I think there are a lot of factors that complicate the equation. Sometimes saving a penny "costs" you more than earning a penny: for example, if you spend an hour searching the internet to save $10 on piece of electronic gadgetry, you could have very likely theoretically done something in that time to earn more than $10. But in other ways, earning a penny to spend on something "costs" more than saving a penny by not spending that money: comparing working an extra hour to pay for some unnecessary piece of future landfill-fodder versus reining in consumption and just not buying it.
Ideally, you should enjoy earning the pennies you earn (find a way to get paid to do thinks you enjoy) and enjoy saving the pennies you save (focus on the savings opportunities that bring you more than just monetary benefits).
I always pick up pennies I see on the ground. I think its important to do the small things, but then I'm still in college, and have never had the chance to spend large amounts that I can make big changes in.
If we're literally talking about saving pennies, then we should forget about it. There are way too many penny pinchers who miss sight of the fact that the time spent saving money is much more valuable than the actual money saved.
A fun example is a person who drives 30 miles to save 10 cents a gallon in gasoline. Makes no sense, but you will see lines as long as day in the papers when a new gasoline holds this promotion.
Given we'll be experiencing massive inflation in the coming years due to government spending, we should upgrade the term to "Big Bucks Saved, Is Big Bucks Earned!" Now that should get folks motivated!
I am very conscious of my spending and sometimes I do want to blow money on silly things that are wasteful, but I always remember that there are bigger things to save for--vacations and retirement. Sure, I could go out to eat every day, but it would take that much longer to save up for all the vacations that I want to take and would take away from my retirement savings as well. I am having fun along the way (vacations), so I don't feel deprived or stressed when I choose not to spend money on frivolous things now.
I'd be checking the real estate market in my area for one property in particular -- it was on the market, then off, and then one Saturday, I logged on to redfin and saw it was back on -- and $40,000 cheaper.
We checked out the house the next day, put in an offer two days later, and got an agreement right away!
I think the saying is true, but everyone has to find the right balance of saving and earning. I tend to hoard money and have a hard time enjoying the money I spend on leisure purchases without feeling guilty, so for me a penny spent and enjoyed is also a penny earned.
Also, I take another interpretation from this saying: It's HARD to save money, but if you manage to save it, you've EARNED it.
Good tip on homemade dog food. In addition to the main course, you can also dry things like slices of sweet potato. They're a healthier substitute for rawhide chews, though they don't last nearly as long.
Of course, sweet potato chips taste good to humans too.
is that you are insular, self focused.. we (read: world) are all in this together. Thinking of 'just ones self' does no good, not only for the USA, but for everyone else.
That said, it's rather pathetic, the amount of the money that goes to your defense budget.. If they could take that and dedicated 1/2 to feeding and improving the world, just imagine what could be accomplished.
The Roman empire lasted 1000 years, I don't think the USA will last half that long..
I find franklymls.com to be much more accurate in my neighborhood. I bought my home recently, and it did not show up in redfin when I searched the address.
I was considering doing something similar with my vehicle here at home....driving around town with local advertising. The actual concept isn't new, look at race cars. This just takes it to another level.
I'm sorry that we don't have your past sale yet; we should definitely have it within a few weeks of the sale. If you email me at matt.goyer@redfin.com I'll look into why it isn't showing up.
We just got one (asked for as a birthday gift) for making our own dog food. We've been buying this very nice, but very expensive, pre-mix (it has grains and dried veggies then you add the meat) for doing home cooked dog food. Most of the ingredients in kibble are poor quality and sadly often tainted. We can make our own version of the pre-mix for about 1/3 the cost now that we have the dehydrator. With 3 dogs those savings will quickly add up, plus we'll use it to make some human food as well ;) We made apple rings the other day and they were delish.
I just watched the 30 minute version, and really enjoyed it. I requested the full-length DVD from my library. Thanks for the article and the review.
It is interesting reading the comments - I think they reflect one of the many, many reasons that the US government can't get spending under control: Nobody can agree on what should take priority, and what should or should not be cut. Instead of looking at the big picture and recognizing that sacrifices in ALL areas WILL be required, many people seem to be fine only with the cutbacks that they don't think will affect them.
As for the commenter talking about military spending - I think you missed the part of the movie about the total cost of Iraq only being 3% of our problem. I absolutely agree that the US needs to stop seeking conflicts, but I also fully support our troops. They didn't ask to go to a foreign country and put their lives on the line, and to leave them hanging out to dry by drastically cutting their spending would be a death sentence.
No, there are much bigger problems that are going to require sacrifice from all areas, and politicians who are willing to give instead of taking all the time.
I vote that one area that can be cut is the numerous perks available to Congress, such as their amazing, wonderful, full-benefit, tax-payer-funded, no-premium, life-long health care.
The only way that the US will stop living on a deficit at the federal level is if Congress passes a law saying they must have a balanced budget like each individual state does. The sad thing is, is the 2010 federal budget has 62% going to the military. We need to stop going to war other places and defend ourselves on our own land, and become more self dependent. If we keep going after terrorist in other countries, or fighting for oil, we will be at war forever.
When frozen veggies are on buy one-get one, we buy extra (more than our freezer can handle) and dehydrate the excess to use later in soups, casseroles and such. Saves storage space and properly packaged will last about a year. Same goes for fresh veggies. When celery or green peppers go on sale, we stock up and dehydrate. Saves on having to make a trip to the store to get that one ingredient we're missing as we usually have a dehydrated version around. The jerky is better than anything bought in a store and I'll take a couple pieces of dehydrated pineapple over candy any day. We've had our American Harvest for over 10 years and it's still going strong. If you're really serious about dehydrating, I'd suggest Mary Bell's book.
It’s a really informative (eye-opening) documentary about America's financial crisis. It starts with a general premise that many average American like us really don’t know about federal deficit and goes on explaining causes that lead to this trillions of dollar debt.
Keep in mind that deficit spending must occur during recessions and depressions unless we want the recessions and depressions to be more severe and protracted.
I agree that generally speaking deficits are bad, but now is not the time to be focusing on deficit reduction and paying down the national debt. It's unfortunately the time to drive it up more.
After being unemployed for the last two years (ouch!) I start my new job (at my old great employer, company named for a fruit :) next week and my husband and I have committed to paying off our debts within one year while bossting savings in 401k and IRA. After one year we will live on one salary and save/invest the rest. Since we were able to live off savings these last two years, very frugally, we should be able to live off one salary without much pain. It's been a very tough two years, a situation we NEVER would have imagined.
I vow to always have an emergency fund of one year's expenses going forward.
If surfing the web, watching youtube videos and checking emails is mostly what you use a computer for, I think Linux is the best way to get an old computer running faster. I like Mandriva with KDE (http://www.mandriva.com/en/download/free) and PC Linux OS (http://www.pclinuxos.com/). They both make a good replacement for a tired WinXP installation.
In fact, why not put Linux on a new machine? The trick is to find a machine that isn't pre-loaded with Windows. Dell offers some desktops and laptops pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux. Memory Express and NCIX both sell desktops without OS.
The MS software license is only the beginning of the savings. Linux doesn't need as much RAM as Windows Vista, or as powerful a CPU, or as much hard disk space. You won't need as much security & maintenance related software. And what you do need to keep Linux safe on the Internet, such as a firewall, is free. Plus, most Linux distributions, like Mandriva and PCLinuxOS, come pre-loaded with a free office suite and everyday applications (music player, video player, web browser, etc).
My intermediate accounting professor showed us the 30 minute video and I had thoroughly enjoyed it. Really made me understand how bad the America economy was. I could not believe what they said about the negative savings rate.
Wow! How did I miss this one? This post is right up my alley. Not that I have any extra time right now, but a neat money saving post, all the same. Thanks for the article.
I think there are a lot of factors that complicate the equation. Sometimes saving a penny "costs" you more than earning a penny: for example, if you spend an hour searching the internet to save $10 on piece of electronic gadgetry, you could have very likely theoretically done something in that time to earn more than $10. But in other ways, earning a penny to spend on something "costs" more than saving a penny by not spending that money: comparing working an extra hour to pay for some unnecessary piece of future landfill-fodder versus reining in consumption and just not buying it.
Ideally, you should enjoy earning the pennies you earn (find a way to get paid to do thinks you enjoy) and enjoy saving the pennies you save (focus on the savings opportunities that bring you more than just monetary benefits).
I always pick up pennies I see on the ground. I think its important to do the small things, but then I'm still in college, and have never had the chance to spend large amounts that I can make big changes in.
If we're literally talking about saving pennies, then we should forget about it. There are way too many penny pinchers who miss sight of the fact that the time spent saving money is much more valuable than the actual money saved.
A fun example is a person who drives 30 miles to save 10 cents a gallon in gasoline. Makes no sense, but you will see lines as long as day in the papers when a new gasoline holds this promotion.
Given we'll be experiencing massive inflation in the coming years due to government spending, we should upgrade the term to "Big Bucks Saved, Is Big Bucks Earned!" Now that should get folks motivated!
I am very conscious of my spending and sometimes I do want to blow money on silly things that are wasteful, but I always remember that there are bigger things to save for--vacations and retirement. Sure, I could go out to eat every day, but it would take that much longer to save up for all the vacations that I want to take and would take away from my retirement savings as well. I am having fun along the way (vacations), so I don't feel deprived or stressed when I choose not to spend money on frivolous things now.
I'd be checking the real estate market in my area for one property in particular -- it was on the market, then off, and then one Saturday, I logged on to redfin and saw it was back on -- and $40,000 cheaper.
We checked out the house the next day, put in an offer two days later, and got an agreement right away!
I think the saying is true, but everyone has to find the right balance of saving and earning. I tend to hoard money and have a hard time enjoying the money I spend on leisure purchases without feeling guilty, so for me a penny spent and enjoyed is also a penny earned.
Also, I take another interpretation from this saying: It's HARD to save money, but if you manage to save it, you've EARNED it.
Good tip on homemade dog food. In addition to the main course, you can also dry things like slices of sweet potato. They're a healthier substitute for rawhide chews, though they don't last nearly as long.
Of course, sweet potato chips taste good to humans too.
is that you are insular, self focused.. we (read: world) are all in this together. Thinking of 'just ones self' does no good, not only for the USA, but for everyone else.
That said, it's rather pathetic, the amount of the money that goes to your defense budget.. If they could take that and dedicated 1/2 to feeding and improving the world, just imagine what could be accomplished.
The Roman empire lasted 1000 years, I don't think the USA will last half that long..
I find franklymls.com to be much more accurate in my neighborhood. I bought my home recently, and it did not show up in redfin when I searched the address.
Wow this documentary is great!
I was considering doing something similar with my vehicle here at home....driving around town with local advertising. The actual concept isn't new, look at race cars. This just takes it to another level.
For those who are interested, here is a fairly recent interview with David Walker: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/28/AR200908...
He talks about the stimulus in this for a little bit.
Hi Lorenzo,
I'm sorry that we don't have your past sale yet; we should definitely have it within a few weeks of the sale. If you email me at matt.goyer@redfin.com I'll look into why it isn't showing up.
We just got one (asked for as a birthday gift) for making our own dog food. We've been buying this very nice, but very expensive, pre-mix (it has grains and dried veggies then you add the meat) for doing home cooked dog food. Most of the ingredients in kibble are poor quality and sadly often tainted. We can make our own version of the pre-mix for about 1/3 the cost now that we have the dehydrator. With 3 dogs those savings will quickly add up, plus we'll use it to make some human food as well ;) We made apple rings the other day and they were delish.
I just watched the 30 minute version, and really enjoyed it. I requested the full-length DVD from my library. Thanks for the article and the review.
It is interesting reading the comments - I think they reflect one of the many, many reasons that the US government can't get spending under control: Nobody can agree on what should take priority, and what should or should not be cut. Instead of looking at the big picture and recognizing that sacrifices in ALL areas WILL be required, many people seem to be fine only with the cutbacks that they don't think will affect them.
As for the commenter talking about military spending - I think you missed the part of the movie about the total cost of Iraq only being 3% of our problem. I absolutely agree that the US needs to stop seeking conflicts, but I also fully support our troops. They didn't ask to go to a foreign country and put their lives on the line, and to leave them hanging out to dry by drastically cutting their spending would be a death sentence.
No, there are much bigger problems that are going to require sacrifice from all areas, and politicians who are willing to give instead of taking all the time.
I vote that one area that can be cut is the numerous perks available to Congress, such as their amazing, wonderful, full-benefit, tax-payer-funded, no-premium, life-long health care.
However, NOT funny to all of you that this has happened to!! UGGGGGHHH!!! Sometimes you just get what you pay for!
The only way that the US will stop living on a deficit at the federal level is if Congress passes a law saying they must have a balanced budget like each individual state does. The sad thing is, is the 2010 federal budget has 62% going to the military. We need to stop going to war other places and defend ourselves on our own land, and become more self dependent. If we keep going after terrorist in other countries, or fighting for oil, we will be at war forever.
When frozen veggies are on buy one-get one, we buy extra (more than our freezer can handle) and dehydrate the excess to use later in soups, casseroles and such. Saves storage space and properly packaged will last about a year. Same goes for fresh veggies. When celery or green peppers go on sale, we stock up and dehydrate. Saves on having to make a trip to the store to get that one ingredient we're missing as we usually have a dehydrated version around. The jerky is better than anything bought in a store and I'll take a couple pieces of dehydrated pineapple over candy any day. We've had our American Harvest for over 10 years and it's still going strong. If you're really serious about dehydrating, I'd suggest Mary Bell's book.
It’s a really informative (eye-opening) documentary about America's financial crisis. It starts with a general premise that many average American like us really don’t know about federal deficit and goes on explaining causes that lead to this trillions of dollar debt.
Keep in mind that deficit spending must occur during recessions and depressions unless we want the recessions and depressions to be more severe and protracted.
I agree that generally speaking deficits are bad, but now is not the time to be focusing on deficit reduction and paying down the national debt. It's unfortunately the time to drive it up more.
After being unemployed for the last two years (ouch!) I start my new job (at my old great employer, company named for a fruit :) next week and my husband and I have committed to paying off our debts within one year while bossting savings in 401k and IRA. After one year we will live on one salary and save/invest the rest. Since we were able to live off savings these last two years, very frugally, we should be able to live off one salary without much pain. It's been a very tough two years, a situation we NEVER would have imagined.
I vow to always have an emergency fund of one year's expenses going forward.
If surfing the web, watching youtube videos and checking emails is mostly what you use a computer for, I think Linux is the best way to get an old computer running faster. I like Mandriva with KDE (http://www.mandriva.com/en/download/free) and PC Linux OS (http://www.pclinuxos.com/). They both make a good replacement for a tired WinXP installation.
In fact, why not put Linux on a new machine? The trick is to find a machine that isn't pre-loaded with Windows. Dell offers some desktops and laptops pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux. Memory Express and NCIX both sell desktops without OS.
The MS software license is only the beginning of the savings. Linux doesn't need as much RAM as Windows Vista, or as powerful a CPU, or as much hard disk space. You won't need as much security & maintenance related software. And what you do need to keep Linux safe on the Internet, such as a firewall, is free. Plus, most Linux distributions, like Mandriva and PCLinuxOS, come pre-loaded with a free office suite and everyday applications (music player, video player, web browser, etc).
RC
My intermediate accounting professor showed us the 30 minute video and I had thoroughly enjoyed it. Really made me understand how bad the America economy was. I could not believe what they said about the negative savings rate.
Wow! How did I miss this one? This post is right up my alley. Not that I have any extra time right now, but a neat money saving post, all the same. Thanks for the article.
Check out my various projects and services at Itinerant Tightwad. I also have a monthly education newsletter.
Nice site but it's not available for 90% of the country ... only for some of California and a very few big cities outside of the Golden State.
Totally useless to me in Vermont.