also... I make my own mayonnaise fresh when I want some for sandwiches or salad dressings. i never buy that stuff. and i can afford it. Its cheaper and tastes much better but you have to make small amounts to use it all up right away. Helps to have a big family. All you need is some ingenuity and an open mind and planning and possibly a library card where they have great cook books. Many of the farming communities have cookbooks that tell you how to make anything from pasta to bread to making tough cuts of meat or wild critters edible. A packet of seeds is a darn sight cheaper than 20 lbs. of carrots and 2 bushels of tomatoes. if you have a back yard and a neighbor that is willing to help share you can get a lot done to make your diet very healthy and enjoyable on very little money. Just takes mostly hard labor and thought and the right frame of mind. one that takes challenges and figures it out instead of looking to the government. our grandparents didn't get handouts because there was no such thing back then. we really do ourselves a big disservice to turn our noses up to the wisdom of the past. If you don’t use it to enrich your lives you are doomed to reinventing the wheel when you end up in hard times later on and will feel very lost and helpless and sorry for yourself instead of being flexible and finding joy in the little things that make life bearable. like having a few drops of bacon grease to flavor that boiled potato. :)or a bowl of lentils and home made vinaigrette. you can even make your own vinegar lol, again cheaper than store bought. life is a roller coaster and if we don’t pass the knowledge on to our children or accept what has been passed down to us by our elders, we through away the most critical part of their legacies to us. How to survive in style and our history or memories and experiences ... our family identities and roots. Roots make our lives mean more and food is a giant part of that .its not just physical food its emotional food too.
Good catch. I totally missed that even after complimenting Ms. Stewart on her calculation.
$0.10 USD / 45mg = $0.002/mg = 0.2 cents/mg
It would be far better to express the value in dollars per 100 grams, as this is the approximate amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee. For example, Toby's mate caffeine costs about $0.10/100mg to $0.04/100mg.
rockstar, for example, has 160 or 240 mg of caffeine per can depending on the type. by these numbers, a can should cost $6 to $9... except they cost $2-3
Good list, however some of those items can be combined (ie, many phones have built in GPS now) and I'd rather have less items than lug around too many!
@Nanette - congratulations on being our 100th commenter for this article! (smiles)
As for crediting this idea, it was suggested by a coach I worked with years ago. I don't know where she got the idea from either...I think it was an incantation of something she learned via the grapevine. So I can't take credit for the originality of it, but then again neither can I assign it!
Three years ago, we opened a business by getting an SBA loan from a bank. The loan was secured by a 2nd deed on the home. My husband unexpectently died in July '08, the business then tanked in 2009, in which I ended up filing bankruptcy in Sept. It was discharged in January '10.
The bankruptcy attorney said that I personally would no longer owe the remaining balance on the 2nd deed, however we did reinstate the first mortgage and I got to keep my car payments.
The home is valued at approx. $120K, the balance of the first mortgage is $100K, and the balance of the 2nd mortgage is $74K. So my manufactured home is really underwater.
The first mortgage was re-amortized from 15 to 30 years right after my husband died (because I couldn't afford the payments on the 15 year mortgage by myself), but they are expecting a balloon payment at 15 years.
I have a boyfriend who now lives with me, and with both our incomes we can afford to keep making payments on the house just fine. But I'm wondering if it will really be worth it in the long run...
@gt0163c - Thanks for your suggestions. Bang on....these would all make traveling (and exercising) much easier. And none of them take up too much room...another plus for business travel.
@OnTheRoadAgain - The need for a surge protector depends in part on where you're traveling; in developing countries it's especially advised. But if you use one at home...it never hurts on the road either. I've been caught in electrical storms before.
@Kate - I have some of these recovery program stickers, and I'm surprised at the peace of mind I get from them! I also recently sold my laptop bag that had a sticker on it (new owners can register it to their own information); and the buyer loved the concept - I'm sure it helped to sell the bag!
@ThePersonalFinanceBlog - I'm not sure what the jury says about the iPad. Although it's a great concept, more readable than the Kindle (I guess), and is like a virtual bookshelf, I personally find that I'm so laden down with technological gadgets (and I don't have that many!) that another one to keep track of and protect on the road is becoming overwhelming to me.
@Robin - Given the variety of information and topics on PF blogs, I'm not sure that staying away will give you the desired effect! Then again, who knows - it depends on what types of articles you're drawn to. Let us know how you go!
@Rachel - I agree with rounding up all your expenses; it's always better to be safe than sorry. And good for you for setting up a spending system that ensures your account stays in the black.
@John - I agree: budgeting is really about establishing your cost of living, and learning to tweak it as necessary if you discover that you spend beyond your means. The article The First Step to Budgeting describes this process of tracking your expenses. From there, you can decide what's possible with the money you earn and the expenses you anticipate.
And I also wholeheartedly agree that "conscious spending" is what it's all about. Think - think hard - about that purchase before you insist that it's a necessity. More often than not there's a few different ways to achieve the same goals.
I travel just about weekly, and for Christmas I bought a laptop bag that's TSA approved. So, I don't have to take my laptop out of my bag when going through security. It's my absolute favorite travel accessory now. Along with my iPhone, of course.
And, yeah, nearly forgot...........I always put the flavouring substance in the still myself, but I use small stuff like lemon peel or juniper berries. I don't know what would happen with a lot of soft fruit pulp like strawberries and so on. Could settle to the bottom and scorch and ruin the flavour. Might be better to strain it out first.
I now own a home but I have rented in the past, and I've always gotten my full damage deposit back. The key is to make sure you do a walk-through with the landlord/apartment manager BEFORE moving in to document any little things that might be wrong (scratch in the paint, spot on the carpet, etc.). Keeping your place clean and, when you move out, REALLY cleaning it and making sure it's immaculate is also important. And be sure to keep records of anything that transpires while you're living there (if a repairman accidentally scratches something, if you've seen any insect problems, etc.).
I'll leave the technical stuff about the still to philip and zorcy. As for the flavouring, yes, add whatever it is you want after distilling it, let it sit for a week or two, and then distill it again.Some things obviously carry more of a flavour as they contain essential oils; juniper berries, anise, and so on. Probably the easiest and most reliable flavour is orange or lemon. Just grate the peel off an orange or lemon or two and add it to your moonshine for a few weeks and run it through again. The citrus oils come through first and make it taste like limoncella or lemon grappa. Have to admit, I haven't really experimented with soft fruits like strawberries or blueberries......
There are places in America where this is not part of a road test? Where this is not a necessary skill? For crying out loud, is Skill #2 is going to be "Wiping your own arse?"
I've spent my life making fun of tourists trying to park here in the Northeast - it never occurred to me that YOU ACTUALLY NEVER LEARNED HOW.
For the record, I grew up in a town with no sidewalks and had to drive into the city to learn to park. But I learned it.
I have a car loan that has another year on it until I am fully paid off. I filed for bankruptcy and it was discharged recently. I will be getting a bonus in a month that will allow me to pay off the remaining auto loan. Is it better to instead pay off every month which may help my credit score or simply pay it all off which will save me money in not having to pay interest?
I used this mixture many years ago, but I recall there was Epsom salt in the mix. Am I delusional, I do use ES once a year in granular form, but adding it to the mix sounds okay. Any thoughts? Nancy
I can tell you the government plays these games. If you make the right people angry, they will use these methods and more to build a FAKE case against you. I've seen them do it to coworkers.
Echoing Beth, in Ann Arbor they've set the parking rates so that street parking > lot parking > garage parking. The pricing is deliberate, because people prefer to park on the street over parking in a lot; they prefer parking in a lot over parking in a structure. By making the less desirable alternative cheaper, they hope to even out the demand. All the parking is public, so that might make a difference.
Second comment: your overhead photo with the red & silver cars must have been taken in England (or, I suppose, Australia). It's clearly a right-hand drive parking situation. Or parking on the "wrong side" of a one-way street?
aymen to that! People just dont know how to conserve these days. So damned waistful. My parents weren't poor but my dad didn't ever want to pay to get anything on the house fixed so my mom would save up her grocery money to do odd fixes around the house. But having grown up in the grocery business and being a child of immigrents she knew how to cook real food with real nutrition without buying a bunch of preprossessed junk with all the nasty chemicals in it and it was good gourmet tasting stuff that cost almost nothing. Practically everything was scratch. except cakes. lol Those were Betty Crocker for some reasn, but she did do her own icing. No "helper" just a cheap bag of egg noodles, and yes there was a can of bacon grease, and used vegi oil more than once for frying and cleaned it with potatoe peals in between, and there was always a big garden for tomatoes and other vegitables to can all summer. and yes the apple trees made wormy apples lol cut those suckers out. and squirl stew is great called it brundage stew, rabbit, and venison all with licences though.
I keep reading everywhere that the iPad won't make much of a splash in the business community. Does anyone think that it will be enough of a success to potentially be added to this list? I know I want one, but I'm not a exactly a "business traveler"
Try your local Mexican / Latin American grocer. They should be able to sell you a kilo of mate for $7 or so. As a bonus, it not only packs a serious caffeine wallop, but also contains our other two most favorite methylated xanthines, theobromine (think chocolate) and theophylline (think tea).
My boyfriend's Bangla parents were visiting and I decided I would impress them with my chai-making skills. I had several cans of loose leaf Tetley, but they assured me that the two boxes of PG Tips that they had brought with them on their cross-country trek from Maryland to Seattle would be a better bet, so I threw two bags into the half gallon or so of milk, water, and spices and... OMG, it was so bitter that no one could drink it.
The boxes are still sitting in my cupboard. I am officially terrified of PG Tips.
also... I make my own mayonnaise fresh when I want some for sandwiches or salad dressings. i never buy that stuff. and i can afford it. Its cheaper and tastes much better but you have to make small amounts to use it all up right away. Helps to have a big family. All you need is some ingenuity and an open mind and planning and possibly a library card where they have great cook books. Many of the farming communities have cookbooks that tell you how to make anything from pasta to bread to making tough cuts of meat or wild critters edible. A packet of seeds is a darn sight cheaper than 20 lbs. of carrots and 2 bushels of tomatoes. if you have a back yard and a neighbor that is willing to help share you can get a lot done to make your diet very healthy and enjoyable on very little money. Just takes mostly hard labor and thought and the right frame of mind. one that takes challenges and figures it out instead of looking to the government. our grandparents didn't get handouts because there was no such thing back then. we really do ourselves a big disservice to turn our noses up to the wisdom of the past. If you don’t use it to enrich your lives you are doomed to reinventing the wheel when you end up in hard times later on and will feel very lost and helpless and sorry for yourself instead of being flexible and finding joy in the little things that make life bearable. like having a few drops of bacon grease to flavor that boiled potato. :)or a bowl of lentils and home made vinaigrette. you can even make your own vinegar lol, again cheaper than store bought. life is a roller coaster and if we don’t pass the knowledge on to our children or accept what has been passed down to us by our elders, we through away the most critical part of their legacies to us. How to survive in style and our history or memories and experiences ... our family identities and roots. Roots make our lives mean more and food is a giant part of that .its not just physical food its emotional food too.
@GH and Rob Maguire
Good catch. I totally missed that even after complimenting Ms. Stewart on her calculation.
$0.10 USD / 45mg = $0.002/mg = 0.2 cents/mg
It would be far better to express the value in dollars per 100 grams, as this is the approximate amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee. For example, Toby's mate caffeine costs about $0.10/100mg to $0.04/100mg.
Handy tip:
Google will automatically do dimensional analysis for you.
http://www.google.com/search?q=0.10+USD/45mg+in+USD+per+mg
Wolfram|Alpha will calculate not only what you asked, but what you might have meant to ask, too.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=0.10+USD/45mg+in+USD+per+mg
rockstar, for example, has 160 or 240 mg of caffeine per can depending on the type. by these numbers, a can should cost $6 to $9... except they cost $2-3
try again
Good list, however some of those items can be combined (ie, many phones have built in GPS now) and I'd rather have less items than lug around too many!
@Nanette - congratulations on being our 100th commenter for this article! (smiles)
As for crediting this idea, it was suggested by a coach I worked with years ago. I don't know where she got the idea from either...I think it was an incantation of something she learned via the grapevine. So I can't take credit for the originality of it, but then again neither can I assign it!
Three years ago, we opened a business by getting an SBA loan from a bank. The loan was secured by a 2nd deed on the home. My husband unexpectently died in July '08, the business then tanked in 2009, in which I ended up filing bankruptcy in Sept. It was discharged in January '10.
The bankruptcy attorney said that I personally would no longer owe the remaining balance on the 2nd deed, however we did reinstate the first mortgage and I got to keep my car payments.
The home is valued at approx. $120K, the balance of the first mortgage is $100K, and the balance of the 2nd mortgage is $74K. So my manufactured home is really underwater.
The first mortgage was re-amortized from 15 to 30 years right after my husband died (because I couldn't afford the payments on the 15 year mortgage by myself), but they are expecting a balloon payment at 15 years.
I have a boyfriend who now lives with me, and with both our incomes we can afford to keep making payments on the house just fine. But I'm wondering if it will really be worth it in the long run...
Any thoughts??
@gt0163c - Thanks for your suggestions. Bang on....these would all make traveling (and exercising) much easier. And none of them take up too much room...another plus for business travel.
@OnTheRoadAgain - The need for a surge protector depends in part on where you're traveling; in developing countries it's especially advised. But if you use one at home...it never hurts on the road either. I've been caught in electrical storms before.
@Kate - I have some of these recovery program stickers, and I'm surprised at the peace of mind I get from them! I also recently sold my laptop bag that had a sticker on it (new owners can register it to their own information); and the buyer loved the concept - I'm sure it helped to sell the bag!
@ThePersonalFinanceBlog - I'm not sure what the jury says about the iPad. Although it's a great concept, more readable than the Kindle (I guess), and is like a virtual bookshelf, I personally find that I'm so laden down with technological gadgets (and I don't have that many!) that another one to keep track of and protect on the road is becoming overwhelming to me.
@Robin - Given the variety of information and topics on PF blogs, I'm not sure that staying away will give you the desired effect! Then again, who knows - it depends on what types of articles you're drawn to. Let us know how you go!
@Rachel - I agree with rounding up all your expenses; it's always better to be safe than sorry. And good for you for setting up a spending system that ensures your account stays in the black.
@John - I agree: budgeting is really about establishing your cost of living, and learning to tweak it as necessary if you discover that you spend beyond your means. The article The First Step to Budgeting describes this process of tracking your expenses. From there, you can decide what's possible with the money you earn and the expenses you anticipate.
And I also wholeheartedly agree that "conscious spending" is what it's all about. Think - think hard - about that purchase before you insist that it's a necessity. More often than not there's a few different ways to achieve the same goals.
I travel just about weekly, and for Christmas I bought a laptop bag that's TSA approved. So, I don't have to take my laptop out of my bag when going through security. It's my absolute favorite travel accessory now. Along with my iPhone, of course.
And, yeah, nearly forgot...........I always put the flavouring substance in the still myself, but I use small stuff like lemon peel or juniper berries. I don't know what would happen with a lot of soft fruit pulp like strawberries and so on. Could settle to the bottom and scorch and ruin the flavour. Might be better to strain it out first.
I now own a home but I have rented in the past, and I've always gotten my full damage deposit back. The key is to make sure you do a walk-through with the landlord/apartment manager BEFORE moving in to document any little things that might be wrong (scratch in the paint, spot on the carpet, etc.). Keeping your place clean and, when you move out, REALLY cleaning it and making sure it's immaculate is also important. And be sure to keep records of anything that transpires while you're living there (if a repairman accidentally scratches something, if you've seen any insect problems, etc.).
I'll leave the technical stuff about the still to philip and zorcy. As for the flavouring, yes, add whatever it is you want after distilling it, let it sit for a week or two, and then distill it again.Some things obviously carry more of a flavour as they contain essential oils; juniper berries, anise, and so on. Probably the easiest and most reliable flavour is orange or lemon. Just grate the peel off an orange or lemon or two and add it to your moonshine for a few weeks and run it through again. The citrus oils come through first and make it taste like limoncella or lemon grappa. Have to admit, I haven't really experimented with soft fruits like strawberries or blueberries......
There are places in America where this is not part of a road test? Where this is not a necessary skill? For crying out loud, is Skill #2 is going to be "Wiping your own arse?"
I've spent my life making fun of tourists trying to park here in the Northeast - it never occurred to me that YOU ACTUALLY NEVER LEARNED HOW.
For the record, I grew up in a town with no sidewalks and had to drive into the city to learn to park. But I learned it.
They must have learned their math from Verizon.
I have a car loan that has another year on it until I am fully paid off. I filed for bankruptcy and it was discharged recently. I will be getting a bonus in a month that will allow me to pay off the remaining auto loan. Is it better to instead pay off every month which may help my credit score or simply pay it all off which will save me money in not having to pay interest?
I used this mixture many years ago, but I recall there was Epsom salt in the mix. Am I delusional, I do use ES once a year in granular form, but adding it to the mix sounds okay. Any thoughts? Nancy
I can tell you the government plays these games. If you make the right people angry, they will use these methods and more to build a FAKE case against you. I've seen them do it to coworkers.
Echoing Beth, in Ann Arbor they've set the parking rates so that street parking > lot parking > garage parking. The pricing is deliberate, because people prefer to park on the street over parking in a lot; they prefer parking in a lot over parking in a structure. By making the less desirable alternative cheaper, they hope to even out the demand. All the parking is public, so that might make a difference.
Second comment: your overhead photo with the red & silver cars must have been taken in England (or, I suppose, Australia). It's clearly a right-hand drive parking situation. Or parking on the "wrong side" of a one-way street?
aymen to that! People just dont know how to conserve these days. So damned waistful. My parents weren't poor but my dad didn't ever want to pay to get anything on the house fixed so my mom would save up her grocery money to do odd fixes around the house. But having grown up in the grocery business and being a child of immigrents she knew how to cook real food with real nutrition without buying a bunch of preprossessed junk with all the nasty chemicals in it and it was good gourmet tasting stuff that cost almost nothing. Practically everything was scratch. except cakes. lol Those were Betty Crocker for some reasn, but she did do her own icing. No "helper" just a cheap bag of egg noodles, and yes there was a can of bacon grease, and used vegi oil more than once for frying and cleaned it with potatoe peals in between, and there was always a big garden for tomatoes and other vegitables to can all summer. and yes the apple trees made wormy apples lol cut those suckers out. and squirl stew is great called it brundage stew, rabbit, and venison all with licences though.
I keep reading everywhere that the iPad won't make much of a splash in the business community. Does anyone think that it will be enough of a success to potentially be added to this list? I know I want one, but I'm not a exactly a "business traveler"
I lived on a street where parallel parking was the only option. Needless to say, I developed my skills.
Try your local Mexican / Latin American grocer. They should be able to sell you a kilo of mate for $7 or so. As a bonus, it not only packs a serious caffeine wallop, but also contains our other two most favorite methylated xanthines, theobromine (think chocolate) and theophylline (think tea).
Does anyone know how to make my pioneer dv-120K or DV-220K region free?
Oh, and love this post, Sonja.
My boyfriend's Bangla parents were visiting and I decided I would impress them with my chai-making skills. I had several cans of loose leaf Tetley, but they assured me that the two boxes of PG Tips that they had brought with them on their cross-country trek from Maryland to Seattle would be a better bet, so I threw two bags into the half gallon or so of milk, water, and spices and... OMG, it was so bitter that no one could drink it.
The boxes are still sitting in my cupboard. I am officially terrified of PG Tips.
Long live Tetley!