I logged into Live Nation this morning to buy John Mayer and Ben Folds tickets, under the impression that I would be buying the promo 4-pack of lawn seats for $29.50 each, but they were sold out.

I then bumped us up to regular lawn seats for $35.50 each, but those were sold out. I caved and pulled up pavilion tickets for $59.50 each.

Grand total for 4 tickets…$289.40! Hmm…divided by 4, that doesn’t equal $59.50 a ticket!

Oh but it does…when you add $11.95 a ticket for convenience fee (whatever the shit that is) and a $4.85 processing fee.

So our little $29.50 tickets turned into $72.50 tickets.

I’m not the only person riled up about this…see here, here, and here, just for starters.

• $60 American Cancer Society (Look under Do Good Things on the sidebar to donate!)
• $500 ING
• $12 lunches
• $15 Easter presents (don’t tell)

I am very upset with myself right now.

I live in downtown Indianapolis, and when I came home from work last night there was a concert starting at a local venue, so I parked on a side street I don’t normally park on.

When I went to my car this morning…it wasn’t there. I had neglected to see the sign that said parking wasn’t allowed 6-9 am, so the city was nice enough to move my car out of the way.

$100 later and I have my car back.

• $125 car maintenance
• $113 BMV
• $63 gas
• $230 Target
• $13 grocery
• $12 bagles
• $87 kennel
• $28 Old Navy
• $50 ING
• $45 dentist
• $300 Disney Visa
• $60 MasterCard
• $20 AMEX
• $15 bar
• $6 Starbucks

Family issues, car troubles, and monthly bills all at the same time. Things always come in threes!

Today is my birthday (woohoo), and this month I have receieved a gift certificate from almost every retail credit card I have. A few of which are even good at the outlet stores.

• $15 from GAP
• $15 from Banana Republic
• $20 from Cost Plus
• $10 from Victoria Secret

Now, there is the stipulation that you must use your store card for any amount not covered by the gift certificate, but that’s not a problem if you take precise calculations on what you’re purchasing (which I did) or have a mall gift certificate (which I also did), because those trump everything.

I got six pairs of underwear, new runners for my coffee table, end tables, and kitchen table, and two pairs of pants…all for free.

Is Suze Orman unqualified to be giving advice to millions of her viewers and readers?

Suze spills her investment porfolio (and much more) in The New York Times and it has some people thinking she’s underqualified (I like that better than unqualified) to be giving investment advice. She has an estimated $25 million in liquid assets, with the majority of that invested in municipal bonds, and only 1% in the stock market.

“She scores very high on the personality index, but very low on the knowledge and understanding of the complex issues that face a lot of her audience. She’s giving generic, simple solutions to people’s most difficult problems, and judging from her portfolio, she’s taking them on a path she really hasn’t traveled herself.”

I agree that her personality outshines a lot of the advice she’s giving, but lets face it, Suze has so much money she really doesn’t need to invest, so what’s so wrong with her playing it safe?

The simple, generic advice is what her viewers and readers need. Listening to Suze is the first step a lot of people clueless about finances take to regain control.

Suze a gateway-financial-advisor, if you will. After people have grasped the concepts she covers, they move on to the hard stuff.

The trip to London has been cancelled because of a death in the family, and (of course) the tickets are non-refundable, non-transferrable, use it or lose it, but I am pleading with British Airways to issue a voucher for future travel.

Anyone been successful in receiving a refund from an airlines? Any tips or tricks to persuade them to have some sympathy?

I’ve spoken with an agent who was nice enough, but only said that the airlines might consider a refund after I send in documentation as to why we can’t use our tickets. I’ve sent an email explaining the cirumstances and promising to book future travel, and I’ve sent a fax with the death certificate and asked them to contact me.

Fingers crossed. It’s a lot of money.