What changes are you making?

[madscot13]

I'm a news junky, but now, I avoid following the news at all. I'm prone to "ticker-itis" and get nervous if I rely on the negative press to determine my mood.

I'm thinking of buying another house closer to work so I can walk/ride. Even though I'm only three miles from work now, that's too far to cycle in a suit and uses 1/4 tank of gas/week (for 30 miles total) because the engine never warms up. I think that there are values out there and being near campus would be neat.

Right now, I'm only down 10% from the market peak, so I'm not thinking of selling anything...

Silver started a full time job a couple months ago...and now I'm glad since my income will probably be the lowest in about 10 years as my bonus is tied to company earnings...

Mr. Silver, i am sure you have already considered changing at work, but walking generally does not build up too much sweat. Selling your house might be rough (although buying one still shouldn't be). However, i walk a 20 minute mile. I also have stubs of legs and don't have too much of a pace. You can get in a good work out- less than 2 hours a day. I assume you are still trying to lose weight and walking is excellent for that I always feel trimmer in my legs). however, that is probably an hour and half lost (assuming it is a 15 minute drive including parking) each day. Maybe you can't afford to lose that. Everything is at a premium these days. Just a brief thought from someone who is too young to be dispensing any.

[Mr. Bloom]

However, i walk a 20 minute mile. I also have stubs of legs and don't have too much of a pace.

That's a great idea! For winter when sweating's not a problem, but it's too cold to ride, I could walk. I have stubby legs too, BUT, I can walk 12 minute miles...and I have sidewalks on the entire route. I think I'd benefit from the detox time

[madscot13]

That's a great idea! For winter when sweating's not a problem, but it's too cold to ride, I could walk. I have stubby legs too, BUT, I can walk 12 minute miles...and I have sidewalks on the entire route. I think I'd benefit from the detox time

i always do my best thinking when I am walking. Biking requires too much concentration. I'm not sure what that is saying about me.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

That's a great idea! For winter when sweating's not a problem, but it's too cold to ride, I could walk. I have stubby legs too, BUT, I can walk 12 minute miles...and I have sidewalks on the entire route. I think I'd benefit from the detox time

Another suggestion is to get a 50cc scooter, which gets about 95 miles per gallon of gas. Even in the coldest Indiana temps, you'd do the 3 miles to work in about 10 minutes maybe? Nice and breezy in the hot summer too....and won't mess your 'Mr.BankMan' suit.

Get rid of those gas guzzling zoom-zooms!

[madscot13]

Another suggestion is to get a 50cc scooter, which gets about 95 miles per gallon of gas. Even in the coldest Indiana temps, you'd do the 3 miles to work in about 10 minutes maybe? Nice and breezy in the hot summer too....and won't mess your 'Mr.BankMan' suit.

Get rid of those gas guzzling zoom-zooms!

Hey I was getting him off of all fuels!

[redrhodie]

I'm a news junky, but now, I avoid following the news at all.

I'm the opposite. I can't stop watching the news. It's driving DBF nuts!

[PamNY]

I'm thinking of buying another house closer to work so I can walk/ride. Even though I'm only three miles from work now, that's too far to cycle in a suit and uses 1/4 tank of gas/week (for 30 miles total) because the engine never warms up.

Have you considered a Xootr kick scooter for going to work? I go everywhere on mine, including dress-up and business occasions. It folds easily to go indoors and you can carry a ton of stuff.

You do need fairly smooth sidewalks or streets, and you will get a lot of attention if scooters aren't common where you live.

Web site is:

http://xootr.com/

Pam

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey I was getting him off of all fuels!

Yeah but severely cutting gas use by going from 15-20mpg to 95mpg is a great start! That's like using 1/4 or 1/5 of what was used before, right?

An electric bike might be an option too, since he has moderate weather, few hills, and pretty smooth roads for his 3 mile short commute.

[smilingcat]

Overall, I'm down about 15% on my investments, house valuation excluded.

Anything different? not really, just staying put on the sideline and watching this mayham with a heavy heart. I'm not in a mood to talk about monetary policies right now for fear of offending people. And no I have zero tolerance for vultures who are eagerly waiting to pick up foreclosed homes. I find it reprehensible.

However, I am thinking of "exit strategy" from this mess. And reading lots of historical data on past economic crashs both here in US and abroad. Very interesting. There is a common theme and it is replaying today.

My house will be paid off in nine years or so. and my car is paid off no credit card debt. Have a line of credit with low interest rate sitting there just in case.

We don't have a TV, cable, satellite, pay-as-you-go plan cell phone, haven't had TV dinner of any sort just some frozen snacks. Still go out to dinner like last night, El Pollo Loco (crazy chicken) 3 piece chicken with two side order (cole slaw for both) and one order of garden salad for the two us $8.60?? with tax. Another time Wahoo (fish taco) about $10.00 total for both of us.

and oh yes I do make my own Chai tea and save $$ over pre-mixed tea.

what else, I've always been one of those ultra MPG driver of sort. I get nearly 30MPG on my AUDI sometimes 34MPG average. Its an automatic quattro A6 wagon (to carry our two big fur babies golden and a lab)

oh we don't have heat nor AC in my house yes we are bit old fashioned in my 1300sq foot house big yard though. We haven't had to buy much groceries, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, raddishes, bell pepper, herbs all grown in our yard. And I bake our own bread... We also have myers lemon treeS, lime treeS, and Washington navel orange treeS (all dwarf trees but they do produce enough).

I guess you could say we are SUPER cheap.

[Norse]

That's funny, because we've been talking about the same thing (minus the dishwasher issue).

Here too. Our friends and we think that if we pool our resources, we can buy a nice fixer-upper farmhouse somewhere in Northern Provence.

[Flybye]

I considered jumping out the window but I live on the ground floor

In that case I'd recommend trying to jump INTO the window, it might be a bit riskier and have more drama attached to it!

[deedolce]

My Roth and small 'play' portfolio are just about worthless. My 403 b is down about 10%. I'm not putting anymore in my Roth. I s*ck at investing, and remember in the late 80's and early 90's how high the interest rates the banks were offering, and expect the same thing to happen, and will instead build a CD ladder with what meager savings I have.

Hopefully as a teacher, as long as the state can cut my paycheck, I should still have a job. My house should be paid off in 10 years, no car payments.

I am incredibly frugal as it is, but I do want to simplify my life as well - I have to tackle the Bermuda grass and be better about growing vegetables. I already have chickens, but I need to give them our compostable leftovers, instead of just throwing in a scoop of feed because it's easy. I need to have son chop of the large pieces of firewood that I have enough of instead of just buying a whole new cord of smaller pieces for this winter...

UNfortunately, I'm in a new relationship, which is awesome, but some of things I want to do with him or treat him to ('our' sushi place in my town!) and it costs money. (Yes, he treats me too. Last time we rode, he bought me a new Pro 3 tire and sent me a matching jersey that he had designed for his club back East! Woot!)

Just think of how lucky we are because we already ride bikes and can do errands and/or bike commute! I can imagine how hard physically and mentally that would be for folks that can't afford gas, or are really out of shape!

[TxDoc]

I'm thinking of buying another house closer to work so I can walk/ride.

Would LOVE to do that... problem is, right now I have to work in two different hospitals (soon to become three) depending on the day of the week, and so I would need three homes!!!
Aside from jokes, Ike actually left me without a liveable home, and I have yet to figure out where I should live to make the various commutes easier!
As per changes - the main change is that I'm trying to save money (which I've never been very good at). And it's mostly to get back on my feet after the hurricane, and to deal with the fact that right now we only get paid our base salaries
Investments... I'm trying to avoid the generalized selling fever and letting everything as it is for the time being.
But yes, the big change is getting rid of unnecessary expenses, much less dining out, no five-times-a-day starbucks coffee, less shopping for clothes/shoes/etc - and really learning how to live on a budget to save as much as possible.

[shootingstar]

I think my portfolio is down by 10-12% ..on paper. I try not to think too hard about this and sit on my butt to wait this out.

It hasn't stopped me from making vacation trips...as long as we make them with a component of physical activity (cycling, snowshoeing, etc.) to keep it somewhat healthy , save money on transportation (when vacationing), and think through foreign exchange rates with the Canadian dollar weaker now if we travel outside of Canada ..compared to 6 months ago, when our dollar was surging past the American dollar.

[Mr. Bloom]

Silver's sick and laying on the couch

So, I bring my new garden cultivator upstairs for assembly.

She says "why did you get that?"

"Well darling, it's time to start growing our own food to save money", I respond.

I wish I could have captured the sheer look of terror on her face

Then I went out and used my new cultivator to clean up some dead spots in the lawn