It is silly to "save money" by either :not buying your blood pressure (or other needed) prescription medicine, or by "cutting doses in half", "skipping doses", doing without... etc. It is also very silly, even if you KNOW you do not have the money to pay a doctor, to "not go see a doctor" when you (or one of your family or children) actually truly NEED to be seen by a doctor or go to the hospital. People's lives are much more important than "saving money".
Realistic goals are all to important. I used to make the mistake of pushing those goals a little beyond reach and it is very demoralizing. By all means push them but not too far.
The article The Ethics of Free: Is it Wrong to Get Free Stuff? did not include the question; do we know an agency or a family that we could donate the free items to who would benefit from them.
However, if I ever start having any of these "nightmares" that are related to my personal financial situation, then I think it simply means that I'm worrying too much.
I had serious worries when I was knee-deep in debt and couldn't keep my phone on or buy new work shoes.
Any issues that I have now are peanuts compared to back then.
I bought a carton of this milk at my local store today, and after going to bed I got up to drink some of the Horizon Organic milk. Today is Aug 19, 2001, and the expiration date is September 13. I took a sip of the milk, and it tasted like gasoline! It went partly down my throat when I spit it out, and I've been up for an hour now since I drank it, and I am now spitting into an empty cup as my mouth is watering uncontrollably, I have no idea what is in there, it didn't even taste like sour milk but like solvent. I am going to contact the company over this, I've bought this milk before but never had any problems with it until now. Being spoiled is one thing, but for it to taste like gasoline is very strange and very disturbing; it's the middle of the night here and I'm not sure what to do but stay up for a while to make sure I'm okey, and I'll just keep spitting into the cup I have besides me so that I don't further ingest whatever it was that was in that milk. Very scary experience!
27 yrs.. studying a full time degree ( 4 study +2.5yrs job break+ 3 yrs study Engineering) with great career prospects with a well paying part time stable financial job.I have been following my brain instead of following my heart (I want to pursue Art )for the past 6-8 years - and it's done only one thing - it's killing me-everyday!
I used to save teabags and reuse them.... it was a pain, had to keep them in a cup on the sink and sometimes people would throw them away or put a dirty spoon in the cup, thinking it was just garbage. Did this for an entire month till I realized that I was only saving a penny or two a day. True, a penny saved is a penny earned but I could just go for a walk and pick up pennies and make a lot more than that!
Good review.. Stumbled on this blog when i ask denis to find some good economic games. And i'm his friends who owned the game. If you study economic (like me) this game didn't teach anything new. They only presented opportunities, and the risk is really really minimized. Maybe if you don't understand anything about economy, or accounting, this game is pretty good. But for me, it will just sit still in the corner..
well, it could actually be way cheaper than a bank. i got the mango debit card.
free to load if you do it thru direct deposit, lso free.
no fees for swiping or pin number... Free
no overdraft fees of course..............free.....
only is $5 bucks a month if deposit less than $500 a month if you deposit $500 a month then it's free too..... so that's pretty cool, specially for someone that has issues opening a bank account because im in the check system, guess from what? the same banks closed 2 checking accounts because i refused to pay their overdraft fees.... so im happy with my card.
I would suggest stockings for your wife- interchangeable, and stockings and garters are so much more fun! And airy.
I used my stocking for an emergency car repair...picture this: driving hours from home, 2am, alone, torrential sheets of rain, and my driver side wiper broke. Before people had cell-phones. I pulled over, took off my stockings, and used them to tie the driver wiper to the the passenger wiper-parallel, at the normal distance. It had just enough give to gently yank the driver wiper along with the other, so I could see! Worked like a charm.
Most of these examples apply to businesses. I have no problem if a company offers a freebie, and will take it even though I won't buy anything else from them. If these promotions were not profitable, the company would quickly withdraw it. Coupons are out there because companies know they make more money if they offer them.
I recently pondered an ethical dilemma when applying for government funding. Our state has a program that offers rebates if you upgrade the energy efficiency of your home. This is handy since I just bought a house knowing it needed more attic insulation. Unfortunately the building inspector missed that the furnace had a cracked heat exchanger, and it is essentially a dead furnace. I can also get a rebate for replacing this furnace. The rebate covers up to 50% of the cost of the improvements up to a certain dollar ceiling.
In the process of doing research I learned that our state also has a program for low income families, which might do most of this work free, and maybe even pay for fuel. I "qualify" since my husband and I make less than 200% of the poverty level. Hey, I pay taxes, my parents pay taxes, why not?
But here's the thing. I specifically chose a low paying career (childcare) because it is a field I love. I chose this job even though banks in my area were looking to hire tellers for much higher pay. I chose to marry a man who doesn't make much money. I chose to have a baby before I bought this house.... he is five months old. Before I bought this house, my parents had allowed us to live with them room and board free, while we saved money... and the truth is we didn't save as much as we could have. Further, I had reasons to believe the furnace had been abused, and should have insisted it be better inspected. Everything about my current situation is the result of my choosing. I have enough money for the furnace, and possibly enough for the needed insulation. But if I couldn't afford the insulation it could wait until next year. Why should the tax payers pay my way when I am in a situation I chose?
I will take advantage of the rebates for energy improvements because that is offered to the general population and is not income-based. It is offered because the government has decided it is in the best interest of the public if our nation is less dependent on foreign oil. I will not take advantage of the low-income energy program, even though I technically qualify, because it is a needs-based program and implies I am "poor," even though my situation is entirely the result of my own choices.
In grad school, I used to take leftover receipts, etc., to use as grocery lists. I'd write over them multiple times in different directions. Seriously, I bet I saved all of $1 doing that for 2 years.
You left out an important category of free stuff: Things that are free because they're not owned (either they were never owned, or they've been abandoned).
Two important subcategories:
1) Things gathered from the wild (dandelion greens, wild grapes, berries, edible mushrooms).
2) Things that other people are throwing away (stuff scavenged from dumpsters, things offered on freecycle).
Both of those have issues. You'd better know your mushrooms before you eat any that you gather. Some places have laws against scavenging from dumpsters. But the fact is, in any rich country there are vast amounts of perfectly good stuff on its way to landfills because no one wants it.
Some people try to match stuff that the owner has no use for with people who need it—salvage shops, food pantries, etc. They sometimes charge a small amount for the service of matching the item with a new owner, but you're not really paying for the item.
My friend made a deal with the local car washes. She empties their vacuums and collects all the coins. It really pays off. There are tons of coins in there. And you only have to do it every few months. It is a dirty job, but all that money goes in the piggy bank.
I've heard of instances in which people have applied for financial aid for graduate school, and beforehand, spent thousands of dollars of their savings on ANYTHING just to appear that they had less money so they could be eligible to receive more aid. That is clearly unethical and it really sickens me when someone does that -- someone I know of casually mentioned considering doing this despite each of her parents pulling in close to or more than six figures (although this is purely conjecture based on her parents' occupations and their amount of work experience). This is a fundamental flaw of the graduate school need-based financial aid process, because many people applying for graduate school are old enough to be deemed "independent" and don't have to report how much money their parents have.
I did not receive a card from them, I asked them to send me one. I love my NetSpend card. I have a portion of my paycheck direct deposited to it, and the funds are available a full day and a half before payday, which is excellent, because by that time I'm severely BROKE and need the money. They do have ridiculous fees, but I just do an ATM withdrawl and take all the money out so I have cash, so there is only the one ATM fee. It is not a credit account, and is not reported to the credit bureaus. It is very convenient for me.
Based on the comments I'm receiving, it looks like I should write a follow-up article on riding safely! You're right, cars don't see cyclists. They're too busy concentrating on other cars (or their cell phones!). I'm super-duper careful at intersections. I always make sure to make eye-contact with right and left turners (they just don't seem to see people near or in crosswalks.) Sorry to hear about your co-workers, I hope they were wearing their helmets.
Good questions. Since I work at a closed-campus school, I lock my bike at a bike rack inside the school. However, some offices are open to you bringing your bike indoors (it definitely will depend on where you work.)
As for the sweat issue, I wear a light t-shirt riding and bring an extra shirt to change into when I get there, as well as a small hand-towel. I can easily wipe off the sweat, change shirts, and I'm good to go.
If you must wear a suit to work, then clothing is a little more difficult. Perhaps you could leave a suit or two at the office on the days you intend to ride, then change out of your sweaty light-weight duds into something clean and dry. The clothing issue is usually not as complicated as people think.
It is silly to "save money" by either :not buying your blood pressure (or other needed) prescription medicine, or by "cutting doses in half", "skipping doses", doing without... etc. It is also very silly, even if you KNOW you do not have the money to pay a doctor, to "not go see a doctor" when you (or one of your family or children) actually truly NEED to be seen by a doctor or go to the hospital. People's lives are much more important than "saving money".
Realistic goals are all to important. I used to make the mistake of pushing those goals a little beyond reach and it is very demoralizing. By all means push them but not too far.
The article The Ethics of Free: Is it Wrong to Get Free Stuff? did not include the question; do we know an agency or a family that we could donate the free items to who would benefit from them.
Great article
However, if I ever start having any of these "nightmares" that are related to my personal financial situation, then I think it simply means that I'm worrying too much.
I had serious worries when I was knee-deep in debt and couldn't keep my phone on or buy new work shoes.
Any issues that I have now are peanuts compared to back then.
I bought a carton of this milk at my local store today, and after going to bed I got up to drink some of the Horizon Organic milk. Today is Aug 19, 2001, and the expiration date is September 13. I took a sip of the milk, and it tasted like gasoline! It went partly down my throat when I spit it out, and I've been up for an hour now since I drank it, and I am now spitting into an empty cup as my mouth is watering uncontrollably, I have no idea what is in there, it didn't even taste like sour milk but like solvent. I am going to contact the company over this, I've bought this milk before but never had any problems with it until now. Being spoiled is one thing, but for it to taste like gasoline is very strange and very disturbing; it's the middle of the night here and I'm not sure what to do but stay up for a while to make sure I'm okey, and I'll just keep spitting into the cup I have besides me so that I don't further ingest whatever it was that was in that milk. Very scary experience!
Hey Tal, same here!
27 yrs.. studying a full time degree ( 4 study +2.5yrs job break+ 3 yrs study Engineering) with great career prospects with a well paying part time stable financial job.I have been following my brain instead of following my heart (I want to pursue Art )for the past 6-8 years - and it's done only one thing - it's killing me-everyday!
- from US/Indian
I used to save teabags and reuse them.... it was a pain, had to keep them in a cup on the sink and sometimes people would throw them away or put a dirty spoon in the cup, thinking it was just garbage. Did this for an entire month till I realized that I was only saving a penny or two a day. True, a penny saved is a penny earned but I could just go for a walk and pick up pennies and make a lot more than that!
Good review.. Stumbled on this blog when i ask denis to find some good economic games. And i'm his friends who owned the game. If you study economic (like me) this game didn't teach anything new. They only presented opportunities, and the risk is really really minimized. Maybe if you don't understand anything about economy, or accounting, this game is pretty good. But for me, it will just sit still in the corner..
I reuse each side of the paper when printing. My work throws out the junk faxes.
well, it could actually be way cheaper than a bank. i got the mango debit card.
free to load if you do it thru direct deposit, lso free.
no fees for swiping or pin number... Free
no overdraft fees of course..............free.....
only is $5 bucks a month if deposit less than $500 a month if you deposit $500 a month then it's free too..... so that's pretty cool, specially for someone that has issues opening a bank account because im in the check system, guess from what? the same banks closed 2 checking accounts because i refused to pay their overdraft fees.... so im happy with my card.
Fishnets work great for garlic- air circulation.
I would suggest stockings for your wife- interchangeable, and stockings and garters are so much more fun! And airy.
I used my stocking for an emergency car repair...picture this: driving hours from home, 2am, alone, torrential sheets of rain, and my driver side wiper broke. Before people had cell-phones. I pulled over, took off my stockings, and used them to tie the driver wiper to the the passenger wiper-parallel, at the normal distance. It had just enough give to gently yank the driver wiper along with the other, so I could see! Worked like a charm.
Braided stockings make excellent flexible rope.
Waited until I got to work to "go", because I was running low on TP at home, and already at budget for the week. Silly, and uncomfortable.
Welcome to Wise Bread G.E! I hope one day I become as cool as Philip as well.
Most of these examples apply to businesses. I have no problem if a company offers a freebie, and will take it even though I won't buy anything else from them. If these promotions were not profitable, the company would quickly withdraw it. Coupons are out there because companies know they make more money if they offer them.
I recently pondered an ethical dilemma when applying for government funding. Our state has a program that offers rebates if you upgrade the energy efficiency of your home. This is handy since I just bought a house knowing it needed more attic insulation. Unfortunately the building inspector missed that the furnace had a cracked heat exchanger, and it is essentially a dead furnace. I can also get a rebate for replacing this furnace. The rebate covers up to 50% of the cost of the improvements up to a certain dollar ceiling.
In the process of doing research I learned that our state also has a program for low income families, which might do most of this work free, and maybe even pay for fuel. I "qualify" since my husband and I make less than 200% of the poverty level. Hey, I pay taxes, my parents pay taxes, why not?
But here's the thing. I specifically chose a low paying career (childcare) because it is a field I love. I chose this job even though banks in my area were looking to hire tellers for much higher pay. I chose to marry a man who doesn't make much money. I chose to have a baby before I bought this house.... he is five months old. Before I bought this house, my parents had allowed us to live with them room and board free, while we saved money... and the truth is we didn't save as much as we could have. Further, I had reasons to believe the furnace had been abused, and should have insisted it be better inspected. Everything about my current situation is the result of my choosing. I have enough money for the furnace, and possibly enough for the needed insulation. But if I couldn't afford the insulation it could wait until next year. Why should the tax payers pay my way when I am in a situation I chose?
I will take advantage of the rebates for energy improvements because that is offered to the general population and is not income-based. It is offered because the government has decided it is in the best interest of the public if our nation is less dependent on foreign oil. I will not take advantage of the low-income energy program, even though I technically qualify, because it is a needs-based program and implies I am "poor," even though my situation is entirely the result of my own choices.
Taking the condiments = stealing.
In grad school, I used to take leftover receipts, etc., to use as grocery lists. I'd write over them multiple times in different directions. Seriously, I bet I saved all of $1 doing that for 2 years.
You left out an important category of free stuff: Things that are free because they're not owned (either they were never owned, or they've been abandoned).
Two important subcategories:
1) Things gathered from the wild (dandelion greens, wild grapes, berries, edible mushrooms).
2) Things that other people are throwing away (stuff scavenged from dumpsters, things offered on freecycle).
Both of those have issues. You'd better know your mushrooms before you eat any that you gather. Some places have laws against scavenging from dumpsters. But the fact is, in any rich country there are vast amounts of perfectly good stuff on its way to landfills because no one wants it.
Some people try to match stuff that the owner has no use for with people who need it—salvage shops, food pantries, etc. They sometimes charge a small amount for the service of matching the item with a new owner, but you're not really paying for the item.
Cancel your waste pick up service and take your trash to work with you--a good idea on paper, a little smelly when put into practice.
My friend made a deal with the local car washes. She empties their vacuums and collects all the coins. It really pays off. There are tons of coins in there. And you only have to do it every few months. It is a dirty job, but all that money goes in the piggy bank.
I've heard of instances in which people have applied for financial aid for graduate school, and beforehand, spent thousands of dollars of their savings on ANYTHING just to appear that they had less money so they could be eligible to receive more aid. That is clearly unethical and it really sickens me when someone does that -- someone I know of casually mentioned considering doing this despite each of her parents pulling in close to or more than six figures (although this is purely conjecture based on her parents' occupations and their amount of work experience). This is a fundamental flaw of the graduate school need-based financial aid process, because many people applying for graduate school are old enough to be deemed "independent" and don't have to report how much money their parents have.
Hah! It's just like cheat codes from the video games!
I did not receive a card from them, I asked them to send me one. I love my NetSpend card. I have a portion of my paycheck direct deposited to it, and the funds are available a full day and a half before payday, which is excellent, because by that time I'm severely BROKE and need the money. They do have ridiculous fees, but I just do an ATM withdrawl and take all the money out so I have cash, so there is only the one ATM fee. It is not a credit account, and is not reported to the credit bureaus. It is very convenient for me.
Based on the comments I'm receiving, it looks like I should write a follow-up article on riding safely! You're right, cars don't see cyclists. They're too busy concentrating on other cars (or their cell phones!). I'm super-duper careful at intersections. I always make sure to make eye-contact with right and left turners (they just don't seem to see people near or in crosswalks.) Sorry to hear about your co-workers, I hope they were wearing their helmets.
Good questions. Since I work at a closed-campus school, I lock my bike at a bike rack inside the school. However, some offices are open to you bringing your bike indoors (it definitely will depend on where you work.)
As for the sweat issue, I wear a light t-shirt riding and bring an extra shirt to change into when I get there, as well as a small hand-towel. I can easily wipe off the sweat, change shirts, and I'm good to go.
If you must wear a suit to work, then clothing is a little more difficult. Perhaps you could leave a suit or two at the office on the days you intend to ride, then change out of your sweaty light-weight duds into something clean and dry. The clothing issue is usually not as complicated as people think.
I think it is silly and disgusting when people reuse toilet paper!