Oh, there's still plenty of personal responsibility out there. Both my wife and I work 50+ hours a week in managerial jobs at companies which have been chipping away at staffing -- but not workload -- for years. Raises? Hah. We are both over 50 and need to think seriously about what medical premiums and Social Security and the stock market will look like in another 10-15 years (at this rate, despite what we've saved so far, we'll be where we are now). My wife and I both drive small 9-year-old cars which were nothing special even when they were new. Our remaining home is median-priced for this area, in a decidedly-unfashionable zip code, and offers a whopping 1100 square feet of space (by the way, it was purchased with 20% down even though the lender did not require it). We shop only when we need something -- shopping is not a sport to us.We do not take fancy gold-card vacations; nor does either one of us have expensive hobbies.
The house in question was purchased by one of us 23 years ago. The mortgage was paid steadily and the house improved over that time. Yes, there was some home equity refinancing that added a bedroom and a second bathroom to the house and updated the tiny kitchen and the 80-year-old mechanicals. Nothing was platinum-plated and names like SubZero and Macy's were never seen in that house.
The house was on the market for more than a year, with price reduction after price reduction. Any equity we had hoped for vanished. It finally sold after more than a year and a half, and only because we convinced the lender that it was not going to sell given the market for that kind of house and given our efforts to date. By the way, if you want to talk about "smart money moves," they agreed to the sale, so they must know something. There remain almost 1500 properties in this city alone registered as vacant and I know of several which aren't on that list yet. The market is getting better slowly, but making two mortgage payments a month on top of other commitments was sucking us dry.
The CEO of Wells Fargo made 19 million dollars last year. So did the CEO of Bank of New York. Jamie Dimon over at JP Morgan Chase felt fairly compensated at about 21 million -- including stock options granted to him in 2009, when the roof fell in (pay for performance??!?). $50-70,000 lost in a short sale is a rounding error to people like that. Why ruin ourselves beyond our credit rating when there's retirement to save for and we'll need cash to buy anything else because our credit is shot? Is *that* smart?
No, we're not one of *those* people who bought at the top of the market on money we didn't have. It's not like we were spending money lavishly everywhere *but* the house. The decisions to buy and remodel took place long before the housing market became a casino. Call it a "mistake" or a "bad move" if it makes you feel better, but there was no malice intended and, in fact, we would much rather have sold into the good market than have to beg for a short sale.
Guest, tell you what. If *you* have the key to always making the right financial move -- the decision which you *guarantee* will be smart a couple of decades from now -- I urge you to quit whatever job you have and to share your gift with humanity. We certainly need more people who think like you do. Good luck.
I buy fresh foods vegatables fruit meat ect. My household drinks water milk and fresh fruit juice. Do extreme couponers live on noodles and frozen dinners. Im just asking because i never saw anything fresh.
Yes, I've done quite a few in the late 80's and mid 90's. I have to admit I did do it for the money. I wasn't working at the time and it helped me to survive. But the good part is I knew that I was helping medical science and life saving and quality of life drugs that eventually save and create a better quality of life for the sick have to be tested on someone at some point. I always had good experiences and made friends. It was nice to stop the "rat race" for awhile and be taken care of and fed. I haven't done any lately but if I were comfortable enough with one, yes I would do it again.
I certainly agree with #1. I know plenty of people that are in debt, from college loans, credit cards or car loans and they ask me "what should I invest in?". The first thing I always ask is the interest rate on their personal debt. They usually say between 4% and 8%. So, this means they would need to find an investment with a guaranteed return greater than 4-8% interest rate to make the investment worth it. This simply does not exist. Come back to me for investing advice when you do not have personal debt. It just doesn't pay for you to invest if you are paying interest greater than your investment could ever earn.
We eat out less than once a month. My 5 year old just found out who Ronald McDonald is. When she turned five a few weeks ago we decided on a free day, and she found out what a McDonald playland is. :) We may not eat healthy at home all the time, but we definitely do not need to eat out all the time.
These are interesting -- I was thinking sweet and salty (2 types) and hadn't though of sweet and salty in the same dish. Looking forward to trying some of these.
As a side note, my son came home from school and told me that he and his classmates were tossing out ideas for unusual food combos for an article on fair (that is county fair/carnival-type) food. He came up with chocolate-covered hot wings, and then found out he has to actually make them and bring them to school for the article. Too bad he didn't see your post before then.
Thanks for your comment -- as someone who battles with my internal critic, second guesses, etc. you make an excellent point. And you offer good advice -- to note it, correct, and move on.
I think if you can really start learning from mistakes you become removed from them a bit, and oddly, the mistakes (or fear of them) don't bother you quite so much. So, the ruthlessness, though painful at the moment when you do the analysis, doesn't paralyze you but moves you along. At least that's been my experience -- so that is counterintuitive in a sense.
I can't fathom doing #3! Our home is almost paid for - I could just see getting a mortgage, investing that money in the stock market and then watching a) Greece tank
b) home values continuing to decline or worse - both!
On a more positive note, I've heard young parents discussing what they pay baby sitters to sit and watch TV while their kids sleep. That's some serious money!
That is such a great idea of using greek yogurt in place of sour cream! I will have to give that a try, it will save me so many calories and fat. Thanks for sharing that tip!
Only comment I add is on being ruthless judging yourself. Don't do it the point where you are constantly 2nd guessing yourself you need to be able to react quickly these days. Recognize the mistake, note it, and try to correct it the future but don't dwell on it and freeze like a deer in the headlights.
I eat out maybe once a week, if not once every two weeks. It's hard to stay motivated to make my lunch for work every day, but I'm determined to not make my efforts to save money be in vain!
and I'm now officially following on Facebook, Yay for regular updates!
We eat out 2-3 times per week sometimes. Then we'll add up how much we have spent and how we could have better applied the money and the eating out will come to a screeching halt! I like you on FB!
The Marlow's
The article is interesting, but fails to take into account, the longer the house is listed, the more likely buyers are going to offer a lowball offer. The longer a house sits on a listing the more likely that the sellers will have to list for lower in the future to generate any interest. A listed home becomes a non-sale if it sits on the market too long. Also Real Estate agents, probably will list theire homes earlier, because they may have the experience and knowledge to plan their sale and move ahead of time, alot of people who list thier homes, purchase a new home and sell thier old home at the same time, theres the risk of double mortgages when you wait to long to sell your home.
In the last six months, my husband and I have cut down on how much we eat out. We eat out once a week. However, now that football season has started our eating out has increased. Go out on Saturday for college football and Sunday for the NFL.
Some of my best budget decor finds have come from clearance at Target -- including a room-filling, stylish wool rug for under $50, and the curtains for my newest apartment.
Does anybody have other suggestions for places to find good budget decor or appliances?
I LOVE the sweet-and-salty combination. The last couple of batches of brownies I've made, I've added coarse instead of fine salt, so you get these great bursts of saltiness when you're eating them. Mmmm.
Oh, there's still plenty of personal responsibility out there. Both my wife and I work 50+ hours a week in managerial jobs at companies which have been chipping away at staffing -- but not workload -- for years. Raises? Hah. We are both over 50 and need to think seriously about what medical premiums and Social Security and the stock market will look like in another 10-15 years (at this rate, despite what we've saved so far, we'll be where we are now). My wife and I both drive small 9-year-old cars which were nothing special even when they were new. Our remaining home is median-priced for this area, in a decidedly-unfashionable zip code, and offers a whopping 1100 square feet of space (by the way, it was purchased with 20% down even though the lender did not require it). We shop only when we need something -- shopping is not a sport to us.We do not take fancy gold-card vacations; nor does either one of us have expensive hobbies.
The house in question was purchased by one of us 23 years ago. The mortgage was paid steadily and the house improved over that time. Yes, there was some home equity refinancing that added a bedroom and a second bathroom to the house and updated the tiny kitchen and the 80-year-old mechanicals. Nothing was platinum-plated and names like SubZero and Macy's were never seen in that house.
The house was on the market for more than a year, with price reduction after price reduction. Any equity we had hoped for vanished. It finally sold after more than a year and a half, and only because we convinced the lender that it was not going to sell given the market for that kind of house and given our efforts to date. By the way, if you want to talk about "smart money moves," they agreed to the sale, so they must know something. There remain almost 1500 properties in this city alone registered as vacant and I know of several which aren't on that list yet. The market is getting better slowly, but making two mortgage payments a month on top of other commitments was sucking us dry.
The CEO of Wells Fargo made 19 million dollars last year. So did the CEO of Bank of New York. Jamie Dimon over at JP Morgan Chase felt fairly compensated at about 21 million -- including stock options granted to him in 2009, when the roof fell in (pay for performance??!?). $50-70,000 lost in a short sale is a rounding error to people like that. Why ruin ourselves beyond our credit rating when there's retirement to save for and we'll need cash to buy anything else because our credit is shot? Is *that* smart?
No, we're not one of *those* people who bought at the top of the market on money we didn't have. It's not like we were spending money lavishly everywhere *but* the house. The decisions to buy and remodel took place long before the housing market became a casino. Call it a "mistake" or a "bad move" if it makes you feel better, but there was no malice intended and, in fact, we would much rather have sold into the good market than have to beg for a short sale.
Guest, tell you what. If *you* have the key to always making the right financial move -- the decision which you *guarantee* will be smart a couple of decades from now -- I urge you to quit whatever job you have and to share your gift with humanity. We certainly need more people who think like you do. Good luck.
I buy fresh foods vegatables fruit meat ect. My household drinks water milk and fresh fruit juice. Do extreme couponers live on noodles and frozen dinners. Im just asking because i never saw anything fresh.
Yes, I've done quite a few in the late 80's and mid 90's. I have to admit I did do it for the money. I wasn't working at the time and it helped me to survive. But the good part is I knew that I was helping medical science and life saving and quality of life drugs that eventually save and create a better quality of life for the sick have to be tested on someone at some point. I always had good experiences and made friends. It was nice to stop the "rat race" for awhile and be taken care of and fed. I haven't done any lately but if I were comfortable enough with one, yes I would do it again.
I certainly agree with #1. I know plenty of people that are in debt, from college loans, credit cards or car loans and they ask me "what should I invest in?". The first thing I always ask is the interest rate on their personal debt. They usually say between 4% and 8%. So, this means they would need to find an investment with a guaranteed return greater than 4-8% interest rate to make the investment worth it. This simply does not exist. Come back to me for investing advice when you do not have personal debt. It just doesn't pay for you to invest if you are paying interest greater than your investment could ever earn.
I eat out about twice a month. Drinking water is a good way to save money in restaurants.
I hardly ever eat dinner out unless it is for a special occasion, and try to only buy lunch 1-2 times per week
My husband and I go out to dinner about twice a week. We are tring to cut that down to about once a week!
We eat out less than once a month. My 5 year old just found out who Ronald McDonald is. When she turned five a few weeks ago we decided on a free day, and she found out what a McDonald playland is. :) We may not eat healthy at home all the time, but we definitely do not need to eat out all the time.
I like (Love) your facebook page!
While most salty sweet combos are delicious, I'm not sure I can advocate chocolate-covered hot wings. Good luck with those. :)
These are interesting -- I was thinking sweet and salty (2 types) and hadn't though of sweet and salty in the same dish. Looking forward to trying some of these.
As a side note, my son came home from school and told me that he and his classmates were tossing out ideas for unusual food combos for an article on fair (that is county fair/carnival-type) food. He came up with chocolate-covered hot wings, and then found out he has to actually make them and bring them to school for the article. Too bad he didn't see your post before then.
Thanks for your comment -- as someone who battles with my internal critic, second guesses, etc. you make an excellent point. And you offer good advice -- to note it, correct, and move on.
I think if you can really start learning from mistakes you become removed from them a bit, and oddly, the mistakes (or fear of them) don't bother you quite so much. So, the ruthlessness, though painful at the moment when you do the analysis, doesn't paralyze you but moves you along. At least that's been my experience -- so that is counterintuitive in a sense.
I can't fathom doing #3! Our home is almost paid for - I could just see getting a mortgage, investing that money in the stock market and then watching a) Greece tank
b) home values continuing to decline or worse - both!
On a more positive note, I've heard young parents discussing what they pay baby sitters to sit and watch TV while their kids sleep. That's some serious money!
About 2 times per week.
That is such a great idea of using greek yogurt in place of sour cream! I will have to give that a try, it will save me so many calories and fat. Thanks for sharing that tip!
i am camping in the Northeast right now and intend on going all over this list along with epicures is very helpful. thanks for all your work!
Only comment I add is on being ruthless judging yourself. Don't do it the point where you are constantly 2nd guessing yourself you need to be able to react quickly these days. Recognize the mistake, note it, and try to correct it the future but don't dwell on it and freeze like a deer in the headlights.
I eat out maybe once a week, if not once every two weeks. It's hard to stay motivated to make my lunch for work every day, but I'm determined to not make my efforts to save money be in vain!
and I'm now officially following on Facebook, Yay for regular updates!
We eat out 2-3 times per week sometimes. Then we'll add up how much we have spent and how we could have better applied the money and the eating out will come to a screeching halt! I like you on FB!
The Marlow's
The article is interesting, but fails to take into account, the longer the house is listed, the more likely buyers are going to offer a lowball offer. The longer a house sits on a listing the more likely that the sellers will have to list for lower in the future to generate any interest. A listed home becomes a non-sale if it sits on the market too long. Also Real Estate agents, probably will list theire homes earlier, because they may have the experience and knowledge to plan their sale and move ahead of time, alot of people who list thier homes, purchase a new home and sell thier old home at the same time, theres the risk of double mortgages when you wait to long to sell your home.
In the last six months, my husband and I have cut down on how much we eat out. We eat out once a week. However, now that football season has started our eating out has increased. Go out on Saturday for college football and Sunday for the NFL.
Some of my best budget decor finds have come from clearance at Target -- including a room-filling, stylish wool rug for under $50, and the curtains for my newest apartment.
Does anybody have other suggestions for places to find good budget decor or appliances?
Afraid not. B.O. would give it to his golfing buddies.
Dont eat out much, usually an event such as a birthday or fathers day. Not much to choose from in small towns.
I LOVE the sweet-and-salty combination. The last couple of batches of brownies I've made, I've added coarse instead of fine salt, so you get these great bursts of saltiness when you're eating them. Mmmm.