thanks for the tips. The one I don't do is look for coupons. We don't get the paper and I'm just too lazy to search them out on the internet. Also, I buy almost no processed food or convenience food. We (my hubby and me) eat quite well for $45 a week. I know it doesn't sound like much but I stock up when there are sales and hold myself to the budget. We recently upped it, actually, since food is getting so ridiculous. It is for JUST FOOD, everything else has its own category in our budget.
I also do some OAMC (once a month cooking). The name is a little misleading, I think of it as more "once a month prep work." I work all day so it is nice to have prepared meals to just throw on the stove or in the oven. If you're interested there is a good forum about it on recipezaar.com.
Noticed that bone-in breat halves are 99 cents a pound at HEB this week. Gotta stock up! (I'm a sucker for white meat).
By the way, something seems weird with the captcha thing. It was telling me my addition was wrong for a minute, and, err, I'm pretty sure it wasn't.
We decided we are not hitting the county fair after last year. In total between entrance fee, just a few ride tickets and food we spent enough to go on a far better trip. For the same money we could have driven to one of the larger cities, gone to a major zoo and grabbed something to eat somewhere. Or we could have driven to one of the larger cities and hit an actual amusement park with decent rides. Being that we could have traveled, paid to attend a better event and grabbed a meal, it would be not so smart to go to the fair again.
We tend to avoid most of the events that do this captive audience style of making money. It has to have a really good attraction and we usually eat before we go and bring in our own water. Water is the one that really makes me annoyed. I have noticed most of the big outdoor events will remove access to running water and charge $3 to $6 for a bottle of water. At events during the day in the summer. This is just setting up people to get dehydrated and drop over. Not just because they are holding water hostage but because the lines are so long you will fall over before you can buy any.
I can raise it if I want. However we are in a position to pay the mortage, give to chariy, save and invest college funds and retirement and oh yeah have a discretionary income.
I love traveling too and those wrer some excellent tips how are your accommodations when you travel? I remember staying in this one hotel that smelled like being downwind of a row of porta-potties, mixed with cigar smoke...it was disgusting! Have you ever had any bad experiences, OMG please share!
Check out this funny video, called "Ballad of a Traveler", it is hilarious. He totally sums up the travelers experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2tgnUsj8NE>
YouTube - Ballad of a Traveler
I work with Hampton Inn, and I'd love to hear your horror stories! What's the worst experience you've ever had at a hotel? (I always get a kick outta this!)
Having been there, done that... concessions can be a very good way to make money, but there are many trade offs.
The hours... long, hot, hours. Weekends and evenings off are not an option. And as an owner or manager, the time not actually spent at an event is spent doing one of three things. Cleaning up from the last event, preparing for the next event, or trying hard to line up your next event.
And while the margin is good, the risks are high. The weather can turn a booming weekend into a bust in no time flat. We had a summer years back that was one of the rainiest ever for the area. We were only one of two food vendors at a Memorial weekend 4x4 truck rally with thousands of captive customers, but the rain was so bad they had to close the trails because too many of the trucks built to deal with the mud couldn't handle THAT much mud. When they weren't able to drive, folks just camped out in their trailers and such, not venturing out.
So what should have been a great weekend, turned into huge loss after paying for labor, transporting equipment etc.
But on the plus side, I did come up with some creative uses for corn-dog batter (hint: try apple slices).
To answer the question raised by "confused", Basic Cable TV service inputs both analog and digital signals until 2012.
You apparently have a "cable-ready analog TV" which will continue to work fine with the Cable TV service which will continue to provide analog input to your TV at least until 2012. After that you may have to have a Digital-to-Analog Converter to work with your current TV, unless the Cable TV service chooses to extend analog service. That may come at an extra cost/fee if so. It's entirely up to them at that point in time.
You may then need to connect the cable tv wire to the antenna input on a Digital-to-Analog TV Converter box to continue to see Cable TV with your current cable-ready TV.
Great post! I can happily say that I employ all of these suggestions except the home phone. Like it was mentioned above, my DSL (far cheaper than cable internet where I live) is bundled with my phone, making it super cheap. I also learned my lesson during the blackouts a few years ago...cell phones didn't work but traditional land lines did. I didn't have a landline then but as soon as the power was back up, I got one. A week without isolated without the ability to call 911 was all I needed to convince me.
Also, I work for the phone company. Job security, yo.
Great article. I'd be happy to see our spending max out at $100 a week for 3 people. Right now it's hovering near $140, because of our guilty love of processed foods.
I take about 30 minutes on Sunday to wash and chop veggies, mix cole slaw or 3-bean salad, marinade sale meat, etc. Then, during the week when we're tired at the end of the day, there are the dishes all ready to go for a quick meal. When I'm this practical, I find we eat all the food in the fridge and things rarely go to waste.
I do have one question. Are laundry detergents and other cleaning agents included in your $80 budget, or just food?
And no, I'm not talking about sneaking a flask in under your hat.
Good old Veterans Stadium in Philly always allowed folks to bring in their own food and non-alcoholic beverages. When the Eagles moved their new facility, they tried to prohibit that practice, but the uproar was so pervasive, they were forced to back down.
So even now, both the Phillies and the Eagles still allow you to bring food--packaged in clear plastic so they can identify it, and sealed, unopened non-alcoholic beverages to games.
So even though I've got to shell out for the beers at games, bringing a sandwich, soda and water (Oh, what they charge for water!) for the family helps contain costs. The Phillies also offer dollar-dog nights--a dollar for a hot dog isn't too bad, right?
The kids still get a kick out of the big box of popcorn, but that's about the only thing I'll buy at the ballpark.
The "stimulus" rebate may have a slight beneficial effect on the economy, but it won't last long and it will do nothing to fix the underlying causes of our national financial woes and may actually make things worse.
This rebate is basically just another charge on the national credit card. The really frightening thing is not just that our federal debt is so huge (and has been increased by this rebate) but also that, for the first time, we owe so much of it to foreign countries. Always before, the majority of our Treasury notes were sold to American companies, institutions and the American people. (If you're a certain age, you may remember the now-quaint pitches to buy U.S. savings bonds.) Now, China owes 25% of our debt and Japan slightly more. The United States has gone from being the world's biggest creditor nation (we had money to loan) to being the world's biggest debtor nation.
If we keep on this way, we are heading for a crash that will make the Great Depression look like a summer day at Disneyland....
I swear you wrote my mind! I was just thinking about our upcoming county fair and how much I love the funnel cakes. Here it isn't so bad: $5 for a funnel with powdered sugar, and it's big (greasy) enough to give each of us a taste.
We also try to either eat right before we go (thus giving our tummies a chance to settle before embarking on dizzy rides) or wait until we are done with the fun and stop by the fair church kitchen for a hot beef sandwich, one side, and a drink for under $7. The 4-H kitchen is fairly reasonable too!
Just look for those who are doing it as a service and buy food from there. Many fundraisers are more concerned about providing than profiting, and the prices give it away!
One of the really nice things about living within walking distance of the grocery store is that we have the option to go get fresh ingredients every day. Once or twice a month we do drive to the grocery store and stock up on staples; the rest of the time we just walk.
It means that, before we decide what's for dinner, we can look over any unadvertised sales, and see what looks good among the meat and produce. Sometimes there are real bargains. Other times there's something that looks especially yummy.
Probably not practical if you have to drive to the grocery store, but highly recommended if it works for your particular situation.
LOL, Carrie, been there, done that. What a great story.
I tried to make a turkey-heart casserole in a microwave oven during my broke-student days. It was cheap and horrible, and it messed up my microwave. Creativity in cooking is always to be encouraged, but once in a while the results can be blarf!
In college I spent a year in Paris and quit the au pair job that was supposed to support me after just a couple months. After paying rent -- something like $500 for an attic maid's room and it seemed like a fortune at the time -- I was seriously scraping along for food.
My grandmother sent me a care package with some "American" food and condiments, including an envelop of chili seasoning. Well, I almost NEVER bought meat, but I was getting real, real tired of plain potatoes. So I mixed it into mashed potatoes.
I will never forget force feeding myself that disgusting mixture, because I knew that if I didn't eat that, I was going to eat nothing that night. And the next day. Blech.
That's so funny; my kids used to say the EXACT same thing when we went shopping! Now my kids are all older, and it's so thrilling to see them be thrifty.
I'm working on #9 (half-priced caviar is still not cheap). I've decided that calculating some per-meal costs could be a good idea. If I think two meals are equally nutritious and equally yummy, I may as well make the less-expensive one more often.
Another way to use this strategy is to think of lower-priced alternatives. What else might you like when you're in the mood for caviar, and are any of those more affordable? You talked about this some in #8 (a price book would be good) because you talk about how meat is somewhat interchangeable.
Recently I've learned that my favorite fair-trade chocolate chips are cheaper per ounce than my favorite fair-trade chocolate candy bar, so now I will buy only the chips and use them for both baking and sticking into my mouth plain. Also, my favorite expensive extremely sharp cheddar brick cheese is still less expensive per ounce than my new favorite cheap sliced sharp cheese, so I'll be using that any time I want cheese (cubed for parties, grated for toppings or omelets or sliced for sandwiches). It's so easy to get used to what's a good price for something in one form, forgetting that almost the exact same thing is available in another form.
I like that you include both #3 (buy less to waste less) and #7 (yes, we can eat all that cereal), even though they seem like opposites. We should buy only enough of things that go bad but also stock up on staples that don't go bad when they are a good deal.
Another idea is to have a plan for leftovers. As a single person, I have a lot more flexibility here: I can create dishes that sound okay to me but that I would never ask anyone else to eat. For example, I had some leftover sloppy joe mix that I wasn't too wild about, so I mixed that with my last mediocre-tasting vegetarian hotdog and some leftover beans that were kind of boring and some chili powder. (It's like Tex-Mex beanie weanies, see?) It still wasn't that great, but then I put lots of cheese on top. And rolled it in corn tortillas. And now it's yummy and quick!
Less disgusting ideas include: saving meat, veggies, and pasta for soups; saving meat, veggies, and dairy products for pasta dishes; saving cereal crumbs for pie crusts, and saving bread crumbs for casseroles, bread puddings or other baked goods.
Lately it's been hard to keep a price book as the costs are escalating so quickly. If you take the plunge it may be better to wait until things stabilize a bit.
$80 is reasonable, specially with younger kids. We do it with older ones (20 and 12 year old males) and it includes non food items. Pretty tight. Keeping a pantry helps alot. We may not have ethnic grocers but we do have a bump and dent place near us and a farm stand. Every area has it's advantages. Do other areas have on line grocery flyers? This has been a big help in matching coupons and sale items for us before venturing out. Also Dollar General takes coupons.
I shop on a budget but have never used coupons. I have read so many good things about using them, and how much money I can save. Shame on me. I am going to start now.
I am in Austin, TX, and fortunately home prices have seemed to stay pretty stable. And in some cases are going up. I think it is because we have such a demand here and so many people are moving here.
Prices have room to fall further when measured by rent. This is especially true in areas that have seen rampant price inflation in housing over the last few years. It is also typical after times of irrational exuberance we not only revert to the norm, but overshoot it to the downside for awhile.
A good way to measure whether home prices are out-of-whack is to use the GMR number (GROSS MONTHLY RENT). Normally the number investors use is a multiple of about 120 times the monthly rent. So, if a house could rent for $1000 per month, the house would be worth $120,000.
All markets move in cycles, this is natural. However, government intervention distorted this last real estate cycle, contributed mightily in making a bubble and delayed the day of reckoning. I expect the downturn to be worse and more prolonged than it might have been.
I rent. Sold property early in the bubble (way too early as it turns out) and I'd really like to get a home for my family and myself. So, I view this as an opportunity.
The paper does go into regional differences, some. It suggests that the gap in the Midwest is pretty small, but that the Northeast, South, and West are all still 20% or more overvalued.
One other topic that the paper deals with is the possibility that falling house prices will overshoot to the downside. That's entirely possible, especially if credit markets become even more seized up. We could get into a scenario where nobody can buy, except those who can pay cash. If that happens, I could see prices getting as much undervalued as they were overvalued--which is exactly the situation where buying a house because you want to live in it becomes a superb investment strategy.
Handmade is the only way! I'm putting together a site to make handmade goods searchable. You can list your items for free and link to your website or even an etsy listing. Check it out, just another way to get your stuff out there http://www.handmadebyhand.com
thanks for the tips. The one I don't do is look for coupons. We don't get the paper and I'm just too lazy to search them out on the internet. Also, I buy almost no processed food or convenience food. We (my hubby and me) eat quite well for $45 a week. I know it doesn't sound like much but I stock up when there are sales and hold myself to the budget. We recently upped it, actually, since food is getting so ridiculous. It is for JUST FOOD, everything else has its own category in our budget.
I also do some OAMC (once a month cooking). The name is a little misleading, I think of it as more "once a month prep work." I work all day so it is nice to have prepared meals to just throw on the stove or in the oven. If you're interested there is a good forum about it on recipezaar.com.
Noticed that bone-in breat halves are 99 cents a pound at HEB this week. Gotta stock up! (I'm a sucker for white meat).
By the way, something seems weird with the captcha thing. It was telling me my addition was wrong for a minute, and, err, I'm pretty sure it wasn't.
I read this article and would like to mention two things:
1. Sno-Cones with a 97% potential profit ( they are made from mostly water, the cups are probably the most expensive cost.)
7-11 used to have a profit of 98% on their bags of Cubed ice - they had the machines.
2. There is a music festival that happens in BC, Canada that is owned by one guy - he's got a sweet deal.
* As a vendor you are required to buy your supplies from his guys.
* If you require electricity, gas or water - You are required to get it from him.
* You are required to give 30% of your income off the top to him.
* The festival uses it's own currency - the 30% is taken when you exchange your bucks for dollars.
* Any vendor caught accepting money - will be immediately shut down, and removed.
* Any person working in the festival- must have a ticket to enter the grounds ( somewhat cheaper, but not by much.)
And of course they inspect every bag that comes into the festival for "contraband"
This does not even cover the costs etc involved with the attendants.
We decided we are not hitting the county fair after last year. In total between entrance fee, just a few ride tickets and food we spent enough to go on a far better trip. For the same money we could have driven to one of the larger cities, gone to a major zoo and grabbed something to eat somewhere. Or we could have driven to one of the larger cities and hit an actual amusement park with decent rides. Being that we could have traveled, paid to attend a better event and grabbed a meal, it would be not so smart to go to the fair again.
We tend to avoid most of the events that do this captive audience style of making money. It has to have a really good attraction and we usually eat before we go and bring in our own water. Water is the one that really makes me annoyed. I have noticed most of the big outdoor events will remove access to running water and charge $3 to $6 for a bottle of water. At events during the day in the summer. This is just setting up people to get dehydrated and drop over. Not just because they are holding water hostage but because the lines are so long you will fall over before you can buy any.
I can raise it if I want. However we are in a position to pay the mortage, give to chariy, save and invest college funds and retirement and oh yeah have a discretionary income.
But contentment can be hard to practice sometimes
I love traveling too and those wrer some excellent tips how are your accommodations when you travel? I remember staying in this one hotel that smelled like being downwind of a row of porta-potties, mixed with cigar smoke...it was disgusting! Have you ever had any bad experiences, OMG please share!
Check out this funny video, called "Ballad of a Traveler", it is hilarious. He totally sums up the travelers experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2tgnUsj8NE>
YouTube - Ballad of a Traveler
I work with Hampton Inn, and I'd love to hear your horror stories! What's the worst experience you've ever had at a hotel? (I always get a kick outta this!)
Having been there, done that... concessions can be a very good way to make money, but there are many trade offs.
The hours... long, hot, hours. Weekends and evenings off are not an option. And as an owner or manager, the time not actually spent at an event is spent doing one of three things. Cleaning up from the last event, preparing for the next event, or trying hard to line up your next event.
And while the margin is good, the risks are high. The weather can turn a booming weekend into a bust in no time flat. We had a summer years back that was one of the rainiest ever for the area. We were only one of two food vendors at a Memorial weekend 4x4 truck rally with thousands of captive customers, but the rain was so bad they had to close the trails because too many of the trucks built to deal with the mud couldn't handle THAT much mud. When they weren't able to drive, folks just camped out in their trailers and such, not venturing out.
So what should have been a great weekend, turned into huge loss after paying for labor, transporting equipment etc.
But on the plus side, I did come up with some creative uses for corn-dog batter (hint: try apple slices).
To answer the question raised by "confused", Basic Cable TV service inputs both analog and digital signals until 2012.
You apparently have a "cable-ready analog TV" which will continue to work fine with the Cable TV service which will continue to provide analog input to your TV at least until 2012. After that you may have to have a Digital-to-Analog Converter to work with your current TV, unless the Cable TV service chooses to extend analog service. That may come at an extra cost/fee if so. It's entirely up to them at that point in time.
You may then need to connect the cable tv wire to the antenna input on a Digital-to-Analog TV Converter box to continue to see Cable TV with your current cable-ready TV.
Great post! I can happily say that I employ all of these suggestions except the home phone. Like it was mentioned above, my DSL (far cheaper than cable internet where I live) is bundled with my phone, making it super cheap. I also learned my lesson during the blackouts a few years ago...cell phones didn't work but traditional land lines did. I didn't have a landline then but as soon as the power was back up, I got one. A week without isolated without the ability to call 911 was all I needed to convince me.
Also, I work for the phone company. Job security, yo.
Great article. I'd be happy to see our spending max out at $100 a week for 3 people. Right now it's hovering near $140, because of our guilty love of processed foods.
I take about 30 minutes on Sunday to wash and chop veggies, mix cole slaw or 3-bean salad, marinade sale meat, etc. Then, during the week when we're tired at the end of the day, there are the dishes all ready to go for a quick meal. When I'm this practical, I find we eat all the food in the fridge and things rarely go to waste.
I do have one question. Are laundry detergents and other cleaning agents included in your $80 budget, or just food?
And no, I'm not talking about sneaking a flask in under your hat.
Good old Veterans Stadium in Philly always allowed folks to bring in their own food and non-alcoholic beverages. When the Eagles moved their new facility, they tried to prohibit that practice, but the uproar was so pervasive, they were forced to back down.
So even now, both the Phillies and the Eagles still allow you to bring food--packaged in clear plastic so they can identify it, and sealed, unopened non-alcoholic beverages to games.
So even though I've got to shell out for the beers at games, bringing a sandwich, soda and water (Oh, what they charge for water!) for the family helps contain costs. The Phillies also offer dollar-dog nights--a dollar for a hot dog isn't too bad, right?
The kids still get a kick out of the big box of popcorn, but that's about the only thing I'll buy at the ballpark.
The "stimulus" rebate may have a slight beneficial effect on the economy, but it won't last long and it will do nothing to fix the underlying causes of our national financial woes and may actually make things worse.
This rebate is basically just another charge on the national credit card. The really frightening thing is not just that our federal debt is so huge (and has been increased by this rebate) but also that, for the first time, we owe so much of it to foreign countries. Always before, the majority of our Treasury notes were sold to American companies, institutions and the American people. (If you're a certain age, you may remember the now-quaint pitches to buy U.S. savings bonds.) Now, China owes 25% of our debt and Japan slightly more. The United States has gone from being the world's biggest creditor nation (we had money to loan) to being the world's biggest debtor nation.
If we keep on this way, we are heading for a crash that will make the Great Depression look like a summer day at Disneyland....
C.Sykes
moneytospare.net
I swear you wrote my mind! I was just thinking about our upcoming county fair and how much I love the funnel cakes. Here it isn't so bad: $5 for a funnel with powdered sugar, and it's big (greasy) enough to give each of us a taste.
We also try to either eat right before we go (thus giving our tummies a chance to settle before embarking on dizzy rides) or wait until we are done with the fun and stop by the fair church kitchen for a hot beef sandwich, one side, and a drink for under $7. The 4-H kitchen is fairly reasonable too!
Just look for those who are doing it as a service and buy food from there. Many fundraisers are more concerned about providing than profiting, and the prices give it away!
Thanks, Paul!
Linsey
One of the really nice things about living within walking distance of the grocery store is that we have the option to go get fresh ingredients every day. Once or twice a month we do drive to the grocery store and stock up on staples; the rest of the time we just walk.
It means that, before we decide what's for dinner, we can look over any unadvertised sales, and see what looks good among the meat and produce. Sometimes there are real bargains. Other times there's something that looks especially yummy.
Probably not practical if you have to drive to the grocery store, but highly recommended if it works for your particular situation.
LOL, Carrie, been there, done that. What a great story.
I tried to make a turkey-heart casserole in a microwave oven during my broke-student days. It was cheap and horrible, and it messed up my microwave. Creativity in cooking is always to be encouraged, but once in a while the results can be blarf!
Great post, and very well written. Thanks for the ideas and the entertaining read!
I haven't found any REAL good sales on School Supplies lately. If anyone has any updates, please post the comment here.
Any good sales in Staples or Wal-Mart will be appreciated, thanks!
In college I spent a year in Paris and quit the au pair job that was supposed to support me after just a couple months. After paying rent -- something like $500 for an attic maid's room and it seemed like a fortune at the time -- I was seriously scraping along for food.
My grandmother sent me a care package with some "American" food and condiments, including an envelop of chili seasoning. Well, I almost NEVER bought meat, but I was getting real, real tired of plain potatoes. So I mixed it into mashed potatoes.
I will never forget force feeding myself that disgusting mixture, because I knew that if I didn't eat that, I was going to eat nothing that night. And the next day. Blech.
That's so funny; my kids used to say the EXACT same thing when we went shopping! Now my kids are all older, and it's so thrilling to see them be thrifty.
I'm working on #9 (half-priced caviar is still not cheap). I've decided that calculating some per-meal costs could be a good idea. If I think two meals are equally nutritious and equally yummy, I may as well make the less-expensive one more often.
Another way to use this strategy is to think of lower-priced alternatives. What else might you like when you're in the mood for caviar, and are any of those more affordable? You talked about this some in #8 (a price book would be good) because you talk about how meat is somewhat interchangeable.
Recently I've learned that my favorite fair-trade chocolate chips are cheaper per ounce than my favorite fair-trade chocolate candy bar, so now I will buy only the chips and use them for both baking and sticking into my mouth plain. Also, my favorite expensive extremely sharp cheddar brick cheese is still less expensive per ounce than my new favorite cheap sliced sharp cheese, so I'll be using that any time I want cheese (cubed for parties, grated for toppings or omelets or sliced for sandwiches). It's so easy to get used to what's a good price for something in one form, forgetting that almost the exact same thing is available in another form.
I like that you include both #3 (buy less to waste less) and #7 (yes, we can eat all that cereal), even though they seem like opposites. We should buy only enough of things that go bad but also stock up on staples that don't go bad when they are a good deal.
Another idea is to have a plan for leftovers. As a single person, I have a lot more flexibility here: I can create dishes that sound okay to me but that I would never ask anyone else to eat. For example, I had some leftover sloppy joe mix that I wasn't too wild about, so I mixed that with my last mediocre-tasting vegetarian hotdog and some leftover beans that were kind of boring and some chili powder. (It's like Tex-Mex beanie weanies, see?) It still wasn't that great, but then I put lots of cheese on top. And rolled it in corn tortillas. And now it's yummy and quick!
Less disgusting ideas include: saving meat, veggies, and pasta for soups; saving meat, veggies, and dairy products for pasta dishes; saving cereal crumbs for pie crusts, and saving bread crumbs for casseroles, bread puddings or other baked goods.
Lately it's been hard to keep a price book as the costs are escalating so quickly. If you take the plunge it may be better to wait until things stabilize a bit.
$80 is reasonable, specially with younger kids. We do it with older ones (20 and 12 year old males) and it includes non food items. Pretty tight. Keeping a pantry helps alot. We may not have ethnic grocers but we do have a bump and dent place near us and a farm stand. Every area has it's advantages. Do other areas have on line grocery flyers? This has been a big help in matching coupons and sale items for us before venturing out. Also Dollar General takes coupons.
Hope this helps.
I shop on a budget but have never used coupons. I have read so many good things about using them, and how much money I can save. Shame on me. I am going to start now.
Austin Hike and Bike
I am in Austin, TX, and fortunately home prices have seemed to stay pretty stable. And in some cases are going up. I think it is because we have such a demand here and so many people are moving here.
Austin Hike and Bike
Prices have room to fall further when measured by rent. This is especially true in areas that have seen rampant price inflation in housing over the last few years. It is also typical after times of irrational exuberance we not only revert to the norm, but overshoot it to the downside for awhile.
A good way to measure whether home prices are out-of-whack is to use the GMR number (GROSS MONTHLY RENT). Normally the number investors use is a multiple of about 120 times the monthly rent. So, if a house could rent for $1000 per month, the house would be worth $120,000.
All markets move in cycles, this is natural. However, government intervention distorted this last real estate cycle, contributed mightily in making a bubble and delayed the day of reckoning. I expect the downturn to be worse and more prolonged than it might have been.
I rent. Sold property early in the bubble (way too early as it turns out) and I'd really like to get a home for my family and myself. So, I view this as an opportunity.
In two or three more years.
The paper does go into regional differences, some. It suggests that the gap in the Midwest is pretty small, but that the Northeast, South, and West are all still 20% or more overvalued.
One other topic that the paper deals with is the possibility that falling house prices will overshoot to the downside. That's entirely possible, especially if credit markets become even more seized up. We could get into a scenario where nobody can buy, except those who can pay cash. If that happens, I could see prices getting as much undervalued as they were overvalued--which is exactly the situation where buying a house because you want to live in it becomes a superb investment strategy.
Handmade is the only way! I'm putting together a site to make handmade goods searchable. You can list your items for free and link to your website or even an etsy listing. Check it out, just another way to get your stuff out there http://www.handmadebyhand.com