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Grocery Game

August 25th, 2008

I was intrigued by an online resource, TheGroceryGame.com, that Gigi Lehman included in her May 15 story about saving money at the supermarket (find link at MiamiHerald.com/Food). She was enthused, so I signed up.

Two months later, I’ve more than gotten my money’s worth ($1 for a four-week trial, then $10 every eight weeks).

Here’s how it works: The site tracks sale items — advertised and not — at your supermarket. (I could choose Publix, Winn-Dixie or Wal-Mart; you can pay extra for information on more than one store.)

It also tracks coupons in the Sunday newspaper, and generates a weekly shopping list of the best buys — a two-for-one deal on paper towels, for example, on which you can save another $1 by using the coupon that ran three weeks ago. (You quickly learn to save and date those sheafs of coupons.)

There are seldom more than a dozen things I want on the 50- to 75-item list, but the savings have been substantial: More than $80 on my best week and never less than $30.

[FULL ARTICLE]

TheGroceryGame.com

Posted in Frugal Shopping | No Comments »

I.O.U.S.A. Movie - USA Needs a Total Money Makeover ASAP!

August 25th, 2008

Wake up, America! We’re on the brink of a financial meltdown.

Download a full sized version of the movie poster

I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. As the Baby Boomer generation prepares to retire, will there even be any Social Security benefits left to collect? Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.

Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the nation’s financial practices and policies. The film follows U.S. Comptroller General David Walker as he crisscrosses the country explaining America’s unsustainable fiscal policies to its citizens.

With surgical precision, Creadon interweaves archival footage and economic data to paint a vivid and alarming profile of America’s current economic situation. The ultimate power of I.O.U.S.A. is that the film moves beyond doomsday rhetoric to proffer potential financial scenarios and propose solutions about how we can recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations.

Pointedly topical and consummately nonpartisan, I.O.U.S.A. drives home the message that the only time for America’s financial future is now!

Bonus Quotes from the movie …

Dave Walker on Debt to GDP Projections …

Deficits and Social Security …

Warren Buffett on the Trade Decifit …

Posted in Misc. | 1 Comment »

Which senators have no mortgage?

June 24th, 2008

This really doesn’t tell us if they are totally debt-free, but interesting nonetheless to see for which Senators, the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW (doubtful).

Senators and members of Congress do not have to disclose anything about their home mortgages — not how much they borrowed, from whom they borrowed it or what interest rate they paid.

But amid allegations that Countrywide Financial Corp. offered special mortgage deals to two senators, it’s suddenly useful to know who has been lending money to the members of the greatest deliberative body in the world.

The Senate Ethics Committee has already launched an investigation into the preferential treatment afforded to the two senators in question, Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and leading Republicans in the House have called for a wider investigation into whether other lawmakers received any discount rates on their mortgages.

Although senators are not required to disclose information about their mortgages, Politico put the question to them. Earlier this week, Politico staffers called every Senate office and asked for the answers to three questions:

Who is the senator’s home mortgage lender (or lenders, if the senator has more than one residence)?

Whom did the senator contact to arrange the loan?

Did the senator receive any special terms?

This chart reflects the answers received as of Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 6 PM EST. It will be updated as more arrive.

The early line: A substantial number of senators — being on average older and wealthier than the U.S. population — don’t have mortgages at all.

[Check on your Senator here. Note: Lots failed or refused to comply with the information request. Shocking.]

Posted in Misc. | No Comments »

10 Rules for Being Human

June 23rd, 2008

10 Rules for Being Human

by Cherie Carter-Scott

1.	You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2.	You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”
3.	There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”
4.	Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5.	Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6.	“There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”
7.	Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8.	What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9.	Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10.	You will forget all this.

Posted in Misc. | No Comments »

F.B.I. Operation Malicious Mortgage to the Rescue - The Government Protecting You Now

June 19th, 2008

The government is here to save the universe and has a catchy operation name to boot. Watch out, here comes Operation Malicious Mortgage to the rescue!

From March 1 to June 18, 2008, Operation Malicious Mortgage resulted in 144 mortgage fraud cases in which 406 defendants were charged. Yesterday, 60 arrests were made in mortgage fraud-related cases in 15 districts. Charges in Operation Malicious Mortgage cases were brought in every region of the United States and in more than 50 judicial districts by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices based upon the law enforcement and investigative efforts of participating law enforcement agencies. The FBI estimates that approximately $1 billion in losses were inflicted by the mortgage fraud schemes employed in these cases.

[FULL REPORT]

Posted in Misc. | No Comments »

The Old Credit Cards in the Ice Block Trick …

June 16th, 2008

Before I discovered Dave Ramsey, I used to try games like this one described by the Consumerist today. The gist is that you freeze your credit cards in a block of ice, so they will be hard to get to when you want to use them. Yea, right.

Maybe this works for some folks, but today, I don’t play with snakes.

I remember deciding to get my card out of the ice block one time, I took ice block with me to the shower and melted it out while I got ready to go out and use it. Didn’t slow me down even 30 seconds, since I had to shower anyway. Pitiful.

Posted in and Stupid, Desperate, Broke | No Comments »

‘Gas Men’ give out Benjamin Franklins to fed up motorists. These guys must be on Dave Ramsey’s Step 7!

June 14th, 2008

Mysterious ‘Gas Men’ dole out cash at the pumps

PLAINVILLE, Conn. (AP) — They don’t climb tall buildings in a single bound, but the mysterious “Gas Men” are super heroes to some fed-up motorists. The unknown duo were dressed in sunglasses, baseball caps, khakis and matching green golf shirts when they gave Gayle Kilburn a $100 bill on Thursday as she filled up her car at a Citgo in Plainville.

They also handed her a card that read “Re-Fueling Our Community” and was signed “The Gas Men.”

Kilburn says she was stunned by the gesture and at first thought it was a stunt with Monopoly money. She later realized it was real cash and used it to fill her tank.

She said the Gas Men also helped five or six other customers.

Posted in Give like no one else, Step 7, Giving, Genius of Dave Ramsey | No Comments »

Dave Ramsey talks to Maggie, whose husband handed over full responsibility of their money to her …

June 14th, 2008

Posted in Genius of Dave Ramsey | No Comments »

McCain has a credit card at 25.99%?

June 14th, 2008

Nothing really shocking in this story about the McCain family credit card debt, except that Senator McCain is paying 25.99% on one card! He needs to call up and threaten to surf the balance.

In addition, a credit card held jointly by the couple was carrying $10,000 to $15,000 in debt, the filing indicated, at a stiff 25.99 percent interest rate.

Posted in Maxed Out | No Comments »