Wow. I'm reading the book The End of Food by Paul Roberts.
Real eye opener and I'm just in the background information bit. It's
due at the library and I'm going to have to get it out again or
something. Too much information to process all at once.
Anyway, the bit that has grabbed me at the moment is the evolution of
the food industry. Specifically the convenience food industry. It's
not like I'm unaware. It's more that I haven't seen it all laid out in
an organized, endnoted, fashion like this. Pretty compelling stuff.
The
current food industry, according to Roberts, is dependent on "the
continued decline in consumers' ability to prepare or even understand
their own food." That's not the only thing, there's advertising,
engineered consistent flavors, etc. I can't do much about the other
factors. But I can totally cook from scratch and understand food.
How
far removed are we from a time when most American households not only
cooked, but often grew, their own food for every meal, every day, all
year, their entire lifetimes? I'm thinking "not very" is the answer.
Before
Columbus sailed the ocean blue (1492), there wasn't much in the way of a
prepared food industry here, though there was some. Dried and smoked
fish and meats were traded a bit. Grains were traded, or stolen, a bit
after drying which is partial processing or "convenience." Flavoring
agents like salt and peppers were traded after some processing too. But
really, not much compared to heading to the Quickimart for a hot pocket
which you stick in some appallingly spattered microwave while you hit
the equally appallingly spattered restroom. (Remind me to do a later
blog on the "convenience" industry dealing with the outcome of food
consumption someday.)
After the pilgrims landed there was
some trade with the local folks for dried or at least harvested grains
and vegies and some for meats. But mostly, if you wanted to eat you'd
better have a family member or servant dealing with that everyday all
day. I guess paying servants is another form of convenience food.
We've outsourced servitude. I remember being impressed that my aunt (Hi
Marcie!) had servants while she lived in India. She was of the upper
social group in her area so that was the accepted social convention.
They probably helped cook. We had no servants other than Mom who slaved
away on food everyday. But sometimes we got a frozen pizza and there
was breakfast cereal, canned soups, and etc. I think I remember her
mostly cooking from scratch. I remember epic sessions of canning and
freezing foods for winter from the giant garden and going to pick
berries.
The big annual family "vacation" was geared
around going fishing during blue gill spawning season and bringing home
tons and tons...ok, pounds and pounds of frozen filets that we ate
through the year. The deep freezer was perhaps our most important
appliance. If it failed and everything thawed, we were screwed. Other
vacation time was spent hunting. Deer was the prestige food, but we ate
other things. Fred still occassionally eats squirrel (barf...greasy
little bastards they be).
I remember getting beef from
"retired" dairy cows on another aunt's farm. I'll have to ask how often
that happened. I also remember weekly trips to the Jack and Jill
grocery store (which I assumed was somehow linked to me based on the
name).
I estimate, and will ask, that the greatest portion of our food was
cooked by mom, mostly from scratch with the exception of bread. There
were stints of bread baking, but mostly that was bought. As was the
butter. Don't remember her churning any.
A very large
portion of our protein was killed by someone in the family. I think for
the folks, it still is. They eat many many fish caught and cleaned by
Fred. There is a cleaning station in the garage with hot and cold
running water which anthropologically indicates 2 things...the
importance of this food source and the desire of Sher not to have
fishguts in her lovely cherry wood kitchen (Kitchens By Slugs).
When
we lived in the first house in Waverly, there was a very large garden
on the neighbor's land in what had been the bottom of the river so
probably pretty fertile. During those years, a good portion of our
vegies came from that garden but I have no estimate on how much.
Let's
go back one more generation to Gramma and Grampa and their folks. On
my mother's mother's side they produced approximately 100% of their own
food and much of the neighbors' food and had food based businesses. I
remember the stories of the honey production. I think Gramma said her
dad had a thousand hives but I'll have to ask again. They sold the
honey and made honey vinegar and attempted honey wine though the story
goes that Gramma's gramma thought that was sinful to spiked the bottles
with a bit of mother of vinegar thereby increasing the vinegar output.
Still a saleable product but not worth as much as booze. (Aside: I'm
attempting some honey vinegar right now...there are facinating stringy
thingies in the jar so here's hoping.) They had chickens, a milk cow,
large gardens, and fished the Mississippi. They shared and sold and
traded the extra and sometimes what wasn't extra. I'm guessing they
would have purchased the flour for bread and will ask.
I
remember Gramma talking about how her mom was on the annual trip to
South Dakota to introduce the newest baby to her folks, she'd stay like a
month or so, and Gramma's dad decided to get a new stove for the wife.
The first one arrived on the train and he declared it not good enough
and sent it back. Greatgramma like to sit on the oven door to keep warm
and he thought this one was flimsy and would break right off. I think
that was a wood stove but not sure. Later, a kerosene stove for summer
cooking was purchased. These events were very big deals and meant to
increase the convenience of cooking at home. I'll have to ask if they
ever ate in a restaurant or bought prepared foods. They did quite a bit
of canning and root cellaring. I'm sure there was hunting as there
were several boys and some guns.
So, 1 generation back, my mom, most food from scratch and quite a bit killed or grown or foraged themselves.
2 generations back pretty much 100%, let's go with 90% because of the flour, killed, grown or foraged themselves.
For
my sister: She grows the odd tomato after Fred plants her garden.
Picks cherries off her tree and eats and jams them. She sometimes cooks
from scratch and often uses convenience foods and often eats in
restaurants.
For my brother: Has grown his own beef and
turkey. Hunts. Fishes. I suspect that a very large portion of his
protein is killed by him. I don't think much in the way of veggies.
Right now a large portion of his eating at home is home prepared rather
than TV dinner sorts of convenience foods, but I don't know how much is
from "scratch" and how much has some convenience food like industrially
canned tomatoes.
For me: Lately too much restaurant
eating because I don't want to turn the stove on in the summer (a summer
kitchen is a priority part of my imaginary cabin). Probably 7 meals a
week are restaurant or grab-n-go sandwiches. I have been drinking Zevia
gingerale more than my homemade kombucha. And, almost all of the food I
eat is grown, killed, or foraged by someone else. I do cook from
scratch for the other 14 meals per week and have trained myself to
minimize the convenience foods when shopping but do still buy pre-ground
wheat (aka "flour"), pressed oils, etc.
I think for all
of us we use the "convenience" foods of butter, oils, cheeses (except
for me) and the like rather than churning, pressing or cheesing our own.
I used to buy pre-fab almond milk but have found that it's actually
MORE convenient to make my own from almonds. Since getting a tiny ice
cream churn (just 1 pint at a time!) I also make my own sorbets and
non-dairy icecreams but I still buy the nuts and berries and sweetener
pre-made. In the summer almost all of my vegetables come from my CSA,
which is local and not part of the big industrial ag machine, or my tiny
wee garden. In the winter, I do my best with preserved foods but
sometimes I just want to open a can of soup. It's so damned
convenient.
So, all that to say, that those of us who
cook from basic ingredients, "scratch," are performing one level of
economic disobedience. Every time I grind up my own almonds with water
in the blender, that's one more time I don't send money to a subsidiary
of a multinational corp for my almond milk. Every time I make my own
stirfry rather than buying a bag of prewashed, precut, premixed,
pre-whatever frozen sealed in plastic veggies, I keep a little of my own
money in my pocket rather than sending it to the half dozen
multinational corporations who run the food world.
Think
of every bit that you garden, if you garden. Even a pot of tomatoes or
basil on the patio or a windowsill takes a tiny bit of money away from
Nestle or Kellogg or Birdseye or whatever megacorp (which has personhood
now, by the way). Good for us.
The community garden
here where people can not only eat food grown right here in river city,
we/they learn about how to grow it. We start to understand our food.
Just this year I understood that sweet peas picked too late taste like
crap and give me the farts. That's good to know. I also learned that
they are still edible.
OK, long way around the topic,
but it's so compelling. There are really only 2 big seed companies in
the US. That is a monopoly people. Please grow your own food, with
seeds from the heritage seed companies or buy from local farmers,
preferably those who save and use their own seeds or buy from those
heritage seed companies. You keep money in your community, understand
your food, increase your food and financial security, and carry on with
important elements of being human. Providing your own food and sharing
it with others. (Now, off to the store for a big box of Ding Dongs.)
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
A Frugal Icon has Passed
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/22/herbert-vogel-dead_n_1693524.html?utm_hp_ref=culture&ir=Culture
First, yes, I'm embarrassed that I read the HuffPo because it is utter crap...but my computer blocks most of perezhilton.com and tmz.com.
ANYWAY: I'm sure I blogged out this guy in the past but I can't find the post. Will put in a link if I do find it.
Herbert Vogel and his wife Dorothy are amazing art collectors who lived very simply and spent money on what they valued: art and turtles.
They lived in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment in NYC. They lived on Dorothy's salary as a librarian and spent his salary, he worked as a postal clerk, on art. Every inch of their apartment was stuffed with art. Great art. They bought what they loved and the over 5000 pieces now form the basis of many modern art collections around the US. They donated it to the National Gallery (because it is free), which was unable to accept the entire collection due to curation and other costs, so much of it went to smaller museums and traveling exhibitions. They could have been "rich" if they'd sold it, but they chose not to as they had no need for more money. They hobnobbed and shared pet-sitting with Cristo and many other important modern artists.
The documentary about the couple: Herb and Dorothy. 2008. Directed by Megumi Sasaki
http://herbanddorothy.com/hd1/
First, yes, I'm embarrassed that I read the HuffPo because it is utter crap...but my computer blocks most of perezhilton.com and tmz.com.
ANYWAY: I'm sure I blogged out this guy in the past but I can't find the post. Will put in a link if I do find it.
Herbert Vogel and his wife Dorothy are amazing art collectors who lived very simply and spent money on what they valued: art and turtles.
They lived in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment in NYC. They lived on Dorothy's salary as a librarian and spent his salary, he worked as a postal clerk, on art. Every inch of their apartment was stuffed with art. Great art. They bought what they loved and the over 5000 pieces now form the basis of many modern art collections around the US. They donated it to the National Gallery (because it is free), which was unable to accept the entire collection due to curation and other costs, so much of it went to smaller museums and traveling exhibitions. They could have been "rich" if they'd sold it, but they chose not to as they had no need for more money. They hobnobbed and shared pet-sitting with Cristo and many other important modern artists.
The documentary about the couple: Herb and Dorothy. 2008. Directed by Megumi Sasaki
http://herbanddorothy.com/hd1/
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Historic Frugality
Turns out Abe Lincoln also had problems with moochers wanting his money when he was doing well.
The lovely blog "Letters of Note" published one of his letters to his half- or step-brother (I find wikipedia, nndb.com and other sources muddle those distinctions and I'm too lazy to go to the library and figure this out, also it's SUPER hot outside so I'm not going across the street to the library for nothin' today).
Anywho, this half/step-brother was asking for money. Lincoln noted that given this dude's constant pleadings for $$, this was just not going to happen. I've been down this road with people twice. It's tough to tell them no, but it has to be done.
Here's the link to the letter:
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/05/you-are-not-lazy-and-still-you-are.html
Here are a couple of my favorite bits.
The opener:
Your request for eighty dollars I do not think it best to comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little you have said to me, "We can get along very well now"; but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now, this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether, since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work in any one day.
Now, if you will do this, you will be soon out of debt, and, what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again. But, if I should now clear you out of debt, next year you would be just as deep in as ever.
Nice. And true.
The lovely blog "Letters of Note" published one of his letters to his half- or step-brother (I find wikipedia, nndb.com and other sources muddle those distinctions and I'm too lazy to go to the library and figure this out, also it's SUPER hot outside so I'm not going across the street to the library for nothin' today).
Anywho, this half/step-brother was asking for money. Lincoln noted that given this dude's constant pleadings for $$, this was just not going to happen. I've been down this road with people twice. It's tough to tell them no, but it has to be done.
Here's the link to the letter:
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/05/you-are-not-lazy-and-still-you-are.html
Here are a couple of my favorite bits.
The opener:
Your request for eighty dollars I do not think it best to comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little you have said to me, "We can get along very well now"; but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now, this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether, since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work in any one day.
The common sense approach:
You are now in need of some money; and what I propose is, that you shall go to work, "tooth and nail," for somebody who will give you money for it.
And the incentive:
I now promise you, that for every dollar you will, between this and the first of May, get for your own labor, either in money or as your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other dollar.
And the best possible outcome:
Now, if you will do this, you will be soon out of debt, and, what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again. But, if I should now clear you out of debt, next year you would be just as deep in as ever.
Nice. And true.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
BRAND NEW USED CAR!!!!!
I'm going to skip the whole "been too long" because that is obvious and get to the meat of the issue.
Betty, my long-owned and hard-driven 1994 Subaru Legacy Wagon is gone. Gone to auction after being traded in on Thursday.
Sol (or any word for "sun" in any language other than English) is the "new" car in town.
I had Diana (Hi Diana) go with me because she's good at finding vehicles. I'm good at finding cheap housing. Also, she is good at peer pressuring me into just buying something.
Betty needed new struts all the way around. 1200$. The struts were so bad that they were going to become a safety problem. A few days after I got this news from the mechanic, something let go in the back end (Betty's, not mine) and made a noise that was sort of "clang...sproing" every time the back driver's side wheel hit a bump. I'm guessing something actually snapped. That noise and the metal-on-metal screech of all 4 struts, as well as the delay and thump between pressing the gas and actually moving, were about to make my nerves snap.
I'm pretty sure I squeezed every ounce of value out of Betty. I paid 5960$ net (after the cash payout from the insurance when the Toyota was totaled by that damn teenager with a cell phone). I put out about 4000$ in major repairs over the years. Notable repairs: camshaft pulley shot off on the interstate in western Minnesota; alternator went out on the highway to Pullman one day; various CV joints/axles/bearings; 1 or 2 brake jobs though never replaced the rotors just had them ground. I got 1300$ for the time that chick hit the back end of Betty on an icy day. I spent $250 getting the tail light replaced. So that's about 1050$ free dollars to deduct from costs.
That makes a lifetime net cost (because oil changes and that sort of thing are assumed and I never did a timing belt, gasket, or pump of any kind) of 5960 + 4000 - 1050 = $8960
For that I drove 208,000 miles. My miles per dollar of purchase cost and major repairs for Betty is: 23.2
I have always shot for 20 miles per dollar so I was ahead but with a few major repairs (and there would be more than a few once we got started), I'd be behind
If I'd done the struts: 20.67. One big repair after that and I'd be losing even more ground.
I also had been wanting side impact airbags (and I'm sure my passengers had been wanting ANY airbag), my windshield was so scratched up from a life on the road that I could barely see at night from all the glare, and my seatbelts have been damaged and technically illegal for about 3 years. Never mind the water that flowed out from the bottom of the dash whenever it rained (that's been going on since I got the car), and the new leak along the top of the drivers side window. None of these things actually made the car stop or needed immediate repair to get from point A to point B, so I hadn't done them.
I got $759 on trade in for my car. That is deducted from the net outlay on the new car, but I haven't figured the full details on that yet.
I had to realize that I'm not going to get 20miles per purchase and repair dollar anymore. I'm sure as hell going to try, but it is something to shoot for, not a guarantee. I've been driving on borrowed time on the last car for a while. You just don't know an engine and transmission are going to last that long, never mind the differential and the rest. Betty must have been one of those cars made on the day when workers are at their peak of performance.
So, the new car. 2009 Forester with 44000 miles on it , roughly. It's a certified used car with a warrantee up to 100,000 miles (total miles, not mine) and three more years. I drive about 20,000 miles a year now so I'll about hit that. This is the first time I've bought a car without going to a mechanic. That is scary, but realistically, I had researched this "certified" business and thought it was too far out of my price range but it looks like it is a real thing. We'll see. This car was bought locally, driven locally, and so all maintenance records are with one mechanic, at the dealer. I'm sure any problem will show up in the next 3 years. It has some sort of extra warrantee for the first year or two; I need to reread the materials. And finally, I did not sign the arbitration waiver thingy so I can sue their asses if there is a problem.
This is quite a bit better/newer car than I planned on buying, but I really wanted the safety features and I still had cash for the purchase.
The dealer...Oh yeah!. The name of my salesperson is "Cinnamon Crabb". She's very nice despite what had to be a nightmarish journey though her school years with that name.
The dealership checked my credit rating and based on that, gave me the car immediately. I hadn't brought my title or checkbook with me because I figured I'd have to go clean out my car anyway. Nope. Based on my stellar credit rating (I'm in the 93rd percentile...only slightly lower than my Iowa Test of Basic Skills percentiles), they wouldn't even take the cash deposit I had brought with me. I asked if I should get a cashiers check. "No, we'll take your personal check." OK. I emailed a heads up to my bank that I would be writing a big check to a car dealership. I drove home in the car and went back on Friday with a check and the title to the old car. I had forgotten a couple of things in the old car so got those while I was there.
All very exciting. Now...if only that hail storm last night had dented up the car I would have gotten money back! Oh well. Someone will put a dent in it eventually and I'll get money back. I do not do cosmetic repairs.
That worked well with Betty. If I'd spent the 1050$ to get the tailgate and bumper dents fixed rather than kept the money I would have gotten a whopping 50$ increase in my trade in value. I might have gotten another 50$ if I'd taken off the rust bits and gotten a paint job. The cracked windshield had pretty much no effect on trade in. Once a car has that many miles and 18 years on it, cosmetic defects are nothing.
I just checked a loan calculator and I'm saving about 3000$ by not paying interest on a loan for this car. That's 3000$ that I will immediately designate as going towards the next car purchase, planned for either 2022 (10 years of use) or 2027 (Sol will be 18 years old).
Why name it "Sol"? Because I bought on Summer Solstice which was also a super hot sunny day AND it has an automatic sun roof.
Other accessories it has that I don't care about:
heated seats
audio controls on the steering wheel
alloy wheels
AC (which I did turn on because there is a warrantee on the transmission...more on that at another time)
remote start
keyless entry
a bunch of security stuff
reclining rear seats...they tilt back 4 inches so passengers can chill
CD player (that technology must be on the way out if I have it in my car)
Stuff I DO like:
back seats fold flat
those safety features
continuous readout of mpg average for 2 different trips so I can work on my fuel economy (this has a bigger engine than Betty so I'm losing a few miles to the gallon, but they don't make the smaller engine anymore)
getting in the car and assuming I'll get where I'm going
getting 3 years to see what will break in the engine or transmission due to the warrantee
ipod connection thingy that I don't know how to use yet.
I'm waffling on the seat...it's not terribly comfortable so I'm going to have to play with that. Oh well. Aunt Marcie was right. Also, my old car's seats were 18 years old (but surprising had no rips or stains) so I'm still used to the pains those gave me. I'm sure I'll adjust.
Betty, my long-owned and hard-driven 1994 Subaru Legacy Wagon is gone. Gone to auction after being traded in on Thursday.
Sol (or any word for "sun" in any language other than English) is the "new" car in town.
I had Diana (Hi Diana) go with me because she's good at finding vehicles. I'm good at finding cheap housing. Also, she is good at peer pressuring me into just buying something.
Betty needed new struts all the way around. 1200$. The struts were so bad that they were going to become a safety problem. A few days after I got this news from the mechanic, something let go in the back end (Betty's, not mine) and made a noise that was sort of "clang...sproing" every time the back driver's side wheel hit a bump. I'm guessing something actually snapped. That noise and the metal-on-metal screech of all 4 struts, as well as the delay and thump between pressing the gas and actually moving, were about to make my nerves snap.
I'm pretty sure I squeezed every ounce of value out of Betty. I paid 5960$ net (after the cash payout from the insurance when the Toyota was totaled by that damn teenager with a cell phone). I put out about 4000$ in major repairs over the years. Notable repairs: camshaft pulley shot off on the interstate in western Minnesota; alternator went out on the highway to Pullman one day; various CV joints/axles/bearings; 1 or 2 brake jobs though never replaced the rotors just had them ground. I got 1300$ for the time that chick hit the back end of Betty on an icy day. I spent $250 getting the tail light replaced. So that's about 1050$ free dollars to deduct from costs.
That makes a lifetime net cost (because oil changes and that sort of thing are assumed and I never did a timing belt, gasket, or pump of any kind) of 5960 + 4000 - 1050 = $8960
For that I drove 208,000 miles. My miles per dollar of purchase cost and major repairs for Betty is: 23.2
I have always shot for 20 miles per dollar so I was ahead but with a few major repairs (and there would be more than a few once we got started), I'd be behind
If I'd done the struts: 20.67. One big repair after that and I'd be losing even more ground.
I also had been wanting side impact airbags (and I'm sure my passengers had been wanting ANY airbag), my windshield was so scratched up from a life on the road that I could barely see at night from all the glare, and my seatbelts have been damaged and technically illegal for about 3 years. Never mind the water that flowed out from the bottom of the dash whenever it rained (that's been going on since I got the car), and the new leak along the top of the drivers side window. None of these things actually made the car stop or needed immediate repair to get from point A to point B, so I hadn't done them.
I got $759 on trade in for my car. That is deducted from the net outlay on the new car, but I haven't figured the full details on that yet.
I had to realize that I'm not going to get 20miles per purchase and repair dollar anymore. I'm sure as hell going to try, but it is something to shoot for, not a guarantee. I've been driving on borrowed time on the last car for a while. You just don't know an engine and transmission are going to last that long, never mind the differential and the rest. Betty must have been one of those cars made on the day when workers are at their peak of performance.
So, the new car. 2009 Forester with 44000 miles on it , roughly. It's a certified used car with a warrantee up to 100,000 miles (total miles, not mine) and three more years. I drive about 20,000 miles a year now so I'll about hit that. This is the first time I've bought a car without going to a mechanic. That is scary, but realistically, I had researched this "certified" business and thought it was too far out of my price range but it looks like it is a real thing. We'll see. This car was bought locally, driven locally, and so all maintenance records are with one mechanic, at the dealer. I'm sure any problem will show up in the next 3 years. It has some sort of extra warrantee for the first year or two; I need to reread the materials. And finally, I did not sign the arbitration waiver thingy so I can sue their asses if there is a problem.
This is quite a bit better/newer car than I planned on buying, but I really wanted the safety features and I still had cash for the purchase.
The dealer...Oh yeah!. The name of my salesperson is "Cinnamon Crabb". She's very nice despite what had to be a nightmarish journey though her school years with that name.
The dealership checked my credit rating and based on that, gave me the car immediately. I hadn't brought my title or checkbook with me because I figured I'd have to go clean out my car anyway. Nope. Based on my stellar credit rating (I'm in the 93rd percentile...only slightly lower than my Iowa Test of Basic Skills percentiles), they wouldn't even take the cash deposit I had brought with me. I asked if I should get a cashiers check. "No, we'll take your personal check." OK. I emailed a heads up to my bank that I would be writing a big check to a car dealership. I drove home in the car and went back on Friday with a check and the title to the old car. I had forgotten a couple of things in the old car so got those while I was there.
All very exciting. Now...if only that hail storm last night had dented up the car I would have gotten money back! Oh well. Someone will put a dent in it eventually and I'll get money back. I do not do cosmetic repairs.
That worked well with Betty. If I'd spent the 1050$ to get the tailgate and bumper dents fixed rather than kept the money I would have gotten a whopping 50$ increase in my trade in value. I might have gotten another 50$ if I'd taken off the rust bits and gotten a paint job. The cracked windshield had pretty much no effect on trade in. Once a car has that many miles and 18 years on it, cosmetic defects are nothing.
I just checked a loan calculator and I'm saving about 3000$ by not paying interest on a loan for this car. That's 3000$ that I will immediately designate as going towards the next car purchase, planned for either 2022 (10 years of use) or 2027 (Sol will be 18 years old).
Why name it "Sol"? Because I bought on Summer Solstice which was also a super hot sunny day AND it has an automatic sun roof.
Other accessories it has that I don't care about:
heated seats
audio controls on the steering wheel
alloy wheels
AC (which I did turn on because there is a warrantee on the transmission...more on that at another time)
remote start
keyless entry
a bunch of security stuff
reclining rear seats...they tilt back 4 inches so passengers can chill
CD player (that technology must be on the way out if I have it in my car)
Stuff I DO like:
back seats fold flat
those safety features
continuous readout of mpg average for 2 different trips so I can work on my fuel economy (this has a bigger engine than Betty so I'm losing a few miles to the gallon, but they don't make the smaller engine anymore)
getting in the car and assuming I'll get where I'm going
getting 3 years to see what will break in the engine or transmission due to the warrantee
ipod connection thingy that I don't know how to use yet.
I'm waffling on the seat...it's not terribly comfortable so I'm going to have to play with that. Oh well. Aunt Marcie was right. Also, my old car's seats were 18 years old (but surprising had no rips or stains) so I'm still used to the pains those gave me. I'm sure I'll adjust.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Earth Day Film Recommendations
I think we all know that I like Earth Day. I'll be on the radio on the actual day and will be giving an Earth Day movie list...but you saw it here first (my opinion may change by the time I get to the station).
Documentaries:
Dirt (great documentary about the importance of soil)
The Real Dirt on Farmer John (great documentary about an eccentric midwestern farmer)
An Inconvenient Truth (obviously)
The Garden (about a community garden in LA)
King Corn (corn and what happens to it, check out Ricardo Salvador the best looking plant biologist out there...also brilliant)
Scripted Films:
Greenfingers (Clive Owen is a murderer with a heart of gold and a green thumb)
Silent Running (classic eco-film with a youngish Bruce Dern on a ship with the last plants)
Soylent Green (obviously)
Delicatessen (post apocolyptic black comedy about cannibalism (no other food left))
Brazil (it's me so you know this will show up on every list)
Lemon Tree (widow in Palestine/Israel loses a lemon orchard to politics)
Alamar (beautiful views of an ecosystem and culture that are not long for this world)
There are thousands more, but these are what comes to mind. Enjoy. Happy Earth Day
Documentaries:
Dirt (great documentary about the importance of soil)
The Real Dirt on Farmer John (great documentary about an eccentric midwestern farmer)
An Inconvenient Truth (obviously)
The Garden (about a community garden in LA)
King Corn (corn and what happens to it, check out Ricardo Salvador the best looking plant biologist out there...also brilliant)
Scripted Films:
Greenfingers (Clive Owen is a murderer with a heart of gold and a green thumb)
Silent Running (classic eco-film with a youngish Bruce Dern on a ship with the last plants)
Soylent Green (obviously)
Delicatessen (post apocolyptic black comedy about cannibalism (no other food left))
Brazil (it's me so you know this will show up on every list)
Lemon Tree (widow in Palestine/Israel loses a lemon orchard to politics)
Alamar (beautiful views of an ecosystem and culture that are not long for this world)
There are thousands more, but these are what comes to mind. Enjoy. Happy Earth Day
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Too long!
I haven't been on lately. Other interests like starting plants, going to meetings, and listening to books on tape. So really, no good excuse.
I do have an excellent thrift store report! I am going to a formal dinner to support a human rights group in the next county north. It's fairly formal and I have no decent clothes to wear, though several gorgeous scarves thanks to an Aunt who traveled in Asia and picked up a variety of lovely silk shawls and scarves.
After an oil change yesterday I made the most of my time in the big city by going to a few thrift stores. At one I found BRAND NEW tan wool herringbone slacks by l.l. bean or similar. Still had the tags on. They are straight leg style which is best for me. There was also a dark brown silk shirt which is in the same part of the color wheel, but not matchy-matchy. I think it will work. A new formal outfit for a total of 15$. Woohoo! There were also columbia brand zip-off pants! They didn't have tags, but no spots, tears, wear or anything. I never buy these new because they are pricy and because they are made of artificial materials and I don't like to support that...BUT these are good pants and my other zip off pants are suddenly too small. They will work well when riding my trike since the ankle openings have a draw string so I can tighten them up and keep them out of the chain. Since they were 3$ I won't mind getting chain grease on them either.
I do have an excellent thrift store report! I am going to a formal dinner to support a human rights group in the next county north. It's fairly formal and I have no decent clothes to wear, though several gorgeous scarves thanks to an Aunt who traveled in Asia and picked up a variety of lovely silk shawls and scarves.
After an oil change yesterday I made the most of my time in the big city by going to a few thrift stores. At one I found BRAND NEW tan wool herringbone slacks by l.l. bean or similar. Still had the tags on. They are straight leg style which is best for me. There was also a dark brown silk shirt which is in the same part of the color wheel, but not matchy-matchy. I think it will work. A new formal outfit for a total of 15$. Woohoo! There were also columbia brand zip-off pants! They didn't have tags, but no spots, tears, wear or anything. I never buy these new because they are pricy and because they are made of artificial materials and I don't like to support that...BUT these are good pants and my other zip off pants are suddenly too small. They will work well when riding my trike since the ankle openings have a draw string so I can tighten them up and keep them out of the chain. Since they were 3$ I won't mind getting chain grease on them either.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Household Expense Book 1978 Pt. 3
I'm back! Was on vacation for a couple of weeks then catching up.
Another installment in this ongoing series:
Reminder: I was thrifting (shopping at thrift stores) last fall and found a budget book. One that you record expenses in each day and total up for the week/month/year. I knew it was old but thought it was blank. It was 25 cents. So I got it. I like to do a money flow check up once or twice a year so figured the 25 cent budget book would get me through about 6 years. Seemed like a good deal.
When I got home and was putting my purchases away (the budget book and a puzzle of a Cezanne still life, 25 cents) I flipped through the book a bit more thoroughly and found that a few pages were filled out.
It was done in September and October 1978. Quite interesting. I noted that I pay less in rent now than the book's owners (we'll call them "they") paid on their rent/mortgage in 1978. So, I thought I'd put the expenses in the blog and think them through in writing rather than just in my head.
Here goes:
Totals for the week beginning 9.25 (had to reconstruct the date from preceding and following entries):
Meats 45.00
Groceries 38.50
Dairy Products 4.50
School Expenses 2.00
Church-Charity 10.00
Laundry-Tailor
Drugs-Medical Care
Beauty Care 5.00
Household Help
Entertainment 35.00
Beverages 2.00
Cigarettes-Tobacco 10.50
Carfare-Parking
Household Purchases 10.00
Wearing Apparel 1.50
Gifts 7.00
Telephone 73.00 (!)
Gas 52.86
Electricity 15.17
Heat 5.61
Rent Or Mortgage 370.00
Insurance
Taxes
Auto Expense 73.00
Vacation
Additional Categories were added as follows:
Aldens 36.29
Penneys 10.00
Alarms 39.87
M.C 25.00
TV Guide 15.50
Total for the Week: 880.30 (wow!)
It appears that the "Gas" is being used to record "gasoline" rather than furnace fuel as it has a daily entry.
Spent a ton on meat and groceries again. I just decided to eat buckets of organic vegetables again and at today's prices I'm having trouble spending that much...even out of season and these folks are buying in 1978 dollars during harvest when stuff should be cheapest. Even assuming 4 kids. That's a great deal of money on food. Percentage wise it's not too terrible. Meat, groceries and dairy total is $88.00. 10% of the weekly budget. Of course the budget is skewed with a few monthly expenses like rent/mortgage.
Once Again, I'm a bit taken aback by the Entertainment cost of 35.00. What the hell was there to do in 1978 that cost that much? High class hookers? One for each kid?
The Cigarettes-Tobacco is 1.50 per day. Must still be smoking a pack a day.
One red flag as far as financial planning is making categories out of stores..."Aldens" "Penneys." Budgets do best when the categories are types of spending, not locations of spending. Did you buy clothes at Penneys? Is Aldens groceries? Clothes? Garden implements? This is the start of not knowing where the money is going. In a week or a month or a year, how will the author know what was bought at these locations? Whether the purchases were for home use or gifts?
What is "M.C"? What was bought there? For whom? Bad budgeter...no biscuit (also, no savings).
Another red flag is not recognizing "TV Guide" (I hope that's a yearly subscription) as an Entertainment expense. Making the entertainment budget a mind-boggling $50.00. Maybe the hookers wanted to know what was on TV. It doesn't really matter as it's still an entertainment expense.
One final red flag on this is the fact that the author never fills in the "budget for the week" column. Perhaps the point was just to track expenses for a while and then figure out a reasonable budget limit in each category. It's one way to go. Yet, making sure the outflow does not exceed the income is another goal of most budgeting and without having even a target total or a note of what the income is, makes it hard to keep a daily, weekly or monthly eye on things.
The weekly total, $880.30, equals what is often my monthly total 24 years later, minus various savings plans e.g. vacation, real estate, car.
Another installment in this ongoing series:
Reminder: I was thrifting (shopping at thrift stores) last fall and found a budget book. One that you record expenses in each day and total up for the week/month/year. I knew it was old but thought it was blank. It was 25 cents. So I got it. I like to do a money flow check up once or twice a year so figured the 25 cent budget book would get me through about 6 years. Seemed like a good deal.
When I got home and was putting my purchases away (the budget book and a puzzle of a Cezanne still life, 25 cents) I flipped through the book a bit more thoroughly and found that a few pages were filled out.
It was done in September and October 1978. Quite interesting. I noted that I pay less in rent now than the book's owners (we'll call them "they") paid on their rent/mortgage in 1978. So, I thought I'd put the expenses in the blog and think them through in writing rather than just in my head.
Here goes:
Totals for the week beginning 9.25 (had to reconstruct the date from preceding and following entries):
Meats 45.00
Groceries 38.50
Dairy Products 4.50
School Expenses 2.00
Church-Charity 10.00
Laundry-Tailor
Drugs-Medical Care
Beauty Care 5.00
Household Help
Entertainment 35.00
Beverages 2.00
Cigarettes-Tobacco 10.50
Carfare-Parking
Household Purchases 10.00
Wearing Apparel 1.50
Gifts 7.00
Telephone 73.00 (!)
Gas 52.86
Electricity 15.17
Heat 5.61
Rent Or Mortgage 370.00
Insurance
Taxes
Auto Expense 73.00
Vacation
Additional Categories were added as follows:
Aldens 36.29
Penneys 10.00
Alarms 39.87
M.C 25.00
TV Guide 15.50
Total for the Week: 880.30 (wow!)
It appears that the "Gas" is being used to record "gasoline" rather than furnace fuel as it has a daily entry.
Spent a ton on meat and groceries again. I just decided to eat buckets of organic vegetables again and at today's prices I'm having trouble spending that much...even out of season and these folks are buying in 1978 dollars during harvest when stuff should be cheapest. Even assuming 4 kids. That's a great deal of money on food. Percentage wise it's not too terrible. Meat, groceries and dairy total is $88.00. 10% of the weekly budget. Of course the budget is skewed with a few monthly expenses like rent/mortgage.
Once Again, I'm a bit taken aback by the Entertainment cost of 35.00. What the hell was there to do in 1978 that cost that much? High class hookers? One for each kid?
The Cigarettes-Tobacco is 1.50 per day. Must still be smoking a pack a day.
One red flag as far as financial planning is making categories out of stores..."Aldens" "Penneys." Budgets do best when the categories are types of spending, not locations of spending. Did you buy clothes at Penneys? Is Aldens groceries? Clothes? Garden implements? This is the start of not knowing where the money is going. In a week or a month or a year, how will the author know what was bought at these locations? Whether the purchases were for home use or gifts?
What is "M.C"? What was bought there? For whom? Bad budgeter...no biscuit (also, no savings).
Another red flag is not recognizing "TV Guide" (I hope that's a yearly subscription) as an Entertainment expense. Making the entertainment budget a mind-boggling $50.00. Maybe the hookers wanted to know what was on TV. It doesn't really matter as it's still an entertainment expense.
One final red flag on this is the fact that the author never fills in the "budget for the week" column. Perhaps the point was just to track expenses for a while and then figure out a reasonable budget limit in each category. It's one way to go. Yet, making sure the outflow does not exceed the income is another goal of most budgeting and without having even a target total or a note of what the income is, makes it hard to keep a daily, weekly or monthly eye on things.
The weekly total, $880.30, equals what is often my monthly total 24 years later, minus various savings plans e.g. vacation, real estate, car.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)