I understand that the federal debt is a big and important issue and things need to be done to decrease it. But I don't think donations from citizens is the way to go about decreasing it. Better fiscal responsibility, spending cuts and possibly restructuring of taxes (which would, most likely, result in an increase in taxes for some individuals) seems like a much better way to solve the problem.
In the meantime, working for a company who is primarily a government contractor, I'm just hoping to make it through this mess and still have a job.
Erie PA is my hometown; I returned here after 14 years in Baltimore and have to agree that it is one of the Top Ten safest cities -- well insulated from natural disasters by virtue of geography and luck. Sure, we get snow but many of us like winter....you can shovel snow and eventually it melts. Plus, global warming has been good to our part of the world... excessive snowfall is rare (the city doesn't miss a beat with even a 2' overnight snowfall), ice storms are exceedingly rare and the summers are warmer. In fact, our summers are spectacular with plenty of free events/concerns almost every night of the week in various locations: downtown, the beaches, 8 Great Tuesdays etc. But I have to disagree with one of the previous Erie writers: the best donuts in town are Jack Frost Donuts on Buffalo Road!
if you're "old" like me (and consequently an AARP member), they have their own online radio service: "AARP Internet Radio has 18 channels, including rock, R&B, country, jazz, classical, Latin and gospel. It's powered by online music service Slacker."
Also, if you have a library card and your library has a membership, you can download three mp3 files a week, free, using "Freegal" - 'The downloads on this site are all in the MP3 format with no DRM. This service will work with any MP3 player, including iPod, and can be loaded into iTunes. It works on both PCs and Macs.'
I've become fairly well addicted to making Spotify playlists over the past couple of weeks. I don't like that I can't put music on my iPod (even if I paid for the upgrade), but being able to find new music (or listen to old music I no longer own the CDs for) is great.
Great stories from everyone so-far. Rachelle - such an empowering conclusion to what I'm sure must have been a difficult time. That's what it's all about!
After my ex left me for another woman with all our furniture one day while I was at work, and I ended up with all the credit card bills which took me three years to pay off, I was pretty close to cured.
A year later I went to see him about an acetylene tank that I had to return or end up with another $750 bill, he was sitting there, smoking cigarettes, with a cup of purchased coffee, complaining about money. That's what really got me started investing and saving, it was so pathetic to see him dreaming and pissing all his money away, 4 months late on the rent, telling me what a big shot he was, refusing work because it didn't pay enough. Since then, he's been evicted from a few rental properties and lost that commercial space and all the tools and equipment we accumulated in 10 years of a construction business.
It just crystallized that I didn't want to live hand to mouth and fritter money away on stuff with no value.
I would not be willing to donate to the government at this point. Lawmakers need to learn to live within their means, like the rest of us. If the government (Congress & the White House) were to do some serious cutting of spending, I would reconsider.
Donating money to the government now would be like giving money to the neighbor down the street who has a million dollar home and 5 high dollar cars, but can't pay his electric bill. Stupid!
As I would with all non-profits I would vet their ability to reduce waste and meet their chosen mission. I'm afraid I would find the government lacking in this and would rather donate my money to a more focused, efficient non-profit.
No. I already donate to the government with every paycheck and they have squandered my money. I see no end to the spending. Until the government learns to make and stick to a budget just as I must, I won't trust them to do anything wise with additional money.
No, that would be nonsense. The USA has a FIAT currency, so the can create dollars at will. We don't need to borrow. That's just a leftover of the olden days when the dollar was pegged to gold...
other then the fruit, there is not a single item on that list that I am physically capable of eating in more then very small amounts. this is suposed to be a healthy list??? that amount of high protein food is NOT healthy unless you are activly bodybuilding.
The financial fork in the road came early for my husband and I. Young married life is a crucible for many things including finances, don't get me wrong it's wonderful but it certainly has it's challenges. Our turning point actually came before our nuptials when we were in college and quite happy to spend our money let's call it...romantically. We went on dates, cooked schmancy food took off work and went on day trips with no thought whatsoever to the consequences should a financial "hiccup" occur.
Which it did, or should I say they did. You can read the full story on our blog but suffice it to say, we're MUCH more careful now. Financial lessons can be hard and embarrassing to learn but looking back I'm so thankful we did. Thanks for sharing yours!
No, because I tend to prefer to donate my money to organizations that are directly helping causes I believe in. I tend to donate as far on the local level as I can so that there aren't as many barriers between the organization and the entity in need.
Um, no! As if it is not enough that they punish the middle class and make us tax poor to the point that every mother out there has to give in to the system and WORK so her family can have a second source of income.
Realizing that everyone around me was buying a first home, and I was still drowning in debt. Though it proved serendipitous and actually saved me from buying a hugely overpriced condo that I couldn't really afford, pre housing bubble, it made me wake up and realize that at age 26, excuses for my horrible financial mismanagement were no longer acceptable.
Foraging is the ultimate frugal, entertaining and not to mention tastey way to spend
a few days every year. I find (color) pocket guides to be better than big books.
Make sure it is a guide or mini book specific to your region.
Even in the big city you would be surprised at all the edible and medicinal plants.
Look for a place that is not sprayed and does not get a lot of foot traffic and stay away from plants on the main streets.
In Chicago everywhere I look there are wild grapes, Dandelion leaves for salads,
Milk Thistle for liver detox, wild berries, edile flowers, wild tomatillo's, and the list goes on.
If you are frugal then this will be truly addictive just pick 5 things at a time to look for and make sure its there season.
There are great Youtube videos that can give you pointers I like the channel
EatThe Weeds and also mountainroseherbs is good if you want to learn how to make your own herbal products from your harvest.
My answer is no I am disgusted with the Governemnet. We are essentially becoming slaves tracked monitored, bodyscanned every where we go, taxed 40-60 % when you include city, utilitie, and transportation taxes.
They do not listen to us they answer to the Bankers, Big Pharma and Corp Giants.
If I were single with nothing to loose I would go on a tax strike.
I understand that the federal debt is a big and important issue and things need to be done to decrease it. But I don't think donations from citizens is the way to go about decreasing it. Better fiscal responsibility, spending cuts and possibly restructuring of taxes (which would, most likely, result in an increase in taxes for some individuals) seems like a much better way to solve the problem.
In the meantime, working for a company who is primarily a government contractor, I'm just hoping to make it through this mess and still have a job.
Erie PA is my hometown; I returned here after 14 years in Baltimore and have to agree that it is one of the Top Ten safest cities -- well insulated from natural disasters by virtue of geography and luck. Sure, we get snow but many of us like winter....you can shovel snow and eventually it melts. Plus, global warming has been good to our part of the world... excessive snowfall is rare (the city doesn't miss a beat with even a 2' overnight snowfall), ice storms are exceedingly rare and the summers are warmer. In fact, our summers are spectacular with plenty of free events/concerns almost every night of the week in various locations: downtown, the beaches, 8 Great Tuesdays etc. But I have to disagree with one of the previous Erie writers: the best donuts in town are Jack Frost Donuts on Buffalo Road!
I gotta agree: GO Erie!
if you're "old" like me (and consequently an AARP member), they have their own online radio service: "AARP Internet Radio has 18 channels, including rock, R&B, country, jazz, classical, Latin and gospel. It's powered by online music service Slacker."
Also, if you have a library card and your library has a membership, you can download three mp3 files a week, free, using "Freegal" - 'The downloads on this site are all in the MP3 format with no DRM. This service will work with any MP3 player, including iPod, and can be loaded into iTunes. It works on both PCs and Macs.'
I've become fairly well addicted to making Spotify playlists over the past couple of weeks. I don't like that I can't put music on my iPod (even if I paid for the upgrade), but being able to find new music (or listen to old music I no longer own the CDs for) is great.
Great stories from everyone so-far. Rachelle - such an empowering conclusion to what I'm sure must have been a difficult time. That's what it's all about!
After my ex left me for another woman with all our furniture one day while I was at work, and I ended up with all the credit card bills which took me three years to pay off, I was pretty close to cured.
A year later I went to see him about an acetylene tank that I had to return or end up with another $750 bill, he was sitting there, smoking cigarettes, with a cup of purchased coffee, complaining about money. That's what really got me started investing and saving, it was so pathetic to see him dreaming and pissing all his money away, 4 months late on the rent, telling me what a big shot he was, refusing work because it didn't pay enough. Since then, he's been evicted from a few rental properties and lost that commercial space and all the tools and equipment we accumulated in 10 years of a construction business.
It just crystallized that I didn't want to live hand to mouth and fritter money away on stuff with no value.
hiking is a great way to spend time outdoors and get some exercise!
I would not be willing to donate to the government at this point. Lawmakers need to learn to live within their means, like the rest of us. If the government (Congress & the White House) were to do some serious cutting of spending, I would reconsider.
Donating money to the government now would be like giving money to the neighbor down the street who has a million dollar home and 5 high dollar cars, but can't pay his electric bill. Stupid!
As I would with all non-profits I would vet their ability to reduce waste and meet their chosen mission. I'm afraid I would find the government lacking in this and would rather donate my money to a more focused, efficient non-profit.
If I could be sure that 100% of my donation went to pay down the debt. I would do it.
Tweeted:
http://twitter.com/#!/amccrenshaw/status/106382908415152128
No. I already donate to the government with every paycheck and they have squandered my money. I see no end to the spending. Until the government learns to make and stick to a budget just as I must, I won't trust them to do anything wise with additional money.
I like you on FB
alicia crenshaw
Not until they get their s*** straight. Spending $ on bureaucrats while cutting to programs isn't cool!
No, that would be nonsense. The USA has a FIAT currency, so the can create dollars at will. We don't need to borrow. That's just a leftover of the olden days when the dollar was pegged to gold...
See http://pragcap.com/resources/understanding-modern-monetary-system
Great article. I've been traveling a lot and have been looking into this.
I would donate more funds to local and state governments to bolster states' power and rights.
other then the fruit, there is not a single item on that list that I am physically capable of eating in more then very small amounts. this is suposed to be a healthy list??? that amount of high protein food is NOT healthy unless you are activly bodybuilding.
The financial fork in the road came early for my husband and I. Young married life is a crucible for many things including finances, don't get me wrong it's wonderful but it certainly has it's challenges. Our turning point actually came before our nuptials when we were in college and quite happy to spend our money let's call it...romantically. We went on dates, cooked schmancy food took off work and went on day trips with no thought whatsoever to the consequences should a financial "hiccup" occur.
Which it did, or should I say they did. You can read the full story on our blog but suffice it to say, we're MUCH more careful now. Financial lessons can be hard and embarrassing to learn but looking back I'm so thankful we did. Thanks for sharing yours!
@impulsesave
http://tinyurl.com/3s4hmk5
No, because I tend to prefer to donate my money to organizations that are directly helping causes I believe in. I tend to donate as far on the local level as I can so that there aren't as many barriers between the organization and the entity in need.
Um, no! As if it is not enough that they punish the middle class and make us tax poor to the point that every mother out there has to give in to the system and WORK so her family can have a second source of income.
Realizing that everyone around me was buying a first home, and I was still drowning in debt. Though it proved serendipitous and actually saved me from buying a hugely overpriced condo that I couldn't really afford, pre housing bubble, it made me wake up and realize that at age 26, excuses for my horrible financial mismanagement were no longer acceptable.
Foraging is the ultimate frugal, entertaining and not to mention tastey way to spend
a few days every year. I find (color) pocket guides to be better than big books.
Make sure it is a guide or mini book specific to your region.
Even in the big city you would be surprised at all the edible and medicinal plants.
Look for a place that is not sprayed and does not get a lot of foot traffic and stay away from plants on the main streets.
In Chicago everywhere I look there are wild grapes, Dandelion leaves for salads,
Milk Thistle for liver detox, wild berries, edile flowers, wild tomatillo's, and the list goes on.
If you are frugal then this will be truly addictive just pick 5 things at a time to look for and make sure its there season.
There are great Youtube videos that can give you pointers I like the channel
EatThe Weeds and also mountainroseherbs is good if you want to learn how to make your own herbal products from your harvest.
My answer is no I am disgusted with the Governemnet. We are essentially becoming slaves tracked monitored, bodyscanned every where we go, taxed 40-60 % when you include city, utilitie, and transportation taxes.
They do not listen to us they answer to the Bankers, Big Pharma and Corp Giants.
If I were single with nothing to loose I would go on a tax strike.
No