RE: What to do first
ladymc53 - if you're still paying taxes you might make out better donating the stuff and getting a receipt. Then it's a double hit - you get the satisfaction of knowing that your stuff is helping a worthy cause and you get a write off on your taxes for the value of the donation :B
RE: What to do first
I don't understand your reply.
Did I ask my question wrong, or should I be in another forum
Debbie
The general concensus here has always been that renting seldom works out. It's pretty much fraught with it's own set of problems. Get a yard service, renters seldom care for the yard or anything else for that matter.
Start by moving into the 5er - move everything you want from the house into the trailer and then move yourselves into the trailer. Stay in it a week or two to be sure you have everything you want and then return to the house, box up the rest and give it to your favorite charity. You've eliminated the turnoil of sorting, which can be quite trying for some.
Since you're renting get big deposits for utilities and keep them in your name (same reason as the yard service) you don't want to return to find a huge utility bill. Be sure your plan includes throwing the furniture out and repainting, carpets, etc. when you return. Then if you need to you won't be surprised and if you don't you'll be pleasantly surprised :)
RE: Built-in Vacuum Cleaners
We have one and it works really well. DW has COPD so having the unit outside so it doesn't kickup dust inside is really a benefit. She loves it and it seems to work well on our tile and carpet without a beater on it, but we don't have deep pile type carpets.
RE: Did you cry when your realized you were a fulltimer??
We sold our home and our stuff - although some things went to family members, but anyway, most of our stuff, with no regrets except maybe not doing it sooner.
When we finished with the settlement, we walked back to the car dancing and laughing. We had left the rig back at the house, so when we went back, we said goodbye to the house and danced and laughed some more. It was a giddy and exciting day for us.
And we're still laughing and dancing a year later :B:B:B
My wife and I just sold our house and we are about to get out of it in a couple of weeks. We sure feel sad. All we have left to live in now is our 5th wheel (37ft Titanium) and a truck.
I guess it is the emotional side that is eating at us now. No home anymore. No mailaddress, no taxes to pay, no lawn to cut. No .... no... and no.... etc..
We were wondering if others had this same lost and sorry feeling when the house was sold and all that was left was the trailer and truck.??
Is this a normal feeling or have we made a mistake..
Maybe you'll adjust, but IMHO you made a mistake. This is a lifestyle for those who run from the S&B and feel the weight of it drop away as they do. I don't know that anyone being drug into it is going to find happiness in it. I guess as a few others have asked - why did you start down this path to start with :H
RE: Impact of Stock market on You
We put about 2/3 of ours in a guaranteed annuity in 07 and the rest we keep in cash for our "just in case" fund. Since the annuity is insurance our principal has to be held in a seperate fund and our benefit, which is our original investment is secure even if Hartford goes down. Meanwhile, the investment part of it has gone down so we're not making new money on it, but the monthly payment is the same either way.
Inflation is a major concern for everyone I think. We have enough to be comfortable but if inflation cuts that in half the comfort level will decrease with it. So let's leave Carter out of this and hope that we can keep inflation under control or everyone on fixed incomes is going to be in a lot of trouble.
I plan, if there's any profits this year (I still work with my own small company) to add to the annuity - raises my guaranteed payment when I start taking it and it's a good time to get more into the market while prices are at bargain levels. I don't expect to see it back at 14,000 for a long time to come but even from 7 to 10 is a good return on your investment.
RE: Doom and Gloom!
In you can get the quality control processes in place for off-shore built good enough products, why on earth would a US manufacture pay $20 - $40 per hour plus benefits to use US workers instead of 1/10 or less to use foreign workers?
Maybe so you will have people will have money to buy your product :R
It seems to escape everyones notice that if you offshore all the jobs so people can buy cheap stuff, they eventually run out of money and can no longer buy your cheap stuff. And it snowballs - the factory worker doesn't work, so he doesn't go out to eat so the waitress, the cook, the waiter are all out of work, etc. etc. etc.
RE: Doom and Gloom!
Unemployment is higher than 6% - go read the real numbers. Your 6% doesn't count the people who's unemployment ran out and they couldn't find a job, it doesn't count approximately 1.2 million who are working part time after losing their full time jobs, it doesn't count the people who lost a $20/hr job and are now working for minimum wage just to try and avoid welfare.
JOBS folks - JOBS - when was the last time you heard So and So is opening a new plant and hiring 20,000 skilled laborers? So and So is opening a plant, but it's in China, Mexico or some other place out of America. HERSHEY CHOCOLATE just moved out of HERSHEY, PA and moved to MEXICO. 1000 more unemployed - another 170 million in reduced expenses. And where do you suppose that 170 million will go - why it'll trickle down to the CEO, CFO and the rest of the "cream of the crop" and a little will trickle down to shareholders.
If tax breaks to the rich equated today, as it did in Regan's day, to jobs it would work - when it equates to making the rich richer it's just another way to sc##w the rest of us.
I'm a small business - I have 2 employees who live and work in America. For 1/2 what I pay them I could get a 24/7 call center in India or Pakistan to provide the half ass support we get from most companies these days. I win, more in my pocket - my employees lose, they're out of work. I refuse to do that, but corporate America seems much more interested in their pocket than they are in their country.
RE: Doom and Gloom!
Speaking of spreading the wealth I personally think they're really on to something here - let's cut taxes some more, wouldn't want cut into big oils record profits that's really working out well for all us little guys. Then maybe we can even find a way to raise expenses a little more. I'm sure the world will be happy to go on supporting our excesses.
RE: Doom and Gloom!
How about some good news? I had lunch yesterday with our local industrial controls salesman, we buy most of our components from him. He stated that his company had the best month ever in September. This has historically been an indicator that the industrial sector is expecting major growth in the very near future. We are also trying to buy equipment for a new assembly line but our major supplier is putting us off saying they are too busy to build what we need in the time frame we are asking for.
Can't speak for anyone else, but I'd love nothing more than to see the economy pickup and get back to trucking along - pun intended :B
If you want to measure the current economy talk to the trucking industry. Everything in this country moves on a truck at one point or another so a pickup in the economy will mean a pickup for my customers and for me, and I'm all for growing the business a little more. I'll be looking for orders and support calls to be picking up late this week as we get back into full swing. :B:B:B
RE: Doom and Gloom!
TRkrhlp..I'm not sure many folks bought "dryers" in the 1920's on credit or otherwise
Neither am I, don't have any sales statistics for it, but
In the 1800s hand powered dryers were introduced. With the advent of electricity the first clothes dryer was invented in 1915. ...
and here's another interesting one -
In the early 1800s, clothes dryers were first being invented in England and France. One common kind of early clothes dryer was the ventilator, the first one ...
So I would imagine that just like today with some people needing the latest and greatest new gizmo - there were people back then who also needed them :r
RE: Doom and Gloom!
Employers slashed jobs at the fastest rate in five years in September, marking the ninth consecutive month of job losses and providing another grim indicator of the deteriorating state of the U.S. economy, the government reported yesterday.
Payrolls were cut by 159,000 jobs last month, a decline that did not affect the nation's overall 6.1 percent unemployment rate, but only because the job losses were offset by a reduction in the labor force. Overall, the nation's economy has lost 760,000 jobs this year, which analysts called evidence that the economy was severely weakened even before the financial crisis intensified in recent weeks.
The unemployment rate (6.1 percent) was unchanged in September,
following a 0.4 percentage point rise in August. The number of
unemployed persons was little changed at 9.5 million. Over the past
12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 2.2 million and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.4 percentage points.
........
The number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons
rose by 337,000 to 6.1 million in September, an increase of 1.6 mil-
lion over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who
would like to work full time but were working part time because their
hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time
jobs.
By the way you might want to check your math. 6.1% unemployment does not work out to 95 out of 100 working.
RE: Doom and Gloom!
95 out of every 100 workers -
yep, let's just forget the ones who have dropped off the unemployment rolls because their unemployment ran out.
yep, you're right a lot of the middle class workers who got laid off their $20/hr jobs are working at McDonalds, greeters at Wallys china shop, etc.
yep, let's just pretend everything is wine and roses :B It's all good.
We'll just ignore that personally my sales are about 25% what they were last year for Sept. and going to be about the same for Oct the way it's going.
It's ok, everything is fine - the rich get richer the middle class joins the rank of the poor - but that's as it should be right.
What media - I don't watch TV, I do follow a little news on the web, but very little, I'm busy working. But I do look around, I listen to my customers - they're truckers and freight is down - why because factories are closed - gone to Mexico, China and points elsewhere. People aren't buying so the stores don't need fresh stock of the China junk.
No, I'm not getting hyped, I'm just looking around at what's happening and acknowledging reality.
RE: Doom and Gloom!
Joe, what do you really know about the history of the "Great Depression"? You are trying to make an analogy between 1929 and 2008?
In order for analogies to be valid, there must be many points of similarity--make one point of similarity between economic conditions in 1929 and 2008 as a start. I'm waiting Joe. ........still waiting!
Not Joe, but -
Not unlike today, the crash of 1929 was preceded by a decade of deregulation, cheap credit, housing bubbles, rising inflation, rampant stock market speculation, faltering employment, stagnant wages and a growing gap between the wealth of executives on Wall Street and the cash-strapped consumers on Main Street.
To jump-start the economy after a recession in 1920-21, the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates, similar to what then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan did following the recession of 2001.
Although wages for most workers were stagnant during the 1920s, Americans tried to keep pace with rising inflation by borrowing money. They used credit for such newfangled gadgets as cars, radios, refrigerators, washers, dryers and vacuum cleaners.
I can probably find some more if you want - took me 2 minutes to find those :W
RE: Doom and Gloom!
Look at it another way. Instead of charging (skimming) the retailer for using the card, what if the credit card companies solely charged the user of the card.
How much do you think the yearly fee would be for a credit card? Would you pay hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars for a card just for the "convenience" and "free stuff" that it offers?
Do you think credit card companies could exist with just the revenue from the yearly fee?
ryoung
I've always objected to having to PAY for the privilege of taking someones CC - but we don't really have a choice. Would be nice if we could stop the banks from burning the candle at both ends. But the reality is people like paying the HIDDEN fee (they get something for nothing right :W) but they would all gripe at paying a real fee.
It's the old shell game - why do you think Buy 1 Get 6 Free works at the firecracker booth :H
To the poster who thinks merchants take credit cards by choice - open a retail business and refuse to take credit cards and see how long your business lasts. It's not a choice in todays world it's a requirement. If you don't take CC they'll go somewhere else 'cause they get "points" when they use their card :R
RE: Doom and Gloom!
JBIRISH As far as the cc's go I haven't paid any fees directly. AS to the various Bozos, Ican't vouch for them. "THEY" whomever "They" may be may well have cooked the books.
What all the above seems to mean is "HUH?"
I think that what you're missing is that the 3% is built into the price you pay for things in the store. There is an extra markup on EVERYTHING to cover the cost of paying card fees and most places don't offer a "cash discount" - in fact according to the original Visa/MC rules you didn't used to be allowed to do that.
Here's how retail works - I buy something for $100 and in order to pay the bills and make a reasonable profit I need to mark it up let's say 50% to keep the math simple. So I sell that for $150 (150% * 100). Now along come credit cards so I need to figure the 3% for the credit card fee into this equation. It's not 3% 100 it's 3% of 150 as that's what I pay the card fee on. So to take a credit card I need to charge $154.50 - so the price is now $154.50 no matter how you pay. Whether you realize it or not you are paying the fee in the cost of everything you buy. If we didn't have credit cards the item would be $150. So everyone who shops is paying the fee on everything they buy.
RE: Using on-board washing machines
We have a Whirlpool Thin Twin, it's a stackable with a 240V dryer, and DW loves it. She does a load every 2 or 3 days and it works really well. We do have to adjust it occassionally, usually when doing sheets or something big, on the spin cycle to even the load, but this is a very minor issue.
RE: Doom and Gloom!
If you only have enough cash in your pocket for hamburger you won't be tempted to buy that T-bone. If you are using a credit card you won't even think about it.
If you're on a budget you think about it. We generally have a list and love to say "Yummmmm :B" as we walk by all the impulse goodies (donuts, cookies, etc.), you'll notice I said WALK BY:R The secret is to avoid "impulse" buying and stick with what you went to get. One of the advantages of fulltiming is the need to adopt a "something in - something out" philosophy. Helps eliminate the accumulating that affects those burdened with more space :W
RE: Doom and Gloom!
The merchant pays for the benefits directly which means the consumer pays for them indirectly. While the person who pays his charges in full monthly thinks they are "getting by with something", they simply are paying more for what they buy. Merchants are now actually charged surcharges when accepting credit cards with premiums.
I don't believe that's true. We take cc and we pay the same fee for any Visa or MC regardless of whether it has rewards or rebates. The rewards are offered by the CC company as a marketing gimmick to get people to use their card instead of someone elses. The going rate for merchants for Visa/MC is between 2% and 4% depending on how much business you do - more volume = lower rates.
RE: Doom and Gloom!
I agree with quark to. As to who pays for it the merchants who pay the cc company for the privilege of taking their cc and the people who don't pay it off every month. Credit card companies don't like those of us who pay the bill every month they make the big bucks off those who don't pay it. But because they also charge the merchant for taking the card they still make money either way.
