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Fashion Bug - Good prices, very comfortable! - nm [2008-08-20]
x
Gas prices. [2008-05-10]
Really getting difficult. I am grateful I work at home. A month ago here in S.C. gas price was 3.17 a gallon and not it is almost 3.70 a gallon. It gives me pause to think. There are more contractors in Iraq than troops fighting and dying, and that does not begin to account the wounded, disabled.
Really. If Colonel Sanders was elected president and the price of chicken went up over 80%, would that give you pause to think?
sorry. forgot to mention Linda Chavez is in refernce to threads about high food prices. [2008-04-19]
nm
The reason is high gas prices. [2008-04-18]
All that stuff is transported by truck... they run on gas...
Did you check out the profits the oil companies made last quarter?
Not just gas prices, but the recession sure will. [2008-04-01]
We are staying home this year and saving every dime we can. Our fed and state refunds went right into savings, and our stimulus rebate will too.
will high gas prices affect your spring/summer travel [2008-03-31]
j/c. I wanted to go to the beach this year but I don't think we will now.
Gas prices hinder my trips, nope, got 3 planned for this year [2008-03-31]
Had planned 1 by air about 3 months ago and 2 others by chartered bus the end of the year so nope, prices are not hindering my traveling.
haircut prices [2008-02-05]
$35 to $40; less if you don For the works (cut, color, highlights), about $150.Toner may be more,depending on the salon.Tip is 20%, don
These are Houston prices.
Wow, it's interesting to see the different prices sm [2008-02-05]
Thanks for sharing your info on the hair cuts. I I never really knew if I was tipping enough or not.
It's nice, but food prices insane and food is really bad, [2008-01-19]
xx
Gas prices [2007-11-19]
$3.26/gallon at Sam's Club in Palm Desert, CA
Gas prices [2007-11-19]
Paying $2.75/gallon at the Kroger Store in South Texas. Get either 10 cents or 3 cents discount which is tied to grocery purchases. Glad to be working at home.
Haven't seen prices that low in years around here - (nm) [2007-11-19]
nm
Gas prices here in NY State [2007-11-19]
It's anywhere from $3.19-$3.25 a gallon. We're going away for a few days next weekend and I can only imagine how much it'll cost to fill up (Usually around $60.00).
gas prices [2007-11-19]
Um, $3.99 in San Francisco!
check out orientaltrading.com; has lots of pre-made kits you do yourself and good prices. nm [2007-11-09]
@
You can check prices on line at places like Wal-Mart and 1-800-Mattress, etc. [2007-09-19]
s
Prices!!! [2007-06-21]
Where I live(S. GA) too they get out early like 6 a.m. and are through by dinner or shortly after. Some advertise, some do signs and some both, just according to how hard you are to find. I think it is important to have a price on everything! That's my pet peeve. Some people won't ask if it is not priced. Don't set your prices too high. My mother gets upset that she cannot get her money out of something, especially if she bought it at a sale. I try to tell her some money is better than none. Her regular stuff we do at yard sale, other stuff we do on Ebay. Price big items where you might go down a little bit and smaller stuff where you might be willing to deal. If you will let a dresser go for 50 put 60 on it. The fun in buying is bartering with the seller for a deal. People will buy more if you give them a deal. I say quantity over quality. We go through and put a tag on our stuff the night before. You can find garage sale stickers prepriced at an office store or somewhere like Walmart, priced from .25 to $10 with blank tabs to. You can also get color coded ones and just make a poster board and say Green dot 0.25, Red dot .75, yellow $10, etc. this saves a lot of confusion and is easier to count up. Happy sales. Offer some cookies or cupcakes, keeps kids occupied while moms shop!
With the prices of homes and property taxes today, just about everyone is house poor. [2007-06-16]
It's so sad when you can't go out to dinner often, buy nice expensive things for yourself *just because*, go on lots of trips, go to sports things, see shows/concerts, etc., all because you own a house. I'd truly rather rent and ENJOY my life! :)
Prices will vary in different areas of the country. [2007-06-05]
s
gas prices [2007-01-11]
$2.21 in south Miss; lowest I've seen was around holidays, down to $2.09.
I got it at QT in Austell.... you can check Atlanta gas prices....sm [2007-01-11]
at http://www.atlantagasprices.com - I
Yep, we switched to Liberty Mutual last year. Best prices over everyone else. [2006-10-21]
No one could touch what they offered to insure us at. I do medical billing also and I work with them on WC claims so I know they are a good reputable company. Good luck.
You have several issues here sm [2008-07-04]
First, mortgages are no longer a wise investment. The general trend is towards home values going down, not up. You could well end up 10 years from now owing more than you can sell the house for. I have had this happen to me.
You have GOT to live within your means. If your wife is overspending, she needs help. Yes, overspending is a pathology!
Downsizing even further is probably your best solution, after your wife has addressed her issues with spending more than you have. Being house poor is a fool's journey into madness, especially because with gas prices continuing to rise, as food may be a real luxury soon.
I have downsized twice in the last 5 years, in part because my family grew up and left home, and the last time because it made economic sense. I live in an older trailer house, but it is lovely inside...warm and comfortable. Ashamed of it? NO WAY it is paid for IN FULL and MINE. It was a wise move. I am now able (and motivated) to save about 25% of my income after taxes, sometimes more and I am looking at ways to cut corners so I can save even more.
I am worried about a second Great Depression in this country, and I am not alone in my thinking. LIVE SMALL and get your wife on the same page.
A very small town in West Texas [2008-07-03]
I live in an 890 sq foot rock house. I am guessing at the sq foot actually. It is close to 900 but not quite there. It ihas 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. Metal roof. I live close to the schools. I live 2 blocks from the local hospital. I just applied for a job there in fact. I worked 8 years for a big 300-bed multispeciality hospital that was 35 miles away. I left because of the climbing gas prices and I thought I needed a break from the office politics. I started working for an on-line transcription company and for some reason just cannot seem to produce the lines or make half the money I was making at the hospital. I have been here 6 months already. I applied to another company to try my luck there and they offered me a job but I read in the paper yetserday this little hospital here is hiring. They do light transcription, filing, I forget what else it said. The best part is I will have benes. As I was applying a nurse recognized me and was telling me about them and they have improved since I worked there 10 years ago. I hope the pay has as welland I hope they still like me. LOL.
IMO definitely depression [2008-06-18]
I think people get freaked when you say depression because they think of Grapes of Wrath or what our grandparents talk about what they went through. They say Oh that - Gas at $3.00 your nuts, that. I think that as long as they don't cancel American Idol people don't care. I talk to siblings they have no idea of what's going on in the economy but they know the statistics of all American Idols or Survivors. It's sad. I definitely see a depression coming. First, gas prices are soaring. People can't afford it. If they can't afford it they can't get themselves to work, or they work OT just to pay for gas to get to work (when OT is available). Food prices rising. Reports of food shortages in areas, jobs being shipped overseas. Then the wierd weather patterns I also believe somehow affect the economy. To me I see a major depression hitting us. Also I do read a lot of websites (the kind that my family thinks I'm into conspiracies - that is until they start hearing the same news I'm telling them about, they just hear about it months later and pretend I never told them anything).
MI's been in it's own one-state recession for years [2008-06-18]
All forgotten here. Rumor has it MI was once a super-power, but not in my life-time. Boarded up, gravitti-ridden, poverty-stricken. Highest in unemployment, top-ten in foreclosures, top-ten in high Gas prices. Our warted governor certainly is not spending our tax dollars wisely. My only salvation has been to not get in over my head.I drive a $700 car and bought my house for 13K. Gotta love the clean beaches, too.
This country is definitely in trouble.... [2008-06-18]
IMHO, many people have blinders on. Still buy like crazy, charge everything, drive brand new cars with big monthly payments, have all the toys, new everything and then only pay minimums on their CC payments or miss a house payment or two and think everyone lives that way. People need to learn how to save money, plain and simple. DH and I both work, make just over six figures, have only the house payment, cars paid for (not newones but donno CC debt, gas prices arencredit cardscomplains that the debt collectors are calling them because they are behind in payments. Most people whould be able to ride out a recession if they had some money in the bank.
Oh yes... it is ...sm [2008-06-18]
Things are pretty bad now but I think they will probably get worse. I mean take for instance the floods that have ruined between 1-3 million acres of corn and such in the midwest. I seen that on the news this evening. That means food will sky rocket. Not only corn products but wheat and others. Lou Dobbs was saying you know the corn needed for feed to feed animals will be so high the prices will make the price of meat go up in the supermarkets. Things are going to be really bad I think. I am for the first time ever actually freezing and putting up vegetables from gardens. I think it is the only smart thing to do. I am also stockpiling any sale items all I can.
As the poster below said...if you are.. [2008-05-13]
havinga tough time making it financially, maybe there are better job choices out there for you. My pointwas that most people who whine about having no moneyusually have the brand new car or two and the payments, a huge mortgage, the latest tech gear, etc. We have a lot of nice things, all paid for, but we took our time getting them. We save where we can, but we arendecision that whatever we want to buy we will either save and pay cash for or charge it and pay it off the next month. As you get older you realize stuff is just stuff, it comes and goes, and the less you canget by on the better.
I have economized and it has paid off sm [2008-05-13]
I live in a mobile home I bought excessively used. It is fully paid for. My car is 1996 and while it has 123K for mileage, it is still running just fine and I am told will go to 200K. It is paid for. I own a lovely piano, paid for. Clothing I either make or buy on the sale tables from Walmart. I especially like that most of my tops only cost me $3 or $5. I take good care of my clothing and much of it I have had for several years. Since I have chosen carefully I like what I have. Same for shoes. Same for what little costume jewelry I have. Same for my budget bedding. I buy household stuff second hand because I like certain tacky nick nacks from the 1950s. I even shop for the lowest prices at second hand shops.
Now, I have not had a vacation in 13 years, it is true. I am just now getting used to having to take 2 full days off every week and managing those 2 days without sitting down to work is hard. I do, however, have a lovely home and no debt.
I only work one job and I do pretty well ($40K a year). I am able to have enough taxes withheld not to worry about it. I have insurance too. After that, I can pay my bills and I manage to put back about $500 to $700 a month, depending on my line counts. I have no idea what I am saving for right now, but it feels good to watch the numbers climb. I literally put every fourth paycheck in the savings account. I DO eat what I want when I want. I have also stock piled canned foods because of food prices. I buy lost leaders at the grocery store for the most part. If it has a store special tag on it, I am going to choose it over something else.
I am at a point where I don There is no place close I I am an avid sale and clearance shopper, and while I am not longer at the point in my life where this is a necessity, it is so ingrained (did I spell that right?) that I can Some people may get off on buying an expensive item, but I get my thrills out of seeing how little I can spend to get what I want. Example is a flat pack entertainment center I wanted. Original price was $120 and I got it for $32. Nothing wrong with it and it was easy to put together, just clearing out for new styles. I had wanted one for a year before I bought this one, but found that price and jumped on it with great joy.
Since I know perfectly well that working harder and longer is not really an option, I chose to cut my spending and now I am really happy.
Post your money saving tips [2008-05-12]
Times are tough, gas prices through the roof, food costs climbing... what are you doing to compensate? I'm lucky to live in a walkable community. I'm glad that I can work at home and not have to use so much gas, but I do use my car for errands. Since I am able to walk to the grocery store, doctor's offices, post office and friends' homes that's what I'm doing these days. Last week I used my car only once.
That's just the first big step (pun intended). How about everyone else? What are you doing (or forced to do) with rising prices?
I've been boycotting the Colonel ever since I saw - [2008-05-11]
that undercover film of poultry slaughterhouse workers kicken chickens, stomping on them, and throwing them against the walls.
I eat meat & poultry, but I feel that if an animal exists purely to be someone's meal, they should be treated respectfully and humanely.
As for Gas prices. they are over the $4 mark in most parts of California now. And my last trip to Safeway for groceries had me in sticker shock. I can't afford beef or fish, and am boycotting chicken. Yogurt is ridiculous... how tiny are they going to make those little cups, anyway? I can't afford that, either. I'm being forced into a diet of vegetables and whatever cereal is stale-and-on-sale, which I eat dry, because milk costs even more than gasoline.
Good old days [2008-05-09]
Unfortunately the good old days are long gone! I think the world in general is in such turmoil it's hard not to get negative. The news has one disaster after another, gas and food prices continue going up and wages don't increase at the same rate, if at all. I guess trying to be positive is a lot tougher these days but what is the alternative?
As an afterthought, my good ole days were as a 7 year old playing hopscotch and jumprope outside with my friends or going swimming, playing Miss mary mack (God I know that dates me); and waiting for the ice cream truck to roll on up so I could get the one with the gum inside; also having a mad crush on Davey Jones of the Monkees! :=) He was sooo cute! Just days of simpler times and less problems.
Saw on Yahoo about stockpiling foods/staples in anticipation (sm) [2008-04-26]
of prices continuing to go up and up. I do tend to keep my freezer and pantry fairly well filled. Certain things seem to go on sale in cycles and I try to take advantage of that. Do grow a garden and may very well enlarge it this year. Anyone else have suggestions on helping to defray the cost of putting food on the table.
Keep that pup!! (sm) [2008-04-22]
I bought a Civic (an HX which was the 'innovation of fuel economy' at the time). Rising gas prices were my concern... this was in 1998.
Ex had a Prelude, same year. He LOVED it but gas was a little too steep (drives a lot in his job), so he bought a new Civic this year and sold me the Prelude (he wanted to 'keep it in the family').
My old girl (HX) was on the downslide because her innovative transmission was dying and since that innovation was traded for another, well, not feasible for a repair.
Anyhow, since I don't drive much, I took the Prelude. Love the car, but sheesh... big gas tank... same once-a-month fill, but twice as much with the rise in gas, bigger tank, and not as good mileage.
I seriously don't know how people who drive to work have SUVs, make the payments, and pay for gas.
I guess we can complain about what MTism has degenerated to pay-wise, but one thing constant for a lot of us is our commute is cheap.
PS Hondas rock!!!! ;-)
Linda Chavez has great articles and makes a lot of sense. [2008-04-19]
This is long but I think worth it.
As if a housing crisis, rising energy costs and a soft labor market weren't enough to cause economic anxiety for the average American, now consumers are feeling the pinch of rapidly escalating food costs. The United States has long prided itself in being the breadbasket of the world, and Americans have traditionally paid a smaller share of their income on food than citizens of other developed countries. But the days of cheap milk, bread, beef and poultry may well be over — and Uncle Sam is partly to blame.
In 2007, the cost of a gallon of milk increased 26 percent; eggs went up 40 percent; and a loaf of white bread went from $1.05 to $1.28 from 2006 to 2008. Steep increases in the price of oil have contributed to these higher costs, but the federal government has played a pernicious role as well. By mandating that oil companies increase the amount of ethanol they blend with gasoline, the government has not only artificially increased the cost of corn, which is what most U.S. ethanol is made of, but has driven up the cost of other grains as well. Inflated corn prices encourage farmers to divert more acreage to corn, which means they plant less soy and wheat, which, in turn, drives the prices of those commodities up as well. The aggregate price of wheat, corn, soy oil and soy meal in the U.S. will be $61.7 billion higher in the 2007/2008 crop year than it was in 2005/2006.
Corn prices affect a host of other food prices as well. If you've ever looked at the ingredient labels on everything from bologna to canned tomato soup, you'll see that corn syrup is a common ingredient of many processed foods. Corn is also a common grain used in feed for cattle, poultry and hogs. As a result, prices for meat and poultry are going up, but even with higher prices, some companies in the meat industry still can't make a profit, and many are being forced to cut jobs and close plants. I've seen this firsthand as a member of the board of directors of Pilgrim's Pride, the nation's largest chicken producer, where we have already had to shut down one plant and close six distribution centers to cope with record losses directly attributable to soaring feed costs.
But what is most galling about the impact of government mandated ethanol production is that it does little or nothing to solve our energy problems.
Ethanol proponents argue that it is cleaner than petroleum — which improves air quality — and that it and other alternative fuels will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Both claims are dubious.
Corn-based ethanol is inefficient as a fuel for automobiles, reducing vehicle gas mileage by 20-30 percent in vehicles using E85, the highest ethanol content fuel. Fewer miles-per-gallon of gas essentially eliminates any savings achieved, even by mixing ethanol with gasoline in the lower 9 percent ethanol blends required in all U.S. gasoline today. And of course, it also takes energy to produce ethanol — for farming and distilling the corn and transporting the final product to the pump — and much of that energy will come from carbon-based fuels.
None of these arguments has stopped the aggressive ethanol lobby from getting its way with Congress, however, and pressure increases in presidential election years as Iowa farmers encourage candidates to pledge allegiance to ethanol during the Iowa caucuses.
If ethanol really were the miracle fuel its proponents claim, you'd think there would be huge profits in producing it in the free market. But that's not the case. Consumers not only pay for ethanol at the pump, they're paying taxes as well to subsidize ethanol production in the U.S. — and they're paying a hidden tax to keep cheaper, foreign sugar cane ethanol from competing with the domestic corn-based product. Subsidies to gasoline blenders amount to about 51 cents per gallon, and the government imposes a 54-cent tariff on foreign ethanol so that it can't provide a cheaper alternative for U.S. consumers.
And matters will only get worse as government mandates higher bio-fuel content in U.S. gasoline from the current 9 percent to 15 percent by 2015. Ethanol won't solve the energy crisis, but it may well lead to a food crisis in the U.S. and elsewhere. The U.S. Agency for International Development reports that the cost of providing wheat, corn, cereal and other foodstuffs to poor nations has gone up 41 percent since October 2007, which will mean we can provide less assistance to starving people around the world. Federal policy is literally diverting food from the table to the gas tank — and it's time we stopped it.
Linda Chavez is the author of An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal. To find out more about Linda Chavez, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
The cost of groceries - WOW!! [2008-04-18]
I nearly had a stroke at the register today. Eggs here in AL are, get this, $3.49 where I am, but you can get 50 cents off by being a store member, which I am. That is still 2.99 a dozen - good grief! Sweet potatoes were $2.51 a pound, outrageous! Normally I do not look a whole lot at prices and just buy what I like, but these prices are even making me look! Gas just went up to $3.35 a gallon here. They are saying $4.00 by summer.
Actually, that is only part of the equation. [2008-04-18]
Food prices world wide have risen because of energy costs, climate/weather conditions, and increased demand in developing nations. Commodities are also a swiftly growing investment vehicle, which can also result in price increases. Global unrest is just beginning. The rioting will become even more widespread. The overthrow in Haiti is probably just the first of many. It is going to get worse before it gets better.
I think you totally understand [2008-04-14]
I think my fiance is very stressed out about how we are going to make it - he doesn't really have an income right now - he does have a 200 acre farm - has always bought and sold real estate and farmed but neither are going well now. He would like to start his own business but that is scary right now too - he doesn't want to go back to working in a factory but may end up having to do that - and I work for the Q - so not a ton of money there.. lol. . We are also thinking about building a house - lumber prices are low right now and we should be buying that and getting started but, again, he is scared of how we will pay for it. Personally, I don't care if we build a house or stay in my tiny old house. . . I think he gets so stressed out and upset with himself that he takes it out on me - and then I don't handle it well. . I am going to try to do better - my way of handling it is to go off by myself - which is good for me but he sees it as rejection of him or something. . anyway - thank you for your words of wisdom. .
thanks [2008-04-14]
We usually have good communication but this is the one area we seem to have a problem with. . and I am going to try to work on it with him. . . . I know the cost of building a house is up but my finace and his nephew will be doing a lot of the work themselves and we have a lot of our own material too - we have all the cedar siding for the outside of the house and some for the flooring as well - so that will help tremendously on the cost for us - also we have Amish neighbors who are going to help get it framed up - they charge reasonable prices and work very quickly - but the plumbing, windows, doors and electric are going to be pretty expensive. We have the land and all we really need to do is find a buyer for my house, then we could get started. . Good luck with your house - it is exciting isn't it?
Go for it. Most states cannot even get decent [2008-04-02]
immigration reform laws passed because of the business lobby. How about we take all the out of work American and have the states and feds hire them as immigration officers? Then they could have decent benefits and there might be enough manpower to hunt down all the hundreds of thousands illegal immigrants and immigrants who do not speak English (what is that threshold going to be because I know some teenagers who are deficient in this area) and then we can process them all (more jobs for OOW Americans) back to their countries of origin. Of course, we would have to raise everyone's taxes to pay for all the salaries and benefits of all the new government employees, the holding facilities, the transportation and court costs. And of course, prices would go up across the board for goods and services that previously used cheap labor, and all those signs in Spanish and Vietnamese and Portuguese and whatever else can be repainted or reprinted in good ole American English, which our kids won't even be able to read because of the rotten public school systems where we had to pull even more money out of to pay for all the additional immigration reform costs. Then we can write all new, mega-restrictive immigration laws and create new testing centers and monitoring laws and now all the immigrant rounder-uppers can become babysitters, or maybe we could just section off part of the country, say....North Dakota...as a holding area for potential immigrants to stay for an allotted period of time until they are able to pass all the benchmarks for citizenship within the designated time frame. We can implant RFID chips in each one so we can easily track them down if they escape. If they cannot meet the requirements and don't freeze to death or get trampled by a buffalo herd, then they are sent back to their home country to try again in 10 years or never. We can then tear down the Statue of Liberty and return it to France.
No way...driving cross country just as.. [2008-04-01]
we do every year. DH and I take the month of May off for vacation and drive a Ford Explorer. Yes I have a large vehicle and no I donThevacation money is already put away in the bank so when we get back I just write a check for the bill. We have some of the highest gas prices here in the west and always figure it is a treat to head east and watch the prices drop a bit.
Kind of [2008-04-01]
Usually every year my husband However, during the hurricane season of 2004, the condo that my uncle owned timeshare in got damaged to the point of being condemned. So now that we have to actually PAY for a condo, this year we have decided to head up to the panhandle which is halfway between the FL family and the AL family and in the same town as one of the aunts, namely due to gas prices and Lord their drive used to be 10 hours, no fun with kids.
As for us, we will be heading up there which we don However, both myself and my husband work from home so we might put gas in each vehicle once a month? We also own a boat which we put gas in but this year we As an FYI, boat takes 87 and not great gas mileage. I drive a truck that takes the cheap stuff but gets 19 mpg and less while towing the boat. Husband drives a sportscar that takes 93 BUT gets like 25-28 mpg, to say the least we will be driving his car to the panhandle in May!
I'm with you [2008-04-01]
Unfortunately our refunds went to pay off our credit cards. I can't believe how much everything has gone up, not just gas. Groceries prices are up where we are and milk is sky high. I wish we could afford to go away this summer, but we're staying close to home and taking day trips and maybe going to a cabin by the lake for a few days.
Gas prices hinder my trips, nope, got 3 planned for this year [2008-03-31]
Had planned 1 by air about 3 months ago and 2 others by chartered bus the end of the year so nope, prices are not hindering my traveling.
I buy from them also. Never really [2008-02-21]
go overboard, just about $40-$50 every other week. I buy a lot of their veggies; seems to be pretty good prices on them to me. Kids like their ice cream and sausage and biscuits. I LOVE their popcorn shrimp! Buy it every time!
If the descrepancy in price was not there.... [2008-02-08]
they would have to. So long as MTs anywhere are willing to work for 3 to 4 cpl, quality will always be sacrificed. There are US companies that will take the cheapest MTs they can get, without worrying about quality, and those MTs don't make the corrections either. As long as anyone can offer the service at such drastically reduced prices, end users will sacrifice quality for price when cost is to the driving factor.
Look at generic foods. Most people by foods based on taste first, price second. Generic foods have had to increase their taste (quality) to be able to compete. The savings they gain are in lack of advertising, which they pass on to the consumer, which is how they undercut prices on the shelf. In the MT world, the cost was low enough that the end consumer was willing to sacrifice quality. Now, the US provider is having to compete with that cost profile, ergo the downturn in our ability to make $$. They are willing to sacrifice sentence structure, etc, so long as certain items are met to take the lower cost. So long as the lower cost drives an industry where the end consumer is willing to sacrifice quality, cost will always be the driving factor. Therefore, if the offshore (and low-paying US)MTSOs would increase their price, quality would become the primary difference, and MOST substandard MTs in all countries would simply find nobody willing to use their services, which would only benefit the industry regardless of the individual's geographic location.
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