The 80th anniversary of the Big Crash is approaching. The same behaviors (leveraged investing and the selling of a bill of goods) that led us down THAT slippery slope then, are alive and well today. Myself included, when are we gonna learn? I'm reminded of an agrarian society that managed to keep their families fed during times of feast or famine. Bumper crops were blessed, then stockpiled, because they new a famine was coming. Have I done that? Have you? I think maybe I'm one of a dying breed. Do I practice what I preach? Nope. Some days, the best I can do is to acknowledge that the lesson even exists. When am I gonna learn? This whole thing is about something much bigger than the haves and have-nots. It's about personal responsibility. I know that ticks people off. It ticks me off. When I point a finger, there are three more pointing back at me.
To make extra money, I make cross necklaces to sell, write articles, affiliate marketing and I have a website. When your creative you can find ways to make that extra money.
I think with the economy being so bad, many people are scrambling to find any way to make money. I make extra money selling cross necklaces, writing articles and being an affiliate.
Here are some of the articles I've wrote for extra money and more information on the necklaces.
@Guest (#8) - I'm not sure I understand your question...anybody from anywhere can be location independent. That's the beauty of it! It shouldn't matter where you live or choose to work - you can make a living with an internet connection (or other technology).
I am loving this but what is out there for international persons....? do u have any idea what can be got by an outsider looking in and wanting to work on his/her own. thanks
This sounds like a really good book. This is something that I have recently decided to implement into my life by focusing on one habit to change every 30 days or so. Thanks for the book recommendation!
If you people don't knock it off. I think most of you people are all on drugs, acting way to paranoid. What about the little guy who cant get an account...
Coffee has been shown to be useful in helping prevent diabetes, but is less clearly useful once you have diabetes. Clearly, your own results should guide your conclusions here.
@Guest (#9) - That is the next step to this strategy, and a great one at that! All it requires is the discipline to not over-spend the slush fund monies, and/or to keep an eye on your bank account to ensure there are always enough funds in it to satisfy your obligations. Cheers!
I would not suggest building and placing an illegal production still in the woods. These ideas are all just theory. Making anything large would draw attention and take away from the art some of us are hoping for. Enough said...
A still requires supplies and constant attention. Even though you 'could' do that, you may not want to. As far as the mash, the temp is great. It should kick of pretty fast, as long as the water was not too cold. If you are thinking of making a large still for the woods, experiment first. Make some small stills and test them. For moonshine, it traditionally has a lot of carry over from the still. It's not stripped down to pure alcohol. A column may not be best for that, but the speed it works will help you work and get out of there pretty fast. When talking about a still and the yeast, remember, they are not done in the same container. The yeast that falls out would taste funny if it was heated in the still. You could take a 55 gallon plastic barrel, like they use for pickles or olives, and place in the woods to ferment. You could bring a small still out to the site the day you want to use it. If anyone saw the barrel in the woods, you can bet some feds will be watching it for you to show up. Just thinking out loud.
Do not use it instead of Jet Dry! I tried it, and it worked well for several months, until I noticed that it was stripping the finish off my dishes. It quickly removed all the designs from plastic cups and glasses, which I didn't mind so much. However, now all of my Pfaltfzgraff plates and bowls are ruined because it stripped the glaze off them. They are now chalky and soak up liquid.
Conquering clutter -- (comment #7) -- take photos of kids artwork to preserve memories but then toss the original (there are a few things I like to keep but you can't keep everything)
What about automating both retirement saving AND the slush fund? The key is that the slush fund is a dual-function account (it is sometimes a spending account and sometimes a savings account as opposed to being just one or the other).
For example, you might always (or automatically) divert 10% of all income into a retirement savings account and an additional 10% into the bank account where you have decided to keep your slush fund. On high income months, the slush fund goes untapped. When low income months hit, you either transfer the necessary funds to your spending account or spend out of the slush fund account (depending upon what works for you). The 10% still goes into the slush account, but it (or it and more) will sometimes be used that month.
What I love about the "decide later" pile is that when I come back across it a year (or years) later, I can go through what seemed agonizing at the time quite quickly (most of it goes).
A method I want to try is the two-box method. Put your "decide later"s into box #1. When that fills up, a lid on it (or tuck the flaps), date and label it, put it on a high shelf, and start filling box #2. When box #2 is full, do not, I repeat, do not start a new box.
Instead, retrieve box #1 and chuck (or put away) as much as you can. Then start filling it with new "decide later"s.
If box #1 is still full after you've gone through it, then the issue is not deciding -- it's either putting things away or hoarding.
I like to saute my "edgy" celery in butter with onions & freeze into ice cubes for future use. Can also do this with green peppers.
Odds & ends of fresh squeezed lemon juice are also frozen into cubes.
Periodically, I take a vegetable peeler to a lemon, lime, or orange before juicing & keep a baggie of zest in the freezer (much better than those crusty little jars of dried peel!). At cook time, I either mince it in its frozen state with my chef's knife or toss it in the food processor with other ingredients.
Cubes of frozen pesto or broth are also wonderful to have on hand.
I've also had good success with freezing pitted Kalamata olives.
I have a company of my own, it's a kind of small business. So I need to find a way to reduce the costs as much as possible, of course at the same time, I need to have someone do things efficiently. Therefore, I choose to hire a VA.
I quite agree with author about the point 7 : India isn't your only option!
I like BPOVIA (www.bpovia.com). I have a long-term relationships with them. And they are very professional. To your surprise, their price is not high at all. They know what exactly I want, they help me both at work and in daily life. Sometimes they can provide me some fresh ideas. They really do great help to my business!
Another big batch favorite when I'm stocking up for my father is poached turkey breast (inspiration from a Better Homes & Gardens or Family Circle article years ago).
I'll poach a large turkey breast in water and a can of chicken broth, plus onion, carrot, a bay leaf, and poultry spices (this takes about an hour and 15 minutes). Add sides & that's dinner with lots of leftover broth & meat. When visiting dad, broth is used for other dishes over the week (at home, it's usually frozen). The meat can be used for sandwiches and/or made into casseroles. The article suggested turkey tetrazzini (with mushrooms, red or green peppers, spaghetti, and parmesan) and turkey pot pie for additional meals.
Check back issues of the Thanksgiving issues of women's magazines in your local library for more leftover turkey inspiration.
Another freezer favorite for us is berries. I have favorite ways of preserving each of the berries, though:
- strawberries, sliced, sugared, let set a bit to bring up the juices, then frozen
- black raspberries, cooked into corn muffins, then frozen (or used to flavor balsamic or rice wine vinegar & not frozen -- another story)
- blueberries, frozen whole on a cookie sheet, then zipped into freezer bags (to be munched by the handful or stirred into yogurt)
- blackberries, baked into my stepmother's buttery blackberry spice cake recipe, which is iced with caramel frosting (used to be Jiffy!) after defrosting
- red raspberries, made into freezer jam with a lower-sugar pectin (I miss sure-jel lite!)
Having thereby maximized the return on my picking & preserving time for each berry in its season, I then buy several bags of commercially frozen berries for smoothies (adding bananas to my freezer stock when they appear on the discounted produce cart).
I don't have a good source of mulberries at present, but wondered if anyone has a favorite use for them.
CT is considering raising taxes on businesses to help the state raise funds lost by the poor economy.
Okay, so businesses save money by using overseas labor (and we're not taking American labor here because that costs more, even through these outsourcing units). Then they're going to have to pay more in taxes to cover the unemployed they think are too expensive to hire.
Where did they win?
Sorry, but use of non-American labor, at this particular point in time, is Anti-American.
I'm like the doubler -- I find that if I multiply a recipe so that it will feed our household of three adults and a preschooler 4 times, we get 6 freezer meals out of 2 dinners, and it doesn't require gobs more effort than making those two dinners. I can do this casually during the month and the food rotates -- I don't feel "locked in" to a decision made weeks ago.
On hamburger, I brown the beef with onions and green peppers (which we like) and maybe some italian-type seasoning. I then use it as the basis for:
- chili (plus tomatoes, beans, cumin, & chili pepper)
- spaghetti (plus tomatoes, pasta, & cheese)
- picadillo (plus tomatoes & green olives, served over cheesy cornmeal)
As you can tell, stewed tomatoes on sale are a major pantry staple for us.
When I'm freezing food for my 85 year old father at his farm in the boonies, I make the whole dish, including its complementary starch, and freeze it as a complete meal (I mix together the pasta, meat, and cheese before freezing). (Actually, I cook the meat mixture & make one of the three dishes for our dinner on one night, refrigerating the rest of the meat mixture for the next day; then sometime during the next day I make the other two dishes & freeze them).
At home, I just freeze the meat, onions, peppers (I substitute red ones when I can get them cheap), and seasonings as a meal starter. With a garden and gourmet markets accessible, all sorts of other interesting things can make their way into the pan when dinner is on -- kalamata olives or wine in the spaghetti, cilantro leaves or berries (coriander!) in the chili . . .
I hate the decide later pile...later never comes...lol
What type of businesses would profit the most from this? Good idea!
The 80th anniversary of the Big Crash is approaching. The same behaviors (leveraged investing and the selling of a bill of goods) that led us down THAT slippery slope then, are alive and well today. Myself included, when are we gonna learn? I'm reminded of an agrarian society that managed to keep their families fed during times of feast or famine. Bumper crops were blessed, then stockpiled, because they new a famine was coming. Have I done that? Have you? I think maybe I'm one of a dying breed. Do I practice what I preach? Nope. Some days, the best I can do is to acknowledge that the lesson even exists. When am I gonna learn? This whole thing is about something much bigger than the haves and have-nots. It's about personal responsibility. I know that ticks people off. It ticks me off. When I point a finger, there are three more pointing back at me.
Great article! Do you know of any checking rewards accounts aith a credit union or bank in canada?
To make extra money, I make cross necklaces to sell, write articles, affiliate marketing and I have a website. When your creative you can find ways to make that extra money.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Making-cross-necklaces-can-make-a-profit
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-make-money-and-work-at-home
I make necklaces for extra money and I'm doing pretty good. I also write articles, have a website and am an affiliate. Anything to help pay the bills.
Here are my articles
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-make-money-and-work-at-home
http://hubpages.com/hub/Choosing-a-Pet-for-a-Toddler-Hermit-Crab
http://hubpages.com/hub/Making-cross-necklaces-can-make-a-profit
I think with the economy being so bad, many people are scrambling to find any way to make money. I make extra money selling cross necklaces, writing articles and being an affiliate.
Here are some of the articles I've wrote for extra money and more information on the necklaces.
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-make-money-and-work-at-home
http://hubpages.com/hub/Buying-a-Used-Car-with-Confidence
http://hubpages.com/hub/Making-cross-necklaces-can-make-a-profit
"Poor and Peace."
We are making 2/3 what we did a few years ago, but we're coming to terms with it and in many ways are happier as a family.
@Guest (#8) - I'm not sure I understand your question...anybody from anywhere can be location independent. That's the beauty of it! It shouldn't matter where you live or choose to work - you can make a living with an internet connection (or other technology).
I am loving this but what is out there for international persons....? do u have any idea what can be got by an outsider looking in and wanting to work on his/her own. thanks
This sounds like a really good book. This is something that I have recently decided to implement into my life by focusing on one habit to change every 30 days or so. Thanks for the book recommendation!
If you people don't knock it off. I think most of you people are all on drugs, acting way to paranoid. What about the little guy who cant get an account...
Coffee has been shown to be useful in helping prevent diabetes, but is less clearly useful once you have diabetes. Clearly, your own results should guide your conclusions here.
@Guest (#9) - That is the next step to this strategy, and a great one at that! All it requires is the discipline to not over-spend the slush fund monies, and/or to keep an eye on your bank account to ensure there are always enough funds in it to satisfy your obligations. Cheers!
I would not suggest building and placing an illegal production still in the woods. These ideas are all just theory. Making anything large would draw attention and take away from the art some of us are hoping for. Enough said...
A still requires supplies and constant attention. Even though you 'could' do that, you may not want to. As far as the mash, the temp is great. It should kick of pretty fast, as long as the water was not too cold. If you are thinking of making a large still for the woods, experiment first. Make some small stills and test them. For moonshine, it traditionally has a lot of carry over from the still. It's not stripped down to pure alcohol. A column may not be best for that, but the speed it works will help you work and get out of there pretty fast. When talking about a still and the yeast, remember, they are not done in the same container. The yeast that falls out would taste funny if it was heated in the still. You could take a 55 gallon plastic barrel, like they use for pickles or olives, and place in the woods to ferment. You could bring a small still out to the site the day you want to use it. If anyone saw the barrel in the woods, you can bet some feds will be watching it for you to show up. Just thinking out loud.
Do not use it instead of Jet Dry! I tried it, and it worked well for several months, until I noticed that it was stripping the finish off my dishes. It quickly removed all the designs from plastic cups and glasses, which I didn't mind so much. However, now all of my Pfaltfzgraff plates and bowls are ruined because it stripped the glaze off them. They are now chalky and soak up liquid.
Thanks everyone for your ideas! A couple of great uses I meant to mention before:
Making passport photos
Conquering clutter -- (comment #7) -- take photos of kids artwork to preserve memories but then toss the original (there are a few things I like to keep but you can't keep everything)
What about automating both retirement saving AND the slush fund? The key is that the slush fund is a dual-function account (it is sometimes a spending account and sometimes a savings account as opposed to being just one or the other).
For example, you might always (or automatically) divert 10% of all income into a retirement savings account and an additional 10% into the bank account where you have decided to keep your slush fund. On high income months, the slush fund goes untapped. When low income months hit, you either transfer the necessary funds to your spending account or spend out of the slush fund account (depending upon what works for you). The 10% still goes into the slush account, but it (or it and more) will sometimes be used that month.
What I love about the "decide later" pile is that when I come back across it a year (or years) later, I can go through what seemed agonizing at the time quite quickly (most of it goes).
A method I want to try is the two-box method. Put your "decide later"s into box #1. When that fills up, a lid on it (or tuck the flaps), date and label it, put it on a high shelf, and start filling box #2. When box #2 is full, do not, I repeat, do not start a new box.
Instead, retrieve box #1 and chuck (or put away) as much as you can. Then start filling it with new "decide later"s.
If box #1 is still full after you've gone through it, then the issue is not deciding -- it's either putting things away or hoarding.
I like to saute my "edgy" celery in butter with onions & freeze into ice cubes for future use. Can also do this with green peppers.
Odds & ends of fresh squeezed lemon juice are also frozen into cubes.
Periodically, I take a vegetable peeler to a lemon, lime, or orange before juicing & keep a baggie of zest in the freezer (much better than those crusty little jars of dried peel!). At cook time, I either mince it in its frozen state with my chef's knife or toss it in the food processor with other ingredients.
Cubes of frozen pesto or broth are also wonderful to have on hand.
I've also had good success with freezing pitted Kalamata olives.
I have a company of my own, it's a kind of small business. So I need to find a way to reduce the costs as much as possible, of course at the same time, I need to have someone do things efficiently. Therefore, I choose to hire a VA.
I quite agree with author about the point 7 : India isn't your only option!
I like BPOVIA (www.bpovia.com). I have a long-term relationships with them. And they are very professional. To your surprise, their price is not high at all. They know what exactly I want, they help me both at work and in daily life. Sometimes they can provide me some fresh ideas. They really do great help to my business!
Another big batch favorite when I'm stocking up for my father is poached turkey breast (inspiration from a Better Homes & Gardens or Family Circle article years ago).
I'll poach a large turkey breast in water and a can of chicken broth, plus onion, carrot, a bay leaf, and poultry spices (this takes about an hour and 15 minutes). Add sides & that's dinner with lots of leftover broth & meat. When visiting dad, broth is used for other dishes over the week (at home, it's usually frozen). The meat can be used for sandwiches and/or made into casseroles. The article suggested turkey tetrazzini (with mushrooms, red or green peppers, spaghetti, and parmesan) and turkey pot pie for additional meals.
Check back issues of the Thanksgiving issues of women's magazines in your local library for more leftover turkey inspiration.
Another freezer favorite for us is berries. I have favorite ways of preserving each of the berries, though:
- strawberries, sliced, sugared, let set a bit to bring up the juices, then frozen
- black raspberries, cooked into corn muffins, then frozen (or used to flavor balsamic or rice wine vinegar & not frozen -- another story)
- blueberries, frozen whole on a cookie sheet, then zipped into freezer bags (to be munched by the handful or stirred into yogurt)
- blackberries, baked into my stepmother's buttery blackberry spice cake recipe, which is iced with caramel frosting (used to be Jiffy!) after defrosting
- red raspberries, made into freezer jam with a lower-sugar pectin (I miss sure-jel lite!)
Having thereby maximized the return on my picking & preserving time for each berry in its season, I then buy several bags of commercially frozen berries for smoothies (adding bananas to my freezer stock when they appear on the discounted produce cart).
I don't have a good source of mulberries at present, but wondered if anyone has a favorite use for them.
CT is considering raising taxes on businesses to help the state raise funds lost by the poor economy.
Okay, so businesses save money by using overseas labor (and we're not taking American labor here because that costs more, even through these outsourcing units). Then they're going to have to pay more in taxes to cover the unemployed they think are too expensive to hire.
Where did they win?
Sorry, but use of non-American labor, at this particular point in time, is Anti-American.
I'm like the doubler -- I find that if I multiply a recipe so that it will feed our household of three adults and a preschooler 4 times, we get 6 freezer meals out of 2 dinners, and it doesn't require gobs more effort than making those two dinners. I can do this casually during the month and the food rotates -- I don't feel "locked in" to a decision made weeks ago.
On hamburger, I brown the beef with onions and green peppers (which we like) and maybe some italian-type seasoning. I then use it as the basis for:
- chili (plus tomatoes, beans, cumin, & chili pepper)
- spaghetti (plus tomatoes, pasta, & cheese)
- picadillo (plus tomatoes & green olives, served over cheesy cornmeal)
As you can tell, stewed tomatoes on sale are a major pantry staple for us.
When I'm freezing food for my 85 year old father at his farm in the boonies, I make the whole dish, including its complementary starch, and freeze it as a complete meal (I mix together the pasta, meat, and cheese before freezing). (Actually, I cook the meat mixture & make one of the three dishes for our dinner on one night, refrigerating the rest of the meat mixture for the next day; then sometime during the next day I make the other two dishes & freeze them).
At home, I just freeze the meat, onions, peppers (I substitute red ones when I can get them cheap), and seasonings as a meal starter. With a garden and gourmet markets accessible, all sorts of other interesting things can make their way into the pan when dinner is on -- kalamata olives or wine in the spaghetti, cilantro leaves or berries (coriander!) in the chili . . .