Recent comments

  • Make Your Escape With These 14 Affordable Weekend Getaways   13 years 10 weeks ago

    I must have done numbers 1,3 and 8 more times than I can count. It is very calming to go for a nice hike or just sit next to the ocean even if you don't have much money to spend on anything else. I used to live right next to water at an Air Force base close to Cocoa Beach,FL and would often just sit out there on the beach in the evening hours and enjoy the beauty of it all.

  • 5 Questions You Should Ask at Every Job Interview   13 years 10 weeks ago

    Good points, Tisha. Other ones to add include asking why the position is open, expectations of the employees, and asking the personal background of the interviewer. In addition to your tips, these questions can show your interest in the job, as well as the organization.

  • DIY Mortgage Acceleration   13 years 10 weeks ago

    My mortgage is being paid off "early" because I wanted a 20-year term for my refinance, but the bank wouldn't give me a loan term lower than 25 years. So I'm paying it as a 'DIY 20-year' loan. The monthly payments I am making on this refinanced loan is exactly the same as on the old loan with the higher interest rate. Therefore I am not paying out any additional money, and there is no prepayment penalty for my mortgage loan. I will have great piece of mind when this mortgage is paid off. Besides, I will be retirement age in 20 years and I don't want to worry about paying a mortgage.

  • DIY Mortgage Acceleration   13 years 10 weeks ago

    Thanks for your comment. Note that I am not advising folks to pay off a mortgage early but showing how accelerating the payoff can work. When I wrote this piece years ago, some companies were charging folks a few thousand dollars to do what I explained for free! There are many factors in deciding to do an early mortgage payoff including personal financial goals and your mortgage interest rate.

  • The 5 Best Blenders   13 years 10 weeks ago

    Blender is really important in daily life no matter it is for making smoothie or handling food. According to my experience, you have to think carefully about your purpose, like for smoothie, drinks, or meats. As you’ve mentioned in your article, all blenders have their own pros and cons, and the prices vary a lot.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Grow Your Own Food?   13 years 10 weeks ago

    I have always grown a garden. I typically grow herbs and vegetables.

  • Should Your Next Car Be Electric?   13 years 10 weeks ago

    I think you misrepresented the environmental factors associated with electric cars. First, I believe you are correct that there are no emissions from electric vehicles but there are emissions from the power plants generating the electricity. A person driving an electric vehicle is transferring emissions from his tailpipe to a smokestack someplace else. As to which has a larger carbon footprint, I do not know. But coal still generates 44% of our nations electricity so there is definitely a carbon footprint in burning coal (instead of gasoline) to power our electric vehicles.

    And secondly, these massive batteries used to power electric vehicles have their own environmental effects. Again, the effects may very well be better than the effects associated with burning gasoline but these batteries are not organic and do not biodegrade.

    In a lot of ways I feel that the recent green movement is doing a good job of identifying problems but doing a poor job of finding functional solutions.

  • 5 Questions You Should Ask at Every Job Interview   13 years 10 weeks ago

    I was a hiring manager for many years. While these may be good questions, here are three I wish applicants would have asked.

    1. What are this year's company objectives? What does this department do to support them and what part does this position play?
    2. What problems is your department experiencing and what can I do, if hired, to help solve them?
    3. What constitutes a good "fit" for the company and your department?

    It's important to find out what's in it for you...but you should also try to find out how you can help the person hiring you. Just a thought!

  • Should Your Next Car Be Electric?   13 years 10 weeks ago

    You don't account for higher insurance premiums. One owner of a Prius had his insurance double (good driver in 50s, no tickets or accidents) and that accounted for more than the savings on gas.

  • Homemade Peanut Butter: Recipe and Cost Comparison   13 years 10 weeks ago

    And yet, Jif contains the same amount of oil (and hydrogenated ones!) as well as a ton of other unappetizing things. Just stir it and stop being a baby.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Grow Your Own Food?   13 years 10 weeks ago

    I tend to grow more herbs than anything since I live on a second story condo.
    Right now I grow them in pots and my plants include: Chives, Dill, Garlic, Jalapeno Peppers, Pineapple, and trying to grow some ginger.
    The biggest issue I have is the heat during the summer months, I just tend to pray that they don't die. That and keep water constant without drowning them.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Grow Your Own Food?   13 years 11 weeks ago

    We have a small garden - two 4x8' raised beds in our side yard. We've learned to spend our valuable space in the vegetables we love the most - beans, peas, and carrots. We also concentrate on growing our own of the "dirty dozen", including tomatoes and peppers. I have a couple of whiskey barrels with lettuce and parsley. We have an edge along our garage wall that has strawberries, rhubarb, and some Egyptian onions.

  • The Awesomeness of Sodium Bicarbonate: 27 Uses for Baking Soda   13 years 11 weeks ago

    Excellent for Use as an Antacid when you haven't eaten recently. You may drink a solution of baking soda (1 to 2 teaspoons) in 8 oz warm water for heartburn (acid reflux). Heartburn can be caused by stress so it may be wise to take B vitamins and/or an herbal calmative and strengthener for your nerves twice a day (ie. Passion Flower, Camomile, Hops, Valerian, Scullcap, etc.). IMPORTANT NOTE: People call heartburn “indigestion,” however, it is not indigestion. It is the RESULT of indigestion. If you suffer from heartburn within an hour or two of eating a meal, your body is trying to tell you it is not producing enough hydrochloric acid (HCL) to DIGEST the food (especially protein). THIS means you may need to slow down in your eating, chew well enough to pulverize food into liquid, and take Digestive Enzymes near the end of your meals. Don’t take antacids for “indigestion” because they do NOT aid digestion, they just perpetuate this heartburn/acid reflux cycle. Why? Because when you don’t have enough HCL to digest the food into a liquid, the food can’t pass through the valve to move on into the small intestines. Therefore, it just sits there, and ferments, and rots into clumps and bumps (causing constipation), and degenerates (causing acid), which makes gas. Now you feel bloated, and because gas is lighter than air, the gas rises and carries the acid up into your esophagus, which is now the acid you are regurgitating in “acid reflux” (also causing a hiatal hernia). So if it really IS indigestion (an hour or two after you ate) at that time taking Alfalfa Tea or capsules will be the best. Save the Baking Soda for an empty stomach or stressful times.

  • 11 Simple Rules of Excellent Houseguest Etiquette   13 years 11 weeks ago

    Do not ask the host to lend you their car. The last time I did, the car ended up totaled.

    Also, when we are the guests, we always leave a few hundred dollars behind in a place the hosts will later discover it. It just makes me feel better to do so. After all, we have been using their gas, electricity, water, sewage, etc.

  • Eating at the Intersection of Cheap and Healthy   13 years 11 weeks ago

    It is our responsibility to stay healthy and there are a lot of things to consider but the most important thing is to eat right and have a good diet. Though we cannot deny that we need to spend some money in order to buy good food, somehow budget is also important to us but we can cope up and will come up some good way and strategy regarding with it. One good thing is to plant and grow our own fruit and vegetable, that way we are not only saving money and gain good and fresh food but at the same time a good recreational activity.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Grow Your Own Food?   13 years 11 weeks ago

    I just started a 80 sqft garden in my backyard this year. I admit that the start up costs were steep (materials for raised bed, top soil, fertilizers, seeds, containers, hand
    tools, etc) but the reward of feeding my family a nice salad lunch straight from the garden is priceless. The lettuce almost melts in our mouths. We weren't completely successful though - for examples, the broccoli yield is too small for the amount of space it takes up in the garden. Other crops like cabbage were attacked by a mystery insect. Growing your own food is not for the feint of heart!

  • How We Brainwash Ourselves Into Brand Loyalty   13 years 11 weeks ago

    Yeah, I know a lot of people who are buying Apply products alone because of "loyalty". But they are hurting their pockets with it when they can get similar products for a lesser price.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Grow Your Own Food?   13 years 11 weeks ago

    I grow lettuce, tomatoes, beans anD a few herbs.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Grow Your Own Food?   13 years 11 weeks ago

    I am new to gardening but in the desert we grow tomatoes, basil, blackberries, strawberries, zucchini. We are getting lots of the blackberries right now and of course the basil does well. We also have lime, lemon, peach, pomegranate, orange, and fig trees. I LOVE going out and getting food from our yard. We do all this in a city lot. I enjoy it very much and would love to add more.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Grow Your Own Food?   13 years 11 weeks ago

    I do not grow my own food!

  • DIY Mortgage Acceleration   13 years 11 weeks ago

    Advising people to pay off mortgages early isn't in their financial interest. Because I want to retire early, I'm trying to optimize my finances. It makes significantly more sense financially to NOT pay off early. Because of the advantage of investing the extra money instead, and the fact that inflation is working FOR us during a long mortgage. I've blogged about the $$ numbers.

  • Rethinking The Early Mortgage Payoff   13 years 11 weeks ago

    It is significantly more advantageous to NOT pay off your mortgage early. I spent days running the numbers and various scenarios (I blogged about it). I am absolutely holding on to my 30-year mortgage.

  • 20 Awesome Uses for Milk Crates   13 years 11 weeks ago

    Garden stool

  • Last Minute Wrapping Paper: 5 Options   13 years 11 weeks ago

    One of my favorite ways to wrap is a white paper bag. Fold the top over to close, hole punch two holes midway down the fold and slide in a candy cane. Done!

  • Get It in Writing: A Quick Guide to Agreements and Contracts   13 years 11 weeks ago

    Good article, for the most part. Being a non-lawyer but having worked in the NY State Court System for over twenty years, I would take issue with the author's contention that one should always consult a lawyer, which can be quite an expensive proposition. If you are reasonably intelligent you can write your own contracts, as I do. There may have been a time in this country when a deal could be sealed simply with a handshake, but that was a long time ago in a different America. There is a joke in the legal profession that says, "A verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on."

    Begin by doing a little research regarding the content of standard contracts, and clearly state in the contract exactly what it is that you want and when you want it done. When hiring contractors or tradesmen to do work for me I purchase a standard contract or agreement (easily available online) and then add my own codicils at the bottom. I include EVERYTHING, even something as small as replacing the plate on an electrical outlet. If the contractor balks or won't go along with that, I thank him for his time and show him the door. Believe me, he will back down, but by then it's too late, at least for me. A reputable contractor will agree to any reasonable provision you wish to put in the contract.

    If you feel more comfortable having a lawyer preparing or reviewing your documents, you can get referrals to a qualified attorney at affordable rates through organizations such as the AARP, AMAC, your labor union or professional association, etc.. Also, there are companies that advertise heavily (mostly on radio) that not only sell standard contract forms but which offer consultations with an attorney at discounted group rates, which can save you a bundle.