There are segments of the population that still find cheap, nutritious food unattainable for various reasons. These reasons can range from transportation to and from the food source to simply applying ineffective shopping skills. The population gamut runs from the unemployed high school dropout to some possessing a PhD.
The common denominator: the cupboards are bare, and the refrigerator’s empty.
I don’t know whether to chalk it up to poor shopping skills, poor food choices, under-education and under-employment, breeding beyond means, or a combination of all these things. Whatever the reasons, it’s a sad state to find one’s self in among one of the richest nations on earth.
Maybe it’s really a lack of reckoning with certain truths about the world we now live in. So much has changed, and so many can’t seem to keep up. For example:
Employment—businesses are in a constant scramble for profits, and will stop at almost nothing to preserve profit margins. Offshoring and outsourcing weren’t even in our vocabulary ten years ago, and now are tossed about every day in casual conversation. Since labor is the largest recurring cost for employers, they will find a way to do without labor or find cheaper sources. This means we must “recession-proof” our job skills through careful career choices and near-constant educational updates to stay current, useful, and in demand. We also have to stay current in the ways we FIND a job, and not fall victim to relying on methods that are no longer used.
Another priority we must fulfill is contribution to the boss’s bottom line. If you are a cost (liability) to him/her and not an asset, you won’t be employed long. Regular accomplishments that help bolster the bottom line at work (through sales increases, new customers/markets, cost-cutting, etc.) will help to ensure continued employability and can be used as bargaining chips for negotiating pay raises and bonuses. Those same accomplishments can also be applied to the resume’ for future employment and pay negotiations.
Choose a career that can’t be outsourced, sent offshore, or have software written to replace your presence. Achieve the maximum degree in it that will pay for itself, and this will require some research on your part (some Master’s and PhD’s don’t earn any more than a regular Bachelor’s, and turn out to be a waste of time and money). Fit the boss’s needs in with your regular job duties, and continue to job hunt while you’re already employed. Employers gain most of their new employees by poaching from other firms, so don’t be afraid to put your resume’ out or enlist the help of a headhunter (for discretion). The fact that you’re still employed means you are in demand, and demand attracts demand.
Spending—some people have a tendency to “reward” themselves for such hard work with short-lived and expensive trinkets. The want takes precedence over the need or even the consideration of options. The idea of having “something to show for all the hard work” is a fallacy that many people still seem to share.
Finding ways to save, even if it’s just a small amount, is imperative in today’s world. It’s also a tax benefit.
Shopping skills—as we all (or nearly all) know, judicious shelf label reading, coupon use, store selection, and product selection have maximum dollar savings. Too much focus is placed on the product price, and agencies that deal with food stamps ought to hold shopping and nutrition classes. It seems like so many people who use these programs don’t know how to shop correctly, and it’s no wonder—the schools no longer teach Home Economics like they did when Mom and Grandma went to school, nor is it explained at home. This “generational deficit” has led to buying salad in bags, vegetables in cans, and junk non-foods for lunchboxes. Familiar convenience items are now sought out at food banks and pantries, and they’re not going to be there.
Grandma had less money than we do now, so how did she get by? She had a garden and an oven, and she used them. As much as we may despise it, we need to get back into domesticity: cook from scratch, garden, learn portion control, and cost-per-unit shopping.
Breeding beyond our means—there just is no tactful way to say this, and I apologize to you readers. Choosing to have kids is a romantic reflex response to marriage, according to Dr. Phil. As we know, not all kids are planned, and we can’t send them back to where they came from. We can control their creation, however, with the myriad methods of birth control available.
Having children before getting a sufficient education to sustain employment is one big mistake lots of people make. The cart frequently gets put before the horse, and we hear, “it’ll all work out in the end,”—but mostly it doesn’t. This can lead to abuse, neglect, abandonment, and having to rely on agencies and organizations for mere subsistence rations of food with negligible nutrition. We cannot always rely on the support of a devoted spouse to carry us through, and he/she may have their own set of problems with staying employed, saving, shopping, etc.
The number of children can also be a detriment if sufficient income isn’t present or cannot be had to support all those bodies—it’s just like creating more bills that have no hope of being paid. This isn’t fair to the children at all. They didn’t ask to suffer.
There are benefits and consequences to both having kids while young and waiting awhile. One of the benefits of waiting is maturity of the brain—our frontal lobes aren’t fully mature until we’re 25, and this part of the brain is responsible for things like risk assessment and quick decision making. If we wait until the income is right, the marital and mental units are stable, and a savings/spending program is under control, we stand a much better chance for family success. We are also less likely to fall to levels where reliance on food stamps and food pantries become the norm for our households.
Kids are not a requirement of marriage or any other sort of relationship, and it’s perfectly okay if you don’t have any at all. Sometimes we can end up waiting until it’s biologically too late for conditions to be just right, and so far, about 30% of the “breeding age” population has. All the more reason to make education, career selection, savings, and shopping skills a priority on your life while you’re young. If you don’t make it and lose to the biological clock, don’t sweat it—you have plenty of company.
Individual personal responsibility has got to kick in at some point. Food banks, pantries, and agency programs cannot be expected to pick up the slack for what amounts to poor prevention planning. Articles and advocates cry out for increased access to more nutritious food through these “emergency” outlets, but there’s the rub—these outlets are not meant for providing first-line sustenance. Furthermore, these outlets are subject to regulations, donations and budgets, and seasonal/supplier availability. They are just not meant as a first-line defense for under-employment, bad shopping/spending skills, and over-breeding. Here is where nutrition and need collide, and it’s preventable.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
6 Tips For Negotiating a Deal
From the U.K. Money Saving Blog.
"Many of us have poor price negotiation skills and end up compromising our frugal goals because of it."
1. Identify your ideal price (do your homework in advance to know what the item is worth BEFORE you go)
2. Highlight the flaws in a product
3. Review the offer before accepting it
4. Adopt an air of confidence
5. Work with the right person (usually a manager--he/she has the authority to sell something at a lower price)
6. Negotiate for more than just a lower price (sometimes the phrase "Is this the best you can do?" or "But I'm your best customer!" does it for you)
"Many of us have poor price negotiation skills and end up compromising our frugal goals because of it."
1. Identify your ideal price (do your homework in advance to know what the item is worth BEFORE you go)
2. Highlight the flaws in a product
3. Review the offer before accepting it
4. Adopt an air of confidence
5. Work with the right person (usually a manager--he/she has the authority to sell something at a lower price)
6. Negotiate for more than just a lower price (sometimes the phrase "Is this the best you can do?" or "But I'm your best customer!" does it for you)
15 Tips for Saving Money on Meat Dishes
From the U.K. Money Saving Blog. This correlates directly with my Meat Manifesto.
"Going vegetarian can save you a lot of money on your grocery shopping if you choose in-season local vegetables. However, there are a lot of people who don’t want to eat vegetarian food all of the time. And there are people who have favorite dishes that include meat as a main ingredient. So how do you keep your meal costs down when you’re a meat eater?"
1. Eat the whole animal (article advocates eating bony chicken parts--I disagree, because once you strip the meat off those bones, you find you actually paid whole carcass prices for very little usable meat. No matter how hard you try, you can't eat bones or empty space from hollow cavities--this is called a FALSE ECONOMY)
2. Choose cheaper cuts of meat
3. Replace meat with beans (or eggs, or nuts, or quinoa) in recipes (rethink your protein sources)
4. Make meat the side dish of your meal (or part of it, such as chicken salad, which allows you to use less meat)
5. Skip meat dishes when dining out (or dining in--have a designated "veggie night" or two a week)
6. Buy meat in bulk (or buy it from an agricultural college)
7. Purchase your meat at the end of the day
8. Barter for your meat
9. Mix hamburger with cheaper stuff to make it stretch further (like TVP, eggs, bread crumbs, finely chopped beans, etc.)
10. Learn to cut meat yourself (this requires learning which knives are worth keeping around, and how to care for them)
11. Get to know a hunter (and offer him/her ammo or some other useful goods/services in exchange for meat)
12. Look for post-holiday meat sales
13. Buy meat that is close to its expiration date
14. Use discount codes and look for sales (if any exist--rare in the U.S. without a further purchase, like 1 lb. of hamburger for a gallon milk purchase)
15. Always eat your leftovers (and learn to eliminate waste)
Remember: you don't always have to COOK to get proteins--you can BAKE them too.
"Going vegetarian can save you a lot of money on your grocery shopping if you choose in-season local vegetables. However, there are a lot of people who don’t want to eat vegetarian food all of the time. And there are people who have favorite dishes that include meat as a main ingredient. So how do you keep your meal costs down when you’re a meat eater?"
1. Eat the whole animal (article advocates eating bony chicken parts--I disagree, because once you strip the meat off those bones, you find you actually paid whole carcass prices for very little usable meat. No matter how hard you try, you can't eat bones or empty space from hollow cavities--this is called a FALSE ECONOMY)
2. Choose cheaper cuts of meat
3. Replace meat with beans (or eggs, or nuts, or quinoa) in recipes (rethink your protein sources)
4. Make meat the side dish of your meal (or part of it, such as chicken salad, which allows you to use less meat)
5. Skip meat dishes when dining out (or dining in--have a designated "veggie night" or two a week)
6. Buy meat in bulk (or buy it from an agricultural college)
7. Purchase your meat at the end of the day
8. Barter for your meat
9. Mix hamburger with cheaper stuff to make it stretch further (like TVP, eggs, bread crumbs, finely chopped beans, etc.)
10. Learn to cut meat yourself (this requires learning which knives are worth keeping around, and how to care for them)
11. Get to know a hunter (and offer him/her ammo or some other useful goods/services in exchange for meat)
12. Look for post-holiday meat sales
13. Buy meat that is close to its expiration date
14. Use discount codes and look for sales (if any exist--rare in the U.S. without a further purchase, like 1 lb. of hamburger for a gallon milk purchase)
15. Always eat your leftovers (and learn to eliminate waste)
Remember: you don't always have to COOK to get proteins--you can BAKE them too.
5 Money Gifts For the Holidays
From Fox Business News.
"Gifts with a financial theme offer benefits that can last longer than an inexpensive toy or electronic gadget. And regardless of the names on your shopping list, there are plenty of money gifts to choose from this holiday season."
1. Buy gifts with a financial theme (books, magazine subscriptions, etc.)
2. Pay off a specific debt
3. Pay for a session with a financial adviser
4. Start a 529 plan for a relative
5. Invest in financial teaching tools (like the board game Monopoly, or the Cash Flow 101 game)
See original article link above for more details on each.
I once found a post-Depression era board game called Stock Market (it isn't available any more--I found it at an antique store), and quickly mastered it to the point nobody wanted to play with me.
To this list, and possibly replace it entirely, I add my public library card idea--that is where I learned about money. I would go to, laundry basket in tow, and check out as many books in the 342 Dewey Decimal section as the library rules would let me, and I did this until I read the entire section: from getting out of debt to complicated investing (including real estate). I learned enough to know what I didn't want to be involved in later on, and if your intended recipient can read, they can too.
"Gifts with a financial theme offer benefits that can last longer than an inexpensive toy or electronic gadget. And regardless of the names on your shopping list, there are plenty of money gifts to choose from this holiday season."
1. Buy gifts with a financial theme (books, magazine subscriptions, etc.)
2. Pay off a specific debt
3. Pay for a session with a financial adviser
4. Start a 529 plan for a relative
5. Invest in financial teaching tools (like the board game Monopoly, or the Cash Flow 101 game)
See original article link above for more details on each.
I once found a post-Depression era board game called Stock Market (it isn't available any more--I found it at an antique store), and quickly mastered it to the point nobody wanted to play with me.
To this list, and possibly replace it entirely, I add my public library card idea--that is where I learned about money. I would go to, laundry basket in tow, and check out as many books in the 342 Dewey Decimal section as the library rules would let me, and I did this until I read the entire section: from getting out of debt to complicated investing (including real estate). I learned enough to know what I didn't want to be involved in later on, and if your intended recipient can read, they can too.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Can Environmentalism Be Saved From Itself?
From the Globe and Mail.
"Just a year ago, 15,000 of the world’s leaders, diplomats, and UN officials were gearing up to descend on Copenhagen to forge a global treaty that would save the planet."
...
"After two weeks of chaos, the talks collapsed in a smouldering heap of wreckage. The only surprise was that this outcome should have come as a surprise to so many intelligent people. These people actually seemed to believe that experts and politicians have supernatural powers to predict the future and control the climate. They believed that experts know how fast temperatures will rise by when, and what the consequences will be, and that we know what to do about it. They believed that despite the recent abject failure of Kyoto (to say nothing of other well-intentioned international treaties), the nations of the world would willingly join hands and sacrifice their sovereignty in order to sign on to a vast scheme of unimaginable scope, untold cost and certain damage to their own interests.
Copenhagen was not a political breakdown. It was an intellectual breakdown so astonishing that future generations will marvel at our blind credulity. Copenhagen was a classic case of the emperor with no clothes."
...
"The delusional dream of global action to combat climate change is dead. Barack Obama’s cap-and-trade scheme is dead. Chicago’s carbon-trading market is dead. The European Union’s supposed reduction in carbon emissions has been exposed as a giant fraud. (The EU is actually responsible for 40 per cent more CO2 today than it was in 1990, if you count the goods and services it consumed as opposed to the ones that it produced.) Public interest in climate change has plunged, and the media have radically reduced their climate coverage.
The biggest loser is the environmental movement. For years, its activists neglected almost everything but climate change. They behaved as if they’d cornered the market on wisdom, truth and certainty, and they demonized anyone who dared to disagree. They got a fabulous free ride from politicians and the media, who parroted their claims like Sunday-school children reciting Scripture. No interest group in modern times has been so free from skepticism, scrutiny or simple accountability as the environmental establishment."
...
"Now that global warming has stopped sucking all the oxygen out of the room, some of those who care about the planet will turn to other – and more pressing – problems. There are plenty. Humans are encroaching everywhere on habitats and species. Don’t worry about the polar bears, which have survived hundreds of thousands of years of melting and freezing ice. Worry instead about the lions and tigers, which face extinction within our lifetime. Their problem isn’t climate change. It’s us."
...
"Then there are the lions. They’re not as scarce as tigers – yet – but their habitats are ideal for ranching, and they face increasing pressure from population growth. Or how about the bluefin tuna? This one is close to home – we catch them and sell them to Japan – and Canada is on the wrong side of the issue. If the World Wildlife Fund could whip up as much alarm over the bluefin tuna as it tried to whip up over fictitious drowning polar bears, I might even be persuaded to send them money again."
Lions and tigers and bears--oh my!
"Before they were sucked into the giant vortex of global warming, environmentalists did useful things. They protested against massive Third World dams that would ruin both natural and human habitats. They warned about invasive species and diseases that could tear through our forests and wreck our water systems. They fought for national parks and greenbelts and protected areas. They talked about the big things too – such as how the world could feed another three billion people without destroying all the rain forests and running out of water. They believed in conservation – conserving this beautiful planet of ours from the worst of human despoliation – rather than false claims to scientific certainty about the future, unenforceable treaties and radical utopian social reform.
“How high a price must the world pay for green folly?” asked the thinker Walter Russell Mead. “How many years will be lost, how much credibility forfeited, how much money wasted before we have an environmental movement that has the intellectual rigour, political wisdom and mature, sober judgment needed to address the great issues we face?”
The answer is too high, too many and too much. Please grow up, people. You have important work to do."
They're too busy ushering in the tiny house movement. Governments are too busy ushering in the bailout movement. Even Al Gore has moved on to the electric car and residential fuel cell movement.
"Just a year ago, 15,000 of the world’s leaders, diplomats, and UN officials were gearing up to descend on Copenhagen to forge a global treaty that would save the planet."
...
"After two weeks of chaos, the talks collapsed in a smouldering heap of wreckage. The only surprise was that this outcome should have come as a surprise to so many intelligent people. These people actually seemed to believe that experts and politicians have supernatural powers to predict the future and control the climate. They believed that experts know how fast temperatures will rise by when, and what the consequences will be, and that we know what to do about it. They believed that despite the recent abject failure of Kyoto (to say nothing of other well-intentioned international treaties), the nations of the world would willingly join hands and sacrifice their sovereignty in order to sign on to a vast scheme of unimaginable scope, untold cost and certain damage to their own interests.
Copenhagen was not a political breakdown. It was an intellectual breakdown so astonishing that future generations will marvel at our blind credulity. Copenhagen was a classic case of the emperor with no clothes."
...
"The delusional dream of global action to combat climate change is dead. Barack Obama’s cap-and-trade scheme is dead. Chicago’s carbon-trading market is dead. The European Union’s supposed reduction in carbon emissions has been exposed as a giant fraud. (The EU is actually responsible for 40 per cent more CO2 today than it was in 1990, if you count the goods and services it consumed as opposed to the ones that it produced.) Public interest in climate change has plunged, and the media have radically reduced their climate coverage.
The biggest loser is the environmental movement. For years, its activists neglected almost everything but climate change. They behaved as if they’d cornered the market on wisdom, truth and certainty, and they demonized anyone who dared to disagree. They got a fabulous free ride from politicians and the media, who parroted their claims like Sunday-school children reciting Scripture. No interest group in modern times has been so free from skepticism, scrutiny or simple accountability as the environmental establishment."
...
"Now that global warming has stopped sucking all the oxygen out of the room, some of those who care about the planet will turn to other – and more pressing – problems. There are plenty. Humans are encroaching everywhere on habitats and species. Don’t worry about the polar bears, which have survived hundreds of thousands of years of melting and freezing ice. Worry instead about the lions and tigers, which face extinction within our lifetime. Their problem isn’t climate change. It’s us."
...
"Then there are the lions. They’re not as scarce as tigers – yet – but their habitats are ideal for ranching, and they face increasing pressure from population growth. Or how about the bluefin tuna? This one is close to home – we catch them and sell them to Japan – and Canada is on the wrong side of the issue. If the World Wildlife Fund could whip up as much alarm over the bluefin tuna as it tried to whip up over fictitious drowning polar bears, I might even be persuaded to send them money again."
Lions and tigers and bears--oh my!
"Before they were sucked into the giant vortex of global warming, environmentalists did useful things. They protested against massive Third World dams that would ruin both natural and human habitats. They warned about invasive species and diseases that could tear through our forests and wreck our water systems. They fought for national parks and greenbelts and protected areas. They talked about the big things too – such as how the world could feed another three billion people without destroying all the rain forests and running out of water. They believed in conservation – conserving this beautiful planet of ours from the worst of human despoliation – rather than false claims to scientific certainty about the future, unenforceable treaties and radical utopian social reform.
“How high a price must the world pay for green folly?” asked the thinker Walter Russell Mead. “How many years will be lost, how much credibility forfeited, how much money wasted before we have an environmental movement that has the intellectual rigour, political wisdom and mature, sober judgment needed to address the great issues we face?”
The answer is too high, too many and too much. Please grow up, people. You have important work to do."
They're too busy ushering in the tiny house movement. Governments are too busy ushering in the bailout movement. Even Al Gore has moved on to the electric car and residential fuel cell movement.
State Survey Finds Wide Price Range Among Groceries
From Boston.com. This survey was done in Massachusetts, but it exists in all 50 states, I'm sure. When I lived in Corpus Christi, there was a price difference in the same chain depending on the county you shopped in. Even the sales flyers were different!
"If you’ve ever had a disagreement with someone over whether there’s really a difference in prices at different grocery stores, a survey by the state Office of Consumer Affairs should settle it."
...
"The chains sorted themselves out neatly in the survey, too. Hannaford was the cheapest, followed by Stop & Shop. Shaw’s stores, with the exception of one store in Quincy, had the highest prices.
A Shaw’s spokesman said the company has plenty of saving opportunities for its customers."
Compared to WHOM? That is the key to differing prices where I now live--there is no competitor for miles. The chains that operate here make damned sure their stores are far-flung and not near any other store unless you have a car. Many folks here walk or ride the bus. Thus, there really is no comparison for these people--whatever's closest is the one they go to.
"At Shaw’s, we recognize that consumers’ budgets continue to be stretched, and we are committed to providing the best value we can to our customers through great sales, everyday double coupons, and creative promotions,’’ Steve Sylven said, citing a recent free turkey promotion that required customers to spend $500."
I guess I should be thankful Food Lion was only trying to rip its customers off for $270 for that free turkey!
"The Consumer Affairs grocery list included milk, eggs, orange juice, peanut butter, bread, baby food, cereal, soda, coffee, cookies, tuna, flour, sugar, stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey, corn, and canned pumpkin.
To have such fluctuations at the end of the shopping trip, a lot significant disparities were found along the way. The biggest disparity found was for a 10-pound turkey. The cheapest in the survey was $9.90 at a Hannaford and a Stop & Shop, while buying one at several different Shaw’s was nearly $25."
They count on us being distracted, and not paying attention--those who go shopping without a calculator are the most unarmed (and the most vulnerable).
"If you’ve ever had a disagreement with someone over whether there’s really a difference in prices at different grocery stores, a survey by the state Office of Consumer Affairs should settle it."
...
"The chains sorted themselves out neatly in the survey, too. Hannaford was the cheapest, followed by Stop & Shop. Shaw’s stores, with the exception of one store in Quincy, had the highest prices.
A Shaw’s spokesman said the company has plenty of saving opportunities for its customers."
Compared to WHOM? That is the key to differing prices where I now live--there is no competitor for miles. The chains that operate here make damned sure their stores are far-flung and not near any other store unless you have a car. Many folks here walk or ride the bus. Thus, there really is no comparison for these people--whatever's closest is the one they go to.
"At Shaw’s, we recognize that consumers’ budgets continue to be stretched, and we are committed to providing the best value we can to our customers through great sales, everyday double coupons, and creative promotions,’’ Steve Sylven said, citing a recent free turkey promotion that required customers to spend $500."
I guess I should be thankful Food Lion was only trying to rip its customers off for $270 for that free turkey!
"The Consumer Affairs grocery list included milk, eggs, orange juice, peanut butter, bread, baby food, cereal, soda, coffee, cookies, tuna, flour, sugar, stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey, corn, and canned pumpkin.
To have such fluctuations at the end of the shopping trip, a lot significant disparities were found along the way. The biggest disparity found was for a 10-pound turkey. The cheapest in the survey was $9.90 at a Hannaford and a Stop & Shop, while buying one at several different Shaw’s was nearly $25."
They count on us being distracted, and not paying attention--those who go shopping without a calculator are the most unarmed (and the most vulnerable).
When Buying Gift Cards, It Pays to Read the Fine Print
From NJ.com. Some cards aren't really cards at all--they're actually ACCOUNTS.
“They tried to use the prepaid MasterCard debit card in two stores before one of the cashiers mentioned to my daughter it might need to be activated,” Catherine Shahinian said. “I have never had to activate a Borders’ or Macy’s or any restaurant gift card before, so I gave her $30 cash and said I will do my best.’’
While the girls completed the cash transaction in the store, Shahinian called the toll-free number on the card, issued by Green Dot, to activate it.
She said she used the voice prompts, answering questions about her name and telephone number. Then a question stopped her short.
“They asked for my Social [Security number], and I began to input the numbers but got an uncomfortable feeling about that, so I tried to override the prompts,” she said.
The call was disconnected, and Shahinian moved on through the mall with the girls.
A week later, she decided to try again.
Shahinian said she did everything she could to get the card activated without doling out her private information, to no avail."
...
"“I read the whole laundry list of complaints with the fees associated with this Green Dot card,’’ she said.
Wanting to get the card’s value but not willing to give up her Social Security number, Shahinian contacted Bamboozled.
Needing a Social Security number to activate a gift card raised Bamboozled’s hackles.
Big time.
Before passing judgment, we called Green Dot to better understand the product.
Turns out this card, sold at supermarket checkout lines and in retail locations, is not a gift card. It’s a reloadable debit card, which falls under a very different set of rules.
“Prepaid cards don’t have the protections that other gift cards may have, and they come with a set of fees that other gift cards don’t have,” said Adam Levin, former director of the state Division of Consumer Affairs, who now serves as chairman and co-founder of Credit.com.
So, exactly what is someone buying when they purchase a Green Dot card? According to the company website, it offers prepaid MasterCard and Visa debit cards. Users can load funds onto the card, either from cash or from a paycheck, and it can be used at ATMs, for shopping or to pay bills. In essence, it can be used in lieu of a checking account.
“Green Dot’s products are not gift cards but are in fact FDIC-insured transactional accounts,” said Mark Sowell, Green Dot’s chief operating officer. “In order to help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money-laundering activities, the Patriot Act is a federal law that requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify and record information that identifies each person who opens an account.”
That’s why Shahinian’s Social Security number was required to activate the card."
...
"There is a purchase fee of up to $4.95, (though that charge is waived if the card is ordered online).
Accounts will incur a monthly charge of $5.95 unless the cardholder makes at least 30 purchases or loads $1,000 on to the card. Out-of-network ATM fees are $2.50, and it costs $4.95 to reload more money onto the card, unless you receive direct deposit to your account.
Those charges may not seem excessive if you’re using the Green Dot card in lieu of a checking account, but for Victoria and other customers, it’s too much for a simple gift card."
...
"As you consider your gift card purchases this holiday season, do your homework, otherwise your recipient may face a myriad of fees and a request for some very personal information.
Thanks to the CARD Act, gift cards, in general, now have an expiration of five years. In the first year, the company issuing the card can’t charge a fee. After that time, a dormancy fee can be assessed. That’s a big difference from the old days, when dormancy fees could quickly burn out a gift card’s balance.
The new rules don’t cover cards like the one Victoria received. Of those, the Federal Reserve says:
“These new rules apply only to gift cards, which are just one type of prepaid card."
...
"The new rules do not cover other types of prepaid cards, such as:
“Reloadable prepaid cards that are not intended for gift-giving purposes. For example, a reloadable prepaid card with a MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover brand logo that is intended to be used like a checking account substitute is not covered.”
“They tried to use the prepaid MasterCard debit card in two stores before one of the cashiers mentioned to my daughter it might need to be activated,” Catherine Shahinian said. “I have never had to activate a Borders’ or Macy’s or any restaurant gift card before, so I gave her $30 cash and said I will do my best.’’
While the girls completed the cash transaction in the store, Shahinian called the toll-free number on the card, issued by Green Dot, to activate it.
She said she used the voice prompts, answering questions about her name and telephone number. Then a question stopped her short.
“They asked for my Social [Security number], and I began to input the numbers but got an uncomfortable feeling about that, so I tried to override the prompts,” she said.
The call was disconnected, and Shahinian moved on through the mall with the girls.
A week later, she decided to try again.
Shahinian said she did everything she could to get the card activated without doling out her private information, to no avail."
...
"“I read the whole laundry list of complaints with the fees associated with this Green Dot card,’’ she said.
Wanting to get the card’s value but not willing to give up her Social Security number, Shahinian contacted Bamboozled.
Needing a Social Security number to activate a gift card raised Bamboozled’s hackles.
Big time.
Before passing judgment, we called Green Dot to better understand the product.
Turns out this card, sold at supermarket checkout lines and in retail locations, is not a gift card. It’s a reloadable debit card, which falls under a very different set of rules.
“Prepaid cards don’t have the protections that other gift cards may have, and they come with a set of fees that other gift cards don’t have,” said Adam Levin, former director of the state Division of Consumer Affairs, who now serves as chairman and co-founder of Credit.com.
So, exactly what is someone buying when they purchase a Green Dot card? According to the company website, it offers prepaid MasterCard and Visa debit cards. Users can load funds onto the card, either from cash or from a paycheck, and it can be used at ATMs, for shopping or to pay bills. In essence, it can be used in lieu of a checking account.
“Green Dot’s products are not gift cards but are in fact FDIC-insured transactional accounts,” said Mark Sowell, Green Dot’s chief operating officer. “In order to help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money-laundering activities, the Patriot Act is a federal law that requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify and record information that identifies each person who opens an account.”
That’s why Shahinian’s Social Security number was required to activate the card."
...
"There is a purchase fee of up to $4.95, (though that charge is waived if the card is ordered online).
Accounts will incur a monthly charge of $5.95 unless the cardholder makes at least 30 purchases or loads $1,000 on to the card. Out-of-network ATM fees are $2.50, and it costs $4.95 to reload more money onto the card, unless you receive direct deposit to your account.
Those charges may not seem excessive if you’re using the Green Dot card in lieu of a checking account, but for Victoria and other customers, it’s too much for a simple gift card."
...
"As you consider your gift card purchases this holiday season, do your homework, otherwise your recipient may face a myriad of fees and a request for some very personal information.
Thanks to the CARD Act, gift cards, in general, now have an expiration of five years. In the first year, the company issuing the card can’t charge a fee. After that time, a dormancy fee can be assessed. That’s a big difference from the old days, when dormancy fees could quickly burn out a gift card’s balance.
The new rules don’t cover cards like the one Victoria received. Of those, the Federal Reserve says:
“These new rules apply only to gift cards, which are just one type of prepaid card."
...
"The new rules do not cover other types of prepaid cards, such as:
“Reloadable prepaid cards that are not intended for gift-giving purposes. For example, a reloadable prepaid card with a MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover brand logo that is intended to be used like a checking account substitute is not covered.”
5 Sneaky Ways Grocery Stores Get You to Spend More
From the Dollar Stretcher.
1. Intentionally Lean Packaged Meats
We don't mean low fat. Instead, we mean low weight. Recently, the Ralph's grocery chain in Los Angeles was sued by the city for deliberately selling pre-packaged meats that weighed less than advertised. The Department of Weights and Measures found the practice was widespread in dozens of grocery stores. How do they do it? A combination of many different methods, including the package in the weight calculation, adding an ice glazing to the weight, and just plain selling meat that was less than the stated weight. In some stores, the average was 3.5% lower than the specified weight. On a two-pound package of $5 per pound meat, that works out to 35 cents. Doesn't seem like much until you think about buying 100 of those packages in a year or the chain selling tens of thousands of them every day.
2. Paying 15% More for Water
The next time you grab a package of chicken look at it very carefully. You might just find the words "Up to 15% solution." The store will tell you it's to improve the flavor, but it's almost certainly done to boost their bottom line. So while you may be paying $1.99 a pound for that inexpensive chicken, it's really more like $2.29. Virtually free water is what helps them boost their profits.
And when that 15% solution is FROZEN, as in turkeys? It only gets worse.
3. The Meat and Veggies in the Middle
How often do you buy that big package of meat only to find that the cuts in the middle have a lot more fat or don't look nearly as nice as those that are visible from the top? Butchers have good cuts and not so good cuts and those that don't make the grade are often put into the middle or bottom of the package. Once you get it home, you may be trimming off that hidden fat and throwing it away. It's an easy transfer of profit from you to the grocer. The same happens with large packages of fruits and vegetables; apples on the inside are often bruised.
4. The Essentials: In the Back and Away From Each Other
Most people heading to the store will get some bread, milk, juice, meat, and some fruits and vegetables. Now stop for a minute and do a mental map of where all of these things exist in your supermarket. Chances are that getting these essentials will take you across the full length of the store. The goal is to get you to buy more as you migrate across the store. It is not a scam like our other points, but it does shift money from you to the grocer and wastes precious time. Of course, you can conquer this one just by going to much smaller grocery stores.
5. Price Per Unit, but the Unit Changes!
Head to the ice cream aisle and try to compare the per unit costs of different brands of ice cream. Should be easy right? One tag will have a price per ounce. The next one a price per pint and a third a price per quart. Take a direct comparison between Haagen Dazs(r) and Ben & Jerry's. Not only is Haagen Dazs shrunk, but it also sports a price per ounce while Ben & Jerry's has a price per pint. Grocers may need to have per unit pricing, but they can change the units on competing items to make it more difficult for you. Time to get out that calculator and remember your conversions from grade school.
Go to ounce pricing: 32 oz. is 1 quart, 128 oz, is 1 gallon, and a pint is 2 cups or 16 oz. (a pint is a pound the world 'round). From there, you can determine the price per pound (16 oz.), and per gallon (128 oz.)--the bulk sizes.
1. Intentionally Lean Packaged Meats
We don't mean low fat. Instead, we mean low weight. Recently, the Ralph's grocery chain in Los Angeles was sued by the city for deliberately selling pre-packaged meats that weighed less than advertised. The Department of Weights and Measures found the practice was widespread in dozens of grocery stores. How do they do it? A combination of many different methods, including the package in the weight calculation, adding an ice glazing to the weight, and just plain selling meat that was less than the stated weight. In some stores, the average was 3.5% lower than the specified weight. On a two-pound package of $5 per pound meat, that works out to 35 cents. Doesn't seem like much until you think about buying 100 of those packages in a year or the chain selling tens of thousands of them every day.
2. Paying 15% More for Water
The next time you grab a package of chicken look at it very carefully. You might just find the words "Up to 15% solution." The store will tell you it's to improve the flavor, but it's almost certainly done to boost their bottom line. So while you may be paying $1.99 a pound for that inexpensive chicken, it's really more like $2.29. Virtually free water is what helps them boost their profits.
And when that 15% solution is FROZEN, as in turkeys? It only gets worse.
3. The Meat and Veggies in the Middle
How often do you buy that big package of meat only to find that the cuts in the middle have a lot more fat or don't look nearly as nice as those that are visible from the top? Butchers have good cuts and not so good cuts and those that don't make the grade are often put into the middle or bottom of the package. Once you get it home, you may be trimming off that hidden fat and throwing it away. It's an easy transfer of profit from you to the grocer. The same happens with large packages of fruits and vegetables; apples on the inside are often bruised.
4. The Essentials: In the Back and Away From Each Other
Most people heading to the store will get some bread, milk, juice, meat, and some fruits and vegetables. Now stop for a minute and do a mental map of where all of these things exist in your supermarket. Chances are that getting these essentials will take you across the full length of the store. The goal is to get you to buy more as you migrate across the store. It is not a scam like our other points, but it does shift money from you to the grocer and wastes precious time. Of course, you can conquer this one just by going to much smaller grocery stores.
5. Price Per Unit, but the Unit Changes!
Head to the ice cream aisle and try to compare the per unit costs of different brands of ice cream. Should be easy right? One tag will have a price per ounce. The next one a price per pint and a third a price per quart. Take a direct comparison between Haagen Dazs(r) and Ben & Jerry's. Not only is Haagen Dazs shrunk, but it also sports a price per ounce while Ben & Jerry's has a price per pint. Grocers may need to have per unit pricing, but they can change the units on competing items to make it more difficult for you. Time to get out that calculator and remember your conversions from grade school.
Go to ounce pricing: 32 oz. is 1 quart, 128 oz, is 1 gallon, and a pint is 2 cups or 16 oz. (a pint is a pound the world 'round). From there, you can determine the price per pound (16 oz.), and per gallon (128 oz.)--the bulk sizes.
Why Cyber Monday is Mostly Myth
From CNN Tech.
"It's mostly a marketing gimmick, according to consumer electronics experts and an online metrics tracker.
Cyber Monday has never been the biggest day of the year for online retail sales, said Andrew Lipsman, director of industry analysis at comScore, a company that monitors internet traffic.
Typically, a Monday in December takes that title, and Lipsman predicted the biggest online retail day of 2010 will be on December 13."
...
"What if Cyber Monday earned its name because of hot deals?
Also, not the case, according to independent experts.
Unlike Black Friday, which has a concentration of deals in brick-and-mortar stores, online sales tend not to fall on a certain day, said Mike Gikas, an editor for electronics and technology at Consumer Reports, the nonprofit group. The best deals on TVs, for instance, likely won't come until mid-December, he said.
Dan de Grandpre, editor-in-chief at DealNews, said products listed on sale on the Monday after Thanksgiving tend to be "the dregs" that didn't sell on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Some high-end retailers do hold Cyber Monday sales, he said, but some already started on Friday or Sunday and others won't begin until the second or third week in December."
...
"The number of people shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving has grown steadily since 2005, when an estimated 59 million said they would shop online on that day, to 2009, when that number jumped to 96 million, Davis said.
Furthermore, she said, several online retailers are offering deals that are specific to Cyber Monday. Among those with deals, she said, are eBags.com, Ice.com, Drugstore.com, Soap.com, Diapers.com, LuckyBrand.com and Fashionbug.com.
But all of those sites were offering deals on Friday, too, meaning they weren't holding out for Cyber Monday promotions. Ice.com listed a "Black Friday Blowout Sale." Drugstore.com advertised "cyber week savings," instead of highlighting Monday.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to be learned from Cyber Monday is that Mondays -- after Thanksgiving or not -- are usually big days for e-commerce."
...
"People used to think that Cyber Monday was big because workers were using high-speed office internet connections to do their online shopping, he said. Now that two-thirds of Americans have broadband connections at home, according to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, that theory has been pretty much debunked."
"It's mostly a marketing gimmick, according to consumer electronics experts and an online metrics tracker.
Cyber Monday has never been the biggest day of the year for online retail sales, said Andrew Lipsman, director of industry analysis at comScore, a company that monitors internet traffic.
Typically, a Monday in December takes that title, and Lipsman predicted the biggest online retail day of 2010 will be on December 13."
...
"What if Cyber Monday earned its name because of hot deals?
Also, not the case, according to independent experts.
Unlike Black Friday, which has a concentration of deals in brick-and-mortar stores, online sales tend not to fall on a certain day, said Mike Gikas, an editor for electronics and technology at Consumer Reports, the nonprofit group. The best deals on TVs, for instance, likely won't come until mid-December, he said.
Dan de Grandpre, editor-in-chief at DealNews, said products listed on sale on the Monday after Thanksgiving tend to be "the dregs" that didn't sell on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Some high-end retailers do hold Cyber Monday sales, he said, but some already started on Friday or Sunday and others won't begin until the second or third week in December."
...
"The number of people shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving has grown steadily since 2005, when an estimated 59 million said they would shop online on that day, to 2009, when that number jumped to 96 million, Davis said.
Furthermore, she said, several online retailers are offering deals that are specific to Cyber Monday. Among those with deals, she said, are eBags.com, Ice.com, Drugstore.com, Soap.com, Diapers.com, LuckyBrand.com and Fashionbug.com.
But all of those sites were offering deals on Friday, too, meaning they weren't holding out for Cyber Monday promotions. Ice.com listed a "Black Friday Blowout Sale." Drugstore.com advertised "cyber week savings," instead of highlighting Monday.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to be learned from Cyber Monday is that Mondays -- after Thanksgiving or not -- are usually big days for e-commerce."
...
"People used to think that Cyber Monday was big because workers were using high-speed office internet connections to do their online shopping, he said. Now that two-thirds of Americans have broadband connections at home, according to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, that theory has been pretty much debunked."
Tiny House Movement Thrives Amid Real Estate Bust
From Yahoo News. I've read about these houses before, but didn't post it because I think these houses aren't practical unless you're single and broke. They could be used as emergency housing (think Haiti), or nomadic housing (since they're on wheels). Most zoning boards won't approve them because they're on wheels, making them a vehicle rather than a house--no property taxes. Also, hooking up utilities (like sewer) is a non-starter with many models, so they aren't fit for standard city/suburban zoning compliance.
"To save money or simplify their lives, a small but growing number of Americans are buying or building homes that could fit inside many people's living rooms, according to entrepreneurs in the small house industry.
Some put these wheeled homes in their backyards to use as offices, studios or extra bedrooms. Others use them as mobile vacation homes they can park in the woods. But the most intrepid of the tiny house owners live in them full-time, paring down their possessions and often living off the grid."
Many have no proper toilet, sink, or shower facilities. They're more for camping--a place to sleep and a place to sit. Cooking is questionable, given the elbow room. Think club house for the kids, only with adult height.
"Living in a small house like this really entails knowing what you need to be happy and getting rid of everything else."
Shafer, author of "The Small House Book," built the 89-square-foot house himself a decade ago and lived in it full-time until his son was born last year. Inside a space the size of an ice cream truck, he has a kitchen with gas stove and sink, bathroom with shower, two-seater porch, bedroom loft and a "great room" where he can work and entertain — as long as he doesn't invite more than a couple guests."
God help you if you're claustrophobic.
"People's reasons for living small vary a lot, but there seems to be a common thread of sustainability," Shafer said. "A lot people don't want to use many more resources or put out more emissions than they have to."
Compared to trailers, these little houses are built with higher-quality materials, better insulation and eye-catching design. But they still have wheels that make them portable — and allow owners to get around housing regulations for stationary homes."
...
"...his small houses, which sell for $20,000 to $50,000, are much cheaper than building a home addition and can be resold when the extra space is no longer needed. His company has sold 16 houses this year and aims to sell 20 next year.
"The business is growing as the public becomes aware of this possibility," Marshall said. "A lot of families are moving in with one another. A lot of young people can't afford to move out. There's just a lot of economic pressure to find an alternative way to provide for people's housing needs."
This is the modern-day equivalent to the "back to the land" movement from the 60's and 70's, when hippies lived in trees and homemade shacks in the woods (no utilities) because they wanted to escape the wrath of a polite-yet-judgmental society. That lasted until they realized they needed medical and dental care, and had no way to get it. Jobs were in order, and the government came up with the CETA program to lure hippies out of the woods and back into society. CETA graduates eventually went on to graduate from college, and many now infest our colleges---from teachers to administration.
To me, this tiny house movement is just another representation of a coming re-infestation of today's hippie losers. These houses just aren't practical for anyone else, besides the bum in my blog photo. I need somewhere between 700-1000 square feet to be content (including pantry space, if you please), and yes, I'd like a flush toilet, a full tub/shower, and full utilities...oh, and a 4-burner stove.
"To save money or simplify their lives, a small but growing number of Americans are buying or building homes that could fit inside many people's living rooms, according to entrepreneurs in the small house industry.
Some put these wheeled homes in their backyards to use as offices, studios or extra bedrooms. Others use them as mobile vacation homes they can park in the woods. But the most intrepid of the tiny house owners live in them full-time, paring down their possessions and often living off the grid."
Many have no proper toilet, sink, or shower facilities. They're more for camping--a place to sleep and a place to sit. Cooking is questionable, given the elbow room. Think club house for the kids, only with adult height.
"Living in a small house like this really entails knowing what you need to be happy and getting rid of everything else."
Shafer, author of "The Small House Book," built the 89-square-foot house himself a decade ago and lived in it full-time until his son was born last year. Inside a space the size of an ice cream truck, he has a kitchen with gas stove and sink, bathroom with shower, two-seater porch, bedroom loft and a "great room" where he can work and entertain — as long as he doesn't invite more than a couple guests."
God help you if you're claustrophobic.
"People's reasons for living small vary a lot, but there seems to be a common thread of sustainability," Shafer said. "A lot people don't want to use many more resources or put out more emissions than they have to."
Compared to trailers, these little houses are built with higher-quality materials, better insulation and eye-catching design. But they still have wheels that make them portable — and allow owners to get around housing regulations for stationary homes."
...
"...his small houses, which sell for $20,000 to $50,000, are much cheaper than building a home addition and can be resold when the extra space is no longer needed. His company has sold 16 houses this year and aims to sell 20 next year.
"The business is growing as the public becomes aware of this possibility," Marshall said. "A lot of families are moving in with one another. A lot of young people can't afford to move out. There's just a lot of economic pressure to find an alternative way to provide for people's housing needs."
This is the modern-day equivalent to the "back to the land" movement from the 60's and 70's, when hippies lived in trees and homemade shacks in the woods (no utilities) because they wanted to escape the wrath of a polite-yet-judgmental society. That lasted until they realized they needed medical and dental care, and had no way to get it. Jobs were in order, and the government came up with the CETA program to lure hippies out of the woods and back into society. CETA graduates eventually went on to graduate from college, and many now infest our colleges---from teachers to administration.
To me, this tiny house movement is just another representation of a coming re-infestation of today's hippie losers. These houses just aren't practical for anyone else, besides the bum in my blog photo. I need somewhere between 700-1000 square feet to be content (including pantry space, if you please), and yes, I'd like a flush toilet, a full tub/shower, and full utilities...oh, and a 4-burner stove.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Black Friday and Other Dark Days
From the WA Post.
"If you discount it, they will come.
That's the philosophy of retailers at the holiday season, judging by the predictably exuberant quality of their ads."
...
"But as the country stumbles toward economic recovery, one short day is apparently no longer enough to win the hearts and minds - and wallets - of American consumers, particularly when retailers rely on holiday shopping to ring up as much as half of their annual sales. In recent years, the industry has filled the calendar with a slew of new landmark shopping days to keep consumers fired up right through Christmas.
There is Small Business Saturday, started by American Express this year to send customers to those long-suffering mom-and-pop shops. Then comes Cyber Monday, created by a trade group, when we return to work after Thanksgiving and collectively slack off by shopping online. Free Shipping Day, the brainchild of a coupon site, comes next. And Super Saturday, a retail industry term, rounds out the season on the last weekend before Christmas."
...
"As the calendar has become more crowded, retailers have resorted to increasingly far-fetched ideas to stand out. Infomercials tried to muscle into the game with a short-lived Info-Mania Sunday in 2007. That was the same year Wal-Mart called for Friday to be stretched over two days - a 48-hour Black Friday to accommodate its deals. This year, social coupon site Groupon wins "Most Creative" with the introduction of Grouponicus, a "holiday" when deals last longer than the usual one day.
"Believers acknowledge that all other winter holidays are obsolete," states one of the tenets of Grouponicus. "
I don't know if you remember, but Sears had a Christmas in July weekend last summer.
"The retail industry has shaped our celebration of Christmas even before the first miracle on 34th Street. In 1939, as the country was recovering from the Great Depression, retailers lobbied President Franklin D. Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving one week earlier to give people more time to shop for the holidays, ostensibly to boost the economy. He caved, but Congress changed it back to the last Thursday of November within two years.
Two generations later, stores are in the same position and are turning to the same techniques."
The same old idea that our spending will boost the economy prevails. We even go so far as to turn the clocks back for supposed "daylight savings" in hopes of spurring more after-work spending.
"So retailers are ginning gin up special occasions for us to shop. There can be kernels of real consumer behavior trends behind them - online retailers saw spikes in sales before they coined the term "Cyber Monday" five years ago,for example - but the equation can flip quickly. Often, it is now the sales that are in search of shoppers, rather than the other way around. Anyone want a $19.99 Martha Stewart enamel cast-iron pot, down from $39.99 at Macy's?
Anyone?"
All her crap's from China (just like everything else), gives the ILLUSION of quality (but isn't), and is soooooo overpriced! You're paying for her name.
"I wonder what would happen if retailers just relaxed and consumers shopped free-range, grazing stores at their own speed. If no one worried that they had missed the Biggest Sale of the Year! Or, worse, that they were duped because the true Biggest Sale of the Year! was still to come.
I do love a good deal. But the limited-time-only pressure can be bruising, and I like to believe that we would still shop - and more merrily - without it. Surely it can't be necessary to camp outside a Best Buy a full 10 days before Black Friday, as the company said one family did this year at a store in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Maybe instead of busting down the doors, we could just amble through them. That's not what the retailers want, though. They want our calendars filled, so that now, three days after Thanksgiving, I already feel behind."
Let's not forget--retailers learn from their marketing mistakes. What "bargains" you may have found this year won't be found next year. Fewer coupons, fewer codes, fewer gift cards, fewer markdowns, even OLDER merchandise, and even LESS in-stocks (like the 1-minute flat-screen TV sale at WallyWorld, with a total of 2 in stock) will be the name of the game in future years, so you may as well learn to bargain-hunt all the rest of the year like we frugalites do.
I like the Italian custom better: EAT on December 25th, give gifts on January 6th.
"If you discount it, they will come.
That's the philosophy of retailers at the holiday season, judging by the predictably exuberant quality of their ads."
...
"But as the country stumbles toward economic recovery, one short day is apparently no longer enough to win the hearts and minds - and wallets - of American consumers, particularly when retailers rely on holiday shopping to ring up as much as half of their annual sales. In recent years, the industry has filled the calendar with a slew of new landmark shopping days to keep consumers fired up right through Christmas.
There is Small Business Saturday, started by American Express this year to send customers to those long-suffering mom-and-pop shops. Then comes Cyber Monday, created by a trade group, when we return to work after Thanksgiving and collectively slack off by shopping online. Free Shipping Day, the brainchild of a coupon site, comes next. And Super Saturday, a retail industry term, rounds out the season on the last weekend before Christmas."
...
"As the calendar has become more crowded, retailers have resorted to increasingly far-fetched ideas to stand out. Infomercials tried to muscle into the game with a short-lived Info-Mania Sunday in 2007. That was the same year Wal-Mart called for Friday to be stretched over two days - a 48-hour Black Friday to accommodate its deals. This year, social coupon site Groupon wins "Most Creative" with the introduction of Grouponicus, a "holiday" when deals last longer than the usual one day.
"Believers acknowledge that all other winter holidays are obsolete," states one of the tenets of Grouponicus. "
I don't know if you remember, but Sears had a Christmas in July weekend last summer.
"The retail industry has shaped our celebration of Christmas even before the first miracle on 34th Street. In 1939, as the country was recovering from the Great Depression, retailers lobbied President Franklin D. Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving one week earlier to give people more time to shop for the holidays, ostensibly to boost the economy. He caved, but Congress changed it back to the last Thursday of November within two years.
Two generations later, stores are in the same position and are turning to the same techniques."
The same old idea that our spending will boost the economy prevails. We even go so far as to turn the clocks back for supposed "daylight savings" in hopes of spurring more after-work spending.
"So retailers are ginning gin up special occasions for us to shop. There can be kernels of real consumer behavior trends behind them - online retailers saw spikes in sales before they coined the term "Cyber Monday" five years ago,for example - but the equation can flip quickly. Often, it is now the sales that are in search of shoppers, rather than the other way around. Anyone want a $19.99 Martha Stewart enamel cast-iron pot, down from $39.99 at Macy's?
Anyone?"
All her crap's from China (just like everything else), gives the ILLUSION of quality (but isn't), and is soooooo overpriced! You're paying for her name.
"I wonder what would happen if retailers just relaxed and consumers shopped free-range, grazing stores at their own speed. If no one worried that they had missed the Biggest Sale of the Year! Or, worse, that they were duped because the true Biggest Sale of the Year! was still to come.
I do love a good deal. But the limited-time-only pressure can be bruising, and I like to believe that we would still shop - and more merrily - without it. Surely it can't be necessary to camp outside a Best Buy a full 10 days before Black Friday, as the company said one family did this year at a store in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Maybe instead of busting down the doors, we could just amble through them. That's not what the retailers want, though. They want our calendars filled, so that now, three days after Thanksgiving, I already feel behind."
Let's not forget--retailers learn from their marketing mistakes. What "bargains" you may have found this year won't be found next year. Fewer coupons, fewer codes, fewer gift cards, fewer markdowns, even OLDER merchandise, and even LESS in-stocks (like the 1-minute flat-screen TV sale at WallyWorld, with a total of 2 in stock) will be the name of the game in future years, so you may as well learn to bargain-hunt all the rest of the year like we frugalites do.
I like the Italian custom better: EAT on December 25th, give gifts on January 6th.
Friday, November 26, 2010
"Look Ma--No Grains!" Potato Candy
I said I was going to post this as a stand-alone recipe from Elizabeth Van Horn, but it's difficult when you have no specific ingredient measurements. I went looking for a potato candy recipe, and found THOUSANDS! Here's the simplest one I could find.
Potato Candy
1/2 (or 1 small) boiled potato
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
Mash potato, add butter, vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make a slightly stiff dough. Roll out dough (on a surface dusted with powdered sugar) and spread on the peanut butter. Roll dough up (as for jelly roll) to make a log. Cut into pieces, let air dry for about an hour. Store in air tight container. Makes about 2 dozen confections.
--Sue Broussard, Abbeville, Louisiana
There are scads of variations available--some add raisins, coconut, chocolate, different flavorings, crushed nuts, and even jam. One even says to roll each candy in crushed nuts before wrapping. I guess this can also be a What-Ya-Got candy recipe too!
Potato Candy
1/2 (or 1 small) boiled potato
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
Mash potato, add butter, vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make a slightly stiff dough. Roll out dough (on a surface dusted with powdered sugar) and spread on the peanut butter. Roll dough up (as for jelly roll) to make a log. Cut into pieces, let air dry for about an hour. Store in air tight container. Makes about 2 dozen confections.
--Sue Broussard, Abbeville, Louisiana
There are scads of variations available--some add raisins, coconut, chocolate, different flavorings, crushed nuts, and even jam. One even says to roll each candy in crushed nuts before wrapping. I guess this can also be a What-Ya-Got candy recipe too!
Divided We Eat--What Food Says About Class in America
From Newsweek. I think it's more like what money and nutritional knowledge say about class, but hey, that's just me.
"For breakfast, I usually have a cappuccino—espresso made in an Alessi pot and mixed with organic milk, which has been gently heated and hand-fluffed by my husband. I eat two slices of imported cheese—Dutch Parrano, the label says, “the hippest cheese in New York” (no joke)—on homemade bread with butter. I am what you might call a food snob. My nutritionist neighbor drinks a protein shake while her 5-year-old son eats quinoa porridge sweetened with applesauce and laced with kale flakes. She is what you might call a health nut. On a recent morning, my neighbor’s friend Alexandra Ferguson sipped politically correct Nicaraguan coffee in her comfy kitchen while her two young boys chose from among an assortment of organic cereals. As we sat, the six chickens Ferguson and her husband, Dave, keep for eggs in a backyard coop peered indoors from the stoop. The Fergusons are known as locavores."
...
"In some neighborhoods, a lawyer who raises chickens in her backyard might be considered eccentric, but we live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a community that accommodates and celebrates every kind of foodie. Whether you believe in eating for pleasure, for health, for justice, or for some idealized vision of family life, you will find neighbors who reflect your food values. In Park Slope, the contents of a child’s lunchbox can be fodder for a 20-minute conversation."
...
"...less than five miles away, some children don’t have enough to eat; others exist almost exclusively on junk food. Alexandra concedes that her approach is probably out of reach for those people. Though they are not wealthy by Park Slope standards—Alexandra works part time and Dave is employed by the city—the Fergusons spend approximately 20 percent of their income, or $1,000 a month, on food. The average American spends 13 percent, including restaurants and takeout."
...
“I can’t convince my brother to spend another dime on food,” adds Dave.
“This is our charity. This is my giving to the world,” says Alexandra, finally, as she packs lunchboxes—organic peanut butter and jelly on grainy bread, a yogurt, and a clementine—for her two boys. “We contribute a lot.”
...
"According to data released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17 percent of Americans—more than 50 million people—live in households that are “food insecure,” a term that means a family sometimes runs out of money to buy food, or it sometimes runs out of food before it can get more money. Food insecurity is especially high in households headed by a single mother. It is most severe in the South, and in big cities."
...
"Food insecurity is linked, of course, to other economic measures like housing and employment, so it surprised no one that the biggest surge in food insecurity since the agency established the measure in 1995 occurred between 2007 and 2008, at the start of the economic downturn. (The 2009 numbers, released last week, showed little change.) The proportion of households that qualify as “hungry”—with what the USDA calls “very low food security”—is small, about 6 percent. Reflected against the obsessive concerns of the foodies in my circle, and the glare of attention given to the plight of the poor and hungry abroad, even a fraction of starving children in America seems too high.
Mine seems on some level like a naive complaint. There have always been rich people and poor people in America and, in a capitalist economy, the well-to-do have always had the freedom to indulge themselves as they please. In hard times, food has always marked a bright border between the haves and the have-nots. In the earliest days of the Depression, as the poor waited on bread lines, the middle and upper classes in America became devoted to fad diets. Followers of the Hollywood 18-Day Diet, writes Harvey Levenstein in his 1993 book Paradox of Plenty, “could live on fewer than six hundred calories a day by limiting each meal to half a grapefruit, melba toast, coffee without cream or sugar, and, at lunch and dinner, some raw vegetables.”
...
"...what you eat for dinner has become the definitive marker of social status; as the distance between rich and poor continues to grow, the freshest, most nutritious foods have become luxury goods that only some can afford."
...
"Corpulence used to signify the prosperity of a few but has now become a marker of poverty. Obesity has risen as the income gap has widened: more than a third of U.S. adults and 17 percent of children are obese, and the problem is acute among the poor. While obesity is a complex problem—genetics, environment, and activity level all play a role—a 2008 study by the USDA found that children and women on food stamps were likelier to be overweight than those who were not."
...
"...Americans’ food choices correlate to social class. He argues that the most nutritious diet—lots of fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fish, and grains—is beyond the reach of the poorest Americans, and it is economic elitism for nutritionists to uphold it as an ideal without broadly addressing issues of affordability. Lower-income families don’t subsist on junk food and fast food because they lack nutritional education, as some have argued. And though many poor neighborhoods are, indeed, food deserts—meaning that the people who live there don’t have access to a well-stocked supermarket—many are not. Lower-income families choose sugary, fat, and processed foods because they’re cheaper—and because they taste good."
And it doesn't help that food manufacturers are catering to our tongues and wallets, and not our overall health and long-term financial well-being.
"Time is just part of the problem, Davis explains, as she prepares Sunday dinner in her cheerful kitchen. Tonight she’s making fried chicken wings with bottled barbecue sauce; yellow rice from a box; black beans from a can; broccoli; and carrots, cooked in olive oil and honey. A home-cooked dinner doesn’t happen every night. On weeknights, everyone gets home, exhausted—and then there’s homework. Several nights a week, they get takeout: Chinese, or Domino’s, or McDonald’s. Davis doesn’t buy fruits and vegetables mostly because they’re too expensive, and in the markets where she usually shops, they’re not fresh. “I buy bananas and bring them home and 10 minutes later they’re no good…Whole Foods sells fresh, beautiful tomatoes,” she says. “Here, they’re packaged and full of chemicals anyway. So I mostly buy canned foods.”
This is the BIG reason why it's not so smart to have kids out of wedlock--you have to become proprietor, chief cook, AND bottle-washer. Just being a stay-at-home mom is a job in itself (24/7 on call). Add kids and no spouse to share the load, and the load has doubled.
"Even more idiosyncratic than our obsession with nutrition, says Fischler, is that Americans see food choice as a matter of personal freedom, an inalienable right. Americans want to eat what they want: morels or Big Macs. They want to eat where they want, in the car or alfresco. And they want to eat when they want. With the exception of Thanksgiving, when most of us dine off the same turkey menu, we are food libertarians. In surveys, Fischler has found no single time of day (or night) when Americans predictably sit together and eat. By contrast, 54 percent of the French dine at 12:30 each day. Only 9.5 percent of the French are obese.
When I was a child I was commanded to “eat your eggs. There are starving children in Africa.” And when I was old enough to think for myself, I could easily see that my own eaten or uneaten eggs would not do a single thing to help the children of Africa. This is the Brooklyn conundrum, playing out all over the country. Locally produced food is more delicious than the stuff you get in the supermarket; it’s better for the small farmers and the farm animals; and, as a movement, it’s better for the environment. It’s easy—and probably healthy, if you can afford it—to make that choice as an individual or a family, says the New York University nutritionist Marion Nestle. Bridging the divide is much harder. “Choosing local or organic is something you can actually do. It’s very difficult for people to get involved in policy.”
...
"Even the locavore hero Pollan agrees. “Essentially,” he says, “we have a system where wealthy farmers feed the poor crap and poor farmers feed the wealthy high-quality food.” He points to Walmart’s recent announcement of a program that will put more locally grown food on its shelves as an indication that big retailers are looking to sell fresh produce in a scalable way. These fruits and vegetables might not be organic, but the goal, says Pollan, is not to be absolutist in one’s food ideology. “I argue for being conscious,” he says, “but perfectionism is an enemy of progress.” Pollan sees a future where, in an effort to fight diabetes and obesity, health-insurance companies are advocates for small and medium-size farmers."
...
“To get good food, you really got to sacrifice a lot. It’s expensive. But I take that sacrifice, because it’s worth it.” Suluki uses his food stamps at the farmers’ market. He sorts through the rotten fruit at the local supermarket. He travels to Queens, when he can get a ride, and buys cheap meat in bulk. He is adamant that it is the responsibility of parents to feed their children good food in moderate portions, and that it’s possible to do so on a fixed income."
My Food Stamp Challenge clearly shows that! If people would think beyond the tongue and think about the brain and the body, maybe it would come to them. Seeing the relationships between low-quality foods and low-quality school performance ought to be enough, but sadly, some parents come from families who've suffered the same outcome for generations, and now it's ingrained and expected. If you want to get ahead, feed your head (and not with drugs!).
"For breakfast, I usually have a cappuccino—espresso made in an Alessi pot and mixed with organic milk, which has been gently heated and hand-fluffed by my husband. I eat two slices of imported cheese—Dutch Parrano, the label says, “the hippest cheese in New York” (no joke)—on homemade bread with butter. I am what you might call a food snob. My nutritionist neighbor drinks a protein shake while her 5-year-old son eats quinoa porridge sweetened with applesauce and laced with kale flakes. She is what you might call a health nut. On a recent morning, my neighbor’s friend Alexandra Ferguson sipped politically correct Nicaraguan coffee in her comfy kitchen while her two young boys chose from among an assortment of organic cereals. As we sat, the six chickens Ferguson and her husband, Dave, keep for eggs in a backyard coop peered indoors from the stoop. The Fergusons are known as locavores."
...
"In some neighborhoods, a lawyer who raises chickens in her backyard might be considered eccentric, but we live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a community that accommodates and celebrates every kind of foodie. Whether you believe in eating for pleasure, for health, for justice, or for some idealized vision of family life, you will find neighbors who reflect your food values. In Park Slope, the contents of a child’s lunchbox can be fodder for a 20-minute conversation."
...
"...less than five miles away, some children don’t have enough to eat; others exist almost exclusively on junk food. Alexandra concedes that her approach is probably out of reach for those people. Though they are not wealthy by Park Slope standards—Alexandra works part time and Dave is employed by the city—the Fergusons spend approximately 20 percent of their income, or $1,000 a month, on food. The average American spends 13 percent, including restaurants and takeout."
...
“I can’t convince my brother to spend another dime on food,” adds Dave.
“This is our charity. This is my giving to the world,” says Alexandra, finally, as she packs lunchboxes—organic peanut butter and jelly on grainy bread, a yogurt, and a clementine—for her two boys. “We contribute a lot.”
...
"According to data released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17 percent of Americans—more than 50 million people—live in households that are “food insecure,” a term that means a family sometimes runs out of money to buy food, or it sometimes runs out of food before it can get more money. Food insecurity is especially high in households headed by a single mother. It is most severe in the South, and in big cities."
...
"Food insecurity is linked, of course, to other economic measures like housing and employment, so it surprised no one that the biggest surge in food insecurity since the agency established the measure in 1995 occurred between 2007 and 2008, at the start of the economic downturn. (The 2009 numbers, released last week, showed little change.) The proportion of households that qualify as “hungry”—with what the USDA calls “very low food security”—is small, about 6 percent. Reflected against the obsessive concerns of the foodies in my circle, and the glare of attention given to the plight of the poor and hungry abroad, even a fraction of starving children in America seems too high.
Mine seems on some level like a naive complaint. There have always been rich people and poor people in America and, in a capitalist economy, the well-to-do have always had the freedom to indulge themselves as they please. In hard times, food has always marked a bright border between the haves and the have-nots. In the earliest days of the Depression, as the poor waited on bread lines, the middle and upper classes in America became devoted to fad diets. Followers of the Hollywood 18-Day Diet, writes Harvey Levenstein in his 1993 book Paradox of Plenty, “could live on fewer than six hundred calories a day by limiting each meal to half a grapefruit, melba toast, coffee without cream or sugar, and, at lunch and dinner, some raw vegetables.”
...
"...what you eat for dinner has become the definitive marker of social status; as the distance between rich and poor continues to grow, the freshest, most nutritious foods have become luxury goods that only some can afford."
...
"Corpulence used to signify the prosperity of a few but has now become a marker of poverty. Obesity has risen as the income gap has widened: more than a third of U.S. adults and 17 percent of children are obese, and the problem is acute among the poor. While obesity is a complex problem—genetics, environment, and activity level all play a role—a 2008 study by the USDA found that children and women on food stamps were likelier to be overweight than those who were not."
...
"...Americans’ food choices correlate to social class. He argues that the most nutritious diet—lots of fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fish, and grains—is beyond the reach of the poorest Americans, and it is economic elitism for nutritionists to uphold it as an ideal without broadly addressing issues of affordability. Lower-income families don’t subsist on junk food and fast food because they lack nutritional education, as some have argued. And though many poor neighborhoods are, indeed, food deserts—meaning that the people who live there don’t have access to a well-stocked supermarket—many are not. Lower-income families choose sugary, fat, and processed foods because they’re cheaper—and because they taste good."
And it doesn't help that food manufacturers are catering to our tongues and wallets, and not our overall health and long-term financial well-being.
"Time is just part of the problem, Davis explains, as she prepares Sunday dinner in her cheerful kitchen. Tonight she’s making fried chicken wings with bottled barbecue sauce; yellow rice from a box; black beans from a can; broccoli; and carrots, cooked in olive oil and honey. A home-cooked dinner doesn’t happen every night. On weeknights, everyone gets home, exhausted—and then there’s homework. Several nights a week, they get takeout: Chinese, or Domino’s, or McDonald’s. Davis doesn’t buy fruits and vegetables mostly because they’re too expensive, and in the markets where she usually shops, they’re not fresh. “I buy bananas and bring them home and 10 minutes later they’re no good…Whole Foods sells fresh, beautiful tomatoes,” she says. “Here, they’re packaged and full of chemicals anyway. So I mostly buy canned foods.”
This is the BIG reason why it's not so smart to have kids out of wedlock--you have to become proprietor, chief cook, AND bottle-washer. Just being a stay-at-home mom is a job in itself (24/7 on call). Add kids and no spouse to share the load, and the load has doubled.
"Even more idiosyncratic than our obsession with nutrition, says Fischler, is that Americans see food choice as a matter of personal freedom, an inalienable right. Americans want to eat what they want: morels or Big Macs. They want to eat where they want, in the car or alfresco. And they want to eat when they want. With the exception of Thanksgiving, when most of us dine off the same turkey menu, we are food libertarians. In surveys, Fischler has found no single time of day (or night) when Americans predictably sit together and eat. By contrast, 54 percent of the French dine at 12:30 each day. Only 9.5 percent of the French are obese.
When I was a child I was commanded to “eat your eggs. There are starving children in Africa.” And when I was old enough to think for myself, I could easily see that my own eaten or uneaten eggs would not do a single thing to help the children of Africa. This is the Brooklyn conundrum, playing out all over the country. Locally produced food is more delicious than the stuff you get in the supermarket; it’s better for the small farmers and the farm animals; and, as a movement, it’s better for the environment. It’s easy—and probably healthy, if you can afford it—to make that choice as an individual or a family, says the New York University nutritionist Marion Nestle. Bridging the divide is much harder. “Choosing local or organic is something you can actually do. It’s very difficult for people to get involved in policy.”
...
"Even the locavore hero Pollan agrees. “Essentially,” he says, “we have a system where wealthy farmers feed the poor crap and poor farmers feed the wealthy high-quality food.” He points to Walmart’s recent announcement of a program that will put more locally grown food on its shelves as an indication that big retailers are looking to sell fresh produce in a scalable way. These fruits and vegetables might not be organic, but the goal, says Pollan, is not to be absolutist in one’s food ideology. “I argue for being conscious,” he says, “but perfectionism is an enemy of progress.” Pollan sees a future where, in an effort to fight diabetes and obesity, health-insurance companies are advocates for small and medium-size farmers."
...
“To get good food, you really got to sacrifice a lot. It’s expensive. But I take that sacrifice, because it’s worth it.” Suluki uses his food stamps at the farmers’ market. He sorts through the rotten fruit at the local supermarket. He travels to Queens, when he can get a ride, and buys cheap meat in bulk. He is adamant that it is the responsibility of parents to feed their children good food in moderate portions, and that it’s possible to do so on a fixed income."
My Food Stamp Challenge clearly shows that! If people would think beyond the tongue and think about the brain and the body, maybe it would come to them. Seeing the relationships between low-quality foods and low-quality school performance ought to be enough, but sadly, some parents come from families who've suffered the same outcome for generations, and now it's ingrained and expected. If you want to get ahead, feed your head (and not with drugs!).
Thursday, November 25, 2010
New Thanksgiving Leftover Idea
If you have any unused packaged stuffing left over, use the food processor to turn them into bread crumbs. Use these crumbs as you would regular bread crumbs--just remember these may already be seasoned.
Make mind-blowing meat loaves, shake-n-bake turkey or chicken parts (remember Shake-n-Bake?), put into or on top of casseroles, whatever comes to mind.
Make mind-blowing meat loaves, shake-n-bake turkey or chicken parts (remember Shake-n-Bake?), put into or on top of casseroles, whatever comes to mind.
More Gift Card Fraud--New Jersey Man Caught Stealing $80k in Gift Cards
From NJ.com This is different than the Wisconsin man I wrote about previously, who stole gift card information and sold bogus gift cards online.
"Six months ago, a thief walked into the ShopRite store on West Edgar Road in Linden, unplugged a credit card swipe machine and walked out.
For months, as police and store officials tracked his activity, the thief hacked into the credit card system and stole nearly $80,000 from the company by loading gift cards and prepaid credit cards with money from ShopRite’s account, authorities said."
...
"Police traced Perez, 56, using the credit card machine’s internet protocol address, which links a computer online to a physical location. He faces charges of theft and receiving of stolen property.
"Basically he stole a reader that connects to a processor and issued himself gift cards," said Karen Meleta, a spokeswoman for the ShopRite.
The device that was stolen in May is commonplace: it’s one of the small plastic units customers use to swipe their credit and debit cards when buying groceries, Linden Detective Lt. James Sarnicki said.
Meleta said no customer credit card data was compromised. Instead, Sarnicki said, Perez allegedly hooked the machine up to either a phone line or a computer and added money to Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards and refillable Visa cards. Police believe he then sold the cards to unwitting customers."
...
"Perez was sent to Union County Jail in lieu of $180,000 bail, but his alleged crime remains under investigation by ShopRite, Linden police and the United States Secret Service. That’s because the scam relied on a secret store code that may indicate cooperation from a ShopRite employee, police said.
"He could know any number of people who had access to the inner workings at ShopRite," said Sarnicki.
Meleta said that the company is investigating, but has no reason to believe that an employee had revealed the code.
"To lose $75,000 or $80,000, that’s a lot of money, and the guy is riding a gravy train, saying, ‘Look what I’m getting away with,’" Sarnicki said. "It’s a constant battle for us in law enforcement to keep up with criminals, with the way technology is progressing."
This is the best gift card to give this year--hell, any year.
"Six months ago, a thief walked into the ShopRite store on West Edgar Road in Linden, unplugged a credit card swipe machine and walked out.
For months, as police and store officials tracked his activity, the thief hacked into the credit card system and stole nearly $80,000 from the company by loading gift cards and prepaid credit cards with money from ShopRite’s account, authorities said."
...
"Police traced Perez, 56, using the credit card machine’s internet protocol address, which links a computer online to a physical location. He faces charges of theft and receiving of stolen property.
"Basically he stole a reader that connects to a processor and issued himself gift cards," said Karen Meleta, a spokeswoman for the ShopRite.
The device that was stolen in May is commonplace: it’s one of the small plastic units customers use to swipe their credit and debit cards when buying groceries, Linden Detective Lt. James Sarnicki said.
Meleta said no customer credit card data was compromised. Instead, Sarnicki said, Perez allegedly hooked the machine up to either a phone line or a computer and added money to Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards and refillable Visa cards. Police believe he then sold the cards to unwitting customers."
...
"Perez was sent to Union County Jail in lieu of $180,000 bail, but his alleged crime remains under investigation by ShopRite, Linden police and the United States Secret Service. That’s because the scam relied on a secret store code that may indicate cooperation from a ShopRite employee, police said.
"He could know any number of people who had access to the inner workings at ShopRite," said Sarnicki.
Meleta said that the company is investigating, but has no reason to believe that an employee had revealed the code.
"To lose $75,000 or $80,000, that’s a lot of money, and the guy is riding a gravy train, saying, ‘Look what I’m getting away with,’" Sarnicki said. "It’s a constant battle for us in law enforcement to keep up with criminals, with the way technology is progressing."
This is the best gift card to give this year--hell, any year.
How to Save Money in the Garden
From Reuters.
"The slow economy has prompted more people to garden than have in many years. So what if they pay for the privilege? You could argue that it is a fun and healthy hobby and "saving" money is only an afterthought. Maybe so, but it's nice to save money in the garden, too. Here's how."
1. Compost--even a little: Throwing table scraps (not meat or dairy) into a bin in the corner of your garden will yield rich soil additives, so you won't have to buy them at $4 a bag.
2. Focus on exotic foods: Don't waste your time and money growing basic tomatoes and peppers; they are on sale at the grocery and farmers' market right around the same time your crop comes in. Instead, choose unusual varieties that are always expensive: heirloom tomatoes, Italian peppers, white eggplant.
My own gardening books say to bypass the "truck" vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions) because they're cheap all year round, and go for stuff that's more expensive to buy, preferred species, or organics.
3. Grow herbs: They are probably the most cost-effective item you can put in your garden. Grow basil and coriander from seed; they grow like weeds in many climates. One packet, sprinkled into a planter, will yield enough little plants to keep you and your neighbors in salsa and pesto for a year. You can also use herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage for landscaping. In many climates they'll come back year after year, and look as pretty as the kinds of flowers that you can't eat. If you have a big space to fill and don't mind mint taking over your yard, plant mint. It will take over entire neighborhoods, something you can think about while you're making your own tea and juleps.
An example of how cost-effective herbs are: next time you go to a store, price out spices at cost-per-pound--you'll find that they're in the double-digits, even at warehouse stores (the warehouse stores are just lower double-digits). The smaller the container of spice, the higher the cost per pound.
4. Invest in smaller big plants: Little trees, shrubs and bushes adjust more easily to their new habitats, and they are WAY cheaper than big plants. It's not worth paying for the big tomato plants they often have at the home improvement centers. They are costly, and the little plants will catch up quickly once it's warm and sunny in your garden.
5. Sharecrop with your neighbor: Don't have space? Have too much space? Split the costs of one garden and let the garden enthusiast plant in the yard of the I-hate-to-garden neighbor. Split the crop fairly.
6. Get plants for free: Check Craig's list, Freecycle (www.freecycle.org), and your local gardening club for trades and give-aways. Gardening enthusiasts are always dividing plants and not knowing what to do with extras. You can often get good sized bushes for free from landscapers, too: They are always digging out something their customers don't want so they can plant what they do. You can take the old plants off their hands.
Also, call real estate companies to get permission to clip or dig on foreclosed or for sale properties. Call the city before clipping or digging at abandoned homes. You can also clip at local/state/regional/federal parks (with permission), and in open fields for free.
7. Don't fall for the seed-starting kits: By the time you add in the peat pots, starting soil, sun lamps and more, you'll end up paying extra for each tomato. Wait until late in the planting season and buy your plants at discount through the local garden center, hardware store, or at your local farmers' market, where growers are increasingly adding plants. If you've got the green thumb and want to start your own from seed, use egg cartons instead of buying pots.
8. Shrink your lawn: A smaller lawn means more space for flowers that you can cut and give away as gifts. It also means less space that eats up water, fertilizer and mowing time.
Don't shrink it around trees, because those trees shed leaves that are valuable to your compost and garden, and you certainly don't want leaves falling INTO your garden as it grows fall/winter veggies for you--they block the light.
9. Share big tools: You can rent a gas-powered tiller for the day. You can share the costs and the use of items like trimmers and tillers if you buy them with your neighbors.
10. Eat more plant parts than you planned: Turnip, radish and garlic greens are all delicious and nutritious. So, as more people are discovering, are dandelion greens.
These greens also make wonderful salads when "normal" salad greens are out of season.
11. Freeze as much as possible while it's fresh: Even if you don't grow them yourself, you can buy berries cheap when berries are in season, corn when corn is in season.
You can also dehydrate--dried foods don't take electricity to store. Dried foods can be rehydrated by soaking in water.
12. Be lazy: Leave pulled weeds and spent vegetable plants in the garden at the end of the summer. Turn them into the soil sometime during the fall. Another $4 bag of soil enrichment you don't have to buy.
Here's what this lazy wench did: first, she consulted a few recent gardening books to simplify the task of gardening, since this was her first real opportunity to garden from scratch.
From these, she determined the size and location of her existing plot was all wrong--too much work for too few results.
After watching the sun patterns, she found the right spot--one that provides at least 8 hours/day of light. Dirt was dug down to a 12" level, and wet newspaper sections laid out at the base, the the hole refilled with new dirt mix.
The new plot would be long and narrow (3' X 12'), so she wouldn't actually have to GET INTO it to work. The new plot would also contain a new dirt mix, and plants planted closer together (wide row planting) to crowd out weeds, making less work. Three feet of space was left open on all sides of the plot for mowing around it, and kneeling to reach into it to care for and pick plants.
With the new dirt mix (equal amounts of compost, peat moss, vermiculite to hold water, gypsum to break up clay, and 10-10-10 fertilizer) and the new plant layout, there was nothing left to do but stand back and water when the rains were few and far between. This is going to come in handy this winter when it will be too cold to go out and mess around in the back yard.
We'll see what next summer brings, besides a rotation of crops to summer growers. There's no intention of changing the soil mix--maybe adding a little compost on top, but that's all. It's working, so we're sticking with it.
This plot was done in September, and fall/winter crops have needed no weeding, and little watering. Salad greens and broccoli are growing like mad, and are said to stand up to frost and freezes well. I can say they also stand up to cut-and-come-again treatment (all but the broccoli), as we're frequent salad-eaters.
"The slow economy has prompted more people to garden than have in many years. So what if they pay for the privilege? You could argue that it is a fun and healthy hobby and "saving" money is only an afterthought. Maybe so, but it's nice to save money in the garden, too. Here's how."
1. Compost--even a little: Throwing table scraps (not meat or dairy) into a bin in the corner of your garden will yield rich soil additives, so you won't have to buy them at $4 a bag.
2. Focus on exotic foods: Don't waste your time and money growing basic tomatoes and peppers; they are on sale at the grocery and farmers' market right around the same time your crop comes in. Instead, choose unusual varieties that are always expensive: heirloom tomatoes, Italian peppers, white eggplant.
My own gardening books say to bypass the "truck" vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions) because they're cheap all year round, and go for stuff that's more expensive to buy, preferred species, or organics.
3. Grow herbs: They are probably the most cost-effective item you can put in your garden. Grow basil and coriander from seed; they grow like weeds in many climates. One packet, sprinkled into a planter, will yield enough little plants to keep you and your neighbors in salsa and pesto for a year. You can also use herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage for landscaping. In many climates they'll come back year after year, and look as pretty as the kinds of flowers that you can't eat. If you have a big space to fill and don't mind mint taking over your yard, plant mint. It will take over entire neighborhoods, something you can think about while you're making your own tea and juleps.
An example of how cost-effective herbs are: next time you go to a store, price out spices at cost-per-pound--you'll find that they're in the double-digits, even at warehouse stores (the warehouse stores are just lower double-digits). The smaller the container of spice, the higher the cost per pound.
4. Invest in smaller big plants: Little trees, shrubs and bushes adjust more easily to their new habitats, and they are WAY cheaper than big plants. It's not worth paying for the big tomato plants they often have at the home improvement centers. They are costly, and the little plants will catch up quickly once it's warm and sunny in your garden.
5. Sharecrop with your neighbor: Don't have space? Have too much space? Split the costs of one garden and let the garden enthusiast plant in the yard of the I-hate-to-garden neighbor. Split the crop fairly.
6. Get plants for free: Check Craig's list, Freecycle (www.freecycle.org), and your local gardening club for trades and give-aways. Gardening enthusiasts are always dividing plants and not knowing what to do with extras. You can often get good sized bushes for free from landscapers, too: They are always digging out something their customers don't want so they can plant what they do. You can take the old plants off their hands.
Also, call real estate companies to get permission to clip or dig on foreclosed or for sale properties. Call the city before clipping or digging at abandoned homes. You can also clip at local/state/regional/federal parks (with permission), and in open fields for free.
7. Don't fall for the seed-starting kits: By the time you add in the peat pots, starting soil, sun lamps and more, you'll end up paying extra for each tomato. Wait until late in the planting season and buy your plants at discount through the local garden center, hardware store, or at your local farmers' market, where growers are increasingly adding plants. If you've got the green thumb and want to start your own from seed, use egg cartons instead of buying pots.
8. Shrink your lawn: A smaller lawn means more space for flowers that you can cut and give away as gifts. It also means less space that eats up water, fertilizer and mowing time.
Don't shrink it around trees, because those trees shed leaves that are valuable to your compost and garden, and you certainly don't want leaves falling INTO your garden as it grows fall/winter veggies for you--they block the light.
9. Share big tools: You can rent a gas-powered tiller for the day. You can share the costs and the use of items like trimmers and tillers if you buy them with your neighbors.
10. Eat more plant parts than you planned: Turnip, radish and garlic greens are all delicious and nutritious. So, as more people are discovering, are dandelion greens.
These greens also make wonderful salads when "normal" salad greens are out of season.
11. Freeze as much as possible while it's fresh: Even if you don't grow them yourself, you can buy berries cheap when berries are in season, corn when corn is in season.
You can also dehydrate--dried foods don't take electricity to store. Dried foods can be rehydrated by soaking in water.
12. Be lazy: Leave pulled weeds and spent vegetable plants in the garden at the end of the summer. Turn them into the soil sometime during the fall. Another $4 bag of soil enrichment you don't have to buy.
Here's what this lazy wench did: first, she consulted a few recent gardening books to simplify the task of gardening, since this was her first real opportunity to garden from scratch.
From these, she determined the size and location of her existing plot was all wrong--too much work for too few results.
After watching the sun patterns, she found the right spot--one that provides at least 8 hours/day of light. Dirt was dug down to a 12" level, and wet newspaper sections laid out at the base, the the hole refilled with new dirt mix.
The new plot would be long and narrow (3' X 12'), so she wouldn't actually have to GET INTO it to work. The new plot would also contain a new dirt mix, and plants planted closer together (wide row planting) to crowd out weeds, making less work. Three feet of space was left open on all sides of the plot for mowing around it, and kneeling to reach into it to care for and pick plants.
With the new dirt mix (equal amounts of compost, peat moss, vermiculite to hold water, gypsum to break up clay, and 10-10-10 fertilizer) and the new plant layout, there was nothing left to do but stand back and water when the rains were few and far between. This is going to come in handy this winter when it will be too cold to go out and mess around in the back yard.
We'll see what next summer brings, besides a rotation of crops to summer growers. There's no intention of changing the soil mix--maybe adding a little compost on top, but that's all. It's working, so we're sticking with it.
This plot was done in September, and fall/winter crops have needed no weeding, and little watering. Salad greens and broccoli are growing like mad, and are said to stand up to frost and freezes well. I can say they also stand up to cut-and-come-again treatment (all but the broccoli), as we're frequent salad-eaters.
12 Holiday Money Mistakes to Avoid
From Yahoo News.
"Regardless of the size of your bank account, you'll save plenty if you can avoid common holiday traps. Some are laid by retailers hungry for cash while others are simply a result of poor planning.
Here's a look at 12 holiday money mistakes to avoid:
1. Discount fixation.
Retailers advertise deep discounts to get you to bite. But don't take them at their word without comparing prices. A store's sale price may reflect a markdown from the regular price, but there's no guarantee the manufacturer's suggested retail price isn't actually lower. Think more about the item you're buying.
"The stupidest thing people do is focus more on price than on quality," says Dan de Grandpre, editor-in-chief of Dealnews.com. "Especially on Black Friday. You see really low prices because in many cases it's cheap stuff."
Avoid unfamiliar brands, be wary of the cheap version of name brands and don't go crazy for bogus bargains on footwear, apparel, power tools or anything else, cautions Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at the NPD Group.
2. No budget.
Skipping a holiday spending budget is a surefire way to overspend. Make a list that includes amounts for each person you want to buy a gift for and stick to it. Be sure to create an overall budget that factors in other holiday-related expenses. Without a plan, you'll get caught up in the hype and go for the feel-good purchase.
The American Financial Services Association Education Foundation offers an online worksheet to help you create a holiday spending plan; visit http://www.afsaef.org/HolidaySpending.cfm. Besides planning your gift list, it helps you track spending on decorations, cards, travel and entertaining.
3. Debit dangers.
Debit cards carry the advantage of taking money from your account and not saddling you with future payments. But using them on big items is risky because they don't offer the purchase protections that credit cards do. For instance, if you fail to report any misuse of your bank account within two days, you may be liable for the first $500 billed to your debit card instead of the first $50.
If you have a problem with a purchase you made on a debit card, you may eventually get your money back. But it will be much more trouble and take longer than if a credit card had been used, according to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
4. Return policy missteps.
Tossing away receipts can be costly. Their obvious value is for exchanges or returns, but there's another plus too: If the price is lowered after you buy an item, a receipt should enable you to get a credit for the difference. Be aware that return policies are changing, however, and retailers are increasingly refusing some returns or giving gift cards for the amount in question. Certain stores are particularly diligent about tracking returns. If your credit card shows you return items too often, you may be stuck, according to de Grandpre. Also make sure you understand a website's return policy if you're shopping online.
5. Being low-tech.
Smart phones are changing how we shop. Scores of consumers are following their favorite brands and retailers on social networking sites likes Twitter and Facebook, and retailers are taking full advantage. It's much easier for businesses to launch and retract deals online where matching inventory with demand is less of a challenge. Coupons and last-minute offers can arrive as e-mail alerts or through social network accounts. Smart phone apps like Coupon Sherpa also provide in-the-moment help. It enables iPhone users to search coupons by category or store name, and find the nearest location. According to Deloitte Research, nearly one in five shoppers plans to use a cell phone during the shopping process.
6. Extended warranties.
Here's when to buy an extended warranty, says Greg Daugherty, executive editor of Consumer Reports: "Basically never." The manufacturer's warranty should protect you against any defect for up to a year, and the cost of protection beyond that generally isn't worth it. Instead of wasting anywhere from tens to hundreds of dollars on an extended warranty, put some extra cash in your emergency fund to help cover possible repairs or replacements.
7. Black Friday blunders.
Black Friday can be a shopper's dream. But long lines and overzealous crowds can really wear you down and make it harder to spend wisely. So map out a plan in advance and read the fine print on early-morning doorbuster deals. At 5 a.m., you may have a slim chance of landing the lone 45-inch flat-screen TV offered at one store and much better odds for the less spectacular bargain down the road. Planning is important throughout the shopping season. Check the website of each store you plan to visit for the latest bargains, and make a list of what you want to buy from each store.
8. Gift card gaps.
Give gift cards another look if you've spurned buying them because of fees and other issues. Thanks to recent rule changes, this is the first holiday season in which any gift card purchased cannot expire for at least five years. What's more, inactivity and other fees are banned in the first year. Still, you should beware of buying gift cards through online auction sites or classified ads. They may be counterfeit and could have been obtained illegally.
9. Shipping costs.
Free shipping is easier than ever to find. Giant retailers are dangling it as an inducement to spend. Wal-Mart, Target and J.C. Penney are among the retailers promoting free shipping programs. More than 1,000 merchants also are participating in Free Shipping Day on Dec. 17. Even if you don't get free shipping, don't wait too long or you'll blow your budget to ship to out-of-town friends and family.
10. Store credit cards.
Saving 20 percent on a single large purchase might sound worth it. But remember that retailers promote their store cards because they come out ahead on interest and late fees. Interest rates of more than 20 percent are quite common. That's what you'll find at the Gap and Macy's, among many others. Signing up for a store's credit card and then canceling after a short period, even if you pay it off on time, can harm your credit score. If you apply, be very selective.
11. Exposing your ID.
Grab deals from the comfort of your living room but take precautions to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft, which costs U.S. consumers more than $50 billion a year. Only do business with websites that are properly secure. A common indicator that it's OK to enter confidential information is the presence of a padlock in the address bar on the checkout page. This means that the data you input will be properly encrypted for your protection.
12. Fear of negotiating.
Prices frequently are negotiable in electronics, jewelry and department stores. Consumer Reports surveys on haggling have found that shoppers are successful more often than not when they ask for a better price. Just make the negotiations friendly. Daugherty suggests saying something like: "I'd like to buy this but the price is over my budget. Can you do any better?" Often the manager can if the clerk cannot. "You're not going to embarrass yourself," he says. "They've heard it before." Along the same lines, ask the cashier if there's a discount on your big item even if you don't have a current coupon."
Free shipping isn't free at all--retailers make up for it by hiking the price of the merchandise to cover it. Keep that in mind. You're better off finding a TRUE bargain, and paying the shipping yourself--it's cheaper than you think. Have you looked at store shipping rates lately, compared to the post office and UPS?
Before you "free ship", comparison shop THOSE items too!
"Regardless of the size of your bank account, you'll save plenty if you can avoid common holiday traps. Some are laid by retailers hungry for cash while others are simply a result of poor planning.
Here's a look at 12 holiday money mistakes to avoid:
1. Discount fixation.
Retailers advertise deep discounts to get you to bite. But don't take them at their word without comparing prices. A store's sale price may reflect a markdown from the regular price, but there's no guarantee the manufacturer's suggested retail price isn't actually lower. Think more about the item you're buying.
"The stupidest thing people do is focus more on price than on quality," says Dan de Grandpre, editor-in-chief of Dealnews.com. "Especially on Black Friday. You see really low prices because in many cases it's cheap stuff."
Avoid unfamiliar brands, be wary of the cheap version of name brands and don't go crazy for bogus bargains on footwear, apparel, power tools or anything else, cautions Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at the NPD Group.
2. No budget.
Skipping a holiday spending budget is a surefire way to overspend. Make a list that includes amounts for each person you want to buy a gift for and stick to it. Be sure to create an overall budget that factors in other holiday-related expenses. Without a plan, you'll get caught up in the hype and go for the feel-good purchase.
The American Financial Services Association Education Foundation offers an online worksheet to help you create a holiday spending plan; visit http://www.afsaef.org/HolidaySpending.cfm. Besides planning your gift list, it helps you track spending on decorations, cards, travel and entertaining.
3. Debit dangers.
Debit cards carry the advantage of taking money from your account and not saddling you with future payments. But using them on big items is risky because they don't offer the purchase protections that credit cards do. For instance, if you fail to report any misuse of your bank account within two days, you may be liable for the first $500 billed to your debit card instead of the first $50.
If you have a problem with a purchase you made on a debit card, you may eventually get your money back. But it will be much more trouble and take longer than if a credit card had been used, according to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
4. Return policy missteps.
Tossing away receipts can be costly. Their obvious value is for exchanges or returns, but there's another plus too: If the price is lowered after you buy an item, a receipt should enable you to get a credit for the difference. Be aware that return policies are changing, however, and retailers are increasingly refusing some returns or giving gift cards for the amount in question. Certain stores are particularly diligent about tracking returns. If your credit card shows you return items too often, you may be stuck, according to de Grandpre. Also make sure you understand a website's return policy if you're shopping online.
5. Being low-tech.
Smart phones are changing how we shop. Scores of consumers are following their favorite brands and retailers on social networking sites likes Twitter and Facebook, and retailers are taking full advantage. It's much easier for businesses to launch and retract deals online where matching inventory with demand is less of a challenge. Coupons and last-minute offers can arrive as e-mail alerts or through social network accounts. Smart phone apps like Coupon Sherpa also provide in-the-moment help. It enables iPhone users to search coupons by category or store name, and find the nearest location. According to Deloitte Research, nearly one in five shoppers plans to use a cell phone during the shopping process.
6. Extended warranties.
Here's when to buy an extended warranty, says Greg Daugherty, executive editor of Consumer Reports: "Basically never." The manufacturer's warranty should protect you against any defect for up to a year, and the cost of protection beyond that generally isn't worth it. Instead of wasting anywhere from tens to hundreds of dollars on an extended warranty, put some extra cash in your emergency fund to help cover possible repairs or replacements.
7. Black Friday blunders.
Black Friday can be a shopper's dream. But long lines and overzealous crowds can really wear you down and make it harder to spend wisely. So map out a plan in advance and read the fine print on early-morning doorbuster deals. At 5 a.m., you may have a slim chance of landing the lone 45-inch flat-screen TV offered at one store and much better odds for the less spectacular bargain down the road. Planning is important throughout the shopping season. Check the website of each store you plan to visit for the latest bargains, and make a list of what you want to buy from each store.
8. Gift card gaps.
Give gift cards another look if you've spurned buying them because of fees and other issues. Thanks to recent rule changes, this is the first holiday season in which any gift card purchased cannot expire for at least five years. What's more, inactivity and other fees are banned in the first year. Still, you should beware of buying gift cards through online auction sites or classified ads. They may be counterfeit and could have been obtained illegally.
9. Shipping costs.
Free shipping is easier than ever to find. Giant retailers are dangling it as an inducement to spend. Wal-Mart, Target and J.C. Penney are among the retailers promoting free shipping programs. More than 1,000 merchants also are participating in Free Shipping Day on Dec. 17. Even if you don't get free shipping, don't wait too long or you'll blow your budget to ship to out-of-town friends and family.
10. Store credit cards.
Saving 20 percent on a single large purchase might sound worth it. But remember that retailers promote their store cards because they come out ahead on interest and late fees. Interest rates of more than 20 percent are quite common. That's what you'll find at the Gap and Macy's, among many others. Signing up for a store's credit card and then canceling after a short period, even if you pay it off on time, can harm your credit score. If you apply, be very selective.
11. Exposing your ID.
Grab deals from the comfort of your living room but take precautions to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft, which costs U.S. consumers more than $50 billion a year. Only do business with websites that are properly secure. A common indicator that it's OK to enter confidential information is the presence of a padlock in the address bar on the checkout page. This means that the data you input will be properly encrypted for your protection.
12. Fear of negotiating.
Prices frequently are negotiable in electronics, jewelry and department stores. Consumer Reports surveys on haggling have found that shoppers are successful more often than not when they ask for a better price. Just make the negotiations friendly. Daugherty suggests saying something like: "I'd like to buy this but the price is over my budget. Can you do any better?" Often the manager can if the clerk cannot. "You're not going to embarrass yourself," he says. "They've heard it before." Along the same lines, ask the cashier if there's a discount on your big item even if you don't have a current coupon."
Free shipping isn't free at all--retailers make up for it by hiking the price of the merchandise to cover it. Keep that in mind. You're better off finding a TRUE bargain, and paying the shipping yourself--it's cheaper than you think. Have you looked at store shipping rates lately, compared to the post office and UPS?
Before you "free ship", comparison shop THOSE items too!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Purchase or Investment?
From a reader: “Ohhhh! The marketers have been working overtime on a friend of mine. We were talking about something he had recently purchased, and he must have used the term investment no less than 10 times when he was considering his purchase.
If something one purchases is designed to solely depreciate in value, it is not an investment! One is not "investing" but rather "consuming."
From my point of view, there are two criteria which must be met to call something an investment:
1. It has a chance of appreciating in value.
2. The owner is willing to sell, and there is a market with willing buyers (barring a market collapse).
This frame of mind goes along with the "you deserve it," or "you have earned it." Maybe I have, but do I need it?
What other tricks do we use to fool us into justifying a purchase?”
For starters, we have a vocabulary problem when it comes to the words NEED and WANT. We also have a calculation problem when it comes to the word BARGAIN and TRUE COST. Unfortunately, we also possess a perception problem when it comes to advertising, marketing, and just plain “being sold.”
The biggest problem we have today is with reading comprehension—especially when fine print is involved. Unfortunately, this doesn’t quite fall under the realm of purchase vs. investment.
You are absolutely right, my dear reader, when you say that an investment is not a solely depreciating asset. An investment should ideally make money FOR you, as it is intended, rather than do nothing but lose its monetary value through depreciation. Buying something that doesn’t increase in value, or ever will, is indeed standard, garden-variety consumption.
Sales people try to use this word as persuasion to get you to spend money on an item that really isn’t anything more than stuff. The word “investment” makes your purchase seem more valid—more important—and therefore, justifiable. This word is used to get you over the wall of resistance (and right into the frying pan of buyer remorse).
Next time you hear the word “investment” tacked onto the purchase persuasion of a common ordinary item, ask yourself if that item would ever make money FOR you one day by increasing value while in your possession. If not, then correct the person slinging that word around carelessly, then remind him or her that E-bay (or even yard sales) usually decides the final value for all things salable. Value guide books don’t exist for much else but vehicles and monetary instruments—everything else is decided by the highest bidder.
If something one purchases is designed to solely depreciate in value, it is not an investment! One is not "investing" but rather "consuming."
From my point of view, there are two criteria which must be met to call something an investment:
1. It has a chance of appreciating in value.
2. The owner is willing to sell, and there is a market with willing buyers (barring a market collapse).
This frame of mind goes along with the "you deserve it," or "you have earned it." Maybe I have, but do I need it?
What other tricks do we use to fool us into justifying a purchase?”
For starters, we have a vocabulary problem when it comes to the words NEED and WANT. We also have a calculation problem when it comes to the word BARGAIN and TRUE COST. Unfortunately, we also possess a perception problem when it comes to advertising, marketing, and just plain “being sold.”
The biggest problem we have today is with reading comprehension—especially when fine print is involved. Unfortunately, this doesn’t quite fall under the realm of purchase vs. investment.
You are absolutely right, my dear reader, when you say that an investment is not a solely depreciating asset. An investment should ideally make money FOR you, as it is intended, rather than do nothing but lose its monetary value through depreciation. Buying something that doesn’t increase in value, or ever will, is indeed standard, garden-variety consumption.
Sales people try to use this word as persuasion to get you to spend money on an item that really isn’t anything more than stuff. The word “investment” makes your purchase seem more valid—more important—and therefore, justifiable. This word is used to get you over the wall of resistance (and right into the frying pan of buyer remorse).
Next time you hear the word “investment” tacked onto the purchase persuasion of a common ordinary item, ask yourself if that item would ever make money FOR you one day by increasing value while in your possession. If not, then correct the person slinging that word around carelessly, then remind him or her that E-bay (or even yard sales) usually decides the final value for all things salable. Value guide books don’t exist for much else but vehicles and monetary instruments—everything else is decided by the highest bidder.
Discounted Gift Cards Make Good Cents (with Caveats)
From Tulsa World. Just stay off Ebay and Craig's List for them--chances are good they'/re likely stolen, and YOU could be arrested for receiving stolen property!
"OPGC: Other people's gift cards are discounted on sites such as PlasticJungle.com and Swapagift.com. PJ customers search for cards by store brands, amounts remaining and discount percentages, typically in the 10 percent to 15 percent range. Card-swapping sites offer guarantees these cards are legitimate. When PJ sells a card that doesn't work it replaces it with one that does or credits customer accounts for the amount paid. PJ card balances are sometimes in odd amounts (less than face values) and this is awkward for card recipients so their issuers sell them at a discount rather than reload them for face amounts and the new owners stretch their holiday budgets.
Eat: The National Retail Federation says restaurant gift cards are very popular, second only to department stores. Save big on these by visiting Restaurant.com, etc., for cards offered at below face value. Browse by location, cuisine and average entree price. Choices vary from mom-and-pops to major chains, discount levels and purchase prices (up to 50 percent off face). Be sure to read the fine print as minimum purchases may be required, gratuities must be added in and the cards might be for food only (no drinks).
Caveat emptor: Bid for discounted gift cards at auction
sites like eBay.com but practice due diligence to ensure you get true deals. Avoid scams or misunderstandings by asking sellers for cards' expiration dates, penalties or restrictions. Some are good for in-store use only, but not online. Be cautious you're not buying misrepresented face values. Ask if there are any other service fees and evaluate the sellers' reputations. Check their previous feedback before bidding on their gift cards. This is work but verify everything about individual sellers - the secondary market is littered with landmines.
Clubs: If you're a warehouse clubber - Sam's Club, Costco – you're able to buy discounted cards at the store or the website. Costco's website featured a combo of $100 restaurant gift cards for $79.99. The clubs offer deals for eating establishments and other companies that are not their direct competitors, says Bankrate.
Tweetie Face: Deal-seekers pass on the latest offerings by social media: Twitter and Facebook. You don't even have to have a "friend" to get the good news. A search for "discount gift cards" on Twitter yields results from users who share information on such. While possible to find deals this way, you're more likely to get "the business." Stick to reputable sources you know and trust as Tweet deals often fly south with the seed money.
Brick & Mortar: Stores are good discount gift card sources. Check with favorite retailers often, as many feature promotions with reduced prices for gift card buyers around the holidays. Stores offer $20 gift cards with purchase of featured products. Restaurants offer $5 gift cards with the purchase of $20 meal gift cards. These aren't limited to just retailers. Service providers, such as spas and hair salons, also regularly offer deals."
I belong to Sam's Club, and have not seen any discounted cards there. As for Costco, they must be looking in places I am not--the only discounted cards I found were discounted for the amount of the sales tax.
"OPGC: Other people's gift cards are discounted on sites such as PlasticJungle.com and Swapagift.com. PJ customers search for cards by store brands, amounts remaining and discount percentages, typically in the 10 percent to 15 percent range. Card-swapping sites offer guarantees these cards are legitimate. When PJ sells a card that doesn't work it replaces it with one that does or credits customer accounts for the amount paid. PJ card balances are sometimes in odd amounts (less than face values) and this is awkward for card recipients so their issuers sell them at a discount rather than reload them for face amounts and the new owners stretch their holiday budgets.
Eat: The National Retail Federation says restaurant gift cards are very popular, second only to department stores. Save big on these by visiting Restaurant.com, etc., for cards offered at below face value. Browse by location, cuisine and average entree price. Choices vary from mom-and-pops to major chains, discount levels and purchase prices (up to 50 percent off face). Be sure to read the fine print as minimum purchases may be required, gratuities must be added in and the cards might be for food only (no drinks).
Caveat emptor: Bid for discounted gift cards at auction
sites like eBay.com but practice due diligence to ensure you get true deals. Avoid scams or misunderstandings by asking sellers for cards' expiration dates, penalties or restrictions. Some are good for in-store use only, but not online. Be cautious you're not buying misrepresented face values. Ask if there are any other service fees and evaluate the sellers' reputations. Check their previous feedback before bidding on their gift cards. This is work but verify everything about individual sellers - the secondary market is littered with landmines.
Clubs: If you're a warehouse clubber - Sam's Club, Costco – you're able to buy discounted cards at the store or the website. Costco's website featured a combo of $100 restaurant gift cards for $79.99. The clubs offer deals for eating establishments and other companies that are not their direct competitors, says Bankrate.
Tweetie Face: Deal-seekers pass on the latest offerings by social media: Twitter and Facebook. You don't even have to have a "friend" to get the good news. A search for "discount gift cards" on Twitter yields results from users who share information on such. While possible to find deals this way, you're more likely to get "the business." Stick to reputable sources you know and trust as Tweet deals often fly south with the seed money.
Brick & Mortar: Stores are good discount gift card sources. Check with favorite retailers often, as many feature promotions with reduced prices for gift card buyers around the holidays. Stores offer $20 gift cards with purchase of featured products. Restaurants offer $5 gift cards with the purchase of $20 meal gift cards. These aren't limited to just retailers. Service providers, such as spas and hair salons, also regularly offer deals."
I belong to Sam's Club, and have not seen any discounted cards there. As for Costco, they must be looking in places I am not--the only discounted cards I found were discounted for the amount of the sales tax.
How to Handle Thanksgiving Leftovers
From the Southern Oregon Mail-Tribune. Basically, prepare for them.
Turkey Spring Rolls
2 ounces thin rice noodles or vermicelli
12 (8.5-inch) round rice-paper wrappers
1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded turkey
1 cup julienned cucumber
1/2 cup fresh mint or cilantro leaves
12 pieces fresh green-leaf lettuce leaves, ribs removed
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon Thai chilies, minced (optional)
3 tablespoons finely shredded carrot
Bring 6 cups water to boil. Add the rice noodles and cook until they are soft. Or cook vermicelli according to package instructions. Drain and rinse noodles with cold water to cool them.
Fill a pan with hot water. Dip 1 rice-paper wrapper into hot water to wet it. Set it on a damp towel. Rice paper should become soft and pliable immediately.
Arrange a portion of the turkey in a horizontal line at bottom third (2 1/2 inches from bottom and 1 inch from each side) of wrapper. Place a small portion of cooked rice noodles over turkey. Distribute some of the cucumber and 4 to 5 mint leaves over noodles. Place 1 of the lettuce leaves over mint leaves.
Fold bottom half of wrapper over filling while using your fingers to press down on ingredients. Fold both sides of rice paper over to enclose all ingredients.
Pressing gently on ingredients with your fingers, gently roll rice paper tightly upward to form a cylinder. Repeat these steps to make remaining rolls. Makes 12 rolls.
Rolls can be made up to 1 day before serving. Cover them tightly with plastic wrap or place in a container and refrigerate.
To make dipping sauce, in a bowl, whisk together the lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, garlic and chilies until sugar is dissolved. Add the carrot. Add warm water as needed to dilute concentration to desired taste. Let sauce stand 30 minutes before serving. Sauce can be made up to 1 day ahead. Store it, covered, in refrigerator.
— Recipe from Thai Kitchen Inc.
"I end up with Thanksgiving leftovers every year, only to find my enthusiasm for them faded after a couple of days. With food costs as high as they are, I want to be more thrifty this year. Do you have any tips for extending the life of leftovers?
— Barb M., Ashlan
Making the most of leftovers shouldn't mean a week of marathon eating. A freezer is the thrifty cook's friend and deserves a little pre-holiday TLC. Toss out any packaged foods that haven't been used up after a year or appear freezer-burned to make space for Thanksgiving's bounty.
Our favorite items to freeze are the turkey wings, drumsticks and the picked-over carcass for making soups and stews later. Store these pieces in freezer-safe bags and use within six months.
Cooked mashed potatoes can thicken cream soups and keep well in airtight containers in the freezer for up to a year. If reheating potatoes for a side dish, stir 1 to 2 tablespoons milk, broth or water into them and warm over medium-low. Mashed sweet potatoes can be frozen and reheated the same way.
Coincidentally, gravy is another good keeper in the freezer if used within six months and reheated gently. Cranberry sauce, too, with just thawing required.
After stuffing the freezer, look to ethnic cuisines for new flavor profiles. Use shredded turkey in tacos, enchiladas or chili. Toss turkey, as well as leftover green beans or carrots, with peanut sauce and rice noodles for pad Thai. Spice up sandwiches with a curry-flavored mayonnaise. Fill prepared wonton skins with mashed potatoes for pierogis.
Try the accompanying recipe for Turkey Spring Rolls."
Turkey Spring Rolls
2 ounces thin rice noodles or vermicelli
12 (8.5-inch) round rice-paper wrappers
1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded turkey
1 cup julienned cucumber
1/2 cup fresh mint or cilantro leaves
12 pieces fresh green-leaf lettuce leaves, ribs removed
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon Thai chilies, minced (optional)
3 tablespoons finely shredded carrot
Bring 6 cups water to boil. Add the rice noodles and cook until they are soft. Or cook vermicelli according to package instructions. Drain and rinse noodles with cold water to cool them.
Fill a pan with hot water. Dip 1 rice-paper wrapper into hot water to wet it. Set it on a damp towel. Rice paper should become soft and pliable immediately.
Arrange a portion of the turkey in a horizontal line at bottom third (2 1/2 inches from bottom and 1 inch from each side) of wrapper. Place a small portion of cooked rice noodles over turkey. Distribute some of the cucumber and 4 to 5 mint leaves over noodles. Place 1 of the lettuce leaves over mint leaves.
Fold bottom half of wrapper over filling while using your fingers to press down on ingredients. Fold both sides of rice paper over to enclose all ingredients.
Pressing gently on ingredients with your fingers, gently roll rice paper tightly upward to form a cylinder. Repeat these steps to make remaining rolls. Makes 12 rolls.
Rolls can be made up to 1 day before serving. Cover them tightly with plastic wrap or place in a container and refrigerate.
To make dipping sauce, in a bowl, whisk together the lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, garlic and chilies until sugar is dissolved. Add the carrot. Add warm water as needed to dilute concentration to desired taste. Let sauce stand 30 minutes before serving. Sauce can be made up to 1 day ahead. Store it, covered, in refrigerator.
— Recipe from Thai Kitchen Inc.
Hard Times Called for Frugal Fare
From the Ft. Wayne (Indiana) Journal-Gazette. Bonus: hidden inside the article is a recipe for potato candy--no grains required!
"Elizabeth VanHorn of Fort Wayne thinks she makes good baking powder biscuits and sausage gravy.
“That and potato candy,” she says.
Potato candy?
“I made that during World War II to send to my brother. He was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. He was an instructor in field artillery,” she says.
Noting that she never had a recipe for the candy, VanHorn describes how she would make the treat.
“Take a small potato and cook it and mash it until there are no lumps in it,” she says. “Add powdered sugar until it becomes a consistency you can roll it without sticking. Add vanilla and roll it out into a rectangle shape. Spread it with peanut butter. Roll it up like a log. Slice it.”
She says that before mailing the candy, she would wrap it in waxed paper and foil. After her brother received the package, he would cut the candy into slices.
VanHorn, 97, says she was around during the Great Depression and thereby learned not to be wasteful – something taught to her by her mother, Mae Smith, and grandmother Caroline Evans.
“I use (leftovers) up. I came up during the first Depression. I’ll keep vegetables, and when I have enough I’ll make soup or combine them with a sauce. Whatever was left I would find a way to combine something,” she says, “My mother could take leftovers and make them taste as good as the first time.”
It wasn’t until she became a 4-H leader that VanHorn realized she needed to use recipes.
“When I learned to cook it was a handful of this or a pinch of that. But then I begun as a 4-H leader, and I started using recipes. I had to teach the children,” she says.
Asked to describe her cooking in one word, VanHorn replies, “Probably country.”
Her reasoning was because her husband was a meat-and-potatoes man.
“I remember my daughter when she was young. I asked her if she was ready to eat her vegetables, and she said, ‘I’ll wait until daddy eats his.’ He ate them,” she says."
Where's our 4-H now? Seemingly, it's restricted to the rural central states. Oh well--we still have county extension offices available online.
The potato candy recipe will be re-published later as a "Look Ma--No Grains!" stand-alone recipe (with full credits to Elizabeth Van Horn). This recipe is also a "cheap food" recipe (well, cheap if powdered sugar hasn't gone through the roof like other sugar has!).
"Elizabeth VanHorn of Fort Wayne thinks she makes good baking powder biscuits and sausage gravy.
“That and potato candy,” she says.
Potato candy?
“I made that during World War II to send to my brother. He was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. He was an instructor in field artillery,” she says.
Noting that she never had a recipe for the candy, VanHorn describes how she would make the treat.
“Take a small potato and cook it and mash it until there are no lumps in it,” she says. “Add powdered sugar until it becomes a consistency you can roll it without sticking. Add vanilla and roll it out into a rectangle shape. Spread it with peanut butter. Roll it up like a log. Slice it.”
She says that before mailing the candy, she would wrap it in waxed paper and foil. After her brother received the package, he would cut the candy into slices.
VanHorn, 97, says she was around during the Great Depression and thereby learned not to be wasteful – something taught to her by her mother, Mae Smith, and grandmother Caroline Evans.
“I use (leftovers) up. I came up during the first Depression. I’ll keep vegetables, and when I have enough I’ll make soup or combine them with a sauce. Whatever was left I would find a way to combine something,” she says, “My mother could take leftovers and make them taste as good as the first time.”
It wasn’t until she became a 4-H leader that VanHorn realized she needed to use recipes.
“When I learned to cook it was a handful of this or a pinch of that. But then I begun as a 4-H leader, and I started using recipes. I had to teach the children,” she says.
Asked to describe her cooking in one word, VanHorn replies, “Probably country.”
Her reasoning was because her husband was a meat-and-potatoes man.
“I remember my daughter when she was young. I asked her if she was ready to eat her vegetables, and she said, ‘I’ll wait until daddy eats his.’ He ate them,” she says."
Where's our 4-H now? Seemingly, it's restricted to the rural central states. Oh well--we still have county extension offices available online.
The potato candy recipe will be re-published later as a "Look Ma--No Grains!" stand-alone recipe (with full credits to Elizabeth Van Horn). This recipe is also a "cheap food" recipe (well, cheap if powdered sugar hasn't gone through the roof like other sugar has!).
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
How to Tell A Sale Isn't a Sale
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
"So when isn't a sale a sale? When it's chock-full of marketing tricks and false price comparisons. Here's one of our favorites:
"The most interesting part of the rebate non-sale is that responsibility sits right on our own shoulders. They're willing to give us money. They're offering to give us money. But we, in the midst of our third batch of IKEA eggs--we have years to make up for, after all--are simply to lazy to claim that money. Shame on us."
More from the Life Hacker site:
"So when isn't a sale a sale? When it's chock-full of marketing tricks and false price comparisons. Here's one of our favorites:
Beware of rebates. Manufacturers love rebates. Why? Because next to nobody completes them. Return rates for various industries and items range from 2-60% which means a lot of cash left in the manufacturer's pocket--in 2005 almost half of new TiVo subscribers failed to mail in their $100 rebate, leaving $5,000,000 unclaimed. Look for deals with instant at-register rebates or skip rebates all together--the rate of return is simply too low to trust yourself to get around to it before the deadline comes up."
"The most interesting part of the rebate non-sale is that responsibility sits right on our own shoulders. They're willing to give us money. They're offering to give us money. But we, in the midst of our third batch of IKEA eggs--we have years to make up for, after all--are simply to lazy to claim that money. Shame on us."
More from the Life Hacker site:
"Discounts based on inflated prices. Let's say the Manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price (MSRP) is $200 for the Super Tamagotchi Fun-Fun Time Battle Arena but everyone is actually selling it for $150. A retailer advertising it as 25% off for $150 is playing the technicality game with you. It's technically 25% off the MSRP but it's 100% the price everyone is selling it for. Be wary of original prices that are artificially padded to make the buyers feel good about saving.
Check the tags.If the tag came from the manufacturer with a sale price already printed on it—like "Originally $99.99 Now $79.99" it was never a deal. The pre-printed sale trick is designed to prey on gullible shoppers who want to feel like they're saving a buck—even when they're not. Real sale stickers are slapped over the price tag or hand written with the original price crossed out. (The top article in this image shows a real price with an updated sticker attached, although in that case the store clerk's error is particular humorous.)
Avoid liquidation sales. Liquidation sales are rife with ripoffs. Liquidation sales and other massive closeout-type sales relay on the idea people have that the prices within must be rock bottom. Sure some people score great deals at a liquidation sale but liquidators play dirty and will often jack up the prices during the start of the liquidation to maximize their profits. In the case of the massive Circuit City liquidation last year items were returned to the MSRP or even above—early shoppers not only didn't get a deal, they got completely ripped off.
Beware the shipping trap. Although most retailers, especially online retailers, have gotten savvy to how much consumers love free shipping—and either outright offer it or have copious coupons for it—you can still get hosed on shipping and handling. Be conscious of how much shipping costs and be wary of coupons canceling each other out—I placed an order the other day with a free shipping coupon only realize moments before I submitted it that the 10% off coupon I had ignored when I had one item was now more valuable with three.
Make a to-buy list. The easiest way to get suckered into a deal that isn't a deal is to get locked into the "But it's a good deal!" hypno-ray marketers wield. The easiest way to avoid getting sucked in is to make a list, well before you go shopping, of what you actually want. Need a new microwave? Put it on the list. Want to upgrade your old SDTV to a whiz-bang flat panel? Put it on the list.
Research your list. Just knowing that you want to buy a new HDTV doesn't help you if you have no idea what is going on in the market for your new purchase. Scale your research according to the price of the item. Looking to save on some sneakers? Compare prices on your lunch break one day and possibly buy them right then. Looking to buy a 65" HDTV? Research the feature, the going rates, and the best time to buy it.
Visit price comparison web sites. We'll be talking about price comparison apps for your phone in a moment. What mobile apps make up for with portability they lack in comfort and relaxation. Nothing beats sitting in your office chair, away from the craziness of holiday stores, carefully comparing prices (and possibly even ordering it for cheaper, with free shipping).
Google Shopping is a great starting point; thanks to a recent update it even shows local stock. You'll see thousands of entries across markets like Amazon, eBay, and smaller online merchants, getting an immediate feel for the going rate in the process. More focused comparison tools like previously reviewed BeatMyPrice, SwoopThat, and Gazaro.
Load up on mobile price comparison tools.You spent a couple hundred on a sweet smartphone, it's time to put that baby to work and get some cash back. Even a decade ago it was extremely difficult to effectively compare prices. Most people simply compared the price at the local Sears to the price at the local Best Buy and went for the best option. Now thanks to price comparison web sites, mobile applications with features like location awareness and bar code scanning, and snappy internet access on smart phones, it's possible to compare even if you haven't done your research."
Dying With Debt--A Dirty Retirement Secret
From USA Today.
"Retired Americans are racking up credit-card debt like never before, be it for vacations or medical expenses, and a surprising number have no intention of paying it off before they die.
Nearly 40% of retired Americans said they've accumulated credit-card debt in their twilight years — and aren't worried about paying it off in their lifetime, according to a survey released by CESI Debt Solutions."
Who ends up paying? We all do in the form of harsher regulations to prevent default--no matter what the fault.
"This may come as a surprise to younger generations who thought their parents, the so-called Greatest Generation, were more responsible than youngsters raised in an era of easy money, a culture of credit.
But remember that this is the generation that frowns upon talking about money — and certainly would be embarrassed by any potential money problems. Add in a recession that slashed many retirement accounts in half and that leaves a generation sinking deeper into debt, with a diminishing timeframe to do anything about it — and too much pride to talk about it."
Throw in a little Alzheimer's and mental guard-reduction...
"Most people are too scared to talk about their financial problems, especially in their 'Golden Years,'" Ellington said. "Retirement is supposed to be all about enjoying the time you've been saving up for, and the reality is that many people couldn't save enough," he said.
And yet, that didn't stop them from retiring.
More than half of those surveyed had saved less than $50,000 — and many of that group said they'd saved absolutely nothing — yet they retired anyway. Just 4% said they had delayed their retirement due to debt.
"They get to a certain age and they feel privileged," Ellington said. "They say, 'I'm going to go on that trip even though I have to put it on my credit card.'"
Boomer 'til the end, I guess. They call THIS the greatest generation?
"It's not just vacations and entertainment; one of the biggest sources of senior debt is medical expenses. More than 75% of the seniors surveyed said they went into debt for medical or funeral expenses.
Part of the reason they're not paying off their debts is they don't know where to start and they're too embarrassed to ask for help. But the financial crisis may have also played a role.
"Financial institutions haven't been perceived as the most friendly" and many people blame them for the recession, Ellington said. "They think, 'Hey, I'm not going to pay back these guys who ripped off America.'"
One of the biggest mistakes seniors make when it comes to credit cards is being late with a payment."
...
"Another mistake they make is relying on debt-settlement companies when they get into trouble."
...
"And while many retirees who are being quietly buried under a mound of debt may think they're protecting their kids by not burdening them with their financial problems, if they don't pay off their debts before they die, it will eventually become their children's burden.
Whatever that parent owes will be deducted from his or her estate before that estate is divided among the children and other beneficiaries.
Imagine a scenario where the kids are bickering over who gets mom's house and, in the end, no one gets it because it had to be sold to pay off mom's credit-card debt.
"That is a very realistic scenario," Ellington said. "A lot of kids don't find out how much their parents are struggling until they pass away."
Unfortunately, this debt denial isn't exclusive to seniors: Among those surveyed who had not yet retired, 25% said they were carrying debt of $5,000 or more — yet more than half said they didn't plan to delay retiring because of debt.
And more than one in four said they weren't worried about paying off their debt in their lifetime."
Retirement itself can cause problems--if there's no plan on how to occupy the time, there always seems to be plenty of time to shop, and buy toys that are too big to fit in the house (like an expensive RV) or toys too big for the wallet. Work takes up loads of time, and when that time is now freed up and not put to good use...well, read my own adventures with death debt and estate settling.
What the story does not mention is that the in-laws were about $100k in debt, but it wasn't DEBT debt--it was a combination of a gigantic RV in the driveway that wasn't even 3 years old, sitting next to a house that needed a new roof BADLY, as well as vehicles that didn't run, more motorcycles than people to ride them, a backyard bordering on Sanford & Son's junk yard, and a kitchen with holes burnt into the counter top from hot pots directly on Formica.
In all the mess, there was a little credit card debt, but it was from traveling expenses (gas, food, etc.)
Then we stepped in, and the RV got surrendered back to the dealer, the motorcycles got sold off, the non-operating cars got operational and sold off, and the house got little upgrades to make it sellable. Thank God they died when the housing market was still hot--otherwise, we'd still be $20k in the hole for cleaning up their mess. The house sold, proceeds divided among the kids, and tax returns filed.
All but the junk mail got settled. We still get junk mail for them to this day.
I found it strange that they had money to finance and pay for the RV, but they couldn't bother to get their roof or counter tops fixed!
If anybody tells you that dying in debt doesn't hurt anyone besides the bill collectors is WRONG--especially when there's a reverse mortgage involved or no estate left to deal with. Residual debt is ALWAYS going to hurt someone: the beneficiary (ies) or the general public.
"You might assume that most people have paid off their mortgage by the time they retire, but nearly a third of those surveyed said they were still carrying mortgage debt into retirement."
My in-laws refinanced their house, but not for just the balance owed. They did a 100% refi of their existing loan, meaning they threw away 20 years of house payments for the sake of a lower interest rate. I thank god they didn't refi for market value!
"Retired Americans are racking up credit-card debt like never before, be it for vacations or medical expenses, and a surprising number have no intention of paying it off before they die.
Nearly 40% of retired Americans said they've accumulated credit-card debt in their twilight years — and aren't worried about paying it off in their lifetime, according to a survey released by CESI Debt Solutions."
Who ends up paying? We all do in the form of harsher regulations to prevent default--no matter what the fault.
"This may come as a surprise to younger generations who thought their parents, the so-called Greatest Generation, were more responsible than youngsters raised in an era of easy money, a culture of credit.
But remember that this is the generation that frowns upon talking about money — and certainly would be embarrassed by any potential money problems. Add in a recession that slashed many retirement accounts in half and that leaves a generation sinking deeper into debt, with a diminishing timeframe to do anything about it — and too much pride to talk about it."
Throw in a little Alzheimer's and mental guard-reduction...
"Most people are too scared to talk about their financial problems, especially in their 'Golden Years,'" Ellington said. "Retirement is supposed to be all about enjoying the time you've been saving up for, and the reality is that many people couldn't save enough," he said.
And yet, that didn't stop them from retiring.
More than half of those surveyed had saved less than $50,000 — and many of that group said they'd saved absolutely nothing — yet they retired anyway. Just 4% said they had delayed their retirement due to debt.
"They get to a certain age and they feel privileged," Ellington said. "They say, 'I'm going to go on that trip even though I have to put it on my credit card.'"
Boomer 'til the end, I guess. They call THIS the greatest generation?
"It's not just vacations and entertainment; one of the biggest sources of senior debt is medical expenses. More than 75% of the seniors surveyed said they went into debt for medical or funeral expenses.
Part of the reason they're not paying off their debts is they don't know where to start and they're too embarrassed to ask for help. But the financial crisis may have also played a role.
"Financial institutions haven't been perceived as the most friendly" and many people blame them for the recession, Ellington said. "They think, 'Hey, I'm not going to pay back these guys who ripped off America.'"
One of the biggest mistakes seniors make when it comes to credit cards is being late with a payment."
...
"Another mistake they make is relying on debt-settlement companies when they get into trouble."
...
"And while many retirees who are being quietly buried under a mound of debt may think they're protecting their kids by not burdening them with their financial problems, if they don't pay off their debts before they die, it will eventually become their children's burden.
Whatever that parent owes will be deducted from his or her estate before that estate is divided among the children and other beneficiaries.
Imagine a scenario where the kids are bickering over who gets mom's house and, in the end, no one gets it because it had to be sold to pay off mom's credit-card debt.
"That is a very realistic scenario," Ellington said. "A lot of kids don't find out how much their parents are struggling until they pass away."
Unfortunately, this debt denial isn't exclusive to seniors: Among those surveyed who had not yet retired, 25% said they were carrying debt of $5,000 or more — yet more than half said they didn't plan to delay retiring because of debt.
And more than one in four said they weren't worried about paying off their debt in their lifetime."
Retirement itself can cause problems--if there's no plan on how to occupy the time, there always seems to be plenty of time to shop, and buy toys that are too big to fit in the house (like an expensive RV) or toys too big for the wallet. Work takes up loads of time, and when that time is now freed up and not put to good use...well, read my own adventures with death debt and estate settling.
What the story does not mention is that the in-laws were about $100k in debt, but it wasn't DEBT debt--it was a combination of a gigantic RV in the driveway that wasn't even 3 years old, sitting next to a house that needed a new roof BADLY, as well as vehicles that didn't run, more motorcycles than people to ride them, a backyard bordering on Sanford & Son's junk yard, and a kitchen with holes burnt into the counter top from hot pots directly on Formica.
In all the mess, there was a little credit card debt, but it was from traveling expenses (gas, food, etc.)
Then we stepped in, and the RV got surrendered back to the dealer, the motorcycles got sold off, the non-operating cars got operational and sold off, and the house got little upgrades to make it sellable. Thank God they died when the housing market was still hot--otherwise, we'd still be $20k in the hole for cleaning up their mess. The house sold, proceeds divided among the kids, and tax returns filed.
All but the junk mail got settled. We still get junk mail for them to this day.
I found it strange that they had money to finance and pay for the RV, but they couldn't bother to get their roof or counter tops fixed!
If anybody tells you that dying in debt doesn't hurt anyone besides the bill collectors is WRONG--especially when there's a reverse mortgage involved or no estate left to deal with. Residual debt is ALWAYS going to hurt someone: the beneficiary (ies) or the general public.
"You might assume that most people have paid off their mortgage by the time they retire, but nearly a third of those surveyed said they were still carrying mortgage debt into retirement."
My in-laws refinanced their house, but not for just the balance owed. They did a 100% refi of their existing loan, meaning they threw away 20 years of house payments for the sake of a lower interest rate. I thank god they didn't refi for market value!
"Look Ma--No Grains!" Lentil Balls and Split Pea Fritters
Not a speck of flour used in these recipes!
Lentil Balls
2 c. cooked lentils
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
3 T. chopped parsley
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. baking powder
1 tomato, chopped
water as needed
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend. Add a little extra water if required. Roll into balls, and pan fry until heated through.
Split Pea Fritters (needs 24 hr. lead time to soak peas)
1 c. dried split peas, soaked overnight--drain, and add to:
2 onions, finely chopped
2 red chilies, finely chopped
1 t. ground turmeric
salt
oil for frying
Put all ingredients except oil into food processor and blend to paste consistency. Form into golf ball-sized balls and flatten slightly to 1/2" thickness. Heat oil to 350, the drop the fritters one at a time and fry until golden brown on all sides. Do this in batches. Drain, and serve as accompaniment to soups or main course dishes. Serves 4-6.
Both these recipes feature foods from the Food Stamp Challenge cheat sheet and the Cheap Eating With Cost Per Serving list.
Lentil Balls
2 c. cooked lentils
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
3 T. chopped parsley
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. baking powder
1 tomato, chopped
water as needed
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend. Add a little extra water if required. Roll into balls, and pan fry until heated through.
Split Pea Fritters (needs 24 hr. lead time to soak peas)
1 c. dried split peas, soaked overnight--drain, and add to:
2 onions, finely chopped
2 red chilies, finely chopped
1 t. ground turmeric
salt
oil for frying
Put all ingredients except oil into food processor and blend to paste consistency. Form into golf ball-sized balls and flatten slightly to 1/2" thickness. Heat oil to 350, the drop the fritters one at a time and fry until golden brown on all sides. Do this in batches. Drain, and serve as accompaniment to soups or main course dishes. Serves 4-6.
Both these recipes feature foods from the Food Stamp Challenge cheat sheet and the Cheap Eating With Cost Per Serving list.
"Look Ma--No Grains!" Meat Loaf Pizza
Yep, this is a "pizza", alright, but it uses the meat as the crust. A Thanksgiving leftover option will be included at the bottom.
Meat Loaf Pizza
1 lb. ground beef
3/4 c. spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, or marinara
1/2 c. green peppers
1/4 c. onion, minced
1/4 c. mozzarella cheese
Lightly grease a 9" pie pan with oil. Press ground beef into pan. Place pan with meat in oven and bake at 350 until meat is no longer pink--about 17-20 minutes. Drain.
MICROWAVE METHOD: Press meat into greased glass pie plate. Cover meat with waxed paper, and cook on high, rotating plate every 3 minutes if oven doesn't rotate for you. cook until meat is no longer pink--about 8 mins. total. Drain.
To finish: top baked meat with sauce, cheese, peppers, and return to oven or microwave to melt cheese on top--about 1-2 mins. more.
Cut into quarters and serve. The meat becomes your crust. This cannot be eaten out of hand--a plate and fork must be used.
Thanksgiving Leftover version
1 lb. turkey leftovers
1 c. stuffing/rice/mashed potatoes, or combination
1 egg
Put all in a food processor and combine until ground-meat-like. This is the "bread and meat" combo normally used in meat loaf. Do not season--your turkey and stuffing are already seasoned. Use this to press into your greased pan.
Bake at 350 for about 10 mins. oven/4 mins. microwave (long enough to cook the egg in the crust). No draining necessary.
On top of it, add:
3/4 c. gravy
1/4 c. cheese, any flavor (what ya got?)
1/2 c. leftover green bean casserole--if you still have any french-fried onions, sprinkle them on top.
Return to heat and cook until cheese is melted on top. Cut and serve on plates with forks.
Meat Loaf Pizza
1 lb. ground beef
3/4 c. spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, or marinara
1/2 c. green peppers
1/4 c. onion, minced
1/4 c. mozzarella cheese
Lightly grease a 9" pie pan with oil. Press ground beef into pan. Place pan with meat in oven and bake at 350 until meat is no longer pink--about 17-20 minutes. Drain.
MICROWAVE METHOD: Press meat into greased glass pie plate. Cover meat with waxed paper, and cook on high, rotating plate every 3 minutes if oven doesn't rotate for you. cook until meat is no longer pink--about 8 mins. total. Drain.
To finish: top baked meat with sauce, cheese, peppers, and return to oven or microwave to melt cheese on top--about 1-2 mins. more.
Cut into quarters and serve. The meat becomes your crust. This cannot be eaten out of hand--a plate and fork must be used.
Thanksgiving Leftover version
1 lb. turkey leftovers
1 c. stuffing/rice/mashed potatoes, or combination
1 egg
Put all in a food processor and combine until ground-meat-like. This is the "bread and meat" combo normally used in meat loaf. Do not season--your turkey and stuffing are already seasoned. Use this to press into your greased pan.
Bake at 350 for about 10 mins. oven/4 mins. microwave (long enough to cook the egg in the crust). No draining necessary.
On top of it, add:
3/4 c. gravy
1/4 c. cheese, any flavor (what ya got?)
1/2 c. leftover green bean casserole--if you still have any french-fried onions, sprinkle them on top.
Return to heat and cook until cheese is melted on top. Cut and serve on plates with forks.
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