you know if you sold your car you'd save money cause you wouldn't have to pay for
insurance or registration fees every year. you could also go look for a home that is
closer to your work so you could bike or walk to work.

don't fall for the way companies squeeze extra money out of you. This means bag your
lunch, skip the $4 cup of coffee every day except weekends. DO the math in the grocery
store, this means divide by the price the weight to figure out price per unit and get the
best deal. Make your own dinner instead of the $7 burger. drive a car you pay for with
cash that is good on gas, forget the big bucks for depriciating assets. go with zecco or
scottstrade for low costs fees.

Continued:

Still relatively a newbie to investing (1.5 years). I have friends in investment clubs,
but after picking their brains, have come to realize they know close to nothing about
equities. I self-educate by checking out books and audiobooks at the library. I've
bought very few for reference, half of which were in the bargain bin. I also mine the
internet for what I can, but that's been of little help relative to the books. When I'm
not reading, I eat and sleep. Sacrifice now, enjoy the fruits of labor later.

Recycle like mad.

Garden in the back.

My wife & I live with 8 others in a house (no, not a Texas polygamist colony), but only 4
of the 8 adults in the house have a job (2 are min wage). My wife has been jobless for
months now. A vein throbs in my forehead whenever someone on CNBC (especially that dummy
Kudlow) says we're not in recession because we haven't had 2 negative quarters
technically. Meanwhile, I live in the ghetto, and down the street, the Shell station has
regular unleaded at $4.14. So -

I work a full-time job & do some on/off freelance work. The cable is free, because
someone else in the house wants it (so he pays, I could careless). Internet and local
calling phone is bundled. Long distance is via calling card. Work on the laptop instead
of the computer (saves lots of electric). Grocery shopping is either in bulk (Costco
membership shared) or down the street (walking distance). Eat-in, and rent movies for
entertainment. Sadly, most in the house have no concept of saving $$$. Uphill battle.

You have a cost of living and a standard of living. I buy things I like in bulk which
saves me money. I also drive a little slower to save gas. I have a bundle service for my
cell,cable, and internet.
I stay below my standard of living which means I have money left over at the end of each
month.

Last edited on: 05-03-2008 09:04 am

The fluorescent bulbs provide excellent savings...apparently there is an even better
lighting system available as well using LED's I think. Does anyone know anything about
that? It is what is used in Times Square which is about as bright as high noon in the
middle of the night.

I have cut 1/4 off my electric bill by not using the dryer. I use a drying rack in the
basement during the winter: the drying clothes help add moisture to the very dry winter
air and they are dry in about 4 hours. I usually leave them overnight. In summer
(horrors!) I hang the laundry outdoors where it dries in a couple of hours. Dryer used
briefly to "fluff" or remove wrinkles.

If that's too much for busy families, at least vent the dryer into the house during
winter. That is moist heat that will reduce your heating bill a bit. There are little
connectors that enable you to change whether the dryer vents indoors or out and they have
an extra screen to catch the last of the little lint. You don't even need the connector,
just use old nylons over the end of the dryer hose to vent inside. I love all that warm
heat.

BTW if you use dryer sheets, I have read that the lint catchers actually become completely
blocked with a transparent film. If so that blockage will really decreases the efficiency
of the dryer.

Last edited on: 05-03-2008 08:55 am

Yes, the word is always 'control'. And... staying calm. I got on last night after spending
the night hearing too many 'woe is me' stories over draft beer. Oops. Never good. Katie
started a great thread, and advice like Fifo's is fabulous, but many people need
specifics. They're locked in spending patterns and habits that are often hard to break...
even when it's clear they need to.

Another 'trick' I used while the kids were home was to assign coupons to them. They got
the savings (usually 3-10 bucks per trip to the grocery). But, they also had to 'sell' me
on buying the product in the first place. It didn't always 'have' to be something we used
regularly... I grew up with one brother, so one type of soap and one type of shampoo
worked in our house. Having girls, myself, that was a lost cause. I won on the soap, lost
miserably on the hair care. Fortuately, they found coupons... which they used to conspire
against me. ; )

"I have to have it, I saw it on TV!" Ugh!

I find nothing wrong at all with credit cards. Its roughly a free float on your money for
at least 30 days. Pay the card balance in full online when its due just like any other
bill. Stay away from that trap of keeping up with the Joneses and live a healthy
lifestyle. Don't finance anything that depreciates in value and come up with creative ways
to pay off a home loan faster. It only took me 5 years to get into a payment free
situation in my 2nd house from profits in my first house.

Since I now live on a waterfront I also fish, plant square foot garden and can a portion
of my own food and now heat my house with an EPA wood stove on scrounged wood. Drive a car
with good mileage and use the CFL light bulbs buy things that give you a high return on
investment.

One last little rant...

Credit cards. I figure I saved half the money I originally put in the market by doing away
with all but one for emergencies. Adding up the fees, insurances and interest over 20
years... it was well over 10K! Credit card companies are the same as drug dealers in my
house. You don't think all those 'rewards' are really free, do you? 'Play now and pay
later' has been the most expensive con we've ever fallen for!

Now, back to your regular programming...

Last edited on: 05-02-2008 11:23 pm