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Many newer readers of The Simple Dollar haven’t been exposed to the hundreds of great articles in the archives of the site, so this is a weekly series that highlights the five best posts from one year ago this week, as well as the five best posts from two years ago this week. I call it … the Time Machine.
One Year Ago (June 28-July 4, 2008)
The Minimalist Kitchen: What You Need (and Don’t Need) to Set Up Your First Workable Home Kitchen You don’t need tons of things to cook well at home. In fact, you just need a few items - and the desire to start preparing your own food. Here’s a guide.
No Time for Frugality: Cutting Financial Corners with No Time Investment Many people claim they don’t have time to do anything to save money. In truth, we already have the time, because the best ways to save money involve just slightly tweaking what we already do.
Finding Inspiration for Financial Change What’s your motivation for making good financial choices? For some people, it’s hard to dig up a central reason, but central reasons can be powerful. Here are some ways to find inspiration for real financial change in your own life.
A Clever Trick for Automatically Finding Deals You Want at Amazon Amazon has tons of bargains, but there are so many things going on that it’s easy to lose the deals you actually want in all the noise. Here’s how to filter through all of that and find the stuff you actually want.
The Net Worth Mentality: The Road Less Traveled I often don’t know exactly how much I make. Why? I don’t worry about my paycheck - I just worry about my net worth. Here’s exactly what I mean - and why such a shift in perspective can be life-altering.
Two Years Ago (June 28-July 4, 2007)
Musings On Spending $3 On A Candy Bar This was such a humble, little, simple post, relating an experience I had with my wife and son on a rainy day. Yet, somehow, this one really struck a chord with quite a few people - it probably got me more mainstream attention than anything I’d written up to that point.
SmartMoney Magazine’s “7 Money Mistakes” - And The Simple Dollar’s “7 More Money Mistakes” This was an excellent little article in SmartMoney that I thought deserved some expansion - so I stepped up to the plate and did it myself.
Defining Minimum Acceptable Housing - And How It Varies From Person To Person What might work for minimal housing for a 23 year old single male fresh out of college is going to be vastly different than what a family of four needs. Don’t substitute other’s needs for your own - if you’re 23 and single, you don’t need a four bedroom house.
When Frugality Is Fun I’m much more likely to dive into a frugal project if it looks fun for other reasons. Take my homemade laundry detergent, for example. My wife is a chemistry teacher, so the homemade detergent became a project that we were able to dive into with gusto.
How I Made Brown Bag Lunches Work For Me Eating leftovers for lunch is a great way to save money, but many people go “Ewww…. leftovers…” Here are some ways to get around that little problem.
If you’d like to browse through more of the archives, visit the chronology, where all posts are listed in chronological order.
Eight Ways to Get More out of The Simple Dollar
This is kind of a FAQ for new readers and is posted each week along with the Time Machine. Here are eight great ways for new readers to dig deeper into The Simple Dollar.
1. Subscribe by email or RSS. Visiting The Simple Dollar’s website is great, but for many people, it’s more convenient to receive the articles in another form. It’s easy to join 60,000 other subscribers and get The Simple Dollar’s content by email or in your RSS feeder (if you’re unfamiliar with RSS, check out Google Reader.
2. Comment. Each article on The Simple Dollar has lively discussion. Just click on the green square in the upper right of each article on the website and join in!
3. Read my story of financial meltdown and recovery. The Simple Dollar isn’t based on what I’ve read in books or learned in school. I’ve made a lifetime of financial mistakes - The Simple Dollar is a record of what works for me during the process of getting my life on a better track.
4. Download my free 49 page e-book. Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance On Just One Page is completely free. It summarizes all of the key lessons I’ve learned along the way about personal finance in one tidy package - in fact, all of the main principles can be found right on the cover.
5. Follow me on Twitter. I post tons of interesting articles, quotes, follow-up material, commentary, and other material on Twitter. Follow me! If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter, it’s essentially an open discussion forum for people to share ideas and thoughts with other like-minded folks - you just choose the people you want to listen to and their ideas and thoughts are all delivered to you on a single page.
6. Dig through “31 Days to Fix Your Finances.” 31 Days to Fix Your Finances is an article series that outlines how you can get a grip on your finances over the course of a month.
7. Send me your questions and suggestions. Send me an email and let me know what you’re thinking, what you’d like to see, and any questions you might have. I try to respond to as many emails as possible and I read them all. I may even use your question in a future article!
8. Email a great article you find to a friend. Find an article that you think your friend would love? At the bottom of each article, you’ll find a link that says “Email this” - just click on that, type in your friend’s address, and send it right along to them!
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]There are two ways to make a major change in your life. One is to make a series of small changes--this month you might brown-bag your lunch one day a week; next month you might go for a short walk every day. The other is to make all your changes at once--cook all your own meals, exercise daily, and turn your hobby into a business. Either way can produce permanent changes for the better.
There are a lot of advocates for the strategy of making small changes one at a time. Practice one good habit regularly, and soon enough it will be a comfortable part of your life. A year's worth of such improvements can bring you to a very different place than where you started. All it takes is a willingness to try, persistence, and a little patience.
I think, though, that the strategy of making big changes has its place. I see it as being appropriate when big changes are urgently needed, and especially when big changes are inevitable.
Piggyback on inevitable changeSometimes your life is simply going to change--you're going away to school, you're changing jobs, you're moving, you're getting married or divorced, your child is being born or going away to college. Times like these, many things about your life are going to change anyway--why not be strategic about it?
When you have to make a whole new schedule anyway, you have a natural opportunity to make big changes. Such a thing is always stressful, and the natural response to stress is to seek comfort and familiarity. Use that to your benefit.
Take a few minutes to think about the things that give you comfort and pleasure--and then think of which of those things are good for you. Make a list of comforts that are healthy and cheap--phone calls with old friends, long walks in the evening, visiting the library, reading the Sunday paper.
Then, when you make a new schedule to suit your new circumstances, go ahead and make an ideal schedule--include all the stuff you know you should do and leave out all the stuff that you know you shouldn't do--but be sure to include an abundance of things from your list of comforts. (The birth of a new baby or starting a new job might seem to leave little or no time for simple comforts, but you can almost surely make time for some by leaving out the things you want to quit doing.)
Will it work? Maybe not. Maybe it won't work at all, and you'll have to go the slow route, taking small steps. But if you try the experiment when your schedule is all up in the air anyway, I think it's at least safe--you're not likely to end up further from where you want to be than you started. You're not even likely to lose any time that might have been spent adding one small habit--it's probably silly to try to make one more small change when you're already in the midst of major changes.
If you're not in the midst of major changes, it's more of an open question--because then you are losing time that might be spent making small changes. It could still work--people make big changes in their life all the time, even if many try and fail. If you want to make big changes, and if you've never tried--or haven't tried in a long time--it may be an experiment worth trying.
If not, small changes are another way to get where you're going. Not even a slow way, necessarily. Small changes can add up fast.
Permalink | Comments | Philip Brewer's blog | Channel: General Tips
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]I hope you all are having a safe and fun Independence Day! It’s a good time to talk about financial independence, which is the main reason why this site exists.
Financial independence probably means different things to different people but at the core I think it boils down to being able to make decisions independent of financial concerns. To me it means being able to pursue your life goals without being constrained by money.
I think that being able to control your source(s) of income is an important step to becoming financially independent. My thinking behind this is that if you can generate income independent of an employer then you have more freedom in terms of where you work, when you work, what specific work you do, who you work with, how long you work, etc.
Of course, finding ways to generate money independent of an employer takes time and most people can’t just jump into it full time because we all have bills to pay and mouths to feed. But we can start something small in our free time, what Robert Pagliarini calls “Your Other 8 Hours“.
Side Business Examples
I have a former co-worker who’s found something he can do in his time after work that pays his mortgage each month. He still works full time but he’s on the road to either leaving his job or his wife leaving hers. I put together a video case study a while back for our newsletter subscribers that walks you through what he does to make extra money each month.
I’m going to be sending out more case studies like this in the future, if you’d like to get them you can get the free newsletter here. There are things I’d do differently about the first video to make it better but I think it’s still a pretty useful case study.
You can read how my friend pays his mortgage each month by selling Legos and get some ideas on how you can start your own side business. Happy financial independence day!
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]This is the second of twelve parts of a “book club” reading and discussion of Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover, where this book on debt reduction is teased apart and looked at in detail. This entry covers the third chapter, finishing on page 51. The next entry, covering the fourth chapter, will appear on Wednesday.
[Image]Dave Ramsey is probably the loudest proponent out there of the “debt is bad” mantra and he makes the case for it loud and clear in this chapter. In his eyes, outside of a home mortgage (and that one should be paid off ASAP), all debt is bad.
I agree completely. The only problem comes in when this mantra is taken too far and overlooks the benefits of establishing a positive credit history. The positives of being debt free heavily outweigh the negatives of being heavily in debt, but being debt free doesn’t mean you should sacrifice a good credit history along the way. Let’s talk about this whole picture.
Not Using Debt Is Ridiculous?
The usage of debt for major purchases is definitely ingrained in the American psyche. At virtually every retailer you visit, there’s an offer to sign up for a credit card or finance the purchase you’re about to make. It seems so natural that many people assume it is natural. On page 19, Ramsey mentions this phenomenon:
[I]n the last several years, I have found that a major barrier to winning is our view of debt. Most people who have made the decision to stop borrowing money have experienced something weird: ridicule. Friends and family who are disciples of the myth that debt is good have ridiculed those on the path to freedom.
Given that financing usually means paying substantially more for the item over the long run, anyone who chides you for paying cash is actually chiding you for paying less - ludicrous, in other words.
My big issue here is how to deal with people who make comments like this. Whenever I’ve faced situations like this, I’ve found that explaining the truth doesn’t work - I’m usually met with a vacant, wide-eyed look that clearly indicates that the other person has no idea what I’m talking about.
Instead, my approach is to simply smile, nod, and do my own thing. Over the long run, my bank account will prove me right in paying cash as often as possible.
Risky Debt
On page 21, Ramsey argues that simply possessing debt is a risk, let alone paying it late:
My contention is that debt brings on enough risk to offset any advantage that could be gained through leverage of debt. Given time, a lifetime, risk will destroy the perceived returns purported by the mythsayers.
This is one of the most powerful arguments against debt, in my opinion. Most of the time, when people make the case for taking on debt, they make assumptions that involve a perfect, trouble-free life.
Sure, it’s easy to make a $400 a month payment given your current life situation, but what happens if you lose your job tomorrow? Or in a year? What if you suffer a major illness? What if your marriage falls apart? What if you get married? What if an unexpected child arrives?
Forecasting payments into the future can be smooth but the realities of our lives are quite bumpy, indeed. Lives don’t follow the smooth lines and curves of a debt repayment schedule, and saddling our lives with such lines and curves might enable us to get a car a bit earlier, but it also adds a lot of stress and worry if our life zigs when we expect it to zag.
Respect your complex, beautiful life and avoid unnecessary debt.
Relatives Shouldn’t Be Lenders
One of my biggest personal standards for money is to not lend money to family. If I decide to give someone a helping hand, it’ll be in the form of a gift, not a loan. Ramsey makes the case on page 26:
Hundreds of times I’ve seen relationships strained and sometimes destroyed. We all have, but we continue to believe the myth that a loan to a loved one is a blessing. It isn’t; it is a curse. Don’t put that burden on any relationship you care about.
Do you love your mortgage lender? How about your credit card company - do you look forward to getting together with them at Christmastime? Ever felt like inviting your car salesman to your New Years’ party?
The reason is that the lending/borrowing relationship doesn’t mix well with great interpersonal relations. If you borrow money from someone, you suddenly have a financial obligation to that person. You have to pay them back or incur some sort of retribution.
Retribution? That’s not exactly a concept that mixes well with close relationships and family events. Nor should it. No one wants to spend time with a person that’s demanding money from them. Thus, after a loan between friends or loved ones, it’s natural to expect that relationship to decay in some way.
No relationship is worth that decay. If you’ve decided that you really must help someone out, make that help into a gift, not a loan.
Look Good or Be Good?
On page 33, Dave digs into the difference between putting up appearances and actually having something to back it up:
Having been a millionaire and gone broke, I dug my way out by making a decision about looking good versus being good. Looking good is when your broke friends are impressed by what you drive, and being good is having more money than they have.
Something has always troubled me about the phrase “fake it ’till you make it.” I can understand it in some situations, where you have to put up a very polished front in order to further your career.
The problem comes when “fake it ’till you make it” becomes a life philosophy. If you find yourself leasing a BMW so that you can “fake it” and put up an appearance of being financially affluent when you’re really not, you’re entering into a trap.
Sure, you might be able to put up an appearance of “making it” with that purchase, but your income will be devoured by that car instead of being able to take advantage of other opportunities. In three years, you’ll have nothing in the bank and a car that just went off lease.
Instead, if you “fake it” a little less, buy a low end car and make it look as nice as you can, you can build up that bankroll, build some security, and eventually purchase that car.
You might be able to “fake it” now, but if you want to “make it” sooner, you’ll tone down on the fakery and keep yourself out of debt.
On Buying a New Car
On page 37, Dave makes a case against buying a new car:
A good used car is as reliable or more reliable than a new car. A new $28,000 car will lose about $17,000 of value in the first four years you own it. That is almost $100 per week in lost value.
I understand where Ramsey is coming from, but it doesn’t take into account several factors.
First, the only cars that depreciate like that were junk to begin with. If you have a car that depreciates 70% in the first four years, that car has a very poor record for long-term reliability. Reliable cars simply do not depreciate that fast.
Second, the first four years are the most worry-free for a car. During that period, they’re under warranty, meaning if something goes wrong, it doesn’t come out of your pocket. Once that warranty ends, you’re on your own. It’s during that warranty period that you can figure out whether the car is actually reliable or it’s not without a cavalcade of big bills.
Third, in a down economy, there are huge incentives to buy new. Sales, rebates, and other offers pop up all over the place, some of them impressive. There are often tax breaks for new car purchases as well, passed by Congress in a short-term effort to boost spending.
I am not saying that buying new is better than buying used. Instead, I am merely saying that it is a mistake to automatically exclude a new purchase, particularly if you can afford it.
Ramsey overstates his case here, though I understand why he does it. A forceful case on behalf of a good principle is a great tactic for convincing people of the principle. I do agree that buying used is often the best deal when buying a car, but to ignore new cars does the buyer a disservice.
Mortgages and Credit Cards
On page 39, Ramsey talks about why you don’t need to build credit to get a mortgage:
You will need to find a mortgage company that does actual underwriting. That means they are professional enough to process the details of your life instead of using only a Beacon score (lending for dummies). You can get a mortgage if you lived right.
Ramsey’s absolutely right here - you don’t need credit to get a mortgage, as long as you have a good housing history and a good record of paying your bills on time. A manual underwriter will dig these things out. An aside: if you’re in this situation, visit your local credit union first. They’re more likely to do manual underwriting.
The problem here is that a mortgage is not the only avenue through which good credit can help you. One’s credit score is used in lots of ways: determining insurance rates, aiding in many job application processes, and so on.
That’s why I think limited use of a credit card is actually a good thing. Leave the card at home most of the time. Only use it for specific purchases that you would otherwise make, like gas or groceries. Then, at the end of the month, pay off the balance in full, which should be trivial since you’re not buying more because of the card.
This accomplishes the big goal of improving your credit score without incurring debt. Having a good credit score improves your hiring chances and makes you eligible for better insurance rates, putting money directly in your pocket. Later, if you do get a home loan, you can simply trash that card if you so with.
If you’re already doing that, you might as well choose a card that helps you in other ways. For example, if you’re buying a card just to buy gas on to help your credit, get the Visa or MasterCard available from your gas station chain of choice (like BP). That way, you’ll get rebates on the gas you buy along the way - another way to save.
The trick is to simply leave the card at home. Don’t use it for any other purchases besides the ones you plan in advance, like gas purchases, and keep it somewhere safe outside of those opportunities.
Do you have any other thoughts on the third chapter of The Total Money Makeover? Please share them in the comments - and feel free to respond to any of my impressions as well. After all, a good book club is all about discussion!
On Wednesday, we’ll tackle the fourth chapter - Money Myths: The (Non)Secrets of the Rich.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]It’s Independence Day in the United States, and that means time with family and friends. I don’t have any financial tips from the Founding Fathers today. Instead, I have three fine performances of the U.S. national anthem.
First up, a traditional rendition from Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. (This group is virtually forgotten today, though popular enough in their day. Have I mentioned I have vast collection of music from before 1950? Yet another hobby.) This version is from 1942, and would have been used with the newsreels in movie theaters.
The truth is, I never much cared for “The Star Spangled Banner”. I always found it bombastic. I wished our national anthem was something more pleasant…“America the Beautiful”, perhaps.
Then I heard the Dixie Chicks sing the anthem before the Super Bowl in 2003. I had no idea the song could be so beautiful:
More recently, I’ve been fond of another version that features close harmonies. Here The Cactus Cuties, five girls ranging in age from 8 to 13, wow the crowd with their vocals:
Have a terrific (and safe) Independence Day, my friends. (And if you’re outside the United States, enjoy your weekend.) I’ll see you on Monday.
---
Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:
By Nora Dunn
[Image]Travel Muse has a fun tool that combines the drudgery of finding money in a budget with the instantaneous gratification of discovering how your budgeting sacrifices will pay off.
It is their Yaycations Calculator, and it is a free and fun way to become inspired.
Simply go through the exercise of “finding money” as guided in the calculator, and you would be surprised at what you can save. Heck – I’m a money-wise full-time traveler, and apparently even I can stand to save a few bucks.
I will admit that although principle of the exercise is good, the calculator itself is very general and there is no room for customizing expenses or finding less traditional ways to save money. It is simply intended to be a quick way to make you realize that you could go on vacation – sooner than you thought.
Once you have the magic number of dollars that you can save (by, for example, drinking less coffee, buying fewer shoes, and cutting back on groceries), now you can see where that money will take you.
Choose from an assortment of travel styles (such as family, cuisine, museums, nature, mountains, amusement parks, beaches, etc), select your departure city, and marvel at the places you can go that fit into your newly acquired travel budget.
Although it may not help you plan your finances, the Yaycations Calculator could give you a few cool vacation ideas, and might just give you the incentive to start planning for your next trip now.
Permalink | 2 comments | Nora Dunn's blog | Channel: Art and Leisure, Budgeting, Lifestyle
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead; follow him on twitter.“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.” —Dale Carnegie
If we really want to be happy, why do we act like such babies?
We can claim to be proactive in our life by settings goals and going after what we want. But if we’re always whining and complaining all the time, are we really living effectively?
If you don’t believe me, count how many times you complain about something or other in one day. Whether it be being stuck in traffic, being bothered by the weather, not enough mustard on your sandwich, or whatever it is, there are endless instances where you can find a reason to complain.
But it’s not just outside circumstances that we complain about. We complain about about ourselves too. We complain that we don’t have enough time, we don’t have enough money (this one is huge because it’s often “true”), that we’re not smart enough, cool enough, or just enough.
I know I’ve experienced plenty of unpleasantness due to complaining about things I can’t control. I never really thought about it much until I found this website about “living in a complain free world.”
Imagine how much happier you would be if you simply stopped complaining? Much of what you complain about is outside of your control anyway. What’s the point of brooding about something you have no power to change? Not very intelligent, if you ask me.
Simply becoming conscious of how much you complain is the first step to stopping. When you recognize that you’re complaining, stop and take notice of it. Ask yourself if you would rather complain, or be happy.
Are you ready to live a complaint-free, happier life?
The two steps to stop whining so much:
Obviously, this is a little easier said than done. Complaining is an addiction and a hard habit to break. Like any other habit to break, it will take time.
Even though it may be a long time (or possibly never) before you’re living completely complaint-free, that’s still okay. The good news is this isn’t all-or-nothing. Even 10% less complaining will have an immediate positive impact on your life. Then, once you’ve decreased your whining by 10%, you can keep bootstrapping your way down to complaining less and less.
After complaints show up less and less, something awesome starts to happen. Once your mind realizes that you won’t tolerate its moaning, it will begin to give up its efforts. (Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of complaining that you’re complaining.)
So the question is: Would you rather complain or be happy?
(Oh and by the way, having gratitude is a great way to stop complaining.)
This article was written by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind. For more ways to stop whining so much, grab a copy of Reclaim Your Dreams.
[Image] [Image] [Image]I am a steadfast believer of the Pay Yourself First strategy, but today, I wanted to publish the ideas and thoughts of someone with some unconventional, alternative viewpoints about the saving process. Earlier, we had a chance to discuss the money saving advice of Rob Bennett, a personal finance writer (theorist?). Rob wanted to follow up on the saving concept he’s dubbed “Paying Yourself Last” and tells us why it’s a better long term strategy for savers. Do you agree with him? Herewith are his words:
[Image]The most popular saving advice of all time is: Pay Yourself First. It does work. There are millions of people who swear by it. There are millions who were never able to save until they adopted a “Pay Yourself First” strategy. If you don’t save at all today, you might want to try this popular approach that has worked for so many others.
Paying Yourself First is mindless saving. But I don’t mean that as a dig. The reason why this strategy works is precisely because it is mindless. The idea is to save a specified percentage of your income (usually 10 percent) automatically, without thinking about it. For Pay Yourself First savers, saving becomes the default money management option. And it really does work for millions.
But I see a downside. My concern lies in its long-term effects. Here’s where I ask a few questions starting with “Why?”
Why is mindlessness such a great thing in the saving arena when it is generally viewed as a bad thing in most other areas of life endeavor?
I believe that the reason is that most of us have negative mental associations tied to saving. We think of savers as responsible but boring and even somewhat small-minded (non-generous) people [yeah, just check this post about the cheapest people out there]. We know we have to save. But we don’t really like the idea all that much. So we force ourselves. We save automatically because we cannot bring ourselves to do it any other way.
I believe that we need to encourage a more uplifting view of the saving experience. Saving is wonderful. Saving brings us financial freedom. Who doesn’t want to be more free? We shouldn’t have to force ourselves to save. We should be excited about it, we should be thrilled about it.
The reason why we are not is that even great savers have fallen prey to the conventional idea that saving is boring. When we save unthinkingly, most of the time we are also agreeing to the idea that saving is painful, not fun, and that it needs to be forced. Does it? I don’t think so.
Save Your Money By Paying Yourself LastI favor an approach to saving that I call “Passion Saving.” The idea is never to save unthinkingly, never to save automatically, never to Pay Yourself First but instead always to Pay Yourself Last.
To Pay Yourself Last is to decide on your savings rate after comparing the value proposition associated with spending vs saving percentages of your income, and to elect to save only when you know it will offer you greater life enhancement. Passion Savers acknowledge that both spending and saving can both be wonderful choices. Pay Yourself Last savers often choose saving without having to force themselves to do so.
The Pay Yourself First strategy is a good way to get started saving if you have never before been able to save. The Pay Yourself Last strategy can take you to more exciting places. It’s a more positive approach to money management and one that can take you to an appreciation of the benefits of saving not possible for those who automatically put aside a percentage of their income. Paying Yourself Last allows you to think through what saving and spending can add to your life as you work to accomplish your most important life goals.
Rob Bennett is the author of A Rich Life blog. The “RobCasts” section of his web site contains over 120 podcasts in which Rob describes the Valuation-Informed Indexing investing strategy, an approach to indexing that greatly reduces the risks of stock investing by having investors lower their stock allocations at times of insanely dangerous valuations.
Save Your Money By Paying Yourself Last
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]In April and May, National Public Radio featured a series on inexpensive gourmet dishes entitled “How Low Can You Go?” Although many of the dishes looked quite tasty, most of the dishes weren’t actually all that inexpensive, often narrowly getting below $10 to feed a family of four, and many involved arduous cooking processes. I decided to try out some of these recipes throughout the summer to see how I could take the recipes and reduce them down to a simple and very inexpensive form.
While digging through the submissions, I came across this interesting recipe by Wendy T., who states that she’s “writing a cookbook of economical meals for working people - this is one of my husband’s favorites.” Intriguing. Here’s what Wendy offers up:
1 lb ground beef
1 slice white bread, crumbled
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 small yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, minced
1/4 cup mint leaves, julienned
1 cup plain yogurt (preferably whole milk)
salt and black pepperIn a small bowl, mix the yogurt, a large pinch of salt, and the mint. Set aside.
Crumble white bread crumbs over ground beef and parsley in large bowl.
Place a large frying pan over medium low heat. Add the olive oil and sweat the onions and garlic until translucent. Add 3/4 tsp salt and the coriander and cumin, and saute a minute more. Cool a minute and then add to the meat-bread crumb mixture. Add the beaten egg and mix with hands lightly just to combine. Form a test meatball and fry - taste for seasoning and add additional salt if necessary.
Form into meatballs. Fry in batches in the pan on all sides until cooked through. Drain on paper towels if necessary.
Serve the meatballs with the yogurt-mint sauce. Delicious as sandwiches with pita or naan bread.
A few things popped out at me immediately that indicated this recipe would be a lot of work. First, the ground coriander - dried coriander in the store is not the same thing at all. Ground coriander needs to be freshly ground or it loses most of its flavor. Second, the julienned mint leaves - meaning you’re slicing the mint leaves into thin strips - will be significant work as well, and likely the most expensive aspect of the recipe if you don’t have a source of fresh mint.
In order to try out the recipe as is, though, I did both of these.
I also went through the cupboard and the freezer to see what we had on hand. The only ingredients that we didn’t already have in spice jars were the mint leaves ($2), the yogurt ($0.99), the onion ($0.30), and the ground beef ($2.49 for a pound of lean meat), for a total cost of $5.78. We did, of course, use lots of spices and other materials we had on hand.
Here are the ingredients as I used them.
(The horse statue in the picture is a Breyer version of Man o’ War, included at the encouragement of my three year old son.)
I made one major change. Instead of mincing the onions, I coarsely chopped them, because I love the caramelized flavor of onions and felt it would add to the meatballs.
Once the work of prepping the ingredients is done, the recipe itself is pretty easy. First, I made the yogurt-mint sauce by putting a pinch of salt, a cup of yogurt, and the mint leaves in a bowl and mixing them.
I then tossed the onions and garlic into a frying pan along with the olive oil and cooked them over medium heat until they were nicely caramelized - taking on a light brown color roughly the same as caramel. I then added a pinch of salt, the coriander, and the cumin, and cooked it for a minute more.
When that was finished, I let it cool for a bit. While doing that, I added the bread crumbs and the beaten egg to the pound of ground beef and mixed them together with my hands, then I added the onion mixture to the meat and mixed that in. The result was a large ball, ready to be shaped into smaller meatballs.
Making meatballs is easy. Just pinch off a bit of the meat - whatever size you like - and roll that bit around in between your hands until it forms a round ball. If you’re not sure what size to make, just divide the ball into equal halves, divide each of those halves into equal halves (four bits), divide each of those halves into equal halves (eight bits), then divide each of those halves into equal halves (sixteen bits). Each of those sixteen bits will make a nice meatball.
So, I rolled up the balls and tossed them into the frying pan.
Obviously, if you chose to mince the onion, you wouldn’t see the large pieces of onion in the meatballs.
I simply browned these in the pan over medium heat, rolling them around about every minute or so. When they became dark brown - the color of a cooked hamburger, roughly - I cut one in half and checked the insides to make sure it was no longer pink. Here they are, about halfway cooked (with some sides looking finished, others still pink, and yet others in the middle):
I chose to serve the meatballs with the mint sauce on the side, a long grain rice and vegetable medley, some steamed broccoli, and a glass of Wandering Grape 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz (a free trade wine). Here’s how it looked on the table:
And there you have it!
Did we like it? This meal was a big hit. The kids were not big fans of the mint sauce, but the meatballs were completely consumed with gusto - no leftovers at all. Both my wife and I liked everything - I wound up drowning the meatballs in the sauce after trying them together.
Our total cost for the main course and the mint sauce (ignoring fractional items we had on hand): $5.78. Our cost per meal: $1.45. Not bad. But we can do better - and we can certainly make it less involved.
Changes I Would Make to Save Cost and Time
First of all, I’d skip the coriander and use more cumin as a substitute. If you don’t have a grinder, smashing the coriander seeds will take forever and it doesn’t contribute substantially to the meal, especially when you can easily substitute a bit of cumin for nearly the same effect.
Second, if I was pinched for time, I’d substitute dried mint for the fresh mint leaves. I’d just add dried mint - probably two tablespoons full - to the yogurt to taste and skip the julienning of the mint leaves.
Third, I’d substitute garlic powder for the minced garlic cloves. Although you miss the caramelization of the cloves, you also save the work of peeling the cloves, cooking the cloves, and smashing the cloves.
Fourth - and I did this in my own version above - I’d skip the fresh parsley and use dried. I used 1/4 cup dried parsley and it was perfect.
These changes modify the recipe a bit, but it also reduces the cost and vastly reduces the time. Here’s the new recipe, as I’d do it:
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]1 lb ground beef
1 slice white bread, crumbled
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/4 cup dried parsley
1/4 cup dried mint
1 cup plain yogurt (preferably whole milk)
salt and black pepperIn a small bowl, mix the yogurt, a large pinch of salt, and the mint. Set aside.
Crumble white bread crumbs over ground beef and parsley in large bowl.
Place a large frying pan over medium low heat. Add the olive oil and gently cook the onions until caramelized. Add 3/4 tsp salt and the cumin, and saute a minute more. Cool a minute and then add to the meat-bread crumb mixture. Add the beaten egg and mix with hands lightly just to combine. Form into meatballs. Fry in batches in the pan on all sides until cooked through. Drain on paper towels if necessary. Serve the meatballs with the yogurt-mint sauce.
By Torley Wong
[Image]We've no shortage of "How to do good customer service" articles designed to be applied from the company's side. But what about customers? We need each other to thrive, and whether you're in front of the sales desk or behind, we're all humans. An obvious point worth remembering because just about anyone who's worked in customer relations has tales of customers who weren't just dissatisfied, they were abusive jerks. And there's never, ever a good reason to heap hurt on someone else — such wasteful emotions clog reasonable complaints.
As someone who's both answered thousands of issues in varying roles (and created documentation to support it) and has bought products from a variety of companies ranging from the monolithic to 1-person operations, here's what I've learned. It's biased towards smaller companies since it's easier to enact change with them, but can apply wherever you'll be listened to.
Document everythingIf a frontline agent isn't doing a service to their company by being rude to you, get their name. Consider recording your calls (be aware of obtaining consent; companies will often say on the line they're recording you for training purposes!). Tagging the emails they send you. And so on. Create a history if you're routinely being wronged.
If you need to bring bad behavior to a supervisor's attention, don't present your case as "I hate ALL OF YOU IN THIS COMPANY". Rather, if it's a specific problem with an individual, you're willing to go beyond and point out you generally like doing business with people who work here, with an exception. It'll be their word against this troublesome employee's, but if you have evidence, they can't cover it up. (And if it's numerous people or the general mindset of a company that has you irked, yeah, you should take your business elsewhere.)
In an age of electronic surveillance, taped support calls gone wrong have become a way to escalate problems when a company doesn't listen and a consumer feels helpless, so they amplify it through The Consumerist or one of many comedy sites.
Related, Wise Bread has a Consumer Affairs category you'll want to check out, including Paul Michael's sucky experience with a Dyson vacuum cleaner.
I don't recommend going out of your way to destroy a company, but use documented proof to substantiate the poor treatment you've gotten, which will hopefully help management solve the problem, and possibly thank you for getting their attention, as a result.
Learn to file effective bug reportsA surprising second point? Not so much when you realize it's a finer level of documentation. Observe the connections: while "bug report" is most commonly associated with computer software and electronics, the key importance is being able to show someone else how you arrived at a problem via a series of steps they can follow. If it sounds similar to giving driving directions, that's exactly true. And it's important in any sort of conflict resolution.
If you buy an app and discover bugs, sending bug reports (via the developer's preferred channel) will help them make it more stable, and hence, better. Bug reports don't have to be boring text instructions. Especially when you need to show visual elements, consider using a video recording tool like TechSmith's Jing (free basic version, I love it) to make video bug reports and narrate what's happening — show stuff as-it-is!
Don't assume a company's quality assurance will find all bugs. It's true they should do rigorous testing to deliver a robust end result, but the fact is there are far more variations of possible computer systems than they'll ever be able to try inhouse. Customers who whine about problems they're aware of instead of spending the same time to step up and communicate aren't useful.
Many companies give discounts and free products for being an exceptional bug reporter, including beta tests. Don't expect entitlement and be familiar with the company's culture beforehand — some, like Picnik who I'm helping test their Show feature, are much more amendable to personal contact with customers than others. After all, continue to communicate. Loyalty never gets old, and if a product is going to serve you for months and years, having a close bond means you'll be taken seriously. Not all customers are the same and you do want to be the best, yes?
Plus, after you've gained an understanding, you can teach other customers how to file bug reports, too, empowering their experiences.
Don't bitch about what's out of an employee or company's controlFocus on actionables. What can be done.
For instance, if your Internet Service Provider goes offline because someone drove their car into a tree, knocking down power lines and cutting off your connection, it's uncalled for to ring the ISP up on a cellphone and scream "FIX IT NOW YOU @#$%ING IDIOTS!" They can't — that's likely the electric company's responsibility. All your insults serve is demonstrate is what a jerk you are. Better approach: call and ask for a status update: "What's going on and when can you expect it to be fixed?" Learn instead of accuse. Simple.
Yes, professionals should have backups and contingency plans. But notice how there's no such guarantee as 100% uptime in the industry. Be forgiving of occasional mistakes, and they will be forgiving of yours. Continue to make suggestions where a company can improve their service: you may not get a personal response depending on volume, but if I really enjoyed my stay at a hotel, I send in the comment card.
Another example of fruitless bitching: you're calling a human in billing about technical issues you have with a website. They cheerfully mention they'll escalate your details to the engineers (who aren't on the phones since they're heads-down programming) and suggest you take the initiative by posting on the company's forums. But you continue to gripe to the billing agent about it. They can be sympathetic, but your words are being wasted and you're tying up time that could be spent on another customer's actionable problems. Make it a priority to learn about what goes where so urges you have to connect will be effective.
When in doubt, ask questions — for emphasis, learn instead of accuse. You have every right to remind a company if they haven't been responsive (like I did for Acronis True Image 2009). But don't point fingers. The blame game is played by losing attitudes which are too much talk, not enough walk. If someone is just, they'll admit fault. And for all you CS reps reading this: unfortunately, while a rare minority, there are customers who have mental illness and need to see a professional. Don't be their doctor. And never, ever tolerate abuse. It works both ways.
When you're treated right, be vocally appreciativePerhaps this should've been #1. But I wanted to see if you noticed.
Customer service reps endure more abuse than they should have to. Like I said, no one deserves abuse. On the flipside, I've hardly ever felt productive, friendly workers get sufficient customer praise to inspire them each day and keep going!
This is why I'm doing my part: every time I believe I've been treated exceptionally, I directly send a testimonial. I also often use Twitter and my personal blog to get the word out about awesome products that are made by awesome people. Word-of-mouth is especially important to small companies that can use all the earnest marketing they can get to thrive. Like what I wrote about bug reporting earlier, some savvy companies keep track of "key influencers" and may offer you goodies. These are mutually beneficial: the company's product adds value to your life, you help support them in ways beyond paying money.
In the service industry, this also applies to eating out. You're a restaurant's customer. Received lovely, attentive service? Then generously tip waitstaff who've given you consistently excellent treatment. Actions have consequences and you're frugal, not chintzy.
Customer service is an ecosystem: an honest, friendly worker who gets berated and hears no good words is going to be very confused, and even frustrated about why they even bother to go above and beyond. So pay attention to what makes you smile.
What is a supercustomer?A supercustomer is not necessarily someone who throws a lot of cash at a company, although that can be part of their makeup. I use "supercustomer" to describe those — the best! — who go beyond the call of customer duty (intriguing way of looking at it, hmm?) and don't just routinely consume, they actively participate in improving the people & products of the businesses they enjoy.
The Internet has opened up many opportunities, from the trusted reviews of Amazon Vine to the "People-Powered Customer Service" (as redundant as that may seem, we need to be reminded in an era of voice mail and faceless megacorps) of Get Satisfaction.
Old ways of putting a wall between the people who use the products and those who make them are stupid and dying, because in the end, we're all humans who want to be happy.
So be the best customer you can be!
Permalink | 1 comment | Torley Wong's blog | Channel: Consumer Affairs, Shopping
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]Once you’ve been pre-approved for a loan and found a house you want to buy the next step is determining the type of mortgage to use and when to lock in your interest rates. Due to the real estate decline and sub-prime mortgage meltdown, lenders and brokers are more careful with how they lend, what they lend, and who they lend to. You’ll need to consider the following when choosing a mortgage:
Interest Rates
About two months ago, the rates were at an all-time low. You could get an interest rate for less than 5%, which is crazy, but it happened. Now, you’ll see interest rates somewhere between 5.5% and 6%, which is nothing to cry about. This is purely my opinion, but I would lock in the rate as soon as possible, because with inflation rearing its head in the future and energy prices going back up, the interest rates will most likely continue to rise.
Points and Origination Fees
A mortgage point is equivalent to 1% of the loan amount, so if the price is $200,000, a mortgage point is $2,000. You can buy one of these points to buy down your interest rate, typically .25% for every point. A point is basically pre-paid interest. You pay mortgage interest up front. I wouldn’t suggest doing this, because the interest rates are so low right now.
An origination fee is usually charged by brokers, and it is a processing fee. Again, I wouldn’t deal with a broker that charges an origination fee. But be aware that if you don’t pay points or origination fees, many brokers will offer you an interest rate above prime, typically .25% above the prime interest rates.
Which Mortgage Is Right For You?
Stay away from interest only and adjustable rate mortgages. Ask anyone currently going through foreclosure if an adjustable rate is a good idea. People were buying houses with teaser rates of 1 or 2 years, then their rates were jumping up drastically, and the monthly payments were more than homeowners could afford. An interest only loan will never pay down the principal, so why own a home if your not going to gain any equity?
With rates as low as they are, I think fixed rate mortgages are your best option. A 15, 20, or 30 year fixed mortgage is the best way to go. If you know that your income will increase in the near future, consider getting a 30 year mortgage, because you can always pay a 30 year mortgage like a 15 year mortgage in the future. It will amortize the same. Don’t spend the extra money to refinance into a 15 year mortgage.
Next, we’ll get deeper into the down payment, private mortgage insurance, and second mortgages.
Erik Folgate is a personal finance writer and social media consultant.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]By Lynn Truong
[Image]Today's Wise Buy: Hitachi 1TB SATA Hard Drive w/ Black X Dock $79.99
1TB! 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s. Use coupon code and mail-in rebate. (via dealnews)
[Image]1. Stream All Michael Jackson Music and Videos FREE
Sony Music's MyPlay.com is allowing streaming of all Michael Jackson music and videos for free. Unlike other websites, there are no replay restrictions, time limits, or commerical interruptions.
[Image]2. 1,200 Digital Prints FREE
Get 600 4x6 and 600 5x7 prints for signing up as a new customer at ArtsCow. Check out over 15 different more services that offer free prints too! (via dealnews)
[Image]3. Mandoline Slicer, Peeler & Hand Guard 3pc. Set FREE +5 s/h
Today only. Get the Stafford Worldwide Ceramic Peeler, Mandoline Slicer & Hand Guard FREE. Retail price for this is $60! Pay only $5 shipping and handling. (via dealnews)
[Image]4. The Children's Place Monster Sale: Up to 80% off
The Children's Place cuts up to 80% off kids' clothing, shoes, and accessories during its Monster Sale. Use coupon code NEXTJ78 for an additional 10% off. Shipping is $5 per order. Get the faux-layered bow sweater (pictured) for just $2.99! (via dealnews)
[Image]5. Old Navy Summer Sale: Up to 50% off
Old Navy cuts up to 50% off a large selection of summer styles for men, women, and kids during its online-only Summer Sale. Shipping starts at $7. Get their Women's Smocked Jersey Cami (pictured) for $6.99. (via Dealnews)
[Image]6. Aeropostale Clearance Sale: Up to 70% off
Aeropostale cuts up to 70% off select items in its clearance section. Men's graphic tees start at just $5! (via dealnews)
[Image]7. 60% off Asics Shoes and Apparel
6pm cuts 60% off almost 300 styles of Asics men's, women's, and kids' shoes and apparel. Prices start at just $10 for apprel and $16 for shoes. Get the Onitsuka Tiger (pictured) for just $32, down from $80. (via dealnews)
[Image]8. Calvin Klein Hooded Belted Jacket $35.97
Save $164 (82% off!) at Wilson's Leather. 100% polyester. Features a full-zip front with snap-tab overlay, stand-up collar, and removable hood. Use coupon code 5011 at checkout for 20% off and free shipping.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]
[Image]A reader asked me if I could break down my ideas into a handful of principles. After some careful thought, I came up with a list of fourteen basic “rules” that summarize my money and life philosophy. I’ll be presenting these as a weekly series.
I cover time management quite a lot on The Simple Dollar. I write about Getting Things Done and other time management books. I talk about how I manage my own time and some of the techniques I use in my own life.
Almost always, I’ll receive an email or a comment or two about how this has nothing to do with money. On the surface, that might be true - I’m not mentioning the almighty dollar anywhere. If you dig even a little, though, it becomes clear: time management is the same thing as money management, because time is money.
Step back for a minute and think about it.
Each person is blessed with the same allotment of time - 168 hours per week. Bill Gates has 168 hours per week. I have 168 hours per week. You have 168 hours per week. Each of us sleep during some of those hours, leaving us with perhaps 120 waking hours during a given week.
Out of those 120 waking hours, many of us sell the majority of those hours to someone else in exchange for money. We go to work, we work for a while, we go home, and often, some work comes home with us. Add in the hours we burn thinking about work and our time for ourselves grows ever smaller.
Household chores eat up more of that time, as does personal hygiene. Soon, we find that we’re left with just a small pile of hours in a given week to do with what we please.
Those hours are precious. They’re the ones in which we relax. They’re the ones where we interact with friends and family. They’re the ones where we catch up on personally fulfilling hobbies.
But we pay a hefty price for those hours. We invest so much time in work, hygiene, and household chores so that those remaining hours bring us some semblance of joy. Most of our financial choices are intended to either make those free hours more enjoyable or to make them safer.
Whenever we find ourselves wasting time, we take directly away from those precious hours. We get behind at work, reducing our ability to earn more and thus taking away from the enjoyment of that time or the safety of it. We waste idle time at home and then when something truly worthwhile comes along, we can’t participate - we have too many other things we’re behind on.
To put it simply, wasting time takes away from those valuable hours that we work so hard for. It strips away their quality and it strips away their safety. Time management simply seeks to give us more of those hours - or to make the other hours produce more money.
Here’s an example. Some days, when I sit down to work, I make the decision to dive right in. I’ve got some big idea on my mind and I can’t wait to research it or plan out how I might use it. So I’ll rip through most of an article in thirty minutes or so - and then find myself at a dead end. Where am I going with this? I idle for a bit, then eventually delete the article. I’ve wasted forty minutes.
On another day, I’ll start off by making a list of all of the things I need to accomplish for the day. I’ll decide what posts I’m going to write and list the main idea of each one. Then I’ll take each of those ideas and spend a bit of time fleshing them out - is this even worth a post? Is it perhaps more than one post? What research do I need to do to make it work?
That process might take twenty minutes, but I’ve usually discarded three or four ideas along the way and fleshed out three or four more to the point that I know what I’m going to write. From there, I never find myself “lost” at work - I know what tasks I need to do, I execute them, and I keep on rolling to the next one.
I might have spent the first twenty minutes of my day not moving forward at all on any projects, which seems bad. But the time invested in time management pays off - I don’t have to worry about such details as the day goes on, allowing myself to focus on just getting things done. Thus, by the six hour mark, I’m usually far ahead in terms of my work if I’ve done that planning. The big part? I’ve drastically reduced my wasted time.
The end result? If I’m a couple hours ahead, I now have hours I can add to my personal life. Or, perhaps I can use them to work ahead, giving those personal hours more of a cushion in case something happens. Maybe I can spend an hour getting in touch with others, building relationships that will really pay off over time. Maybe I can work on another project that might lead to more earnings or more readers, both of which shore up the valuable parts of my life.
Time is money, and when you manage your time well, you manage your money well, too.
How do you do that? Here are the four most valuable little techniques I’ve found for managing my time.
1. Start your day off with some planning. Make a list of what you need to get done today - usually four or so things. Don’t just make a 1, 2, 3, 4 list, though - investigate each one for a few minutes and make sure you have the information, ideas, and materials you need to actually execute each item. That might mean spending five or ten minutes on the basic framework of a task, but doing that now means you won’t burn an hour chasing snipe later on. Also, that list of things to do will keep you from burning time in the middle of the day wondering what’s best to do next.
2. Alternate between multi-tasking and single-tasking sessions. Multi-tasking works well for some tasks - phone calls, emails, filing, and so forth. Those are tasks that usually aren’t mentally taxing at all, and thus can be done two or more at a time. However, the meat and potatoes of your work usually does require your focus - and doing that with interruptions makes it take longer and reduces the quality of your work. Take a few periods during your day, turn off your communication routes (turn off your phone, close your email program, etc.) for an hour or so and bear down on a task that needs to be done. When it’s finished, go back into multitasking mode and get caught up on your messages and information.
3. Meditate. This sounds counterintuitive, but it really works. It’s easy, later in the day, to “zone out” - you’re mentally (and perhaps physically) worn out. Many people keep pushing, but they find themselves losing three minutes here and three minutes there because they space off - and this will often spread into the evening’s personal time. Instead, try meditating for fifteen or twenty minutes near the end of your work day. Just sit in a chair and relax - here are several great basic techniques to try. I almost always find myself refreshed and alert after doing this.
4. Write down the things on your mind. Keep a notebook and pen near you at all times. Whenever something pops into your head that you need to do later or think about later, jot it down immediately. Then, a few times a day, leaf through the notebook and take care of the things jotted down there. Throw down anything and everything - a word you want to look up, a personal task you need to take care of, a person you want to get in touch with. Getting these things out of your head and onto paper means you can spend far less mental energy trying to remember it - and use that energy instead focusing on your current task and getting that done as well as you can.
Another important tactic is to find ways to spend your free time that simultaneously help you grow as a person and bring you enjoyment. Reading literature that really pushes your mind is one example. Going for a jog is another example. Almost any social activity falls into this group, too - learning how to interact with more people is invaluable. Such activities bleed back into the rest of your day - they increase your energy at work, improve your mental acuity, and raise the bar on your ability to interact with others and network. Putting forth a little effort to find enjoyable ways to spend your spare time that also help you to grow pays off over and over again.
Remember, time is money - so stop wasting it.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image][Image]A couple of months ago, I was approached by Colleen at Classy Mommy about reviewing the Energizer 15 minute battery charger. Since I’m a huge fan of rechargeable batteries, I took her up on her offer. Here’s what I found.
I love, love, LOVE this product! I’ve been using a regular Energizer battery charger for the last couple of years, and I’ve found that Energizer batteries tend to hold their charge pretty well.
That said, I was skeptical as to whether a battery charger could actually completely charge batteries in 15 minutes. But the Energizer battery charger did just that.
The Energizer 15 minute battery charger can charge from 1-4 batteries at once, and it charges any combination of AA or AAA batteries. It’s not super quiet like a regular battery charger. While it works, you can hear the fan going. But I didn’t really care, since my batteries were ready to go in only 15 minutes.
Another bonus is that my battery charger came with a car adapter! I thought that was SUPER cool, as I often remember that I need batteries for my camera, as I’m headed out the door. Now it’s not a problem. I can just charge my batteries on the way to my destination!
There aren’t too many products that I highly, highly recommend, but this is one of them. I love rechargeable batteries, because I don’t have to continue to buy batteries and throw dead batteries away. But the one downside of rechargeable batteries is that if you forget to recharge them, you’re out of luck when you need batteries.
The Energizer 15 minute charger takes away the downside. If you forget to charge your batteries, a fully recharged battery is just 15 minutes away!
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Please visit Being Frugal.net for more great content.
I’ve written a lot lately about finding balance. It’s important to save for the future, but how do you balance that with enjoying today? Each of us has to address that question in our own way. A reader named Max wrote to share his own dilemma:
[Image]I’ve been working as a web designer since I was 18. I made a few financial mistakes in my early days: leased a car for four years, bought a couple of motorcycles, spent money on Stuff that had no value. I’m 25 now and I’ve owned a condo for four years. I was lucky to buy it really cheap and only have $100,000 mortgage left to pay.
Things have changed in the last two years. I’ve traveled a lot. I’m constantly increasing my knowledge and working on new business ideas. But I don’t have the time to do anything about it because I’m always working…to for pay my condo.
Fortunately, I have no debts other than the condo. I have $5000 in savings. My total expenses are about $1700/month and I make about $2600/month. I made some calculations and I can easily bring my expenses down to $1000/month if I didn’t own the condo.
After working as a web designer for nearly seven years, I’m sick of it. I want out. I want to bartend a couple nights per month and travel the rest of the time. Actually I’d be happy just traveling and doing any kind of work outdoors: bartending by the beach, teaching motorcycle riding classes, gardening, surf instructor…
Would it be wrong to sell my condo (I could get $160,000), take the profits, and go travel the world? Do a few side gigs here and there and enjoy life while I’m still young? I don’t have kids. I’m not married, no girlfriend. No car, no debts other than mortgage. I’ve been wanting to live in Australia, California, Japan. I’m sick of cold winters in Maine.
I’m also scared to just “save money” eternally until I’m too dead to enjoy it. I don’t understand the point of saving my money and working to pay my bills when I can just cash in now, take as much time off as I want, and still get by on a small salary doing work that I really enjoy — outdoors, where the weather is great.
I need advice, and my parents keep telling me to keep my “good” job.
This is an interesting question, one that many GRS readers wrestle with. The good news is that Max is in fairly good shape financially for this stage in his life. He has $5000 cash and $60,000 in equity in his condo. He has no debt. He has no ties.
Based on this, I think there’s a balance to be found. I’m sure many folks would recommend simply finding another job, moving from Maine, and pushing forward with a sedate (but safe) life. And there’s value in that. At the very least, Max should stay away from debt.
But at the same time, I can’t help but remember my friend Sparky. Sparky didn’t have $60,000. His wealth was more like $6000. But when he was Max’s age, he packed up and traveled the world for five months. Sparky loved it.
Because he was not burdened by Stuff, Sparky returned to a financial position similar to the one he’d left. He didn’t have a mortgage or other debt. His core savings and investments were still intact. He lived for five months without an income, it’s true, but he spent exactly what he budgeted, and he had the experience of a lifetime.
Max has an opportunity that may never come again. How many of us at age 40 can simply pack up and travel the world? [Image]How many wish we could? (I do!) Knowing what I know now, if I were in his position I would sell the condo, put half of the money in savings, and then use the rest to travel on the cheap. I might even take a job in another country and live there for a while.
When I returned to Maine (or to Texas, or wherever), I’d start again from scratch, either as a web designer or as something else entirely. Maybe go to school. I’d use the remaining condo money to jump-start my life, to stay away from debt.
Along the way, I’d read The Razor’s Edge, Vagabonding, and The Art of Non-Conformity.
This advice may be counter to what you’d expect from me. I’m a huge advocate of saving and investing early. But I think Max already has a good start, and he has a chance to pick up something even more valuable than home equity: He has a chance to build life equity.
What would you do in Max’s situation? Would you travel the world, too? Or would you parlay the good financial start into a stronger foundation for the future? What advice can you offer Max?
Programmer photo by evhead. Photo of Japanese garden by One man’s perspective.
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I wrote about OptionsXpress the other day, which is a suitable online broker for active traders. Their support for options trading is their specialty, although they are careful to note that they also support stock, ETF and mutual fund investors as well.
Today, I’d like to cover another online stock broker with the term “Options” in its name: OptionsHouse. And yes, it’s another brokerage that promises to offer you a ton of features for very low cost. So what makes them stand out in the sea of discount brokers out there? And how different are they from OptionsXpress?
Don’t let the word “options” scare you though. It’s true that OptionsHouse has its roots in the world of options trading, having been founded by PEAK6 Investments, which is one of the biggest options trading brokerages around. But while their main goal is to help the investor understand how to trade options effectively, they also offer a platform for stock investors who want to own stocks, ETFs or mutual funds for their core portfolio. Here’s a little bit more about them:
AwardsThe Barron’s 2009 Online Broker Survey has listed OptionsHouse as the “Best For Options Traders”, with a score of 4 and a half stars. OptionsHouse is rated #1 in Trade Experience, above notable brokers like OptionsXpress and ETrade.
The awards are good, but fall a little short of highly awarded brokers like ETrade, which just won the all around top ranking for SmartMoney’s Broker Survey for three years in a row (from 2007 through 2009), and TradeKing, which has garnered similar awards in previous years.
PricingWhat may catch your eye about OptionsHouse though, is their rates. For ultra-cheap stock trades, you can’t get cheaper than a flat transaction fee of $2.95 a trade (online or broker-assisted). Their commission rates for options is a flat $9.95, which is better than what other discount brokers offer, since rates from OptionsHouse remain the same regardless of how many trades you actually make.
With many other brokers, your trading fees may vary based on the volume of your transactions, and not always for the better. Thus, if you’re looking for the cheapest trading commissions, you may want to check out OptionsHouse. The only brokers that may possibly beat their rates are those that offer limited free stock trades (such as Zecco) that you’ll get if you meet certain conditions (e.g. you make a lot of trades or have a high balance).
One more thing, if you do decide to sign up with Options House, you’ll get any transfer fees reimbursed up to $100.
My Review of OptionsHouse, A Low Commission BrokerHere were a few more things that stood out for me when I checked out their site.
[Image]Virtual Trading. This online discount brokerage offers a Virtual Trading environment, much like its competitor, OptionsXpress. Once you sign up for an account, you’ll get instant access to a virtual account that’s funded with fake money and you can raise your funds anytime without risk.
Products and Accounts. You can open pretty much any type of account and rollover your IRA into this firm. You also have the ability to write checks — first 40 checks are free, reorders are $5.00 for every 100 checks — and you can use a debit card. The debit card has an annual fee though, and you need a minimum of $10,000 to qualify. OptionsHouse allows you to trade and own equities, mutual funds, options, U.S. treasury bonds and listed corporate bonds. But you’ll need to do phone orders for the bonds.
Investment Platform. This broker pitches a trading and investing platform that is simple, and devoid of those extra bells and whistles that may only serve to confuse or distract you from managing your transactions. You can also customize your dashboard and screens, which I suppose adds some points for usability. Now one thing I like about certain top online brokers like TradeKing and Zecco is the fact that they have built in investment communities. OptionsHouse, like most other brokerages, hasn’t incorporated this feature into their site just yet.
Tools and Education. My take is that OptionsHouse’s tool chest is geared for more sophisticated and professional traders who are dealing with options trading. Their broker’s education resources section is also heavily focused on the subject of options, with books, guides, papers as well as learning tools, calculators, simulators and screeners available to support traders. They’ve got regular webinars on more advanced investing and trading topics that you can register for.
ConclusionMy opinion? If you’re a new investor who’s still learning the ropes, this is not the place for you. I believe that the ideal customer for OptionsHouse is someone who already has some background with investing and trading, who’s fairly comfortable with the markets and who’s really looking for the cheapest trading fees and lowest commissions and transaction rates. But if you fit this profile and you’re watching your trading costs carefully, then this discount brokerage is one I’d consider signing up with. For more details, you can visit them here.
OptionsHouse Review: Low Commission Broker
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]Technology is supposed to increase our productivity and reduce our work hours, yet many of us find the opposite to be true. We feel busier than ever, we stay at the office later than ever, and sometimes we leave without finishing a single task of substance! Do these five things right now and go to your family on time tonight.
1. Clear off your desk. When your office is cluttered, you’ll have the tendency to flutter around it aimlessly, without a clear sense of where you should channel your energy. I suggest thinking of every new item arriving on your desk as an insect that is infiltrating your territory. Your job is to dispose of it as quickly as possible, either by chucking it in the nearest recycling bin or putting it in its proper place. The only material on your desk should pertain to the task you’re working on at that very minute.
2. Get Your Google on. Manage your virtual world more time-efficiently by signing up for Google’s suite of offerings. The products, which include Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Sites, streamline tasks and facilitate collaboration among people working together on projects. Many are free, and the data are safely backed up and available everywhere you have an Internet connection.
3. Don’t buy that plane ticket. Do you really need to meet with that sales rep on the other side of the world? Video calling services like Skype, which is free and available in 28 languages, allow you to connect visually with anyone in the world via a webcam and a microphone. And what about that training seminar that will keep you out of the office for a week? Webinar technology like Cisco WebEx allows for one-way communication from an individual speaker to an audience, and it can include polling and electronic Q&A.
4. Order strategy – instead of donuts – for the team meeting. Do not call team meetings indiscriminately, and don’t put them on the calendar every week so that people take them for granted. Chit chat can be reserved for happy hour. We all know that real project work gets done outside the conference room and that we do not accomplish things simply by talking about them. Please don’t usurp an hour of valuable work time unless the meeting generates important strategy, delegates tasks to ensure team member accountability, or flags problems so that they can be managed before they get out of hand.
5. Nip procrastination in the bud. Raise your hand if you’ve spent weeks putting off a task that should only take a few hours because you know you don’t want to do it and fear you will spend too much time surfing the web and answering your e-mail? Fight the urge to put things off by breaking complex and overwhelming projects down into smaller chunks with easy starting points. After each mini-task has been completed, reward yourself with a special treat.
Alexandra Levit writes on workplace and career issues for the Wall Street Journal and is the author of They Don’t Teach Corporate in College[Image] and How’d You Score That Gig?[Image]
[Image] [Image] [Image]By Xin Lu
[Image]When the Obama administration first announced the details of the Making Home Affordable program in March, the guidelines for the refinance portion stated that the loan refinanced cannot be more than 105% of the value of the home. Now a new expansion of the program allows the loan to value ratio to be up to 125%. Will this help consumers or just worsen the situation?
This is actually the second expansion of the mortgage plan since March. The first expansion allowed people with second mortgages to modify or get rid of their second loans. Here are some examples of what this new change means for borrowers.
Example 1:
Original home value: $600,000
Current loan amount: $480,000
Current home value: $450,000
Loan to value ratio: 106.7%
In this example the borrower would not have been able to qualify for the original plan since the current loan to value ratio is above 105%, but the new change allows this borrower to apply.
Example 2:
Original home value: $500,000
Curent loan amount: $480,000
Current home value: $380,000
Loan to value ratio: 126.3%
In this example the borrower still would not be able to qualify for the refinance program since the drop in home value made the loan amount to be above 125% of the value of the home.
Some changes have occured in the mortgage market since March. First, the 30 year fixed mortgage interest rate has risen by almost a whole percentage point. Additionally, appraisal rules have been tightened so it is possible that appraisals would come in lower than expected. Since the Making Home Affordable Refinance plan does not help borrowers pay any fees on the refinance it may not be worthwhile to go through the process if your mortgage rate is not significantly higher than the market rate.
Finally, it is unclear how successful the Making Home Affordable program is right now since it has been only a few months and there is no official published data on the total effects yet. I think the fact that they are constantly loosening the guidelines is not a good sign. Additionally, it seems foolish to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to continue refinancing debt that they know is bigger than the underlying collateral. This is worse than 100% financing because it is 125% financing. However, if this encourages borrowers to stay away from default, then I guess it is good for the lender.
What do you think? Will this new expansion help you get a lower rate on your mortgage or do you think this program will worsen the current situation?
Permalink | 13 comments | Xin Lu's blog | Channel: Personal Finance, Consumer Affairs, Real Estate and Housing
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]A long time ago, I wrote a brief article about creating a visual debt reminder, something that will help motivate you towards getting rid of debt. Since then, I’ve found myself using such reminders all the time for keeping my finances in order.
The Psychology of the Reminder
A reminder? If a goal is really important to us, why would we need a reminder?
It’s simple. Most of us have really busy lives, and in order to actually make those lives work, we have to adopt some serious routines. If you have only thirty minutes after you wake up and before you’re leaving for work, those thirty minutes are going to have to involve some serious routine - showering, brushing your teeth, eating a quick breakfast, doing one or two other little things, then bolting out the door.
Similarly, any person with children knows how many routines have to go into their life in order to prevent complete chaos from breaking out. There’s a meal routine, a nap routine, a bedtime routine, and so on.
Even our lives out and about are filled with routines - we shop at certain places, get gas at certain places, use the same routes to get places, and so on.
The real kicker is that breaking these routines is hard. Often, it’s not so much the individual act that’s the problem - it’s remembering that individual act and finding a place for it in that busy routine.
For example, I’m trying to find space in my daily routine to (slowly) work up to being able to run a 5K. The problem is, with a thriving writing career, two young children, a marriage that needs care and feeding, a number of other commitments, and personal interests as well, it’s hard to find space for the training.
So I’m using a reminder. I have a single bright note right on my desktop where I can’t miss it that says, “Have you worked towards the 5K today?” I look at it several times a day and, usually the first time I see it, it motivates me to get up and do something to get myself in better shape.
Ten Great Reminders
Different reminders work well for different people and different situations, though. Here are ten things you might want to use in your own situation.
[Image]1. The Progress Bar
This works great if you have a specific numerical goal in mind - for example, you have a certain dollar amount that you’re wanting to save, a certain amount of debt that you’re looking to repay, or a certain weight that you’d like to reach.
It’s simple: just bust out a piece of graph paper (like this one). Figure out what number you’re targeting and what number you’re at now. Then, break the difference between the two down into equal pieces. So, let’s say you have $17,000 in debt and want to pay it all off. You might break it into 17 pieces - $1,000 each - or 34 pieces - $500 each - or 85 pieces - $200 each. Let’s say you want to go from 214 pounds to 180 pounds. You might break that into 34 pieces - 1 pound each. You get the idea.
Then count out a line of that many squares in the middle of the paper, then draw a big box around those squares, similar to what you see on the right here. Write the starting number on the left or bottom of the bar, then the finishing number on the top or right of the bar. You can even write in the increments if you want, or just note what each square is worth.
Then put this reminder somewhere where you’ll see it all the time - on the fridge, for example. It’ll serve as a reminder of your progress - plus, it’ll be quite fun when you make some forward progress and get to fill in a square on that bar.
2. The Pointed Note
This is the technique I’m using for my 5K goal. Just write yourself a very pointed note - “What have you done today to move forward on X?” and put it somewhere where you’re going to bump into it over and over again.
This is perfect for a goal where you need to make a bit of active effort each day - like athletic training. It might be easy at first to simply forget about it during a busy day, but that note forces it into the forefront of your mind.
The key is to make the note pointed - it needs to prod you into taking action - and put it in a place where you’ll be reminded of it with ease every day - or at least each day that you’ll need the reminder.
Some ideas for this kind of reminder: a reminder to network, a reminder to engage in athletic activity, a reminder to take another discrete step on a big project.
[Image]3. The Big Picture
One of my biggest goals in life is to own a house out in the country on a few acres. I’d like a good-sized yard with plenty of room for a vegetable and herb garden and a small barn in the back somewhere to effectively function as a large shed. I might even raise a few chickens on it - who knows!
To keep this in mind, my desktop wallpaper is an image of a nice house in the country with a small barn and a windmill. Whenever I see it, I know what my big goal is.
This can work for any big goal that requires continual multi-dimensional effort to reach. It might be a country home, or it might be any number of other things - a great career, an amazing car, or a happy marriage. Find a picture that signifies exactly what you want, then put it in places where you’ll be reminded of it time and time again.
That little boost will push you, more often than not, just when you need it.
4. The Effort Tracker
As I start jogging more and more, I find that keeping careful track of my efforts and recording them somewhere is very powerful. I have a Nike+ iPod setup that makes it very easy to record my efforts, keeping track of each run in very careful detail, as well as my best mile and my overall averages.
This type of data is incredibly psychologically powerful. When I finish a jog, I can’t wait to go look at my data. Did I get a new “best mile”? Did my average go up (it usually does)? Did I manage to maintain a steady pace?
Putting this “effort tracker” front and center makes it easy to keep up with my goal. The same is true for any such tracker. Perhaps you use Quicken to monitor your money? Have it start when you start up your computer. Maybe you use a spreadsheet to keep track of your weight? Have that spreadsheet appear on startup. That way, you’re faced with all of that data and all of that forward progress - and psychologically, you want to keep it going.
5. The Public Notice
Constant peer pressure can be a very effective reminder of your goals. If everyone around you knows that you’re attempting to quit smoking, they themselves will become reminders, encouraging you to quit, complimenting you on your good choices, and so on.
Thus, one way to create some powerful reminders around you for your goal is to simply email as many people as you can and tell them in detail about your goal. Tell them what you want to achieve and ask them for their help in getting you there. Ask them to steer you straight if they see you having problems, and apologize in advance if you don’t handle their help well (since such goals can be psychologically stressing).
Once you’ve done this, everyone knows about your goal and you’ve given them all permission to be your reminders. Thus, their mere presence becomes a reminder of what you want to achieve.
You can take this another step and combine the goal tracking with your public notice. Create a blog or a Twitter account to talk about your goal in detail, mentioning your progress with specific data, then ship the URL for that blog or Twitter account to your friends so they can keep tab on your progress (and leave positive comments).
6. The Pestering Email
Another way to keep you on focus is to have an automatic email service pester you with reminders by email of your goals. I do this myself, with Google Calendar. I set various target dates in my calendar, then order the calendar to remind me by email of these goals. Sure enough, they pop right into my email inbox, reminding me quite clearly to keep up with a particular project.
For example, let’s say you want to really grow your professional network. Go into Google Calendar, schedule an entry on Friday to “send an email to an old work associate,” then add a reminder 4 days, 3 days, 2 days, one day, and one hour in advance. Then, schedule it to repeat. Each day, you’ll have a reminder telling you to send an email to a work associate - and when you follow through, you’re achieving your big goal.
For people who live out of their email inbox (as I often do), this can be a great way to keep your goal in mind - and keep moving forward on it, bit by bit.
7. The Buddy
Having a buddy who is also trying to move forward with a similar goal as yours can be a wonderful constant reminder of your own personal goal.
Let’s say you’re attempting to eliminate all of your credit card debt. You announce it to a few friends and you learn that one of your friends is actually attempting to do the same thing. Suggest to that person that you buddy up to motivate each other, share tips, and share your progress along the way.
When you hang out together, you can swap stories about how you’re moving forward. You can give each other tips on how to better accomplish that big goal. You can actually engage in the activities together - jogging in the evening, for example, or going to free events together instead of spending money.
That buddy becomes a walking, talking reminder of your goal and, in a fun way, pushes you to achieving more than you thought possible.
[Image]8. The Inspirational Picture
My family inspires me to make almost every good choice I make in my life. They inspired me to take charge of my money. They inspired me to start getting in better shape. They inspired me to take a real swing at writing for a career.
Keeping a simple photograph of my wife and children with me helps keep me motivated to continue making good choices. I have three photographs of them on my desk and I often look at them when I’m having some trouble getting motivated to write. Their faces always help.
Some people get their inspiration from motivational posters. For me, all I really need to do is look at my family and suddenly I’ve got my eye back on the prize.
9. The Repetitive Post-It
When I first made a serious effort to cut my spending, I found it was very hard to break my old routines. I would simply wheel into the bookstore without thinking about it at all and the next thing I knew, I’d be standing in line holding some books.
What really helped was repetitive reminders, which took the form of Post-It notes. I wrote on each one: “Don’t spend anything.” I put them all over. I put one on my dash and one on my rear view mirror. I put one on my computer monitor. I put one on my wallet so I’d see it when I got started in the morning.
Those constant reminders kept the big picture firmly in my head, mostly because the message was nearly inescapable. I saw it all the time and that meant it bubbled up to the top of my mind when I needed it much more often than before. Before long, that reminder was burned into my brain - and the Post-Its had done their job.
10. The Tool Disfigurement
There were times when I would still fall short and find myself on the verge of spending anyway. I’d have an item up there to buy. I’d reach for my wallet, pull out my credit card, and ….
Right there in front of me was all I really needed to see. I’d put the item back and walk out of the store.
What was there? Wrapped around my credit cards was a picture of my son. Yes, the inspirational picture had found its way directly to the tools I used to undermine that inspiration. Seeing my little boy - and reflecting for just a second on him and the good choices I needed to make as a parent - made me step back just long enough for sense to take hold of me.
If you find yourself constantly turning to a tool of some sort to continue a habit you’re trying to break - a bong, a credit card, anything like that - put an inspirational picture there. Put that picture of your kid right on that item and attach it firmly. Make it so that you have to give that reminder a look before you commit that act - and you’ll likely find yourself turning away at the last minute.
Now get out there and achieve something great.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]I was cleaning out the fridge the other day when it hit me just how wasteful it can be.
Think about it for a moment, every dollar you spend on food you throw out may as well have been ripped up and thrown away for all the good it does you. It’s an enormous waste, and depending on how long you leave it in the refrigerator it could be a health hazard.
So, how to prevent it?
Well the first thing that comes to mind is simple:
Eat everything.It sounds easy enough, but lots of things sound easy but don’t turn out that way; especially when you have kids involved. Kids can be notoriously picky eaters, and what’s worse is they can pick it up from the strangest places, so even if you trained them to try anything they can suddenly decide they don’t want something they loved just the other day. There’s very little more annoying than a teenager who wants to go to McDonalds because he doesn’t want to eat leftover spaghetti; even though spaghetti sauce is often better the next day.
Follow past the cut for a few ideas:
Make Just Enough.This is probably the easiest in principle and one of the hardest in practice. Make enough to feed everyone without anyone going hungry or there being any leftovers. The downside to this method is that it can be hard on people who are watching their weight, because if there’s just a little left over, it becomes easy to overeat, and that’s not a good thing.
Make Something You Can Work With.Some kids just don’t like the idea of leftovers: they don’t want to eat the same old thing they had yesterday. Or maybe they decide there’s something wrong with the very idea. One way to deal with this is to make something that you can use for the basis of another dish the next day. Maybe do a roast on Monday, then divide the remaining meat in half - make a stir-fry on Tuesday and a stew on Wednesday. Stews are great for re-using leftovers.
Freeze Single Servings.Don’t just put everything in a container and bung it in the fridge. Instead, take the time to put together single-meal size portions and freeze them. Not only will it last longer that way, but it’s often easier to convince kids to eat something frozen than leftovers from the fridge. It lets you combine economy of scale with the utility of single meals.
These are just a few ideas that have worked for our family over the years; if you have other ideas please don’t hesitate to add them to the comments.
[Image] [Image] [Image]Money can’t buy happiness. Or can it? The TierneyLab blog from The New York Times recently conducted an informal survey. Based on Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior, a new book from Dr. Geoffrey Miller, readers were invited to:
List the ten most expensive things (products, services or experiences) that you have ever paid for (including houses, cars, university degrees, marriage ceremonies, divorce settlements and taxes). Then, list the ten items that you have ever bought that gave you the most happiness. Count how many items appear on both lists.
Yesterday’s TierneyLab column examined the responses. The results are fascinating. Things appearing much more often on ‘expensive’ lists than ‘happy’ lists include:
Items that were on far more ‘happy’ lists than ‘expensive’ lists included:
And, finally, there was some overlap where things were both expensive and fulfilling. These include:
Obviously, these results are not scientific in any way. But they’re interesting.
For myself, I was hard pressed to list ten items on each side. I just listed six or seven. Believe it or not, my Mini Cooper makes both lists. So does our current home. (If I had paid for college, that would have definitely made both lists; I was fortunate to attend on scholarship.) Other than that, though, there’s not a clear relationship between money spent and happiness received.
Dr. Miller offered a brief analysis of the survey results, noting a handful of trends, including:
If you find this topic as interesting as I do, I recommend you read the full post, which contains a lot of additional information and a fuller analysis. Also, the comments on the article are quite good.
[TierneyLab at The New York Times: When money buys happiness, via e-mail from Robin B.]
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Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:
By Paul Michael
[Image]I do a lot of research on the Internet for information about home-made solutions to everyday problems. In fact, I'll be posting one soon that covers recipes for home-made car wax, air freshener and even glue. But on my travels, I discovered a horrifying fact - in these tough economic times, people out there are taking medical matters into their own hands. DIY plastic surgery is on the rise.
Around two years ago, a reliable English paper called Metro reported the outbreak of DIY plastic surgery. The obsession with celebrity culture, and media pressure that make everyone feel bad if they don't look amazing, was leading people to take matters into their own hands. It did not go well.
"In the worst case, a man gave himself a nose job with a chisel and replaced the cartilage he removed with a chicken bone," according to consultant psychiatrist Dr David Veale. "Others have cut their stomachs in DIY tummy tucks, and used glue to try to pin back their ears."
Ouch! It seems more like a story that would appear in the National Enquirer, but unfortunately it's true. That was two years ago, and sadly, things have not improved. A lack of self-confidence and a rise in BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) continues to make people long for the plastic surgeon's knife. And with people suffering from a lack of money and no access to credit, they are becoming desperate. DIY plastic surgery, as horrific as it sounds, continues to gather momentum.
In late 2008, news broke of Hang Mioku, a Korean woman who became so obsessed with plastic surgery that she injected COOKING OIL into her own face.
[Image]
Her face became so grotesquely large that she was called "standing fan" by children in her neighbourhood - due to her large face and small body. And it would seem that even Hang can now see the damage she has done; she now says that she would simply like her original face back.
[Image]
Last month, WCCO's Esme Murphy told the story of a woman who injected herself with silicone to save money on plastic surgery.
"I really thought that I was getting a bargain and I really didn't do my homework like I should have," said the woman who did not want to be identified. Her lips and left cheek are disfigured from silicone she self-injected. She was trying to make her upper lip fuller and fill acne scars. A year and a half ago, another doctor had given her silicone injections. That treatment went well but it wasn't cheap. It was $2700 for a series of three treatment. So she turned to the Internet and found a site advertising silicone for $10."
[Image]
As you can see, the results are awful. She will be disfigured for life unless she pays for a certified plastic surgeon to try and reverse the results.
"Initially I thought I did a good job," said the unfortunate mom from the Twin Cities. However, within a day her lips and cheek were disfigured. "Its very frightening, its very embarrassing having to be in public," she said.
There is even a Technorati page devoted to DIY Plastic Surgery gone wrong, which you can check out yourself here.
And now, which may be even worse, more "legitimate" ways to do the treatment yourself are reaching the market.
For $129 and up, you can buy a hand-held personal laser to remove blotches and smooth out wrinkles. And the REJUVAWAND costs $159 and uses two infra-red wavelengths of laser energy to promises to give similar results to the more expensive Botox and microdermabrasion treatments. Does it work? Doctors say it's too weak a laser to do any damage, but in effect you're wasting a lot of money on an almost useless product.
You can also buy a DIY chemical peel. Dr Denese's Triple AHA/BHA at-home fizzing facial peel promises the same results as a beauty salon treatment at a fraction of the cost. But is it ever a good idea to put these kinds of chemicals on your skin with no medical supervision?
Perhaps the most harmless DIY solution I found was the CoCo "nose job" device, which will give you Cleopatra's Nose! To be honest, it just looks like a strong clothes peg.
[Image]
"CoCo - Beautiful New Look of Nose is available at discerning stores in Japan, Korea and Taiwan from only $7.50. Why spend more on expensive plastic surgery and fancy doctors when you can just 'do it yourself'?"
With the average rhinoplasty procedure costing roughly $5000, what do you think the chances are that a $7.50 product could do the same job? Exactly.
Look, I'm no doctor, but I would like to summarize by saying please, please don't take the frugal option on this and attempt to do it yourself. There is no substitute for medical training and your body is too important to mess with by yourself. There are very few shortcuts to a better body, but plastic surgery is one of them...and it comes with a hefty price. Be prepared to pay it, or you may end paying significantly more to reverse your own home-made medical mistakes. Or worse, pay for it for the rest of your life with horrible disfigurements, bad health and chronic pain.
Permalink | 9 comments | Paul Michael's blog | Channel: Frugal Living, Consumer Affairs, DIY
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]By Carrie Kirby
[Image]Summer vacation can be expensive for families with children. If the kids are not enrolled in camp programs which are in their own right pricey, the empty hours can weigh heavily and lead to an excess of wallet-emptying entertainment. Here are some things that kids can do this summer for free or for cheap:
Permalink | 4 comments | Carrie Kirby's blog | Channel: Art and Leisure
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]By Paul Michael
[Image]Today's WISEBUY. AMERICAN EAGLE Up To 70% Off Plus FREE s/h on 3 or more items (dealnews)
American Eagle Outfitters cuts up to 70% off items in its clearance section. Plus, orders of three or more items receive free shipping.
[Image]1. FREE Caribou Coffee Medium Wild Cooler
You can get a printable coupon for a free medium Wild Cooler at Caribou Coffee when you approve the Wild Up Application on Facebook. Once you add the application you can take one of your Facebook photos and add some wild accessories to it. When you are finished with your picture you can print out the coupon (your crazy pic will print above the coupon).
[Image]2. FREE Sample Of Dove Calming Night Body Wash
Dove Calming Night Body Wash has a unique formula and calming fragrance leaves you feeling pampered, relaxed and ready for sleep. Complete the form & submit for your FREE sample.
[Image]3. FREE - Two Free Admission Weekends For Over 100 National Parks
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As I’ve mentioned before on here, my family did not have a lot of money growing up. My parents were always able to make ends meet and keep dinner on the table, but there was never really a sense of getting ahead. Instead, there was always a sense of just barely enough.
That’s not to say that I had a deprived childhood, though - I didn’t. My parents - my mother in particular - found lots of little ways to get me the things I wanted or needed. We went to the library all the time. I was always allowed to get a book or two from the book order. And when there were windfalls, I would often get something very nice - a new video game, typically, or a few new books all at once.
One thing my parents often did, though, was make Christmas and my birthday into very big events. They would ask me what I wanted months in advance and encourage me to make lists. Since my birthday was in the middle of summer, by the middle of most springs, I was already puzzling over my birthday list, letting it often consume my thoughts. Similarly, I was already getting started on my Christmas list by Labor Day.
My parents did this for what seems like a very good reason. Since there weren’t a lot of resources around to give me a healthy allowance or to buy me lots of things, they would instead channel my childhood desires towards two big days. Then, they would save up their nickels and dimes and try very hard to make my birthdays and Christmases memorable.
This was really effective in my childhood years. Instead of nagging my parents for things I wanted, I’d stew on them. I’d write down a wish list, revise it, and start over again a few times. I’d pore over the Christmas catalogs like a researcher in the library of Alexandria.
What really happened, though, is that these things that I wanted consumed my thoughts for a big part of the year. I’d spend my time stewing over that list, thinking about the things I wanted, and as I grew older, I began to dream about other ways to get them. I started an aluminum can collecting project - one that actually ended quite sadly, I started doing lots of piecework for my father’s fishing business, and I tried several other small-scale entrepreneurial tasks.
But the problem signs were already in place. As soon as I earned anything, I was already plotting about buying one of those things I had wanted and stewed about for so long. I’d take the $50 from aluminum can sales and rush straight to the local department store (Jacks, a now-defunct chain) to buy a video game.
This only escalated throughout my college years, and by the time I was a young adult, I was still focused heavily on the material things I wanted. Of course, then, with a nice income and access to credit cards, it became very easy to just simply go get all of those things I wanted.
And I did.
I bought multiple DVDs and multiple CDs and a video game pretty much every week. I went out to eat all the time. I went to London and stayed in a hotel room overlooking Hyde Park.
In short, I no longer had a wish list. Instead, I just did these things as they came to mind. All that stewing about the things I wanted finally came to fruition.
How I Fixed This
So what did I do to fix this problem?
The biggest realization - for me - was that this was a never-ending road. There would always be something else to want, no matter what I purchased for myself. I would always be wanting something more.
Thus, if that’s true, isn’t all the money spent trying to sate those desires just money wasted? Even worse, wasting all that money meant that I wasn’t achieving the big things I dreamed for in my life - becoming a writer, providing a safe financial foundation for my wife and my kids, owning a nice house in the country.
What I found was that if I cut back big time on my discretionary spending, I didn’t really lose much at all. Sure, there were still many things that I wanted - and there still are - but that would be true regardless of how much I spent. Instead, now I’m actually using and enjoying the things that I buy. On the occasions when I do choose to buy something for myself, I take my time both on the purchase (researching it and choosing the best deal) and on the enjoyment of the item (reading the book, playing through the video game, and so on).
The “wants” are still there, but they no longer run the show in terms of my spending, simply because I realized that no matter how much I spent, the “wants” would still be there - a ghost I could never catch.
The Parenting Hat
So what can we do to help my children out with this issue?
Our first tactic is to simply strongly de-emphasize wants. We don’t ask for birthday lists or Christmas lists. Instead, we just listen to them and note down anything they might mention.
During the lead-up to the holidays, our gift-related conversations revolve around giving. We talk about good, reasonably-priced items that people would particularly like. Instead of focusing on what we want, we focus on what Luke or Brittany might want - and how we can make them happy for a reasonable cost.
Second, we don’t watch many commercials - and we talk about the ones we do. If my son sees a commercial for a toy or a type of junk food that makes him want the item, even though he’s three, we talk about it a bit. I usually point out how only the good side is shown - and how we already have similar things.
A great example happened a few evenings ago. My son saw a commercial for some type of Batman action figure - he wanted one, and he told me loudly. First, I suggested that he instead play with the action figures he does have (mostly leftovers from my own childhood, honestly). He said he didn’t want them - instead, he wanted Batman. So, then, I suggested if he didn’t want them any more, why don’t we give them away to kids who might want them? He didn’t like that suggestion at all, at which point I suggested that he pull out his favorites and we’d get down to business. By that point, he had completely forgotten about Batman and instead found himself excited to pull out the action figures he already had.
I really believe this is the key. Instead of focusing happiness on things he doesn’t have, I strive to focus his immediate joy on the things he already has. That way, he doesn’t have that burning desire for more things.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]A mortgage pre-approval letter was very helpful for my wife and I when we started looking for houses about 8 months ago. My wife’s mom is a real estate agent, so she helped us every step of the way, but many agents won’t deal with buyers who aren’t pre-approved for a loan. They don’t want to spend a lot of their time to find out later that their buyer can’t qualify for a mortgage.
Buying a house, no matter what the market is like, should never be taken lightly. Owning a home isn’t always a good idea. You should only buy a house when you are financially and mentally prepared to go through with the biggest purchase of your life. Here are some questions to ask yourself before you start looking for houses with a real estate agent.
How much home can I afford?
Generally, about three times your gross pay is a good figure to start with. So, if you make $50,000 a year, you could look for a house somewhere between $125,000 and $175,000. Use this mortgage calculator to play with different purchase prices and mortgage types to see what your mortgage payment will be. If the payment exceeds 30% of your gross pay, then you should start lowering your target purchase price.
Where should I apply for a loan?
This depends on your situation and how much you are going to contribute to a down payment. If you shoot for putting 10% down, you’ll have a larger pool of options. Conventional loans from your big commercial banks typically require that you put down a 10% down payment and a stellar credit rating. They will give you prime rates and their fees have become more competitive since the housing meltdown. Credit unions are also a great option, but they also require larger down payments and good credit scores.
If you have a less than perfect credit score and you were planning on doing a 5% down payment, then consider applying for an FHA loan or for a loan from a wholesale lender. Mortgage brokers are better at offering these types of loans, because they can shop around between dozens of different companies. Just make sure that you don’t get nickel and dimed by the broker.
What’s on my credit report?
Before you start applying for a loan, request a copy of your free credit report from Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. If you are married, pull all three for you and your spouse. Make sure there are no mistakes on the credit reports. If there are, all three agencies now have an online system for credit report disputes. If you have any outstanding bad debts on your credit report, those most likely be required to be paid before you can close on the loan or get pre-approved.
What Documentation Do I Need To Provide To Get Pre-Approved?
There may be other documentation required later in the process or even for pre-approval, but these are the major documents required by most lenders for pre-approval.
The Advantages
You’ll be treated with more respect by buying and selling agents and they’ll be more willing to help you find the right home. Sellers will be more likely to accept your offer if they know that the deal will go through. You’ll also close more quickly, because the loan processing can be the part that hangs up a real estate deal the most.
Next up, interest rates and picking the right mortgage product.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]This is a guest post from Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the advisor for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. He contributes one new article to Get Rich Slowly every two weeks.
[Image]A couple of weeks ago, I spoke to a group of elementary-school teachers about their 403(b) plan (the 401(k) equivalent for non-profit employers, in case you didn’t know). Like most investors, they were a bit shell-shocked over what’s happened over the past 20 months or so.
Many asked whether they should be contributing to their retirement accounts at all, given that the S&P 500 is still down approximately 40% from its October 2007 high, even after the rally we’ve seen since early March. It’s understandable. By some metrics, the past decade has been even worse than what happened during the Great Depression.
My answer was, yes, you should still contribute to your retirement accounts. The tax breaks are just too good to pass up. Money you contribute to a traditional 401(k) or 403(b) reduces your taxable income, so it’s essentially a tax deduction. Plus, you don’t pay taxes on any interest, dividends, or gains until you withdraw the money in retirement. That’s known as tax-deferred growth, and ends up providing more money in retirement.
Now, if your boss doesn’t match your contributions to the company plan, you might be better off in a Roth IRA, which doesn’t give you a tax break today, but gives you one in retirement. Whichever account you choose, you should still keep saving; it’s the only way you’ll be able to retire. If you can’t stand the volatility of the stock market, invest in bonds or even cash. Just keep saving!
Stocks for the Really Long Run
That said, I do think most investors should have some of their money in stocks. Especially the 30-something teacher who told me that she couldn’t stand seeing her account balance drop, drop, and drop last fall, so she sold everything and has been in cash ever since. Again, I understand — it’s not easy watching years of savings seemingly disappear in a matter of months. But it’s important to remember that investment success isn’t based on how much you have right now, but how much you’ll have when you need it. Staying too conservative for too long can increase the chances that you’ll come up short.
The truth is, folks, your investment time horizon might be longer than you think. Let’s assume the teacher I met is 35 years old and plans to retire at 65. That’s 30 years of investing ahead of her. But she won’t sell all her investments on the day she retires.
Sure, she should have at least 40% of her money in bonds at that point — and perhaps even more, if she’s more conservative — but she can’t play it too safe. Because at age 65, the average woman lives another 20 years; the average 65-year-old dude lasts another 17 years. Marriage actually increases the chances that one spouse will make it even five years longer (my wife doesn’t believe it). And those are the averages; half of the population will live longer.
Add in lengthening life expectancies, and our 35-year-old teacher could reasonably expect to be living — and investing — well into her 90s. Of course, by then she should be playing it very safe, perhaps with only 10% to 20% of her assets in stocks. But it means that a stock (or mutual fund) that she buys today could still be in her portfolio by the year 2070.
Historically, with a timeframe that long, stocks have been the investment of choice. The chart below indicates how often from 1871 to 2006 that stocks beat bonds over various holding periods, courtesy of the fourth edition of Jeremy Siegel’s classic Stocks for the Long Run.
[Image]If 2007 and 2008 were included in these numbers, all those percentages would be lower, including a 30-year period when bonds beat stocks (assuming that the bonds used were long-term Treasuries). So I’m definitely not saying that stocks are riskless investments as long as you hold on long enough.
But I still find the historical odds very compelling, especially for a multi-decade investment time horizon. And let’s face it: Most of us will need stock-like returns to be able to retire and ensure that our portfolio keeps up with inflation over such a long timeframe. But that’s a topic for a future article.
In the meantime, have some fun (or grim reality) with the longevity calculator at www.livingto100.com to get an idea of how long your portfolio will have to last.
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By WC Porter
[Image]Say you want to have yourself a drink—whether it's because work has been rough or the kids have been especially bad—without spending a ton of money. You'll find tons of advice on how to save money on booze. From BYOBs to specific recommendations for wine.
Let's say you've moved on from the days of buying dirt-cheap 30-packs of beer and want to be a little classy. So you decide to get some wine.
Let's be honest: most of us browse for wine at a restaurant (or at the liquor store) and don't have a clue. Then there is the waiter, who is just trying to be helpful: The 2001 Bordeaux is just fabulous!
It may be fabulous but you just might not like it.
There are also tons of books out there listing cheap wine that has already been through exhaustive testing and tasting from wine experts. Books like The Wine Trials, which a friend gave me and is very helpful but still doesn't do the trick.
The problem with wine is that it's a very fickle beast. You may find a bottle of wine to be really fantastic and tasty (official wine-expert terms, fyi), while critics and experts think it's trash. Does it matter? Nope.* If you like it, that's all that counts—it'll still get you just as buzzed as the fancy, expensive stuff.
The only real way (and the best way) to find cheap wine that you know you'll like is to taste as many as you can without spending a lot of money. That's where wine tastings come into play.
I just attended my first one a couple of weeks ago and here's how they all basically work:
Some people spit the wine out into a spittoon (do NOT mistake your glass for that!) but most people just drink it. I've only been to a few, but the whole thing is a lot of fun.
I'm no expert, but here are my tips to getting the most out of the experience:
Wine isn't for everyone—but that's mostly because people are intimidated by what they don't know. Wineries are the perfect antidote: you'll have a chance to taste a bunch of different wines and figure out what you like and don't like. Forget about what the experts say—follow your instincts and your taste buds.
They'll lead you to the wines that taste good without breaking the bank.
P.S. If you really want to learn more about wine, check out Wine Library TV, run by the infamous Gary Vaynerchuk—he's all about bringing wine to the people.
* There's a raging debate about this in the wine community. Should you care? Not really.
Permalink | 5 comments | WC Porter's blog | Channel: Frugal Living, Food and Drink
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]I was surfing the ‘net last night, searching for a good topic for today’s post, when I came across this gem of a video. It’s not long, but if you don’t have time to watch right now, it basically outlines the budget problems various states are facing, due to the economic crisis.
Particularly interesting to me is that California is considering issuing IOUs, instead of paying their bills. Now, I could be wrong, but if I owed the state money at tax time, I don’t think they’d look too kindly on my sending an IOU in the mail.
It seems that the government could take a lesson from those of us who are diligent to budget our money day in and day out, especially those of us who regularly budget for irregular income.
Most people with irregular incomes have good months and bad months, good years and bad years. During the good years, a wise person puts money aside for bad years. And during the bad years, he has money available to cover the difference between his income and his essential outflow.
The same should be true for the government. Over the course of history our economy moves in cycles. Some years are good…very good. But other years are horribly bad. The problem, as I see it, is that the government tends to use the extra income in the good years for pet projects. Politicians on both sides of the fence dangle promises in front of the citizens, hoping that they will win favor and get re-elected.
It’s not popular to say, “We don’t have enough money to fund this project.” But it is necessary. It’s even necessary when the thing being funded seems essential. Just ask a single mother, who has had to make the choice of whether to put food on the table for her children or to see a doctor about persistent headaches. Both are essential, yet sometimes only one can be chosen. If there isn’t enough money, then there just isn’t enough money. It isn’t fair and it isn’t good, but racking up debt month after month will only make the problem worse.
Fortunately there are probably a lot of non-essential (but unpopular) cuts that can be made in any government, state or federal. Unfortunately, I don’t think our politicians are willing to make that step.
I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do know it frustrates me when I see governments, funded to serve us by hard earned taxpayer money, not able to control their budgets. My answer would have been to sock away money during our high flying years, but unfortunately that time has passed.
What do you think? Is there a solution? Have the state and federal governments been responsible in their stewardship of taxpayer money?
Photo by Clinton Steeds.
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Happy Canada Day! What, you've never heard of Canada Day? That's because I just made it up. Canada's not even a place; I just made that up, too. Where was I? Oh, yes. Independence Day, that one. Wow, it's almost here, which means that summer is getting close to being half over. That makes me sad, does it make you sad? Good, now read these linked articles and feel better. At least there are people out there who know more about finance than you do, and that is good.
Heh, Canada Day. I kill me!
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Permalink | 6 comments | Andrea Dickson's blog | Channel: Personal Finance
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]Last time, I wrote about how we can predict inflation using a market index as an inflation indicator. For the chartists and other crystal ball readers out there, here’s something else for you: is there a way to predict when the economic downturn has ended?
Is The Economic Downturn Really Over?Based on some simplistic observations, here’s how I can tell when things are getting better: the stock market has recovered somewhat from its lows (despite claims by some technical analysts that it’s supposed to “retest” previous lows before any meaningful recovery can resume) and the job market has either stabilized or begun to improve, with more companies looking to hire again. I’m actually getting more inquiries from headhunters about my availability for technical jobs around here in Silicon Valley (imagine that: they still have my resume!), and I’m getting more inquiries from online advertisers as well. Signs of life?
According to a certain economist, the recession is indeed now over. Do you believe it? It may be hard to catch on to the idea that we’re now supposedly out of the economic slump that was so dramatically sparked by the twin American nightmares that were the subprime mortgage mess and credit crisis. Then again, the thing about recessions, they’re in with a bang and out with a whimper (or if you prefer another analogy, they’re in like a lion, but out like a lamb).
Robert Gordon is the economist who’s responsible for this call. He is using a single indicator upon which to base his conclusions: unemployment benefit claims. According to MSN Money’s article on this, history has shown that when the number of employees who file for unemployment benefits has peaked, the recession bottoms out shortly after that. It appears that this has in fact been true over the last 6 recession cycles we’ve had. Just check out this intriguing chart, care of MSN Money:
[Image]The chart plots the recession cycles (pink shaded areas) against Initial Jobless Claims. As you can see, the peak in claims coincides with the end of each recession since the late ’60s. But if you aren’t entirely convinced that you can read the recession this way, then there are also a few other variables that have been used to make determinations about the health of the economy: total payroll jobs, industrial production and the unemployment rate.
Well, I’m all for better times ahead. So what happened to all that talk about the “Next Great Depression”? Do you feel that we’re finally out of the woods? I want to exhale just a little, but my spouse is still waiting for the next shoe to drop. I wonder if he’ll be waiting for a while.
Is The Economic Downturn Over?
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]Amazon has just released a new set of grocery coupon codes for this month and as usual I post them in a list sorted by amount so it is more convenient to pick those with the best value. All coupons below expire July 31, 2009.
The discount in parenthesis is what you will get if you use Amazon Subscribe & Save program. If you like these Amazon coupons, I also recommend you to check out these Amazon discount codes. The best part is that these codes don’t have an expiration date!
Amazon coupon codes for July 2009 $10 off $25Skippy, Wishbone, Heillman/Best FoodsSKIPBERT $10 off $29Mr. Z’s JerkyJERKY558 $10 off $30Roland FoodsROLAND79 $15 off $49Khaya CookiesKHAYA709 $20 off $49Spiro Sport FoodSPIRO709 5% (20%) offEat Natural BarsEATNAT22 10% (25%) offGenisoyGENISOY6 10% offJack’s HarvestJACKS709 10% offPaldo and TeumsaeNOODLE69 15% (25%) offPeeled SnacksPEELSNK8 15% (30%) offWellington CrackersWELLING5 15% offOxygen, Dallmayr, Nofet Dagan, and MoreGMTJUL79 15% offSource AtlantiqueSOURCE55 15% offManischewitzHX6MMT6Z 15% offSweet Leaf TeaSWEETLEF 15% offGood GroceryGROCERY7 15% offFirst JuiceFIRSTJUS 15% offItalian ProductsTAZZAD69 15% offSeaBearSEABEAR7 15% offExcaliburEXCALIBR 15% offHawaii KaiSEASALT9 15% offFischer & WieserFISCHWE5 15% offSmokin’ Joe JonesSBBQ0709 20% off $100Elegant Cheese CakesELEGANT7 20% (35%) offHomemade DressingsSALAD355 20% offGuiltless GourmetGUILTL99 20% offSushi ChefSUSHI709 20% offNapoleonNAPOIL54 20% offSaveurs de la TerreENCORE35 20% offCafe HaloCAFEHAL8 20% offGourmemistMISTJUL9 20% offOrobelloCRACKORO 20% offMadhouse MunchiesMADHS777 20% offEthical Bean CoffeeBEANJUL9 20% offJohnny’sJOHNSEA2 25% off(buy two)Sea’s GiftSEAWED69 25% (40%) offSplendaSPLNDLFE 25% (40%) offSun Crystal Natural SweetenersSUNSWTNR 30% (45%) offPemicanGRATJRKY 30% offBertolliMMMSAUCE 30% offSophia’s GourmetSOPHIA77 30% offHoneytreeHONEYT32 30% offStar Olive OilSTAROLV5 35% (50%) offVita CocoVCOCO355 35% (50%) offGevaliaCAWFEE50 35% (50%) offGoing NativeNATVGO35 35% (50%) offCorazonas ChipsCHPHEAR5New York Times techonology writer David Pogue, a writer I admire, recently listed some of his best productivity tips — and it’s a good list. One thing I noted with interest is that he uses his email inbox as a to-do list, which is a fairly common practice.
And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, and I’ve done it myself, I wanted to make a quick counterargument.
An email inbox isn’t the best to-do list, and here’s why:
1. You can’t change the subject lines. This means your to-do list is made up of subject lines that often have nothing to do with the action you need to take. An email that says “today’s meeting” might really be an action to call someone or send a file to someone. You’ll need to open each email to find the actions, which is very inefficient. Or, you’ll need to remember what actions are associated with each email, and that defeats the point of a to-do list … the list is supposed to remember for you, and take the stress away from your brain.
2. There might be multiple actions in each email. What if an email contains 10 to-do items? You can’t delete or archive the email when you’ve done one or two of the actions. It’ll remain in your inbox until all 10 are done, as if nothing has been done. Also, you might forget that there are multiple actions in an email and file or delete it when you’ve done one of the actions — either that or you’ll be forced to remember that there are multiple actions in the email, again defeating the purpose of a to-do list.
3. You can’t re-order the emails (usually). Many email programs (such as the wonderful Gmail) just show the emails in the order they come in. Which means if you want to put the most important items at the top, you can’t. If you want to group all the items for errands, you’ll have to create a label for that and look there. It’s not as flexible as even the most simple to-do program.
4. You can’t prioritize your to-dos. Most readers know that I’m a fan of choosing your top 3 Most Important Tasks each day (see The Power of Less and Zen To Donefor more). But you can’t list just your top 3 Most Important Tasks in email — you have to list them all. In the order they come in. It’s possible to do a workaround for this, and create a label or folder just for important tasks, but then why use your email as a to-do list? Why not use an actual to-do list that works the way it’s supposed to?
5. An email inbox contains distractions. This is probably the worst thing on this list: if you’re looking at your to-dos in email, you’re in very big danger of new emails coming in and distracting you. I think it’s a bad idea to have email on all the time — it makes it difficult to focus. I’d prefer a simple to-do list that allows you to shut off email while you’re trying to get important work done.
So what’s a better method? Simple: choose a simple to-do list and as you process your email inbox, pull out the actions to the to-do list. A notebook or index card works fine, as does a simple program such as Taskpaper (my current favorite) or even a text file in Notepad or TextEdit. If you set up a keyboard shortcut for your to-do app or file, it just takes a second to copy and paste a to-do from an email.
I’m not saying you can’t work well and get great things done using an email inbox as a to-do list. David Pogue obviously manages to get a lot done this way, and I’ve done it from time to time. But it’s not the best way, at least for those who like a simple way to find individual, actionable items, to prioritize tasks, and to work without distractions.
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By Linsey Knerl
[Image]I’m a sucker for brand-name cleaning supplies, and while it’s no crime to be brand-loyal and use what works best for you and your family, often times there are shortcuts that can cut back on cleaning time – and out-of-pocket expenses. The July issue of All You Magazine had some of the most inspiring ways to get your cleaning jobs done for less. Here are my top picks, along with some additional ways to stretch that dollar!
1. Sanitize your Sponges
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Synthetic sponges and kitchen cloths are super-convenient to have on hand, but we all know that after just a few uses, they can get a bit funky-smelling. Instead of throwing them out and buying new ones (a total waste of money), or just tossing them into the wash (which doesn’t always work,) why not use this clever tip from All You? Fill up your kitchen sink with hot water, add one cup of bleach, and toss those stinky things right in! Bacteria will be gone for good, leaving your sponges fresh-smelling again. (You’ll also have a shinier sink to show for it!)
2. Measure it
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Are you using 2x or more concentrated detergent? Chances are good that the products you use today are twice as potent as the ones we used years ago. Pay careful attention to measure out only what you need to get your cleaning tasks done efficiently (read the label and the fill lines, first.) Not only are you saving money by avoiding unnecessary over-portioning, but you can save your clothes and other household surfaces from an early demise. Too much cleaner can be harmful!
3. Sweep it up
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I know a trick for using that popular sweeping tool without buying the expensive refill cloths. Simply cut old polar fleece clothing into the same size and shape as your brand-name, disposable cleaning cloths, and use them to pick up all the dirt, lint, and hair that plagues your hard-surface flooring. Toss them in the wash to use again and again! (Another snazzy trick is to try used dryer sheets in the same way – only using them once for their new purpose, of course. Talk about getting extra miles out of your cleaning products!)
4. No shoes allowed
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There is a very good reason to ask your family and guests to leave their shoes at the door. Not only does it guarantee that dirt and mud won’t get tracked throughout your home, but it can give your carpeting and hardwood floors an extra lease on life (less scratches, snags, and general wear-and-tear.) You’ll rest easy knowing that you’re also contributing to a healthier environment inside your home – the soles of your shoes can carry more icky germs than a typical toilet seat!
5. Pare down your Cleaning Arsenal
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There really are one-size-fits-all cleaning products on the market, one of them being my personal favorite, Oxy Clean. The all-purpose cleaner is available at most any store, and it isn’t more than $4 or so for a 1.5 pound tub (I also reuse the empty containers to store clothespins, kids’ crayons, or random nails and bolts.) Advertised with having over 100 uses around the home, I’ve really only tried about 10 or so. I can say that the best use for the stuff is removing those “impossible” stains. (Recently my daughter sat on a melted blue crayon in the backseat of our car. After letting the colored wax cool and harden, I scraped most of it off with a knife, then dampened the area and sprinkled it with Oxy Clean. After working the product into the denim with an old toothbrush, I rinsed it in cool water and threw it in the wash. You can’t see any signs of the offending crayon!) Bottom line: If you find a versatile cleaning product that fills the needs of more than one routine, consolidate – don’t duplicate!
6. Get floors spotless with the power of steam
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I’m a huge fan of the steaming floor cleaner. In fact, I’ve had several models in my lifetime (not because they wore out, but because I love trying new models!) A good steam-powered floor cleaner will leave your floors sanitized, squeaky-clean, and streak-free within minutes, and the best part is that they require no chemicals or additional product: just the pure ingredient of water! Investing in a $85 – 120 model may seem like a chunk of change, but when you factor in the cost of floor cleaners over the life of the steamer and consider how much safer and environmentally-friendly your new mop is, the cost is justifiable. Most mops also come with everything you need to do several rooms with a moment’s notice – including enough microfiber cleaning heads to get you started. There is no waste, and water is the cheapest cleaner we know of!
Ready to learn more clever tips for keeping your home clean on a dime (or less)? Check out the entire article in the July issue of All You magazine.
Permalink | 13 comments | Linsey Knerl's blog | Channel: Frugal Living, DIY, Green Living
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]By Paul Michael
[Image]Self-promotion is not easy. Whether you're a high six-figure consultant, or earning $10 an hour in retail, you still have to talk about yourself in the right way. And one of the key ingredients of self-promotion is the resume. Nail it, and you get your foot in the door. Blow it, and you blow your chances at a better job, better career or even a better life.
As a professional advertising copywriter, I've been asked many, many times to help friends and relatives with their resumes. And while I don't claim to be an expert on resumes, I have helped a lot of people get jobs. So, I thought it was long overdue to share some of the things I've learned about writing resumes over the years, especially after writing an article on interview questions.
Now, I'm not promising that this article will guarantee you a new job. Obviously, your own experience and background is, at the end of the day, the deciding factor. But I can give you advice that will at least get you noticed for all the right reasons. Ready? Then let's begin.
1: Use a word processing program
Employ a program like Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, MS Works or even a professional design application (e.g. InDesign or Adobe Illustrator) to layout your resume. In the past, it was OK to use a typewriter or, in some cases, write it by hand, but no-one will take you seriously if you can't demonstrate basic computer skills. However, try and avoid a standard resume template.
Your resume should include:
Lay this out neatly in your own way, and your resume will not look like a carbon copy of everyone else's resume. Remember, you are selling YOU as an individual. Your resume, even the way it looks, is a reflection of who you are.
2: Use good (but not perfect) grammar
You don't need to go out of your way to make your resume read like an English term paper, but use good judgment. A resume is a professional document and should be treated in that way. Just as you wouldn't start a business letter with "Like hey dude, how's it going?" you shouldn't be as lax with your resume.
However, these are modern times and you can use a little conversational verbiage, coupled with a few grammatical rule-breakers. It's OK to end a sentence with a preposition, it's even OK to have a one or two word sentence. If you work in a very creative industry, you can break even more rules (I once saw a great resume that was written as a poem...but that was a huge exception to the rule). In general, make it respectful, polite and something you would be happy for your bank manager to read.
3. Practice the art of concision
Mark Twain once wrote "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." It's not easy to be concise, but a resume is an essential place to practice restraint. In these tough economic times, employers are inundated with hundreds of applicants for every one job opening. They don't have the time or inclination to read your life story over a five or six page resume. ONE PAGE is ideal, but it is acceptable to go to two pages. Any longer than that and you may as well mail your resume to the nearest paper recycling plant. Some of you may say that I could use a lesson in concision myself, but this blog gives me the luxury of limitless writing space and an audience that is looking to read, and be entertained as well as informed. An employer's time is valuable; the information is paramount.
4. Don't include pointless and obvious information
I have lost track of the number of times I have read about hobbies that include movies, reading, sports, eating out and spending time with family. While you're at it, why not put "breathing, sleeping a minimum of six hours per night, and eating three square meals per day." If you have something stellar as a hobby, and it has some relevance to the job, by all means put it down. But if you have nothing out of the ordinary to say, don't say it. Your collection of antique teapots may mean the world to you, but it won't to your average human resources manager in an accounting firm.
5. Never, ever lie
Don't ever be tempted to lie, or embellish your resume. The problem with lies is that they will catch up with you sooner or later. You will either be discovered before you are hired, or even worse, get found out when you're doing the job. Be honest and give the right dates, places, numbers and facts about previous employment. Don't make up education you don't have, and don't say you're a whiz on Photoshop when you can hardly even open your email.
6. Custom-build your resume
Every job is different; therefore, every resume should be different. When I talk about concision, it also applies to the kind of information you include, or don't, on your resume. If you have some great experience in marketing, you obviously push that on a resume for a marketing or advertising job. If you're applying to be a bartender, you may want to put a focus on something else. Tailor your resume to fit the job you're applying for.
7. Don't be shy about major successes
Be specific about your past and current achievements and accomplishments. Employers love facts that back up your story, so if you increased productivity in your department by 125%, don't by shy about saying so. If you tripled sales, let people know. If you were promoted in record time, make a note of it. This is the perfect time to blow your own trumpet.
8. Don't make assumptions
Although concision is vitally important, make sure you don't cut so much information that the employer becomes confused. For instance, you may know all too well what "Scrambunkle & Son" did as a company, but your future employer may not know them from Adam. And although you know what an acronym stands for, it may not be as famous as N.A.S.A., so spell it out once. Basically, be brief, but clarify important points.
9. Big words won't impress most people
I've seen a few resumes come across my desk that looked like a page from a Dickensian thesaurus. Sure, you may feel proud of yourself for using words like floccinaucinihilipilification (which is, for those of you not in the know, the "estimation of something as valueless"); but your average employer will appreciate it if your resume is not like reading War & Peace. There's no need to hide your intelligence, and again you should tailor it to the job, but use common sense. Write well, write clearly, write concisely, and write without trying to prove you're a smartass.
10. Good spelling is not optional
Speaking of writing well, this one is paramount: please, please double-check the spelling and then ask someone else to double-check it for you (they may catch something you've become blind to). And DO NOT proof it on-screen; print it out, it's much easier to catch errors that way. A typo in your resume is one huge fly in the ointment. It's the equivalent of turning up to an interview wearing a ketchup-stained t-shirt. Your resume is the first impression you will give to your interviewer; what do you think they will do with a resume that has not even been spell-checked? Yep, it's lining the cat's litter box.
11. Consistency is important
This is another exercise in putting your best foot forward. If you start each heading in 12pt Helvetica Bold Italic, do them all that way. If you italicize a heading, italicize them all. If the first section of your resume is indented, all of them should be. The age of email and instant messenger has made many of us lazy, but a resume is no place to be careless. And choose a readable font too, preferably a classic serif font like Times 11pt. With consistency, you make your resume easier to read. Without it, your potential future employer won't know what to make of the various formatting choices.
12. Don't be cheap with paper choices
This is one of the rare occasions that I will advise you to splurge. A beautifully formatted, perfectly spelled, amazingly concise resume is not going to look as impressive on crappy paper. Pop down to the local Kinkos and ask them to print out some copies on a good quality paper, perhaps one with a watermark or slight tint to it. Alternatively, buy some good paper and print it out yourself on your home-printer's highest setting. Either way, you will have something that looks and feels like a quality document worthy of consideration.
Those are my 12 steps to a good resume. I'm sure many professional resume writers can add to the list (and please, use the comments area for additional advice) but I believe this is an excellent list for anyone taking on the task of writing their own resume.
Next time, I'll give some advice on writing a cover letter. I don't see it as being as important as a resume because it's not always required. But when it is, you need to get that just right as well. Good luck.
Permalink | 6 comments | Paul Michael's blog | Channel: Career and Income, Life Hacks, Career Building, General Tips
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]This is the first of twelve parts of a “book club” reading and discussion of Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover, where this book on debt reduction is teased apart and looked at in detail. This first entry covers the preface and the first two chapters, finishing on page 16. The next entry, covering the third chapter, will appear on Saturday.
[Image]Let’s get this straight right off the bat. I like what Dave Ramsey has to say when it comes to personal finance. I find much of his material makes a lot of sense and he does a great job of balancing a “coaching” attitude without going too over the top a la Larry Winget.
That being said, I don’t care much at all about his political commentary. I know that his relationship with Fox News pretty much requires a conservative bent, but his political perspectives feel very much out in right field to me with only a tenuous connection at best to his personal finance talk.
Given that, I’m going to completely ignore his politics for this discussion. If it’s not inside The Total Money Makeover, which is an excellent book on debt reduction and focus, I’m not going to talk about it.
Ahem.
So what exactly is The Total Money Makeover all about? It’s just a very straightforward plan for getting in control of your finances, particularly in terms of overcoming a heavy load of debt. Many people have “turned the corner” - meaning they’ve realized that debt is dangerous and are actually committed to spending less - but the mountain of debt they’ve incurred makes it almost impossible to move forward. That’s exactly who the book is written for.
‘80% Behavior, 20% Head Knowledge’
Right off the bat, on the first page of the introduction, the basic idea is made clear:
I am positive that personal finance is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge. Our concentration on behavior - realizing that most folks have a good idea of what to do with money but not how to do it - has led us to a different view of personal finance. Most financial people make the mistake of trying to show you the number, thinking that you just don’t get the math. I am sure that the problem with my money is the guy in the mirror.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. All of us know that it’s important to save and can see the numbers on how useful it really is. The trick is actually doing it - and that’s all psychology.
If you don’t truly make up your mind to achieve financial success, you’ll hold back. You won’t save - or you won’t save much. You’ll keep telling yourself that “later” is the right time to do it.
And then you’ll find yourself in ten years having not made any progress on your big goals in life.
The choice to start spending less than you earn is a hard one, but it’s the most important one. That choice has nothing to do with math, with running the numbers, or anything else. It’s inside your head.
If You Will Live Like No One Else, Later You Can Live Like No One Else
That phrase is found at the bottom of virtually every page in the book - it’s basically the book’s mantra. Dave’s take on it is clear: live hard now and you’ll live easy later. My take is a little bit different.
I agree with him largely on the first part: it’s incredibly important to tighten up that spending and get rid of the debt. Doing that requires learning how to spend less - and also not allowing yourself to use that extra money for anything but getting rid of debt and building a future. That requires living “different” in a way - your goals shift from the shiny new car and the shiny vacation to the removal of all of your debt.
On my block, I can certainly say I see a lot of shiny cars - my truck is the oldest vehicle on the block, by far. In the end, though, my truck works - and that’s all I can really ask of it. It gets the kids to daycare and gets me to the library, which is really all I need. As long as it keeps running, we’ll keep it. And that’s living quite different when we’re surrounded by vehicles more than ten years newer than my truck.
It’s the other part that’s tricky. I don’t view the “later you can live like no one else” as meaning I can afford that shiny new car. Instead, I take a perspective closer to Your Money or Your Life - the “live like no one else” in the future for me is complete financial independence, meaning I don’t have to work for money.
That, to me, is “living like no one else.” I won’t have to factor in money at all when it comes to choosing how to spend my time, and that’s my real dream.
A 12% Rate of Return?
One big flashing question mark comes on page xv in the preface:
Sadly, many intelligent but ignorant people seem to think that making a 12 percent rate of return on your money in a long term investment is impossible. And that if I state that there is a 12 percent rate of return available, then I have lied to you or misled you. [...] The S&P 500 is the 500 largest companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange, sometimes called “The Big Board.” So it is widely accepted to be the best average of the market. The S&P 500 has averaged 11.3 percent per year for the last seventy-plus years, as of this writing.
So, I immediately flip to the front and discover that this revision was published in 2007. Something tells me that 2008 hurt those numbers quite a bit.
Here’s the point, though: The Total Money Makeover tends towards the optimistic when it comes to investment returns. While there are certainly long-term stretches (more than ten years) where the market as a whole - or certain pieces of the market - have returned more than 12% annually, the truth is that there is no guarantee that any 10 year, 20 year, 30 year, or any year period will return any percent. Surely, 2008 taught us all that, loud and clear.
Instead of relying on that extremely optimistic forecast, I’ve come to use Warren Buffett’s more realistic (perhaps even a bit pessimistic) forecast that in the future we should expect 7% returns on average. This might be slightly on the pessimistic side, but when you’re making calculations for your future and banking on them, you’re better off being pessimistic (and having more money than you need when the day comes) than optimistic (and having to work for the rest of your life).
Calculating with 12% returns gets people really excited - and it might happen. But my perspective is that using such hugely optimistic numbers puts your future at risk. Better to finish with more than you expect than with less.
Tapes and Books Aren’t the Solution
On page 4, a certain quote really caught my eye:
So my Total Money Makeover begins with a challenge. The challenge is you. You are the problem with your money. The financial channel and some tape sets aren’t your answer; you are.
All the blogs, all the books, all the “tape sets,” all the financial products in the world won’t help if you’re not committed to sucking it up and making it work.
If you’re not willing to look at your behaviors, step up to the plate, and make some changes in your life, nothing is going to change.
This kind of talk generates three kinds of reactions. It makes some people angry - they want to believe that they can suddenly get rich without changing a thing, even though it hasn’t happened yet. It makes some people stick their fingers in their ears and sing “lalalala” - they know it’s true, but they’d rather keep the sinking ship they’re on than try to change anything. And then others embrace it and work hard for something better.
I was in the “lalalala” group for years. I knew very well what I needed to do, I just didn’t want to hear it. I knew on some level that what I was doing wasn’t working, I just didn’t want to think about it.
My epiphany threw me on a new track - the “embrace change” track. I finally woke up and realized that if I didn’t take charge of my situation, I was going to keep sinking slowly. This one choice led to tons of things - I paid off four credit cards, two vehicles, three student debts, totaling $30,000 or so in debt; I bought a house; and, finally, I switched careers, earning less but doing what I love.
All of the moves I made were simply the aftermath of that one choice to really make a change. That choice is up to you - no blog or book or podcast can make that happen (well, except for MY blog or book or podcast … just kidding).
King of Denial
The second chapter of the book focuses on denial - simply ignoring that there are problems. Like I said, I did this myself for far too long. One quote from the chapter took my breath away, though:
For your own good, for the good of your family and your future, grow a backbone. When something is wrong, stand up and say it is wrong, and don’t back down.
Powerful stuff, and exactly right. If you’re not going to take charge of things, who is?
The Pain of Change
Another interesting piece comes in on page 15:
Change is painful. Few people have the courage to seek out change. Most people won’t change until the pain of where they are exceeds the pain of change.
I strongly believe that for many people in a routine of spending more than they own, there’s a “bottoming out” effect, not too different than a junkie. At some point, the problems that have been building for a long while explode - you can’t pay the bills any more (which happened to me), you’re forced into bankruptcy, your family splits apart.
For many people, that final point is painful enough that it tips the scales. Suddenly, in comparison, the big change doesn’t seem so painful any more.
I like to think of it like the Mississippi River flood of 1993, which destroyed my hometown. It kept raining and raining and raining throughout the months of June and July, like debt building up. The river kept rising, pushing against the levees, until that fateful day when the levee broke. Chaos ensued and new patterns were rapidly discovered in countless lives.
Soon, we found that the actual path of the river had changed - in many places, it had found a new channel to flow through. The new patterns of life began to settle in place and soon things began to return to normal - but with some big changes. Levees were rebuilt stronger than ever. People prepared their homes for future flooding.
In short, life took on a new, better, safer routine. When you’re recovering from a financial meltdown and discovering new ways to live, this happens - you begin to discover new, better, safer routines.
And you begin to live like no one else.
Do you have any other thoughts on the first two chapters of The Total Money Makeover? Please share them in the comments - and feel free to respond to any of my impressions as well. After all, a good book club is all about discussion!
On Saturday, we’ll tackle the third chapter - Debt Myths: Debt Is (Not) A Tool.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]By Paul Michael
[Image]Today's WISEBUY. Up to 76% Off ANNIE WOMEN'S SHOES at 6PM.com (dealnews)
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[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]
For Father’s Day, my children gave me a copy of the game Dominion, and it would be an understatement to say that it’s a big hit around here. It’s actually a card game that two, three, or four people can play and you can get a game in in about half an hour, but it’s the creative thinking that really makes it stand out.
My wife and I have played it quite a bit on random, and we played it over and over again on our game night. In fact, I’m not ashamed to admit, my wife is quite good at the game and she figured out the first “killer strategy” (if you have the game, that strategy was taking tons of Villages as fast as possible) and then has figured out how to stay ahead of everyone else figuring out how to thump that strategy (our first counter-strategy was lots of Militias, and the response to that was lots of Moats).
It’s a blast - if you like games like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, it’s well worth trying.
Anyway, here are some great personal finance articles from the past week.
Inside the ‘Circle of Competence’: Buy What You Know Peter Lynch, Benjamin Graham, and Warren Buffett all subscribe to one basic idea: buy what you know. These individuals surrounded themselves with competent information and competent people and if they didn’t know an investment top to bottom, they didn’t invest. Seemed to work for them… (@ newsweek via seth’s blog)
The Benefits of a Gap Year A “gap year” - or a year of following other activities and interests between high school and college - is something I really believe in, and this article sets the case strongly for it. I think a year or two of real-world experience makes college much more worthwhile for many students. (@ art of manliness)
Your Locus of Control Who’s in control in your life? Are you? Or do you jump to attention when someone else hollers? Hint: it’s a lot easier to find personal finance success if you have an internal locus of control. (@ productivity 501)
Sold! Sales Tricks to Help You Land Your Next Job The tricks of a salesman are also similar to the tricks that a person can use to net themselves a sweet job. This article outlines the parallels. (@ yahoo hotjobs via free money finance)
7 Reasons to Stop Tracking Your Finances I don’t track my finances with the detail and fervor that I once did. I find that it’s useful for teaching good habits, but after a while, those good habits are so ingrained that you don’t need the teacher as much any more. (@ saving for serenity)
Be Prepared This is a heart-wrenching story and one that really outlines the need to get your estate planning in order sooner rather than later. (@ gather little by little)
‘Certified Organic’ May Not Be 100% No certification program is perfect, but the “certified organic” label may be further than most. I’m tending more and more towards buying local than just trusting the “organic” label for quality foods. Vive la Picket Fence Creamery! (@ sfgate via bitten)
Ten Things You Should Do When You Get Laid Off This is an excellent checklist to follow if you’ve recently lost your job. (@ consumerism commentary)
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]I recently saw a rather interesting documentary. The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, takes a detailed look at how this tiny nation has dealt with a decades-long shut off from supplies the rest of us deem necessary, and in the process provides a blueprint for how larger countries might actually begin making some of the same transitions themselves, including a nation-wide organically grown food system. Ready for a peek at how they did it?
I have to say I'm impressed. As we sit and discuss with friends quite frequently how we think this country might deal with the severe energy crisis that has yet to hit, Cuba's been successfully dealing with one for years. In the process, they've also managed to achieve an organic agricultural production rate of eighty percent. On a dime. How have they done this? Well, I won't spoil the whole movie for you, but suffice it to say that when pesticide deliveries dried up after the fall of the Soviet Union, they had to figure it out in a hurry.
In instances where tractors and fuel weren't affordable, old timers were brought in to train the younger generation on the use of oxen and even to train the young oxen themselves. Water saving measures were implemented for irrigation through a concept called “food forests”, and rooftop city gardens were developed along with squatted garden plots on unused strips of available land. Larger farms from the older system were broken down into smaller private cooperatives which voluntarily contribute food to the needy. With an externally enforced energy crisis, Cuba was also forced to develop increased public transportation options virtually overnight. Again, I won't spoil the film for you, but I found their “camel” buses to be quite creative, along with their distribution of individual bicycles to those in need.
No matter what one's political opinions on the Cuba situation, I think we can all appreciate the tenacity and resilience it has taken to make these adjustments for the long haul and with little access to external support. Going almost completely organic with agriculture, and significantly independent when it comes to fuel is impressive. Doing it when most people barely have a pot to pee in is downright inspiring. I'm not saying that every measure Cuba has taken will be feasible for the United States. What I am saying is that Cuba has already dealt with an energy famine successfully. Why not take the opportunity to learn from our nearby neighbors who have actually pulled off a working model of how to deal with energy adversity?
At any rate, I found the film of note and recommend it to any of you who have the chance for a viewing. It's available on Amazon. A couple of other urban green posts are available on Wise Bread, including several city shopping bag options.
This post was written as a movie review, and to promote discussion on green transitions at the national level. I ask that we keep the comments focused on those things, rather than straying to the political conditions that caused this situation.
Permalink | 11 comments | Myscha Theriault's blog | Channel: Green Living
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]One potential way to improve your credit score is to look through your credit reports for any misreported information, such as a late payment, and dispute your credit report.
1) Start off by getting a copy of your free credit report and looking for any errors.
2) If you find anything, check to see if the mistake shows up on your reports from other credit bureaus. You will need to file separate disputes with each credit bureau that shows the mistake.
3) Go to each bureau’s Web site for instructions on how to file a dispute, what happens after the bureau receives a dispute, and what actions to take if you think your identity has been stolen:
4) Clearly identify each error in the report and explain why you think the information is wrong.
Keep detailed records of what corrections you requested, along with copies of supporting documentation.
5) Don’t send any original documents if you submit your dispute in the mail; make photocopies and send those instead.
6) Keep a record of when and how you contacted each credit bureau, noting any follow-up phone calls and the names of the people with whom you spoke. In case the correction isn’t resolved smoothly, these records and notes will come in handy.
7) If you find any evidence of identity theft, such as an open account that you know you never opened, make sure to follow the credit bureau’s instructions for reporting identity theft.
The credit bureau should respond to your dispute in writing within four to six weeks. If the bureau agrees with you, the bureau will correct the mistake. If there is a dispute over the corrections you’ve requested, or if you think that someone has stolen your identity and is using your credit, be prepared for a long period of back-and-forth communication with the credit bureau and your creditors.
The burden of proof lies with the bureau, if it can’t prove that the information in question is correct then it has to delete it. However the process of resolving a dispute or unraveling a case of identity theft can be complex and lengthy. Good luck!
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]As of today, Microsoft Money is no longer available for purchase. Microsoft has essentially conceded that there’s no demand for the product. From the website:
With banks, brokerage firms and Web sites now providing a range of options for managing personal finances, the consumer need for Microsoft Money Plus has changed. After suspending annual updates of Money Plus in 2008, Microsoft is announcing today that we will no longer offer Microsoft Money Plus for purchase after June 30, 2009.
Now that Microsoft has thrown in the towel, where does that leave existing users of Money and Money Plus? Some of them are worried. I’ve received several e-mails about this recently, including this one from Lee G.: “Microsoft just left us in a lurch by killing Money. Any suggestions on finance software? I’m not really a fan of Quicken, but would entertain it.”
First, it’s important to note that Microsoft intends to support Money Plus at least through 31 January 2011. Until then, you can still get stock quotes and use the software’s billpay feature. After that time, the online functions may (read: “probably will”) expire. If you’re a Microsoft Money user, you still have 18 months to find a replacement. The Money FAQ offers this helpful advice to guide you:
A number of online personal finance management and planning tools are available, many for free, on the Web. Other software solutions may be for sale from companies other than Microsoft. For general account information and transactions, your bank Web site may provide the best solution.
It would have been nice if Microsoft had provided a list of these “personal finance management and planning tools”. Since they didn’t, I spent a couple of hours surveying the current options. Here are 16 powerful personal finance programs to take the place of Microsoft Money:
From what I’ve seen, these apps are a lot alike: the desktop programs offer similar feature sets, and the online tools are all close cousins. There’s not a lot to differentiate them. Wesabe has a great community, Mint tracks investment accounts, and moneyStrands offers a Spanish-language option. Each program offers something unique. But is there any one app that knocks it out of the park? I don’t know. What do you think? Which option would you recommend for refugees from Microsoft Money?
For myself, I’ll continue to use the desktop version of Quicken on my Mac. It’s not perfect, but I know its quirks.
[Image]Addendum: Many commenters also recommend gnucash, a free Open Source money-management tool. I considered listing gnucash, but discarded the idea because the software is billed as an “accounting” package. GRS readers report that it’s actually very suitable for personal finances.Note: There are many other specialized personal-finance apps out there: PearBudget for budgeting, Fuelly for tracking gas mileage, etc. I’ll do a run-down of these in the future.
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We’re finally back from Disneyland! We’ve unpacked, done the laundry, and I finally have time to tell you all about our trip. It was a blast, and I’m glad we waited until our kids are as old as they are (11 and 6) to take them.
I was amazed at how brave our daughter is. There wasn’t a ride she wouldn’t try, and all of the scary ones were “awesome” in her book. My son, not to be outdone, tried all the scary rides, too. He was afraid of Space Mountain, but loved California Screamin’. Go figure.
We tried to do Disneyland as frugally as possible, but there’s no way around the fact that a trip to Disney is expensive. Still, there were a few things we learned along the way.
Where to StayWe originally booked a room at the La Quinta, because they were inexpensive, were within (long) walking distance to the parks, and offered free breakfast. However, I kept my eyes open, and we ended up booking a room at the Portofino Inn through Get Away Today. They had a deal going where you booked 3 nights and got two free.
The upside is the Portofino was a bit closer to the parks. The downside is there was no free breakfast. After talking with friends, though, I decided we didn’t need the free breakfast. I heard that often the lines for breakfast are long in the morning, with people in a hurry to get to the parks.
Our room had a refrigerator and microwave, so we stocked up on breakfast and lunch foods. We ate breakfast in our room and tried to return to the hotel to eat one additional meal in our room every day. Since we were so close to the park, it wasn’t hard to do. And since we could walk to Disneyland, we didn’t have to pay for transportation or parking.
How to Plan the DayWe had 5 day Park Hopper Tickets (buy 3 day tickets & get 2 days free), where we could hop between Disneyland and California Adventure. We did Disneyland in the afternoon (Sunday), morning and evening, with a mid-day break (Monday), in the afternoon (Tuesday), California Adventure until dinner (Wednesday), and the marathon 14 hour day, hopping between both parks (Thursday). So we really tried it all.
I really think the best way to visit, especially during the hot days of summer, is to get there as soon as the gates open, tour until lunchtime, and go back to the hotel for lunch and a break. Then go back to the parks in the evening. We missed the hottest and busiest part of the day that day. The worst day was when we arrived in the late morning. It was already hot and crowded, and we didn’t see a lot that day.
There are a couple of things I highly recommend, though. If you have a “Magic Morning” included on your ticket, use it! That is when you are allowed into the park one hour before it’s open to the public. I our case, we got in at 7:00, which was really early, but we rode a TON of rides before 9, when the park started to get busy.
Also, take a look at the book The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland (they come out with a new edition every year, and they also have an edition for Disneyworld). I looked for the book at my library, but they didn’t have an up to date edition, so I ended up buying it. The information is well worth the money spent. I also spent $15 on RideMax software, which is great, if you hate to stand in line. You tell the software what rides you want to do, and RideMax tells you what order to ride the rides to minimize the wait. And it worked!
Where to EatGoing into our Disneyland Adventure, I planned to never eat at the park, because I knew it would be expensive. That plan didn’t last too long. There came a point when time was more important than money, and we didn’t want to walk back to the hotel. And we didn’t want to lug a huge backpack around either. Still, we were pretty frugal with our choices…as frugal as you can be at Disneyland.
We found the most frugal options at California Adventure, where we ate at Taste Pilot’s Grill (burgers), and Pizza Oom Mow Mow (pizza & pasta). We also ate at the Hungry Bear Restaurant (more burgers) at Disneyland. On my birthday we splurged and ate at Naples Ristorante y Pizzaria in Downtown Disney. It was semi-spendy, but the meal was good.
The main thing to remember, when you eat at the parks or Downtown Disney is to avoid the main lunch and dinner hours. Our first night we went to Downtown Disney, hoping to get away from the crowds for dinner. That was a mistake. It was more crowded there than at Disnleyland!
The hidden gem we found, if you want to get away from the crowds, is the new GardenWalk. It’s within walking distance of Disneyland, and it was empty. We ate at Johnny Rockets (we had to…it’s my son’s nickname), and had a great dinner out on the patio, where it was nice and quiet.
Bits & PiecesWe learned that it’s important to take water and snacks into the park. A friend let me borrow her Bagellini, and it was PERFECT for packing around the parks. It was lightweight, and because it’s carried messenger bag style, I didn’t have to take it off on most of the rides. I just rotated it around, so the bag was in front. And despite it’s small size, it carried a lot!
We bought our souvenirs at Disneyland, though I wouldn’t recommend it. For us it worked though, since I got a Disney Fun Card for going to Disneyland on my birthday. Usually you get free admission into the park, but since I already had a ticket, I got a gift card in the amount of a ticket. It wasn’t good at restaurants, so we decided to buy Mickey ears and other souvenirs for the kids. If I hadn’t have had the card, I would have gone to Walmart or Target, though.
Also, the FastPass system is WONDERFUL! If you’ve never used FastPass, here’s what it is: On certain popular rides, you can visit the FastPass kiosk, scan your tickets, and receive FastPasses that are good later in the day. After the set time on the FastPass, you can return to the ride and use the FastPass line, which is much shorter than the regular line. It saved us a ton of time. I would start collecting FastPasses in the morning, and at times I would be holding passes to 4 rides at once. Then we’d go back later in the day and hit all the popular rides. It sure beats an hour long wait!
3-D movies can scare young children. We went to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, and my son was scared out of his mind. At one point he was screaming, and I told him we could leave, but he was too scared to stand up and walk out of the theater, because “the things were going to get him.” I hated to see him that scared.
Toy Story Mania at California Adventure is worth the wait. There is no FastPass for this ride, so we sucked it up and waited in line. We’re glad we did. It was one of our favorite rides! It’s a 3-D interactive, shooting ride, and the kids had such a great time that my 6 year old didn’t even notice the 3-D!
I enjoy roller coasters much more when I’m not in the front row. I talked my daughter into riding California Screamin’ with me, and then my son decided he needed to ride, too. So we all did. I thought for sure after freaking out on Space Mountain that my son would hate the ride. He and I got stuck in the front row. He loved it. I hated it. But the family talked me into riding twice more, this time from the back, and I enjoyed myself much more. I just hate being suspended for those few seconds before a big drop! If I can’t see the drop, I’m fine.
Soarin’ Over California was my favorite ride! If you’re ever at Disneyland/California Adventure, you can’t miss this one! It’s at California Adventure, and the line is usually very long for a reason (but there’s FastPass available!). It’s a ride that simulates hang gliding over California, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Don’t miss it!
If you’d like to see photos of our trip, I posted them on a Facebook album. You can still see them by clicking the link, even if you’re not a member of Facebook.
Copyright © 2007-2009 Lynnae McCoy. This feed is provided for the convenience of Being Frugal.net subscribers. Any reproduction of the content with in this feed is strictly prohibited.
Please visit Being Frugal.net for more great content.
We’ve often talked about how to get rid of debt. But this time, we’d like to cover an actionable plan comprised of simple steps you can perform to fully eliminate your debt.
While some families I know can pay off their credit cards each month, most people I know maintain mortgages, car loans, credit card and other debt. In the past, I felt like I was climbing a mountain that I’d never pay off, but I learned how to set up a debt repayment plan. The process isn’t too complicated to set up and with consistency, I found out that I could find zero balances at the end of my hike.
How To Get Out of Debt: Set Up A Debt Repayment PlanAllow me to go through what I’ve done to set up my personal debt reduction program.
1. List your debts.First off, I took all my latest billing statements and listed all my debts. If spreadsheets aren’t your thing, just start with the nearest sheet of blank paper and start writing down items like:
Next, I added the amounts I owed and the interest rate for each debt. For example, let’s say I owed the following:
Debt Name Amount Owed Interest Rate Visa Credit Card $15,000.00 18% MasterCard Credit Card $3,600.00 15% Car Loan $8,800.00 5% Student Loan $13,000.00 6%While a grand total of $40,400 might make anyone woozy, I’m sticking with the program and focusing on the amount I want to repay each month. I then asked a debt calculator how long it would take to pay off my Visa if I paid only the credit card minimum payment due each month. When the calculator came back with an answer of 32 years, I decided I needed to pay more.
3. Set your monthly payment amounts.So how did I cut down the payback time so I wouldn’t be in debt for the rest of my life? Here’s an “easy” approach: I first looked at the minimum amounts due for each of my bills, then came up with a grand total. For the list above, let’s say the minimum total amount for all my bills is $520. For each day of my debt management plan, I resolved to pay $520 each month.
Now over time, my balance should start shrinking, and eventually, my credit card statements will show a readjusted minimum payment; but I’m planning to keep paying $520 overall to shrink the debt in a reasonable amount of time. Once I finish paying off one debt, I need to apply the payment to the next debt in line, a tactic familiar to many of us thanks to Dave Ramsay’s Debt Snowball plan.
Highly recommended: If you want to be more aggressive about paying down your debt, you can always pay more than the minimum from the very beginning. For instance, you can hike up your total payment by 10% (i.e. pay 10% more than the minimum across all bills) and keep paying this amount till all your debts are retired. You’ll reduce your debt much faster this way!
4. Decide which debts to focus on first.How can I decide which debts to pay off first? Some experts, like Suze Orman, have favored paying off the debts with the highest interest rate first. That benefits you because you’ll end up paying less money over time, if you do the math. Also, you may want to call your credit card company if you’d like to negotiate for lower interest rates.
However, Dave Ramsey argues that paying off the smallest debts first is going to give you the push you need to continue your plan. For example, if I had a smaller zero-interest hospital bill of $400, I could pay it off within months — and kick that worry out of my head all that much sooner. If I choose to tackle larger bills at a highest interest rate first, it may be a while before I retire this debt and feel like I’ve accomplished something.
5. Pay more whenever possible.Five years or longer can seem like forever on a debt repayment plan. To reduce the amount of time spent on the plan, I learned to send in extra payments when I could, and eventually, I began to send in a larger amount on a regular basis. Cutting my other expenses helped, too. I became a frugal shopper for groceries and household items. In addition, I avoided trips to the mall so I wouldn’t be tempted to spend too much. For those with big debts, why not take second jobs? These other debt elimination tips are also worth trying out.
I’ve also discovered Paid Twice’s Snowflaking method. With snowflaking, no amount is too small to be applied to a debt repayment plan. If my credit card company doesn’t limit the number of times I can pay them online each month, then I can take the extra $5 rattling in my old PayPal account and send it in to the debt at the top of my list.
6. Find help if you need it!Although many people can tackle their debt repayment plans on their own, you may decide that you need the structure of a debt counseling agency’s program. If you go this route, you may be able to check in with a counselor to discuss your questions or problems for free or for a nominal amount each month. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling can help you locate a credit counselor. CNN Money has a debt reduction tool to assist you, too!
How To Get Out of Debt With A Debt Repayment Plan
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]Get Rich Slowly keeps humming along! Thanks to your participation, it was another great month around here, with a lot of interesting discussions. I’ve managed to collate most of the results from the recent reader survey, by the way, and will share them with you in a few days. Meanwhile, here are some of the best posts from the past month:
The blog isn’t the only part of this site. If you have burning questions about personal finance, one of the best places to get answers is the Get Rich Slowly discussion forum.
The forums are a great place to chat with your fellow readers. Have questions about emergency funds? Ask! Want to chat about cheap vacations? This is the place to do it. The forums have 3200 registered users and over 38,000 posts.
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By Xin Lu
[Image]On May 1st a new set of home appraisal rules called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct was put into effect by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to distance realtors and mortgage brokers from appraisers. This was put in place because during the housing bubble appraisal fraud was rampant and some appraisers felt pressured by realtors and brokers to hit the desired numbers. How is this affecting consumers?
The biggest change in the Code is that loan officers, mortgage brokers, or real estate agents can no longer have any role in choosing appraisers. The lender is responsible for choosing the appraiser and following the Code if they want to sell the mortgage to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The lender could also accept an appraisal prepared for another lender if the other lender also followed the Code.
As a result of the new rule some lenders are outsourcing the selection of appraisers to appraisal management companies, and some say that this is increasing appraisal fees for consumers because these companies take a cut of an appraiser's fee. The appraiser has to increase his or her price accordingly to recoup the loss. Another critism is that these appraisal-management companies do not always choose local appraisers that know an area well. As a result some appraisals may be inaccurate.
Right now the National Association of Realtors does not like this rule very much and their chief economist Lawrence Yun said the following:"In the past month, stories of appraisal problems have been snowballing from across the country with many contracts falling through at the last moment." The NAR also sent legislators letters protesting this rule and it is also suggesting that regulators put an 18 months hold on the rule.
Bill Garber, the Director of Government and External Relations at the Appraisal Institute issued the following response to the NAR's complaints, "In a typical real estate transaction [such as a buyer seeking a loan], our clients are the lenders. Appraisers provide lenders with information that protects them from making questionable loans and investments and helps them minimize risk. However, that should not suggest a bias toward lower valuation. Appraisers reflect the market, and sometimes, the markets don.t act like we want them to or hope they will. Nonetheless, competent and professional appraisers understand this and develop credible estimates of value that ultimately ensure that lenders loan the proper amount, buyers don't pay too much and sellers get a fair price."
I think Bill Garber's response is right on the spot and lower appraisals are simply reflecting the market now. It is beneficial for consumers to get lower prices on homes, but I have also heard anecdotal stories of faulty appraisals where information such school districts and home size were wrong. It is very frustrating for home buyers and sellers when a low appraisal stops the loan process. If I were a home buyer in that situation I would probably check the appraisal report for errors first, because any factual errors can be reported to the lender. If the report seems to contain no errors then I would attempt to negotiate the price to be at the appraisal because I would not want to pay too much. I do not think that a low appraisal is the death of every single real estate transaction as long as everyone involved are willing to compromise.
In conclusion, I think it is a good thing if an honest and accurate appraisal shows you that you are willing paying too much for something. I think the new code does have some problems because it adds a layer of bureaucracy and pricing through appraisal management companies. However, this new process does remove a lot of bias in appraisals because it is a lot less likely that the appraiser chosen has a previous relationship with the real estate agent or mortgage broker involved in the deal. I am hoping that this reduces appraisal fraud by a great margin, and I think that is good for everyone involved in a real estate transaction.
What do you think of this new code? Have you faced difficulties in your real estate transactions lately due to appraisal issues?
Permalink | 20 comments | Xin Lu's blog | Channel: Personal Finance, Consumer Affairs, Real Estate and Housing
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This article is from Wise Bread.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]The fifth episode focuses on talking to parents about money and their estate planning as they get older. Along the way, I mention my own challenges in figuring out how to handle this as my parents age. Total time: 16:25.
Listen In!
Other options for enjoying The Simple Dollar Podcast include:
Listen to this episode on a separate page
Subscribe via iTunes
Download this episode (right click and save)
Subscribe in the media player of your choice
Though I hope you do subscribe using one of the above methods, don’t worry - each episode will be featured in its own post, much like this one, on Tuesday afternoons. The podcast itself may appear earlier than that, however, if you subscribe using one of the above forms, but the notes won’t appear until I post about it here on The Simple Dollar.
Episode Notes
Here are some additional notes that go alongside the comments in the podcast. Approximate times for the corresponding links and notes are listed.
0:00 - The theme song is a snippet of a Camper van Beethoven concert on October 25, 1986, shared via their very open taping policy. Listen to the concert in its entirety.
0:22 - Some useful reading on this topic.
1:41 - The frugality lessons my parents taught me.
2:38 - Here are some of the ways they managed to juggle all of these things.
3:27 - The book It Pays to Talk by Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz and Charles Schwab was really helpful - here are my detailed notes on the book.
4:31 - Honesty is absolutely vital when talking about these issues.
6:02 - When I’m trying to calm myself down, I often sing to myself. I usually choose a very calm song - usually, it’s Crash by Dave Matthews Band.
8:58 - It might be worthwhile to get your parents a copy of Start Late Finish Rich by David Bach - here are my notes on the book.
11:30 - Estate planning 101
12:07 - A master information document is unbelievably useful in such situations.
15:22 - A semi-preview of next week’s podcast.
One thing I’d like to do in a future episode is have an audio reader’s mailbag. If you have a microphone on your computer and can record an MP3 of a simple, short question you might have on personal finance, careers, pop culture, or anything else you’d like me to answer, record it as an MP3 and send it to me. Keep the total recording under 15 seconds, please. Also, if you use Skype, feel free to ask your question that way - my username is trenttsd.
Comments and suggestions welcome.
[Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]By Carrie Kirby
[Image]
As I wrote in previous installments of my Supermarket Angst series, I've been using extra money in our grocery budget to improve the quality of the food I buy my family. Buying organic for produce with the highest danger of pesticide contamination was an easy choice, but I've found it difficult to know what's worth the extra money when buying animal products -- eggs and dairy products, for instance.
Today I'm tackling one of the most baffling buying categories, for me -- poultry. Unlike beef, where I know I want hormone- and antibiotic-free, I'm unclear on whether chickens and turkeys are given hormones and antibiotics to begin with. I've seen labels like "natural" and even "Amish" and "Kosher" on chicken -- do those mean it's healthier? And what about turkey? I don't think I've ever seen special labels on that, although I have heard about people spending big box on organic turkeys at Thanksgiving.
First of all, let's look at the most expensive category: organic poultry. Birds sold as organic must eat organic feed, which should in theory reduce the chance of pesticides building up in the meat that we eat. But according to a 2004 Business Week story, pesticides in meat is a much smaller health concern than pesticides on produce:
"While 47% of the produce sampled by the USDA in 2002 had detectable pesticide residues, only 16% of grains and 15% of meat tested did. Most of the residues found in meat (almost always in the fat) were from long-banned chemicals like DDT, which remain in the environment and is not a problem organic farming methods can solve."
That passage was enough to convince me not to worry about pesticides in my poultry. But is getting hormone-free birds another reason to buy organic? According to the United States Department of Agriculture's food labeling FAQ, no.
"Hormones are not allowed in raising hogs or poultry. Therefore, the claim "no hormones added" cannot be used on the labels of pork or poultry unless it is followed by a statement that says 'Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones.'"
However, the USDA does allow poultry producers to use the phrase “antibiotic-free.” As with beef and milk, antibiotic overuse in raising fowl is more of a public health concern than a worry for the consumer of the resulting food. The routine use of antibiotics when raising livestock, it is feared, can contribute to the creation of superbugs resistant to current antibiotic drugs.
After reading the USDA's sheet, I would feel comfortable skipping “organic” birds in favor of those labeled “antibiotic free.” Of course, at many stores you'd be lucky to find one or the other, so you might end up buying organic just to be sure you're not feeding the antibiotic problem.
What about “natural” or “all-natural” chickens? Can I count on those to be healthier than other birds? According to the USDA, all “natural” means is that it doesn't have added color or other artificial ingredients. Yegads, the idea of farmer's injecting their dead birds with color isn't even a problem I'd contemplated. But no, I'd say a bird labeled "natural" isn't worth much or any extra money.
Then of course, just like with eggs, there is the issue of how one's chicken dinner was treated while it was alive. This is mostly a matter of deciding between caged versus cage-free versus free-range birds, but it is possible to go beyond those labels, which I'll address in a minute. I wasn't even sure if the crowded cage conditions I'd heard about for laying hens also went on in the meat chicken industry. But this paper, found on PETA's Web site, makes the life of a broiler chicken sound even more miserable than that of a laying hen. The paper also touches on the miserable working conditions in the poultry industry, which are documented in plenty of places.
The short answer is yes, meat chickens are typically raised crowded into cages, and so buying something labeled “cage-free” or “free-range” would be a plus. But as with eggs, the meaning of these terms is pretty limited and by no means ensure that the bird you're eating had a good or even bearable life.
In fact, the unsettling reading from the link above has the effect – as I'm sure many things found on the PETA Web site do – of making one wonder if it's possible to eat meat at all without being complicit in the mistreatment of both animals and workers. After all, even a chicken labeled “free-range” may well suffer a slow painful trip through the slaughterhouse. I've never seen a “cruelty-free” label on a frozen chicken.
Of course, you might say that eating meat CAN'T be cruelty free because you have to kill the animal in order to eat it. But personally, I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, and I'm not interested in becoming one. I'd just prefer if the animals I eat suffer as little as possible in the process of being turned into my dinner.
Ideally, I'd like to buy chickens who lived in a place like Polyface Farms, which I read about in Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma[Image]. Polyface moves its chickens from one patch of pasture to another throughout the summer, using portable pens to ensure they always have access to their favorite greens (clover, apparently) and lots of juicy bugs, not to mention space to move and fresh air. But finding a supplier whose environment meets those standards takes more research than reading labels in Super Target (where I typically buy my antibiotic-free chicken on sale), and yes, it will cost me more too.
This site lists some farmers in all states that pasture their poultry like Polyface does. Apparently I could order whole chickens that have had pretty good lives, and are antibiotic-free, from one of these places for around $2.75 a pound. That's not bad when you compare it to the price of beef, of course, although a whole chicken contains a bunch of bones, skin and fat that we won't be eating. I could even order a meat share from a Community Supported Agriculture farm that would take care of all my egg, meat and poultry worries at the cost of around $5 a pound – that's my guess of the average cost of what they provide, which would probably be less for the chicken and more for the beef.
Considering that I often find beef and poultry at Super Target that meets SOME environmental, cruelty and health standards for $2-3 a pound, am I willing to sign up for a CSA where I'd pay around twice as much?
I'm seriously considering it. On top of ending my supermarket angst in one fell swoop, the idea of having my meat and egg shopping done for me every other week is a time-saving bonus.
The one thing I haven't had the chance to address here is turkey. Are turkeys caged and given antibiotics? Is there such a thing as a free-range or organic turkey?
I found one good article defining terms that label turkeys -- it basically says that yes, all the same terms that apply to chickens mean the same thing when applied to turkeys. The same limitations apply, too – a package of ground turkey labeled “free range” may have come from a bird allowed very limited access to an outdoor porch or pen while still enduring very crowded or otherwise unfavorable conditions.
So, as you might guess, the more I read about animal treatment on conventional farms, the more motivated I am to buy more-expensive products in dairy, eggs AND meats. Can my family maintain our $80-a-week grocery budget while getting all particular on animal products like this?
I'm not sure, but I think it may be possible. One tactic will involve limiting the meat in our diets. We currently eat meat about five times a week. If I order a $20-per-week meat CSA share, it will provide us with enough meat to eat about three times a week, judging from the list here. Add a vegetable CSA share for around $28 a week, and, at least through the Midwest growing season, I'd have the basics taken care of with around $30 to spend at the grocery store each week on milk, fruits and grains/packaged foods.
Permalink | 6 comments | Carrie Kirby's blog | Channel: Food and Drink
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This article is from Wise Bread.
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