I love the list! I haven't used my pasta maker yet because I'm not sure how to clean it, but I love the idea of making my own linguine.
My father-in-law has Celiac disease, and I wanted to make sure you're aware that the difference in cost between gluten-containing and gluten-free items is usually FSA eligible. FSA (flexible spending account) money is pre-tax. It won't reduce your expenses as much as making your own food, but it helps take away some of the sting of the larger grocery bill if you don't have the time/can't find a recipe for some of the items.
I'm big on *regular* giving. Episodic giving will make me feel good in the short term, avoiding guilt, but doesn't make the same kind of difference in the long term as sustained relationships with organizations whose values line up with our own. As a bonus, regular giving allows me to carve out space in my budget, rather than getting hit up for big, one-time gifts where I don't know where the money's coming from.
I volunteer at our local animal shelter every week and some weekends I do events for the shelter. We have converted all birthday and christmas presents into charitable donations. Most people really love this idea, it's better than getting more "stuff" they don't need. I read the book "29 Gifts in 29 Days" and I do try to stick with it each and every day. We have donated to several places for Haiti including money for the animals. Every day when I get on the computer, I go to www.theanimalrescuesite.com and make my click count, once I am done there I go across the top to the Breast Cancer, Rain Forest, Literacy, and Health site to make my click count there as well. If I have the time at work I also go on www.freerice.com which feeds people around the world. Once a month I donated to an animal rescue where we got our dog, not the shelter I volunteer. I try to do a box of something they need each month. This month they were in need of collars and leashes so we got 20 collars and 15 leashes to send to the rescue organization. Even if I can't give money I like to try to give something every day. Giving is one of the things in my life that keeps me truly happy. I never knew this much happiness until I started giving.
I'm currently in survival mode, as I can't afford to pay the rent at the moment, much less give to causes I want to support. Assuming that things do improve this year, then I do plan on giving to the Office of Letters and Light, the organization that runs National Novel Writing Month and Script Frenzy and the organization which changed my life by showing me that I wasn't the only weird person who liked to write. Besides that, I would give to various other causes as the need and desire arose, and if my alma mater's lucky, she just might also get a share.
Wow, this is really similar to the plan I have in place and wrote about a while back in my Livejournal journal. Great minds do indeed think alike! First time I've seen a problogger talk about this approach, I think.
We've always given 10% of our net income to our church and we also support a child in Guatemala through World Vision. Above that we give anywhere from $20-$100 to various charities throughout the year or as needs arise. It's a big chunk of our budget but since we've always done it that way we don't even think about it anymore. If I find myself thinking how much further our money would go if we gave less, I remind myself how our way of life compares to the way most people in the world live.
Asia isn't the only place with cheap child labor competing with adults for manufacturing jobs. Up until WWII, big business ignored weak child labor laws and the pro-business courts wouldn't enforce them. FDR started to enforce them during the Great Depression, but it wasn't until 1941 that the republican-stuffed Supreme Court softened it's rampant pro-business/anti-reform policies finally began to recognize child labor laws as legitimate. The only REAL reason the laws were finally enforced was the government didn't want WWII soldiers coming home (as they had done after WWI) to find nobody wanted to hire them and cause a reversion to the Great Depression the nation had just climbed out of. They used the exact same argument to justify it then, too, that "the families WANT their kids to work these jobs."
So ... instead now big business has skipped the country to do the exact same unethical thing someplace else and we stupid American's let our government (under the guise of "free trade") allow our entire economy to be outsourced. My grandma had a saying, "don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining." Well, folks, it's been "raining" buckets for 2.5 decades!
We have decided to give by lowering our food bill and giving the remaining money to the Salvation Army. We had already decided to do this for all of 2010 but are now focused on Haiti. For Janaury, so far, we have cut our food spending by half!
I got a statement for a card that I never applied for in the name of my 9yr old daughter!!! I contacted Netspend and got no reply as of yet. What should I do?
I agree that there are many other ways to get "free stuff". This article was written to highlight the world of "freebies," specifically, in this article. Freebies (different from ordinary stuff you would get from free on a classifieds site) have a marketing or promotional nature about them. See Wiki for an example.
Chapter 9 of Elizabeth Warren's personal finance book, "All Your Worth" includes detailed information on bankruptcy, such as the two main types of bankruptcy, the types of debt bankruptcy does (and does not) erase, what bankruptcy accomplishes, the process of filing bankruptcy, what NOT to do at bankruptcy court,and WHEN to file for bankruptcy.(Ms. Warren teaches bankruptcy law at Harvard Law School.)
Love the blog! People are more than just a face with a name, but humans with real emotion, dreams and desires. Whether employer or employee, we will all be better off when we remember that.
This is a great post! Having an emergency plan is indeed a lot more important than having the correct amount of cash stashed away for emergencies. An emergency plan can take individual situations into account much better than just one number that determines the "correct" amount of emergency cash.
This is a great post! Thanks for organizing this way of thinking beyond the emergency fund. I'll definitely be talking this over with my husband at our next family finance meeting.
Sierra Black - embracing the wild heart of parenting at www.childwild.com
This First Bank of Mattress helps me a lot some time. I have nothing to buy for my meal one day, I don't have someone to ask for money. Then I've remembered I do have this First Bank of Mattress.
Usually we take our tax return and either wipe out or significantly reduce our credit card debt. Sadly, even though we get a significant return, it would only make a small dent in our current debt. We've also cancelled two cards recently to avoid getting hit with (more) outrageous APRs, which leaves us with the reality that we may end up having to do the same with the other two. Yes, not fun admitting to the number of cards and amount of debt we've accumulated, but there you go. So we've decided to take this year's return and use it for an emergency fund/living expenses and using the income we would normally use for living expenses to beat down the cc debt. And, if we do end up with little or no available credit, we have something to fall back on in an emergency. We've sat down and developed a debt repayment plan to go along with this and have also discussed options if we were to lose our current income. Wish us luck!
Funny you should post this today...I was just using my Kitchenaid tonight to make a huge batch (triple) of noodles....and it acted really weird. Really, really weird. So weird, that both my husband and I took a step back like it would come unhinged and take off one of our arms, or a nose or some other important extremity.
So, I will take your advice as a legal waiver and watch my doubling on recipes. Thank you, Marla...I am very attached to my nose and arms.
I have always enjoyed your posts on parentingsquad.com and am glad to see you here!
I, too, have a Kitchenaid . . . and a breadmaker . . . and a pastamaker (were we separated at birth?). I especially love the Kitchenaid and the breadmaker. The breadmaker gets used every three or four days. It's just so easy to make high-quality, healthy bread in it. Be careful doubling recipes in the Kitchenaid - while it is a powerful appliance, it does struggle with big batches.
Flexo, great post! I think that you definitely made a strong argument for not leaving all your money in a single savings account earning next to zero interest.
One other point that I think is important that part of the plan should be a discussion with your family. As stated in a previous comment decreasing spending during an emergency is a great way to make an emergency fund last longer. It is important to discuss with your family which expenses are discretionary, and what can get cut first if necessary.
I worked at a company for two months got laid off because there was a massive cut on our funding. I applied for Unemployment benefits and got denied. It turns out they were charging my previous employer, they appealed my case and won. I decided to file an appeal and have finally recieved a telephone interview next week. After carefully looking at the letter I was shocked to find that they are still charging the wrong employer. I have provided the unemployment office with proof of my actual last place of employment. I decided to call and ask why this was and was told that because I worked at my last place of employment for only two months, the ones responsible for my unemployment would be the company I worked for four years. I am very confused and are afraid of again loosing my case what can I do. I live in Illinois.
I love the list! I haven't used my pasta maker yet because I'm not sure how to clean it, but I love the idea of making my own linguine.
My father-in-law has Celiac disease, and I wanted to make sure you're aware that the difference in cost between gluten-containing and gluten-free items is usually FSA eligible. FSA (flexible spending account) money is pre-tax. It won't reduce your expenses as much as making your own food, but it helps take away some of the sting of the larger grocery bill if you don't have the time/can't find a recipe for some of the items.
I check out charities on charity navigator to make sure that what I do give goes to charities that use funds efficiently.
I'm big on *regular* giving. Episodic giving will make me feel good in the short term, avoiding guilt, but doesn't make the same kind of difference in the long term as sustained relationships with organizations whose values line up with our own. As a bonus, regular giving allows me to carve out space in my budget, rather than getting hit up for big, one-time gifts where I don't know where the money's coming from.
I volunteer at our local animal shelter every week and some weekends I do events for the shelter. We have converted all birthday and christmas presents into charitable donations. Most people really love this idea, it's better than getting more "stuff" they don't need. I read the book "29 Gifts in 29 Days" and I do try to stick with it each and every day. We have donated to several places for Haiti including money for the animals. Every day when I get on the computer, I go to www.theanimalrescuesite.com and make my click count, once I am done there I go across the top to the Breast Cancer, Rain Forest, Literacy, and Health site to make my click count there as well. If I have the time at work I also go on www.freerice.com which feeds people around the world. Once a month I donated to an animal rescue where we got our dog, not the shelter I volunteer. I try to do a box of something they need each month. This month they were in need of collars and leashes so we got 20 collars and 15 leashes to send to the rescue organization. Even if I can't give money I like to try to give something every day. Giving is one of the things in my life that keeps me truly happy. I never knew this much happiness until I started giving.
I'm currently in survival mode, as I can't afford to pay the rent at the moment, much less give to causes I want to support. Assuming that things do improve this year, then I do plan on giving to the Office of Letters and Light, the organization that runs National Novel Writing Month and Script Frenzy and the organization which changed my life by showing me that I wasn't the only weird person who liked to write. Besides that, I would give to various other causes as the need and desire arose, and if my alma mater's lucky, she just might also get a share.
Wow, this is really similar to the plan I have in place and wrote about a while back in my Livejournal journal. Great minds do indeed think alike! First time I've seen a problogger talk about this approach, I think.
We've always given 10% of our net income to our church and we also support a child in Guatemala through World Vision. Above that we give anywhere from $20-$100 to various charities throughout the year or as needs arise. It's a big chunk of our budget but since we've always done it that way we don't even think about it anymore. If I find myself thinking how much further our money would go if we gave less, I remind myself how our way of life compares to the way most people in the world live.
Asia isn't the only place with cheap child labor competing with adults for manufacturing jobs. Up until WWII, big business ignored weak child labor laws and the pro-business courts wouldn't enforce them. FDR started to enforce them during the Great Depression, but it wasn't until 1941 that the republican-stuffed Supreme Court softened it's rampant pro-business/anti-reform policies finally began to recognize child labor laws as legitimate. The only REAL reason the laws were finally enforced was the government didn't want WWII soldiers coming home (as they had done after WWI) to find nobody wanted to hire them and cause a reversion to the Great Depression the nation had just climbed out of. They used the exact same argument to justify it then, too, that "the families WANT their kids to work these jobs."
So ... instead now big business has skipped the country to do the exact same unethical thing someplace else and we stupid American's let our government (under the guise of "free trade") allow our entire economy to be outsourced. My grandma had a saying, "don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining." Well, folks, it's been "raining" buckets for 2.5 decades!
We have decided to give by lowering our food bill and giving the remaining money to the Salvation Army. We had already decided to do this for all of 2010 but are now focused on Haiti. For Janaury, so far, we have cut our food spending by half!
I got a statement for a card that I never applied for in the name of my 9yr old daughter!!! I contacted Netspend and got no reply as of yet. What should I do?
I agree that there are many other ways to get "free stuff". This article was written to highlight the world of "freebies," specifically, in this article. Freebies (different from ordinary stuff you would get from free on a classifieds site) have a marketing or promotional nature about them. See Wiki for an example.
Thanks for all the helpful comments!
Linsey Knerl
Chapter 9 of Elizabeth Warren's personal finance book, "All Your Worth" includes detailed information on bankruptcy, such as the two main types of bankruptcy, the types of debt bankruptcy does (and does not) erase, what bankruptcy accomplishes, the process of filing bankruptcy, what NOT to do at bankruptcy court,and WHEN to file for bankruptcy.(Ms. Warren teaches bankruptcy law at Harvard Law School.)
Love the blog! People are more than just a face with a name, but humans with real emotion, dreams and desires. Whether employer or employee, we will all be better off when we remember that.
This is a great post! Having an emergency plan is indeed a lot more important than having the correct amount of cash stashed away for emergencies. An emergency plan can take individual situations into account much better than just one number that determines the "correct" amount of emergency cash.
This is a great post! Thanks for organizing this way of thinking beyond the emergency fund. I'll definitely be talking this over with my husband at our next family finance meeting.
Sierra Black - embracing the wild heart of parenting at www.childwild.com
This First Bank of Mattress helps me a lot some time. I have nothing to buy for my meal one day, I don't have someone to ask for money. Then I've remembered I do have this First Bank of Mattress.
Thanks for the tips Flexo! Thoughtful post. :)
Usually we take our tax return and either wipe out or significantly reduce our credit card debt. Sadly, even though we get a significant return, it would only make a small dent in our current debt. We've also cancelled two cards recently to avoid getting hit with (more) outrageous APRs, which leaves us with the reality that we may end up having to do the same with the other two. Yes, not fun admitting to the number of cards and amount of debt we've accumulated, but there you go. So we've decided to take this year's return and use it for an emergency fund/living expenses and using the income we would normally use for living expenses to beat down the cc debt. And, if we do end up with little or no available credit, we have something to fall back on in an emergency. We've sat down and developed a debt repayment plan to go along with this and have also discussed options if we were to lose our current income. Wish us luck!
First bank of mattress?
I love it, absolutely love it.
These are all great ideas--just make sure the cash is well hidden, nobody knows about it, and it truly is a small amount
I love YouTube makeup and beauty tutorials.
One of my favourite celeb tips is false eyelashes to make your eyes "pop".
Where to get cheap itune card??
Thank you for the sweet comment!
Funny you should post this today...I was just using my Kitchenaid tonight to make a huge batch (triple) of noodles....and it acted really weird. Really, really weird. So weird, that both my husband and I took a step back like it would come unhinged and take off one of our arms, or a nose or some other important extremity.
So, I will take your advice as a legal waiver and watch my doubling on recipes. Thank you, Marla...I am very attached to my nose and arms.
I have always enjoyed your posts on parentingsquad.com and am glad to see you here!
I, too, have a Kitchenaid . . . and a breadmaker . . . and a pastamaker (were we separated at birth?). I especially love the Kitchenaid and the breadmaker. The breadmaker gets used every three or four days. It's just so easy to make high-quality, healthy bread in it. Be careful doubling recipes in the Kitchenaid - while it is a powerful appliance, it does struggle with big batches.
Good luck with your new eating adventure!
Thanks for linking to the Frugal Map! It is much appreciated! I'm adding more bloggers to other states soon!
Flexo, great post! I think that you definitely made a strong argument for not leaving all your money in a single savings account earning next to zero interest.
One other point that I think is important that part of the plan should be a discussion with your family. As stated in a previous comment decreasing spending during an emergency is a great way to make an emergency fund last longer. It is important to discuss with your family which expenses are discretionary, and what can get cut first if necessary.
I worked at a company for two months got laid off because there was a massive cut on our funding. I applied for Unemployment benefits and got denied. It turns out they were charging my previous employer, they appealed my case and won. I decided to file an appeal and have finally recieved a telephone interview next week. After carefully looking at the letter I was shocked to find that they are still charging the wrong employer. I have provided the unemployment office with proof of my actual last place of employment. I decided to call and ask why this was and was told that because I worked at my last place of employment for only two months, the ones responsible for my unemployment would be the company I worked for four years. I am very confused and are afraid of again loosing my case what can I do. I live in Illinois.