a Real Adult as I’ve only ever had a debit card before. While I don’t have my actual card yet (it takes 2-3 weeks for my card to be sent to me) I do have a credit account now, with a line of credit from my bank and everything. Isn’t that scary?

As a rising college senior, it might seem like I’m a little late to the credit card game. In a way, I am; to my knowledge I have a non-existent credit rating. I’ve never had a credit card, how could I have a credit score? But the truth is, I’ve always been a little terrified of credit cards. Tons of people, especially in my age demographic, have more credit card debt than they know how to deal with. Of course I know the basics of avoiding credit card debt (which all basically boil down to don’t spend money you don’t have) but the fact that the terms “credit card” and “credit card debt” are almost always used in the same sentence in every news report about credit kind of scares me.

I don’t plan on making any flashy purchases with my new credit card, nor do I plan on spending money I don’t have with it, line of credit or no. What I do plan on using it for is to build my credit. Which leads me to an all-important question: anyone have any credit-building tips?

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I Think I’m Becoming a Cheapskate

June 26th, 2011 by Manda | 3 Comments | Filed in Life

I got a Groupon email today for a deal at a spa in Washington, DC:

Like cars, human beings require occasional corrective bodywork, custom finishing, and fresh coats of wax to avoid being towed away and crushed into a cube. Keep your chassis classy with today’s Groupon: for $61, you get a spa and massage package at The Spa Room (a $123 total value). The package includes the following:

  • A 30-minute massage in the style of your choosing (a $60 value) as well as one of three massage enhancements—the birch back cleanse, garshana silk-glove exfoliation, or the wild-rose facial cleanse (a $15 value).

    • After a year of living in China, that doesn’t sound like a good deal to me. 60USD (approx 390RMB) for a half-hour massage with one enhancement?! Right around the corner from my apartment in Beijing is a massage parlor that offers amazing one-hour full-body pressure point massages for 88RMB and one-hour full body oil massages for 138RMB!

    I’m not going to want to pay for anything when I return to the US. Everything will seem way too expensive!

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    Thank God for AppleCare

    April 8th, 2011 by Manda | 3 Comments | Filed in Technology

    My trip to the Apple store in Beijing to get my MacBook repaired taught me several things. First, like everything in Beijing/China, the Apple store was HUGE. Second, those working at the Genius bar do not speak English, but they were very helpful and patient with my garbled Mandarin (how the hell do you say words like “trackpad” in Mandarin??). Third, the best thing anyone can do if they have an Apple product is to have AppleCare.

    My issue with my MacBook was the trackpad. Or, well, the clicky part of the trackpad. Sometimes I could click on things, and other times I couldn’t. When I took my MacBook in to get it fixed, I was terrified of how long it would take to fix and how much it would cost. My Genius was just the nicest guy; he was incredibly patient and took the time to tell me what the name of each component of my computer whenever I asked. He explained that the housing kit, top case with keyboard, and the display bezel needed to be replaced. That, combined with the hardware repair cost, amounted to 1270RMB. Or should I say would have – because I have AppleCare, it really amounted to free!

    I know it’s common sense to purchase insurance or warranty of some kind when it comes to laptops and computers, but in this case, having AppleCare really was a lifesaver. I’m studying abroad and am obviously on a budget, so it’s not like I have thousands of spare RMB I can pull out of thin air. Plus, the turnaround to get my MacBook fixed was only one day. Now that’s genius!

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