If you normally stop by Free From Broke to read about different aspects of personal finance, well I’m not going to talk about that here.  Let me apologize in advance.  Feel free to move on to another site if you don’t want to hear about 9/11.  Really, I don’t mind.  (just come back tomorrow)

Ten years ago we had an attack on our way of living that changed our lives forever.  I know mine was changed.  How?  I can’t say entirely.  After ten years I still can’t pinpoint everything I feel about that fateful day.  I’m just going to write out some things in my head I’ve thought about.  Bear with me.

I was at work.  At the time I worked on Madison Avenue in the 20′s.  I remember the cubicle (I’d like to think office but hey, it was a cubicle) I had.  I was in the corner of the floor where there were only about four of us working.  A friend came by and told me a plane had hit the Twin Towers.  Wow.  ”That’s pretty crazy,” I thought.  In no way did it occur to me, or just about anyone else who heard about it early on, that this was a terrorist attack.  I mean, come one, that’s an absolutely INSANE thing to do.

I’m going to flash back a little further for a bit.

I was going to college in Manhattan some years before.  I came home on wintery day ( I commuted to school).  I think there was some snow flurries that day.  I flipped on the TV and heard a car bomb had gone off in the garage of the World Trade Center.  What?!?  It was a horrible thing but I have to admit, it didn’t really stick in my mind, not like the next attack would.  Relatively, the damage was minimal.  We all went on with our lives.  This was some freak thing.

Flash back to 9/11.

So I heard about the first plane hitting, which was the only plane at the time.  As horrible as hearing about a plane hitting the WTC is, we didn’t think it was the catastrophe it would turn out to be.  I remember hearing about a small plane hitting the Empire State Building a long time ago.  I figured it was some little plane that got off course.  It wasn’t until the second plane hit that things really froze for us all.

Things were serious.  Two planes DO NOT go off course in the same place in a short period of time like that.  Something was going on.  Reports were coming in on the radio of what happened.  It was horrible. [Crap, I'm getting chills writing that.  Not good chills.]

I can’t say exactly what happened next.

For sure everyone in the office was buzzing about what just happened.  Phone calls were coming in and out as we all started talking to everyone we knew.  Seems everyone in NYC knows someone who works in that area.  My dad worked not far from there at the time.  That was an initial concern.  He was OK.

I don’t recall if I spoke with my dad.  I think I spoke with my mom.  She was working in Brooklyn.  She would later tell me how she was in shock as she saw the towers actually fall.  [I'm rambling a bit here.  I never claimed to be a great writer.  Also, my stomach is turning a bit now.]

We went outside.  We needed air and to get our heads around this.  Two planes were now in the Twin Towers.

If we walked over a block we could see the smoke.

It wasn’t much later that the unthinkable happened.  A tower tumbled down.

An architectural feat for the times just fell.  This is not supposed to happen.  How can this get worse?!?

Ends up it could.  The second tower fell.  It was like the world was coming to an end.  It was so unimaginable that this could ever be.

I had been in these buildings.  I’ve been underneath and have worked in the area.  I went with my dad and the scouts years, many years, before to visit the top.  I loved those towers.  Really.  They represented everything that was great about New York City.  Anything was possible.  The sky was the limit.  These had, at one time, been the tallest buildings in the world.  If you were driving in New Jersey you knew north from south by looking at the skyline.  Empire State Building was north of the WTC.  You could always get your bearings seeing the tops of those building (I’m not much of a Jersey driver).

To say we were all in shock just isn’t enough.  But there’s no better word right now.  Maybe disbelief?

I stayed at work for a while.  We were all sent home.  Hell, there was no way any work was even being thought of.  But I stayed longer than I had to.  There was no way home anyway.

I lived in Queens.  For those not familiar with NYC, Manhattan is an island and Queens is part of Long Island across the water from Manhattan.

Public transportation was shut down.  No trains or buses.  The bridges and tunnels were closed as well.  Who the hell knew what might happen next?!?

Through all of this we heard about the other planes as well.  It’s hard to be optimistic and afraid at the same time.

So I sat at work and listened to the radio.  I got in contact with anyone I could.  This would be something most of us did.  It was a time of reconnecting.  We all needed to know that everyone was OK.  I’d get emails and calls with friends checking in.  In an odd way it was good to be able to connect with so many people I hadn’t heard from.  But it shouldn’t have been under those circumstances.  Why do we do that?  I need to get in touch with old friends again.

It’s afternoon and I hear the trains might start running again.  I remember one friend offered to let me stay over their place but I needed to get home.

I left work.  First I walked east towards the nearest hospital.  I heard there was a blood shortage.  I wanted to give blood.  I got there but they weren’t taking anyone else in, so many others came by with the same idea that they were full.

I remember it was a beautiful day for September.  I want to say it felt like 85 degrees out.    And it was sunny.  I know I was sweating and had a line of sweat where the strap of my bag hung over my chest.  How does this happen on such a beautiful day?

I walked towards Penn Station.  I figured I’d see if the LIRR was running yet.  I walked near the Empire State Building.  I couldn’t actually walk close to it because the building was evacuated in the event it was a target too.  I think the whole block was blocked off with police tape.

I’ve seen jet fighters before.  I visited the Air Force Academy when I was a teen and I’ve seen air shows.

But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a jet fighter fly directly above me.  It flew over the Empire State Building.  I want to say I heard some sonic boom but maybe it was just the sound of the jets?

Understand that the skies were quiet.  In fact for a city in turmoil, NYC seemed pretty quiet.  All flights had been grounded.  So there were no planes in the air.  Except for this jet fighter.  And it wasn’t here to film a movie or do stunts.  It was here to fight, if needed.

I made it to the LIRR.  The trains were running limited out of the city.  There was no fare.  Just pile in and go.  I was happy to leave Manhattan and find my way home.  But I couldn’t help think about the fact that we’d have to go through a tunnel.

I made it back to Bayside, Queens where I lived.  I was actually living with my folks at the time so going home meant not being alone, which was nice.

Going home I would pass over a walkway going across the LIE (Long Island Expressway).  From the apex of the walkway you could see the Twin Towers, that’s how tall they were in the NYC skyline.  They weren’t there anymore.

I remember the quiet in NYC in the days afterward.  To live in Queens and not hear planes overhead all the time is a strange thing.  Queens is home to both LaGuardia and JFK airports so there’s always a plane going and coming from somewhere.  Traffic was quieter and lighter too.

And you didn’t hear sirens like you would normally.  It was quieter.  It’s like crime actually stopped.  But here’s the thing, when you did hear a siren it had to do with Ground Zero (the new name for the site of the WTC).  The siren would be some ambulance or something coming from the site going to a hospital.  Being at work and hearing a siren was chilling.  At least that’s how I remembered it.

I don’t know when I did the math in my head.  It was the day of the attacks.  Perhaps it was after I got home and the country stayed glued to the news for days.  Did the Twin Towers host somewhere around 50,000 people?  Could that many people have perished?  I must have thought about that while I was still at work.  Thankfully, most were able to get out.

But not everyone.  We heard the horror stories.

Hero became a different word that day.  We heard about all of those who went into those buildings and responded that didn’t go home again.  We heard about those who tried to help other people at their own peril.  How many stories will we never know about?

When my dad came home he had ashes on his clothes.  God knows what those ashes were.

The towers smoldered for I don’t know how long.  Should a place be able to smolder for days, weeks, months?

I was driving with my mom somewhere near home.  Planes were still grounded, commercial flights that is.  I saw one of those Cat’s Eye planes flying.  You know, the military planes that are used for communications?

Maybe a few days later (I don’t recall exactly) I’m on the express bus heading to work.  Traffic those days was horrible if you had to cross a bridge or enter a tunnel.  There were check points everywhere.  Vehicles of all kind were stopped.  This particular day the driver of the bus didn’t have her company badge.  She was supposed to have it hanging from her shoulder.  After sitting in traffic we get to the toll and we are turned around because the driver didn’t wear her official badge that day!  This was how high on alert the city was.  It took hours to get to work that day.

I get to work and I see a look of relief on my co-workers faces.  What?  So I was late.  Seems my grandma had called the office to check in on me.  I wasn’t there.  She called my mother.  She couldn’t get in touch with her either.  She was stuck in crazy traffic getting to her job.  My grandma assumed the worst and somehow got in touch with people at my job, worried about where I might be.

You couldn’t not assume the worst anymore.

An interesting thing happened in NYC.  We all cared.  People were nice.  We were all supportive.  It was like we all just attended the same funeral and were commiserating with each other.  That part was kind of nice; to see the city band together.

It didn’t take too long though, for the hate and distrust to settle in as well.  Social profiling took on new meaning.  If someone looked different then they could be a terrorist.  If a store closed down where the workers looked like they might be from the middle east then it must be terrorist-related.

We were no longer innocent.

Was it the next year or two years later that we had the blackout?  Again I was at work and the power went out.  You think it’s just part of the floor, then the building, then you hear it’s the whole city.  Did we first think it was a transformer or something electrical that caused the blackout?  No.  Collectively we thought it was terrorism.

A decade is a long time.  It feels like it flew by though.  I guess that’s what happens as you get older, time goes quicker.

In that time I fell in love and got married.  We have three amazing kids.  I’m a stay-at-home-dad running a web publishing business.

Ends up I had a bunch of friends and family down by ground zero that day.  Thankfully they all made it home and I don’t directly know anyone who was lost (though I did meet a fireman who would die years later of lung-related complications who had been working at ground zero).

Has the city changed?

That day, 9/11, leaves a fresh scar even after ten years.  But we get on with things.  Time will heal the scar for most.  Our oldest was one and our other two weren’t born.  They’ll learn about 9/11 in history books and from us when the time comes.

A new building is being erected as well as a memorial.  I still don’t know how I feel about a building going up again.  It’s like when your dog dies.  He’s your best friend.  Then your folks bring home a new puppy.  How can anything ever replace your best friend.

That’s a pretty crappy comparison, I know.

I’ll never forget 9/11.

I wasn’t sure if I should write anything about the “anniversary.”  This is a personal finance site.  The subject doesn’t fit.  But I’m a blogger and that gives me some leeway.  And that personal part means it can write about things that have affected me.  If you’re reading this far, thanks for hearing me out.  It’s good to get some of this out.

I’m not the most eloquent by any means.  My feeble attempt to get my head around that day is, well…feeble.  Ten years later and I still don’t know quite what to make of it.  It has no meaning, does it?  It’s senseless.  But it has a profound affect on the city, and the country.  We’re at war over this, or at least a police action or something.  We’ve lost more soldiers fighting overseas as a result of 9/11 than we lost people on 9/11.  That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either.  Not trying to be political.  Just can’t make sense of all this life lost is all.  When people die it can’t be good, can it?

9/11 is one of those days that makes you want to crawl up into a ball in the corner of the house.

But we can’t do that, can we?  There has to be some hope, some continuance.  We have to move on.

But never forget.  But try to heal.

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9-11-01 Ten Years Later

Step 1

Spend less than you earn.

Step 2

Save the difference.

Thoughts?

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How to Save Money – 2 Simple Steps Everyone Can Take

So far the new house has been awesome! It feels so good to wake up and go to sleep in our own home (well, the bank owns a good part too).  Things are coming along nicely and it’s really starting to look like home.

Then we got a surprise. Seems we had an indoor pool and didn’t even know about it.  After a hard rain we discovered we had some flooding in our basement.  Major shock!  So on top of doing everything else around the house we have to look into basement waterproofing.  You can guess it’s not cheap.  Sigh…  Caveat emptor or so they say.  (If anyone has any advice on leaky basements I’m all ears!)

Anyway, here are some great personal finance links to read up on…

The Pros and Cons of Online Savings Accounts at Rainy-Day Saver.
Want to Retire? Ask These People First from Realm of Prosperity.
Buying A House by Sustainable Life Blog.
Is Financing a Car An Effective Way to Build Your Credit? at Studenomics.
What Tax Bracket Am I In? 2010 Tax Brackets from Oblivious Investor.
Save on Groceries with Non-Profit Food Networks by Tight Fisted Miser.
Textbook Ripoffs: Why college leaves kids in debt at Funny about Money.
How Your Credit Score Impacts Interest Rates from Money Smart Life.
The Siren’s Call of Passive Income by Money Smarts Blog.
Should I Go with a Fixed or Variable Rate Mortgage? at Invest It Wisely.
Square Foot Gardening Update: Patience is a Virtue from Family Balance Sheet.
Saving Money On A Cruise by Wisdom Journal.
23 Ways to Save Money Building Your Dream Home at Good Financial Cents.
Managing Joint Accounts in a Relationship from Ace of Wealth.
Automate Your Savings Accounts by Moolanomy.
Four Mutual Fund Metrics That Hurt YOUR Returns at Amateur Asset Allocator.
Why Common Advice is Useless from The Online Investing AI Blog.
How Banks Make Money at Cash Money Life.
REDUCE STRESS; Get Rid of Dysfunctional Money Behaviors – Part 3 from Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance.
How To Make Your Small Business More Successful by Wealth Pilgrim.
2 Years of Unemployment Insurance – How Much is Too Much? at Darwin’s Money.
Download My Free eBook: Invest Like a Pro from Generation X Finance.
How Much Are You Really Saving with the Mortgage Interest Deduction?by No Debt Plan.
New Student Loan Forgiveness Program at My Dollar Plan.
How To Invest In Shares of Common Stock from Digerati Life.
Internet Savings: Why it Will Dominate the Future of Personal Savings by PT Money.
Save Money On Hefty Hospital Bills Simply By Requesting A Discount at Smart On Money.
Start an dividend portfolio with only $5,000 from Intelligent Speculator.
Roth IRA Withdrawal Rules by Bible Money Matters.
3 questions you need to ask before accepting a new job at Green Panda Treehouse.
Beware of exotic funds from Monevator.
Everything you need to be a better investor by Personal Dividends.
“New Normal” math: How your investing plans must change at Pop Economics.
Simplify your Mortgage Refinance with these Seven Questions from Simple Financial Lifestyle.

And now for the carnivals Free From Broke has been in…

Carnival of Money Stories – Signs of Summer Edition
Carnival of Personal Finance | Funny about Money
Yakezie Alexa Challenge Carnival
Yakezie Carnival | Ultimate Money Blog- Save Green and Live Green!

Enjoy your reading!

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We Have An Indoor Pool And Links

There are a number of different kinds of bank cards a person may come across in the course of their financial life – ATM cards, debit cards, credit cards, and prepaid debit cards.  All of these, as one may gather, work differently – and how they differ is an important thing to know in order to wisely use each kind of card.

ATM Cards

These kinds of cards are typically issued by a bank, which aim to provide their customers a greater sense of flexibility in their banking hours.  (If you can believe it, there was once a time when you had to go to a bank teller to get cash!)  For the most part, a customer can use their ATM card to make deposits, withdraw money, transfer money between their accounts, get a cash advance, check an account balance, or even make a loan payment at any given convenient time, day or night.  All of this would be done at an ATM.  Make sure an ATM you use is within your bank’s network or you could be hit with ATM fees.

Debit Cards

These kinds of cards, also issued by a bank, generally combine the uses of an ATM card and a check, in that using a debit card to make a purchase will result in the funds immediately being withdrawn from the bank account.  With a debit card you can make either a PIN transaction (where you enter your PIN code) or a signature transaction (where you sign for the purchase).  You may notice that these cards are backed by either Visa or Mastercard (this is what allows you to make a signature transaction).  Debit card users need to watch that they don’t overdraw (overspend) on their account as there could be steep penalties.  Debit cards retain the same functions as previously outlined for ATM cards.

Credit Cards

These kinds of cards work in a straightforward manner.  There is no bank account from which money is deducted, though there is a limit to how much a person can spend before paying it off.  Basically, the credit is a loan being given to the user of the card.  Generally, the company that issues the card requires a minimum payment on the bill per month and requires, in exchange, a person pay interest on the owed balance, which can be as high as 29% per year.  If you pay it off in full there is no interest.  Credit cards can be very useful but the fact that the money isn’t being drawn from an account can easily lead people to overspend and get into credit card debt.

Prepaid Debit Cards

These are generally accepted as credit cards and are a good option for those with poor credit because, unlike a credit card, it does not require a credit check for approval.  A predetermined amount of money is put into the card balance and can be spent just like any other debit or credit card, until the money runs out.  At that point, it must be refilled with more money before it can be used again. A prepaid debit card can be a great way to keep on budget as you can only spend what’s on the card.  The drawback, of course, is you are limited to the amount on the card and you must keep track of the balance.

A consumer these days most likely has a number of different bank cards they carry with them daily.  Its important to understand how each works and which card is best for your spending needs.

What bank card do you use the most?

Get $50 Cash Back Bonus with the Discover® More® Card!

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Different Kinds Of Bank Cards

We had a total of fifteen comments that qualified for the Marshalls/TJ Maxx gift card giveaway.  I used Random.org to generate the winning comment (each comment is numbered).  Comment 12 from Sarah R is the winner!

Congratulations Sarah!  I’ve already sent an email to get mailing info to send out your card.

I loved all of the responses to how you stretched your gift budgets.

Here was Sarah’s response:

First, I started shopping earlier, so my bf’s Christmas gift (tickets to the Philharmonic) actually came out of September’s budget. Next, I made jewelry for gifts, used credit card points to “buy” gift cards at no cost, and gifted my old iPod speakers to my brother. The only people who are receiving purchased gifts (outside of the bf, of course) this December are my nephews because I couldn’t figure out how to make the train sets they’d asked for. But even that was on the cheap: I researched the lowest prices and bought battery-operated trains because I think they’re too young to take care of a real train set.

Here are some other, notable responses:

Becca went the handmade route:

I got crafty and made a lot of my gifts! Christmas ornaments, a pair of mittens, and some photo frames. Sometimes it’s a lot cheaper to buy the materials and make your own stuff.

Who doesn’t like thoughtful homemade gifts?

Abigail used the power of the net (among other strategies):

This past spring, I signed up at Swagbucks and enlisted my mom, my husband a whole bunch of my readers to sign up as well. With their help and some diligence on my part, I got enough Swagbucks to get $170 of GCs from Amazon.com. That got my husband his main present, a PSP. It was a combination birthday/Christmas gift, so he already has it. And love love loves it!

Mike:

I have gotten gifts for the younger kids at goodwill. They are hard on toys and don’t care if its been played with before.

J. Co, Emily N, and Sarah cashed in credit card points.

These are all great ideas, some of which I’ll have to utilize myself! It’s great to hear from readers.

Thank you everyone for sharing your ideas (and for entering the giveaway).  I hope you have a great holiday season!

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How Some Readers Stretched Their Gift Budgets (And The Gift Card Winner)

Finally the weather is starting to level out and get a bit warmer around here! Our garden is starting to com back to life.  We have some tulips growing for the first time and the rose bushes are sprouting.  Next step for us is to hit the gardening store to see how we want to plant (unless we close on our co-op soon, which would be nice).

Now for some personal finance articles:

The Wall Street Journal discusses how money can make or break a marriage.

Prime Time Money gives a rundown of the worst financial products.

Sense to Save figures out how much she can spend on housing (they are looking to buy a new home).

Bible Money Matters talks about emergency funds and how they can save you from disaster.

Remodeling This Life has a great article about living with purpose!

Milk Your Money tells us you could be getting ripped off buying glasses and contacts from a doctor.

Free Money Finance mentions some ways to save on a wedding.

Moolanomy asks if socially responsible mutual finds are worth it?

Gather Little By Little offers some thoughts on staying employed in a recession.

Jeff Rose offers 7 tips on buying a first home.

Here are some carnivals I partook in:

Carnival of Personal Finance #200 – Edition of Mini-Accomplishments

Money Hacks Carnival #60 – File Your Tax Return Edition

Carnival of Personal Finance #201

Carnival of Family Life – Paper Toy Edition

Festival of Frugality – I May Be In Incredible Pain Edition

Carnival of Everything Money #11

Personal Finance Blog Carnival #2

Money Hacks Carnival – Earth Day Edition

Enjoy!

photo credit: -sel

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Personal Finance Resource Links 04-26-09

There’s still time to win one of two copies of TurboTax Premier! Go check out the post and see how you can win.

So get those entries in!!!

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There’s Still Time To Win TurboTax!

Yesterday I outlined some of Obama’s $819 billion economic stimulus plan that passed the House of Representatives.  I thought I’d have a little fun today and remind you how a bill becomes a law.  Man I miss SchoolHouse Rock!!

So the Economic Stimulus plan still has to pass Senate and then it’s off to the President to sign.

Who says you don’t learn anything on TV?!?

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How A Bill Becomes A Law – Some Friday Fun

A report released by President-Elect Obama’s top economic advisers outlines where the new economic stimulus package will create jobs.  The expected number of jobs is 3,675,000.

Here’s a chart from the Wall Street Journal outlining where the jobs will be:

The biggest sector will be in Construction – almost 10%.  I’m guessing this will be due to all of the infrastructure projects.

What’s interesting is the next biggest percent increase will be in Retail Trade; 4%.  This tells me that there is an expectation that consumer spending will grow.  This could be due to tax cuts which will help both businesses and consumers.

Interesting so far.  We’re seeing more details for the economic stimulus every day.  Let’s hope that the money will be put to good use and the jobs created will be necessary ones that can be sustained long-term without much government spending.  My fear here is that the jobs created may be dependant on government funds which turns this project into a version of socialism.  We’ll see.

What do you think?

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Where Obama’s New Economic Stimulus Package Will Create Jobs

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving here is what I am thankful for:

• My Family and Friends- My wife, daughter, son, and everyone else…I am who I am in large part because of you and I’m thankful to have you in my life.

• My Home – I’m grateful that we have a wonderful home.  It may not be the house we one day want but what we have is ours.

• My Job – In today’s economy it’s nice to say I have work.

• Our Savings – We’ve worked hard to put savings and emergency funds away.  Hopefully we wont have to use emergency funds but it feels good knowing that it’s there.

• Limited Debt - Our debt consists of students loans and the car loan.  Neither loan has high interest rates and we are able to pay them off without problems every month.

• Health – We’re all doing pretty well right now.  In the grand scheme of things health is way more important than money any day!

• Free From Broke - I’ve learned so much as I’ve been blogging.  Writing Free From Broke has helped keep me focused on frugality and has definitely benefited our family.

• You, the Readers – I’m grateful for all of the connections I’ve been able to make on Free From Broke.  The visitors and readers make writing so enjoyable and fun.  Thank you all!

What are you thankful for?

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Eight Things I’m Thankful For On Gobble Day