Another good book to read to inspire frugality is 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn', I can't remember the author. I have found that my spending is influenced by what I'm reading. I constanly wanted to go shopping while reading the shopaholic books.
I could have a root cellar. I live in the San Fran Bay Area and while I have a crawl space under the house, I wouldn't really use it for storing veg and such. Who knows what lives down there? Plus we can't really put jars on shelves what with the earth shaking sometimes.
Because of the market being different in so many areas, now is a better time than ever to work with a real estate agent to find home value.
Its tough to rely on automatic home value sites because they are so reliant on data. If they don't have a lot of data on a region or property, they can't accurately determine a home value.
Agents have all the data on local housing markets and can provide CMAs that often are within 10% of home appraisals.
I do almost all the things on your list - it's not a big deal for me but for my husband it's been quite a push to get outside his comfort zone. He's done splendidly, I think because of his exposure to me and the positive attitude and adaptability I display. I think exposure to positive people making such choices really helps.
I worked on a neighborhood committee planning to bring in speakers for a series on ecological living. I wanted us to sponsor a talk about home sharing as an advantage for seniors and a great way to reduce each individual's carbon footprint. Everyone in the room booed the idea. That's sad because we need to open our minds to alternatives, now more than ever. Seeing what others do can make a difference in the choices available to us.
I own 2 books by Jonni McCoy, including the one you mentioned. Love 'em. I'm going to check for the Jane Brody book and the Substituting Ingredients book at my local library. I absolutely love books and in my opnion, the internet will never be able to replace the value of books in a home.
As usual a thought provoking post. It's helpful to realize our value as people is separate from what we do to make ends meet. In a society that values appearances so highly, it's good to consider. As things get tighter for all, creative problem solving will be a great asset. Some of us have had the opportunity to practice it ahead of time. Perhaps we frugalites can encourage others not to be as afraid as they tackle their rough patches. One thing an older friend said sticks in my mind, "There are times we thought we wouldn't make it, but we're still here."
As far as not buying used clothing, unless you purchase something in plastic wrap, someone tried it on already. So no matter where it comes from you need to wash it before wearing.
You can't be serious. This is the kind of attitude that will keep it illegal. Moonshiners of the past were concerned with many too; they sold a lot of "denatured" alcohol to people and I'm sure that also helps it remain illegal. Taxes are the main cause of it's illegality though. Making homemade alcohol for a profit is...well...just stupid for a lot of reasons and is not a good idea at all. Making your own alcohol to save money makes the only sense, making alcohol to sell? to who? I suggest to you, that you make a big gigantic still and sell it on street corners or maybe advertise in the local papers.....you dope....
I don't know. The take on a roommate/rent a room ones I really can understand. My SO rented a room in someone's house. Person ended up being a creep who got drunk and tried to molest me. He kicked out another renter (female) because she refused to sleep with him. There is no way I would go through that again. My safety is more important.
This was a very good blog about the Amero and I agree it's only scratching the surface of the information about this subject.
In my research I have found and noticed that I can't find any documentation of any "Amero" that isn't in a coin form. I was speaking with my Father about this and I asked what his opinion was on why they would want to move backwards it would seem to having a coined currency again.
His thoughts on the matter were startling to say the least... If you were going to try to work toward a new world order and you wanted to control the currency, what would you do? You would need something that everyone can have and use everywhere with easy. So now you're probably asking "Why coins then?" The answer is we are a people of convenience and coins would be inconvenient, SO. We all of a fit about the new coin we have to carry and we get tired of it and decide to just use our Debit and Credit cards instead, I mean it's alot easier to do that than carry a coin purse right?
When we make the fatal mistake of switching to using Credit and we become a cashless society it would take nothing to switch everyone to a global currency due to the fact that we're all be using chips or plastic cards anyway, nothing will have to change for us at that point...
As much of a pain as it may be, use the coins and don't give into their plans of a cashless society.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
I hope you found what i had to say to be at least interesting.
Sigurd.
United States Citizen. Born and Raised. Life without Freedom is simply existing.
I like this post because it touches on something bigger: It's important to tell the right story to ourselves about our lives. We all run a constant narrative in our heads defining who we are, and some of the narratives really restrict us. If we say "I'm not the sort of person who" out of fear of losing status in the eyes of others, which is usually the reason for such thoughts, then we limit our possibilities. I think it's important to always say to ourselves, "I'm the sort of person who is open to new thoughts and new ways of doing," or "I'm the sort of person who is a survivor, who can do what it takes." Then shopping for used clothes, getting a roommate or whatever is just one of the things we do to weather a storm--it doesn't define who we are. In fact, those things would be points of pride, examples of our resourcefulness.
I couldn't agree more about your comment about the Little House Books. I recently reread them and was reminded how the simple things in life mattered most--it's not about what you can buy. Love them and and they are a great reminder to not get bogged down in THINGS.
looking to sell my hair and live in county durham do you know of any were that i can do this. if you are in this area how do i go about the cutting of my hair. and what sort of price range would we be looking at? please get back to me and let me know.
You completely missed the point: of course no one pays 59% taxes, you really just made yourself look like an idiot. The point is that the rich pay 59% of all taxes payed in the country; therefore we can't do without them. Without the wealthy, the government would only receive 41% of what it currently does. It isn't saying the wealthy should get more tax breaks, just that you shouldn't complain that they get more money back than you: that's how percentages work. And that concludes your middle school math class.
By the way, whoever wrote comment 73 should be commended. It definitely puts middle-class life in a whole new light.
"When someone says, 'I'm not the sort of person who,' what they really mean is, 'I'm so rich I don't need to' do whatever it is.
Actually, I think what they mean is "I'm not so poor that I need to." And that's a very different thing. (Not that it's better or worse, but it takes the discussion in a different direction.)
Sounds like my mother and her sisters..sigh...they were so afraid of 'backsliding' into the place they had escaped from that they created so very many myths about the sort of people they were/had become. Much of this nonsense was passed on to my cousins and one of my siblings. They are limited in their response to unusual cirsunstances. This latest downturn must be very frightening for them.
I'm sure if each of us had the money to pay the bill or bills in question we would. The fact of the matter is each debt collector is different, and the ones who may contact each consumer may or may not be unethical. However, when you are in no position to compare the cost of living to the salaries of consumers, please don't, or at least make some grammatical sense. Debt collectors do have a job, however, when they abuse their methods of collection, consumers have the right to fight back. At the end of the day, the bills still need to be paid, but when someone is threatening to throw you in jail, I'm pretty sure you would agree that you would be just plain p***ed the f*** off.
This post brings to mind a much bigger issue which is the need for a fundamental shift in attitude wherein using less, and reusing, and recycling is viewed positively, and as a personal statement towards doing what one can to help save this planet. We need to develop a pride and honesty around the choices we make - choices we make not because we can't afford to, though that may be also sometimes true -- but because we *choose* not to... buy new clothes, or a new car, etc, and continue to use far more of the world's resources than we actually need.
There's a lot of baggage that comes with frugality... I for one, am ready to subvert it. :)
Those books are certainly good reads. My early child rearing years were times with limited income but what we lacked in income we made up for in wonderful memories!
I pay $650 to rent a room in a house with nine people in a lousy location with crummy bus service. To escape, I need to earn more money, but how can I do that? I've looked for months, nobody wants to hire me (actually, someone DOES want to hire me if he ever gets an opening - his current employees are staying put), and if I don't reply to a Craitgslist post within 15 minutes, I don't get a reply.
Another good book to read to inspire frugality is 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn', I can't remember the author. I have found that my spending is influenced by what I'm reading. I constanly wanted to go shopping while reading the shopaholic books.
I could have a root cellar. I live in the San Fran Bay Area and while I have a crawl space under the house, I wouldn't really use it for storing veg and such. Who knows what lives down there? Plus we can't really put jars on shelves what with the earth shaking sometimes.
I agree with the comment by Hans - it's often caught up in status i.e. "What would the neighbours think if they knew .....
This recession should be a wake up call to everyone. Consumerism has gone mad!
Because of the market being different in so many areas, now is a better time than ever to work with a real estate agent to find home value.
Its tough to rely on automatic home value sites because they are so reliant on data. If they don't have a lot of data on a region or property, they can't accurately determine a home value.
Agents have all the data on local housing markets and can provide CMAs that often are within 10% of home appraisals.
I do almost all the things on your list - it's not a big deal for me but for my husband it's been quite a push to get outside his comfort zone. He's done splendidly, I think because of his exposure to me and the positive attitude and adaptability I display. I think exposure to positive people making such choices really helps.
I worked on a neighborhood committee planning to bring in speakers for a series on ecological living. I wanted us to sponsor a talk about home sharing as an advantage for seniors and a great way to reduce each individual's carbon footprint. Everyone in the room booed the idea. That's sad because we need to open our minds to alternatives, now more than ever. Seeing what others do can make a difference in the choices available to us.
I own 2 books by Jonni McCoy, including the one you mentioned. Love 'em. I'm going to check for the Jane Brody book and the Substituting Ingredients book at my local library. I absolutely love books and in my opnion, the internet will never be able to replace the value of books in a home.
As usual a thought provoking post. It's helpful to realize our value as people is separate from what we do to make ends meet. In a society that values appearances so highly, it's good to consider. As things get tighter for all, creative problem solving will be a great asset. Some of us have had the opportunity to practice it ahead of time. Perhaps we frugalites can encourage others not to be as afraid as they tackle their rough patches. One thing an older friend said sticks in my mind, "There are times we thought we wouldn't make it, but we're still here."
As far as not buying used clothing, unless you purchase something in plastic wrap, someone tried it on already. So no matter where it comes from you need to wash it before wearing.
You can't be serious. This is the kind of attitude that will keep it illegal. Moonshiners of the past were concerned with many too; they sold a lot of "denatured" alcohol to people and I'm sure that also helps it remain illegal. Taxes are the main cause of it's illegality though. Making homemade alcohol for a profit is...well...just stupid for a lot of reasons and is not a good idea at all. Making your own alcohol to save money makes the only sense, making alcohol to sell? to who? I suggest to you, that you make a big gigantic still and sell it on street corners or maybe advertise in the local papers.....you dope....
I don't know. The take on a roommate/rent a room ones I really can understand. My SO rented a room in someone's house. Person ended up being a creep who got drunk and tried to molest me. He kicked out another renter (female) because she refused to sleep with him. There is no way I would go through that again. My safety is more important.
it's been a long day and i just wanted to say sorry for some of the spelling and grammatical errors. I'm really not that un-educated.
Thanks
This was a very good blog about the Amero and I agree it's only scratching the surface of the information about this subject.
In my research I have found and noticed that I can't find any documentation of any "Amero" that isn't in a coin form. I was speaking with my Father about this and I asked what his opinion was on why they would want to move backwards it would seem to having a coined currency again.
His thoughts on the matter were startling to say the least... If you were going to try to work toward a new world order and you wanted to control the currency, what would you do? You would need something that everyone can have and use everywhere with easy. So now you're probably asking "Why coins then?" The answer is we are a people of convenience and coins would be inconvenient, SO. We all of a fit about the new coin we have to carry and we get tired of it and decide to just use our Debit and Credit cards instead, I mean it's alot easier to do that than carry a coin purse right?
When we make the fatal mistake of switching to using Credit and we become a cashless society it would take nothing to switch everyone to a global currency due to the fact that we're all be using chips or plastic cards anyway, nothing will have to change for us at that point...
As much of a pain as it may be, use the coins and don't give into their plans of a cashless society.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
I hope you found what i had to say to be at least interesting.
Sigurd.
United States Citizen. Born and Raised. Life without Freedom is simply existing.
I like this post because it touches on something bigger: It's important to tell the right story to ourselves about our lives. We all run a constant narrative in our heads defining who we are, and some of the narratives really restrict us. If we say "I'm not the sort of person who" out of fear of losing status in the eyes of others, which is usually the reason for such thoughts, then we limit our possibilities. I think it's important to always say to ourselves, "I'm the sort of person who is open to new thoughts and new ways of doing," or "I'm the sort of person who is a survivor, who can do what it takes." Then shopping for used clothes, getting a roommate or whatever is just one of the things we do to weather a storm--it doesn't define who we are. In fact, those things would be points of pride, examples of our resourcefulness.
I nice idea. I'd rather give a person a book on how to make money or improve marketable skills than how to be frugal.
Stoked
Frugal
I hooked up my box as well as my neighbors and...........nothing NO Channels. Were do you get answers????
I couldn't agree more about your comment about the Little House Books. I recently reread them and was reminded how the simple things in life mattered most--it's not about what you can buy. Love them and and they are a great reminder to not get bogged down in THINGS.
looking to sell my hair and live in county durham do you know of any were that i can do this. if you are in this area how do i go about the cutting of my hair. and what sort of price range would we be looking at? please get back to me and let me know.
to the comment above that knows people who could never wear used clothes, I suggest that if it were that or go naked and freeze to death, they would.
You completely missed the point: of course no one pays 59% taxes, you really just made yourself look like an idiot. The point is that the rich pay 59% of all taxes payed in the country; therefore we can't do without them. Without the wealthy, the government would only receive 41% of what it currently does. It isn't saying the wealthy should get more tax breaks, just that you shouldn't complain that they get more money back than you: that's how percentages work. And that concludes your middle school math class.
By the way, whoever wrote comment 73 should be commended. It definitely puts middle-class life in a whole new light.
"When someone says, 'I'm not the sort of person who,' what they really mean is, 'I'm so rich I don't need to' do whatever it is.
Actually, I think what they mean is "I'm not so poor that I need to." And that's a very different thing. (Not that it's better or worse, but it takes the discussion in a different direction.)
Sounds like my mother and her sisters..sigh...they were so afraid of 'backsliding' into the place they had escaped from that they created so very many myths about the sort of people they were/had become. Much of this nonsense was passed on to my cousins and one of my siblings. They are limited in their response to unusual cirsunstances. This latest downturn must be very frightening for them.
The internet cannot fully replace good books.
I'm sure if each of us had the money to pay the bill or bills in question we would. The fact of the matter is each debt collector is different, and the ones who may contact each consumer may or may not be unethical. However, when you are in no position to compare the cost of living to the salaries of consumers, please don't, or at least make some grammatical sense. Debt collectors do have a job, however, when they abuse their methods of collection, consumers have the right to fight back. At the end of the day, the bills still need to be paid, but when someone is threatening to throw you in jail, I'm pretty sure you would agree that you would be just plain p***ed the f*** off.
This post brings to mind a much bigger issue which is the need for a fundamental shift in attitude wherein using less, and reusing, and recycling is viewed positively, and as a personal statement towards doing what one can to help save this planet. We need to develop a pride and honesty around the choices we make - choices we make not because we can't afford to, though that may be also sometimes true -- but because we *choose* not to... buy new clothes, or a new car, etc, and continue to use far more of the world's resources than we actually need.
There's a lot of baggage that comes with frugality... I for one, am ready to subvert it. :)
Those books are certainly good reads. My early child rearing years were times with limited income but what we lacked in income we made up for in wonderful memories!
I pay $650 to rent a room in a house with nine people in a lousy location with crummy bus service. To escape, I need to earn more money, but how can I do that? I've looked for months, nobody wants to hire me (actually, someone DOES want to hire me if he ever gets an opening - his current employees are staying put), and if I don't reply to a Craitgslist post within 15 minutes, I don't get a reply.
So I need ways to make more money.