This is a post from Carrie. I admit, I'm being selfish in lifting this from the comments section of the last post to put it up here, but I have a friend--Yalitza, one of the founding members of the WIR, actually--who is in a very similar situation. The one thing I'd ask, Carrie, if you're reading this, is if you can clarify the situation. If you qualify for financial aid for the last two classes--I gather the problem is simply that you have to first pay back the school what you owe? If so, have you tried myrichuncle.com or prosper marketplace? i have read that these online loan sources can help people who can't get student loans otherwise...but i'm not -recommending- these, since i haven't yet investigated them. i only saw them written about in the wall street journal.

I am sorry to kidnap this article but it does lead into a segway that I have been itching to get some help on. I have student loans and such but I also have only two classes to go before I can graduate. I owe the school some money, I have been paying them back diligently, but it seems as though I am paying more interest than anything else. I qualify for financial-aid, more than enough to pay what I owe and for my last two classes. I have a small income, less than $20000 annually and I do not have sufficient credit for a private loan. I have tried to borrow with a co-signer but have been denied. I spoke to a counselor and she said that this situation to happens to only 5% of students. I have been applying for scholarships but have not had any luck. Does anybody have any alternative suggestions that can help my search? I go to a private school and I have no cooperation there;The business office will not respond to calls and emails and my advisor blatently said that if I cannot pay, then she will not help me. I need help - I am frustrated and have been waiting to graduate since 2003. Thanks for listening.

Hi everyone--catching up here. I've only read thru about a third of the responses to Stephanie's post--but now i think I need a vacation. ;-)

Nah, I'm kidding. I'm actually touched by how thoughtful everyone is. Although there are some folks who are, er, um, a tad draconian in their views, and make me tremble in my somewhat overpriced Converse sneakers, lest they take me to task for my financial sins...

Meanwhile, Kat brought up an EXCELLENT topic. (Thanks, kat.) To wit:

PS--Hey Mia, how about an article about "life start-up" costs for all of us who are graduating college at the end of the month? I'm trying to build a budget, but it's hard to think of all the little things you need for cooking, cleaning, etc... Thanks, I enjoy reading your articles.

I emailed my editor tonite to see what he thinks of the topic. but i loved it so much i wanted to put it out there for us all to chew, opine and reminisce over.

Remember the shock of setting up your own household? i vividly recall my own astonishment when my roommate and i bought everything from mops to dishes to cleaning products--and how quickly it all added up. all this stuff i'd taken for granted! suddenly i was pinching paper towels and soap and sponges from my folks when i went back home for visits.

would love to get thoughts and advice and fun memories from recent and not-so-recent grads about those start-up life costs.

Hi Everyone,

Well, for those of you who read my attempt to psych myself up to address the raise issue with my boss--I have to tell you that the most embarrassing thing happened.

As some of you read the other day, I got my new contract from my boss last week and couldn't figure it out. he went on vacation, so I couldn't discuss it with him. It looked like a big raise in pay for the column...but a big reduction in pay for blogging...and i was miffed and pissy and righteous.

Then yesterday, my editor got back from vacation and I finally had a long conversation with himr, and he explained (drum roll, please) THAT I'D MISREAD THE CONTRACT.

Uuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggh.

Well, I was overjoyed--because it was ultimately a really terrific raise (and I'm beyond grateful). But talk about having egg on my face! After five or ten minutes of discussion with my editor--which went around in circles because he couldn't understand what I didn't understand, and I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me--THEN he finallly says: did you read the contract?

So i went and looked at the contract again and if it's possible to physiologically burst into embarrassment--I did. "I'm turning so red right now," I said to him. He just laughed. Luckily we were speaking by phone, so he couldn't see me bang my red, red face on the wall.

So, all's well that ends well. But on a financial level, I had to ask myself: What was going on? Did I have such low expectations that I couldn't see or grasp that it was GOOD NEWS? Apparently so! It was right there in print! To what extent are my own negative assumptions--negative programming?--coloring my view of my financial life? Do I put hurdles in my own path?

Am I getting too existential?

Anyway, this was a great thing to have happened because it will completely change the way i approach the editor who does my other column--I have to negotiate a raise and time off with him as well. I'll just go into the situation with a lot more emphasis on the positive.

Hi all, Mia here.

Well, as some of you may have noticed, I did NOT log on to the comments board of the Cost of Raising Kids post (now waaaaaay down there). That's because about 80 people had commented the last time I looked--and frankly I didn't want my blood pressure to take another hit.

Ever since i wrote that column many weeks ago--which was meant as a curious and respectful exploration of how one finally makes the leap into parenthood--I have gotten the most horrific hate mail. People telling me i don't deserve to be a parent. People telling me that if i think "like that" i should sit home and count my filthy lucre rather than poison some child's life. One person said I sounded like the type who would throw a baby in a dumpster.

Horrible. Unfeeling. Judgmental. Narrow-minded. Vicious. Clearly most of those people never even finished reading the whole article before ripping into me. If they had, they would have seen the conclusion I reached.

Thankfully, I've also gotten a lot of supportive and understanding letters. And i thank anyone who did so--and not just because they were smart enough to click to page 2.

What I wrote, I wrote in a spirit of questioning. In the world gone as crazy as it is, especially with regard to financial things--in a world in which a six-figure income like my husband's and mine feels perilously small against the demands of life at times (not all times, thanks to this blog!)--how can you not stop and ask what having a child will cost? it's not to say you'll ever have all the answers...it's not to say the math alone should be the basis for one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. but it seems essential to me, when weighing this most life-altering decision--possibly even more important than deciding to marry my husband!--that I examine what the impact will be--emotionally and financially.

Normally I'd leave this post open for comments, but I don't want to reignite the debate. If you'd like to share a thought that hasn't been said, you're welcome to. But I'll try to limit the comments to about 25 (if there are even that many), so things don't get out of hand. After some stupid commentator wrote a piece about me today, I decided maybe I deserve a chance to respond, since I haven't already. That's the main reason I decided to finally say something. Thanks for listening, Mia

You know, one of the topics that was touched on, but lightly, during the whole "savings" debate was the issue of friends who spend more than you do. Jen2 noted that it's hard not to look at your friends, even those you -know- have less money, and not want what they have. Even when you're certain--because we all know folks like this--that they bought that iPod or flat screen or whatever with a cc and can't even afford it.

So I just have to vent a wee thing that just happened to me--and it connects back up with Jen2's point.

I was trying to set a date to have dinner with a friend. She proposed a place we've gone in the past that's pretty pricey. So I said: You know it's just too expensive right now, i'd rather go there when it's a treat.

Perhaps I'm overreacting, but I'd swear the tone in her voice changed when i said those three revealing words: "It's too expensive."

"That's a little pricey." "We can't afford that right now." "Let's go somewhere cheaper." "That's out of my price range." "That's not really within our budget." Why does there have to be a stigma--or let's just say tension--associated with admitting you have some financial restraints?

I can't remember if it was Jen2 or someone else who indicated that these social situations can put you in a bind. You feel like you can't say anything, you're just supposed to keep up. I used to feel that way too--until I started saying honest words like those above. (Interesting: I just typed "uncomfortable" and changed it to "honest". See? It's hard to give yourself credit for practicing financial sanity!)

It is uncomfortable to admit these things, but as my own sociological experiment, I am trying to see how far I'm willing to go.

Another friend was suggesting my husband and I buy some real estate in their neighborhood, which is WAY BEYOND OUR MEANS--and it made me angry cuz she must know that, simply based on where we are living now. What--we are living in a funky walkup cuz we're so bohemian? Really--we can afford a 3-bedroom coop like the one they have, but we're just too artsy for that? What was she thinking? So I looked at her and simply said: We can't afford the area you live in.

She looked really uncomfortable that I was so honest, but I HAD to say it. I wasn't going to sit there and pretend that we could afford something just to keep up a pleasant conversation. (To give my friend credit, she said what she did in order to keep up our bond, and many women bond over being in similar circumstances; we're less inclined to want to admit differences, because that causes strife.)

These moments are difficult, but I'm increasingly willing to engage in them, especially as I contemplate what the fallout is when I don't! Which is to say (and forgive me because I know I've said something similar a few months ago): What if we were all more honest about our finances, especially in social situations? Wouldn't it then create more of a climate of financial honesty and accountability? Case in point: The friend who proposed the pricey restaurant is dating a guy with major financial issues. She was just telling me about them the other day!

I'd like to think that when I said my DH and I couldn't afford that place, perhaps it reminded her that we all should stop pretending, b/c her SO can't afford it either.

And when we're more honest, we're more likely to do stuff we can all afford--without shame or stigma.

Taking a break from controversy here... ;-)

You know, I straddle the fence when it comes to supersition, but i must say: the old saying about how 'trouble comes in threes' is a little uncanny at times, isn't it?

of course now i can't even remember what Trouble #1 and #2 were, because Trouble #3 has been such a whammy.

my DH and i own (owned?) a 1999 subaru legacy, which we paid cash for two years ago. we paid the book value, about $7500, because it was in great condition and subarus tend to last. (our previous car had been an aging Tercel, bless its little engine--and we wanted something a little more sturdy.)

i'll spare you all the excruciating car details, but basically, the radiator...anyway...it ended up being a problem with the head gaskets. lord have MERCY. ugh. for those of you unfamiliar, a head gasket problem is the kiss of death. esp. with the aluminum gaskets these subarus have, apparently. who knew? WE WOULD HAVE TO REPLACE THE WHOLE ENGINE.

i just want to cry thinking about it. because as i said, this was Trouble #3. We had already shelled out a bunch of money for 2 other things, whatever they were. clearly the car trauma has taken a toll on my brain. anyway, so now we are in that horrible position of HAVING to buy a car. and this is where our savings from the 60% Solution are supposed to protect us...and while yes, we have enough saved to buy another used car, that would pretty much kill our emergency cushion.

ideally, we should have been building up savings on all fronts for years now (i.e. both for emergencies and for long-term savings like cars and boilers), so that a replacement car--which is an inevitable expense at some point for most Americans--wouldn't set us back. but quite honestly, we had just recovered our equilibrium from buying the subaru!

so now we are facing the fact that we may have to take out a car loan. WHEN THE LAST THING ON EARTH I WANT IS ANY MORE !@#$% DEBT.

or we could lease. or we could try to buy a very cheap car in new mexico, where my dad lives and cars are cheaper and not beaten down by east coast winters, which we are seriously considering. (imagine: buying in NM and driving it back to NY! but it may be worth it...) Anyhoo...we are just starting to do research--OH, and found out on a website with 350 other furious owners that 1999 Subaru Legacy models are prone to this exact problem!--so if anyone has thots...I'd be very grateful. my DH and i aren't experienced car buyers. my family ALWAYS buys used; his family ALWAYS leases. hah.

Hi everyone, i'm posting this in response, mainly, to a rather blistering and unfriendly comment from a reader named C.

And to address a question that Kathy and some others had about how you save.

As someone noted, it's not just the "how" (which is actually pretty easy), it's a question of lifestyle. If you're used to living a certain lifestyle, or if you aspire to a certain quality of life, living on less than that seems impossible. It's not, but it can feel that way. (Natural-born savers can skip this post; y'all know this instinctively! and i'm jealous!)

Case in point: If you had told beth one year ago, a few months before she got laid off, that 1) she would get laid off and wouldn't find another job; yet 2) she and her whole family would somehow manage to scale back to LESS THAN 50 PERCENT OF THEIR INCOME AND LIVE HAPPILY ON THAT, i guarantee she would have laughed until she fell over.

So if you're seriously looking at your life, as some readers are, and saying: "I desperately want to save, I know I/we can save, but how the heck are we going to do without X, cut back on Y, skimp on Z?" There are some answers.

The first thing is to know that economists are studying a spending phenomenon called adaptation. Adaptation works like this (and once I explain it, it will sound really familiar): You really want the new Honda Element. Or to take a trip to Rome. Or to redo the kitchen. Or maybe just those super cute pumps you saw at Macy's. You think about these things you want--and they're a little expensive. Maybe you can't afford them, or maybe it's a stretch. So you can't buy your desired item now, but you start to feel as though it's something you not only need, but something you maybe deserve, or something certainly that will make you happy and help you to feel more satisfied with life.

So you finally buy the Honda, take the vacation, call the contractor, snap up those shoes! And it's great! Sure, you spent more money than you probably should have. Yes, it's going to be hard to afford it. But it's worth it.

And you feel that way for about 3 weeks. Then the feeling fades. You adapt. You get used to the pleasure you invested so much money in, and--here's the clincher--you now find yourself wanting the next thing.

And the cycle repeats itself.

There are many reasons why saving is hard, but that is one significant component for many people. If you find yourself struggling to save, or not spend, or both, it might help to see if you're caught in an upward spending cycle. It's possible to change the patterns, but first you have to notice that they're there. "Oh, I didn't really need those shoes; I'm only going to get tired of them. I think I'll save that money." Ok, there's probably more going on, as I said. But this is a powerful dynamic that's hard to avoid in our competitive buyers' culture.

Two steps forward, one step back...slide down the middle...twirl around...dip! It's amazing how often your financial life can feel like some strange tango. You make progress...then you backslide...you change gears, take a new angle, move forward again... if only there was a lovely, sexy soundtrack to accompany all the drama. This doesn't apply to everyone, of course. I can think of a few people on the blog who are just good soldiers who keep moving forward. God bless! But by and large, a lot of us seem to stumble across the same problems and mistakes again, and again, and irritatingly again. Some of you may have heard about a new book on this topic. "Money, A Memoir: Women, Emotions and Cash", by Liz Perle. Actually, it's really about Ms. Perle's own story: How her husband divorced her suddenly, and she had to come to terms with her entire financial life. The book tends to dwell a bit on the author's own issue--which is the desperate need to be taken care of financially. Not all women related to that. Still, she makes a strong and interesting case for the fact that when we do make financial mistakes--particularly those that we love to repeat--there's a hidden agenda going on. If you're curious to know more, here is this week's column on the topic: http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Learntobudget/P145741.asp After you've read it, I wonder if you'll share my feeling of recognition: a sort of "Ah ha! So that's what I'm doing!" lmk, mia

Ok gals (and the occasional guy): Back in the beginning of this blog, a few of you complained about your DH's financial habits. Maybe it was spending on The Latest Greatest Gadget Upgrade, maybe it was another problem, but so much is made of women's money issues ("retail therapy" and such), I thought I'd tackle the guy side for a change.

First, how do you think men's money issues/habits/demons/blindspots differ from women's?

What are some of the things your DH or SO does that drives you up a creek?

Do you think men see money in a different light than women do? As always, eager to hear your thoughts...

Nicole's dilemma in the "Retirement Advice" post was echoed by a lot of folks, and I'm one of them. even though my hub and i have been making good progress toward our debt, it's like that "last five pounds" you're always trying to lose. why the heck haven't we shrugged off those last few thousand?

meanwhile, my hub still doesn't have a retirement account. I do, but I've been unwilling to open one for him while he still has $6K or so in cc debt. I'm now at the point where those "last five pounds" are driving me insane, and like Nicole, i want the debt GONE. i'm almost willing to rob a bank in order to do it. (ok not really. all references to illegal activities on this blog are purely fictional.)

so there were a lot of great thoughts on this topic, but the first thing you have to do, and i mean THE FIRST THING, is go to www.bankrate.com and find their debt calculator (click on the "Calculators" tab at the top of the home page).

plug in how much debt you have, the interest rate, and what your current payments are--to see how long it will take to be debt free.

THEN--this is the key part--plug in when you want to be debt free (12 months or 18 months or 6 months) and check out how much you'd have to pay to make that deadline.

Before you make any other decisions--about whether to get another job, or what the tax implications are of reducing your IRA contributions, or whether you can manage to sock away enough for debt and retirement--you need to see what you're up against. Why? Because the length of time you're willing to spend paying off the remainder of your debt has to do with your psychological tolerance for the situation, as well as your budget.

if Nicole only had to drop her 401k contributions to 5% for six months in order to be debt free, that might indeed be worth it psychologically--and it would hardly make a dent retirementwise. If it were going to compromise her contributions for a full year, she might have to do a different calculation.

for the record, my hub and i decided to scale back my retirement contributions by about a third in order to be debt-free in 11 months, paying about $1,000 a month. plus we're tracking our spending again this month to remind ourselves of all the little areas we can still cut back! (we were so good after the last one, and then got a little, erm, off track...)

the lost tax "savings" from contributing to my IRA isn't significant, compared to the gain of paying down debt that's accruing interest at about 9% a month. you, dear bloggers, have to weigh not only how much you may save in interest payments by being more aggressive--but on the flip side, how much might you lose in long-term retirement gains by not contributing?

for me, for us, the stress and anxiety of always having that stupid debt is taking too much of a toll. if there is some way we can find to pay it off even faster--we will. and then we can resume our retirement contribs!

Another topic I've been meaning to tackle is the nagging problem of monthly-expense build-up. It's kind of like what happens in the bathroom, if you don't scrub the tub and tiles regularly. All kinds of crud builds up--not that this has happened to anyone you know--but the same thing can happen financially. Time was when you paid a handful of bills every month for basic living expenses: rent or mortgage, car payment, utilities, school fees, etc. Now you've got this subscription and this membership service and cable and Tivo and instant messaging and somehow you're drowning in micropayments of $4.95 to $9.95 a month. I blame it, in part, on automatic payments. Now it's so easy to get stuck paying monthly for something because these services often sign you up for an automatic monthly charge to your credit card. Then you forget you're paying for it. And the charges build up. Have you noticed this irritating modern phenomenon? Does it bug you? Have you found ways to rein in your hidden monthlies?

Hi everyone, Mia here. Just like a DVD, I'm going to include the alternate takes of this week's column here on the blog. The column, below, was about the pitfalls women face when starting their own businesses. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Managedebt/P143840.asp But I feel compelled to share the battle i endured with my editor about writing this story--mainly because that fight more than anything I think captures another side of what women are up against. According to data collected by the Center for Women's Business Research, there's actually a lot of GOOD news about women in business. I just wasn't allowed to report all of it. As you may have heard by now, last month the Census Bureau released a report that found the number of women-owned businesses grew twice as fast as other private companies, between 1997 and 2002. According to the Center for Women's Business Research (CWBR) nearly half (48%) of all privately owned firms are at least 50% owned by a woman—that's 10.6 million businesses. Female-owned businesses employ 19.1 million people and generate $2.5 trillion in sales, according to CWBR data. As of 2004, women of color owned about 1.4 million private companies in the U.S., employing nearly 1.3 million people, and generating nearly $147 billion in sales. Now--none of this data refutes anything in the article. Being an entrepreneur is still REALLY REALLY HARD. and many businesses don't make that much money. THAT SAID, what i wanted women readers to know is the inspiring news that a significant number of us who are doing it ARE DOING A DAMN GOOD JOB. And I resent the fact that I wasn't allowed to say that, that in writing three drafts of the article those above points were cut and cut and cut. They didn't need to be. Women are entitled to feel empowered and encouraged, as well as cautioned and advised. I count myself among the women who are successfully running businesses for more than four years. I've been a full-time freelance journalist since 1998, and in that time my gross income has more than doubled. It hasn't been easy. I often want a job with direct-deposit and benefits. But for women who are drawn to pursue their own work, mind the pitfalls, but go for it. There has never been as much support for women biz owners, or such a strong community, as there is today.

I was shocked when I started getting hate mail from readers about a recent story I wrote. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Homefinancing/P142516.asp It's about the fact that real estate prices throughout the country have soared to such stratospheric levels, that in some cases even people you'd think of as "high earners" are having trouble buying their own homes. I'm not suggesting that lower-income people shouldn't get help. I was just reporting on this strange new trend, and the good news that now there are a small but growing number of programs aimed at helping those with above-median incomes. Is that so terrible? Jeez. Forgive me for earning as much as I do--and not being able to afford to buy in the city where I was born and still live! Honestly, it's not just that real estate prices are so high--it's that the cost of living has risen faster than most of our salaries. So just getting by is a stretch, which makes it harder for ordinary folks to save--especially when you're talking (in some cases) tens of thousands of dollars for a down payment. So, I'm just putting it out there to get the usual varied and smart blog response. cheers!

It was so interesting to read about Kate and Lea's businesses. I would love you guys to be more specific, if you feel comfortable. Can you tell us more about what sort of enterprise it is? Whether you followed a business plan, or had a mentor? I'm actually writing my next column on the 4 WIR members who are starting their own companies. A short preview of these works-in-progress: Marian--She's our single mom in Montana, 3 boys and a deadbeat ex. Not surprisingly, she got trained as a financial analyst for divorced women (certified divorce financial analyst or CDFA is the technical name). She often works with lawyers, as you can imagine, and so got the idea to create a temp agency for paralegals in her tri-state area! Bethie--As well all know, will soon be a massage therapist to the stahs. But actually, I'm waiting to hear from her whether she wants to set up a private practice, or work in a hospital...or some combination. Jill--I'm not sure she wants me to discuss her business yet. But let me just say that she's in the field of computers and basically wants to do a 360--or is it a 180?--and get into BEAUTY. Tricia--Our single mom in PA, Tricia is the furthest along. She and her biz partner have already opened a consignment shop for formalwear (weddings, proms, etc.) and they are eagerly awaiting a) prom season and b) wedding season. I'm very proud of these efforts--and of course concerned, too, because I know how hard it is to run ANY business, let alone a startup. Eager to hear your thoughts...

Hellooooo, hello, hello, hello everyone! And Happy New Year! As some of you know--although many of you may not--I am almost finished writing my first book--and I really had no idea how kerfuffled and upended I would become in these last few weeks, the final stretch--PLUS holidays. The book is due, urm, next WEEK. And I have been my worst, most not-on-top-of-it self. I'm sorry. I'm especially sorry that it's inspired some of you (I suspect) to associate the name Mia with the acronym Missing In Action. Fortunately, Beth gave me a gentle finger wagging tonite. "BLOG WILL YA?" she said. or something like that. I can't remember because I was banging my head on the table and it was hard to hear through the fog of guilt and self-recriminations. But let's not dwell...when there is lots of exciting news from the WIR--which I know you're way more interested in. We have embarked on a big TTFC campaign for our retirement plans for 2006 (more on the WIR's individual goals later), and last week spoke to financial planner and generally cool guy Bill Schultheis, who invented the Coffeehouse Investor model. If you like, you can check it out at www.coffeehouseinvestor.com. It's a super low-stress, sensible way to invest. As we all know, there are many roads to Rome--and many ways to balance a portfolio. But the Coffeehouse, like the Couch Potato and others like it, offers a terrifc, high-yield, entry-level philosophy. ALSO: We have three new entrepreneurs in the group. Beth (bravely going back to school, as you know) is going to be an LMT. Marian is opening her own temp agency for paralegals. Tricia and a partner came up with a brilliant idea for a consignment shop for formalwear--which they've launched just as prom and wedding season start. Can you say SILK DUPIONI???!!! Also on the start-up front, Brice and I have teamed up with a mutual friend, Kate--a sassy writer who became a yoga teacher and created www.msmindbody.com, which some of you have visited, I think--to work on what our own ventures might be. As yet they are TBD, but that's OK. I know that some of you guys out there are also start-up minded and we'd all love to discuss our progress and yours: marketing, branding and business plans--Oh my! More soon, (no, really) mia

When we were all brainstorming savings solutions, I took note that a few of you recommended cashing in spare change. Well, my husband and I have a vase of coins that we kept meaning to cash in--but never did. Finally today he poured all that coinage into two canvas bags and carted them over to Commerce Bank--which doesn't charge a fee, btw-- AND WE MADE $152.61!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about effortless profit! Meanwhile, I have -hated- that jar since we moved in together two years ago. I spend all my change, so I didn't believe in big jars of coins hanging out in corners, gathering dust as much as anything else. Messy, awkward. But now, thanks to my husband's insistence in keeping his jar until it was full to the BRIM--we have a chunk of splurge money. We can use it to supplement our holiday funds, our entertainment budget, our plan to go visit my dad in a few months. mmmmmmhhhmmmmm (she rubs her hands together)! in case you're not a spare change saver--cuz i wasn't either--i now think it's an excellent way to save effortlessly.

Hi all! A colleague of mine has just launched a new website called Ms. Mindbody (www.msmindbody.com). As you might guess, it's all about how to soothe the mind, calm the body, restore the soul. As I tend to be a little cynical about these things, I didn't expect to like it. Yet in fact I luuuuv it. Capital L. It's a much-needed dose of peace and be-kind-to-thyself, without being too preachy or crunchy-granola-la-la. All of it in nice, bite-size bits. Nothing that drags on and on and makes you want to throw a pot of brown rice at the screen. Just fun, interesting, easy-to-do commonsense suggestions. Like lying down and putting your feet up on the wall--which is not only an actual yoga pose, it truly does help put the world back together again. Which, at this time of year--IS PRICELESS. So for those of you in need of the kind of mental break that money can't buy, check out msmindbody.