Inflation via money supply increase is a government "scam" of sorts. The person who said the government makes out in inflation is absolutely correct. I am wondering if the current policies are intended as a way to inflate away some of our huge national debt and reduce future obligations like social security (which, recall is tied to CPI, not true inflation).
On a more personal level, I am a retiree (former professional) living on income from a combination of fixed assets from a DB pension and variable ones from a portfolio. I planned for 4% long term inflation, but the current situation has me bit worried as it exceeds even my "worst case" secenarios.
The person who said high interest rates come with high inflation is wrong, wrong, wrong. Right now there is a huge disparity between the two. In the late-70's - early 80's, the interest rates were high, but negative in relation to inflation until Paul Volker had the balls to fix the problem and threw us into severe recession. Back then, having low-interest leverage like mortgage debt or tangibles like art was the way to get by. Now real estate is an albatross.
I'm afraid that we must face the music at some point and have a real recession (not the current whimpy one) or we'll never get back on track. I wonder if the "high raise" commenter will do as well then. And please, don't tell me you are a lawyer and deserve your raises. Lawyers are parasites who produce NOTHING, and deserve about as much.
Wondering if I should take my Peke in for the surgery. Boo also has a deep nose wrinkle, although in the past 1.5 years since I've adopted him, there's been no infection thankfully. So the reason I'm considering the surgery is actually to decrease the watering of his eyes from the hair on his wrinkle poking into them. The dampness from the tears also makes for an unpleasant smell around his face. Any post-surgery side-effects I should be aware in making my decision?
PS: I tried to google this, and very few hits came up. Glad I found your blog.
This was great and, yes, I wouldn't do the heating plastic thing. But now can anyone point me to reuses for contact lens cases? You know, the little two-compartment ones about 3 inches wide that you get free with contact lens solution and every time you visit your optometrist for new lenses, until they threaten to overrun your bathroom storage? Some folks have mentioned using them in your travel washbag to carry small amounts of moisturizer, lip gloss, etc. Any other ideas?
This was such a worthwhile post! And important for many to read. I love my voluntary simplicity but realize the difference from living in poverty. My choices have been to stay in an inexpensive rent-controlled studio apartment rather than buying a house, drive a 26-year-old car, forego cable TV and borrow movies from the library, wait in line for free movie screenings, etc. I also love my life! The freedom my simple living allows me is wonderful!
And I also have a Delonghi toaster/oven that's still working beautifully after 10 years.
This advice is way off base. Max economy is obtained by accelerating slowly to speed not as fast as the thing will get to speed.
My credentials are a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
I wanted to make the Indonesian version, but I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (no miso, my tamarind paste was moldy). I substituted soy sauce for miso+salt, and I threw in a little more than 1 tablespoon sumac + ~2 tsp lemon juice for the tamarind. I also threw in about 5 green cardamom pods on a whim, and used closer to 3/4 or 1 cup 'lite' coconut milk (rather than cream) and a little over 1/3 a cup of peanut butter, with extra garlic and ginger. I watered it down a bit, then cooked up a bunch of tofu (and chicken, def. not vegan, but not necessary) in it, then poured it over freshly chopped cabbage in bowls, garnished with coriander/cilantro and lime. Totally dope, and hella spicy. Next time I may add spinach or broccoli.
A great way to infuse hot liquids is to purchase a French press (less than $20). You can use it for coffee, but I usually use mine to make flavored teas and infusions instead. This way you don't have to worry about straining the brew or fishing anything out of it later (particulary good for small spices, like cloves). For ginger tea I use about 1/2 in of peeled ginger, a couple of cloves, a small piece of cinnamon stick, and a couple of slices of citrus fruit. Let it steep for 5 minutes, then either have it hot or chill it (in the convenient French press). You can add honey if you like as well. Great for when you're feeling a little under the weather, or if you want something really refreshing during the summer.
You can also then freeze this mixture (better with honey), or any other infusion you'd like, and make your own 'tea sorbet'. Just freeze it until it's mostly solid, then throw some chunks in the blender or food processor. It's extremely refreshing when the temps are reaching 90-100 degrees!
I often add frozen berries to water. A lot of times they're cheaper than fresh, and they cool the water down too!
As I understand it, you have to wait until they're done paying all the people who filed on time, but they will send the rebate before the end of the year.
Phillip's comment was reminding me of another way to take vacation time. I once took off two hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon for a month to write.
If you have too much vacation that's going to roll over but too much work to do, you may be able to do something like that too. You could come in late, have long lunches, leave early on Friday, and/or have several three-day weekends. My boss likes to take long lunches to do errands sometimes, for example. One of my co-workers takes off every Friday afternoon each summer.
Then no one will have to wait more than a few work hours before you'll be back. Most people will feel guilty complaining about this, especially if you can time these during the slow periods.
That sort of strategy probably works best for people who get paid by the hour rather than a salary. Salaried folks could probably squeeze in a couple of long weekends or mid-day weeks before their time rolled over.
It's refreshing to see someone doing something that doesn't seem greedy. But I do think that Trent Reznor is smart and that he's interested in revenue. How is he ultimately going to make money off this? I'm sure he has something in mind.:)
I don't know if we are YAWN's (not wealthy), but we do subscribe to the 'less now, more (or better) later' philosophy. We are a one income family and when I do go back to work in the next few years it will be mostly for savings and fun (long term and for the kid's education).
We don't spend much on entertainment either, well besides food. To us going to the park or visiting friends is a good time. To me, the people who think this is a boring life are so dissatisfied with their own minds, lives, etc. that they need the constant drama or distractions just to feel ok.
Like Mary, I wouldn't save money just by staying home. (I bring a lunch, I ride the bus for free, and I wear thrift store clothes, just like I would at home.) I would actually be more likely to spend more money (not trapped in my cube all day, turning on the air conditioning, etc.).
I was thinking from the title that you would give us ideas on things to do with our time off that could help us save money. Like we could do things we might normally pay others to do, such as making our lunches for the rest of the week so we don't go out to eat, ironing our own clothes, mowing our own lawn, changing our own oil, stuff like that. Things we don't mind doing or even would like doing if only we had more time.
Another idea is to schedule service people to come over and take care of little things before they become big things. Of course you have to be home for this, but there's no reason not to do relaxing things while you're waiting like watching videos, playing games, reading, quilting, or any other time-consuming thing you can do at home that is interruptable.
Or you could fix or mend things that you would otherwise replace.
Some things are also cheaper or at least easier to do during the day. Movies at theatres are cheaper (matinee prices). And lots of places are less crowded, so you might be able to get lots of errands done and then have more free time after work for the next week. And some places are only open during work hours. I think my local consignment shop only buys things during M-F 8-4 work hours, I can drop off hazardous wastes (like old batteries) only during those hours, and my local AAA offices are open only then.
Speculators are an interesting variation. They cause the same price gyrations, by bidding up prices, but they generally don't cause shortages, because almost all their activity takes place in the futures markets and they hardly ever take physical delivery--so there's just as much supply as before.
Hoarders, by physically stockpiling goods, can bring about actual shortages.
Of course, to a poor person, goods that are unaffordable don't seem like much of an improvement over goods that are entirely unavailable. They are, though. There are plenty of things you can do to stretch expensive supplies, but none of those tricks do much good when the shelves are bare.
Inflation via money supply increase is a government "scam" of sorts. The person who said the government makes out in inflation is absolutely correct. I am wondering if the current policies are intended as a way to inflate away some of our huge national debt and reduce future obligations like social security (which, recall is tied to CPI, not true inflation).
On a more personal level, I am a retiree (former professional) living on income from a combination of fixed assets from a DB pension and variable ones from a portfolio. I planned for 4% long term inflation, but the current situation has me bit worried as it exceeds even my "worst case" secenarios.
The person who said high interest rates come with high inflation is wrong, wrong, wrong. Right now there is a huge disparity between the two. In the late-70's - early 80's, the interest rates were high, but negative in relation to inflation until Paul Volker had the balls to fix the problem and threw us into severe recession. Back then, having low-interest leverage like mortgage debt or tangibles like art was the way to get by. Now real estate is an albatross.
I'm afraid that we must face the music at some point and have a real recession (not the current whimpy one) or we'll never get back on track. I wonder if the "high raise" commenter will do as well then. And please, don't tell me you are a lawyer and deserve your raises. Lawyers are parasites who produce NOTHING, and deserve about as much.
I wish I still lived in my hometown near Cleveland but alas, nobody wanted to hire me =/
I'm definitely going to tell my sister about this though, as she's living in Cleveland and finishing up school.
And yummmmmm garlic butter.
Wondering if I should take my Peke in for the surgery. Boo also has a deep nose wrinkle, although in the past 1.5 years since I've adopted him, there's been no infection thankfully. So the reason I'm considering the surgery is actually to decrease the watering of his eyes from the hair on his wrinkle poking into them. The dampness from the tears also makes for an unpleasant smell around his face. Any post-surgery side-effects I should be aware in making my decision?
PS: I tried to google this, and very few hits came up. Glad I found your blog.
This was great and, yes, I wouldn't do the heating plastic thing. But now can anyone point me to reuses for contact lens cases? You know, the little two-compartment ones about 3 inches wide that you get free with contact lens solution and every time you visit your optometrist for new lenses, until they threaten to overrun your bathroom storage? Some folks have mentioned using them in your travel washbag to carry small amounts of moisturizer, lip gloss, etc. Any other ideas?
Cleveland fans are lucky to have Papa Johns.
This was such a worthwhile post! And important for many to read. I love my voluntary simplicity but realize the difference from living in poverty. My choices have been to stay in an inexpensive rent-controlled studio apartment rather than buying a house, drive a 26-year-old car, forego cable TV and borrow movies from the library, wait in line for free movie screenings, etc. I also love my life! The freedom my simple living allows me is wonderful!
And I also have a Delonghi toaster/oven that's still working beautifully after 10 years.
This advice is way off base. Max economy is obtained by accelerating slowly to speed not as fast as the thing will get to speed.
My credentials are a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
I wanted to make the Indonesian version, but I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (no miso, my tamarind paste was moldy). I substituted soy sauce for miso+salt, and I threw in a little more than 1 tablespoon sumac + ~2 tsp lemon juice for the tamarind. I also threw in about 5 green cardamom pods on a whim, and used closer to 3/4 or 1 cup 'lite' coconut milk (rather than cream) and a little over 1/3 a cup of peanut butter, with extra garlic and ginger. I watered it down a bit, then cooked up a bunch of tofu (and chicken, def. not vegan, but not necessary) in it, then poured it over freshly chopped cabbage in bowls, garnished with coriander/cilantro and lime. Totally dope, and hella spicy. Next time I may add spinach or broccoli.
A great way to infuse hot liquids is to purchase a French press (less than $20). You can use it for coffee, but I usually use mine to make flavored teas and infusions instead. This way you don't have to worry about straining the brew or fishing anything out of it later (particulary good for small spices, like cloves). For ginger tea I use about 1/2 in of peeled ginger, a couple of cloves, a small piece of cinnamon stick, and a couple of slices of citrus fruit. Let it steep for 5 minutes, then either have it hot or chill it (in the convenient French press). You can add honey if you like as well. Great for when you're feeling a little under the weather, or if you want something really refreshing during the summer.
You can also then freeze this mixture (better with honey), or any other infusion you'd like, and make your own 'tea sorbet'. Just freeze it until it's mostly solid, then throw some chunks in the blender or food processor. It's extremely refreshing when the temps are reaching 90-100 degrees!
I often add frozen berries to water. A lot of times they're cheaper than fresh, and they cool the water down too!
I understand that you receive $300 per child with no limit.
As I understand it, you have to wait until they're done paying all the people who filed on time, but they will send the rebate before the end of the year.
So I was out of town...asked my roomate to mail in my return...he forgot...
so just mailed them in today....will I still get the tax rebate?
I'd eat a hunk of lumber dipped in that garlic sauce... YUM....
oh man..i should forward this to my friend who is going to school in cleveland
I like when I'm brilliant!
Phillip's comment was reminding me of another way to take vacation time. I once took off two hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon for a month to write.
If you have too much vacation that's going to roll over but too much work to do, you may be able to do something like that too. You could come in late, have long lunches, leave early on Friday, and/or have several three-day weekends. My boss likes to take long lunches to do errands sometimes, for example. One of my co-workers takes off every Friday afternoon each summer.
Then no one will have to wait more than a few work hours before you'll be back. Most people will feel guilty complaining about this, especially if you can time these during the slow periods.
That sort of strategy probably works best for people who get paid by the hour rather than a salary. Salaried folks could probably squeeze in a couple of long weekends or mid-day weeks before their time rolled over.
very interesting. does it include garlic sauce or ranch?
It's refreshing to see someone doing something that doesn't seem greedy. But I do think that Trent Reznor is smart and that he's interested in revenue. How is he ultimately going to make money off this? I'm sure he has something in mind.:)
You know what? This is what makes me buys physical CDs. Really.
Rob Sheridan also wrote a fantastic article on the subjects of the RIAA, free music, and changes coming for the industry - it's a long read but very eye-opening: When Pigs Fly: The Death Of Oink, The Birth Of Dissent, and a Brief History Of Record Industry Suicide
Judging by the recent moves by NIN, I'm sure Sheridan has been involved in the NIN distribution strategy
I don't know if we are YAWN's (not wealthy), but we do subscribe to the 'less now, more (or better) later' philosophy. We are a one income family and when I do go back to work in the next few years it will be mostly for savings and fun (long term and for the kid's education).
We don't spend much on entertainment either, well besides food. To us going to the park or visiting friends is a good time. To me, the people who think this is a boring life are so dissatisfied with their own minds, lives, etc. that they need the constant drama or distractions just to feel ok.
You are brilliant! All of your DIY ideas are super ways to save money, and I LOVE the bit about scheduling service calls for your vacation days.
Thanks!
Thanks a lot for this link. I love NIN and Trent Reznor is one of the great artists of my generation.
Like Mary, I wouldn't save money just by staying home. (I bring a lunch, I ride the bus for free, and I wear thrift store clothes, just like I would at home.) I would actually be more likely to spend more money (not trapped in my cube all day, turning on the air conditioning, etc.).
I was thinking from the title that you would give us ideas on things to do with our time off that could help us save money. Like we could do things we might normally pay others to do, such as making our lunches for the rest of the week so we don't go out to eat, ironing our own clothes, mowing our own lawn, changing our own oil, stuff like that. Things we don't mind doing or even would like doing if only we had more time.
Another idea is to schedule service people to come over and take care of little things before they become big things. Of course you have to be home for this, but there's no reason not to do relaxing things while you're waiting like watching videos, playing games, reading, quilting, or any other time-consuming thing you can do at home that is interruptable.
Or you could fix or mend things that you would otherwise replace.
Some things are also cheaper or at least easier to do during the day. Movies at theatres are cheaper (matinee prices). And lots of places are less crowded, so you might be able to get lots of errands done and then have more free time after work for the next week. And some places are only open during work hours. I think my local consignment shop only buys things during M-F 8-4 work hours, I can drop off hazardous wastes (like old batteries) only during those hours, and my local AAA offices are open only then.
I really like Rob Sheridan, the art director of NIN. He has the coolest wallpapers availalbe at http://www.rob-sheridan.com/sketchblog/
Speculators are an interesting variation. They cause the same price gyrations, by bidding up prices, but they generally don't cause shortages, because almost all their activity takes place in the futures markets and they hardly ever take physical delivery--so there's just as much supply as before.
Hoarders, by physically stockpiling goods, can bring about actual shortages.
Of course, to a poor person, goods that are unaffordable don't seem like much of an improvement over goods that are entirely unavailable. They are, though. There are plenty of things you can do to stretch expensive supplies, but none of those tricks do much good when the shelves are bare.