I have taken many train trips through Europe and have found them to be well priced, clean, safe and great for seeing a country and mingling with the locals. Buying and using a Eurail pass effectively is a one of the best ways to save money traveling in Europe.
yes sales are bad, but if you see a item that you like wait for a sale. why pay 20 bucks for a toaster when you wait for a weekend sale and get 20% off. knowing what you need and want, find them, wait till they are on sale and get them, he did write not to impluse buy
also frozen meals can be cheaper then fast food. I live in canada and a meal of fast food cost about 6 bucks with out a drink. the frozen meals i buy are on sale at safeway for 3 for 6 bucks and it is about the same amount of food.
and yeah never buy candy from the movies. You can sneak it in.
I idolize Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They took something as simple as a BackRub ( props to all that understand my quip there )in a Princeton dorm room and made Google, Worth a "Googol". Ok maybe in terms of dollar sense that may be a little exaggerated. But common, That company is worth a whole lot of money now.
Tho it saddens me to see you sad, Torley, still this is an excellent review that demonstrates just exactly what is wrong with the product. Considering that I am researching (I do that too, sometimes too deep) webcams as we speak for a project a year from now, this review helps me a lot to stay away from this one for sure.
Thanks again! What I would do is send this webcam back for a refund, put your video review on a disc and send it along. Maybe they'll put you on their Mac Beta testing for webcams since you are one of the most knowledgeable users I know of. Anything video I think Ask Torley.
Buck up Sad Torley, you'll find what you're looking for...
The bond deals that Arnold made dunk California. I was born and raised in California. Everyone always says these famous words (What about Me) so California runs around trying to make everything okay for everyone. It is impossible even in a family to please everyone. No one wants to raise Taxes. Without taxes,no money. yes prop 13 should have been revised years ago, but noone moved on that one either. The Governor Spent more money, promise more than what He could or was capable of doing. Some folks in California elected a man who had no training in state Government. Yes he is likeable but he was not Capable.In real life noone yells cut that a wrap. When the housing market was getting out of hand no one at the Top level of our Government in California Shouted Fire, they just kept raking in the inflated revenue. This of course made their eyes dance with delight. Now that California has been beached,like a sick Whale, How is it that our Great Governor has no Ideas of how to politic his way out this one?. I think that some of the Ideas on here are great but lets look at this clear in order for California to pull it self up by its own booth strap. Our great leaders of the state must stop playing games, get real about a true workable budget. Make cuts that are real (they know where the waste is) starting with themselves. If programs are not working , cancel them. Letting prisoner out of Jail early, wrong move. first-Five, cancel it. What happen to the day when Parents cared and taught their own children at home. Things like reading, teaching them basic numbers, should be taught at home and also what happen to feeding your children at home, the free lunch ride is over lets face it. We can not help, mold , give everyone everything they want because they might yell discrimination. Yes we California are Liberals some that is/ but not when it comes to our monies. Califorina should not be split. One reason why.? Because the whole state an it people are in this mess together. One portion of the state is no better than the other. We stand together , we fight together.Whether you have 2 children or Five children it does not matter. We should be asking ourselves when did people lose pride in taking care of their own childern. The welfare system was always a reward system. It should have been Stop years ago. I guess our great leaders of Califonia was asleep at the wheel on that too. Most people who are given everything sooner or later feels like it is their right to have it. then when that happens the problems start.It is not just welfare, it a whole slew of things that need to be fix or cut. yes some people who real need these programs are the true one that are going to be hurt. Lets not talk of splitting Califorina. Let make sure whoever we put in office next time knows what a budget is and can say NO. Yes California is in a mess now but,This too will pass.whether you are a liberal or conservative. We all got to run down to the beach and help that beached whale back in the water and thrive.united we stand , divide we fall.
Obviously it isn't freeloading if you can (and do) reciprocate--and it doesn't have to be equal, as long as it isn't too much and it's spread around some. All my friends and I gave one another rides to car repair places after work when someone neeeded to pick up a car that was in the shop. I have no idea if I got more rides than I gave, and it didn't really matter.
Reciprocating in some different coin gets more complicated. How many jars of jelly equals a three hour drive the car was making anyway? If you come over to watch the game, bring a six-pack, and drink three of the beers yourself, is that freeloading or not?
A side issue here is that sharing can actually raise everyone's standard of living--and raise it by a lot. I don't know of a more powerful tool to make everybody in the neighborhood better off. Excessive worry about freeloading is one reason we don't see more sharing, which is a shame.
Last week I was invited to a lecture for a group I thought about joining. It turned out the lecture was before a barbecue. I then asked my friend how much it would be for the barbecue. My friend said it's no charge, just go. I felt uncomfortable.
I didn't want to look like/be a freeloader. I couldn't say I didn't have a few dollars to donate (which she knows but 'forgets' )and I didn't want to freeload. So I said I was sick. She's mad.
This is a tough call. But not being a freeloader is critical.
My car had three nice size dents at the front edge of the hood and after leaving the car in the scorching 90+ degree heat for an hour. I used an upside down can of Jet Air (canned air) and the dents popped out perfectly. There is no evidence of any previous dents and no damage to the paint at all. GREAT Forum and thanks for the tip....
Be aware just because you leave your body to science doesn't mean that science will take it. Read the fine print. If they have enough bodies at the moment or you died from a certain disease or accident or even if your body is just really old, these places can say "no, we do not want you". Which leaves your family scrambling to pay for services they thought were already taken care of.
Though rules vary state by state, embalming in the state of California is not required if you are being cremated. You can get a cremation (that includes a death certificate, an urn or have the remains scattered at sea, and all taxes etc) in the San Francisco Bay Area for around $900.
was almost as much fun as reading the article - which I thought was fun, interesting and helpful.
People do need to lighten up - he's a writer with his OWN opinions if you have a different one, good on you. This is why we live our OWN lives and make our OWN choices.
I drive a new car, I put premium in it, I don't go to fairs and I don't eat hotdogs and I do take more money out of an ATM than I need currently BUT I don't have a problem with spending more than I was planning on and I hate having to drive to the bank.
I really liked the points of not paying attention to the veg bin and throwing away leftovers. Luckily I have chickens who LOVE leftovers if I don't get to them.
This is just a promotional card. I came across this board because an as-of-recently-no-longer-homeless guy told me that he had them for many years, and they offer 5% on savings, and I wanted to research it further. NetSpend is good for some people but not all. If I had gotten this card, it would be shredded. I get airline cards with my name on it and trash them. They are simply promotional items trying to entice you to activate the card.
It got your attention. It must be working. Now get over it!
The big picture goes the other way, too - we have a car. We use it quite a bit, for people who like to think we don't drive much (1 or 2 days a week, generally). We also enable a friend to be car-free by lending it to him (he generally babysits in exchange). It makes me feel better about the car and, since trustworthy babysitters are priceless, it's a good deal.
Oh, yes... comment 21 was awesome. I thought that reading this article was a waste of my time, but comment 21 made up for it. Thank you, for making me laugh.
Paul, I usually like your articles, but this one was a dud.
Sorry.
Very interesting posts by everyone. I think we are overdue for some re-defining of many terms and attitudes. How great is your standard of living if your high salaried, highly taxed job pushes you into all kinds of stress related illnesses, maybe an early grave? In America, it seems that society sometimes pushes us to see joy and satisfaction in life as always around the corner: after the next raise, after the next acquisition of whatever "stuff" we currently do not possess.
I know I'm writing capitalist heresy here, but sometimes we can find greatest satisfaction in things that cost nothing but are priceless.
I'd say the only time getting in a car that's already going somewhere isn't (potentially) freeloading is ... well, basically never, honestly. Chances are good someone drove at least a block out of their way, or changed their schedule, or had to move the child's carseat out of the back seat, or vacuum away the dog hair, or will have to stop for an extra pit stop on your behalf. Not a big deal, necessarily, but not free.
Easy to solve ... if someone gives you a ride and stops for a fill-up, offer to pay for it. Otherwise, provide or offer occasional gifts to anyone who drives you regularly ("I just brought over some jam I thought you might really enjoy." "Let me know if you'd like me babysit some evening/afternoon so you could get out and enjoy some time to yourself (or run some errands unfettered)," or the first time anyone drives you anywhere. And if you borrow a car, always, always, always return it with a full gas tank, no matter where the gauge was when you borrowed it or how far (not far) you didn't drive it.
If doing these things proves more expensive than owning a car, then you use one enough that you should buy one.
Thankfully, this page, as all internet pages is at least as easy to control as a radio, television, or newspaper. America is about freedom of speech among other things... Gripe if you feel you must but remember you always have the right to turn it off, throw it away, or hit the little "X" in the upper right corner of the screen.
Thank you preceding patriots who have kept our rights secure.
Calling 800Goog411 is free from a landline, but on your cell it's going to cost you. Probably not as much as your providers 411, but there will be a charge. The same is true of any 800 number from your cell. Its called something like a "toll connection charge." When I questioned my cell phone company about it, I was told that toll free numbers weren't long distance and therefore not covered under my free nation-wide calling plan. It was something like $0.50 per connection.
Thanks for that tip on "standard steps." Every few years we are hounded for a couple of months with daily calls about a supposed debt connected with a house my husband lost to his ex-wife. We've verbally asked for documentation and we never received any. One place told us that they don't even know what the debt is for - just that we owe it. I have never known what to do about these calls.
Random thoughts: Mooching off your friends in the name of frugality is NOT frugal. To me, frugality is "big picture" and I try to think beyond my own monetary share. One year we told our daughter that she could keep the left-over money in her candy account at camp. This backfired because she never got any candy and instead mooched off all the other kids!
My frugal son has chosen not to have a car in college and he ALWAYS pays for ALL the gas when he gets rides from friends.
It is possible to annoy people with frugality. I have done so many times. Sometimes, the annoyance is a consequence of their own guilt. But we frugal types need to watch out for "frugal anorexia."
I've been meaning to write on this for a while! Maybe I will!
Despite some of the negative comments about the article, I liked it...it made me think a bit. The tone was sarcastic, but that's what it was meant to BE by the writer!
Paul hates the following:
-farmers trying to make a living
-people who patronize fairs
-people who have to drive for a living
-those who read prolifically
Great article with a list of things that a lot of people could use to see. Definitely enjoyed this post.
I have taken many train trips through Europe and have found them to be well priced, clean, safe and great for seeing a country and mingling with the locals. Buying and using a Eurail pass effectively is a one of the best ways to save money traveling in Europe.
yes sales are bad, but if you see a item that you like wait for a sale. why pay 20 bucks for a toaster when you wait for a weekend sale and get 20% off. knowing what you need and want, find them, wait till they are on sale and get them, he did write not to impluse buy
also frozen meals can be cheaper then fast food. I live in canada and a meal of fast food cost about 6 bucks with out a drink. the frozen meals i buy are on sale at safeway for 3 for 6 bucks and it is about the same amount of food.
and yeah never buy candy from the movies. You can sneak it in.
I idolize Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They took something as simple as a BackRub ( props to all that understand my quip there )in a Princeton dorm room and made Google, Worth a "Googol". Ok maybe in terms of dollar sense that may be a little exaggerated. But common, That company is worth a whole lot of money now.
Tho it saddens me to see you sad, Torley, still this is an excellent review that demonstrates just exactly what is wrong with the product. Considering that I am researching (I do that too, sometimes too deep) webcams as we speak for a project a year from now, this review helps me a lot to stay away from this one for sure.
Thanks again! What I would do is send this webcam back for a refund, put your video review on a disc and send it along. Maybe they'll put you on their Mac Beta testing for webcams since you are one of the most knowledgeable users I know of. Anything video I think Ask Torley.
Buck up Sad Torley, you'll find what you're looking for...
Wyn*.
@WynGalbraith
The bond deals that Arnold made dunk California. I was born and raised in California. Everyone always says these famous words (What about Me) so California runs around trying to make everything okay for everyone. It is impossible even in a family to please everyone. No one wants to raise Taxes. Without taxes,no money. yes prop 13 should have been revised years ago, but noone moved on that one either. The Governor Spent more money, promise more than what He could or was capable of doing. Some folks in California elected a man who had no training in state Government. Yes he is likeable but he was not Capable.In real life noone yells cut that a wrap. When the housing market was getting out of hand no one at the Top level of our Government in California Shouted Fire, they just kept raking in the inflated revenue. This of course made their eyes dance with delight. Now that California has been beached,like a sick Whale, How is it that our Great Governor has no Ideas of how to politic his way out this one?. I think that some of the Ideas on here are great but lets look at this clear in order for California to pull it self up by its own booth strap. Our great leaders of the state must stop playing games, get real about a true workable budget. Make cuts that are real (they know where the waste is) starting with themselves. If programs are not working , cancel them. Letting prisoner out of Jail early, wrong move. first-Five, cancel it. What happen to the day when Parents cared and taught their own children at home. Things like reading, teaching them basic numbers, should be taught at home and also what happen to feeding your children at home, the free lunch ride is over lets face it. We can not help, mold , give everyone everything they want because they might yell discrimination. Yes we California are Liberals some that is/ but not when it comes to our monies. Califorina should not be split. One reason why.? Because the whole state an it people are in this mess together. One portion of the state is no better than the other. We stand together , we fight together.Whether you have 2 children or Five children it does not matter. We should be asking ourselves when did people lose pride in taking care of their own childern. The welfare system was always a reward system. It should have been Stop years ago. I guess our great leaders of Califonia was asleep at the wheel on that too. Most people who are given everything sooner or later feels like it is their right to have it. then when that happens the problems start.It is not just welfare, it a whole slew of things that need to be fix or cut. yes some people who real need these programs are the true one that are going to be hurt. Lets not talk of splitting Califorina. Let make sure whoever we put in office next time knows what a budget is and can say NO. Yes California is in a mess now but,This too will pass.whether you are a liberal or conservative. We all got to run down to the beach and help that beached whale back in the water and thrive.united we stand , divide we fall.
Obviously it isn't freeloading if you can (and do) reciprocate--and it doesn't have to be equal, as long as it isn't too much and it's spread around some. All my friends and I gave one another rides to car repair places after work when someone neeeded to pick up a car that was in the shop. I have no idea if I got more rides than I gave, and it didn't really matter.
Reciprocating in some different coin gets more complicated. How many jars of jelly equals a three hour drive the car was making anyway? If you come over to watch the game, bring a six-pack, and drink three of the beers yourself, is that freeloading or not?
A side issue here is that sharing can actually raise everyone's standard of living--and raise it by a lot. I don't know of a more powerful tool to make everybody in the neighborhood better off. Excessive worry about freeloading is one reason we don't see more sharing, which is a shame.
Last week I was invited to a lecture for a group I thought about joining. It turned out the lecture was before a barbecue. I then asked my friend how much it would be for the barbecue. My friend said it's no charge, just go. I felt uncomfortable.
I didn't want to look like/be a freeloader. I couldn't say I didn't have a few dollars to donate (which she knows but 'forgets' )and I didn't want to freeload. So I said I was sick. She's mad.
This is a tough call. But not being a freeloader is critical.
I thoroughly enjoyed this list and was laughing through it. Thanks!
My car had three nice size dents at the front edge of the hood and after leaving the car in the scorching 90+ degree heat for an hour. I used an upside down can of Jet Air (canned air) and the dents popped out perfectly. There is no evidence of any previous dents and no damage to the paint at all. GREAT Forum and thanks for the tip....
dennis
Be aware just because you leave your body to science doesn't mean that science will take it. Read the fine print. If they have enough bodies at the moment or you died from a certain disease or accident or even if your body is just really old, these places can say "no, we do not want you". Which leaves your family scrambling to pay for services they thought were already taken care of.
Though rules vary state by state, embalming in the state of California is not required if you are being cremated. You can get a cremation (that includes a death certificate, an urn or have the remains scattered at sea, and all taxes etc) in the San Francisco Bay Area for around $900.
was almost as much fun as reading the article - which I thought was fun, interesting and helpful.
People do need to lighten up - he's a writer with his OWN opinions if you have a different one, good on you. This is why we live our OWN lives and make our OWN choices.
I drive a new car, I put premium in it, I don't go to fairs and I don't eat hotdogs and I do take more money out of an ATM than I need currently BUT I don't have a problem with spending more than I was planning on and I hate having to drive to the bank.
I really liked the points of not paying attention to the veg bin and throwing away leftovers. Luckily I have chickens who LOVE leftovers if I don't get to them.
I would love to have a FREE copy of this book!
This is just a promotional card. I came across this board because an as-of-recently-no-longer-homeless guy told me that he had them for many years, and they offer 5% on savings, and I wanted to research it further. NetSpend is good for some people but not all. If I had gotten this card, it would be shredded. I get airline cards with my name on it and trash them. They are simply promotional items trying to entice you to activate the card.
It got your attention. It must be working. Now get over it!
The big picture goes the other way, too - we have a car. We use it quite a bit, for people who like to think we don't drive much (1 or 2 days a week, generally). We also enable a friend to be car-free by lending it to him (he generally babysits in exchange). It makes me feel better about the car and, since trustworthy babysitters are priceless, it's a good deal.
Bravo!
Oh, yes... comment 21 was awesome. I thought that reading this article was a waste of my time, but comment 21 made up for it. Thank you, for making me laugh.
Paul, I usually like your articles, but this one was a dud.
Sorry.
Very interesting posts by everyone. I think we are overdue for some re-defining of many terms and attitudes. How great is your standard of living if your high salaried, highly taxed job pushes you into all kinds of stress related illnesses, maybe an early grave? In America, it seems that society sometimes pushes us to see joy and satisfaction in life as always around the corner: after the next raise, after the next acquisition of whatever "stuff" we currently do not possess.
I know I'm writing capitalist heresy here, but sometimes we can find greatest satisfaction in things that cost nothing but are priceless.
I'd say the only time getting in a car that's already going somewhere isn't (potentially) freeloading is ... well, basically never, honestly. Chances are good someone drove at least a block out of their way, or changed their schedule, or had to move the child's carseat out of the back seat, or vacuum away the dog hair, or will have to stop for an extra pit stop on your behalf. Not a big deal, necessarily, but not free.
Easy to solve ... if someone gives you a ride and stops for a fill-up, offer to pay for it. Otherwise, provide or offer occasional gifts to anyone who drives you regularly ("I just brought over some jam I thought you might really enjoy." "Let me know if you'd like me babysit some evening/afternoon so you could get out and enjoy some time to yourself (or run some errands unfettered)," or the first time anyone drives you anywhere. And if you borrow a car, always, always, always return it with a full gas tank, no matter where the gauge was when you borrowed it or how far (not far) you didn't drive it.
If doing these things proves more expensive than owning a car, then you use one enough that you should buy one.
Thankfully, this page, as all internet pages is at least as easy to control as a radio, television, or newspaper. America is about freedom of speech among other things... Gripe if you feel you must but remember you always have the right to turn it off, throw it away, or hit the little "X" in the upper right corner of the screen.
Thank you preceding patriots who have kept our rights secure.
Calling 800Goog411 is free from a landline, but on your cell it's going to cost you. Probably not as much as your providers 411, but there will be a charge. The same is true of any 800 number from your cell. Its called something like a "toll connection charge." When I questioned my cell phone company about it, I was told that toll free numbers weren't long distance and therefore not covered under my free nation-wide calling plan. It was something like $0.50 per connection.
Thanks for that tip on "standard steps." Every few years we are hounded for a couple of months with daily calls about a supposed debt connected with a house my husband lost to his ex-wife. We've verbally asked for documentation and we never received any. One place told us that they don't even know what the debt is for - just that we owe it. I have never known what to do about these calls.
Random thoughts: Mooching off your friends in the name of frugality is NOT frugal. To me, frugality is "big picture" and I try to think beyond my own monetary share. One year we told our daughter that she could keep the left-over money in her candy account at camp. This backfired because she never got any candy and instead mooched off all the other kids!
My frugal son has chosen not to have a car in college and he ALWAYS pays for ALL the gas when he gets rides from friends.
It is possible to annoy people with frugality. I have done so many times. Sometimes, the annoyance is a consequence of their own guilt. But we frugal types need to watch out for "frugal anorexia."
I've been meaning to write on this for a while! Maybe I will!
Despite some of the negative comments about the article, I liked it...it made me think a bit. The tone was sarcastic, but that's what it was meant to BE by the writer!
Very good writing, by the way.
LOL and sitting here chuckling....
Paul hates the following:
-farmers trying to make a living
-people who patronize fairs
-people who have to drive for a living
-those who read prolifically
or not