I use the Toshiba NB205 Netbook and I think it's great. It automatically linked to my WIFI connection at home, just had to turn it on do some basic set up and start surfing. I'm using it to type this right now.
I prefer Dunkin Donuts coffee, but since you worked at Starbucks, maybe you verify the stories I've heard about a special smaller, less expensive, size that is not on the menu for their coffee products?
If it is true, that would be another way to save some a little money at Fourbucks. :-)
Good post. I had a conversation today with a prospective client who seems pretty savvy but is being pressured by his insurance agent to convert all or at least some of his term to whole life. Nothing wrong with whole life, but it is not appropriate for everyone. Even for those for whom it makes sense, it is important to look at their stage of life, cash flow, etc. before making the decision to purchase or convert.
The ability to access the cash value can be an excellent benefit of a policy, but this also needs to be managed. If too much is borrowed and the policy lapses the owner could face a large unexpected tax bill. Also the need for the full death benefit should be factored in as well.
Even as a financial planner i consider life insurance to be much more complicated than it needs to be.
What excellent advice. I love this. Often we judge 3rd world countries. What a refreshing article highlighting how really innovative people with less really are.
I am also a person with very long hair, I could donate anywhere from 24-45 inches from my shoulders. depending on how short I want to go with my hair. I am a cancer survivor, with 9 years in remission. I never had chemo, don't drink or do drugs. My hair was Marcia Cross red my whole life, and is now a very unusual shade of champagne-platinum blond. Everyone is amazed that this is my "graying process" because of the blondness. I had at one time said when it was time to cut, I would donate it to LoL. Since then, I have started the process to start my own non-profit organization to feed and clothe the homeless in honor of my brother, who died because no one would take his illness serious because he was homeless, and refused him the treatment he needed for cancer of the spine. I am going to sell my hair to fund my non-profit. I also am tired of people always telling me how I should donate to LoL, like I never would have thought of that without their insight. I did not know they do not provide wigs to cancer kids. That is the biggest misconception out there!
I really love all the positive comments here about buying a house in cash. One thing that this country has going for it is that enough people will always take out loans on everything to keep this country in the black for another year while the individual is in the red. Those wise enough to see past this ruse are the ones that are buying their houses in cash.
I loved Jane's story of owning two houses free and clear (a fantasy for most people) because she was disciplined enough to save. Sure, she made sacrifices to get their but look at the benefits. I've never understood why people argue in favor of a mortgage, as if tax benefits on over spending were somehow enough to offset the temporal loss of liquidity.
No one will ever be able to show me a math formula that will convince me it makes more sense to hold a mortgage for 30 years (a little under half America's life expectancy!!) and over pay for a house while at the same time living in an increasingly risk prone economy where jobs often disappear and never come back versus losing liquidity in a one shot transaction only to begin rebuilding that the following week because of some vague tax benefit.
Jane's story is really a strong motivator and inspiration for me. I hope we can all own our own home one day!
I love rewards points! I use my Discover cash back to purchase $50 Starbucks cards for $45. Then I take the card to Starbucks and buy either 2 $25 cards or 5 $10 cards as gifts for other people since I don't drink coffee, lol. :-)
We fund our habits with coupons as well. We love Bruster's icecream and wait until they email out member coupons at the beginning of every month. :-)
Well, keep in mind that a "corporation" is not a separate entity any more than the "government" is run by only 3 people sitting around a table covered in pastries. The money spent on the HDMI cable is paying for a LOT of overhead cost, including most American's paychecks. The recession we are currently experiencing is a perfect example of the correlation between "making things cheaper" and "not being able to afford to employ". Can't have it both ways. It is simple economics.
That being said, if you don't mind contributing to your country's economy, make sure you are an informed consumer first! For HDMI cables, check out this video walk through, that discusses HDMI and conversions to analog (or splitting, even):
I would like to add one more to the list...move, move your body every day and get those endorphins going! Physical activity can set the stage for success in many other areas of our daily lives. Thanks for the great article!
To bad more people don't think this way. Sure, buying what you need when you need it is a nice luxury. But I like when my kids call me "mr. fix-it" because I try to fix everything (although it drives my wife crazy).
6. Get creepy people to stalk you & take photos of your every move.
Sorry, couldn't help myself :D
Not bad tips, if that's your thing, but I'm definitely happy to NOT be a celebrity. I don't even want to keep up with the Joneses. If they don't like my car and haircut then that's their problem. And I'm not so cool with bribing people, either.
We had the same dad. :-) I am grateful every day for the lessons he taught me on being financially responsible and taking care of things the right way. They don't make them like him any more.
I seldom go to Starbuck's (not anti-Starbuck's--I grew up in Seattle) because my local coffee place offers "double punch" Monday and then one free, any size, after 9 punches. Plus they have $1.00 off coupons that don't expire, and I have a wallet full of them.
Don't avoid that trip to New York--use rewards points! We used points for international flights, hotels and rental cars, and had no trouble booking any of it. Of course, we remodeled our kitchen and bathroom so we had a lot of points, but even charging every day things that you NEED will get you rewards.
Great article - I think it's very true it's important to look at the value of the purchase, and not just the cost!
So did you buy the retractable screen door?
(I didn't know those existed, but I have a set of french doors we were thinking of replacing with a sliding glass patio door so we could let in a breeze, too!)
First of all great, informative article. I wrote NaVOBA this week regarding our local chamber. Sure enough this article is linked with their Chamber news letter. I think you would certainly be interested in the current BRAC RTF (Base Realignment and Closure Regional Task Force) It's a huge endeavor once you read the information:
ww.bracrtf.com BRAC RTF www.ncmbc.us North Carolina Military Business Center
You'll see the mass expansion of what it termed "All American Defense Corridor". Covering 11 Counties and 73 Muncipalites. Overall I and many others feel that an "outside looking in" approach is needed. For example, the Patriot Express Loans sounds great. However at the Defense Trade Show in Fayetteville this week, those speaking of it coudn't refer to a proven case study.
We seem to have in town memberships to get into memberships. The constant claim of supporting Vet owned business. Not to say that people don't. However when it's difficult to provide proof, it's still only a claim and not fact.
I think alot of information and external oversight would keep honest people honest. I couldn't imagine if we had a NaVOBA logo outside of an office to go to. We do have a "Stay NC" and "I Hire Vets" program as part of BRAC. It would just be better of there were updates, talks, and more importantly, in person representation.
I bought a brand new car because it gets great gas mileage. However, the added cost for getting this car vs. another car that would have gotten decent mileage was at least $5,000 higher... even if I save $500 a year on gas it will take over 10 years for this to "pay" off. Not counting additional financing costs. Unless the price of gas just skyrockets. Or if gas goes much cheaper, then it will never pay off. I still like my new car, but ultimately, I could have spent less money upfront on a different car & still saved. Ultimately, using less fuel is a good thing though, and I do feel better about that.
If you find yourself using a local, cheap supply of starch, you would benefit from this. It can be found in malted barley, but can be bought in pure form from a beer or wine supply store. It uses about 1 TSP for 5 gallons. Add it when you add the yeast. It will ferment aggressively. You could wait till your fermentation slows down. When you add the enzyme, it will start back up again. This will help if you have potatoes or rice as a starch supply. There is a mold that is used for the similar function in saki.
A savings account for your pets is never a bad idea, and one we recommend very highly. However, there are occasions where a savings account may not be sufficient. I recently wrote a blog post on our Hambone Award site about a boxer puppy that had over $5,000 in veterinary bills in less than two months, of which we reimbursed over $3,500. In cases like that, it is doubtful the savings account would have enough in it to cover the expenses. Having pet insurance helps reduce the risks in case your pet has an accident - or in that boxer's case 4 accidents.
We've been doing these things out of necessity for years. But it comes at a price. People in our social circles have essentially cut us out of their lives. Perhaps with the greater recent emphasis on frugality this will become less of a problem. It may even become chic. But right now, as you mentioned, image means too much.
Essentials? For high school kids?
A non-refillable mechanical pencil? You can get inexpensive 0.9mm refillable mechanical pencils for probably a good bit less. And, for standardized tests, I always preferred a combination of a set of regular pencils for filling in the bubbles and a mechanical (0.5mm) for working out problems. But maybe that's just me.
A 22inch LED monitor. It's pretty, but most high school kids aren't doing huge spreadsheets or other things that require that much screen real estate (although I have one on my desk at work and I love it. Would love to have two or three...or a whole wall full. But, ya know, I got by with a 20 inch until about 6 months ago).
Headphones, a screetching and rolling alarm clock? Again, these might be nice to haves but definitely not essentials.
Essentials - Notebooks, writing implements, access to a computer with an internet connection at home, USB drive(s), a good (possibly graphing) calculator, a solid backpack. Those would be more what I would classify as essentials. The rest, not quite so much.
I'm in a situation we're i wouldn't mind being laid off. It's happened to me before and for once in my working life I was happy. During my time off I actually used my time to do the things I enjoy and explored things that i never have.
Now I'm in a situation where my job is horrible, my bosses are petty ego maniacs who think ever job is so imporant and above all else where were bought out and merged in with a new company.
I would never follow most of the advice in the article. The advice you need to follow is this.
1. Still do a good job. If you don't who is going to hire you later on.
2. Don't kiss the butt of your bosses, matter of fact be a recluse or anti-social. Act like you're Don Draper and that anything personal needs to be a mystery. If your boss asks how your weekend was. Just leave it at "fine" and show no interest in theirs or their interests. Fact is people who have a better relationship with their boss, genuine or not are more likely to stick around.
3. Make sure you department needs some trimming. If yours does and another department needs help, ask to help with the other department. That seems counterproductive to your goal of being laid off but it isn't. It allows the people you leave behind in your original department to master their job without you.
I'm in a situation we're i wouldn't mind being laid off. It's happened to me before and for once in my working life I was happy. During my time off I actually used my time to do the things I enjoy and explored things that i never have.
Now I'm in a situation where my job is horrible, my bosses are petty ego maniacs who think ever job is so imporant and above all else where were bought out and merged in with a new company.
I would never follow most of the advice in the article. The advice you need to follow is this.
1. Still do a good job. If you don't who is going to hire you later on.
2. Don't kiss the butt of your bosses, matter of fact be a recluse or anti-social. Act like you're Don Draper and that anything personal needs to be a mystery. If your boss asks how your weekend was. Just leave it at "fine" and show no interest in theirs or their interests. Fact is people who have a better relationship with their boss, genuine or not are more likely to stick around.
3. Make sure you department needs some trimming. If yours does and another department needs help, ask to help with the other department. That seems counterproductive to your goal of being laid off but it isn't. It allows the people you leave behind in your original department to master their job without you.
I use the Toshiba NB205 Netbook and I think it's great. It automatically linked to my WIFI connection at home, just had to turn it on do some basic set up and start surfing. I'm using it to type this right now.
Little, House,
I prefer Dunkin Donuts coffee, but since you worked at Starbucks, maybe you verify the stories I've heard about a special smaller, less expensive, size that is not on the menu for their coffee products?
If it is true, that would be another way to save some a little money at Fourbucks. :-)
All the best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Good post. I had a conversation today with a prospective client who seems pretty savvy but is being pressured by his insurance agent to convert all or at least some of his term to whole life. Nothing wrong with whole life, but it is not appropriate for everyone. Even for those for whom it makes sense, it is important to look at their stage of life, cash flow, etc. before making the decision to purchase or convert.
The ability to access the cash value can be an excellent benefit of a policy, but this also needs to be managed. If too much is borrowed and the policy lapses the owner could face a large unexpected tax bill. Also the need for the full death benefit should be factored in as well.
Even as a financial planner i consider life insurance to be much more complicated than it needs to be.
What excellent advice. I love this. Often we judge 3rd world countries. What a refreshing article highlighting how really innovative people with less really are.
Kudos!
I am also a person with very long hair, I could donate anywhere from 24-45 inches from my shoulders. depending on how short I want to go with my hair. I am a cancer survivor, with 9 years in remission. I never had chemo, don't drink or do drugs. My hair was Marcia Cross red my whole life, and is now a very unusual shade of champagne-platinum blond. Everyone is amazed that this is my "graying process" because of the blondness. I had at one time said when it was time to cut, I would donate it to LoL. Since then, I have started the process to start my own non-profit organization to feed and clothe the homeless in honor of my brother, who died because no one would take his illness serious because he was homeless, and refused him the treatment he needed for cancer of the spine. I am going to sell my hair to fund my non-profit. I also am tired of people always telling me how I should donate to LoL, like I never would have thought of that without their insight. I did not know they do not provide wigs to cancer kids. That is the biggest misconception out there!
I really love all the positive comments here about buying a house in cash. One thing that this country has going for it is that enough people will always take out loans on everything to keep this country in the black for another year while the individual is in the red. Those wise enough to see past this ruse are the ones that are buying their houses in cash.
I loved Jane's story of owning two houses free and clear (a fantasy for most people) because she was disciplined enough to save. Sure, she made sacrifices to get their but look at the benefits. I've never understood why people argue in favor of a mortgage, as if tax benefits on over spending were somehow enough to offset the temporal loss of liquidity.
No one will ever be able to show me a math formula that will convince me it makes more sense to hold a mortgage for 30 years (a little under half America's life expectancy!!) and over pay for a house while at the same time living in an increasingly risk prone economy where jobs often disappear and never come back versus losing liquidity in a one shot transaction only to begin rebuilding that the following week because of some vague tax benefit.
Jane's story is really a strong motivator and inspiration for me. I hope we can all own our own home one day!
I love rewards points! I use my Discover cash back to purchase $50 Starbucks cards for $45. Then I take the card to Starbucks and buy either 2 $25 cards or 5 $10 cards as gifts for other people since I don't drink coffee, lol. :-)
We fund our habits with coupons as well. We love Bruster's icecream and wait until they email out member coupons at the beginning of every month. :-)
Well, keep in mind that a "corporation" is not a separate entity any more than the "government" is run by only 3 people sitting around a table covered in pastries. The money spent on the HDMI cable is paying for a LOT of overhead cost, including most American's paychecks. The recession we are currently experiencing is a perfect example of the correlation between "making things cheaper" and "not being able to afford to employ". Can't have it both ways. It is simple economics.
That being said, if you don't mind contributing to your country's economy, make sure you are an informed consumer first! For HDMI cables, check out this video walk through, that discusses HDMI and conversions to analog (or splitting, even):
http://www.vgatohdmicable.com
I would like to add one more to the list...move, move your body every day and get those endorphins going! Physical activity can set the stage for success in many other areas of our daily lives. Thanks for the great article!
To bad more people don't think this way. Sure, buying what you need when you need it is a nice luxury. But I like when my kids call me "mr. fix-it" because I try to fix everything (although it drives my wife crazy).
6. Get creepy people to stalk you & take photos of your every move.
Sorry, couldn't help myself :D
Not bad tips, if that's your thing, but I'm definitely happy to NOT be a celebrity. I don't even want to keep up with the Joneses. If they don't like my car and haircut then that's their problem. And I'm not so cool with bribing people, either.
We had the same dad. :-) I am grateful every day for the lessons he taught me on being financially responsible and taking care of things the right way. They don't make them like him any more.
I seldom go to Starbuck's (not anti-Starbuck's--I grew up in Seattle) because my local coffee place offers "double punch" Monday and then one free, any size, after 9 punches. Plus they have $1.00 off coupons that don't expire, and I have a wallet full of them.
Don't avoid that trip to New York--use rewards points! We used points for international flights, hotels and rental cars, and had no trouble booking any of it. Of course, we remodeled our kitchen and bathroom so we had a lot of points, but even charging every day things that you NEED will get you rewards.
I live on $40,000 a year, I am 30 years old, and I have $192,000 in savings, a new mustang and I am 31 years old.
If you can't make it on $96,000 then you have issues.
Great article - I think it's very true it's important to look at the value of the purchase, and not just the cost!
So did you buy the retractable screen door?
(I didn't know those existed, but I have a set of french doors we were thinking of replacing with a sliding glass patio door so we could let in a breeze, too!)
First of all great, informative article. I wrote NaVOBA this week regarding our local chamber. Sure enough this article is linked with their Chamber news letter. I think you would certainly be interested in the current BRAC RTF (Base Realignment and Closure Regional Task Force) It's a huge endeavor once you read the information:
ww.bracrtf.com BRAC RTF
www.ncmbc.us North Carolina Military Business Center
You'll see the mass expansion of what it termed "All American Defense Corridor". Covering 11 Counties and 73 Muncipalites. Overall I and many others feel that an "outside looking in" approach is needed. For example, the Patriot Express Loans sounds great. However at the Defense Trade Show in Fayetteville this week, those speaking of it coudn't refer to a proven case study.
We seem to have in town memberships to get into memberships. The constant claim of supporting Vet owned business. Not to say that people don't. However when it's difficult to provide proof, it's still only a claim and not fact.
I think alot of information and external oversight would keep honest people honest. I couldn't imagine if we had a NaVOBA logo outside of an office to go to. We do have a "Stay NC" and "I Hire Vets" program as part of BRAC. It would just be better of there were updates, talks, and more importantly, in person representation.
With Patriotism,
MSG Joe Roberts
I bought a brand new car because it gets great gas mileage. However, the added cost for getting this car vs. another car that would have gotten decent mileage was at least $5,000 higher... even if I save $500 a year on gas it will take over 10 years for this to "pay" off. Not counting additional financing costs. Unless the price of gas just skyrockets. Or if gas goes much cheaper, then it will never pay off. I still like my new car, but ultimately, I could have spent less money upfront on a different car & still saved. Ultimately, using less fuel is a good thing though, and I do feel better about that.
Let me add few to your list:
Tjoos.com very easy to use
Couponcodes4u.com growing very fast
offers.com, sale.com new sites with great domain
Found another good read. Amylase Enzyme
If you find yourself using a local, cheap supply of starch, you would benefit from this. It can be found in malted barley, but can be bought in pure form from a beer or wine supply store. It uses about 1 TSP for 5 gallons. Add it when you add the yeast. It will ferment aggressively. You could wait till your fermentation slows down. When you add the enzyme, it will start back up again. This will help if you have potatoes or rice as a starch supply. There is a mold that is used for the similar function in saki.
Outdoorgirl,
A savings account for your pets is never a bad idea, and one we recommend very highly. However, there are occasions where a savings account may not be sufficient. I recently wrote a blog post on our Hambone Award site about a boxer puppy that had over $5,000 in veterinary bills in less than two months, of which we reimbursed over $3,500. In cases like that, it is doubtful the savings account would have enough in it to cover the expenses. Having pet insurance helps reduce the risks in case your pet has an accident - or in that boxer's case 4 accidents.
We've been doing these things out of necessity for years. But it comes at a price. People in our social circles have essentially cut us out of their lives. Perhaps with the greater recent emphasis on frugality this will become less of a problem. It may even become chic. But right now, as you mentioned, image means too much.
Essentials? For high school kids?
A non-refillable mechanical pencil? You can get inexpensive 0.9mm refillable mechanical pencils for probably a good bit less. And, for standardized tests, I always preferred a combination of a set of regular pencils for filling in the bubbles and a mechanical (0.5mm) for working out problems. But maybe that's just me.
A 22inch LED monitor. It's pretty, but most high school kids aren't doing huge spreadsheets or other things that require that much screen real estate (although I have one on my desk at work and I love it. Would love to have two or three...or a whole wall full. But, ya know, I got by with a 20 inch until about 6 months ago).
Headphones, a screetching and rolling alarm clock? Again, these might be nice to haves but definitely not essentials.
Essentials - Notebooks, writing implements, access to a computer with an internet connection at home, USB drive(s), a good (possibly graphing) calculator, a solid backpack. Those would be more what I would classify as essentials. The rest, not quite so much.
I'm in a situation we're i wouldn't mind being laid off. It's happened to me before and for once in my working life I was happy. During my time off I actually used my time to do the things I enjoy and explored things that i never have.
Now I'm in a situation where my job is horrible, my bosses are petty ego maniacs who think ever job is so imporant and above all else where were bought out and merged in with a new company.
I would never follow most of the advice in the article. The advice you need to follow is this.
1. Still do a good job. If you don't who is going to hire you later on.
2. Don't kiss the butt of your bosses, matter of fact be a recluse or anti-social. Act like you're Don Draper and that anything personal needs to be a mystery. If your boss asks how your weekend was. Just leave it at "fine" and show no interest in theirs or their interests. Fact is people who have a better relationship with their boss, genuine or not are more likely to stick around.
3. Make sure you department needs some trimming. If yours does and another department needs help, ask to help with the other department. That seems counterproductive to your goal of being laid off but it isn't. It allows the people you leave behind in your original department to master their job without you.
I'm in a situation we're i wouldn't mind being laid off. It's happened to me before and for once in my working life I was happy. During my time off I actually used my time to do the things I enjoy and explored things that i never have.
Now I'm in a situation where my job is horrible, my bosses are petty ego maniacs who think ever job is so imporant and above all else where were bought out and merged in with a new company.
I would never follow most of the advice in the article. The advice you need to follow is this.
1. Still do a good job. If you don't who is going to hire you later on.
2. Don't kiss the butt of your bosses, matter of fact be a recluse or anti-social. Act like you're Don Draper and that anything personal needs to be a mystery. If your boss asks how your weekend was. Just leave it at "fine" and show no interest in theirs or their interests. Fact is people who have a better relationship with their boss, genuine or not are more likely to stick around.
3. Make sure you department needs some trimming. If yours does and another department needs help, ask to help with the other department. That seems counterproductive to your goal of being laid off but it isn't. It allows the people you leave behind in your original department to master their job without you.
This post was really lovely. It is clear the admiration you have for your Dad. He sounds like a pretty inspiring person.