rebecca's pocket

The best times to save money on purchases

» The Best time to buy everything from baby clothes, to airplane tickets, to groceries.  [ 07/18/07 ]

6 savings secrets from Frugal Fanny

» 6 Savings Secrets from 'Frugal Fanny' / (1) Comments  / [ 06/14/07 ]

The Richest People in America

» Nominees for the 2007 Richest People in America List—and they're not who you'd expect:

Shane Claiborne, Founder of the Simple Way. Shane lives among the poor in a Philadelphia suburb which has long since had its heyday. His group helps renovate homes for the poor, works with former homeless kids on after school arts and literacy programs, provides food and clothing for the area homeless, and he shares his faith with street people. All of this is done out of the home he shares with other Simple Way residents. The Simple Way has no paid staff or administrative costs. Each of the community members contribute part of the money that they raise through part time jobs. The group believes in relational tithing, with each contributing ten percent of their income to a common account to fund their work.

via (ramit) / (1) Comments  / [ 06/05/07 ]

The (Organic) Thrifty Food Plan Challenge

» I'm still tweaking the website, but I'd like to introduce my latest project: The (Organic) Thrifty Food Plan Challenge Eating Organic on a Food Stamp Budget. (I've been persuaded that the second one is a snappier name.)

We eat well. Maybe a little too well, judging from our waistlines. And we eat pretty inexpensively, too. So the recent spate of publicity about Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski's committment to eat food totalling only $21 for one week (the amount an average Oregon food stamp recipient receives) caught my attention.

Now, the Governor's stunt is a little misleading: no one expects The government doesn't expect food stamp recipients to eat on only $21 a week (though I'm sure some people try). The USDA's Thrifty Food Plan [pdf] (from which food stamp allotments are derived) is spartan enough, but the most recent figures provide an adult male between the ages of 20 and 50 years of age with $35.40 a week for food—part of which will be provided by food stamps, and part by the individual, depending on their income. Regardless, the Governor's point is well taken. It's not a lot of money to spend on a week's worth of food.

I pride myself on my thrifty shopping habits. I've also been fortunate in these last few years to be able to afford to buy organic and locally grown fresh food most of the time. So I've decided to take the Governor's challenge a step further. I'd like to see if I can feed the two of us for one month on a "Thrifty Food Plan" budget using organic food. My budget: 74.00/week or 320.80/month, the USDA "Thrifty" standard for a family of 2 adults, aged 20-50 years.

I just completed my first week. I spent more than I thought I would, but in general, I think it's going pretty well. You can read today's entry, how I'm accounting for individual items, my Sunday's week-end summary, or just start at the beginning and read from there.  / (3) Comments  / [ 05/08/07 ]

10 Things Your Auto Dealer Won't Tell You

» 10 Things Your Auto Dealer Won't Tell You. Better read this before you buy a new or used car. (via dm) / (1) Comments  / [ 03/20/07 ]

Drink and Get Rich

» Want to increase your income by up to 17%? Tonight, after work, go out drinking. / (1) Comments  / [ 09/28/06 ]

Bringing Home Baby Money Myths

» Thrifty Infants: Money myths about affording a new baby. Um, washing diapers is "gross"? Honestly, if you can't handle a dirty diaper, you're simply not equipped for parenthood. There's plenty of grossitude ahead. / (1) Comments  / [ 09/28/06 ]

The ugly truth about ARMs

» Yikes! More on those Adjusted Rate Mortgages—and how they are going to fuel the bust.

There's no way to camouflage what Harold, a former computer technician who asked BusinessWeek not to publish his last name, is about to face. He's disabled and has one source of income: the $1,600 per month he receives in Social Security disability payments. In September, 2005, Harold refinanced out of a fixed-rate mortgage and into an option ARM for his $150,000 home in Chicago. The minimum monthly payment for the first year is $899, which he can afford. The interest-only payment is $1,329, which he can't. The fully amortized payment is $1,454, which his lender, Washington Mutual gets to count on its books.

(via rc3oi) / (1) Comments  / [ 09/07/06 ]

How to Get Rich

» From Ramen to Riches: How to Get There.  [ 09/05/06 ]

5 Ways to Kill Your Credit Score

» Five ways to kill your credit score: Late payments, high card balances, low FICO score, closing credit cards, too many in-store cards, and fines that add up.  [ 07/13/06 ]

5 Simple Steps to Becoming a Millionaire

» A simple recipe for becoming a millionaire:

1. Work four summers, starting at age 16
2. Save the income in a Roth IRA account
3. Invest it in a simple, low-cost equity portfolio
4. Simmer slowly for 47 years
5. Serve ungarnished (and untaxed) at age 67

(via grs) / (1) Comments  / [ 07/11/06 ]

Reflections on the revival of 'wet shaving'

» A Little Weekend Reading: The Best a Man Can Get, a reflection on the revival of Wet Shaving.

"After the age of forty, every man is responsible for his own face." This aphorism, most commonly attributed to Albert Camus, was comforting when I heard it in my twenties.... Now I am 38, two years away from Camus's benchmark.... Alas, unless the next two years bring a sudden Botox-like transformation, the face I will be responsible for in my forties and beyond has quite as many faults as the one I was not responsible for in my twenties. And without a doubt, wet shaving has only made me more conscious of the face I am about to be responsible for. [...]

But if Camus's slogan is no longer comforting, it has become bracing. Just in time, at the age of 38, I have learned how to shave. I have become responsible for my own face.

  [ 04/28/06 ]

Bird Flu Investment Advice

» Um."Investment bank Bear Stearns has advised investors to start dumping airline and retail stocks in favour of blue-chip utilities as a hedge against bird flu." (via rw)  [ 03/23/06 ]

How not to raise self-entitled smug little jerks

» How to beat the Midas curse. Why 9 out of 10 affluent families lose their wealth by the end of the third generation. "If you transfer wealth to the next generation without preparing them, it's bad for them, and it gnaws at the fabric of a vibrant and productive society." Stuart Lucas, fourth-generation heir to the Carnation fortune.  [ 03/17/06 ]