Life Coaches Central: Where Coaching Insiders Blog About Real Issues

Since when is it okay to ignore drinking and driving laws? Apparently when some drivers ignore their binge drinking and alcohol abuse, the law enforcement doesn't mind, and in fact, they ignore it too. Yes, yes, you've heard by now. I'm referring to Lindsey Lohan's two DUIs and 84 minutes of jail time. What was the point of the 84 minutes? They might as well condone celebrity drinking and driving!! Binge drinking and alcohol abuse are not health problems that should be overlooked or treated lightly. Driving when your perception is altered -- whether sleepy, or blinded by the sun, or piss drunk, puts you, your car and others on the road at risk. Asking someone to be a designated driver can be a pain, but when lives are at risk, it's worth the hassle. And there's always public transportation or a cab -- something celebs like Lindsay Lohan can certainly afford.

It's bad enough that we have strangers spamming and phishing in our email in-boxes, both of which are major time-wasters and money-drainers. Not just that, those pesky emails can lead to invasion of privacy and one wrong click or one wrong send later, and you could become a victim of identity theft.

Now take add digital invasion to a floundering relationship and you're just asking for trouble. A friend of mine was telling me about friends of hers (you know, girl gossip) whose relationship was on the rocks because the girl, let's just call her Sarah gave her boyfriend (let's just call him) William her email password. William, in a moment of insecurity, checked Sarah's email to see if she was doing anything suspicious behind his back. Turns out she got an email from an ex-boyfriend who she was planning to "meet up," and naturally she hadn't said a word to William. William got mad and said something to Sarah, and she was even madder at him for not trusting her. They managed to move on, but William was still weak and suspicious. So he checked her email again (yes, Sarah, hadn't learned that William was weak and could still read her emails whenever he pleased) and found another email from the other guy. Well you can probably guess what happened next -- Sarah and William both changed their passwords -- and broke up.

Password sharing should only happen when you're both ready to share all of your lives together -- digital and past histories alike. Allow password sharing the same amount of time and trust you would consider before discussing money and bank accounts in a relationship. Or, better yet, before you'd feel comfortable enough saying "I love you." Because you've got enough problems to worry about, without adding password security to the list.

Like many of you in the workforce, I'm constrained to a cubicle for the duration of my day. Getting out of the office and stretching my legs is absolutely necessary mid-day. So I grab lunch. What to do with the next 45 minutes? Not one to sit on my break, essentially taking a break from sitting, I usually stroll. But if you, like me, work in midtown-NYC or any other high traffic area in a big city, you may often find yourself wandering into stores and foolishly claim to do some 'harmless window shopping'...

Yea right. I've done more credit card damage in 30-minute time slots than teenager with access to daddy's Visa. Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Sephora - (let me interrupt here to add a shameful anecdote. I get so happy when I walk into Sephora. Yes, a euphoric wave of happiness comes over me. All the colors! And endless perfumes to smell. And do you know you can get a free sample of ANYTHING? Smart little suckers, those people at Sephora. I've ended up buying the full-sized version of almost every "free" sample I've taken home. It's so bad that a sales lady there actually told me to just darn buy the perfume I had asked for a sample of, knowing my return would be inevitable. Oh the shame.) - All of these retailers within walking distance, teasing you with little pick-me-ups that guarantee, with no fail, to always make even my dullest days so much better.

But for every pick-me-up I acquire, there's a bit of pull-me-down going on, financially speaking. It's emotional spending gone rampant. I've actually rationalized buying one item in the next store I visited because I didn't buy a pricier item in the last. Does this even make sense? Somehow I convinced myself I was saving money, getting a 'deal'! And if I return something - which I often have to because of the foolishness mentioned above - something will catch my eye on the way out, or more commonly on the way in before I even make it to the return counter, and I've heard myself in head saying "Well, you're not really spending any more money..." Oh goodness gracious.

Does anyone else have this problem? Are they no other time-efficient shoppers out there? It might be time to consider hiding the plastic, before it melts from all the heavy-friction usage...

I've always been a cheapskate and an environmentalist, and it was only a few years ago that I realized the two habits really go hand in hand. Being concerned about saving money has helped me to my part to save the environment and vice versa.

I recently took a college debt survey by Lynnette Khalfani on AOL Coaches. After taking it, I began to think how grateful I am not to have to carry around that burden. I have several friends that have over $75K of debt to pay. Those that have finished their graduate programs are paying between $500 -- $1,000 a month to pay down their debt -- many making less than $40K a year and living in New York City. I know some of you are asking, "Why are they living in such an expensive city?" For most, their chosen profession requires them to live in New York City to develop contacts and be in an environment that fosters their talent. Several work as waiters (don't forget to tip), while others are in jobs that don't take advantage of their amazing talent or sheer intelligence.

Why I am writing about college debt? This subject has always been an annoyance to me since finding out that the Finnish government would send a check to one of my friends to help pay for her college tuition -- this was on top of what her parents gave her. I just can't understand how a country as wealthy and capable as the good 'ol USA would foster an environment that burdened their students with so much debt. Would it not be a more efficient use of money to pay for our education so that we could focus on making better widgets? All I hear from our current Congress is how China is doing this and that unfairly, when in reality we rely on each other in very complex and beneficial ways. I would like to know when our students (our country's future) are going to be in the top 5 of anything beside sports. I would like that to be one of our main points of focus. What do you think?

Well, I resolved to get my finances in order. It's been a process fraught with anxiety. Back when I was married, I kept a close tab on the cash flow, always worried about going into debt. When I got divorced, and found myself (happily) with full custody of my 2-year-old and 5-year-old children, with (unhappily) no child support or alimony payments due to me.

I took the hit to my finances philosophically, figuring I was a good saver and a good earner, and that for a few years I would just have to close my eyes and hold my breath and probably go into debt in order to keep my children housed, clothed and cared for.

Well, it's been almost three years and it's time to take my head out of the sand. I've met with the financial advisor once to review my situation, and next week I will go again to get some recommendations. But yesterday I received a call from the numbers man at the advisor's office... He had a number of questions, but the one that really struck me was, "I don't think this is right... I'm going over your expenses and it looks like you are operating at a deficit of around $1500/month."

Sigh. I had to call back and tell him that sounded right.