My wife and I are big fans of Lipton's Diet Green Tea.
A few weeks back we purchased a couple bottles that had a very weird taste to it. The tea almost tasted dirty. We couldn't decide if it was the flavoring gone bad or maybe the water.
Either way I contacted Lipton and within a week they had sent me four coupons for free products.
They basically redeemed the cost of the original bottles and gave us two bottles for free.
Now I'm completely satisfied and back drinking my Lipton tea.
WHEN MY SUGAR GETS TOO HIGH, I TAKE A GARLIC PILL. OR TAKE ONE ROUTINELY EVERY DAY, WON'T HURT, ONLY HELPS. IT LOWERS IT IN NO TIME. ALSO DRINK COLD ICE WATER, THAT WIL LOWER IT TO.
It was a hard lesson for me, I was making twice what I'm making now and was still spending more than I made. Today thats behind me. I spend less of my time feeding the economy and I am much happier enjoying the simple things in life.
Thank you Lindsay. We grew up as kids of a sculptor. Honestly it didn't hit me until about 7th grade that we were "poor". (I went into a classmate's house and they had MATCHING FURNITURE). All my dad's friends shopped at thrift stores and trash picked. I thought everyone ate hot oatmeal for breakfast, or had only one pair of shoes. Alot of it is a matter of perspective. We were always surrounded by cool things to look at and had tons of pencils and paper. My mom said, "we live like rich people only without the money".
Great post. Say, what do they mean by better, anyway? For instance, I hate those big screen TVs most of my relatives have and the idiot shows/movies they watch (and their lack of ability to entertain you in any other way also). When they break down (which they sure can), they can cost a fortune to fix. My brother is on my case right now because I simply don't want a new car and paid to have the transmission fixed on my 8-year-old Suzuki Esteem. (He doesn't know I don't plan to buy another car after this one quits). He's forever paying on a fairly recent model. I keep a small stash of appliances in my garage, my backups, I call them. When one quits (which actually doesn't happen very often), I plug in another. The kids in the family love this, by the way. Anyway, I say let them snicker behind my back. I'm not impressed with most of the new stuff I see people wear or drive in or the furniture they have in their homes. It's just so dumb to be in debt for stuff like that. I learned a long time ago to just turn it all off, the advertising, I mean, cut out as much TV as possible, quit paying for magazines and newspapers full of ads. That and quit hanging with idiots if you can manage it, ha-ha. I don't even fool with a cell phone now. Working from my home has made it very easy to drop out in this way, and I have no regrets.
I especially like the movie night basket idea. Another thing I've noticed you can pick up cheap on clearance throughout the year? Candles!!! If you really keep an eye out, you can get the high quality ones for around five bucks rather than the ones that don't burn evenly. Candles add mood, aroma and are a consumable gift people don't have to find room for after the holidays.
Seems so much smarter to me to try consistently to live slightly below my means. It is so great not having a lot of debt, slowing down and living a simpler daily lifestyle, period. And it's good to reach a place where I could care less what friends or family have to say about my not wanting to be part of the big ugly rat race. I feel sorry for people who never even think about the subject. There are just so many things that can be enjoyed in one's daily life in this country for free or almost free for the individual willing to slow down a bit and think it all through.
I dig the ideas including the coffee cups. I'm using them for my spring vegetable "starts"
I'll be giving my services as an above average cook,to a few friends. I'll prepare their favorite meal be it breakfast, lunch,afternoon tea, supper,dinner and/or dessert. All they need do is the Choose a time, decide on the menu,they put together a list of products to buy.I'll purchase the food on their credit card.And cook away!
Thanks for letting me be apart of some great and simple ideas. After all isn't the thought that counts.
Retail me not is okay, but very often their coupon codes are no good. They leave it up to the people to vote on the code and since the codes typically expire, it will eventually lead to a skewing of the voting. Anyway, Savings.com says they check their coupon codes every few days to ensure they are still working. They also allow their visitors to report when the codes go bad. Just thought I'd post my two cents! Happy shopping!
Gold is up over 200% in the last 5 years. The mining stocks are double that, yet no one notices. During the Great Depression, price was capped by the gov & Roosevelt confiscated privately held gold. Even going so far as breaking into safe deposit boxes. (What a guy!) What no one seems to know, gold mining stocks did very well in the depression.
Unbeknown to the general public, price of gold is up more than 200% in last five years. Gold Mining stocks have risen more than 2X that. But you won't see it in the financial papers or mags - they want you not to own it. You see, Gold is the perfect barometer of inflation. As the currency is degraded & inflation rears its ugly head, gold price shines.
Eventually, the public will get it when paper assets are worthless. By that time the price of gold will be going parabolic.
I'm not saying it's for the faint of heart or even to make money. The name of the game in the future, the very near future, is to preserve whatever wealth you have.
Even bankruptcy doesn't let you live beyond your means forever; it merely lets you escape some of the consequences of having done so for a time. The same can be said for the other alternative to eventually living within your means--dying young.
It has, of late, been possible to take the path of the serially bankrupt, living beyond your means a second, third, even fourth time. I think that will be harder going forward than it has been of late.
I don't say any of this to denigrate bankruptcy as an institution. It is entirely possible to undertake obligations in good faith and then be unable to pay them in full. Illness, superseding obligations (such as to a family member or to your country), and simple bad luck are just a few of the circumstances that can make bankruptcy the best choice.
But even bankruptcy doesn't mean you can live beyond your means forever.
The underlying assumption is that living within (or beneath) your means is for squares, losers, and Abe Simpson.
Silly, really.
Living within their means isn't going to make 'life uncomfortable'; it's going to make *people* uncomfortable. Their lives will be fine--their brains, though, are going to go through some pretty heavy-duty withdrawal symptoms when they can't buy every $40 Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirt they see. Their bodies will be just as warm in the $7.50 from the discount retailer.
It's too bad that a recession is most likely going to do the most damage to people on the bottom of the economic ladder--the ones who already know what belt tightening is about. I really wouldn't be all that upset seeing some H2-driving, over-priced suburb-living, $30K-credit-card maxed folks learning a lesson about self-discipline. (Petty, I know.)
Living within your means is not the hardest part. What's difficult is living within your means while watching others live beyond their means and rub it in your face. Many people can't deal with that and that's partly why they fall into debt.
I would also note that the article isn't really that pessimistic. It says that a severe recession will only make for an unpleasant year or two. Really? How about an unpleasant decade or two as all the excesses in our financial system get wrung out?
On visits to see my brother's suburban family, I reveled in their local thrift shops and would come back with great bargains (like hand knit Aran sweaters for $10). But once my nephew made the comment that I did it because I was poor, and he would prefer shopping at the GAP. Well, I had just acquired a t-shirt from Paris, and a lot of other stuff for less than I would have paid for a simple GAP t-shirt & I replied that I was "broke" not poor. I preferred extending my financial means by getting as good or BETTER stuff at thrift shops. If no one knew where I had gotten everything I looked MORE prosperous than the GAP consumer! So, it's all a matter of point of view. I still have a nice lifestyle, but my husband & I do it on a bargain level - and on some levels of acquisition we can do it at 80% discounts against "real" prices.
In my mind REAL poverty is when you are not able to even make those choices. Even in the examples given of eating cabbage soup, and welding door shut - there was ingenuity shown. And most of us don't have to be THAT ingenious in the U.S.
And If you can't afford your own mortgage, then you are living above your means. Even though we were an upper middle class family, we always lived BELOW our means, and my father was proud of having the oldest car on the block. Conspicuous consumption can get you into real trouble.
I think the issue is not that you seemed to link wearing robes with being from Africa, India, and the Middle East, that can be true. Lots of clothing from lots of places can be made from cotton sheets. I think the problem is that you linked being from those countries (where some people wear robes) with being a farmer/peasant/refugee...
One might as well suggest
1: Wear a fat suit and carry a big camera and go as an American tourist... just because some Americans are overweight (thats just true) and carry cameras when on holiday (thats also true) doesn't make the suggestion any less offensive.
2: Paint yourself with brown paint and go as a basketball player or rap musician... because some basketball players and rappers are black (thats just true, i can show you a picture to show its ok and not offensive)
It's easy to live beyond your means...just put it all on credit. When it gets to be too much, just file for bankruptcy. As for as "at some point you're going to have to pay for it all", I think you meant "at some point WE ALL ARE going to have to pay for it all". That defaulted debt winds up being paid by the rest of us.
I think of money as time, literally. I figure out my "real hourly wage" (after you factor in commuting costs, clothing, eating out, etc), and then figure out how many minutes or hours or days any individual thing is going to cost me. That late fee may cost me two hours of my time. Do I really want to spend two hours working for a late fee, because I can't write myself a reminder to pay the bill on time? Do I want to spend half a day slaving away for (insert your favorite waste of money here)? Putting it into "how many minutes do I have to work for this" really helps to spend a lot less.
I love plugins for my browser that helps me find deals. I am glad you came across this one, I shop online some times, but as a very frugal type of person I use a lot of offline coupons to get free or very cheap stuff. Great post!
My wife and I are big fans of Lipton's Diet Green Tea.
A few weeks back we purchased a couple bottles that had a very weird taste to it. The tea almost tasted dirty. We couldn't decide if it was the flavoring gone bad or maybe the water.
Either way I contacted Lipton and within a week they had sent me four coupons for free products.
They basically redeemed the cost of the original bottles and gave us two bottles for free.
Now I'm completely satisfied and back drinking my Lipton tea.
Great list! I got lots of good ideas that I'm going to use.
The mug was the only 'so-so' one though. It really depends on the gift recipient.
I do jewelry and beading. By knowing the people to whom I am giving, I can tailor a gift to its recipient and ensure it's something useful and liked.
WHEN MY SUGAR GETS TOO HIGH, I TAKE A GARLIC PILL. OR TAKE ONE ROUTINELY EVERY DAY, WON'T HURT, ONLY HELPS. IT LOWERS IT IN NO TIME. ALSO DRINK COLD ICE WATER, THAT WIL LOWER IT TO.
It was a hard lesson for me, I was making twice what I'm making now and was still spending more than I made. Today thats behind me. I spend less of my time feeding the economy and I am much happier enjoying the simple things in life.
Thank you Lindsay. We grew up as kids of a sculptor. Honestly it didn't hit me until about 7th grade that we were "poor". (I went into a classmate's house and they had MATCHING FURNITURE). All my dad's friends shopped at thrift stores and trash picked. I thought everyone ate hot oatmeal for breakfast, or had only one pair of shoes. Alot of it is a matter of perspective. We were always surrounded by cool things to look at and had tons of pencils and paper. My mom said, "we live like rich people only without the money".
Great post. Say, what do they mean by better, anyway? For instance, I hate those big screen TVs most of my relatives have and the idiot shows/movies they watch (and their lack of ability to entertain you in any other way also). When they break down (which they sure can), they can cost a fortune to fix. My brother is on my case right now because I simply don't want a new car and paid to have the transmission fixed on my 8-year-old Suzuki Esteem. (He doesn't know I don't plan to buy another car after this one quits). He's forever paying on a fairly recent model. I keep a small stash of appliances in my garage, my backups, I call them. When one quits (which actually doesn't happen very often), I plug in another. The kids in the family love this, by the way. Anyway, I say let them snicker behind my back. I'm not impressed with most of the new stuff I see people wear or drive in or the furniture they have in their homes. It's just so dumb to be in debt for stuff like that. I learned a long time ago to just turn it all off, the advertising, I mean, cut out as much TV as possible, quit paying for magazines and newspapers full of ads. That and quit hanging with idiots if you can manage it, ha-ha. I don't even fool with a cell phone now. Working from my home has made it very easy to drop out in this way, and I have no regrets.
I especially like the movie night basket idea. Another thing I've noticed you can pick up cheap on clearance throughout the year? Candles!!! If you really keep an eye out, you can get the high quality ones for around five bucks rather than the ones that don't burn evenly. Candles add mood, aroma and are a consumable gift people don't have to find room for after the holidays.
Great piece!
Seems so much smarter to me to try consistently to live slightly below my means. It is so great not having a lot of debt, slowing down and living a simpler daily lifestyle, period. And it's good to reach a place where I could care less what friends or family have to say about my not wanting to be part of the big ugly rat race. I feel sorry for people who never even think about the subject. There are just so many things that can be enjoyed in one's daily life in this country for free or almost free for the individual willing to slow down a bit and think it all through.
COOKIES!!!!
I dig the ideas including the coffee cups. I'm using them for my spring vegetable "starts"
I'll be giving my services as an above average cook,to a few friends. I'll prepare their favorite meal be it breakfast, lunch,afternoon tea, supper,dinner and/or dessert. All they need do is the Choose a time, decide on the menu,they put together a list of products to buy.I'll purchase the food on their credit card.And cook away!
Thanks for letting me be apart of some great and simple ideas. After all isn't the thought that counts.
Retail me not is okay, but very often their coupon codes are no good. They leave it up to the people to vote on the code and since the codes typically expire, it will eventually lead to a skewing of the voting. Anyway, Savings.com says they check their coupon codes every few days to ensure they are still working. They also allow their visitors to report when the codes go bad. Just thought I'd post my two cents! Happy shopping!
@rstlne:
As it happens, I just wrote about what to do when poor folks have better crap than you.
Justine:
You're right, people will want that chicken. But what will they pay for it if the almighty dollar is worthless?
Gold is up over 200% in the last 5 years. The mining stocks are double that, yet no one notices. During the Great Depression, price was capped by the gov & Roosevelt confiscated privately held gold. Even going so far as breaking into safe deposit boxes. (What a guy!) What no one seems to know, gold mining stocks did very well in the depression.
Unbeknown to the general public, price of gold is up more than 200% in last five years. Gold Mining stocks have risen more than 2X that. But you won't see it in the financial papers or mags - they want you not to own it. You see, Gold is the perfect barometer of inflation. As the currency is degraded & inflation rears its ugly head, gold price shines.
Eventually, the public will get it when paper assets are worthless. By that time the price of gold will be going parabolic.
I'm not saying it's for the faint of heart or even to make money. The name of the game in the future, the very near future, is to preserve whatever wealth you have.
Has anyone noticed the price of gold these days?
Even bankruptcy doesn't let you live beyond your means forever; it merely lets you escape some of the consequences of having done so for a time. The same can be said for the other alternative to eventually living within your means--dying young.
It has, of late, been possible to take the path of the serially bankrupt, living beyond your means a second, third, even fourth time. I think that will be harder going forward than it has been of late.
I don't say any of this to denigrate bankruptcy as an institution. It is entirely possible to undertake obligations in good faith and then be unable to pay them in full. Illness, superseding obligations (such as to a family member or to your country), and simple bad luck are just a few of the circumstances that can make bankruptcy the best choice.
But even bankruptcy doesn't mean you can live beyond your means forever.
The underlying assumption is that living within (or beneath) your means is for squares, losers, and Abe Simpson.
Silly, really.
Living within their means isn't going to make 'life uncomfortable'; it's going to make *people* uncomfortable. Their lives will be fine--their brains, though, are going to go through some pretty heavy-duty withdrawal symptoms when they can't buy every $40 Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirt they see. Their bodies will be just as warm in the $7.50 from the discount retailer.
It's too bad that a recession is most likely going to do the most damage to people on the bottom of the economic ladder--the ones who already know what belt tightening is about. I really wouldn't be all that upset seeing some H2-driving, over-priced suburb-living, $30K-credit-card maxed folks learning a lesson about self-discipline. (Petty, I know.)
Once again, I completely agree with you.
Living within your means is not the hardest part. What's difficult is living within your means while watching others live beyond their means and rub it in your face. Many people can't deal with that and that's partly why they fall into debt.
I would also note that the article isn't really that pessimistic. It says that a severe recession will only make for an unpleasant year or two. Really? How about an unpleasant decade or two as all the excesses in our financial system get wrung out?
How much shine would the 5 gallon 3 pound mixture yield?
On visits to see my brother's suburban family, I reveled in their local thrift shops and would come back with great bargains (like hand knit Aran sweaters for $10). But once my nephew made the comment that I did it because I was poor, and he would prefer shopping at the GAP. Well, I had just acquired a t-shirt from Paris, and a lot of other stuff for less than I would have paid for a simple GAP t-shirt & I replied that I was "broke" not poor. I preferred extending my financial means by getting as good or BETTER stuff at thrift shops. If no one knew where I had gotten everything I looked MORE prosperous than the GAP consumer! So, it's all a matter of point of view. I still have a nice lifestyle, but my husband & I do it on a bargain level - and on some levels of acquisition we can do it at 80% discounts against "real" prices.
In my mind REAL poverty is when you are not able to even make those choices. Even in the examples given of eating cabbage soup, and welding door shut - there was ingenuity shown. And most of us don't have to be THAT ingenious in the U.S.
And If you can't afford your own mortgage, then you are living above your means. Even though we were an upper middle class family, we always lived BELOW our means, and my father was proud of having the oldest car on the block. Conspicuous consumption can get you into real trouble.
I think the issue is not that you seemed to link wearing robes with being from Africa, India, and the Middle East, that can be true. Lots of clothing from lots of places can be made from cotton sheets. I think the problem is that you linked being from those countries (where some people wear robes) with being a farmer/peasant/refugee...
One might as well suggest
1: Wear a fat suit and carry a big camera and go as an American tourist... just because some Americans are overweight (thats just true) and carry cameras when on holiday (thats also true) doesn't make the suggestion any less offensive.
2: Paint yourself with brown paint and go as a basketball player or rap musician... because some basketball players and rappers are black (thats just true, i can show you a picture to show its ok and not offensive)
It's easy to live beyond your means...just put it all on credit. When it gets to be too much, just file for bankruptcy. As for as "at some point you're going to have to pay for it all", I think you meant "at some point WE ALL ARE going to have to pay for it all". That defaulted debt winds up being paid by the rest of us.
I think of money as time, literally. I figure out my "real hourly wage" (after you factor in commuting costs, clothing, eating out, etc), and then figure out how many minutes or hours or days any individual thing is going to cost me. That late fee may cost me two hours of my time. Do I really want to spend two hours working for a late fee, because I can't write myself a reminder to pay the bill on time? Do I want to spend half a day slaving away for (insert your favorite waste of money here)? Putting it into "how many minutes do I have to work for this" really helps to spend a lot less.
I love plugins for my browser that helps me find deals. I am glad you came across this one, I shop online some times, but as a very frugal type of person I use a lot of offline coupons to get free or very cheap stuff. Great post!
That's the way I see it as well.