When personal budgets get strained, thoughts can turn to what we actually need to survive. These items can be different from what we really buy down at the local Sears (SHLD) store. This line of thinking usually comes into play when your spouse shows you a copy of the Visa (V) credit card bill with certain items highlighted in neon pink. She never seems to do that for fuel, food, and her various and numerous purchases at Ann Taylor (ANN).

As our homes stack up with more and more stuff, right along with our debt levels, how do we decide what we really can’t live without? What are the basic goods, necessities, and materials we need to live? And who makes the final decision on these important questions?

I’m not sure what she is selling, but I need it!

Fannie Mae President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mudd explaining why he should get every penny of his severance package.

Luckily, I have been able to bury my 7-Eleven donut habit in gasoline credit card purchases, so that large weekly expense is not obvious when I go through the monthly spousal credit card statement audit. This audit is tougher than an IRS – the IRS people really help the world go around and we would all be lost without them – audit. And penalties can be much higher than any that the government imposes. You can just write a check if you fail an IRS – always a fair, nice, and intelligent bunch of professionals ready with a smile – audit because you made some kind of math error. If you fail a spousal credit card statement audit though, the penalties can be dragged out, painful, and writing a check is usually just the beginning. And water-boarding is not out of the question.

Oh… So you think this couldn’t happen?

An alert reader sent me a long and tearful email last week about how the FDIC closed down the Silver State Bank in Nevada and did not return all his deposits to him. To make a long and painful story short, this guy was working and saving just like any good American is supposed to do and before he knew it, he was over the FDIC limit in his bank account. He wasn’t worried until he received a letter from the FDIC telling him that Silver State Bank was gone and that he would not be getting all his money back. This guy’s letter goes on to say that the money he was storing in the super-safe bank CD was the money he set aside to pay his IRS – people who only take cash and never take excuses -  bill in April.  What do you think the IRS – always there with a sympathetic ear – will say when he comes up short on April 15th? Probably what the FDIC told him… “Too bad!”

Would you buy anything from this
hot chick?

A friendly neighborhood oxygen bar.
Hide your credit card!

What’s the next essential to be blown out of proportion so some big conglomerate like Coca-Cola (KO) can make their year-over-year profit goals?
 
Air…

That’s right; someone has decided it’s time for designer oxygen. They did it with water, coffee, beef, and salty black fish eggs. So why not oxygen?  That’s right, you can walk into one of your better shopping malls and right out there next to the H&R Block (HRB), Radio Shack (RSH) and Victoria’s Secret – a division of Limited Brands (LTD) – is this very inviting bar-looking place with a hot chick selling hits on different flavored and colored oxygen. They take your credit card in exchange for a few good-smelling, detoxifying minutes.