I don't think masses of people living within their means is probable, my question was retorical. I think the bottom line for individuals who chose not to use credit is that they end up in the long run paying less for the stuff they buy, in effect getting a better price on a product than a person using credit to buy the same stuff.
I made a wash of 20% and put carbon in it and turbo clear and was going to filter it and make liqueurs, but now I have a pot still, would it be bad to run it through the still? What if I filter the carbon out first?
The USDA standards and what they say publicly is always to be taken with a pinch of salt. I would not base my opinion on them.
Common sense, though, can assume this: the bigger the company, the less likely that they are able to follow practices that will pacify an ecologically conscious mind.
The USDA standards and what they say publicly is always to be taken with a pinch of salt. I would not base my opinion on them.
Common sense, though, can assume this: the bigger the company, the less likely that they are able to follow practices that will pacify an ecologically conscious mind.
I'm thrilled to find a PF blogger who doesn't see credit cards as the ultimate evil. Credit cards are just little pieces of plastic. It's what we do with them that counts.
I, too, buy everything with a credit card. I carry three different cards and use them each for specific types of purchases. Every bill gets paid in full each month. I budget carefully and have no problem understanding that when I make a purchase, I've just spent money!
Sure, right now we're solidly in the upper realm of middle-class but it wasn't always so -- and even when we were barely scraping by, I used credit carefully and wisely.
Personally, I'm much less careful and disciplined when I have cash on me than when I'm buying with a card. I love the paper trail and the cash back. My husband loves that he can keep our money in the bank for an extra 30-60 days.
Right about the grocery stores providing free carts so you'll buy more. At some of the big stores it's hard to track down a handbasket, because they want you to use a Big cart that will give you room to throw in one more impulse buy. If they start charging for carts, I'll be carrying my groceries in my hands and will never buy anything on impulse.
Do you by chance, know of any quality online food services? I am starting to order all my food online because of various reasons. (Health being one of them) So far I have found 2 services, Fresh Dining (an LA company) and Celebrity Foods, but you have to call them so they can talk to you about your need. I would really like any suggestions that you may have, so I can widen my list of quality places online where I can order healthy food from.
Thank you and have a great night or day…depending on when you read this. LOL!!!!
1. I really don't see the "mega-marts" charging for shopping carts considering how much more stuff people buy when they push around a big, ole buggy. I find myself throwing in things mindlessly when I have a cart, but considering my purchases more wisely if I have an armload to carry. Since I now have a 1 year old in tow most of the time, I almost always use a cart.
2. Louisiana wants people to list internet purchases on their income tax form....like most people are going to keep up with that!
6. My husband swears that they are going to start charging me for my iced water too! He cringes because I will order water with lemon when we are out, but who needs all that sugar!
i bought a PACKARDBELL MULTIMEDIA RECORDER 160. i want to make it a region free as i have good number of dvds from other regions which i am not able to play on it. Can you help me do it. Thanks.
Have you ever thought about using Geezeo, a FREE web-based personal finance manager to help you track your money and stay on budget? It's helping me out a lot this holiday season already, and I feel less stressed about my finaces!!
The so-called growth of the economy that comes from large fractions of the population living beyond their means is illusory anyway.
If people in droves suddenly started to live within their means, we probably would see a recession, as business that had geared up and staffed up to provide all the stuff people want but can't afford found that nobody was buying it.
Of course, sooner or later we'll have that recession anyway.
As a practical matter, we'll never get enough people to choose to live within their means to make a big difference, so I don't really worry about the macro effects of my advice. At the micro level, each individual person who lives within his or her means will be better off, no matter what other people do.
I'm an American living in Germany and I've had to get used to some differences that I've grown to respect and consider sensible. We have to use a coin to "rent" a shopping cart in most stores. We get our coin back, so there's no actual charge, but carts are always returned to their corrals and there are no loose carts rolling about in the parking lots, causing damage to cars or people. At McDonald's, we get one ketchup packet per complete meal. If we want more or order only french fries, we have to pay 11-14 cents for the packet (almost twice the size of a U.S. packet). Free refills are VERY uncommon (only available at Subway) and most soda drinks are already only half the size found in America. Additionally, non-alcoholic drinks in a restaurant can easily cost more than your meal. It helps keep me from unthinkingly gulping down scads of empty calories. I honestly wouldn't change a thing about it except to have restaurants provide free water.
Here in New Zealand, there are charges for many things we got for free in the US:
1. Condiments at take out/away restaurants. Everything carries an extra charge, from ketchup (or tomato sauce) to wasabi at the sushi place.
2. Bags at the grocery store. This is just beginning here, and not all stores do it yet, because of the push to eliminate plastic bags from the waste stream. On the flipside, reusable bags are easily found.
3. The kiddie carts at the grocery store. If the little ones want to ride in the cart with the plastic car, it'll cost you $2 at the checkout.
4. Best Sellers at the library. Here in Chch, we pay $5 per week or $10 per fortnight if we want to borrow a best seller. CD's and DVD's also carry a $1 fee, which isn't bad considering that DVD rentals run between $5 and $8 per night for most movies.
5. Soda refills. I guess NZ is like the UK in that respect. Many places don't even have fountains; they sell bottles of soda or water.
On the other hand, I don't have to pay to go to public places like parks. Oh, and the luggage carts at the airports were free too ... which is a nice welcome to the country!
I agree with the food service comments - fewer things are free these days. And don't get me starting on parking.
But the inverse is true for some things. For example, 10 years ago it was customary to pay your bank a monthly fee just because you had an account there, and you could forget about recieving interest on your DDA balances. Now (at least in the US), every bank offers some form of free checking, with benefits like debit cards and online billpay - and these free accounts often pay interest.
I love your "What can I resist buying?" challenge. Advertisers make it very hard, don't they? Even if you don't watch TV and get your news programs via podcasts, you're still bombarded by billboards when you walk down the street. It's good to have a little mantra to remember to cut through the mindless consumption we've all become accustomed to.
Several years ago, while on vacation in London, my friend and I had dinner an "Italian" restaurant in the theatre district. The waiter brought us a basket of bread while we looked at our menus.
At the end of the meal, we saw we'd been charged for the bread on our check. "But we didn't ask for the bread!" I protested. To which the waiter pointed out the fine print on the menu stating that you'd be charged for the bread if you ate any of it.
So what do they do with the bread that isn't eaten? Give it to someone else or throw it away? What a sneaky scam and also a waste of bread (rather than wise bread?) if they do discard it.
Of course, the restaurants in the states that bring bread automatically (as well as water and any other automatic offering) are wasting as well since they'll throw away anything that doesn't get eaten. So I guess I wish restaurants would make it a policy to ask diners if they want bread or water or whatever before bringing it.
I agree with the commenter who talked about people grabbing way more than they need when things are free. I have no problem paying for things if I know what the cost will be up front. Charging a few cents for condiments or soda or even bread makes people stop to consider whether they really need the item or not and hopefully cuts down on waste.
the comment about upscale places is wrong. Cava (a restaurant in santa barbara) charges full price for each 8 oz soda (ice filled) you want! Ice tea has refills though. while i was very impressed with the food, the full price for sodas made me mad enough to deter me from eating there...when entrees easily cost $30-$50 a plate, the soda refills should be FREE.
I remember when there were entry fees to bathroom stalls (usually ten cents or a quarter) though they stood beside free stalls. I also remember when ATMs were free; now, there are charges for cancelled checks -- which used to be free until fairly recently.
My grocery store gives paper bags and plastic bags away for free (though I do remember my mom shopping at a place -- Two Guys? years ago and you had to bring your own bags); but the store has a place for recycling plastic bags and gives you 4 cents for bringing back paper bags. Last week, I picked up a canvas-like, reusable grocery bag -- I paid a $1 but will get greenpoints every time I use it. I like the way they are collaborating with customers to save money and reduce waste!
Well I hope you're wrong about the shopping cart fees, refills, cutlery (for crying out loud!)...
I'm also from the UK originally, and love the spirit of free enterprise here in the USA. Business competition is kept in check by fledgling companies trying to get their ventures off the ground, and I'll definitely choose a free buggy, glass of water, napkins, etc., over the complacent business with an established clientele suddenly charging for stupid stuff.
Thinking about it though, if the buggies are not free, but the hand-baskets are, and I live close to the grocery store, I don't have a problem just buying what I can carry in the basket, rather than heaping too much into a shopping cart.
I think you're looking at it all wrong. Free isn't necessarily good. You may think you were getting it for free before, but you weren't -- you were paying for it all along in the form of higher prices, whether its the free snack on the air plane or the free drink refills. The idea of it being "free" was merely a form of marketing aimed at influencing your mental accounting. Companies stop offering things for free when people shop primarily based on cost and low-cost competitors are available.
I remember in the 70s and 80s when gas prices shot up and a bunch of new, independent competitors appeared. At first, the gasoline companies tried desperately to convince people that their gas was somehow 'special' (some companies still do, showing engine deposits and stuff). In general, however, at that time the public came accept that gasoline was gasoline and aggressively shopped for the cheapest gas. All the gas companies began looking for free things they could stop and began charging extra -- like $0.03/gallon -- for using a credit card. When gas prices fell (after price controls were lifted and supply got sorted out), I think they've mostly quit this practice because gas became so cheap that most people didn't bother shopping at one station versus another based on price.
In the end, by making stuff "not free" it means that you're actually paying for what you want. Otherwise, by giving free stuff away to some people, the company charging higher prices in order to subsidize the activity. Recently, I saw a grocery stores that charges customers $0.03 for each grocery bag they need. If your grocery store isn't charging you for bags, then you're paying for all the bags the store gives away, even if you personally bring reusable bags to the store.
Happily, the libraries here have a great on-line system to reserve books. Find the book you want in their catalog, put a hold on it. They'll put you in line for the next copy (or grab a copy off the shelf, even if it's at another library). Once they have it waiting for you, they'll send you a piece of email.
I see an interesting division among these things:
Some are companies taking advantage of a situation where you have no other choices (such as on an airplane). People sometimes feel bitter and ill-used by this, but accept it as the way things are.
Others are just nickle-and-diming you for stuff that used to be lumped in. This may become more common for cheap places, but I think it will stay as a division between "upscale" and "downmarket" places, so I don't think it will become universal. There will always be places trying to have an upscale image resisting the trend to charge for each packet of ketchup. (There's also a cost factor here. It can easily cost as much to keep track of, charge for, and make change for this sort of thing as it costs to provide the items for free.)
The interesting ones, I think, are the ones (such as the library) where companies are charging you to save time and trouble and the ones where they're charging for things that traditionally were free. Customers generally don't mind these, as long as there's still a free option. There's no problem with the library having some rental books, as long as they also have some copies available for traditional borrowing, just like there's no problem with selling bottled water as long as there's still a water tap. Likewise, no one would object to a pay toilet, as long as there's a free toilet as well--even if there's a line at the free toilet and it's got air-driers instead of paper towels. Customers tend to get outraged, though, when traditionally free stuff is no longer free.
About anyone who has worked in a restaurant probably has the knowledge that the pop companies charge practically nothing for the pop syrup, at least for the big-chain restaurants - the cost is in the cups. Charging for refills would be be pure profit for them. (Dining in with washable cups? pretty much already is...).
With how watered down with ice most places make it those 16 ounces (as another poster said) isn't really that much, and once you've already paid for the cup, I'd be upset at paying for paying for a refill.
unfortunately, i kind of have to agree with 3, 4, 6, 10. as for the food related items, i can't tell you how many times i've seen people in a fast food restaurant grab handfuls of napkins or 10 ketchups to share between 1 or 2 people. there's a weird psychology there, where people suddenly feel the need to have 30 napkins to eat a burger and fries or 8 sugar packets for a tea, simply because they are free. i know i will upset many frugal people on this site because, let's face it, most of the stuff ends up in their purses/ pockets to take home to use. people think of this as a frugal trick "oh, i can always use these. i can take some for my desk at work. keep them in the glove compartment for trips." or whatever.(we all know someone, or are that someone, that when you go to his or her home to eat, the napkins say mcdonalds or they give you salt and pepper in a packet to season your food) well, they weren't free, the payment was just delayed. and the time is now.
also fast food restaurants ordering guidelines are very limiting. honey mustard is an excellent example- they are only allowed to order as much honey mustard or barbeque sauce in appropriate proportion to items like chicken fingers or whatever, so if they give honeymustard to ever tom, dick, and harry that likes the condiment on his fries or his big mac or in his shake or whatever, they will quickly run out for the actual item it goes with. and believe me, i've worked in fast food. you would think that crack is in those little packets, becuase people get irate when they run out. it's just not cool from the restaurant's side of things to have 3 boxes of chicken fingers in the freeze, but only half a box of sauce left, and two weeks before you are allowed to order again. even 10 years ago i went to wendy's and ordered a small fry and asked for ranch dressing. i was charged 25 cents, which i thought was fair considering they order salad dressing in direct proportion to their salads. it's just enough that it's not negligible, and makes you stop to think "is it really that serious, or can i just do without," but not so much that it's obnoxious.
free refills contribute to the mindless eating problem to we have in this country. if you have a sixteen ounce cup of soda or tea at a fast food place why would you need seconds or thirds? could you imagine free refills on wine? i only have two glasses max when i am out(not even filled to the top), and i manage to make it work, making them last throughout the meal. i do have one drink related pet peeve though, and that's when i order water and they automatically bring me bottled.
I don't think masses of people living within their means is probable, my question was retorical. I think the bottom line for individuals who chose not to use credit is that they end up in the long run paying less for the stuff they buy, in effect getting a better price on a product than a person using credit to buy the same stuff.
I made a wash of 20% and put carbon in it and turbo clear and was going to filter it and make liqueurs, but now I have a pot still, would it be bad to run it through the still? What if I filter the carbon out first?
The USDA standards and what they say publicly is always to be taken with a pinch of salt. I would not base my opinion on them.
Common sense, though, can assume this: the bigger the company, the less likely that they are able to follow practices that will pacify an ecologically conscious mind.
The USDA standards and what they say publicly is always to be taken with a pinch of salt. I would not base my opinion on them.
Common sense, though, can assume this: the bigger the company, the less likely that they are able to follow practices that will pacify an ecologically conscious mind.
I'm thrilled to find a PF blogger who doesn't see credit cards as the ultimate evil. Credit cards are just little pieces of plastic. It's what we do with them that counts.
I, too, buy everything with a credit card. I carry three different cards and use them each for specific types of purchases. Every bill gets paid in full each month. I budget carefully and have no problem understanding that when I make a purchase, I've just spent money!
Sure, right now we're solidly in the upper realm of middle-class but it wasn't always so -- and even when we were barely scraping by, I used credit carefully and wisely.
Personally, I'm much less careful and disciplined when I have cash on me than when I'm buying with a card. I love the paper trail and the cash back. My husband loves that he can keep our money in the bank for an extra 30-60 days.
Right about the grocery stores providing free carts so you'll buy more. At some of the big stores it's hard to track down a handbasket, because they want you to use a Big cart that will give you room to throw in one more impulse buy. If they start charging for carts, I'll be carrying my groceries in my hands and will never buy anything on impulse.
Do you by chance, know of any quality online food services? I am starting to order all my food online because of various reasons. (Health being one of them) So far I have found 2 services, Fresh Dining (an LA company) and Celebrity Foods, but you have to call them so they can talk to you about your need. I would really like any suggestions that you may have, so I can widen my list of quality places online where I can order healthy food from.
Thank you and have a great night or day…depending on when you read this. LOL!!!!
1. I really don't see the "mega-marts" charging for shopping carts considering how much more stuff people buy when they push around a big, ole buggy. I find myself throwing in things mindlessly when I have a cart, but considering my purchases more wisely if I have an armload to carry. Since I now have a 1 year old in tow most of the time, I almost always use a cart.
2. Louisiana wants people to list internet purchases on their income tax form....like most people are going to keep up with that!
6. My husband swears that they are going to start charging me for my iced water too! He cringes because I will order water with lemon when we are out, but who needs all that sugar!
i bought a PACKARDBELL MULTIMEDIA RECORDER 160. i want to make it a region free as i have good number of dvds from other regions which i am not able to play on it. Can you help me do it. Thanks.
Have you ever thought about using Geezeo, a FREE web-based personal finance manager to help you track your money and stay on budget? It's helping me out a lot this holiday season already, and I feel less stressed about my finaces!!
The so-called growth of the economy that comes from large fractions of the population living beyond their means is illusory anyway.
If people in droves suddenly started to live within their means, we probably would see a recession, as business that had geared up and staffed up to provide all the stuff people want but can't afford found that nobody was buying it.
Of course, sooner or later we'll have that recession anyway.
As a practical matter, we'll never get enough people to choose to live within their means to make a big difference, so I don't really worry about the macro effects of my advice. At the micro level, each individual person who lives within his or her means will be better off, no matter what other people do.
I'm an American living in Germany and I've had to get used to some differences that I've grown to respect and consider sensible. We have to use a coin to "rent" a shopping cart in most stores. We get our coin back, so there's no actual charge, but carts are always returned to their corrals and there are no loose carts rolling about in the parking lots, causing damage to cars or people. At McDonald's, we get one ketchup packet per complete meal. If we want more or order only french fries, we have to pay 11-14 cents for the packet (almost twice the size of a U.S. packet). Free refills are VERY uncommon (only available at Subway) and most soda drinks are already only half the size found in America. Additionally, non-alcoholic drinks in a restaurant can easily cost more than your meal. It helps keep me from unthinkingly gulping down scads of empty calories. I honestly wouldn't change a thing about it except to have restaurants provide free water.
Here in New Zealand, there are charges for many things we got for free in the US:
1. Condiments at take out/away restaurants. Everything carries an extra charge, from ketchup (or tomato sauce) to wasabi at the sushi place.
2. Bags at the grocery store. This is just beginning here, and not all stores do it yet, because of the push to eliminate plastic bags from the waste stream. On the flipside, reusable bags are easily found.
3. The kiddie carts at the grocery store. If the little ones want to ride in the cart with the plastic car, it'll cost you $2 at the checkout.
4. Best Sellers at the library. Here in Chch, we pay $5 per week or $10 per fortnight if we want to borrow a best seller. CD's and DVD's also carry a $1 fee, which isn't bad considering that DVD rentals run between $5 and $8 per night for most movies.
5. Soda refills. I guess NZ is like the UK in that respect. Many places don't even have fountains; they sell bottles of soda or water.
On the other hand, I don't have to pay to go to public places like parks. Oh, and the luggage carts at the airports were free too ... which is a nice welcome to the country!
I agree with the food service comments - fewer things are free these days. And don't get me starting on parking.
But the inverse is true for some things. For example, 10 years ago it was customary to pay your bank a monthly fee just because you had an account there, and you could forget about recieving interest on your DDA balances. Now (at least in the US), every bank offers some form of free checking, with benefits like debit cards and online billpay - and these free accounts often pay interest.
I love your "What can I resist buying?" challenge. Advertisers make it very hard, don't they? Even if you don't watch TV and get your news programs via podcasts, you're still bombarded by billboards when you walk down the street. It's good to have a little mantra to remember to cut through the mindless consumption we've all become accustomed to.
I wrote a bit about mindless consumption today. Not specifically regarding buying things but more in general.
Beth
Several years ago, while on vacation in London, my friend and I had dinner an "Italian" restaurant in the theatre district. The waiter brought us a basket of bread while we looked at our menus.
At the end of the meal, we saw we'd been charged for the bread on our check. "But we didn't ask for the bread!" I protested. To which the waiter pointed out the fine print on the menu stating that you'd be charged for the bread if you ate any of it.
So what do they do with the bread that isn't eaten? Give it to someone else or throw it away? What a sneaky scam and also a waste of bread (rather than wise bread?) if they do discard it.
Of course, the restaurants in the states that bring bread automatically (as well as water and any other automatic offering) are wasting as well since they'll throw away anything that doesn't get eaten. So I guess I wish restaurants would make it a policy to ask diners if they want bread or water or whatever before bringing it.
I agree with the commenter who talked about people grabbing way more than they need when things are free. I have no problem paying for things if I know what the cost will be up front. Charging a few cents for condiments or soda or even bread makes people stop to consider whether they really need the item or not and hopefully cuts down on waste.
the comment about upscale places is wrong. Cava (a restaurant in santa barbara) charges full price for each 8 oz soda (ice filled) you want! Ice tea has refills though. while i was very impressed with the food, the full price for sodas made me mad enough to deter me from eating there...when entrees easily cost $30-$50 a plate, the soda refills should be FREE.
I remember when there were entry fees to bathroom stalls (usually ten cents or a quarter) though they stood beside free stalls. I also remember when ATMs were free; now, there are charges for cancelled checks -- which used to be free until fairly recently.
My grocery store gives paper bags and plastic bags away for free (though I do remember my mom shopping at a place -- Two Guys? years ago and you had to bring your own bags); but the store has a place for recycling plastic bags and gives you 4 cents for bringing back paper bags. Last week, I picked up a canvas-like, reusable grocery bag -- I paid a $1 but will get greenpoints every time I use it. I like the way they are collaborating with customers to save money and reduce waste!
Well I hope you're wrong about the shopping cart fees, refills, cutlery (for crying out loud!)...
I'm also from the UK originally, and love the spirit of free enterprise here in the USA. Business competition is kept in check by fledgling companies trying to get their ventures off the ground, and I'll definitely choose a free buggy, glass of water, napkins, etc., over the complacent business with an established clientele suddenly charging for stupid stuff.
Thinking about it though, if the buggies are not free, but the hand-baskets are, and I live close to the grocery store, I don't have a problem just buying what I can carry in the basket, rather than heaping too much into a shopping cart.
I think you're looking at it all wrong. Free isn't necessarily good. You may think you were getting it for free before, but you weren't -- you were paying for it all along in the form of higher prices, whether its the free snack on the air plane or the free drink refills. The idea of it being "free" was merely a form of marketing aimed at influencing your mental accounting. Companies stop offering things for free when people shop primarily based on cost and low-cost competitors are available.
I remember in the 70s and 80s when gas prices shot up and a bunch of new, independent competitors appeared. At first, the gasoline companies tried desperately to convince people that their gas was somehow 'special' (some companies still do, showing engine deposits and stuff). In general, however, at that time the public came accept that gasoline was gasoline and aggressively shopped for the cheapest gas. All the gas companies began looking for free things they could stop and began charging extra -- like $0.03/gallon -- for using a credit card. When gas prices fell (after price controls were lifted and supply got sorted out), I think they've mostly quit this practice because gas became so cheap that most people didn't bother shopping at one station versus another based on price.
In the end, by making stuff "not free" it means that you're actually paying for what you want. Otherwise, by giving free stuff away to some people, the company charging higher prices in order to subsidize the activity. Recently, I saw a grocery stores that charges customers $0.03 for each grocery bag they need. If your grocery store isn't charging you for bags, then you're paying for all the bags the store gives away, even if you personally bring reusable bags to the store.
@Rebecca:
Happily, the libraries here have a great on-line system to reserve books. Find the book you want in their catalog, put a hold on it. They'll put you in line for the next copy (or grab a copy off the shelf, even if it's at another library). Once they have it waiting for you, they'll send you a piece of email.
I see an interesting division among these things:
Some are companies taking advantage of a situation where you have no other choices (such as on an airplane). People sometimes feel bitter and ill-used by this, but accept it as the way things are.
Others are just nickle-and-diming you for stuff that used to be lumped in. This may become more common for cheap places, but I think it will stay as a division between "upscale" and "downmarket" places, so I don't think it will become universal. There will always be places trying to have an upscale image resisting the trend to charge for each packet of ketchup. (There's also a cost factor here. It can easily cost as much to keep track of, charge for, and make change for this sort of thing as it costs to provide the items for free.)
The interesting ones, I think, are the ones (such as the library) where companies are charging you to save time and trouble and the ones where they're charging for things that traditionally were free. Customers generally don't mind these, as long as there's still a free option. There's no problem with the library having some rental books, as long as they also have some copies available for traditional borrowing, just like there's no problem with selling bottled water as long as there's still a water tap. Likewise, no one would object to a pay toilet, as long as there's a free toilet as well--even if there's a line at the free toilet and it's got air-driers instead of paper towels. Customers tend to get outraged, though, when traditionally free stuff is no longer free.
About anyone who has worked in a restaurant probably has the knowledge that the pop companies charge practically nothing for the pop syrup, at least for the big-chain restaurants - the cost is in the cups. Charging for refills would be be pure profit for them. (Dining in with washable cups? pretty much already is...).
With how watered down with ice most places make it those 16 ounces (as another poster said) isn't really that much, and once you've already paid for the cup, I'd be upset at paying for paying for a refill.
unfortunately, i kind of have to agree with 3, 4, 6, 10. as for the food related items, i can't tell you how many times i've seen people in a fast food restaurant grab handfuls of napkins or 10 ketchups to share between 1 or 2 people. there's a weird psychology there, where people suddenly feel the need to have 30 napkins to eat a burger and fries or 8 sugar packets for a tea, simply because they are free. i know i will upset many frugal people on this site because, let's face it, most of the stuff ends up in their purses/ pockets to take home to use. people think of this as a frugal trick "oh, i can always use these. i can take some for my desk at work. keep them in the glove compartment for trips." or whatever.(we all know someone, or are that someone, that when you go to his or her home to eat, the napkins say mcdonalds or they give you salt and pepper in a packet to season your food) well, they weren't free, the payment was just delayed. and the time is now.
also fast food restaurants ordering guidelines are very limiting. honey mustard is an excellent example- they are only allowed to order as much honey mustard or barbeque sauce in appropriate proportion to items like chicken fingers or whatever, so if they give honeymustard to ever tom, dick, and harry that likes the condiment on his fries or his big mac or in his shake or whatever, they will quickly run out for the actual item it goes with. and believe me, i've worked in fast food. you would think that crack is in those little packets, becuase people get irate when they run out. it's just not cool from the restaurant's side of things to have 3 boxes of chicken fingers in the freeze, but only half a box of sauce left, and two weeks before you are allowed to order again. even 10 years ago i went to wendy's and ordered a small fry and asked for ranch dressing. i was charged 25 cents, which i thought was fair considering they order salad dressing in direct proportion to their salads. it's just enough that it's not negligible, and makes you stop to think "is it really that serious, or can i just do without," but not so much that it's obnoxious.
free refills contribute to the mindless eating problem to we have in this country. if you have a sixteen ounce cup of soda or tea at a fast food place why would you need seconds or thirds? could you imagine free refills on wine? i only have two glasses max when i am out(not even filled to the top), and i manage to make it work, making them last throughout the meal. i do have one drink related pet peeve though, and that's when i order water and they automatically bring me bottled.
I wonder what would happen to the world economy if most Americans decided to live at or below thier means? What do you think Phil?
This is a really great article and so handy at this time of year! Especially now with the constant increase in price on everything!
I just wanted to let you know that I linked to you and this article on my blog!
Homemaker of the 21st Century