You bring up great points on why email pitches fail or are failing. I too delete or mark as spam most emails that I suspect as advertisement. I guess I would not be a prime candidate to target regardless of the advertisement. Additionally, I believe in today's Internet environment riddled with malicious threats such as spyware, rootlets, trojans and hijacking software I am always suspicious and certainly apprehensive to ever open emails from anyone I do not know … how can email marketers contend with such a reputation of growing dangers of malware and such?
Santa Barbara is a joke, right? My mom grew up there and inherited a vacant 1/2 acre lot. The going rate for that empty piece of ground is around $1 million. I guess she could retire there and live in a tent.
We already got our refund, and we used about half of it to pay off some hospital bills that were making us miserable. My husband really wanted to "blow" the rest of it on "fun stuff", but I insisted that we were going to put the rest of it into savings. Two days later, his car needed $1000.00 in repairs!
Easy come, easy go, I guess, LOL--I'm just glad the money was there, because it would have wiped out our savings completely if we hadn't had that tax refund.
I live in Los Angeles. There is no way I'd be able to retire in Santa Barbara. Don't get me wrong--we love it there, and would move there in a heartbeat. But property values are really high.
I use my tax refund for a couple of annual bills I have, such as my life insurance premium and our summer pool pass. The rest generally gets split between buffering our HSA fund for our high deductible plan and our vacation fund for the year.
I don't know when these so called "$20. grocery list" were made? Not in Texas unless around 1970 maybe. Try $40.-$50. at least for these simple inexpensive lists here. Even at the cheaper stores,...especially
Just to be clear: organic food is worse for the environment. The whole reason why farmers use pesticides and GMOs is to get higher crop yields per acre. When you farm otherwise, you use more land to get the same amount of food. Not only is using up more farmland wasteful, but more lands means more pollution. It takes fossil-fuels to work land, and using up farmland infringes on natural ecosystems.
I will save most of it for gifts & home repair expenses during the coming year. My only debt is the mortgage and I have an emergency fund. Anything left at the end of the year will be invested.
As a parent, I can honestly say I struggle with number 4. It's so easy to pick up the phone and check an email or respond to a text at any given moment but sometimes you just have to unplug.
I love reading all of the responses - nice to see so many savers and Greg made me laugh :) My husband and I split our tax refund and he uses his portion to pay off student loans and I use my portion to invest in retirement funds. Our refund is not too much (which is good!) but it's still a little more for the future!
As a financial advisor, selling no financial products, I advised my clients to avoid getting a refund, for reason as quoted here.
No refund for me.
On just under Cdn$50K income, I pay almost no tax, as I develop tax-advantaged income from investments, and give something like 20 - 25% of income to charities and churches ... result is usually about zero tax to pay (usually have some credits to carry to next year - or after death, as I'm well over 80)
Such a small refund this year that I'm rolling it over to pay my 2015 estimated tax payments. (I am self-employed and so must make quarterly payments).
It's getting harder & harder to find good socks. Seems like there is a contest among manufacturers to make the cheapest sock. My fav one changed in wgu laity 2 yrs ago & I have yet to find one that fits & lasts more then a handle full of months.
Amen! My ankle is messed up due to cheap shoes ( that I thought were cute). 100's of dollars in dr appts to save $30. Bad choice on my part. For those wondering how? Shoe literally fell apart while I was navigating through snow from my car on the street to the shoveled path on the sidewalk. It didn't register what was going wrong until it was too late to catch myself. Ruined slacks, severely scraped knee & hand, shin on other leg well bruised & ankle solidly wrenched.
Now I only get new more practical footwear & save pretty 'n cute for weekends.
I don't even own a cast iron skillet but now I'm re-thinking that. I always heard they were hard to maintain to keep them from getting rusty, but these recipes sound far too good to pass up. I never would have thought you could bake in one (as with the cookie) because I thought all cookies needed a thin cookie sheet. I suppose I need to re-think my old fashioned ideals about cookware.
it does really work but you dont use a sander lol its a dremal for better control your bodys not a piece of wood and he left out that you have to pack salt into the tattoo to draw the ink out
Perhaps it's not the most fashionable way to approach shoe buying but I've found several brands, sizes, and styles that work for my troubled feet and just buy them when they are on sale. Sometimes even in advance of immediate need. Since my favorite colors haven't changed in years, the shoes always work. My husband has a short wide foot with a very high arch. Also difficult to fit. He's finally realized it is well worth it to buy a pair of Ecco shoes on sale that last for years than to drop $40 on a cheapie ill fitting pair that falls apart in a few months.
The beauty of buying used wooden furniture is you can still get good quality solid stuff for less than particleboard. Old English furniture polish has been my go to remedy for the occasional ding. We have a plethora of used furniture places in our area, so have great options. And I love the idea each piece has a story to tell. Like you, we purchased a large new particleboard piece. It's useful, but structurally not too great. And I regret it.
I haven't found out yet what, if anything, my refund will be. But regardless of the amount, it will go into savings. Property taxes and a new car took a combined ~$28k chunk out of my savings a couple months ago, so I need to replenish that.
Thanks for the CORRECTION! ;-)
If I get one, I will put it into an investment account.
santa Barbara affordable? Not on this planet
Hi Lynn,
You bring up great points on why email pitches fail or are failing. I too delete or mark as spam most emails that I suspect as advertisement. I guess I would not be a prime candidate to target regardless of the advertisement. Additionally, I believe in today's Internet environment riddled with malicious threats such as spyware, rootlets, trojans and hijacking software I am always suspicious and certainly apprehensive to ever open emails from anyone I do not know … how can email marketers contend with such a reputation of growing dangers of malware and such?
~Frank
Santa Barbara is a joke, right? My mom grew up there and inherited a vacant 1/2 acre lot. The going rate for that empty piece of ground is around $1 million. I guess she could retire there and live in a tent.
We already got our refund, and we used about half of it to pay off some hospital bills that were making us miserable. My husband really wanted to "blow" the rest of it on "fun stuff", but I insisted that we were going to put the rest of it into savings. Two days later, his car needed $1000.00 in repairs!
Easy come, easy go, I guess, LOL--I'm just glad the money was there, because it would have wiped out our savings completely if we hadn't had that tax refund.
I live in Los Angeles. There is no way I'd be able to retire in Santa Barbara. Don't get me wrong--we love it there, and would move there in a heartbeat. But property values are really high.
I use my tax refund for a couple of annual bills I have, such as my life insurance premium and our summer pool pass. The rest generally gets split between buffering our HSA fund for our high deductible plan and our vacation fund for the year.
OMG!! I found an original copy of thriller at a thrift store a couple of years ago! I grabbed it up fast too!
I don't know when these so called "$20. grocery list" were made? Not in Texas unless around 1970 maybe. Try $40.-$50. at least for these simple inexpensive lists here. Even at the cheaper stores,...especially
Just to be clear: organic food is worse for the environment. The whole reason why farmers use pesticides and GMOs is to get higher crop yields per acre. When you farm otherwise, you use more land to get the same amount of food. Not only is using up more farmland wasteful, but more lands means more pollution. It takes fossil-fuels to work land, and using up farmland infringes on natural ecosystems.
I will save most of it for gifts & home repair expenses during the coming year. My only debt is the mortgage and I have an emergency fund. Anything left at the end of the year will be invested.
As a parent, I can honestly say I struggle with number 4. It's so easy to pick up the phone and check an email or respond to a text at any given moment but sometimes you just have to unplug.
I love reading all of the responses - nice to see so many savers and Greg made me laugh :) My husband and I split our tax refund and he uses his portion to pay off student loans and I use my portion to invest in retirement funds. Our refund is not too much (which is good!) but it's still a little more for the future!
As a financial advisor, selling no financial products, I advised my clients to avoid getting a refund, for reason as quoted here.
No refund for me.
On just under Cdn$50K income, I pay almost no tax, as I develop tax-advantaged income from investments, and give something like 20 - 25% of income to charities and churches ... result is usually about zero tax to pay (usually have some credits to carry to next year - or after death, as I'm well over 80)
Such a small refund this year that I'm rolling it over to pay my 2015 estimated tax payments. (I am self-employed and so must make quarterly payments).
We'll be looking for a house this year, so we'll add it to the down payment fund.
It's getting harder & harder to find good socks. Seems like there is a contest among manufacturers to make the cheapest sock. My fav one changed in wgu laity 2 yrs ago & I have yet to find one that fits & lasts more then a handle full of months.
Amen! My ankle is messed up due to cheap shoes ( that I thought were cute). 100's of dollars in dr appts to save $30. Bad choice on my part. For those wondering how? Shoe literally fell apart while I was navigating through snow from my car on the street to the shoveled path on the sidewalk. It didn't register what was going wrong until it was too late to catch myself. Ruined slacks, severely scraped knee & hand, shin on other leg well bruised & ankle solidly wrenched.
Now I only get new more practical footwear & save pretty 'n cute for weekends.
I don't even own a cast iron skillet but now I'm re-thinking that. I always heard they were hard to maintain to keep them from getting rusty, but these recipes sound far too good to pass up. I never would have thought you could bake in one (as with the cookie) because I thought all cookies needed a thin cookie sheet. I suppose I need to re-think my old fashioned ideals about cookware.
it does really work but you dont use a sander lol its a dremal for better control your bodys not a piece of wood and he left out that you have to pack salt into the tattoo to draw the ink out
Perhaps it's not the most fashionable way to approach shoe buying but I've found several brands, sizes, and styles that work for my troubled feet and just buy them when they are on sale. Sometimes even in advance of immediate need. Since my favorite colors haven't changed in years, the shoes always work. My husband has a short wide foot with a very high arch. Also difficult to fit. He's finally realized it is well worth it to buy a pair of Ecco shoes on sale that last for years than to drop $40 on a cheapie ill fitting pair that falls apart in a few months.
The beauty of buying used wooden furniture is you can still get good quality solid stuff for less than particleboard. Old English furniture polish has been my go to remedy for the occasional ding. We have a plethora of used furniture places in our area, so have great options. And I love the idea each piece has a story to tell. Like you, we purchased a large new particleboard piece. It's useful, but structurally not too great. And I regret it.
I haven't found out yet what, if anything, my refund will be. But regardless of the amount, it will go into savings. Property taxes and a new car took a combined ~$28k chunk out of my savings a couple months ago, so I need to replenish that.
Like 90% of that is junk food. I ate like that in the 5th grade.
Using it to save up for a used Toyota Prius.