Great article! Another tip to add: In addition to adopting your dog or cat from a shelter, see if that shelter offers low-cost vaccines. I bring my dog to the shelter every year for her rabies shot, and it costs less than $20.
Stephanie - my husband and I limit ourselves to $150 on gift-giving between each other. It makes you think about what you really want and DOES eliminate the excess of last-minute gifts. I think some folks just aren't disciplined about drawing the line re: how much to spend on someone, etc., and that's where they get into trouble.
I set aside - starting in January - $5 per week in an envelope marked simply 'x-mas'. By the time December rolls around, I typically have $250 or more set aside to Christmas shop for family and friends. I also set a dollar limit on what I spend on family members and friends. Also, my husband and I save most of our pocket change throughout the year and we each put $5 in the jar the 1st of each month. Since my husband and I limit ourselves to $150 for gift-buying for each other, the pocket change and monthly $5 donation adds up fast. As tim@faithandfinance said - be consistent and discipline yourself. Once the money is gone, you are done with your Christmas shopping. In these tough times, I don't think anyone expects lavish gifts.
Thanks for the tip on the pet wellness plan Greg! And I was serious about teaching cats to use the toilet. A friend of mine actually has been successful in teaching 2 of her cats to use the toilet, so it is possible! :)
"Rarely do you find a home that doesn't have a cat or dog"
Actually, I'm pretty sure there are millions of them.
"pet owners treat their pet as if it were their son or daughter."
Yes, it's been my understanding that pet owners have occasionally been known to care about their pets.
Seriously, get a pet wellness plan, the best deal in all of commerce. Banfield Pet Hospital (the one inside Petsmart) has a great one. Enroll your puppy or kitten, and for $23 a month you get testing, vaccinations, medicine and x-rays for a way discounted price.
The part about cats using an actual toilet was just to see if we were paying attention, right?
In general it's true that defects in the paperwork don't cancel out the actual intentions of what people agree to do—other evidence (such as you delivering goods and me sending a check) is enough to support the contention that we'd made an agreement and then fulfilled it.
Over the years, though, the courts and the legislature have determined that there are certain things where just providing evidence that there must have been an agreement isn't good enough: the paperwork has to be right. One such category (for over 300 years) has been the conveyance of land. That must be done via a signed writing, and it's not good enough to provide other evidence of our agreement (such as that I'd been paying on the mortgage until I lost my job).
Exactly how this will all sort out, I don't know. As I understand the law, in cases where there isn't good evidence that a signed writing ever existed, the debt still exists, but it isn't secured by the property.
I agree that the courts probably won't like coming to that result—but they also won't like coming down in favor of the banks, given that it was the banks that systematically screwed everything up. The upshot is that about anything could happen.
But the fact that the uncertainty cuts both ways is what makes me think that we might see a real effort made to negotiate new mortgages with reasonable terms (very carefully documented with a signed writing).
When the dust settles, not having physical evidence of the mortgage will not allow home-owners to get out of their mortgages or create a real problem for the banks --other than reducing foreclosure velocity. Most judges will be reluctant to find that there is no mortgage due to poor records management. There is prima-fascie evidence in all these trials that there was in fact a mortgage agreement in place. That evidence is the fact the homeowner was paying the bank every month until they fell on hard times. So long as that is the fact, in general, courts should rule in favor of the banks that there was in fact a mortgage regardless of whether proper notarization or lien filing occurred.
The real question will be whether or not there is an enforcable lien against the property. Remeber, a lien is not about securing ownership in a property, rather it is a legal procedure securing the rights of a service provider (lender, contractor, etc...) to collect proceeds from the sale of the home in the case of debt default, by communicating the homeowner's obligation to the world at large. Failing to file or incorrectly filing the lien does not nullify the bank's interest in a property, because the borrower signed a collateral agreement when the mortgage was written --the evidence the bank uses when perfecting their first position lien. Where the bank will run into trouble, is if they didn't perfect a lien, and someone else perfected a lien against said property for a valid service or debt. That party's payment rights will then supercede the bank's in a foreclosure proceeding around a process technicality dealing with proper notification.
Given what I've just said, it probably won't change a bank's mind set when dealing with the consumer. They do not want to set a market precedent for principal modification except in cases of extreme fraud on the part of their own agents. The problem is, due to most market appraisals having been done by independent entities, you will have a hard time making a legal case the bank did not perform appropriate due diligence on the asset before making the loan, or that they committed fraud by offering an inflated appraisal. You will also have a hard time making the case that the banks inflated the housing market. They were not making the offers. At best you can conclude they looked the other way in the face of rapid inflation that seemed to have no real-world basis. But then again, so did the home buyer.
Once you have your list made, be diligent in sale-watching. I have nieces & nephews that love video games. Often the full price is $50, but by watching Amazon Goldbox deals daily starting about now & keeping up with what's expected for Black Friday (I use bfads.net), I can usually get them for @ $25 average. Another great thing about Amazon is that I signed up for the free Amazon Prime for students so there's generally no shipping charge. Finally, I use www.southernsavers.com all year long to get items practically for free by shopping CVS (mostly) & Walgreens (some). These items are suitable for stockings (soft socks, headphones, etc) or charitable Operation Shoebox giving (toothbrushes, hair bands, etc). It all just takes planning.
I save at least 20% off my groceries every week by using The Grocery Game (http://www.thegrocerygame.com). It costs $5 for 3 months to get deals at one grocery store, and they have a free trial period. They coordinate the Sunday circular coupons with savings at local stores. So when my local store (Publix in W. Central Florida) has a great BOGO free deal, the Grocery Game will tell me to pull the September 3 Smart Source circular for a $1 coupon.
I'm guessing the 0.3 gallons for 'other' would be where we produce so many plastics. Plastics have so many uses especially in the medical supply field that I can't imagine our advanced society doing without it. Look how much just the automobile itself is constructed of oil byproducts besides the fact the engine operates on gasoline. I'm of the opinion we will never find an alternative source to 'replace' our use of crude oil so why fight it. There's no way solar or wind sources will power a bulldozer, airliner, or combat armored tank. The key would be to come up with an inexpensive source that will supplement our use of crude. Certain philosophies of others point to the incredible plant called hemp. A plant that grows rapidly in all 50 states and I'm not referring to the popular type that is recreationally smoked either. Hemp could be the 'cash crop' with biblical overtones that supplements our use of crude oil. So many products can be made from hemp that I believe it would be an excellent idea for a WISEBREAD article by itself..... cheers
We are nowhere near being debt-free, but we have turned our lives around and are working hard towards our goal of complete debt-free living.
We are chronicling our struggle and hoping to encourage others by keeping a blog called TwentyFourPoor at
We have a dream of one day turning our own efforts at becoming debt-free into a tool and delivery system to help others escape debt and even pay some of their debts for them.
Expensive shoes, like so many items that can be displayed (clothing, shoes, watches, handbags, cars) seem to fall into one of two categories: expensive because of quality material and construction, or pricey to appeal to the insecure, the showoffs of the world. Of course, there can occasionally be overlap between the two categories, as with the popularity of the Herman Miller Aeron office chairs, which are high quality, but because it's a "name," also appeals to the showoffs.
Quality women's shoes (and most quality things, for that matter) tend to fall into a price range, an upper as well as lower range; from what I've seen, shoes over $400 are for display (stilettos, by definition, are too impractical to ever be "good" quality, as the heel is so narrow as to be able to fall within sidewalk cracks, making them quickly scuffed [this is also a problem with "kitten" heels, although they are lower, the narrowness causes them to be scuffed quickly], so both types of shoes should be avoided, no matter how much or how little they cost. (I speak from experience with the kitten heels, which looked terrible after just a couple of wearings, as the heels sank into cracks various times. Thank goodness I only paid $40 for them, but still I'm miffed.)
Anyhoo, good quality shoes in a variety of sizes (which is a mission for me, as I wear a size 11) are available from Nordstroms, online or in their stores, as the chain began as a shoe store. The store is a wonderland of fashionable, comfortable shoes (even the regular shoe section, not just the designer shoe salon), and it has a sale at least once a year (usually in August, I think). Quality shoe brands I've happily purchased from there (from the regular shoe section) include: Franco Sarto, Standing Room Only (SRO), Magdesians. I think they also keep in stock brands such as Trotters (formerly known as Old Maine Trotters), Aerosoles, etc., and other of the "comfort" brands (which used to be called "orthopedic" shoes, but they upgraded).
In the Washington area, quality "comfort" shoes can be found at one of the Comfort One shoe chain stores, or online. Comfort One carries lots of the quality "comfort" brands such as Mephisto, Arche, Dansko, Aerosoles, Birkenstock, etc. It pays to get a customer discount card, and get the e-mail alerts for sales, which can be substantial.
However, even the less expensive (and needlessly denigrated) Crocs brand, at least the Mary Jane ones that I wear on a regular basis, hold up quite well, and can be purchased online as well as from stores.
This is a YMMV tip, but when I adopted my second cat from our local PAWS shelter, I found out that older animals have a reduced adoption fee in order to motivate people to adopt them. I hadn't planned this, but the kitty I fell for happened to be a 5-yr-old Katrina-rescued cat, and that made the adoption fee $35 instead of the usual $65. Worked for me!
Cannonman,
They did not use yeast. The flies would land on it and carry the natural yeast on their legs. Natural yeast gives it a unique flavour to your region. That is why sour dough bread in San Fran taste so unique. I would use a high % yeast. You can sprout the corn in a bucket. If you have access, you can use a smoker to stop the sprouting, like they do in Ireland. It will add some flavours, too. Corn will turn after a good while. Keep pushing down the cap, the floating chunks. This will keep it from molding and makes sure more grain gets a chance to ferment. There are some enzymes that will speed everything up. If you don't use it, then this can take a few weeks. Alpha, beta amylase are good. There is a pectin enzyme that will help as well. I like to add Bean O to everything. When the cap sinks on its own, it is ready. You can always pull off the liquid and let it set a few more days to clear. Matt was having some smell issues that could have come from floaters in the wash.
Hey Craig nice post. I read some of your other blog posts and there awesome. You really break your stuff down and this could get non-bloggers interested in doing it!
I can't help but think this is to make google look more of a better company, lol. Nevertheless its a great way to save money and compare prices with other sites. Google is GR8!!
Unfortunately most of the people in America will never be in this position, but for those that are blessed with freedom will enjoy this. Fortunately I have little or no worries in life right now but I thank you for helping me with a few new things to do and think about.
Can I just point out at least 5 of these can be accomplished WITHOUT actually getting married. In addition, this post seems to have a pretty fairy-tale idea of blindly hoping that your spouse/lover will be responsible with their credit and money. In a country where around half of all marriages end in divorce within the first couple years, I'd be a little wary of jumping on board a spouse's credit or bank account.
When it comes to fees, I'd much rather know that I have a limit and can't go beyond that (like cash) instead of paying $50.00 for $0.07 (yup, I've had it happen.)
There are better cards out there... For instance, Visa Only1 cards. I've used that for years and have never had an issue with it.
The fees with that are simple:
- You pay $10.00 to get the card.
- You pay $4.95 to reload it (unless you have direct deposit)
- You pay a monthly fee for EXTRA protection ($4.95) but only if you want to pay for it. The card itself is protected as it is, but you can opt for a higher grade protection level for a small fee every month.
A bonus is that just about all grocery stores carry these now and it's very easy to load money onto the account.
Over all I found this to be safer then a bank card. However, if you want to get checked for credit (like for a loan) this doesn't count towards that.
thank you for these helpful tips. Staying disciplined, even during the holidays, is important. It is a wonderful time of year and nice that people feel generous and want to give, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the budget or financial goals.
I'm not sure that "gain" is quite the right word for what is happening... It only appears there is more material, but if one were to weigh it you would find either a slight loss or no change.
There is, however, an increase in volume. This is related to the change in density caused by seperating/producing the products. The density changes because the products are disolved in each other when they are in the crude form, much like salt is disolved in water. If you distill salt water and measure the volumes of the two products (water and salt), you would also finde a volume increase but no change in mass.
As an addendum, what you have listed above is really a "targeted split" based on market demand. Modern refineries have the ability to shift between these products within a certain range using "cat crackers" and "reformers". If market demand shifted to 14.4 gallons of gasoline and 14.3 gallons of diesel, most refineries are fully capable of doing so.
Great article! Another tip to add: In addition to adopting your dog or cat from a shelter, see if that shelter offers low-cost vaccines. I bring my dog to the shelter every year for her rabies shot, and it costs less than $20.
Stephanie - my husband and I limit ourselves to $150 on gift-giving between each other. It makes you think about what you really want and DOES eliminate the excess of last-minute gifts. I think some folks just aren't disciplined about drawing the line re: how much to spend on someone, etc., and that's where they get into trouble.
I set aside - starting in January - $5 per week in an envelope marked simply 'x-mas'. By the time December rolls around, I typically have $250 or more set aside to Christmas shop for family and friends. I also set a dollar limit on what I spend on family members and friends. Also, my husband and I save most of our pocket change throughout the year and we each put $5 in the jar the 1st of each month. Since my husband and I limit ourselves to $150 for gift-buying for each other, the pocket change and monthly $5 donation adds up fast. As tim@faithandfinance said - be consistent and discipline yourself. Once the money is gone, you are done with your Christmas shopping. In these tough times, I don't think anyone expects lavish gifts.
Thanks for the tip on the pet wellness plan Greg! And I was serious about teaching cats to use the toilet. A friend of mine actually has been successful in teaching 2 of her cats to use the toilet, so it is possible! :)
"Rarely do you find a home that doesn't have a cat or dog"
Actually, I'm pretty sure there are millions of them.
"pet owners treat their pet as if it were their son or daughter."
Yes, it's been my understanding that pet owners have occasionally been known to care about their pets.
Seriously, get a pet wellness plan, the best deal in all of commerce. Banfield Pet Hospital (the one inside Petsmart) has a great one. Enroll your puppy or kitten, and for $23 a month you get testing, vaccinations, medicine and x-rays for a way discounted price.
The part about cats using an actual toilet was just to see if we were paying attention, right?
In general it's true that defects in the paperwork don't cancel out the actual intentions of what people agree to do—other evidence (such as you delivering goods and me sending a check) is enough to support the contention that we'd made an agreement and then fulfilled it.
Over the years, though, the courts and the legislature have determined that there are certain things where just providing evidence that there must have been an agreement isn't good enough: the paperwork has to be right. One such category (for over 300 years) has been the conveyance of land. That must be done via a signed writing, and it's not good enough to provide other evidence of our agreement (such as that I'd been paying on the mortgage until I lost my job).
Exactly how this will all sort out, I don't know. As I understand the law, in cases where there isn't good evidence that a signed writing ever existed, the debt still exists, but it isn't secured by the property.
I agree that the courts probably won't like coming to that result—but they also won't like coming down in favor of the banks, given that it was the banks that systematically screwed everything up. The upshot is that about anything could happen.
But the fact that the uncertainty cuts both ways is what makes me think that we might see a real effort made to negotiate new mortgages with reasonable terms (very carefully documented with a signed writing).
When the dust settles, not having physical evidence of the mortgage will not allow home-owners to get out of their mortgages or create a real problem for the banks --other than reducing foreclosure velocity. Most judges will be reluctant to find that there is no mortgage due to poor records management. There is prima-fascie evidence in all these trials that there was in fact a mortgage agreement in place. That evidence is the fact the homeowner was paying the bank every month until they fell on hard times. So long as that is the fact, in general, courts should rule in favor of the banks that there was in fact a mortgage regardless of whether proper notarization or lien filing occurred.
The real question will be whether or not there is an enforcable lien against the property. Remeber, a lien is not about securing ownership in a property, rather it is a legal procedure securing the rights of a service provider (lender, contractor, etc...) to collect proceeds from the sale of the home in the case of debt default, by communicating the homeowner's obligation to the world at large. Failing to file or incorrectly filing the lien does not nullify the bank's interest in a property, because the borrower signed a collateral agreement when the mortgage was written --the evidence the bank uses when perfecting their first position lien. Where the bank will run into trouble, is if they didn't perfect a lien, and someone else perfected a lien against said property for a valid service or debt. That party's payment rights will then supercede the bank's in a foreclosure proceeding around a process technicality dealing with proper notification.
Given what I've just said, it probably won't change a bank's mind set when dealing with the consumer. They do not want to set a market precedent for principal modification except in cases of extreme fraud on the part of their own agents. The problem is, due to most market appraisals having been done by independent entities, you will have a hard time making a legal case the bank did not perform appropriate due diligence on the asset before making the loan, or that they committed fraud by offering an inflated appraisal. You will also have a hard time making the case that the banks inflated the housing market. They were not making the offers. At best you can conclude they looked the other way in the face of rapid inflation that seemed to have no real-world basis. But then again, so did the home buyer.
Once you have your list made, be diligent in sale-watching. I have nieces & nephews that love video games. Often the full price is $50, but by watching Amazon Goldbox deals daily starting about now & keeping up with what's expected for Black Friday (I use bfads.net), I can usually get them for @ $25 average. Another great thing about Amazon is that I signed up for the free Amazon Prime for students so there's generally no shipping charge. Finally, I use www.southernsavers.com all year long to get items practically for free by shopping CVS (mostly) & Walgreens (some). These items are suitable for stockings (soft socks, headphones, etc) or charitable Operation Shoebox giving (toothbrushes, hair bands, etc). It all just takes planning.
I save at least 20% off my groceries every week by using The Grocery Game (http://www.thegrocerygame.com). It costs $5 for 3 months to get deals at one grocery store, and they have a free trial period. They coordinate the Sunday circular coupons with savings at local stores. So when my local store (Publix in W. Central Florida) has a great BOGO free deal, the Grocery Game will tell me to pull the September 3 Smart Source circular for a $1 coupon.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Great information! I didn't know about reduced adoption fees for older animals. Thank you for sharing!
Hi,
Like the part about training. Wish we had done a little better job with our dog as she doesn't always follow the rules!
I'm guessing the 0.3 gallons for 'other' would be where we produce so many plastics. Plastics have so many uses especially in the medical supply field that I can't imagine our advanced society doing without it. Look how much just the automobile itself is constructed of oil byproducts besides the fact the engine operates on gasoline. I'm of the opinion we will never find an alternative source to 'replace' our use of crude oil so why fight it. There's no way solar or wind sources will power a bulldozer, airliner, or combat armored tank. The key would be to come up with an inexpensive source that will supplement our use of crude. Certain philosophies of others point to the incredible plant called hemp. A plant that grows rapidly in all 50 states and I'm not referring to the popular type that is recreationally smoked either. Hemp could be the 'cash crop' with biblical overtones that supplements our use of crude oil. So many products can be made from hemp that I believe it would be an excellent idea for a WISEBREAD article by itself..... cheers
We are nowhere near being debt-free, but we have turned our lives around and are working hard towards our goal of complete debt-free living.
We are chronicling our struggle and hoping to encourage others by keeping a blog called TwentyFourPoor at
http://twentyfourpoor.blogspot.com/
We have a dream of one day turning our own efforts at becoming debt-free into a tool and delivery system to help others escape debt and even pay some of their debts for them.
Expensive shoes, like so many items that can be displayed (clothing, shoes, watches, handbags, cars) seem to fall into one of two categories: expensive because of quality material and construction, or pricey to appeal to the insecure, the showoffs of the world. Of course, there can occasionally be overlap between the two categories, as with the popularity of the Herman Miller Aeron office chairs, which are high quality, but because it's a "name," also appeals to the showoffs.
Quality women's shoes (and most quality things, for that matter) tend to fall into a price range, an upper as well as lower range; from what I've seen, shoes over $400 are for display (stilettos, by definition, are too impractical to ever be "good" quality, as the heel is so narrow as to be able to fall within sidewalk cracks, making them quickly scuffed [this is also a problem with "kitten" heels, although they are lower, the narrowness causes them to be scuffed quickly], so both types of shoes should be avoided, no matter how much or how little they cost. (I speak from experience with the kitten heels, which looked terrible after just a couple of wearings, as the heels sank into cracks various times. Thank goodness I only paid $40 for them, but still I'm miffed.)
Anyhoo, good quality shoes in a variety of sizes (which is a mission for me, as I wear a size 11) are available from Nordstroms, online or in their stores, as the chain began as a shoe store. The store is a wonderland of fashionable, comfortable shoes (even the regular shoe section, not just the designer shoe salon), and it has a sale at least once a year (usually in August, I think). Quality shoe brands I've happily purchased from there (from the regular shoe section) include: Franco Sarto, Standing Room Only (SRO), Magdesians. I think they also keep in stock brands such as Trotters (formerly known as Old Maine Trotters), Aerosoles, etc., and other of the "comfort" brands (which used to be called "orthopedic" shoes, but they upgraded).
In the Washington area, quality "comfort" shoes can be found at one of the Comfort One shoe chain stores, or online. Comfort One carries lots of the quality "comfort" brands such as Mephisto, Arche, Dansko, Aerosoles, Birkenstock, etc. It pays to get a customer discount card, and get the e-mail alerts for sales, which can be substantial.
However, even the less expensive (and needlessly denigrated) Crocs brand, at least the Mary Jane ones that I wear on a regular basis, hold up quite well, and can be purchased online as well as from stores.
This is a YMMV tip, but when I adopted my second cat from our local PAWS shelter, I found out that older animals have a reduced adoption fee in order to motivate people to adopt them. I hadn't planned this, but the kitty I fell for happened to be a 5-yr-old Katrina-rescued cat, and that made the adoption fee $35 instead of the usual $65. Worked for me!
It costs a lot to raise a family but the cost is offset in the feelings of reward and love that you get in return. I would do it all over again!
Cannonman,
They did not use yeast. The flies would land on it and carry the natural yeast on their legs. Natural yeast gives it a unique flavour to your region. That is why sour dough bread in San Fran taste so unique. I would use a high % yeast. You can sprout the corn in a bucket. If you have access, you can use a smoker to stop the sprouting, like they do in Ireland. It will add some flavours, too. Corn will turn after a good while. Keep pushing down the cap, the floating chunks. This will keep it from molding and makes sure more grain gets a chance to ferment. There are some enzymes that will speed everything up. If you don't use it, then this can take a few weeks. Alpha, beta amylase are good. There is a pectin enzyme that will help as well. I like to add Bean O to everything. When the cap sinks on its own, it is ready. You can always pull off the liquid and let it set a few more days to clear. Matt was having some smell issues that could have come from floaters in the wash.
Hey Craig nice post. I read some of your other blog posts and there awesome. You really break your stuff down and this could get non-bloggers interested in doing it!
I can't help but think this is to make google look more of a better company, lol. Nevertheless its a great way to save money and compare prices with other sites. Google is GR8!!
Unfortunately most of the people in America will never be in this position, but for those that are blessed with freedom will enjoy this. Fortunately I have little or no worries in life right now but I thank you for helping me with a few new things to do and think about.
Can I just point out at least 5 of these can be accomplished WITHOUT actually getting married. In addition, this post seems to have a pretty fairy-tale idea of blindly hoping that your spouse/lover will be responsible with their credit and money. In a country where around half of all marriages end in divorce within the first couple years, I'd be a little wary of jumping on board a spouse's credit or bank account.
cat crackers are frickin' scary...
When it comes to fees, I'd much rather know that I have a limit and can't go beyond that (like cash) instead of paying $50.00 for $0.07 (yup, I've had it happen.)
There are better cards out there... For instance, Visa Only1 cards. I've used that for years and have never had an issue with it.
The fees with that are simple:
- You pay $10.00 to get the card.
- You pay $4.95 to reload it (unless you have direct deposit)
- You pay a monthly fee for EXTRA protection ($4.95) but only if you want to pay for it. The card itself is protected as it is, but you can opt for a higher grade protection level for a small fee every month.
A bonus is that just about all grocery stores carry these now and it's very easy to load money onto the account.
Over all I found this to be safer then a bank card. However, if you want to get checked for credit (like for a loan) this doesn't count towards that.
Craig,
thank you for these helpful tips. Staying disciplined, even during the holidays, is important. It is a wonderful time of year and nice that people feel generous and want to give, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the budget or financial goals.
I'm not sure that "gain" is quite the right word for what is happening... It only appears there is more material, but if one were to weigh it you would find either a slight loss or no change.
There is, however, an increase in volume. This is related to the change in density caused by seperating/producing the products. The density changes because the products are disolved in each other when they are in the crude form, much like salt is disolved in water. If you distill salt water and measure the volumes of the two products (water and salt), you would also finde a volume increase but no change in mass.
As an addendum, what you have listed above is really a "targeted split" based on market demand. Modern refineries have the ability to shift between these products within a certain range using "cat crackers" and "reformers". If market demand shifted to 14.4 gallons of gasoline and 14.3 gallons of diesel, most refineries are fully capable of doing so.