Frugal Moms

I think it’s time to reflect on this huge roller coaster. Although it seems that the FED cutting it’s discount rate may have helped rally stocks on Friday, I wonder how long the band aid will hold? Is this just what the market needs? Will it heal quick enough? I was surprised to see the FED cut the discount rate, especially after it just lent 38 billion to the market. Numerous people have considered the 38 billion a “book keeping record” nothing more. How is 38 billion a book keeping record and nothing more? Please explain, in great detail where this money comes from. If they allow more money into the market our money is worth less. Here’s a frightening thought, what if it really IS just a book keeper mark? That would mean our money is worth nothing. I mean would you describe 38 billion as a book keeping mark?

Anyway, I look forward to Monday with much anticipation. I think Monday the stock market will continue to remain calm. In fact I think for the next week, minus a few blips, the market will remain “relatively” calm. However, I don’t think markets outside the US will remain calm. They are showing even greater volatility than here in the US. England in particular has had a raging market, and the Asian market has been just as insane. By the end of the week they should settle down though as well. For now I think the band aid will hold, unless we hear news of more bankrupt mortgage lenders or something equally as damaging. That might well send this whole roller coaster off again.

Even if the market stabilizes, the economy is still headed south. People have less money due to high oil prices, inflation, and less job creation. Under employment is a huge issue for most families, along with slow business for most small businesses. Walmart said that it is having trouble selling items and they are the national retail leader. If Walmart is having troubles, how do you think Mom and Pop business men and women are doing? If you have the cash to spare, have a heart and buy from the Mom and Pop shops. Walmart takes in billions every year, but hundreds of small business people make barely enough to keep in business. Also, most small business people are much more sensitive to their customers needs, from not stocking Chinese toys to more cash registers open so you can check out quickly. Small business products tend to be of a higher quality as well, and well worth the extra two or three bucks spent. Sometimes, and this I have seen with my own eyes, a small business will have something of higher quality for LESS than Walmart. Even now as Walmart tries to get back to being the “low price leader”, many small businesses are able to compete with their prices. You can thank the high price of oil for that…oh yes and out sourcing half way around the world. Their whole business model is based on extremely cheap and consequently easy to extract oil. Which oil is NOT any more and probably won’t be for a long time.

Tonight no quick ideas to save money or turn left overs into gourmet dishes. I hope you have a great weekend.

By now, my dear readers, you should know I’m going to talk about the economy and then add money saving tips. Money and money markets are my passion, but I don’t believe in just reporting or explaining things. I think people need to feel pro-active. I think people want a way to handle the situation. That is why I offer up both. My suggestions may not always work in every situation, but they do work most of the time.

You want to know this info because it is important. The market is turning Bear in a major way (remember Bear equals possible recession), the Dow fell under the 13000.oo mark which makes it an official correction. Didn’t I say that was going to happen? Even though the Treasury Secretary doesn’t see a recession, I do. If you look at how the market is already turning south due to the foreclosure fallout, lower consumer spending, lower projected profits by Walmart and Home Depot, add rising oil prises, and more credit worries as the lenders are going bankrupt, you can see how messy this can of worms is about to get. Think about that, the lenders are going bankrupt! Countrywide, a huge lender for home loans had to borrow 11.5 BILLION dollars to continue operations. If this credit crunch continues for just three more months, experts speculate that Countrywide could go under. That is enormous because Countrywide has roughly 13 percent of all home loans in the market. I don’t think the FED can keep the markets working by throwing money out if that happens. It would be like bringing a bucket to a five alarm fire. The FED should cut rates by at least a quarter of a percent now to head off any potential tightening of the credit market, should things get worse.

Oh yes and there is more. Wall Street may be in for a shake up now that heads are starting to roll. Bear and Sterns laid off 240 people in the lending unit. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will be the last lay off over these financial woes.

The last part of the news you might find disturbing. My friends would say, “Before the Titanic sank, the rats jumped the ship.” Well, I can’t attest to the character of the institutional investors that are packing up and taking their 13 TRILLION dollars from the stock market, but it looks like they have left for greener pastures for a while. Most experts agree that institutional investments are long term investments, which usually look at long term market conditions.

Why does this even matter? Institutional Investments are meant to last beyond a persons lifetime. Suppose a man makes a million dollars and donates it to a school as a scholarship endowment fund…The idea would be that no one may use up the original 1 million, but all the returns from the “use” of the 1 million are fair game. That means that 1 million dollars may never be “used up”, only the money a school can make by lending the million out can be used up. If a school is not making money on lending that million out, but ends up losing the million because it was lent unwisely…those funds are gone and so is the scholarship forever. It’s a nice way rich people give a gift that keeps giving.

If an Institution, say a school, sees that part of the original investment, usually called the principal, is at high risk of being lost they will pull out of the markets to safer places like the euro and bonds. The thing is though, they don’t usually do this because they don’t use up all the money made by lending out their principal. Most use only 50 percent of the earnings for it’s intended purpose. The other 50 percent is added to the principal, the original 1 million, as a safety cushion for times like these. That’s also why scholarships are so hard to come by and in small amounts. So when an institutional investor pulls, they expect the markets to be bad for a while. Anyone got some popcorn, because I sense a action packed thriller on the market’s horizon. Honestly, this is a bad indicator because the market lives and dies by investor confidence and this is a huge vote of no confidence.

I don’t have any advice for anyone that is in the stock market, but if I were in the stock market I would look for under valued stock. With so many stocks falling, there is at least one or two under valued. I would seek out the best consistent performer that took a recent nose dive in price and snag a few shares up.

UPDATE the dow went up 200+ points on news the fed cut a small interest rate. Still the Dow is down over all for the week, but this just might be the break the market needs to halt it’s free fall. For a little while at least. Who am I kidding, with all the bad news up top it’s a band aid.

Now on to hints and Tips….

With people NOT buying as much clothing from Walmart, I thought I would put up a few tips on how to recycle old clothes into something new. I already covered that in my back to school article, but it seems there is vast amounts of room for additional content.

Making clothes last longer…

1. Dye them a darker colour when stains set in.

2. Keep buttons sewn on, and mend all seams.

3. Tie dye white shirts and use as play shirts once stains set in.

4. Make appliqués out of old messed up clothing pieces that are in good repair to cover stains on better clothes.

5. Make mittens out of sweat shirts by tracing your child’s hand on the inside and cutting out four exact copies.

6. On overalls that have broken hooks, just cut them off and place a large button and button hole in place of the hook.

7. Socks can be remade into puppets, dyed to match outfits if stained, and made into headbands by folding the heel under and sewing the toe to the ankle. (When I was a kid I was THAT poor that I had to have sock head bands)

8. Old clothes that are worn and have good cute pictures of characters on it can be turned into character dolls, by cutting out the characters and sewing a back on to them. At this point stuff and sew bottom shut. A good safe stocking stuffer, or any time present.

9. Old jeans make great skirts, back packs, bed spreads, pot holders, or anything. Jeans are a gift that should not be squandered. In fact it would be cheaper to go to a second hand shop and pick up throw away jeans for 25 cents to 50 cents, then to buy a new bed spread. It would be of higher quality too.

10. Adult clothes can be “shrunk” to kids size in a pinch, by following the seam lines on the inside making the garment smaller. If you do this everywhere, you can cut off the original seams and have a brand “new” little big kids outfit.

I didn’t say it the experts did. If they are saying stuff like this how bad is it really? Either way the DOW was down another 200 points, which looks like the beginning of this sour patch. The market seems to be in slow motion melt down. The FED tried to ease the pressures by injecting cash, but it looks like that manoeuvre had a negative effect instead of a positive effect. Now it looks like the market’s downward spiral is on a more permanent path leading to a bear market. It case you don’t know the word “bear market” usually means recession or depression is on the way, or here. Take your pick, but either one isn’t fun. I don’t think a recession has hit, but if this continues one can only wonder. Currently even Wal-Mart is having trouble turning their sales volume up, partially because their original customer base has deserted them and found cheaper alternatives.

As for America looking like Rome at the end, this comes straight from the GAO (Government Accountability Office). Some of the similarities cited were an over stretched and over confident military in foreign campaigns, and being financially almost insolvent. I would like to add the invasion of southern workers is similar to the invasion of the Germanic tribes. The mercenaries in Iraq is similar to the hiring of private soldiers. The Food Stamp program is similar to the bread or grain ration. Also, that this spectacle of court room jest poking fun at the laws this country was founded on is similar to the marathon games set forth by the last Caesar. I’m sure there are more similarities, but I don’t feel like looking up the fall of Rome right now. The article is a good read and Mr. Walker was brave to put the information forth in a straight forward manner form his office.

So have you found out how much you absolutely need each year for everything? On that essential list, look at your static, or non-changing monthly bills. Is there a service you can down grade on? Like instead of DSL can you get dial-up? Can you text less or switch to a cheaper plan? On your water, electric, and land line…can you use less of these? Get a phone card at 2 cents a minute and use it instead of the 5 cents a minute plan offered? Try to find a way to lower those static charges, because those are the ones that hurt the most when you don’t pay them. You want to be able to continue paying them, so lowering them and your standard of living a bit might help.

Now look at your non-static essential monthly charges. This is mostly food, clothes, and entertainment. Food…well you can grow some of it depending on where you live. You can buy cheaper alternatives at cheaper stores, though I don’t recommend this if possible. You can go on a diet, and that doesn’t mean spend more on speciality foods, it means to eat your three prepared at home meals only. If you have a patch of dirt, start gardening or reading about how to garden. If you live in a tiny apartment that doesn’t allow pets, learn about container gardening. Although this method won’t get you all the veggies you need, it will supplement your diet well.

On a side story, when I lived in New London Connecticut, on the worst street in town, I grew marvellous cherry tomatoes, lettuces, radishes, and herbs in the empty containers my daughter’s milk came out of. They were the perfect size to grow a little bit of food. My patio and breakfast nook were perfect spots to have the plants. I grew enough food on the patio and breakfast nook to give me and my daughter lunch everyday for the whole growing season. I was also a beginner. It made a huge difference in the quality of our diet, of our environment, and of our life. All it took were 8 empty containers, 2 dollars worth of potting soil, a few free seeds, and a little ambition.

To lower your clothes bill there are a couple more options. You can learn to sew. You can buy second hand. You can learn to mend, which is sewing but, it requires less knowledge. Or you can buy second hand from yard sales all the clothes that need easy repairs and get clothes for next to nothing. I take all three approaches and a fourth one, people just give me stuff. Honestly, making your clothes last longer is the best and easiest option. The second easiest is buying second hand. However, if you really NEED new clothes…as in brand new, I would learn to sew them. Sometimes you have to have neat as a pin clothes for work. A lot of times, you aren’t going to find clothes in perfect shape at yard sales or second hand stores very inexpensively. For these special cases, I suggest you learn to sew.

Even though my children receive free clothes on a regular basis, they always seem to need clothes. I mend, remove stains, and patch holes, but eventually a garment gets just thread bare. At that point it is unrepairable and it has to be used as rags. You know a garment is shot when you have replaced all the buttons, sashes, ribbons, and lace. The thread is see through and it’s supposed to be flannel. If you move to fast the fabric rips and when you try to repair it the thread rips the fabric when it is pulled through. People ask who originally owned it and you have to go through the names of all your siblings, your cousins, your aunts, and your mom, before you get to grandma which it was originally bought for. Yes we Do have two shirts like this, which we still keep because they are in such good shape.

Entertainment options are endless on the cheap. There are free on line games, libraries that you can check DVD’s out from, Free museum days, Free art gallery days, ocean fishing, bike riding, public parks, and on line journals. Entertainment should be the easiest thing to get free. That’s all for now. The Conservative Pagan.

I thought I would take a break from the usual economic soap box and get back to basics. Cleaning on a budget can be hard. There are so many choices, which size is really a bargain? Does ultra and concentrated really work better? What is worth my money? I ask these questions time and time again. Every single time I compare things, I keep coming back tot he same issues.

There isn’t a standard size or concentration for a mixture in most products. Without an average to gage stuff by your left to guess. Guessing is bad. It leaves items up for speculation. I am going to give you sound, inexpensive and eco safe (for the most part) alternatives. If this doesn’t interest you just wait a day and I’ll have something new and completely different up.

Your triangle of cleaning cheap and eco smart are vinegar, baking soda, and pine oil cleaner. Vinegar has a list as long as my arm that it is good for, as does baking soda and pine oil. The very best pine oil can be had for little when you consider it’s worth 16 bottles of the regular stuff in the store that you can buy for a dollar. You save a dollar over all with shipping if you buy the 16oz bottle or 12 dollars if you buy the 32 oz bottle. You could potentially save even more depending on how you look at the shipping.

Pine oil, like is linked to above, can be diluted well and used to wash floors, tables, laundry, tubs, toilets, and more. It disinfects with out harsh chemicals like bleach and in the long run is cheaper than bleach. It’s a good economical alternative to harsh chemicals at a good price. To dilute use one ounce of the pine oil linked above to one 16 ounce bottle of water. This should last well over a week. To use in laundry, use like normal detergent but use 1/2 a cup of the diluted mixture as prepared previously. For cleaning, use 1/4 cup of the diluted mixture per gallon of water.

Baking Soda is the king of cleaning in the home. It can be had for 25 cents a box or as much as 3 dollars for a large box. I am just going to list as many uses as I can think of below.
1. Great scouring powder for tubs, toilets, sinks, and counters.
2. Nice light oven cleaner.
3. Air freshener and carpet freshener. Sprinkle it into the carpet, stomp it in, and vacuum out. (The kids love to stomp it in)
4. Great to get soap scum off of tile with a little elbow grease.
5. It can be used to ease acid by using 1/4 a teaspoon in a cup of water.
6. Good to get rid of dandruff, just rub it on your head before you shampoo.
7. Great as a tooth powder, also known as tooth paste before it was a paste.
8. 1 teaspoon in a cup of water with salt makes a great mouth wash.

There are tons more uses for baking soda all over the net if you choose to look. If Baking Soda is the King then Vinegar must be the queen. Again I am going to list a few ideas here and you can look up tons more if you are interested.
1. Great window cleaner.
2. Cleans out the toilet bowl every time, from stains and hard water deposits. just dump two cups in before you go to bed and let it sit over night. Scrub the next morning and flush.
3. Clothing stain remover. Just soak clothes in full strength vinegar.
4. Fabric softener. Use like you would a normal liquid fabric softener.
5. Shiny no wax floors, just add a 1/2 cup to a gallon of water and mop. This keeps it shiny and kills dust mites.
6. 1 cup of vinegar in the diaper pail, for cloth diapers, keeps urine soaked diapers from smelling as bad.
7. If you put 50/50 vinegar/water solution, you can clean any hard surface with out worrying about commercial cleaners. This also works great as a laundry pre-treatment.
8. Run it through the coffee maker as you normally would water to clean out deposits and make coffee taste better.
9. Use the 50/50 solution to spray down showers after each use to avoid mildew build up.

There are numerous other uses, some of which are health related you can see here. If you are interested in cleaning on the cheap in an environmentally sound manner, these items need to be in your house. My family uses vinegar and baking soda both in vast amounts for cleaning. The only thing we buy out side of these three things is dish washing liquid. Even still baking soda is a great scrub for pots and pans before the wash.

Hoping you save some money for you and yours The Conservative Pagan

but is being downplayed as to it’s true effect on the economy.

Due to high hidden inflation and market pressures from oil to the mortgage fiasco, consumers (you) aren’t buying as much. According to some reports consumer spending, or you spending yourself into a hole, is the primary mover for the economy. I want you to think about that. You extending yourself to the point of pay check to pay check is barely keeping the economy in place. This leads me to believe a correction is due. The market has been stretched too thin and the flexibility of the American pay check isn’t going to save the day eventually. It is also suicidal to have an economy so dependent on credit, suicidal in monetary terms.

Don’t get me wrong, credit is a good thing, when used properly. However, after all the chapter 11 filings in the past few years, one has to wonder how careful these fellows are with our invested dollars. Credit has been extended so far and wide that now we are seeing a backlash. Not only that, in order to keep the economy chugging along we will have to continue to extend this credit to such extremes. Another reason the FED gave a 38 billion dollar booster shot to companies.

This isn’t just a nation wide problem, this is a world wide problem. Governments in Japan, Canada, and England had to do the same as our central bank. I wonder why China, Russia, and India didn’t have to? In fact why didn’t any of the OPEC nations have to, or South American countries? Well, you see we are consumers of their goods. They have all the manufacturing and all the oil, so why would they need a booster shot to keep their economy going. Their economies are based on exports of oil and manufactured goods, not retail sales. Their economies have a good solid base for growth. Ours isn’t as solid as everyone would like to think.

In this model I still wonder why Japan had to infuse cash into it’s system, especially since they export a lot to us. Their cars are phenomenal. Perhaps due to our economic instability they also had instability. These are only hypothesises.

Anyway, back to the case at hand. Prices are definitely rising as even the experts have noticed. However, experts claim we are still all able to buy stuff because our incomes are rising. I have a question, has your pay check gone up? Did it go up because you worked extra hours or because you had a raise? If you worked extra hours, doesn’t that still mean your time is worth less, your just working extra hard to make up for your income shortfalls? Either way, it won’t be long until the systems corrects which could be good or bad depending on your view.

In the mean time my goal is to help you keep more of your money in your pocket. My previous post helped with ways to get school clothes covered for relatively little cash. This one will help you make school supplies. No not pencils and paper, as those are cheap enough for the most hard up to afford. I would rather show you info on how to make some of the extra items teachers might require.
Blue Jean Book Bagtakes less than an hour and recycles old jeans
Book Cover
This one is a simple one
Notebook Pencil and Pen Holder
this one goes inside of your child’s binder
Zipped Book Cover with handles
I wish I had these in school
Tote
This is a do-able book bag.
Lunch Bag
For packed lunches since that is the most economical way to go.

Hair Scrunchi
Knit
Crochet
Sew

This should help you get off to a good start. I hope you are all getting busy learning how to make do. These links should help a lot. Signing Off The Conservative Pagan

Your dollar just got weaker. You can thank a fire storm of economic pressures on Wall Street and across America. You can learn about it here. The basic problems was this, guys on Wall street, investors and more, saw that the home mortgage crisis wasn’t limited to home mortgages. Left and right, rumours that major businesses would have to stall deals over a shortage of credit due to the foreclosure fallout that hit Wall street. This created a downward spiral on stock prices as people speculated which company would get the proverbial shaft. It cause such a frenzy the Dow was down 387 points yesterday.

The FED trying to ease the panic before it caused a world wide crisis, decided instead of lowering interest rates, it would pump 38 billion dollars into the banks. This means our collective dollars are worth 38 billion less. What does that mean total…well here’s the kicker …no one knows since the FED stopped keeping stock of how much money is out! So we’re left in the dark as to how much our money is really worth…as is the rest of the world I would guess. This is equivalent to corporate welfare! Here is why. How come they didn’t just give 38 billion dollars into the economy to help people keep their homes? Why didn’t they make the rules a little more fair to the consumer? However, once the corporations start to go belly up and everyone starts to think the fish bowl has arsenic in it suddenly the FED comes in to save the day.

Here’s how this affects you. Not only will things get more expensive, things will get much more expensive. Remember that hidden inflation I was talking about, well this will certainly help it along. You can add it to the list of economic woes. It may not be a problem if pickles go up ten cents or gas to 3.50 but if everything goes up, well it adds up. It’s going to be recession 80’s style. I’ll tell you why. There are two economic indicators that have been hovering around. Bonds are yielding less APR than short term investments and inflation + hidden inflation is out pacing your income. Together this equals a major issue for our economic welfare as a nation.

The short of it is, although you may bring home more, prices are so high it has less purchasing power. I’m sure you have noticed coming up short on odds and ends. Have you ever wondered, “Why can’t I get everything I need any more?” Did it ever occur that by rearranging the sizes and making you pay the same amount for less or more money for the same, is a hidden inflation? That is how they do it. That’s how they slowly creep the pennies out of your pockets. You buy the same thing every week, but it lasts less or it costs more suddenly at the cash register. Why? Because your money is worth less.

You think, but I’m not getting paid more! No your not, so now your time is worth less. It’s like a pay cut that wasn’t given by your employer, but by the FED and bad banking practices. A plummeting dollar, high oil prices, high credit interest rates, low raise rates, and a poor return on credit extended is what your up against. That’s a lot. Being frugal to the most extreme lengths doesn’t look so silly when facing such stiff competition.

I stress that you should review your most essential needs and figure an annual budget. After that cut all non-essential items. I know many of you don’t think it will matter, but in a few months when all of your bills jump ten or twenty dollars, you’ll be thankful. Even if you can cut down on one bill, pay off one credit card, you will be infinitely more ready than the person still living pay check to pay check once the prices creep up.

The telegraph in the UK reports that China is threatening to cash in all it’s US securities, which is in effect currently keep our dollar afloat. Most people don’t realize this is billions of dollars worth of bonds and dollars. If China were to do this the value of the dollar would plummet even further compared to the Euro and sterling.

What does all of this mean for you? Well, if the value of your money is less then you have to pay more for the same stuff. It is a kind of hidden inflation. For example: In 2006 baking soda costs 1 dollar a box and in 2007 because of bad economic conditions it costs 1.50 a box. If this happens baking soda could cost 4.00 a box. Not bad if your pay goes up too, but that usually doesn’t happen. Plus it’s not just limited to baking soda. It’s everything made every where. Things from Europe would be virtually impossible to purchase, Chinese goods would be expensive. Even American goods would be expensive, but they would still be cheaper then everything else.

Even though this would cause a huge fall out in the import/export market, not to mention the credit market, the eventual out come is more American businesses, with more Americans employed. European companies are already looking to America because of the excellent trade exchange brought about by a low dollar.

So..it is bad and good. Actually it’s a really black cloud with a small silver lining.

What should you do? Hold on tight, pay off your debts, and get political. I don’t care who you vote for, but they should at least be aware of this black cloud hanging over our heads and have a plan to deal with it.

Personally, I am boycotting all Chinese goods. I have been since the fish issues. I am trying to convert everyone else into a NON-CHINA supporter. Their dangerous products, terrible diplomacy, and threats to my country, sound like blatant attempts to make America lose face and start a war. Why would a trading partner and friend make such public threats? Why would a trading partner and friend try to poison our people? Why would a trading partner and friend act like we are an enemy when we have made them all rich beyond their dreams? Unless they no longer want to be friends, but financial dictators and over lords.

I hope that you will join me in my boycott. I’m sorry I got political…sometimes I get off on a rant.

It seems another round of tepid financial reports have been released. Every quarter they say it’s bad, but recovery is another quarter away. If a fortune teller kept saying this would you believe her? Or would you say “Bah!” We all know it’s bad, and we should all know they would never tell us it’s going to get worse. Reality is not brought to the fore in case people would panic and sell all their stocks.

For a little back ground read this, and that.

My point is some interesting headlines are coming to light when you consider how absolutely cautious these economic types like to be. For example: Did you know that the FED could lose it’s mortagage authority due to the recent rash of foreclosures? The FED chair admits 100 billion dollars in credit loss related to the foreclosures. Not only that but retail sales are falling because of the foreclosures. My point, the housing slump is not contained. Oil has gone down because of the retail slump and even markets in London were down 1 percent on opening. This could be the beginning of a down slide if things don’t improve soon. It hasn’t thrown the market into a panic, but one or two more factors could.

So what does this have to do with you, Average John and Jane Q? Not much right now unless you have a 401k, hedge fund, or invest heavily in the stock market. If so, hang on it will be bumpy, but in the end worth it if you can ride it out. If your young and you just plopped 10 grand in the stock market expect that ten grand to be worth 5 grand in a year and 50 grand in 50 years. That is how the roller coaster works. This is my advice, when the bubble does burst, buy all low stocks from companies that had proven track records and aren’t filing chapter 11. That way you can buy while they are under valued. At least that is what I would do if I had a couple grand to throw in.

For everyone else, IF and I do mean if, things turn even more sour, hang on. I suggest you pay off your debts now, your mortgage, your credit card, school loans, over due Dr. bills, even your charge accounts at stores. If you pay them off now you won’t have as much to worry about later if the lay-offs and tight labour market rear their ugly head as they usually do in such conditions.

I am dedicated to giving heads up about these things and ways you can cut down to pay off those debts. I’m going to run down a basic list of things you should do to pay off your debt. Besides making do with odd tid-bits and being frugal, one has to keep an eye on the markets, pay off their debts, and some how save real money in an account.

1. Assess your situation. How deep in debt are you and where are those debts at? How much do you owe for everything for a year? Take all your essential and somewhat fixed monthly bills like water and sewer, electricity, phone if you need it for work, car insurance if you need it for work, and multiply each by 12. How much does that cost a year? Then take your essential fluctuating monthly bills like food, Dr bills, medicines, clothes, travel expenses (gas ) and multiply those by 12. How much does that cost? Once you have figured out how much you pay a year for essential items you can move to step two of assessing…

Assessing Non-essential items. Unless you have a specific business expense which can be deducted from your taxes, the monthly billed items on this list are non essentials and could be removed from your monthly bills list with little pain as alternatives are easy to find for free or cheap. DSL, Cable, newspaper subscriptions, magazine subscriptions, cell phone extras, on-line game subscriptions, dating services, house keeping, laundry services, more than two cars insured and in use, (I believe more than one car is ridiculous) late fees and over draft fees, credit card balance protector fees, and more. Now add up each one of those that you pay for every month and then multiply by 12. That is how much you could save each year if you eliminated all of these frivolous items. You can save so much with out even skimping on the essentials.

Decide which frivolous items you can live with out and instead of paying for your magazine, and your on-line game subscription, put that money towards your credit card balance on top of your regular payments. Instead of paying for cable you could apply that to your mortgage bill and avoid foreclosure. My point is drop the frivolous non-essential items and keep what you need, food, housing, medicine, clothes, and work related items. Everything else is worthless at the end of the day. Put all that you would have spent on the useless items and apply it to the most essential items and you will not lose your home as long as you stay employed. If it still isn’t enough, it’s time to learn how to bargain hunt and make do, which this blog will help you with too.

Have you ever come home to find the house a mess, the bills over due, your spouse frazzled trying to keep up, and everyone looking to you for answers? If you have, you know what a bad day is like. Everyone in America has experienced this once in their life. Some live there on the weekends or around the 15 th of the month. The point is you not supposed to live like this ever.

Consider money a safety net. The more money you have saved away the bigger the cushion to land on should life send you into a tail spin. Money doesn’t solve everything, but it does make things easier. If you had a bank account with a few thousand “discretionary fund” dollars in it for emergencies, little blips like a fender bender or unexpected minor illnesses would hardly put you out. The problem is most people aren’t used to living like this.

Look around you, what does the culture say? Do they say tomorrow something bad might happen so save today to make sure your prepared. The only people I see saying that are life insurance companies and health companies. The thing is these aren’t economical alternatives to just saving your cash. These are substitutes for just saving cash. In fact if you had a couple thousand you could put some of it in a short term CD and actually MAKE money instead of losing it to insurance companies.

I know you are dying to ask “What about health insurance?” Going into the medical field (I hope) I can sympathize with BOTH sides of the coin. The advantage of private insurance for Drs. is a steady stream of patients, the advantage for patients is PERCEIVED security. If you get down to reading the fine print, a lot of plans only give you so much coverage and only if you go to their Drs. 100 percent of the time.

There are so many exclusions and clauses, one could end up owing MORE because they thought the plan covered it, but found out it wasn’t covered, was considered pre-existing, was out-of-coverage plan, or any other host of BS the insurance company uses to keep your money. Their job isn’t just to insure you against a tragedy, it’s also a business. That means it’s primary legal function is to make money at the expense of your health and pocket book.

Now we see governors forcing all people to purchase health insurance in Massachusetts. How is it a free market if you are forced to purchase something you might never use and isn’t even helpful to your fellow Americans since we have health clinics and CDC to deal with infectious diseases? Well, one could argue the tax payer pays for the poorest and this will eliminate them from being a concern. NOT true, it shifts the blame. But it doesn’t actually insure anyone against anything.

Let me put it to you simple. Put your hard earned money in a savings account or CD or money market…where ever it’s somewhat liquid. Let it collect interest for the next year at about 5% compounded quarterly, or even annually. If your young and healthy, take care of yourself, and every year add another 2 thousand dollars. Eventually you will want to take some of it and invest it in more long term solutions, but for now go with this. If you do this, you make money, AND you never have to worry about needing the emergency room because you can’t afford the Dr.

Being forced to purchase something makes the free market not so free. It also destroys the poorest among us a chance to invest in themselves or their future because now they have one MORE bill they can’t afford for services that are sub par and may not even be needed. How is this a free market solution? A free market solution would have more options than just health insurance.

There should be accounts for medical care a person can set up any time they feel, and put as much as THEY deem fit to cover their expenses. Drs. should be up front about the cost of everything, so patients could compare prices. The only time a Dr. shows any concern for price is if they think your uninsured and when it’s REALLY expensive…like 10 grand. Everything should have a price list, like a menu at a restaurant, as soon as you walk in. You should consult with your Dr. about which tests are best and which are good etc… That is what the Dr. is there for right? This would also make the patient and informed patient. Why don’t we do this?

Signing Off on my rant The Conservative Pagan

Why is this in a money blog? Well, we all “invest” our money into our children’s toys. Some of us invest wisely, and some of us invest average, and some of us don’t invest in toys at all. I have 5 children and MOST of their toys were on the recall list. I am P.O.’d NOT because I spent tons of money on the toys, they were given by friends and relatives, but because something so dangerous could be in children’s toys. In the past year Chinese fish, dog food, and toys have been recalled. My suggestion, stop investing your money in Chinese merchandise. It’s cheaper you say. How much cheaper is it if you have to throw it out and buy new everything because it was manufactured wrong! For the price of two Chinese dog food bags, a pet owner would get excellent dog food in the size of one Chinese bag and still have Fido. The same goes for your kids, do you want to save ten bucks or do you want to spend possibly hundreds on a hospital bill and have Johnny damaged for life? That is how it connects to your money.

I hope to ingrain into your mind that death isn’t cheap. What if the next recall is baby food, medicine, or fresh pears? What if you were poisoned by these foreign entities? You legally can not sue the company that poisoned you! You know why? China doesn’t allow it. So it’s your money or your life, literally now. Every product from China is like a game of Russian Roulette. What do you value more?

Here are some lovely websites which offer American Made merchandise….even toys.
MADE IN THE USA . ORG
S Claus Toys
Still Made in The USA

Plus Ebay has lots of people that make stuff to sell.

But let’s just say, since your on a frugal blog I guess, you can’t afford new American made toys. Well my dears you can make them with a little know how.
Wood Work
A Giraffe Drawing Board
A Rocking Horse and Whale Rider
A Piggy Step Stool
Sewing
A Basket Ball Pillow
Foot Ball Throw Pillow
A Soccer Ball Crochet
Child’s Ball Stuffed Lamb Hacky Sack
Knit
Snake Puppet Teddy Baby Block
I know that all of the above toys are not name brand like the ones being re-called, but we as a nation need to think this over. What is more important? Even more disturbingly, how come we are the ONLY country China keeps sending sub par crap to? To me it seems like a subtle act of war not only against us, but our children. Will you stand by and allow them to wage war on your children? Buy American to be safe or make it yourself! Night…The Conservative Pagan.