One of the things about the way things are now, is that the citizenship of the business could change without the owners needing to change their own. Many things that would be a crime for you to do in the US would not be a crime if some contractor did them for you in some other country where it wasn't illegal.
And I agree--much better to take back our own government than to just give up on it.
My TIPS just came to maturity and were redeemed. The report to the IRS was what the final price was. My cost when I bought them is way under this amount, but I have beem paying tax on the gains with the OID each year.
When I file my oncome tax return what do I use as cost basis? Surely not what I paid for them as I have been paying tax all the time on the gains each year. that would be double tax.
I was with Pinecone for years. And I am signing up again. It is fun and I have recieved tons of products to try. I think what they look for are good ideas and expressiveness. If you say you do or don't like a product and don't articulate specifically why or why not, they won't send you anything. I often trashed the product concepts and would still get the product to try.
The point of businesses just taking their factories elsewhere of course is a valid concern. At one point we seriously considered taking our citizenship elsewhere. There are other developed countries with better standards of living, better social guarantees and better current quality of life standards. We have put it on the back burner for now but if things really got stupid we would seriously consider moving.
But that is also a very extreme action and one that couldn't really be done in large numbers.
I find his outlook on that we need to take our government back and start operating as one big voice again is probably our best chance. 40 hour work weeks and the idea of vacations were not just handed down to workers because companies were nice.
so real people actually have time for this? i'm lucky to get grocery shopping done and remember to pick up shoes for kids when they've outgrown them. for me it just seems like a giant hassle to sit there and pick thru the ads and then do the rebate thing. not that i'm saying it doesn't work. i had a roomate who made a living doing this--seriously. but how much time do people spend doing this?
Bringing lunch in is what I do nearly every day now, which is nice for my pocketbook but has become dull after 10+ years. I used to make sandwiches and still do but have started with leftovers from home-cooked dinners or created chef's salads.
My generally ravenous kids (at home and on the road) are my budget busters now. When they were younger, they loved ricecakes -- inexpensive and relatively healthy (even those with the sugar added, compared with most other kid alternatives). My snacks are apples, grapes, dried cranberries, pecans, maybe a cereal bar; at home, I may have to grab some chips with salsa before dinner.
It does help to develop your own game plan based on what's available shopping wise and restaurant wise but it can take some experimenting to get there!
I think the middle class is on the same side as the poor. They just don't all know it yet.
In fact, though, the poor have probably benefited as much as anyone from the vast availability of cheap stuff. As recently as the 1970s, setting up a first apartment was a very expensive undertaking (which is why there's a tradition of things like house-warming parties and wedding showers). In 2007, the cost of setting up a minimal household (a pot, a skillet, two or four place settings, a few glasses, something to sit on, and something to sleep on) was probably as cheap as it has ever been. (I suppose hunter-gatherers who made all their own tools could do it cheaper.)
This fact serves as a great wedge between the poor and working-class folks on the one hand, and the upper-middle class folks on the other. When someone says, "Hey! Shopping at places like WalMart is shooting yourself in the foot! You're supporting the same folks who are getting rich by grinding you into the dust!" all the poor person knows is that someone is trying to take away his one chance at coming close to a middle-class standard of living.
Bringing it back to Reich's book, that's why economic actions by consumers aren't going to do the trick. It will take political action.
If I can expand on the healthy snacks tip, it is critical to remember that "quick snacks on the road" add up in calories and costs as well. We were heading out to the in-laws, 90 minutes away, and the call went out for "can we stop for a snack"? 5 minutes at the 7-11, and we'd spent about $12--two Vitamin Waters, a coffee, a diet Coke (about $1.50 for each of these), a bag of chips, a package of poptarts (my choice--I know, I know...), a couple of candy bars. Absolutely empty calories, a lot of packaging and waste, and no reason to have stopped.
We're going for a long drive this weekend, and I am going to be prepared: for Christmas, we each got a Sigg 1-liter aluminum drink bottle, which I will fill with water (kids like to put a to-go Crystal Light packet in there, green tea with honey and lemon) so we have drinks. I am also packing a small cooler with baby carrots, sliced peppers and celery, hummus, oranges, homemade chocolate chip cookies, sliced cheese, and whole grain crackers. And, most importantly, gassing up the car the night before so there is no reason to stop.
I have found that you can constrain your dining out to really special nights by only eating things that you couldn't reasonably reproduce at home: pasta is one of the big markups, steak is another (both are easy to make at home, and much less expensive at home than in a restaurant), salad (please!), soup, seafood, etc. YOu can really do these yourself, for much cheaper. I learned to make limited sushi choices too (crab, avocado, cucumber, egg, shrimp) because our family loves to eat it. An order of California roll (6 pieces) is $4 at our local sushi place--I can make 10 rolls (60 pieces) for about $7, because I have already made the investment in wasabi, gari, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. That feeds 4 of us for dinner, and there is enough leftover to make Bento boxes for the kids for school lunch.
Another tip is to either split an entree with someone when you go out, or to ask for a take-home container to be delivered with your meal (If I'm eating out for business, I usually do this, and take half of the entree home for the hubby or for my lunch the next day). Restaurant portions are huge, expensive and generally not altogether healthy (lots of butter and exotic oils), so splitting it between 2 meals is a great way to minimize the damage.
I can't recall exactly, but I think the ones I got were for a product type I use, and for a specific product I'm somewhat indifferent to. Such as if I said I do eat snack crackers regularly, and they were asking what I thought about the advertising for a new product, maybe a honey-sesame crisp by a well-known snack cracker manufacturer, and I wasn't sure if I would buy it or not but it did sound like it'd be interesting...
For the record, I haven't heard of a honey-sesame crisp, although I bet it'd be delicious. :)
The most painful part of winter heating is the $$$ cost. It cannot be avoided. And it hits like a Budget Buster every time.
If you use oil-- you may have to pay for EACH delivery IN FULL to the tune of Hundreds of dollars. If it's Gas, you can spread it out over the entire year-- but then you're still paying for winter in the middle of the summer when you need a coupla hundred to pay for the AC.
This is a trick my mother told me-- and it's easier now with internet access. Add up your current Winter bill, let say your Oil bills. Let's say it about $2500. Divide by 52 and add about $5.
Then create a separate acct-- go for a HIGH interest SAVINGS acct like E-Trade or ING direct. Transfer $55 every week the the requisite amount every paycheck and learn NOT TO TOUCH it. No Vacation. NO Car. No New HDTV.
Global Warming aside, WINTER will STILL come around again, but it will be less predictable. Except now, when the bill comes, you pop the cork on the oil bill acct you created and pay the bill from there. If the Winter is MILDER than the previous one, you may use less and have some money left over plus interest. Start Over.
If you have the financial room-- do the same for AC costs. But remember-- we CAN sweat through heat in the summer if you really have to. But when it's cold-- the HEAT MUST STAY ON.
My first step to curbing the eating out demon was to brown-bag my lunches. I work in a hospital which has a cafeteria that isn't bad but it really adds up over a week. So I scoped out a shelf in the break room and keep lunch items there. It's working really well so far. Thanks for the post I'm always open to new ideas.
1 & 2 need to be reconsidered for how much your time is worth. For example: If I make $20 an hour and it takes me five hours to make a coffee table, then that coffee table cost me $100. As opposed to a trip to the store and I buy one for $40 that I might have to sand and stain for an hour, total cost: $60. I've saved $40.
Anthony, I think the trick to enjoying eating at home and eating some of the gourmet things you like is using simple recipes that are quick and tasty. I stick with a few basic recipes when I want a quick, yet quality meal at home.
Homemade Pesto, which takes about two minutes in the blender over some cooked pasta. This only requires a bunch of fresh basil, a handful of shaved parmesan cheese, a few pine nuts, a garlic clove, olive oil, seasonings and a blender to blend it in. It doesn't even get heated, the cooked pasta makes it warm when served.
Vodka sauce, which Myscha highlighted on wisebread previously. That one is over the top awesome! Another is stir fry with shrimp and some nicer veggies. This one takes nearly no time and is awesome with frozen shrimp purhased on sale. Add in some fresh ginger, lemon zest (rind that is shredded), a little water, pepper and veggies of choice. These are three simple meals that leave me feeling like I had a nice quality dinner that I didnt have to spend hours on minus the high price tag of a restaurant.
Last time I had a bad experience there I took the survey on the receipt and they were in touch with me pretty quickly. You should give that a shot, seems to be a direct link to management if the survey is bad enough.
In response to the poster above about home schooling...
I'm ALL for choice on all levels but let's stop painting home schooling as the be all end all for everyone.
I know many women who go this homeschool route. Some are great - they've made a choice based on their child's needs or their religious preferences. Hats off to them who are doing it the right way.
You've never seen a public school kid who can talk to adults? Really? My public school educated kid can talk to adults with ease. But she can also talk to children her age.
I can tell a home schooled kid a mile away too. They are often routinely the kids who struggle in social settings with peers. I watch them unable to handle our neighborhood swim team b/c they can't relate to kids in their age group, unable to play structured games in the cul de sac we live on. They have less friends, less of a gasp on modern culture. Maybe you think all of that is wonderful but the real world is made up of lots of kinds of people. If you don't allow your child safe, healthy expose to the rest of the world, you overload them when they are unleashed on it.
Again many parents are doing an excellent but some of them aren't. Classic example - my friend C barely got through HS and is home schooling her son now. She has no training, doesn't think she needs any and what she calls an education is basically her normal day.
"Ugly Cake". Hilarious!! I've made some of them in my time.
Great article and very timely for me since all these increasing grocery/gas/restaurant prices are clobbering my budget and my job will not exist after March. I am envious of people who can even afford frozen pizza!!
I went to a great public school system and we live now in a great area so we are content with public schools but we have looked around for private ones.
However one reason we stay with public schools is the added support for children who learn differently or slower. Our daughter has an IQ on the high side of normal but has a what they call a 'silent learning disability' because it doesn't show up on any one testing tool but more of a collectively slow executive processing problems. Which is just gibberish for she's bright but just needs to go over things more to really learn them and have some extra time in testing to show what she really knows.
Private schools can offer small classes but they routinely do not offer extra support in terms of helping kids like mine. In a public school, she gets accommodations and support that have her on the honor roll. We've looked at private schools and they all are very clear that they keep children on pace more and it is harder for them to fall behind with the extra attention but if it is a learning issue, they are really out of luck.
One of the things about the way things are now, is that the citizenship of the business could change without the owners needing to change their own. Many things that would be a crime for you to do in the US would not be a crime if some contractor did them for you in some other country where it wasn't illegal.
And I agree--much better to take back our own government than to just give up on it.
Imagine my surprise when I see a photo of a statue at Allerton Park displayed on this article!!!!!!
Hello fellow Chambanite
My TIPS just came to maturity and were redeemed. The report to the IRS was what the final price was. My cost when I bought them is way under this amount, but I have beem paying tax on the gains with the OID each year.
When I file my oncome tax return what do I use as cost basis? Surely not what I paid for them as I have been paying tax all the time on the gains each year. that would be double tax.
I've returned As-Is stuff before with no problems.
I was with Pinecone for years. And I am signing up again. It is fun and I have recieved tons of products to try. I think what they look for are good ideas and expressiveness. If you say you do or don't like a product and don't articulate specifically why or why not, they won't send you anything. I often trashed the product concepts and would still get the product to try.
The point of businesses just taking their factories elsewhere of course is a valid concern. At one point we seriously considered taking our citizenship elsewhere. There are other developed countries with better standards of living, better social guarantees and better current quality of life standards. We have put it on the back burner for now but if things really got stupid we would seriously consider moving.
But that is also a very extreme action and one that couldn't really be done in large numbers.
I find his outlook on that we need to take our government back and start operating as one big voice again is probably our best chance. 40 hour work weeks and the idea of vacations were not just handed down to workers because companies were nice.
Anything I get is going into savings or clearing debt. I'd be crazy to blow it!
so real people actually have time for this? i'm lucky to get grocery shopping done and remember to pick up shoes for kids when they've outgrown them. for me it just seems like a giant hassle to sit there and pick thru the ads and then do the rebate thing. not that i'm saying it doesn't work. i had a roomate who made a living doing this--seriously. but how much time do people spend doing this?
Bringing lunch in is what I do nearly every day now, which is nice for my pocketbook but has become dull after 10+ years. I used to make sandwiches and still do but have started with leftovers from home-cooked dinners or created chef's salads.
My generally ravenous kids (at home and on the road) are my budget busters now. When they were younger, they loved ricecakes -- inexpensive and relatively healthy (even those with the sugar added, compared with most other kid alternatives). My snacks are apples, grapes, dried cranberries, pecans, maybe a cereal bar; at home, I may have to grab some chips with salsa before dinner.
It does help to develop your own game plan based on what's available shopping wise and restaurant wise but it can take some experimenting to get there!
I think the middle class is on the same side as the poor. They just don't all know it yet.
In fact, though, the poor have probably benefited as much as anyone from the vast availability of cheap stuff. As recently as the 1970s, setting up a first apartment was a very expensive undertaking (which is why there's a tradition of things like house-warming parties and wedding showers). In 2007, the cost of setting up a minimal household (a pot, a skillet, two or four place settings, a few glasses, something to sit on, and something to sleep on) was probably as cheap as it has ever been. (I suppose hunter-gatherers who made all their own tools could do it cheaper.)
This fact serves as a great wedge between the poor and working-class folks on the one hand, and the upper-middle class folks on the other. When someone says, "Hey! Shopping at places like WalMart is shooting yourself in the foot! You're supporting the same folks who are getting rich by grinding you into the dust!" all the poor person knows is that someone is trying to take away his one chance at coming close to a middle-class standard of living.
Bringing it back to Reich's book, that's why economic actions by consumers aren't going to do the trick. It will take political action.
Sounds like class warfare by the middle class and wealthy against the poor.
If I can expand on the healthy snacks tip, it is critical to remember that "quick snacks on the road" add up in calories and costs as well. We were heading out to the in-laws, 90 minutes away, and the call went out for "can we stop for a snack"? 5 minutes at the 7-11, and we'd spent about $12--two Vitamin Waters, a coffee, a diet Coke (about $1.50 for each of these), a bag of chips, a package of poptarts (my choice--I know, I know...), a couple of candy bars. Absolutely empty calories, a lot of packaging and waste, and no reason to have stopped.
We're going for a long drive this weekend, and I am going to be prepared: for Christmas, we each got a Sigg 1-liter aluminum drink bottle, which I will fill with water (kids like to put a to-go Crystal Light packet in there, green tea with honey and lemon) so we have drinks. I am also packing a small cooler with baby carrots, sliced peppers and celery, hummus, oranges, homemade chocolate chip cookies, sliced cheese, and whole grain crackers. And, most importantly, gassing up the car the night before so there is no reason to stop.
I have found that you can constrain your dining out to really special nights by only eating things that you couldn't reasonably reproduce at home: pasta is one of the big markups, steak is another (both are easy to make at home, and much less expensive at home than in a restaurant), salad (please!), soup, seafood, etc. YOu can really do these yourself, for much cheaper. I learned to make limited sushi choices too (crab, avocado, cucumber, egg, shrimp) because our family loves to eat it. An order of California roll (6 pieces) is $4 at our local sushi place--I can make 10 rolls (60 pieces) for about $7, because I have already made the investment in wasabi, gari, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. That feeds 4 of us for dinner, and there is enough leftover to make Bento boxes for the kids for school lunch.
Another tip is to either split an entree with someone when you go out, or to ask for a take-home container to be delivered with your meal (If I'm eating out for business, I usually do this, and take half of the entree home for the hubby or for my lunch the next day). Restaurant portions are huge, expensive and generally not altogether healthy (lots of butter and exotic oils), so splitting it between 2 meals is a great way to minimize the damage.
... they don't waste money on toys they will never play with.
I'm looking at you, dude with an unopened jango fett action figure.
I can't recall exactly, but I think the ones I got were for a product type I use, and for a specific product I'm somewhat indifferent to. Such as if I said I do eat snack crackers regularly, and they were asking what I thought about the advertising for a new product, maybe a honey-sesame crisp by a well-known snack cracker manufacturer, and I wasn't sure if I would buy it or not but it did sound like it'd be interesting...
For the record, I haven't heard of a honey-sesame crisp, although I bet it'd be delicious. :)
The most painful part of winter heating is the $$$ cost. It cannot be avoided. And it hits like a Budget Buster every time.
If you use oil-- you may have to pay for EACH delivery IN FULL to the tune of Hundreds of dollars. If it's Gas, you can spread it out over the entire year-- but then you're still paying for winter in the middle of the summer when you need a coupla hundred to pay for the AC.
This is a trick my mother told me-- and it's easier now with internet access. Add up your current Winter bill, let say your Oil bills. Let's say it about $2500. Divide by 52 and add about $5.
Then create a separate acct-- go for a HIGH interest SAVINGS acct like E-Trade or ING direct. Transfer $55 every week the the requisite amount every paycheck and learn NOT TO TOUCH it. No Vacation. NO Car. No New HDTV.
Global Warming aside, WINTER will STILL come around again, but it will be less predictable. Except now, when the bill comes, you pop the cork on the oil bill acct you created and pay the bill from there. If the Winter is MILDER than the previous one, you may use less and have some money left over plus interest. Start Over.
If you have the financial room-- do the same for AC costs. But remember-- we CAN sweat through heat in the summer if you really have to. But when it's cold-- the HEAT MUST STAY ON.
My first step to curbing the eating out demon was to brown-bag my lunches. I work in a hospital which has a cafeteria that isn't bad but it really adds up over a week. So I scoped out a shelf in the break room and keep lunch items there. It's working really well so far. Thanks for the post I'm always open to new ideas.
I've gotten multiple products to try, but it seems to be only on the products I said I am interested in.
1 & 2 need to be reconsidered for how much your time is worth. For example: If I make $20 an hour and it takes me five hours to make a coffee table, then that coffee table cost me $100. As opposed to a trip to the store and I buy one for $40 that I might have to sand and stain for an hour, total cost: $60. I've saved $40.
Anthony, I think the trick to enjoying eating at home and eating some of the gourmet things you like is using simple recipes that are quick and tasty. I stick with a few basic recipes when I want a quick, yet quality meal at home.
Homemade Pesto, which takes about two minutes in the blender over some cooked pasta. This only requires a bunch of fresh basil, a handful of shaved parmesan cheese, a few pine nuts, a garlic clove, olive oil, seasonings and a blender to blend it in. It doesn't even get heated, the cooked pasta makes it warm when served.
Vodka sauce, which Myscha highlighted on wisebread previously. That one is over the top awesome! Another is stir fry with shrimp and some nicer veggies. This one takes nearly no time and is awesome with frozen shrimp purhased on sale. Add in some fresh ginger, lemon zest (rind that is shredded), a little water, pepper and veggies of choice. These are three simple meals that leave me feeling like I had a nice quality dinner that I didnt have to spend hours on minus the high price tag of a restaurant.
ha, well done...great post! green star wars junkies unite! I'd join that club.
Last time I had a bad experience there I took the survey on the receipt and they were in touch with me pretty quickly. You should give that a shot, seems to be a direct link to management if the survey is bad enough.
In response to the poster above about home schooling...
I'm ALL for choice on all levels but let's stop painting home schooling as the be all end all for everyone.
I know many women who go this homeschool route. Some are great - they've made a choice based on their child's needs or their religious preferences. Hats off to them who are doing it the right way.
You've never seen a public school kid who can talk to adults? Really? My public school educated kid can talk to adults with ease. But she can also talk to children her age.
I can tell a home schooled kid a mile away too. They are often routinely the kids who struggle in social settings with peers. I watch them unable to handle our neighborhood swim team b/c they can't relate to kids in their age group, unable to play structured games in the cul de sac we live on. They have less friends, less of a gasp on modern culture. Maybe you think all of that is wonderful but the real world is made up of lots of kinds of people. If you don't allow your child safe, healthy expose to the rest of the world, you overload them when they are unleashed on it.
Again many parents are doing an excellent but some of them aren't. Classic example - my friend C barely got through HS and is home schooling her son now. She has no training, doesn't think she needs any and what she calls an education is basically her normal day.
"Ugly Cake". Hilarious!! I've made some of them in my time.
Great article and very timely for me since all these increasing grocery/gas/restaurant prices are clobbering my budget and my job will not exist after March. I am envious of people who can even afford frozen pizza!!
I went to a great public school system and we live now in a great area so we are content with public schools but we have looked around for private ones.
However one reason we stay with public schools is the added support for children who learn differently or slower. Our daughter has an IQ on the high side of normal but has a what they call a 'silent learning disability' because it doesn't show up on any one testing tool but more of a collectively slow executive processing problems. Which is just gibberish for she's bright but just needs to go over things more to really learn them and have some extra time in testing to show what she really knows.
Private schools can offer small classes but they routinely do not offer extra support in terms of helping kids like mine. In a public school, she gets accommodations and support that have her on the honor roll. We've looked at private schools and they all are very clear that they keep children on pace more and it is harder for them to fall behind with the extra attention but if it is a learning issue, they are really out of luck.
I like star trek