Remember the story of the Grasshopper and the Ant?
Is the NEW moral of the story that the Ant was immoral and unethical for prepairing for the coming winter?
(I must admit that I did have a smug feeling as I pulled the last 4 ten pound bags of rice off the shelf of my local WalMart, leaving the shelf bare...but that shows that I almost waited too late to prepare)
Winter is coming....are you the Grasshopper or the Ant?
The fact remains that RE is the common component of the rich. Harvard and Yale both include massive amounts of RE holdings in their portfolios. Obtaining RE requires common sense and most of all, courage. On a buying junket in NC, I was talking to a realtor who owns 13 properties. In this area, almost everything cash flows. I asked him why the "locals" weren't scooping up these great deals, his answer, "they don't have any balls". North Carolina crude but dead on.
Your spreadsheet Julie, albeit missing some things that I like to include, is a very good snapshot and guide to investing in property. Thanks for your article as well. It is a good read and I am forwarding it to all my employees.
I just got off the phone with the IRS (waited on hold for about an hour).....apparently, if you got direct deposit but used Turbotax, you will be getting a check....especially if you got a RAL from a 3rd party bank. The IRS did not want to deal with figuring out how to send the money to the 3rd party bank.
If you plop yourself in neutral going down a hill, you free up the engine, and you freely roll down, bringing the rpms down, and not holding back the speed with the engine against you.
When I went to go see what I would be getting back - I typed in that I am married, 2 kids, AGI of 17,533 on our 1040 return (Self Employed), it came back and said I would receive 1,200... according to this website I'd receive 1,800.
Is the IRS trying to lie to people about what they will receive?
My husband and I are already planning on spending our check on bills and trying to get out of debt that the crappy economy (Can anyone say Recession?) that and our own poor choices put us in! This check is great, but $1500 dollars doesn't cut it for us.
Like most middle class citizens, we look at this as quite a bit of cash; but at the same time after all the taxes we pay don't you think it should be more? I live in MN and we have some of the highest tax rates (obvisously behind CA), so this check seems to be a bit lacking in the zeros!
The companies who are currently driving up food prices must love it when the media and popular opinion points the finger at some prudent citizens trying to ensure their family's food security. Individual hoarders have nothing on the big guys. This is a serious issue and a seriously misrepresented one, I find. Two good articles I've seen on this issue are:
I don't know if Trent is talking about Mormons, but they're one faith that believes in storing food--every household should a stockpile of basic necessities. As best I can recall (I lived in Salt Lake City for a couple of years), the scriptural basis is simply that households should be self-reliant.
It makes good sense. Something as simple as a bad blizzard can make it hard for both you and the delivery trucks to get to the grocery store. If most households have a bit of a cushion in the form of some food on hand, then the whole community is more stable.
Along the same lines, Mormon men are supposed to have a small business besides their regular job. If they're between jobs for a while, they can ramp up the small business and earn a little extra money. Once again, it adds stability to the household and the community, because minor economic glitches don't turn into disasters.
Whether it's an article of faith or not, having some basic necessities on hand and some diversity of income are both just good sense.
Hunneebbee's post really reminded me of growing up in my parents house. I used to hate the fridge because it was crammed with stuff one cannot eat just so. I would get hungry, open the door and just stare in desperation at all of the stuff in there:
A huge jar of marachino cherries, large butter packages (lots of them for some reason), a jar of mayo, big jar of mustard, wheat fiber, A1 sauce, a collection of other sauces. etc...
The only thing real in there was the gallon of milk.
Luckily my mother suddenly went back to work one day and left me alone with nothing but a small asian cooking book with nice pictures (i was only 13 and needed the pics).
I had to learn my eating habits from books which turned out to be a much better education than my parents'.
To this day i still cannot stand seeing a crammed fridge.
I have friends who hoard because of their faith. It's quite interesting to tour their basement - they have food hoarding and rationing down to a science and buy in tremendous bulk.
I've made maple syrup. We did most of the boiling over an open fire, then did the last bit on the stove where it was easy to track the temperature. Afer having done that, I can't imagine anyone thinking that maple syrup was a cheap source of sugar--it was a huge amount of work compared to the cost of a 5 lb bag of sugar at the store.
Still--either honey or maple syrup would work fine. You'd have to figure out how much water to add (or, in the case of maple syrup, how much of the boiling you could skip).
The traditional product to make from honey is mead, which is basically just wine made from honey instead of fruit juice. It's tasty enough that I'd be inclined to skip the distilling step and just drink it.
I've never heard of a traditional beverage made by fermenting partially concentrated maple sap, but I'm sure it would be yummy too.
And, sure--heating your still by burning wood would work. There'd be some safety issues involved from having droplets of pure alcohol so close to an open flame, so do allow for that.
I was looking for flour, but while I was there I also wanted to pick up more brown rice, since I was running low. The normally fully stocked shelves were 80% bare, and where there would normally be 2 pallets of stock waiting to be put on the shelf, there were 2-3 small, lonely boxes waiting.
Fortunately, I was there for healthy, whole grain brown rice. Sadly but predictably, there was no shortage of that.
And they have two files of mine that I can't get back. Fortunately, they aren't critical and I have backups but that's just unethical. I was going to use it to transfer some small video files to my sister who's putting together a grandkids video for our parents. Hmmph!
I have an obligation to my own family first. As a family who doesn't eat wheat/barley/rye due to Celiac, we eat a lot of rice.
Most people I know here in the US probably don't eat rice even once a week, much less every day like many people from Asia or my own family, yet they rushed right out to buy it up.
But I don't blame them and don't think it should be illegal to hoard rice/flour/whatever.
Everyone has their families to feed just as I have mine. If a 25 pound bag of rice makes them feel better, and they can afford it, they should go for it.
Food has equaled security for much of human history. You can discourage it and say "tsk tsk", but it is not wrong to worry about your own family and circumstances first.
It is wrong when one's own plight is one's only concern. It is also wrong to be wasteful. Aside from those issues, it is not wrong to save food "for a rainy day", regardless of what that rainy day entails.
I was able to jump in on the train late April before the rate went to zero. The trick was to buy paper version via a local branch of Citibank, my primary bank. No wait, they did it on the spot since I already had my funds with them
Wow, nice post! Nice to see a bunch of things consolidated into one handy list, and a number of ideas (useful ones) I hadn't seen before.
I've been working a lot with tie-dyed denim lately. I just made a really fun yoga bag out of my kids' jeans because I needed one and didn't feel like spending $45 to get one! Check it out in my blog at http://blog.amethistle.com/2008/04/mom-where-are-my-pants.html
The author of this piece is extremely ignorant, but I am not going to waste my time with a retort.
I do want to take the time to point out that you mothers need to research the organic food industry as much as possible. There are definitely many benefits when it comes to organic vs. conventional. ESPECIALLY for younger children. Pesticides are a lot more dangerous for developing children vs grown adults.
As for Horizon, do your research. This is a company that was inspected by the USDA, and had many violations contradicting their organic claim. The USDA didn't even give them a slap on the wrist.
#1 thing with organic, realize that regulation in the United States is very lax/poor. You have to find brands and farmers that YOU TRUST.
Yeah, I did see your thread in the forum, and responded there as well. But then I got to thinking about it, and decided that the topic was worth a post.
See, it's a bigger issue than just rice. There are always shortages of something.
Personally, I often stock up on stuff if I hear news that suggests a possible shortage. I got my mom to stock up on peanut butter one year, after news of a drought affecting the peanut harvest. I got my wife to stock up on coffee after a freeze in Brazil. Both times, my suggestion was to go ahead and buy enough for six months or a year. Both times, we got our purchases made before the price went up. (Oddly, prices at the grocery store don't usually go up very quickly after an event like that--often it takes weeks.)
This case is a bit different, because there isn't really much of a shortage of rice. Rather, there's a supply disruption, because many rice-producing countries have blocked the export of rice. They're doing that because the price of rice has gone up just like the price of wheat, corn, and other foodstuffs, and they're trying to keep the high world price from pushing domestic prices so high that their citizens can't afford to eat.
When you think about it, export restrictions amount to hoarding on a national scale. They're causing real problems. Someone buying an extra bag of rice to eat? That's no big deal.
Since my son is much younger, only a year, I have found out that you can put almost all toys in the dishwasher. Top rack of course. Actually, a lot of the baby toys, like the teathers and such, put that information right on the packaging.
I really like Penney's, and I buy most of my soft goods there. My wife loves their housewares department (curtains, rugs etc).
One thing that annoys me to no end though is that their catalog, website, and retail stores are almost completely seperate enterprises. Not only do they carry different merchandise, they also have greatly different prices on the same items.
They have gotten a bit better about it. I think you can return catalog and website merchandise to the stores now, but the arcane way of ordering from their catalog has turned me off from them entirely.
Think about it. In some stores not only can you check stock online, you can pay for it and have it waiting for you when you get there. Why can't J.C.Penney do this?
Phillip:
You must have seen my thread on the wisebread forums titled "Am I Evil or Frugal?" I have come to realize that my buying an extra bag of rice, was not an evil act, though it may still be considered hoarding.
But with food inflation a fact, it just makes economic sense to buy extra now, to save money. There are solutions to the world food crisis. End the war in Iraq. Stop Ethanol. Eat less meat.
Remember the story of the Grasshopper and the Ant?
Is the NEW moral of the story that the Ant was immoral and unethical for prepairing for the coming winter?
(I must admit that I did have a smug feeling as I pulled the last 4 ten pound bags of rice off the shelf of my local WalMart, leaving the shelf bare...but that shows that I almost waited too late to prepare)
Winter is coming....are you the Grasshopper or the Ant?
The fact remains that RE is the common component of the rich. Harvard and Yale both include massive amounts of RE holdings in their portfolios. Obtaining RE requires common sense and most of all, courage. On a buying junket in NC, I was talking to a realtor who owns 13 properties. In this area, almost everything cash flows. I asked him why the "locals" weren't scooping up these great deals, his answer, "they don't have any balls". North Carolina crude but dead on.
Your spreadsheet Julie, albeit missing some things that I like to include, is a very good snapshot and guide to investing in property. Thanks for your article as well. It is a good read and I am forwarding it to all my employees.
I just got off the phone with the IRS (waited on hold for about an hour).....apparently, if you got direct deposit but used Turbotax, you will be getting a check....especially if you got a RAL from a 3rd party bank. The IRS did not want to deal with figuring out how to send the money to the 3rd party bank.
If you plop yourself in neutral going down a hill, you free up the engine, and you freely roll down, bringing the rpms down, and not holding back the speed with the engine against you.
When I went to go see what I would be getting back - I typed in that I am married, 2 kids, AGI of 17,533 on our 1040 return (Self Employed), it came back and said I would receive 1,200... according to this website I'd receive 1,800.
Is the IRS trying to lie to people about what they will receive?
My husband and I are already planning on spending our check on bills and trying to get out of debt that the crappy economy (Can anyone say Recession?) that and our own poor choices put us in! This check is great, but $1500 dollars doesn't cut it for us.
Like most middle class citizens, we look at this as quite a bit of cash; but at the same time after all the taxes we pay don't you think it should be more? I live in MN and we have some of the highest tax rates (obvisously behind CA), so this check seems to be a bit lacking in the zeros!
Maybe it's just a PR distraction from the war?
http://littlebloginthebigwoods.blogspot.com/2008/04/no-i-will-not-calm-d...
The companies who are currently driving up food prices must love it when the media and popular opinion points the finger at some prudent citizens trying to ensure their family's food security. Individual hoarders have nothing on the big guys. This is a serious issue and a seriously misrepresented one, I find. Two good articles I've seen on this issue are:
at Alternet:
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/84382/
and from Greenpa at Little Blog in the Big Woods (who is a wonderful writer who doesn't often use caps - he's really steamed, and rightly so):
http://littlebloginthebigwoods.blogspot.com/2008/04/
no-i-will-not-calm-down-hunger-action.html
Please pass the word around.
I don't know if Trent is talking about Mormons, but they're one faith that believes in storing food--every household should a stockpile of basic necessities. As best I can recall (I lived in Salt Lake City for a couple of years), the scriptural basis is simply that households should be self-reliant.
It makes good sense. Something as simple as a bad blizzard can make it hard for both you and the delivery trucks to get to the grocery store. If most households have a bit of a cushion in the form of some food on hand, then the whole community is more stable.
Along the same lines, Mormon men are supposed to have a small business besides their regular job. If they're between jobs for a while, they can ramp up the small business and earn a little extra money. Once again, it adds stability to the household and the community, because minor economic glitches don't turn into disasters.
Whether it's an article of faith or not, having some basic necessities on hand and some diversity of income are both just good sense.
Religious reasons? I'd love to hear the belief system behind that, Trent!
Hunneebbee's post really reminded me of growing up in my parents house. I used to hate the fridge because it was crammed with stuff one cannot eat just so. I would get hungry, open the door and just stare in desperation at all of the stuff in there:
A huge jar of marachino cherries, large butter packages (lots of them for some reason), a jar of mayo, big jar of mustard, wheat fiber, A1 sauce, a collection of other sauces. etc...
The only thing real in there was the gallon of milk.
Luckily my mother suddenly went back to work one day and left me alone with nothing but a small asian cooking book with nice pictures (i was only 13 and needed the pics).
I had to learn my eating habits from books which turned out to be a much better education than my parents'.
To this day i still cannot stand seeing a crammed fridge.
I have friends who hoard because of their faith. It's quite interesting to tour their basement - they have food hoarding and rationing down to a science and buy in tremendous bulk.
I've made maple syrup. We did most of the boiling over an open fire, then did the last bit on the stove where it was easy to track the temperature. Afer having done that, I can't imagine anyone thinking that maple syrup was a cheap source of sugar--it was a huge amount of work compared to the cost of a 5 lb bag of sugar at the store.
Still--either honey or maple syrup would work fine. You'd have to figure out how much water to add (or, in the case of maple syrup, how much of the boiling you could skip).
The traditional product to make from honey is mead, which is basically just wine made from honey instead of fruit juice. It's tasty enough that I'd be inclined to skip the distilling step and just drink it.
I've never heard of a traditional beverage made by fermenting partially concentrated maple sap, but I'm sure it would be yummy too.
And, sure--heating your still by burning wood would work. There'd be some safety issues involved from having droplets of pure alcohol so close to an open flame, so do allow for that.
I try to keep a fair stock of staples on hand anyway, so I hadn't noticed a shortage until I went shopping the other night:
http://theartofzenliving.com/2008/05/simple-happy-annoyed/
I was looking for flour, but while I was there I also wanted to pick up more brown rice, since I was running low. The normally fully stocked shelves were 80% bare, and where there would normally be 2 pallets of stock waiting to be put on the shelf, there were 2-3 small, lonely boxes waiting.
Fortunately, I was there for healthy, whole grain brown rice. Sadly but predictably, there was no shortage of that.
And they have two files of mine that I can't get back. Fortunately, they aren't critical and I have backups but that's just unethical. I was going to use it to transfer some small video files to my sister who's putting together a grandkids video for our parents. Hmmph!
This is the dumbest personal finance advice I've ever come across.
I'd rather skip my latte.
I have an obligation to my own family first. As a family who doesn't eat wheat/barley/rye due to Celiac, we eat a lot of rice.
Most people I know here in the US probably don't eat rice even once a week, much less every day like many people from Asia or my own family, yet they rushed right out to buy it up.
But I don't blame them and don't think it should be illegal to hoard rice/flour/whatever.
Everyone has their families to feed just as I have mine. If a 25 pound bag of rice makes them feel better, and they can afford it, they should go for it.
Food has equaled security for much of human history. You can discourage it and say "tsk tsk", but it is not wrong to worry about your own family and circumstances first.
It is wrong when one's own plight is one's only concern. It is also wrong to be wasteful. Aside from those issues, it is not wrong to save food "for a rainy day", regardless of what that rainy day entails.
I was able to jump in on the train late April before the rate went to zero. The trick was to buy paper version via a local branch of Citibank, my primary bank. No wait, they did it on the spot since I already had my funds with them
Wow, nice post! Nice to see a bunch of things consolidated into one handy list, and a number of ideas (useful ones) I hadn't seen before.
I've been working a lot with tie-dyed denim lately. I just made a really fun yoga bag out of my kids' jeans because I needed one and didn't feel like spending $45 to get one! Check it out in my blog at http://blog.amethistle.com/2008/04/mom-where-are-my-pants.html
I've also been doing a different version of simple pet toys: http://blog.amethistle.com/2008/03/recycling-and-dog-toys.html
Hope you like them, and keep these great articles coming!
The author of this piece is extremely ignorant, but I am not going to waste my time with a retort.
I do want to take the time to point out that you mothers need to research the organic food industry as much as possible. There are definitely many benefits when it comes to organic vs. conventional. ESPECIALLY for younger children. Pesticides are a lot more dangerous for developing children vs grown adults.
As for Horizon, do your research. This is a company that was inspected by the USDA, and had many violations contradicting their organic claim. The USDA didn't even give them a slap on the wrist.
#1 thing with organic, realize that regulation in the United States is very lax/poor. You have to find brands and farmers that YOU TRUST.
@Retirement Blog:
Yeah, I did see your thread in the forum, and responded there as well. But then I got to thinking about it, and decided that the topic was worth a post.
See, it's a bigger issue than just rice. There are always shortages of something.
Personally, I often stock up on stuff if I hear news that suggests a possible shortage. I got my mom to stock up on peanut butter one year, after news of a drought affecting the peanut harvest. I got my wife to stock up on coffee after a freeze in Brazil. Both times, my suggestion was to go ahead and buy enough for six months or a year. Both times, we got our purchases made before the price went up. (Oddly, prices at the grocery store don't usually go up very quickly after an event like that--often it takes weeks.)
This case is a bit different, because there isn't really much of a shortage of rice. Rather, there's a supply disruption, because many rice-producing countries have blocked the export of rice. They're doing that because the price of rice has gone up just like the price of wheat, corn, and other foodstuffs, and they're trying to keep the high world price from pushing domestic prices so high that their citizens can't afford to eat.
When you think about it, export restrictions amount to hoarding on a national scale. They're causing real problems. Someone buying an extra bag of rice to eat? That's no big deal.
Since my son is much younger, only a year, I have found out that you can put almost all toys in the dishwasher. Top rack of course. Actually, a lot of the baby toys, like the teathers and such, put that information right on the packaging.
I really like Penney's, and I buy most of my soft goods there. My wife loves their housewares department (curtains, rugs etc).
One thing that annoys me to no end though is that their catalog, website, and retail stores are almost completely seperate enterprises. Not only do they carry different merchandise, they also have greatly different prices on the same items.
They have gotten a bit better about it. I think you can return catalog and website merchandise to the stores now, but the arcane way of ordering from their catalog has turned me off from them entirely.
Think about it. In some stores not only can you check stock online, you can pay for it and have it waiting for you when you get there. Why can't J.C.Penney do this?
Phillip:
You must have seen my thread on the wisebread forums titled "Am I Evil or Frugal?" I have come to realize that my buying an extra bag of rice, was not an evil act, though it may still be considered hoarding.
But with food inflation a fact, it just makes economic sense to buy extra now, to save money. There are solutions to the world food crisis. End the war in Iraq. Stop Ethanol. Eat less meat.
Call the social security office where yoy mailed your taxes, and give them change of address. You can find phone numbers on line