Worst purchase I ever made (well, my husband and I ever made) was a sitio (rural home) in Southern Brazil. Oh it was beautiful, on the side of a high hill, overlooking the city below. Had a little house and around 20 acres, a pond and a small shed. We built an outdoor barbecue area and beautiful infinity pool on the side of the hill, and when it was all finished (in the spring), summer arrived. Along with summer came: spiders in the pool, small biting gnats, mosquitoes, and various other bugs. There were bats living in the attic of the small house, and roaming the grounds were large (4-6 ft) lizards. I kid you not. In our case, buyer beware was a huge understatement. We sold the place not long afterwards and were lucky to find someone who wanted it. Fortunately, I am able to remember the beauty and not the beast.
Like most, mine is probably a car - a $36k convertible I leased, only because I loved the one my fiancee had bought (which was a year older and only $29k, for starters); I had convinced myself my perfectly-good car was untenable just because it needed a couple of repairs, and as such ended up with a nearly $200 increase in payment, and a credit card bill for the downpayment... On a LEASE, mind, which I'd never done before and won't do again. I am now in a 5 year old Jeep which cost less than half that. Fiancee still has her convertible and I still like it plenty, just not enough to have my own.
Of course, there *is* the time I spent $1000 over the internet on a pair of funky sofas that turned out to be basically styrofoam inside - I could lift the entire full size sofa over my head with no trouble - and, of course, no returns on "custom orders". (Custom? I picked a color!) I took a bath on those, couldn't get them gone fast enough.
On the other hand at this hard time i don't see how easy can any small business owner stop working with anyone...
Good advice for the good times but for this economy?
I don't have kids, but I like how my parents did it. If there was any extra money around, we got an allowance. If there were any chores to do, we did chores. If there was any homework to do, we did homework. On the one hand, we didn't learn about having to "work" for our money, but on the other hand we didn't learn that chores and homework weren't worth doing unless we got paid. (Also, there was the advantage for my parents that even when there wasn't extra money, we still did chores.)
If we wanted more money than our allowance, we had to get jobs (obviously, this didn't come up when we were young), but I chose not to work until my college financial aid package informed me that I had to work. And that's even though I only got allowance for two stretches of time.
One more note--be careful that your child doesn't learn that getting better at something reduces the rewards. Even little kids can get good at working the system.
I wish I had read this post a year ago. In February I lost a Pandora bracelet my grandmother had given me. When she first gave it to me it wasn't worth too much ($150 or so) but as time went on and charms were added, the value of the bracelet was much more than $500. And each charm we added, we did for a reason. That bracelet meant a lot.
Clearly, I can replace the entire thing. Just go to a Pandora store and start from scratch. But it would have been much nicer to have gotten it added to my renters insurance and been able to get the money from there instead of my savings.
I would have to agree to what you have mentioned. Household chores are responsibilities that we all do. A big scare would be paying your child for respect.
We had an upright hoover vacumn cleaner we loved until we bit the dust. We were going to buy another one, but multiple friends convinced us cannister was the way to go (they work better, are lighter, etc). So without trying them in the store we bought a pricey model off the internet. Turns out, both my husband and I hate cannister vacumn cleaners; you have to drag both the sweeper part AND the cannister around (two things to deal with one) the sweeper part won't stay upright and falls over if you try to prop it up, and the cannister fills instantly. We should have stuck with what we knew we liked and worked for us.
Hmmm.. good question! I don't know of one, personally. I'm assuming you'd need the knowledge of what was good to eat going in, and then use the apps to identify. Maybe a good herbal app might have some info on edible weeds? Many "weeds" are actually herbal in nature.
I have found that I can get several gluten-free items at my local Costco, though their availability has been spotty which means I have to stock up when they are in. I can get a 2-pack of Rudi's GF bread for less than I would pay at my local grocery store and it has a good texture and can hold up to a sandwich. Also, the Crunchmaster crackers have become a family favorite and are a great price. They also carry Bob's Red Mill GF All-purpose flour and Quinoa. The frozen fruits are a great price over buying the products fresh and taste great. I also love stocking up on their frozen organic veggies. For the avid baker (like i used to be), buying the large packages of yeast more than paid for my membership over what I would pay in the grocery store for a comparable quantity. Coffee is a great price there, too. I love shopping at Costco and just wish that my local one was more consistent at having my favorite items available.
I love the idea of an app that I could use to identify flowers I like when I'm out and about. Do you know if any of these are good for helping to suss out edible weeds?
Yes! I don't batch cook as much as I'd like to, but every time I do, I'm always amazed to remember how much time I can save. Even just mixing two weeks worth of salad dressing at once instead of just a day or two worth is a great.
My worst purchase was a starter kit to sell Creative Memories products. I was a teacher fresh out of college making new teacher pay ($926.00 a month after taxes), my mother-in-law took me to a Creative Memories scrapbooking event, the CM rep chatted me up about how easy it was to make _so much_ extra money doing this on weekends - and I bought it (literally). It was a couple of hundred dollars up front, and I sold about $50.00 worth of product before I realized that a.) I had no free time to conduct events b.) I had no business savvy and most importantly of all, c.) I never was and likely never will be interested in running my own business; I wanted to be and want to be and plan to be a teacher until I drop. Big "oops"....! Lesson learned: if you have never, ever considered doing something, and you don't even know anything about it, don't invest in the start-up kit to do it!
I have some concern about paying children to do household work that is a part of everyday life. No one pays me to do the laundry, etc. Just something to consider.
Interesting point of view. Did you know that many people upgrade their diamond after 5, 10, or 20 years? In that case, it definitely makes sense to get insurance! I'm not in that boat, I think there's a lot of sentimental value, so saying you want something larger is just another way of saying, 'it's not good enough.'
If you lost something sentimental (and highly valuable), wouldn't you rather get the money back and buy something new and beautiful, or simply say, 'well, we had a good run, but our symbol and the memories that went with it are gone. o well.'
With the greeting cards, I inherited hundreds of them from my Born Organized in-laws. I keep them all in one place, and I don't have to buy any except for sympathy cards (because I ran out).
My oldest is only three and already we're starting the "earn money" concept. We've started with potty training.
At home he's generally good about "water" but he struggles when it comes to "yucks." (Pooping is, from what I hear, the hardest part of potty training). When we're out all bets are off.
One night we were at a store doing some light shopping when he threw a tantrum over wanting a toy. We told him that we didn't have money to buy it. After a small array of interesting anecdotes unrelated to the point of this, I told him that I would "pay" him for using the potty. Right now the rules are:
$1 for yucks
$1 for going while out (so $2 for yucks while out)
$1 for a whole day without going in undies except while sleeping
When he goes a week, the plan is to change it to $1 day without going in undies. When he goes a month we'll be ready to start paying for chores.
A complete aside to this is he now knows what he's working towards and that he has to save up. He was up to $7 when he blew all his money on a bath toy (the toy he wants is $10 for the cheaper one, with better versions at $15 and $25). He asked how close he was and when we reminded him that he spent it on the toy we've had less "want this" tantrums in stores.
When he finally makes it to the $10 (he's at $8 right now iirc) we'll take him to the store and say "OK - you can buy this toy now - or five more yucks you can get this one or really work for THIS toy."
This way we get to hopefully keep him with goal setting and money management all the while working towards saving me money on training pants, diapers, and wipes :)
My worst purchase was buying my in-law's minivan - without having it checked out by a mechanic. They offered to GIVE IT TO US (but my husband insisted on paying for it). Of course, as it turned out, the van had TONS of problems - my in-laws were both too deaf to notice all of the rattles and squeaks (and grinding noises). After spending thousands on repairs, we finally sold it to a neighborhood teen who wanted a "fixer-upper" to mess around with - but it took another 18 months to finish paying for it (while simultaneously making payments on the replacement vehicle, with low miles, that we bought from a dealership after having it thoroughly inspected). We've had the replacement car for 7 1/2 years now, so we learned our lesson!
1. I automate as many bills as possible. For a long time, I did it through my bank's bill pay system, but now I've moved most of them off to a rewards credit card. I've only got a couple of bills that I have to pay attention to each month.
Worst purchase I ever made (well, my husband and I ever made) was a sitio (rural home) in Southern Brazil. Oh it was beautiful, on the side of a high hill, overlooking the city below. Had a little house and around 20 acres, a pond and a small shed. We built an outdoor barbecue area and beautiful infinity pool on the side of the hill, and when it was all finished (in the spring), summer arrived. Along with summer came: spiders in the pool, small biting gnats, mosquitoes, and various other bugs. There were bats living in the attic of the small house, and roaming the grounds were large (4-6 ft) lizards. I kid you not. In our case, buyer beware was a huge understatement. We sold the place not long afterwards and were lucky to find someone who wanted it. Fortunately, I am able to remember the beauty and not the beast.
Like most, mine is probably a car - a $36k convertible I leased, only because I loved the one my fiancee had bought (which was a year older and only $29k, for starters); I had convinced myself my perfectly-good car was untenable just because it needed a couple of repairs, and as such ended up with a nearly $200 increase in payment, and a credit card bill for the downpayment... On a LEASE, mind, which I'd never done before and won't do again. I am now in a 5 year old Jeep which cost less than half that. Fiancee still has her convertible and I still like it plenty, just not enough to have my own.
Of course, there *is* the time I spent $1000 over the internet on a pair of funky sofas that turned out to be basically styrofoam inside - I could lift the entire full size sofa over my head with no trouble - and, of course, no returns on "custom orders". (Custom? I picked a color!) I took a bath on those, couldn't get them gone fast enough.
On the other hand at this hard time i don't see how easy can any small business owner stop working with anyone...
Good advice for the good times but for this economy?
Check out First Ways: An Urban Foraging Blog. That's their specialty and they welcome questions.
I don't have kids, but I like how my parents did it. If there was any extra money around, we got an allowance. If there were any chores to do, we did chores. If there was any homework to do, we did homework. On the one hand, we didn't learn about having to "work" for our money, but on the other hand we didn't learn that chores and homework weren't worth doing unless we got paid. (Also, there was the advantage for my parents that even when there wasn't extra money, we still did chores.)
If we wanted more money than our allowance, we had to get jobs (obviously, this didn't come up when we were young), but I chose not to work until my college financial aid package informed me that I had to work. And that's even though I only got allowance for two stretches of time.
One more note--be careful that your child doesn't learn that getting better at something reduces the rewards. Even little kids can get good at working the system.
I wish I had read this post a year ago. In February I lost a Pandora bracelet my grandmother had given me. When she first gave it to me it wasn't worth too much ($150 or so) but as time went on and charms were added, the value of the bracelet was much more than $500. And each charm we added, we did for a reason. That bracelet meant a lot.
Clearly, I can replace the entire thing. Just go to a Pandora store and start from scratch. But it would have been much nicer to have gotten it added to my renters insurance and been able to get the money from there instead of my savings.
I would have to agree to what you have mentioned. Household chores are responsibilities that we all do. A big scare would be paying your child for respect.
Thanks Chris - you can see our financial breakdown here: http://sustainablepersonalfinance.com/yourdogs-diet-could-cost-you-and-y...
We had an upright hoover vacumn cleaner we loved until we bit the dust. We were going to buy another one, but multiple friends convinced us cannister was the way to go (they work better, are lighter, etc). So without trying them in the store we bought a pricey model off the internet. Turns out, both my husband and I hate cannister vacumn cleaners; you have to drag both the sweeper part AND the cannister around (two things to deal with one) the sweeper part won't stay upright and falls over if you try to prop it up, and the cannister fills instantly. We should have stuck with what we knew we liked and worked for us.
Hmmm.. good question! I don't know of one, personally. I'm assuming you'd need the knowledge of what was good to eat going in, and then use the apps to identify. Maybe a good herbal app might have some info on edible weeds? Many "weeds" are actually herbal in nature.
The link is not working and when I go to swingline.com or acco.com, I cannot find this promotion. I believe it may be over.
I have found that I can get several gluten-free items at my local Costco, though their availability has been spotty which means I have to stock up when they are in. I can get a 2-pack of Rudi's GF bread for less than I would pay at my local grocery store and it has a good texture and can hold up to a sandwich. Also, the Crunchmaster crackers have become a family favorite and are a great price. They also carry Bob's Red Mill GF All-purpose flour and Quinoa. The frozen fruits are a great price over buying the products fresh and taste great. I also love stocking up on their frozen organic veggies. For the avid baker (like i used to be), buying the large packages of yeast more than paid for my membership over what I would pay in the grocery store for a comparable quantity. Coffee is a great price there, too. I love shopping at Costco and just wish that my local one was more consistent at having my favorite items available.
I love the idea of an app that I could use to identify flowers I like when I'm out and about. Do you know if any of these are good for helping to suss out edible weeds?
Yes! I don't batch cook as much as I'd like to, but every time I do, I'm always amazed to remember how much time I can save. Even just mixing two weeks worth of salad dressing at once instead of just a day or two worth is a great.
i pay my daughter for certain household chores. It helps her learn the value of money and earning it.
Cooking. I don't actually get it done in batches, but if I did, I'd save bundles of money.
My worst purchase was a starter kit to sell Creative Memories products. I was a teacher fresh out of college making new teacher pay ($926.00 a month after taxes), my mother-in-law took me to a Creative Memories scrapbooking event, the CM rep chatted me up about how easy it was to make _so much_ extra money doing this on weekends - and I bought it (literally). It was a couple of hundred dollars up front, and I sold about $50.00 worth of product before I realized that a.) I had no free time to conduct events b.) I had no business savvy and most importantly of all, c.) I never was and likely never will be interested in running my own business; I wanted to be and want to be and plan to be a teacher until I drop. Big "oops"....! Lesson learned: if you have never, ever considered doing something, and you don't even know anything about it, don't invest in the start-up kit to do it!
A can opener from the Dollar Store comes to mind...but at least it was only a dollar.
I have some concern about paying children to do household work that is a part of everyday life. No one pays me to do the laundry, etc. Just something to consider.
Interesting point of view. Did you know that many people upgrade their diamond after 5, 10, or 20 years? In that case, it definitely makes sense to get insurance! I'm not in that boat, I think there's a lot of sentimental value, so saying you want something larger is just another way of saying, 'it's not good enough.'
If you lost something sentimental (and highly valuable), wouldn't you rather get the money back and buy something new and beautiful, or simply say, 'well, we had a good run, but our symbol and the memories that went with it are gone. o well.'
With the greeting cards, I inherited hundreds of them from my Born Organized in-laws. I keep them all in one place, and I don't have to buy any except for sympathy cards (because I ran out).
My oldest is only three and already we're starting the "earn money" concept. We've started with potty training.
At home he's generally good about "water" but he struggles when it comes to "yucks." (Pooping is, from what I hear, the hardest part of potty training). When we're out all bets are off.
One night we were at a store doing some light shopping when he threw a tantrum over wanting a toy. We told him that we didn't have money to buy it. After a small array of interesting anecdotes unrelated to the point of this, I told him that I would "pay" him for using the potty. Right now the rules are:
$1 for yucks
$1 for going while out (so $2 for yucks while out)
$1 for a whole day without going in undies except while sleeping
When he goes a week, the plan is to change it to $1 day without going in undies. When he goes a month we'll be ready to start paying for chores.
A complete aside to this is he now knows what he's working towards and that he has to save up. He was up to $7 when he blew all his money on a bath toy (the toy he wants is $10 for the cheaper one, with better versions at $15 and $25). He asked how close he was and when we reminded him that he spent it on the toy we've had less "want this" tantrums in stores.
When he finally makes it to the $10 (he's at $8 right now iirc) we'll take him to the store and say "OK - you can buy this toy now - or five more yucks you can get this one or really work for THIS toy."
This way we get to hopefully keep him with goal setting and money management all the while working towards saving me money on training pants, diapers, and wipes :)
My worst purchase was buying my in-law's minivan - without having it checked out by a mechanic. They offered to GIVE IT TO US (but my husband insisted on paying for it). Of course, as it turned out, the van had TONS of problems - my in-laws were both too deaf to notice all of the rattles and squeaks (and grinding noises). After spending thousands on repairs, we finally sold it to a neighborhood teen who wanted a "fixer-upper" to mess around with - but it took another 18 months to finish paying for it (while simultaneously making payments on the replacement vehicle, with low miles, that we bought from a dealership after having it thoroughly inspected). We've had the replacement car for 7 1/2 years now, so we learned our lesson!
1. I automate as many bills as possible. For a long time, I did it through my bank's bill pay system, but now I've moved most of them off to a rewards credit card. I've only got a couple of bills that I have to pay attention to each month.
I definitely agree with writing several blogs at one time if you can. This takes tremendous pressure off of us.
I also tend to set time for reading blogs, commenting, and checking out social media sites in batches.
There are plenty of "to-do's" in our lives so it is best to simplify these things.