Am I Going to be OK?; Are you Going to be OK?

[Big Cliff]

Here are some little tips to help some of you save a few bucks.Dont wash your clothes in cold water, like most companies suggest.

A) it is extremely hard on the washer.The cold water causes the plastic in the machine to become hard and wear out faster. The soap will not disolve properly(even liquid soap) and will ruin hoses and pumps and seals

 

When you put the ice cold clothing in your dryer, it will take up to 4 times more energy to dry those clothes, than if you washed in warm or hot water.

 

C) In winter, buy yourself an Indoor dryer vent kit, and where possible, evacuate the air from your dryer inside.It will provide humidity and a pleasant smell from the fabric softener.Also, it will not pull the air from your warm house and send it out side.

 

Paul

 

Some very good points here, now that I think of it, we are probably doing a few of those things wrong!

 

Thank you!

[dave524]

 

I can even think of a few things that have gotten cheaper. Look at your computer. The first one I bought was a used Pentium II and I paid $1700 for it in the mid 90's.

 

At almost 61 quite a few things fit in that category. My first computer was a 386 with a whopping 127 MB. hard drive, no internet just a 2400 baud connection to a local BBS, paid $1700 for it too , now a 29 dollar mp3 player has way more memory. Fishfinders are a bargain, outfitting a salmon boat 30 years ago I bought the best there was, a Lowrance 1510B paper graph, paid more for it than a new HDS5 and it ate a 5 dollar roll of paper a weekend, the kicker used less in gas .

TV's, pretty sure I paid over 300 for a new 20" portable in the late 70's and don't even think what a new VCR cost then Cable was only $8 a month, now there's a big ripoff

Majour appliances are a deal, when I bought a house in 83 I bought new fridge stove washer dryer, basic units that could be replaced today for very close to what I paid. The house is another story, thank you real estate values

Retired at 58, luckily I was able to save early in my worklife when you actually got decent interest rates, but if mortgage rates ever hit today what they were then, the banks would own half the homes in town. I feel for you young guys

Edited February 25, 2011 by dave524

[knightfisher]

While I agree getting a career as opposed to just a job makes sense, there are not enough jobs out there

for the thousands of ''yearly'' graduates who have that piece of paper. Also, not everyone is capable of getting a career.

Just don't have ability required. Not everyone is smart enough to be (..........) There are very few other jobs for the ones

who can't find career type jobs.

Whats happening around the world as far as protests go, will come here. It's already happening to a degree in the States.

However with what we experienced with the G-20 a while back, will people be allowed to speak their mind and protest.

 

Back to the original topic....my place has a self contained lower unit with it's own hydro meter. If times get tough, I can rent

out that unit, that we currently use. However I don't relish giving up my privacy, which happens when you have tenants.

Edited February 25, 2011 by knightfisher

[mercman]

Majour appliances are a deal, when I bought a house in 83 I bought new fridge stove washer dryer, basic units that could be replaced today for very close to what I paid.

 

The appliances you bought in 83,are probably still functioning.What you will buy today will be lucky if they outlast the manufacturers warranty.I can still get parts for 20yr old appliances, but with the new ones today, parts are no longer available in 5 years, or are more expensive than the appliance was new.

Keep your old appliances, or buy reconditioned when you can.Energy Star is a figment of your imagination.20 cu ft fridges with 1/5 hp Compressors waste energy trying to keep your stuff cold or frozen. They should be 1/4 or 1/3 minimum.So you see, they want you to think you are saving money, but you are really not in the long run.Energy costs are higher, and you have to go through 3 sets of appliances instead of only 1. I KNOW THIS. After 30 years in the appliance parts bussiness, i see it all, and am in contact with the manufacturers like whirlpool, GE,Electrolux and LG, on a level you wouldnt believe. What they do should be illegal, and in many cases it is, but we(the consumers) have no idea.

 

Sorry to ramble. Keep your money in your pockets.Repair yourself, and dont let sales people fill your ears with crap.

[tb4me]

After reading all the above, I notice a horrible trend. Everyone my age (35- 36) have no retirement plans...Im self employed and have no way to save either.. were having a hard enough time making ends meet every month. The wife works at the local drugstore. She has good bennifets but no retirement plan either. Were just simply not making enough to be able to save. I see a horrific trend here. Somthin will have to change.

[lhousesoccer]

thinking of egg producing chickens (can't see that being worth it, but might be fun?)

You definitely won't be saving any money. I decided to start my own flock last spring. I got 12 chickens, built a coop ($800 in materials). Got them beginning of May 2010 as chicks. $2.00 each. Cheap. Chick feed is cheap too and they don't eat much. They didn't start laying eggs until October when they were almost 6 months old. But the bigger they got, the more they ate. I was getting 10 to 12 eggs per day. When winter came and the day length lessened, they stopped laying eggs every day. Now I get 5 to 8 per day. A 50-lb bag of egg layer pellets cost $12. They eat one bag a week.

 

Do the math. You'll never get your money back. But you're right. They are fun.

[Billy Bob]

You definitely won't be saving any money. I decided to start my own flock last spring. I got 12 chickens, built a coop ($800 in materials). Got them beginning of May 2010 as chicks. $2.00 each. Cheap. Chick feed is cheap too and they don't eat much. They didn't start laying eggs until October when they were almost 6 months old. But the bigger they got, the more they ate. I was getting 10 to 12 eggs per day. When winter came and the day length lessened, they stopped laying eggs every day. Now I get 5 to 8 per day. A 50-lb bag of egg layer pellets cost $12. They eat one bag a week.

 

Do the math. You'll never get your money back. But you're right. They are fun.

 

You need to have more chicken dinners then scrambled eggs.... :)

[Billy Bob]

The appliances you bought in 83,are probably still functioning.What you will buy today will be lucky if they outlast the manufacturers warranty.I can still get parts for 20yr old appliances, but with the new ones today, parts are no longer available in 5 years, or are more expensive than the appliance was new.

Keep your old appliances, or buy reconditioned when you can.Energy Star is a figment of your imagination.20 cu ft fridges with 1/5 hp Compressors waste energy trying to keep your stuff cold or frozen. They should be 1/4 or 1/3 minimum.So you see, they want you to think you are saving money, but you are really not in the long run.Energy costs are higher, and you have to go through 3 sets of appliances instead of only 1. I KNOW THIS. After 30 years in the appliance parts bussiness, i see it all, and am in contact with the manufacturers like whirlpool, GE,Electrolux and LG, on a level you wouldnt believe. What they do should be illegal, and in many cases it is, but we(the consumers) have no idea.

 

Sorry to ramble. Keep your money in your pockets.Repair yourself, and dont let sales people fill your ears with crap.

 

I agree with MM.......all the junk we get now is made in CHINA and that's a HUGE part of the problem with our economies......

 

But I did figure out a way around the cheap fridges they send us from China....ICE BOX......yep, a good old fashion ice box.....no parts ever break down and a unlimited supply of snow and ice right outside my door... :rofl2:

[mercman]

I agree with MM.......all the junk we get now is made in CHINA and that's a HUGE part of the problem with our economies......

 

But I did figure out a way around the cheap fridges they send us from China....ICE BOX......yep, a good old fashion ice box.....no parts ever break down and a unlimited supply of snow and ice right outside my door...

 

absoluut geenius Bob

[Roy]

Mercman also sells icebox parts yanno. See the price of styrofoam on the commodities market these days?

[Billy Bob]

Believe it or not, my first job on the RR was chipping a ice block from a the ice box car and putting a good size chunk in the ice box of a caboose. GREAT job when it was hot and humid....

[spincast]

"CEOs Are Overpaid

 

CEOs are paid too much for what they do; too much more than their average worker

By F. John Reh, About.com Guide

 

 

Pay for Performance

According to Business Week, the average CEO of a major corporation made 42 times the average hourly worker's pay in 1980. By 1990 that had almost doubled to 85 times. In 2000, the average CEO salary reached an unbelievable 531 times that of the average hourly worker."

 

Somehow, I think this may be contributing to the erosion of the middle class - I believe recent comparison indicates that by 10:00 am on Jan 1st the average CEO has made the same amount of money the average worker does by Dec 31st in the calendar year.

 

And while the above is definitely a contributing factor, much of the current condition (high tax rates, deteriorating infrastructure etc) is also caused by the fact that, for most of our lives the word balanced budget has been an unrealised goal for most western countries. Politicans have behaved in a way with our tax dollars that we would never behave with our personal credit. How many years can you max out your credit (cards, lines of credit payday loans) and increase the limit? Eventually you gotta pay it all back. Anyone look real close at the "how long it will take to pay off your credit card if you make minimum payments" on your monthly statement?

 

And - just my personal thought - if it was soft water season this thread woudl be growing much slower....

[mercman]

And - just my personal thought - if it was soft water season this thread woudl be growing much slower....

 

 

never a truer word spoken Bring on the Then everything will be all right again.

[BassMan11]

As a 25 year old reading all these replies i am horrified about the future. How will i ever first pay off all student loans then buy a decent home, pay property tax, pay all my bills, drive a decent car let alone at some point have children and give them a good start in life. O and thats if you get a decent job right out of school. Maybe by the time I am 40 i will have enough money saved to start all of that?

[lookinforwalleye]

Don`t worry about it when I was 25 I said the same thing OMG! what are we going to do!!!

 

Good things come to those who work for it, if your the type that sits around and whines and looks for somebody else to do your heavy lifting then you probably have something to worry about!!!

[Billy Bob]

Don`t worry about it when I was 25 I said the same thing OMG! what are we going to do!!!

 

Good things come to those who work for it, if your the type that sits around and whines and looks for somebody else to do your heavy lifting then you probably have something to worry about!!!