Chris Gilcrest is a total fraud. He should be in jail. He stole my money. He is a lier, calls you names and steals from you. He disconnects his phones from time to time and then adds another address to his business. He bounces around from place to place after he got kick out of Tulare country. Now he is in Ventura Country. This LOSER, LIER, THEIF should be in jail. Someone needs to put a stop to him. NEVER USE GROWQUEST GROWERS AT ALL. BE CAREFUL HE HAS MANY WEBSITES OUT THERE. WRITE TO BBB AND THE FBI LIKE I DID. When you call his bluff or write something bad, he will get very mad at you, call you names and treats you like a child. Something is totally wrong with him mentally. Seriously many people have stated this. The trees that Chris LOSER sold me were diseased and DIED. I had them checked out by a true professional. The trees he sent had too much salt, bugs and was root bound. I found out that he never grew this himself. These are knock off trees from a discount place. Basically, these trees were trashed and he sold them to me. He doesn�t even ship them to you, but throw them in an old crappy van laying down in the hot sun. He damaged these trees. It is on purpose. Check out BBB. Don�t buy from him!! HE CHARGES YOU FOR UPS SHIPPING BUT NEVER SHIPS THEM. THIS IS BAD!!! He has many you tube videos that shows his plants, DONT believe it. Look at all of them, every video is from a different nursery. He goes around taking videos, post them on You tube as his own, which is a crime and then he sells you crap. He doesn�t sell you these trees at all that you see on the videos. What a TOTAL JERK AND SCAM. HIS BUSINESS IS MAINLY FROM YOU TUBE SO PLEASE DONT BUY FROM HIM AND IN FACT CHECK OUT WHAT TRUE CUSTOMER POSTS. I KNOW HIS GAME. WHAT A TOTALL LOSER AND JERK. I know his game well and here is the story. You can confirm everything by going to you tube and reading all the negative things about him. None of this is made up at all by me. THIS IS THE TRUTH. READ ON. This guy is a thief big time. He has no nursery at all. He works out of a garage with an apartment. He drives around from nursery to nursery taking videos and then post them online to sell you items. His wife left him. His family is mad at him. His children, well, I won�t go into that. Recently his brother is in trouble. Chris Morgan Gilcrest has been in jail, and has to pay a fine. He was required to cease and decease order by the FBI. Now he is being investigated by the FBI and BBB. BBB also has alert out on his business and name. Please look online, you will find everything. I am not making any of this up. He will either send you trees that will die or not send you anything at all. My job is to stop him and post whatever and whenever I can. There are many customers doing the same thing. We have the right to as freedom of speech. In fact what he is doing is breaking the law and is a federal crime, since he stole over $1,000.00 from customers. I hope he is jailed. I have called the FBI and BBB. CHRIS LOSER GILCREST, I HOPE YOU READ THIS, LOSER. YOU KNOW ALL THIS IS TRUE. DONT DENY OR LIE. BE HONEST AND BE A MAN. YOU ACT LIKE A CHILD.

If you have done the same thing for 14 years you probably have a decent nest egg if that job pays 300,000 per year. I think there is a world of differen living on 30000 knowing you have 500000 in the bank and living on 30000 knowing there is no more money until the next check is earned. The former is like camping when you have a nice home to return to, it can be fun. The latter is like being one step away from being homeless and knowing there is no cushion As fot the realities, living paycheck to paycheck is that for people in many parts of North America. Depends how expensive where you live is. If you do not have to factor in or live where the following are cheap it is a lot easier, These costs vary a lot by area. a mortgage, property taxes, energy related utilities (whose rates do vary), car insurance as well as food costs. Living in a cheap area it is possible to live well on 40k. In a big city or near it I do not believe it is as easy. In the suburbs of NY it would be very difficult if you also had housing costs. You would live paycheck to paycheck simply because there would not be enough money no matter how disciplined you were Glad you decided to keep the credit cards. There is just no way to rent a car otherwise. If the LOC has a good rate I would keep it too nothing says you have to use it. If it has an annual fee cancel it. We have been paying our cards in full every month. I always have, never ever paid interest (to the extent the check got there a day late I always have the fees waived) that I can remember. DH was instructed from the day we got married 15 years ago not to even think of carrying a balance and he has been good. He self employed and the credit card has been a fabulous cash management tool plus the rebate or miles you get are great. In our case we have taken a family of 5 to Jamaica, gone to Hawaii and a Florida using his miles. Of course it is paid off in full. I do agree with the poster that said they tend to lose track of cash faster. I know I do that and will often spend it (we are not currently at a stage where we have to worry about every penny) without thinking. However, when I am down to only a little cash (because I have not gone to the bank not because our account is low) I tend to conserve it a little more because I do not have time to go to the bank and because I feel ridiculous charging 1.50 pack of gum. It was recently explained to me that for certiab credit cards merchants are charged a service fee in addition to a percentage One thing that I did when we were house poor many years ago, but I had lots of time. I would often buy things and then return them because I found somehting better or just did not love them. I called this bulemic shopping! It was unintentional but it was a great way of getting the thrill of shopping without actually having to pay. My monthly credit card statement often had more things in the return column than the buy. I do agree with the advice to stay out of stores in general. you do not sound like someone who bought 100 sneakers even when you can afford them so I think you will do just fine with payless. I personally think it will get more difficult a year from now. I think at first the thrill and novelty of sticking to a budget will be a sort of game. Beating your budget will be fun. Then the joy of living near family. However after a certain time, while some habits will become second nature (I rarely spend more than 20 on a non work item of clothing and it is not because I cannot afford it, I just think it is a waste) it will sometimes get tedious having to worry about the cost of items, never splurging. I think your 40s are a point when you want to be established and financially secure and occassionally treat yourself or your children to small luxuries. What that is differs from person to person. I know that as I have matured, I no longer get as crazy about wasting or saving 20 as I would have a few years ago. For example, when we got married I returned everything that I did not absolutely love. When we had kids I did the same thing with gift items they received, especially if it was an expensive useless item, I would exchane it for something practical. Same for birthday parties. Now I rarely can be bothered returning items that do not have receipts, whether from kids birthday parties (we recently had a party and whatever my kids do not want I will donate) or other events, I just cannot be bothered. Just an example, you will find differnet ways that you may want to become less thrifty

Joyful, I've often thought the same thing. Cash is king, they say. A while back a friend gave us a $50 GC to a specialty restaurant as a thank you. Her tastes tend to run in a slightly different direction than mine. Shortly after she gave the GC, I became pregnant. That restaurant serves a lot of things that pregnant women are told to avoid, and frankly at that point their food choices just didn't sound good at all. Not to mention that they have very restricted hours and my DH works a very long schedule. Long story short, there were so many strikes against that restaurant for us that I never got around to using the GC before it expired. I was a bit sad when I found it. It was just not a good idea, but she'll never know we didn't use it. Whenever someone gives us a GC as a gift, I try to use it ASAP just so it won't expire (I don't think they can by law here in California, but the restaurant one did so who knows?), or so I won't lose it. I like GCs less and less as time goes on. Then it always seems like there's $3 or some small amount left on the card that doesn't get used. That's especially true with the prepaid credit cards we've gotten- the problem there is that you have to ask for a split transaction and sometimes I don't know how much is actually left on the card. I've learned that when we get one of those it's best to use it against a larger purchase so we can ask for the split transaction and know for fact that there is actually $50 on there. Of course the last time I tried to use one of those, the girl didn't know how to process it (she claimed we needed a PIN number, we found out later that we didn't), so rather than use the gift "money" for the thing we were buying, we had to put it on our CC and figure out how to use the other card later. Maybe I'm just dumb, but the more I use these things, the more I hate 'em! Of course with that said, I still buy my nephews gift cards for Christmas! I think they really enjoy getting the card and fantasizing about what they will get with it. Sorry, this turned into a personal rant! :) - here's a smile for you, Joyful. Q

Personally, I prefer cash. But some feel that's "impersonal". Gift cards are the modern version of the gift certificate or the trendy "check" (or "cheque" to my Canuck-lehead friends) being given as a gift. My gift shopping used to always include a stop at the liquor store for at least one person on the list. I knew that wasn't going to go to waste. A friend used to always give his grandmother a small ham for Christmas because she'd never buy it for herself. Some would be appalled, nay, even insulted if someone gave them grocery stoe food! It needs to be in little jars, in a box, flavors nobody likes, won't eat, and will be given away or thrown away! LOL I'm really bothered when someone says cash is a bad gift, impersonal or whatever. Doesn't anyone get tired of getting trinkets that someone else thinks is cute and you find abhorrent? But somehow that's a better gift than giving someone cash so they can put it toward their electric bill on a month they're a little short, or go to a movie, or put gas in the car to get to work, or put toward the heat bill or into a (heaven forbid) savings account or get the car repaired house reroofed or whatever else. What troubles me is there used to be a saying that it's the thought that counts. I buy someone a gift, it's thoughtful, right? They hate it so they return it or leave it on a shelf or whatever. But that's more thoughtful or personal than cash? I don't think so. If someone is considerate enough to give me cash and trust that I'll make a good decision on what to do with it, that, to me, is thoughtful. Our western society is so hung up on materialism. It's the gift not the thought. We have to spend more on that wedding gift than the Jones' spent or we'll look bad. Doesn't matter what the gift is. I could go on and on but won't. Consider that your Christmas present! :D This time of year often brings out the best, but also the worst in people. Lots of generosity at times, but also greed, selfishness, self-centered thoughts and after all, Christmas is about giving and receiving gifts right? There was a religious event that some people used to get into! :D I'll give you an example of why I don't like gift cards in place of cash. I had my oil changed last summer for about $17. I used a coupon and had it done. Hard for me to do that stuff anymore. :( I got an award from work - a $25 gift card of my choice. I don't shop at Macy's. I don't go on cruises. (I would have appreciated a gift card for the cruise though...) I don't have Staples in the state, much less nearby. There were 2 things I could see myself using. An oil change place or Amazon. I was going to go with Amazon but decided I'd need an oil change before leaving town for a trip so that could be OK. It'd pay for most of the oil change right? Not after it being a $65 oil change! LOL I got another card choice, same thing. I took a restaurant card but now wish I'd gone Amazon. Not sure when I'll get to the restaurant, but not totally sure what I want from Amazon either. Had a voicemail that I have another gift card coming from work. (I must really have them fooled, eh?) If they had options for Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, gasoline stations, or a prepaid credit card would be preferred. Keep in mind that the designation is important. They bank on people losing them or not using them. Extra profit, not unlike the post office selling stamps that don't get used. That's pure profit. And companies often get a discount so it appears to be more. But it could be worse. I remember when giving a turkey was often a Christmas bonus. Not everyone can use a 15# turkey. Some, a 15# isn't enough anyway. LOL How many people can't use cash?