There's a new co-host (assistant? Jimmy Kimmel?) on Win Ben Stein's Money. What happened to Nancy? I don't like the new guy. First, he sounds like Jimmy, and before I looked up, I thought it was him. Second, he's fatter and more of a slob than Jimmy. I don't have a problem with that per se, but I liked how Nancy was a little more refined; she brought more class to the position and matched Ben a little better. Ben's all hip now, too, with a black suit and black t-shirt underneath it; no tie.

So this apartment hunting is getting to us. How much do we really want to pay? That's the big problem here. We did find one that we love, and they love us, but it's about $100 more than we really want to pay, and our upper limit is a stretch as it is. It's exciting to look up places online, but in many cases, that's as good as it gets. The pictures can be nice, but once you get there to see them, the neighborhood might be less-than-stellar, the unit might be disappointing. And, of course, all the photos are the model units, and none of the others look like the model units.

It had me thinking last night maybe we should just shut down our spending, strip ourselves of as much as we can from now until we move, just to save some money. Like at-home DSL. I start the new job on Thursday, and we can both get by without it at home. Who needs to update at night for the second time in a particular day, or on weekends for that matter? Unfortunately, cable is not an option, not with The Sopranos starting on Sunday. Not really, anyway. We're already weighing the need for a land-line telephone when we move in November, wondering if we can get by solely on cell phones. I know I can go two months without buying unnecessary things, and my first few months' of paychecks will be larger simply because I won't be eligible to begin a 401K at first, so I won't have that pre-tax deduction going into long-term savings. I can handle that for a few months.

Individually, each of these options is only a few dozen bucks, but two or more of them would make some difference. Eh.

In related news, I love free stuff. So many websites will give away samples, especially of new products. I'm going to go look for more! Sometimes it pays to go directly to a website after seeing a commercial.