When I worked as a personal financial advisor, I recommended that my clients have 3 - 6 months' worth of income available as an emergency fund, available in case of need. If they could survive for a year without any income ... so much the better. But ... I didn't have that, myself, and haven't for a number of years. And as my clients became more knowledgeable about how money works, I explained to some/most of them how I operate, with my reasons. For working people, they must continually be in sufficiently good physical, mental and emotionl health to go to their workplace and carry our their required tasks there ... or they don't qualify for that essential paycheque! Plus ... hope that their employer doesn't go broke, close the business, shift work offshore, or get amalgamated with another company, merging the employee's work into the other home office, etc. Now, as a senior, in receipt of two government pensions, one of them contributory, plus a private pension, plus a tax-deferred retirement account that requires an annual withdrawal amount of about 7% up to 10% or so, increasing with age to 20% at age 90), plus I can withdraw more, if I choose (but every dollar taxable) I do not have such a requirement. All that I need do to qualify to continue to receive my pensions ... ... is stay topside the grass! So - I have darn near a guaranteed income ... till the day of my death. Quite a comfortable position in which to operate, I figure. Sometimes I have some readily-available cash, sometimes not ... but that doesn't trouble me. I carry a credit card. If I have an emergency, I'll use the card to pay for whatever I need. I have a Line of Credit, fully secured by mutual fund and stock certificates, that sits unused, most of the time. There was no set-up fee, and there is no maintenance fee if I let it lie unused. Its main purpose is to use when it suits me to purchase investments, if I lack the cash at the time. If I were to use it for funds to be be used in an emergency, most of the uses being not deductible, I would set up a separate line of credit, having certificates issued as needed, to provide the security, so that I have one fund for deductible situations, one for non-deductible emergency use. When I receive my account next month from the credit card agency for the amount owing, I draw a sufficient amount from the non-deductible line of credit to pay that amount in full, thus avoiding interest cost re the credit card. Interest on the line of credit now is 5.25% ... and I'd try to pay it off from current income as quickly as possible. And leave the line of credit that I use for purchase of investments, making the interest cost deductible, uncontaminated by a loan used for non-deductible purposes. Also, I feel comfortable, as I approach age 80, at carrying 80% of my assets in equities. As you know, the stock markets are down, now. Suppose I have an emergency develop tomorrow that requires a substantial amount of expense. Would I sell some of my equities, probably at a lower price than they usually run? Sometimes some of the market is down and other parts are operating at approximately their usual levels. If there were some parts that I might consider to be not undervalued, I might liquidate some of them. But probably I would not. I might liquidate some mutual funds, as I have grown increasingly unhappy with them over recent years. If I sell some stocks, there's the commission to sell them. Then, if there's been a capital gain, I must pay the income tax people a portion of that gain, next year. Then, when I accumulate funds to purchase more stocks, there's commission to pay once more on my purchase. When one considers those costs, often its wiser just to initiate a temporary loan to deal with the emergency. Not only that ... it has been my experience that, after a period when stock markets were undervalued, when the recovery takes place, there is substantial increase in value within a year or two or three following that low market period. I would very likely make a loan, pay it off in part over the intervening period and liquidate some assets as needed after the recovery in order to discharge that loan. If I can make 25% more on an sale of an asset over a couple or three years ... I don't mind paying 5.25% annual interest. I don't have large worry over medical and hospital costs ... if I were a U.S. resident, with higher potential medical and hospital care costs, I might evaluate the situation differently: but possibly not much differently, even so. I hope that you've found this explanation understandable ... and interesting. I am interested to hear your comments. I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful spring weekend ... my multiple-trumpet daffodils are out! ole joyful P.S. If you use this idea and it earns you, say, $300. ... you owe me 10%, right? o j

I could almost have avoided buying radish seed this spring, for there were quite a few radishes about an inch high in the fall, volunteering from the radishes that had gone to seed earlier. There are a good deal many more this spring ... and some from the area where the radishes were, the year before. Anyone want some radish seeds? I have a few lettuce plants starting on their own, as well. Last year had quite a few zucchini from the ones that had spoiled that I threw directly on to the garden rather than into compost ... plus some volunteer tomato plants in a part of the garden where they were not planted, as well. I had about 60 some asparagus plants, last year ... but the landlord nicked some when he ran the tiller down the rows, last summer. And this spring when he did the initial tilling, to chew up the residues from last year and let the chewed up pieces start to rot ... he nicked a fair chunk of one row. Plus some died, I think ... so I think that I have only about half as many plants, now. Quite a few more seeds, so will fill in the blank spaces (but will need to mark them, as they'll need to be transplanted later than the originals). I save some of the first run of cold water out of the hot water tap in the bathroom/kitchen to water the cats, as well as flush the toilet. You guys in the sunny south-west should do a lot of that, cause you sure are short of water. They had a note on the radio the other day that they're worried that the rivers in rather dry Alberta are polluted now, and the flow is largely allocated ... ... so if some of you come wanting us to ship some down the trench between the mountains to California, Arizona, etc. ... we may be tellling you to get lost! The glaciers that feed them have been shrinking ... and if (when?) they die, Calgary may be crying big time for water, themselves. Have yourselves a lovely spring, everyone ... it's getting so that one can drop most of the winter clothing sometimes, in the last few days ... sort of a relief, that. ole joyful

The small frame of the tab, composed of a roll of aluminum, has to stay rigid as it pushes in the scored panel on the lid. It is also the little tab between the rolled tab and the lid that needs to stay intact until the scored panel is pushed in, and which breaks when the tab is removed. Sometimes it takes a dozen wiggles, sometime only a couple will suffice. As I mentioned in my post of Sept. 1, I collected 2,000 tabs in a 2-litre ice cream package, filling it about 3/4 full and I didn't weigh it, but it was not much over 2 lbs., 3 lbs. at the outside. It takes about 32 cans to make a pound - with or without the tabs. If you have a scrap metal dealer nearby, they will buy your scrap cans, and some prefer them uncrushed, but others don't care. Around here, they paid about 70 cents per lb., a few months ago. They say that the tabs and the cans all go into the same bucket. Crushed cans occupy about 1/3 - 1/4 the volume of intact cans. Good wishes for the weekend. ole joyful

Technically speaking, it's not legal to change an addressee on a postage affixed envelope. In reality, the post office isn't too picky about it. Technically, you're supposed to take it to the post office and have it replaced. Like I said, I don't think they're too picky, and have done it before. But we are talking about an organization who sued the Boy Scouts for putting their fundraiser brochures on mail boxes! Ob $aver thought: My favorite is paying bills online. Between postage, envelope and check fees, it's realistically 50¢ per bill saved. I'm saving $25/year easily, plus the gas of going to a mail box. Another favorite is my little "pantry". I hate going to the store and people who have to run to the store every day for something are nuts. Worst case, I can always make a can of soup. Plus I have a few groceries in case of a storm. Another phrase I enjoyed came from one of the spouse-swap programs where the minimalist/frugal wife's motto was "Do I need it? Do I love it? Does it make me money?" If not, toss it. Oh, and I was proud of myself... My washer was dumping water all over the floor and I thought I'd have to replace a washer after only 26 years of dependable service. Hey Joyful, shouldn't that have been under warranty??? ;) Being crippled up like I am these days, I can't do too much but I was curious to see if there was a chance of it just being a hose or something, plus I couldn't really wreck it, so, after tearing it open, sure enough, all that happened was two hose clamps lost their tension. A trip to the auto parts store, 2 - 25¢ hose clamps, maybe an hour, well, couple hours of "work" (more play and confidence builder) and I saved the cost of a new machine and disposal of the old. So what would that be? Anywhere from $100-$500 per hour pay, tax free, and I'm washing away again. Maybe I'll get another 26 years out of it? Well maybe not, but I'd expect a couple years of use anyway. Oh, other little things, like making a non-electric humidifier out of an ice cream pail sitting in front of the heat register. Cut holes in the top to keep the cat from playing in there. Plus I had to set it into a dishpan because she got mad and tipped it over! There's so many things, I can't think of them. But I enjoy reading others ideas too. I guess I try to make money spending an investment. For instance the Frugal Gazette books to me are an investment since they give you ideas and motivation. Use the library for movie borrowing & rental. Bought a few dozen popular movies for $1 each and share them with a lot of people. Shop for things on the internet to see what they'll cost, then know if it's a good buy when you go out. I had to buy a new dryer and saved $200 by buying a floor model at the "BB" Store. Researched things I wanted and checked reviews and the like. My $5/mo ISP has paid for itself so many times it's hilarious.