Many thrift stores have half-price days. While you may find some bargains here generally these days are designed to clear the store of inventory it had trouble selling the week before.
The day after the half price sale is the when they'll start placing the new merchandise for the week onto the sales floor.
Thought it was helpful to have a check list type of article just to remind people that thrift stores are out their to help you stock up or get rid of what you don't need without having to trash your junk or pay an arm and a leg to dress yourself or your family. Appreciate your comment, Myscha!
Personally, I really liked the tips on cleaning the closet in season, larger sizes selling better at stores and selling some things as a separate lot online. Thanks, Tisha.
My small town has had a wonderful non profit thrift store for years. I love it. We also just recently got a goodwill. Also nice. I haven't bought "new" clothes in over two years. My entire wardrobe (of pretty nice, name brand, quality) probably cost less than 50 bucks.
This article was a little light on the info, really. Maybe you should mention some of the major thrift chains and what charity (if any) each one benefits. Some of the stores in my area benefit a local Catholic charity (St. Vincent dePaul, which fills prescriptions for the needy, operates soup kitchens and provides services for indigent and homeless people), the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Goodwill Industries (provides job training), Myriam's House (battered women's shelter, job training for victims of domestic violence), and America's Thrift Store (donates a portion of profits to undisclosed Christian charities), and Salvation Army (whose philosophy is "to meet all human needs, without discrimination").
I prefer not to shop at or donate to the stores whose causes I don't support.
The tax-and-spend imbeciles who run Sacramento are not going to stop destroying California; they can't; it's part of their DNA.
All the suggestions in the world will be of no use to people determined to find a way to grow government. I'm a native Californian. Moving to another state is getting more appealing with each passing day.
What you say about house wine is true, but you're showing an expensive bottle of Luigi Bosca, an excellent argentine wine (together with the club soda siphon) to illustrate the article.
House wines usually come in a 5 or 10-liter demijohn (before being laid to rest on a glass carafe)
Hope you had a chance to try the Luigi Bosca!
Another tip for a cheap white wine:add cassis liqueur and ice, and you've got
yourself a decent kir (if it's a cheap sparkly, you get a kir royale ;-)
Best regards
To whom can help
>
> I have been a target of countrywide, inabilities and practices
> of bad business practices,
>
> We had a 30 year note with Chase and never late,
>
> Now with Countrywide and was promised a refinance on a 15
> years note to 30 year note with there new Modification loan
> program this started in Feb 2009, and we call every month
> several time to ask about it and was told everything was Ok and
> will hear something shortly.
> That was in March, Lisa James
>
> We heard something alright on April15 a notice to Foreclosure,
> and need to come up with 2 months payment and the Mays payment also
>
> We call several times and talked to 6 people with no help just
> Phone tags
>
> So we when to the Locale office and the Person we first talked
> to (Jason Guinther) was there we told him the story and the he
> call countrywide, after talking to there office for 30mins, he
> said they were never going to notified us that we don’t qualify
> for the program or even why,
>
> The inability for them to notified us doesn’t constitute an
> hardship for us,
>
> I thing they encourages there people in this tactics,
>
>
>
> Can anyone help us and advise a place to call anything
>
> Vwf4506@insightbb.com
i never heard something so stupid in my life !
car battery are not made whit little 1.5 cell battery
they are made of acid if u crush it u ll and u receibe acid in the eyes or somewhere else don't come blame the site because u are the stupide one
i never heard something so stupid in my life !
car battery are not made whit little 1.5 cell battery
they are made of acid if u crush it u ll and u receibe acid in the eyes or somewhere else don't come blame the site because u are the stupide one
this post is so wrong. and by no means would I ever take the chance that a bone may pierce the intestines and its a risk I was willing to take. mostly bones?? come on, you can feed your dog a balanced meal with rice, carrots, oatmeal, bone meal and ground meats like turkey, burger and other cuts of meat. throw in some fish oil on top for omega 3 and you got a balanced meal for a dog for life!
If you feed your dog raw foods, chicken and other meats your subjecting your dogs to all kinds of bad bacteria and this can kill them! raw chicken is not advisable, in fact serious sickness can be born from dogs eating it raw.
also brown rice is good for dogs in the home cooked meals as is oatmeal.yeah they say dogs ate raw meat in the old days..... well its not the old days now and there is some serious things a dog can get from raw meat !
Thanks for this post, Phil. This entry reminds me of a proverb that has had a big impact on my life that I'd like to share:
"Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear Jehovah and shun evil.
This will bring life to your body
and nourishment to your bones."
(Proverbs 3:7,8)
When we feel "smug" (as you describe it above), we're being what the author here calls "wise in your own eyes." What is observed in this proverb (and what my life experience confirms) is that this attitude is indeed very dangerous. You mention the relational damage it causes above. True - but I think there's more. I'd suggest that a great deal of the emotional discomfort and frustration we feel in our lives (internally, often not shared with others) is caused by being frustrated over "how stupid" some other person in our life is. It causes rot in our inner selves. Humility (the opposite of being wise in our own eyes), on the other hand, can bring healing to many situations.
As an example, I've heard many people share with me that they grew significantly in their respect for their parents when they themselves had children. Before facing parenting themselves, they felt incredulous about the many mistakes their parents made. Certainly they would never make those mistakes! They'd never parent THAT way. However, when parenthood came upon them, parenting suddenly wasn't so easy. They themselves made mistakes and realized that some of the decisions made by their parents were good decisions after all. A transition happened - they were no longer "wise in their own eyes" - no longer smug. As a result, a few "healing" events happened:
1) A level of relational healing between the child and his parents occurs as the child no longer feels smug toward his parents, and
2) The child has some emotional/psychological healing as unneeded, internal frustration and contempt over how they were parented is removed.
This applies to many other situations. And Phil, though you humbly admit to it as a flaw of your own, I'd say that it is a fundamental problem with every person. So, here's my point and how I've applied this to my life. If I'm feeling almost any negative emotion in my life with regard to another person, I investigate to see if being wise in my own eyes is the root of it. Am I better than that other person? That person who hurt my feelings, for instance - maybe I'd never do what he did, but did he have parents who loved him and nurtured him as I have? Has he had the supportive friends I do?
Now, addressing your main point above: what about turning pride into a positive virtue? My two cents: you can't. Sure, my pride may keep me from doing certain behaviors that would be negative and foolish because I wouldn't want to stoop to the level of "stupid" people. However, this fundamentally does NOT have the power to improve my life. Other weaknesses and foolish behaviors will crop up elsewhere that my pride will cause me to turn a blind eye to. So, in my opinion, pride is not "redeemable." Instead, I would suggest the opposite. Embracing the fact that you are weak and make mistakes all the time (just like everyone else) will free you from the hamster wheel of trying to prove the opposite, which will in turn allow for better decisions and healthier relationships.
And, I should add, the verse also points out that there is more to this than our relationships with people. Being wise in our own eyes will delude us into a sense that we don't need God and his help - and don't owe him thanks for redeeming us from our past mistakes. This, of course, is preposterous. But so is being wise in our own eyes, considering any honest reflection on our lives.
Do you have a source for that? Article I found said that 4 banks owned 70% of the secured debt for Chrysler.
Another source says that an Indiana Pension fund paid 43 cents on the dollar for Chrysler bonds in August 2008. Would you have bought Chrysler 8 months ago and considered it anything other than speculation? Looks like the Indiana funds probably only owned around $25M of bonds which is very little of the $6B total.
If pensions were heavily invested in Chrysler/GM bonds then I'd have to wonder why they were buying JUNK bonds at 43cents on the dollar when the company was already in very poor health.
Instead of carrying large amounts of cash (over 10 000) from country to country and have to worry about the reporting requirements. Just wire it to yourself by western union or moneygram before you leave the country, then go pick it up once you get off the airplane.
If you wanted to bring 40 000 just wire 5 shots of 8000$ ... have 5 different friends be the sender and you be the receiver.
now you have a big pile of cash in another country. good luck.
I think the key thing here is that the food is *not* free. If you can't afford to pay, you can choose to work to pay for your meal, making it a barter exchange that reinforces a person's self-worth.
It surprised me how many people are negative about the idea, but they don't seem to get the point. The owners are gaining benefit by knowing each day they're having a positive effect on someone's life. People in a crunch can wash dishes instead of skipping another meal. This isn't charity - this is something more, something that could grow to provide people with the training to be a chef or learn how to manage a non-profit.
There is so much beautiful opportunity in this concept.
As to the situtation with GM: As I said, I simply don't know whether the rules are being followed or not. I've seen on-line discussions among people who know a lot more about bankruptcy law than I do, and it seems to be an open question.
So, my point is one step more abstract than that: Rules do get changed. They also get fudged, ignored, and outright broken.
As citizens, we should all stand against breaking or ignoring the rules. We should do what we can to see that changes, when they occur, are changes for the better.
As individual economic actors, though, we need to act in our own self-interest. And I want to make the point that it's always dangerous to trust the government--even when the rules favor you. In fact, that's when it's especially dangerous--because the more the rules favor you, the more likely it is that the next change will be for the worse rather than for the better.
Your post is well said. While we see these necessary to some knee jerk reactions to supposedly resolve a crucial immediate issue, we need to keep the long view and hope that our lawmakers do as well. Changes to laws have long term ramifications and we should be wary of that fact.
For example you cite the continued inability of bankrupcy judges to change mortgage contracts. If this change was implimented I suspect that the cost of borrowing for all could rise significantly as the risk to the lenders increased.
Diversification truly is the best path for us as individuals.
About.com took the pages down because I am no longer the Guide and they belong to me. About could have paid me to keep them up, but didn't think they were that important. :)
I especially want to echo what Derek mentions, about one's "hourly rate." I have several routine expenses that other people seem to consider unnecessary luxuries or a waste of money.
But, I am fortunate enough to work from home in a field in which I get paid based on how much work I do (medical transcription) - I literally decide how much I want my paycheck to be and make it happen. That's all within reason, of course - I can't decide, "I want a million dollars this month" and have that happen, unfortunately! But if I know I have extra expenses coming up or an unexpected expense has set me back, I can type a little longer each day, or take on a little more freelance work for a few days, and walk away with a bigger than usual paycheck. On the other hand, if I know that all my bills are paid and it's a beautiful day and I want to spend it outside, I can walk away from the computer and accept that my paycheck will be a bit smaller than usual - and know that I can make up for it later.)
One of my "luxuries" is having a housekeeper come once a week to help out with cleaning. I pay her $60 for the day (about 4-5 hours) - my mother sees that as a HORRIBLE waste of money. "That's $60 down the drain, for something you could do yourself!" A friend says, "I just don't see how you justify the expense." What they *don't* see is that the housekeeper can do in 4 hours what it would take me 10 or 12 to do (I'm easily distracted and a bit of a perfectionist), AND because I have a chronic pain condition, I'd probably need to spend several hours in bed to recover afterwards.
While the housekeeper is vacuuming and mopping and dusting, I am typing. At the end of 5 hours I have done ~$150 worth of work; I pay her $60, and I'm still $90 ahead of where I would be if I'd had to spend those five hours doing housework. (Not to mention, ALL the work is done, I am not in pain, and my hands don't smell like bleach for three days! (c: Win-win-win-WIN!)
Obviously that won't work for everyone - I know that not many people are fortunate enough to be able to determine their own paychecks - but it is still something to keep in mind and weigh when you're deciding whether it's better to use time or money to handle something.
Frugality is so much more than cheapness - thanks for an excellent article illustrating some of the reasons why.
Many thrift stores have half-price days. While you may find some bargains here generally these days are designed to clear the store of inventory it had trouble selling the week before.
The day after the half price sale is the when they'll start placing the new merchandise for the week onto the sales floor.
oh brother - I spelled "their" instead of "there" in my previous comment - apologies all around. it's early.
Thought it was helpful to have a check list type of article just to remind people that thrift stores are out their to help you stock up or get rid of what you don't need without having to trash your junk or pay an arm and a leg to dress yourself or your family. Appreciate your comment, Myscha!
Personally, I really liked the tips on cleaning the closet in season, larger sizes selling better at stores and selling some things as a separate lot online. Thanks, Tisha.
My small town has had a wonderful non profit thrift store for years. I love it. We also just recently got a goodwill. Also nice. I haven't bought "new" clothes in over two years. My entire wardrobe (of pretty nice, name brand, quality) probably cost less than 50 bucks.
This article was a little light on the info, really. Maybe you should mention some of the major thrift chains and what charity (if any) each one benefits. Some of the stores in my area benefit a local Catholic charity (St. Vincent dePaul, which fills prescriptions for the needy, operates soup kitchens and provides services for indigent and homeless people), the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Goodwill Industries (provides job training), Myriam's House (battered women's shelter, job training for victims of domestic violence), and America's Thrift Store (donates a portion of profits to undisclosed Christian charities), and Salvation Army (whose philosophy is "to meet all human needs, without discrimination").
I prefer not to shop at or donate to the stores whose causes I don't support.
"If your doing a major declutter"
YOU'RE!!!!!
YOU'RE not YOUR!!!
The tax-and-spend imbeciles who run Sacramento are not going to stop destroying California; they can't; it's part of their DNA.
All the suggestions in the world will be of no use to people determined to find a way to grow government. I'm a native Californian. Moving to another state is getting more appealing with each passing day.
Hi from Buenos Aires,Elizabeth!
What you say about house wine is true, but you're showing an expensive bottle of Luigi Bosca, an excellent argentine wine (together with the club soda siphon) to illustrate the article.
House wines usually come in a 5 or 10-liter demijohn (before being laid to rest on a glass carafe)
Hope you had a chance to try the Luigi Bosca!
Another tip for a cheap white wine:add cassis liqueur and ice, and you've got
yourself a decent kir (if it's a cheap sparkly, you get a kir royale ;-)
Best regards
To whom can help
>
> I have been a target of countrywide, inabilities and practices
> of bad business practices,
>
> We had a 30 year note with Chase and never late,
>
> Now with Countrywide and was promised a refinance on a 15
> years note to 30 year note with there new Modification loan
> program this started in Feb 2009, and we call every month
> several time to ask about it and was told everything was Ok and
> will hear something shortly.
> That was in March, Lisa James
>
> We heard something alright on April15 a notice to Foreclosure,
> and need to come up with 2 months payment and the Mays payment also
>
> We call several times and talked to 6 people with no help just
> Phone tags
>
> So we when to the Locale office and the Person we first talked
> to (Jason Guinther) was there we told him the story and the he
> call countrywide, after talking to there office for 30mins, he
> said they were never going to notified us that we don’t qualify
> for the program or even why,
>
> The inability for them to notified us doesn’t constitute an
> hardship for us,
>
> I thing they encourages there people in this tactics,
>
>
>
> Can anyone help us and advise a place to call anything
>
> Vwf4506@insightbb.com
i never heard something so stupid in my life !
car battery are not made whit little 1.5 cell battery
they are made of acid if u crush it u ll and u receibe acid in the eyes or somewhere else don't come blame the site because u are the stupide one
i never heard something so stupid in my life !
car battery are not made whit little 1.5 cell battery
they are made of acid if u crush it u ll and u receibe acid in the eyes or somewhere else don't come blame the site because u are the stupide one
I am surprised Tim Ferriss hasn't written about this. he loves Argentina and loves wine. Something to think about and thanks for sharing!
this post is so wrong. and by no means would I ever take the chance that a bone may pierce the intestines and its a risk I was willing to take. mostly bones?? come on, you can feed your dog a balanced meal with rice, carrots, oatmeal, bone meal and ground meats like turkey, burger and other cuts of meat. throw in some fish oil on top for omega 3 and you got a balanced meal for a dog for life!
If you feed your dog raw foods, chicken and other meats your subjecting your dogs to all kinds of bad bacteria and this can kill them! raw chicken is not advisable, in fact serious sickness can be born from dogs eating it raw.
also brown rice is good for dogs in the home cooked meals as is oatmeal.yeah they say dogs ate raw meat in the old days..... well its not the old days now and there is some serious things a dog can get from raw meat !
Thanks for this post, Phil. This entry reminds me of a proverb that has had a big impact on my life that I'd like to share:
"Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear Jehovah and shun evil.
This will bring life to your body
and nourishment to your bones."
(Proverbs 3:7,8)
When we feel "smug" (as you describe it above), we're being what the author here calls "wise in your own eyes." What is observed in this proverb (and what my life experience confirms) is that this attitude is indeed very dangerous. You mention the relational damage it causes above. True - but I think there's more. I'd suggest that a great deal of the emotional discomfort and frustration we feel in our lives (internally, often not shared with others) is caused by being frustrated over "how stupid" some other person in our life is. It causes rot in our inner selves. Humility (the opposite of being wise in our own eyes), on the other hand, can bring healing to many situations.
As an example, I've heard many people share with me that they grew significantly in their respect for their parents when they themselves had children. Before facing parenting themselves, they felt incredulous about the many mistakes their parents made. Certainly they would never make those mistakes! They'd never parent THAT way. However, when parenthood came upon them, parenting suddenly wasn't so easy. They themselves made mistakes and realized that some of the decisions made by their parents were good decisions after all. A transition happened - they were no longer "wise in their own eyes" - no longer smug. As a result, a few "healing" events happened:
1) A level of relational healing between the child and his parents occurs as the child no longer feels smug toward his parents, and
2) The child has some emotional/psychological healing as unneeded, internal frustration and contempt over how they were parented is removed.
This applies to many other situations. And Phil, though you humbly admit to it as a flaw of your own, I'd say that it is a fundamental problem with every person. So, here's my point and how I've applied this to my life. If I'm feeling almost any negative emotion in my life with regard to another person, I investigate to see if being wise in my own eyes is the root of it. Am I better than that other person? That person who hurt my feelings, for instance - maybe I'd never do what he did, but did he have parents who loved him and nurtured him as I have? Has he had the supportive friends I do?
Now, addressing your main point above: what about turning pride into a positive virtue? My two cents: you can't. Sure, my pride may keep me from doing certain behaviors that would be negative and foolish because I wouldn't want to stoop to the level of "stupid" people. However, this fundamentally does NOT have the power to improve my life. Other weaknesses and foolish behaviors will crop up elsewhere that my pride will cause me to turn a blind eye to. So, in my opinion, pride is not "redeemable." Instead, I would suggest the opposite. Embracing the fact that you are weak and make mistakes all the time (just like everyone else) will free you from the hamster wheel of trying to prove the opposite, which will in turn allow for better decisions and healthier relationships.
And, I should add, the verse also points out that there is more to this than our relationships with people. Being wise in our own eyes will delude us into a sense that we don't need God and his help - and don't owe him thanks for redeeming us from our past mistakes. This, of course, is preposterous. But so is being wise in our own eyes, considering any honest reflection on our lives.
"most of the bonds are owned by pensions"
Do you have a source for that? Article I found said that 4 banks owned 70% of the secured debt for Chrysler.
Another source says that an Indiana Pension fund paid 43 cents on the dollar for Chrysler bonds in August 2008. Would you have bought Chrysler 8 months ago and considered it anything other than speculation? Looks like the Indiana funds probably only owned around $25M of bonds which is very little of the $6B total.
If pensions were heavily invested in Chrysler/GM bonds then I'd have to wonder why they were buying JUNK bonds at 43cents on the dollar when the company was already in very poor health.
Instead of carrying large amounts of cash (over 10 000) from country to country and have to worry about the reporting requirements. Just wire it to yourself by western union or moneygram before you leave the country, then go pick it up once you get off the airplane.
If you wanted to bring 40 000 just wire 5 shots of 8000$ ... have 5 different friends be the sender and you be the receiver.
now you have a big pile of cash in another country. good luck.
I think the key thing here is that the food is *not* free. If you can't afford to pay, you can choose to work to pay for your meal, making it a barter exchange that reinforces a person's self-worth.
It surprised me how many people are negative about the idea, but they don't seem to get the point. The owners are gaining benefit by knowing each day they're having a positive effect on someone's life. People in a crunch can wash dishes instead of skipping another meal. This isn't charity - this is something more, something that could grow to provide people with the training to be a chef or learn how to manage a non-profit.
There is so much beautiful opportunity in this concept.
@Kelja:
As to the situtation with GM: As I said, I simply don't know whether the rules are being followed or not. I've seen on-line discussions among people who know a lot more about bankruptcy law than I do, and it seems to be an open question.
So, my point is one step more abstract than that: Rules do get changed. They also get fudged, ignored, and outright broken.
As citizens, we should all stand against breaking or ignoring the rules. We should do what we can to see that changes, when they occur, are changes for the better.
As individual economic actors, though, we need to act in our own self-interest. And I want to make the point that it's always dangerous to trust the government--even when the rules favor you. In fact, that's when it's especially dangerous--because the more the rules favor you, the more likely it is that the next change will be for the worse rather than for the better.
The principle is simple. The principle.
Your post is well said. While we see these necessary to some knee jerk reactions to supposedly resolve a crucial immediate issue, we need to keep the long view and hope that our lawmakers do as well. Changes to laws have long term ramifications and we should be wary of that fact.
For example you cite the continued inability of bankrupcy judges to change mortgage contracts. If this change was implimented I suspect that the cost of borrowing for all could rise significantly as the risk to the lenders increased.
Diversification truly is the best path for us as individuals.
About.com took the pages down because I am no longer the Guide and they belong to me. About could have paid me to keep them up, but didn't think they were that important. :)
I especially want to echo what Derek mentions, about one's "hourly rate." I have several routine expenses that other people seem to consider unnecessary luxuries or a waste of money.
But, I am fortunate enough to work from home in a field in which I get paid based on how much work I do (medical transcription) - I literally decide how much I want my paycheck to be and make it happen. That's all within reason, of course - I can't decide, "I want a million dollars this month" and have that happen, unfortunately! But if I know I have extra expenses coming up or an unexpected expense has set me back, I can type a little longer each day, or take on a little more freelance work for a few days, and walk away with a bigger than usual paycheck. On the other hand, if I know that all my bills are paid and it's a beautiful day and I want to spend it outside, I can walk away from the computer and accept that my paycheck will be a bit smaller than usual - and know that I can make up for it later.)
One of my "luxuries" is having a housekeeper come once a week to help out with cleaning. I pay her $60 for the day (about 4-5 hours) - my mother sees that as a HORRIBLE waste of money. "That's $60 down the drain, for something you could do yourself!" A friend says, "I just don't see how you justify the expense." What they *don't* see is that the housekeeper can do in 4 hours what it would take me 10 or 12 to do (I'm easily distracted and a bit of a perfectionist), AND because I have a chronic pain condition, I'd probably need to spend several hours in bed to recover afterwards.
While the housekeeper is vacuuming and mopping and dusting, I am typing. At the end of 5 hours I have done ~$150 worth of work; I pay her $60, and I'm still $90 ahead of where I would be if I'd had to spend those five hours doing housework. (Not to mention, ALL the work is done, I am not in pain, and my hands don't smell like bleach for three days! (c: Win-win-win-WIN!)
Obviously that won't work for everyone - I know that not many people are fortunate enough to be able to determine their own paychecks - but it is still something to keep in mind and weigh when you're deciding whether it's better to use time or money to handle something.
Frugality is so much more than cheapness - thanks for an excellent article illustrating some of the reasons why.