I think a lot of people are looking for more frugal ways to do things. Sometimes it becomes a contest to see just how loud you can make those pennies shriek!!!! My son started listening to Clark Howard several years ago and it really opened his eyes to things we'd tried to instill in him concerning debt for years. Suddenly mom and dad weren't so off the wall, lol... I also had a Math teacher in the 8th grade that really brought home to her students the meaning of 'caveat emptor'..... She would also make us figure out how many hours based on an average wage a person had to work for whatever was popular/hot at the moment. I taught my kids to do that from time to time when they thought they just had to have something. It's an eye opener! It's a shame they don't make teachers like her anymore. Some of these are better than others. Take what ya need and leave the rest. :) http://www.tightwad.com/ http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/index.php?s=37bd3402327961db160b1f7ea300921e http://www.thesimpledollar.com/ http://frugal.families.com/blog/ http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/ http://community.stretcher.com/ http://frugalliving.about.com/ http://www.frugalmom.net/

As a resident of the Great, Benighted North-east ... let me ask ... anyone for conservation of energy? When my power went off - I went to my provincial gov't. rep's office to give him H-E double toothpicks. Due to traffic tie-up arrived 5 min. after closing (I think) but they were open. Couldn't afford to give him too much of a piece of my mind - conservation of mental capacity, don't you know. En route home, directed traffic for a while at substantial intersection in rush hour. Several said, "Thanks" or waved - one said, "Get off the street"! Several civilians in Toronto did likewise, we're told. Visited 87 yr. old uncle living alone after recent death of wife who, despite painful back, hip, leg insists on keeping some beef cattle, got candles out for him, showed him how to use battery radio (that he didn't know he had - I'd stayed with him for a while after his wife died last year). Glad I recently bought batteries for my $1.00-at-garage-sale radio. National broadcaster ran advice about need to turn everything off that we could, to reduce surge when reconnecting, and province-wide phone-in to share ideas. I pulled fuses from water heater connection - haven't replaced them yet, as they say we need severe conservation measures, at present, to avoid rolling blackouts. Shaved in reasonably hot water Sat. morning. Haven't bathed since - imagine I smell by now (but I live alone). Hope I don't suffer blackout right now, or I lose all my writing here. A guy called about 10:30 to cry about 400 lb. of meat that he had (perhaps fresh? which would mean that his window of opportunity to save it would be reduced over if it were frozen). I began calling with suggestions for him, in dark for a while until power returned about 11 - I was without for 7 hours only - plus a short interruption later. Line busy til 4 a.m. I suggested he find a van or pickup, load his freezer, put meat in, take substantial lunch, head for nearest rural area, go door-to-door asking for generator. I was sure he wouldn't go three miles till found farmer willing to fire up generator, freeze his meat. Lunch so he could stick around for repeat every half day or so, as needed, till power returned at his home. Lunch optional - most (traditional) farmers wouldn't see him go hungry. Twice in recent years I took portable generators to areas blacked out due to ice storm - once 500 miles away. I goofed Thursday evening - didn't get on phone to friends seeking generator. When I did, Fr. morning, couldn't locate one. Think I should try to compile database of generators possibly available and persons with major freezer stock - homeowners, small stores, etc. not hard-wired, with 220 volt systems, etc. in preparation for such an eventuality in future. One generator can travel from site to site to serve possibly a couple of dozen freezers - perhaps half an hour each, twice daily or less, depending on outside temp. Invite those of you with time, energy available in your area to do likewise. We've been asked to shut down all unnecessary power consuming systems, e.g. signage, billboards. Local grocery in plaza shut down lights in parking lot. Many non-essential govt offices told to stay closed and asking factories and commerce to try to keep consumption to half of normal usage for about a week. Can't understand how Times Square figures it should be lit as usual. Do they want to be shut down - again? They say that it's to be hotter and more humid during the next few days. Hope you don't suffer Benightedhood too often! joyful guy

LuAnn and Lexi, you don't have to be an inexperienced college student to rack up huge debt with easily-gotten credit cards! I know people who are otherwise seemingly successful people who are paralyzed with credit card debt that they acquired while employed. I agree that they should teach consumerism in all high schools. DGS has a "Family Living" class that he has taken for the last three years. They learn to cook, sew, balance a check book, make out a budget -- that sort of thing. At home, we ridicule the commercials (it gives us something to do till our program comes back on) and we talk about how other people manage their money and some of the dumb things they do. I do think there should be more education given about how to resist sales pitches and understanding how credit works. You both have a point in the college thing. I have worked places where they would not even read the resume of someone who was not college educated. I have been on the other side of the coin where non-degreed people were welcomed because they would never expect to be paid very highly. Some of this depends on where you live and what kind of degree you have earned. And yes you do need to have a plan and know what you want to "be", but most kids fresh out of high school have no idea unless their parents pick a career for them and we all know that usually doesn't work out in the end. If you live in an area where there are lots of office buildings then you'd be safe to get a degree in Business Admin or Accounting. If you're in oil country, a degree in Geology might work. If you're near the coast, Marine Biology. If near pharmaceutical laboratories, Chemistry. And so on. It would be so much better if a kid straight out of high school could work for a couple of years and then go to college. But by that time, most of them are married and have brought children into this world. Having a family and the responsibilities that come with it makes it really hard to go to school. Not saying it can't be done, just that it's real hard on everybody. It is up to the individual whether they seek a job that takes advantage of their degree. Anyone can go to work at a fast-food place whether they have a degree or not. And there are times when you need to take whatever job you can get to put food on the table regardless of your experience and education. But a 22-year-old has forty years in which to earn income. That's a long time and surely somewhere along the road, an opportunity is going to come along that will require a degree. As for debt collectors, yes, they're a rude and hateful bunch. But there is no difference in the debt collector trying to collect on a college loan and one trying to collect on a car you couldn't afford on a non-college educated income, or a few loans you took out when you couldn't make ends meet. As for myself, one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't get a degree. For me, it would've made all the difference in the world.

Since October, I've been reading nothing but fantasy. After my umpteenth re-reading of Harry Potter, I've read fantasy series by George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, Dan Simmons, and Christopher Paolini. I finished the prequel to the "Wheel of Time" series, New Spring, just yesterday, and I've run out of easy-to-read books. All that's left in my TBR bookcase are challenging books. Well, right now, I don't want to be challenged. I want to lose myself in another world. I don't know what to read next. Just to have something to run my eyes over, I'm reading The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche, but I'm not getting much out of it. I have to find some new fantasy. Perhaps a trip to Barnes and Noble is in order: I received $100 in gift cards for there for Christmas.