Category Archives: Current Affairs

10 Ways To Stretch Your Dollar

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These are things I have been doing to ease the pain of high gas prices, high food prices and the devaluation of the dollar.

  1. I’m cooking more and dining out less.
  2. When I do eat out, I go to a restaurant that has a coupon offer. I doggy bag what I can’t eat. Sometimes that doggy bag becomes tomorrow’s lunch.
  3. I’ve begun to use coupons at the supermarket again. I slacked off for a while, but I’m back.
  4. I don’t drive out of my way, but when I can, I purchase gas at Costco. A membership card at any of the warehouse stores has gotten more attractive, even if you don’t have a large family. Share the cost of the card with a friend–even better. Then meet on a Saturday morning and enjoy each other’s company while you shop and gas up.
  5. I’ve always bought name brand items, but I’m giving generics a shot when they’re available.
  6. I’m reading more and looking at less TV. Gone are the days when I have the TV on as background noise. And I remember to close the lights when I leave a room.
  7. I’m only buying things I need. Impulse shopping has come to an abrupt halt. And if it’s not on sale, it’s not in my cart. I’ve also sworn off shopping on the internet and the TV.
  8. I make a special effort not to throw food away. In the past, I’ve forgotten certain foods were in the refrigerator. I’m now keeping an eagle eye on all leftovers. Nothing gets wasted. Every last morsel gets eaten.
  9. I’m shopping less frequently at the supermarket, too. I’ve always loved eating breakfast at dinnertime, and eggs are almost always a staple in my refrigerator. So, I’m eating scrambled eggs and toast in the p.m. again once in a while. Tuna fish is another staple I had been neglecting. I forgot how much I love tuna salad slathered on a crisp hoagie roll with lettuce and mayo. Yum.
  10. And lastly, I set my air conditioning a few degrees higher this summer. It’s still more comfortable inside than outside. You’d be surprised how much you save this way. As an added bonus, lowering that thermostat conserves energy overall.

Some of these things, I’ve always done. I started as a youngster, because my mother insisted on most of these conservation rules. Even when gas prices were $.50 a gallon, my mom was plotting her shopping course, never backtracking, always hitting her errands on a pre-ordained route. Consequently, I’ve always done that myself.

Jeez, do you believe gas was ever $.50 a gallon?

Do you have any other ideas I can use to stretch my dollar?

10% Ethanol Added To Your Gas – Lovely!

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Have you noticed whether your gas station is putting ethanol in their gas? Have you noticed that your gas mileage has decreased?

I get my gas at a Shell station and right there on the front of the pump is a sticker that says, Contains 10% Ethanol. My gas consumption has been rising by leaps and bounds lately, but I’m not driving any more than usual. Actually, because of the gas prices, I’m more selective about where I go and how I get there.

While I was pumping, I looked up at the sign to see if the price had come down since my gas was now being spiked with ethanol. What a joke! What made me think a gas company would dream of giving the consumer a break.

It appears I’m not the only person that’s miffed. Here’s an excerpt from Slow Food Waltz

Ethanol, isn’t it’s use supposed to lower gas prices? Huh??

Help me out someone, what am I missing here. I just noticed this Shell gas station uses 10 percent ethanol, but the gas prices are exactly the same as they are at other places. Will ethanol ever translate to a cost savings for the consumer??

Okay, so the price hasn’t come down. It’s still up there at $3.90 a gallon in my neck of the woods. To top that off, I recently purchased a fuel economy car, but now I’m getting less gas mileage. That’s a fact and I’m not the only one who’s noticed. See information from Punny Money.

It lowers fuel economy. That 10% ethanol being mixed into your gasoline might be helping to keep it 10 cents a gallon cheaper, but you’re probably getting 10-30% fewer miles per gallon because of it. Since all the gas stations around here switched to a 10% ethanol blend, my gas mileage has dropped by about 15%!

What is going on? I understand it’s imperative that we cultivate some type of alternative fuel, but why am I suffering while the gas companies are reporting record-breaking profits? Oh yeah, I forgot–I don’t have a lobbyist. Drat!

So, it appears that you and I will be at the pumps more often, paying the same ridiculous prices. And I don’t expect to hear too much squawking from anyone because the change is couched in “alternative fuel” rhetoric. I suppose the media will somehow find a way to make it sound unpatriotic if anyone speaks out against it, too. What a racket!

Following my Chinese Zodiac articles? Year Of The Sheep – Year of the Monkey

Why More Americans Are Working Past Age 55

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That was the title of a recent article in Charles Schwab’s investment magazine, which the company sends out to its investors. They could’ve changed the age to 62 or 65. The answer would be the same, but it took them more than 200 words to say medical insurance costs are outrageously high even if you’re old enough to be covered by Medicare.

And the article also noted that although older workers had retirement portfolios that ballooned in the 1990s, those portfolios burst when techology stocks took a downward dive. Therefore, some American who had taken an early retirment had to return to work.

There was no mention of the fact that even with the new drug plans, retirees still can’t afford to buy all the drugs they need.

And think about this–many senior citizens didn’t save a dime while they were younger. So, the answer to the question, why are they still working? They have to!

Fortunately, I’m one of the people who at least took a stab at saving, mainly because I’m a realist and always have been. I never expected to be able to exist on Social Security alone. I knew, there was no way I could live on less than $300 a week. That’s actually what my Social Security check will look like when I reach age 66. The scary thing is, even after saving what little I could over the years, while raising a family, I’m still not going to be comfortable in my old age.

Another little ditty that Schwab printed in that issue was a list of quotes. One of them quoted Warren Buffett. “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” Looks and sounds good on paper, doesn’t it? But remember that bursting bubble Schwab wrote about? I’m living through this one, and I lived through a horrendous one years ago that wiped away almost half of the money I had managed to save. All of that money was in mutual funds, because I knew zilch about the stock market.

I still don’t know much about the market, but after that horror, I learned to diversify. I, at least, learned that much!

If you visit the folks at this site  who also read the Schwab article, their suggestion is try Fixed Annuities, Bank CDs, and U.S. Government Savings Bond. They make a case for keeping your money safe from loss.

That “risk-free” sounds pretty good, but there’s a trade off. The gains are small, and fees for variable annuities are pretty steep. And once you’re in a mutual fund, what do you do, bow out and take a huge hit?

Here’s something else that I found quite amusing.

When and if you actually do retire,

…just resist the urge to treat the contents of your accounts like mad money.

What?! There are people who actually have mad money? Not in my circle of friends.

That same amusing article goes on to say,

And forget about that cushy 15% income tax rate most retirees are eligible for, warns Schatsky. As soon as you have more than $63,700 in retirement income, the tax rate skyrockets to 25%.

Well, at least, here I get a break. I won’t have to worry about my tax rate skyrocketing. As a single, working woman, I have never earned that much money annually in my entire life while I was still working.

Now that I’m sitting here analyzing the question of retirement further, I’d venture to say that in another five years Schwab can print the exact same article; just title it, Why More Americans Are Working Past Age 75.