Donna Freedman

Monday miscellany: “Die With Zero” edition.

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Bloggers sometimes make (not very much) money when they put Amazon links in their posts and readers use those links to buy things. I put in these links from time to time, and so does my daughter. But in her recent review of a book called “Die With Zero,” she urged readers to hit the library rather than purchase a copy.

“I’m not even putting an Amazon affiliate link here – that’s how much I want you to not buy the book,” she wrote.

While Abby liked a couple of things about the personal finance tome, she was frustrated by its lack of clear advice, and by its ageist/ableist attitudes. Early on, for example, author Bill Perkins described old age for lots of people consisting of sitting in front of the TV and eating tapioca pudding.

Not only do lots of older people remain active physically and/or socially, who is he to judge the lives of more sedentary people as being of lesser value? (Especially since some people don’t choose the sedentary life, but rather have it thrust upon them due to illness or the need to care for a chronically ill spouse.)

Perkins also mentions that live theater might best be enjoyed when you’re younger, lest you be “too old to hear the actors or to stand in line for the restroom.” Um, wut?!? Not only is that pretty ageist, it’s also a slam against folks of any age who are hard of hearing or completely deaf. That doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy live performances or movies, either through assistive listening devices or ASL-interpreted shows.

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Giveaway: Two $25 gift cards.

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I’ve been trying to focus on Alaska goods for my giveaways lately, in order to support the local economy. My idea is that some of the folks who don’t win might decide to check out these the Last Frontier economy* on their own. I even had an Alaska item picked out to give away – but then I realized it might not get to its recipient before Christmas. That’s why I’m doing something non-local today: gift cards.

Which gift cards? Whichever the winners want, provided I can obtain them electronically. 

Drugstore? Discount emporium? Office-supply place? Home improvement center? Supermarket? Bookstore? Massive online retailer? It’s your call, if you win. 

Two winners get to use these card to finish up their holiday shopping. They could opt to give the cards themselves as gifts. Or donate them. Or, maybe, use the cards for something they themselves need.

Again: Your call. Provided you win, of course.

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The Talkeetna index.

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In years past I’ve done both long-form writing and mock-tweet compilations about the Talkeetna Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition. And this year I did Talkeetna in six pics.

Today I realized that wasn’t nearly enough coverage, given how many other photos I still had to share, and how many experiences I hadn’t yet described when I put up the six pics. After all, that post went live the same night we arrived in Talkeetna. Surely there was more to tell.

So I decided to tell it, in the style of the long-running “Harper’s Index” from Harper’s magazine. But I’d be doing it Talkeetna-style.

For the uninitiated: The Harper’s Index is a list of random facts, sometimes connected, sometimes not. Rather than draw from multiple sources, I will of course focus on the bachelors auction and wilderness woman competition.

Some of my index items will be illustrated and some won’t. One of the photos will be not suitable for work. You’ve been warned.

 

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6 money lessons from “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.”

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I didn’t expect “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” to be a cinematic classic. It was clear from the first preview that this would be a popcorn movie. What I did expect is that Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon would take the lead in supernatural heroism.

So I was pleasantly surprised when the middle-school nerd, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace, of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” among others) and her new (and only) friend, Podcast (Logan Kim) pretty much walked away with the movie. They – and especially Phoebe – are the film’s heart and mind.

And the scene where Podcast asks if she would be….

…wait for it…

his lab partner? That was one of the shyer, sweeter movie scenes I’ve encountered in ages.

The protagonists are the daughter and grandkids of one of the original Ghostbuster gang, and they’ve inherited his dilapidated house in Middle-of-Nowhere, Oklahoma. The mom, Callie, tells the kids they’re just going out there to sell the place, but we know before they do that they’re going to stay; after all, an early scene shows Callie begging the landlord not to evict them.

What could go wrong? Especially when teenaged son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, of “Stranger Things”) and his new buddies start hanging around an abandoned mine? Or when Phoebe starts noticing some strange things of her own around their new home?

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” drags a bit here and there, and I could have done without the Hallmark-y denouement, but overall I had a pretty good time. Didn’t hurt a bit that I paid only $6 because it was cheap Tuesday, or that I had a $3-off coupon for the concessions stand. (Like I said: Popcorn movie.)

And, of course, I found money lessons therein. Don’t I always? 

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Holiday 2021 giveaway: Alaska chocolate.

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Here we are, a bit closer to Christmas and Kwanzaa, Hannukah in the rear-view mirror, and still supporting the local economy. This week’s holiday 2021 giveaway is pretty sweet. But not too sweet, even though it’s made up mostly of chocolate.

That’s because the Chugach Chocolate company specializes in dark chocolate. Headquartered in Anchorage, it’s been the subject of a couple of previous giveaways and it’s always been a big hit.

If you win, you could give free chocolate to someone you love this holiday season?

And yes, that someone could be…yourself. Charity begins at home. Sometimes chocolate does, too.

In addition to the four chocolate bars in the giveaway, the winner will also receive a fun (yet useful!) piece of Alaska kitsch: a face mask featuring the Alaska Tastee-Freez logo.

More on that in a minute. Right now, let’s talk about the chocolate.

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Six pics of Talkeetna.

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For the first time in three years, Linda B. and I are attending the Talkeetna Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition. The drive up was smooth sailing, with hardly anyone else on the road. It was also gorgeous, once the fog burned off – especially the eye-popping vistas of Mt. Hunter, Mt. Foraker and Denali (see below).

It’s 13 degrees below zero right now, but that’s all right because we’re indoors. If anything, it’s a little too warm in our hotel room. Pretty sure I won’t be needing the blanket and comforter tonight, or maybe even the top sheet.

Thus far we’ve viewed the annual parade (made up mostly of emergency vehicles, plus a flatbed truck with some shivering bachelors), eaten not wisely but too well, and chatted up some of the old-school auction folks. One of them pointed out that this is the 40th annual event, out of 41 years (the pandemic nixed large indoor gatherings last year).

The Wilderness Woman Competition is a large outdoor gathering; it takes place tomorrow. The Talkeetna Bachelor Auction will be indoors, but tickets were limited. They sold out in six minutes flat. Fortunately, Linda B. was ready to pounce the moment they went on sale.

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Monday miscellany: Porch pirates edition.

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It’s not enough that inflation and supply-chain issues are putting a crimp in preparing for the 2021 holidays. Those dirty rotten porch pirates are back in business, too. According to a study from SafeWise, more than 60 percent of U.S. residents have had a package stolen in the past year. Obviously the holidays are prime … Read more

Holiday 2021 giveaway: Scented candles.

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We have one month before Christmas and a little more than that until Kwanzaa, so let’s keep these giveaways coming! This time around, the holiday 2021 giveaway is sponsored by Abigail Perry of I Pick Up Pennies, whom regular readers will know is my daughter. These highly scented candles could become four or more holiday gifts for some lucky reader, or maybe a really nice self-gift.

The backstory, as I recall it: Abby had written about the importance of supporting local and small-biz economies. One of her readers mentioned that she had an Etsy shop called BettysOnly. Abby visited and spent a little money, and decided to donate them to my holiday giveaway series.

As you can see from the photo, there are four good-sized scented candles and four little tulle bags. The bags are full of what I initially thought were small, flat candles, but which on closer inspection  proved to be wickless. I concluded that these are fragrance blocks, designed to perfume a room. Put one or two of them into a dish in a musty-smelling room, closet or dresser drawer and they’ll change the dynamic pretty quickly.

(I brought them home wrapped in plastic bags in my suitcase several weeks ago, and that Gladstone still smells sweet. Since I’m heading for the Talkeetna Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition next weekend with Linda B., I’ll be even more irresistible than I usually am. Or my clothes will, anyway.)

You could give this prize as one great big holiday or birthday (or Valentine’s Day) present, or split it up into individual gifts. Three of the four candles are heart-shaped and one is a tall, square pillar. The smaller bags would make good stocking-stuffers, or little gifts to someone you’d like to treat but with whom you don’t want to provoke a gift war; such a small remembrance shouldn’t make that person feel, “Oh, but I didn’t get you anything!”

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Dr. Demento and the desecrated turkey

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(Happy Throwback Thursday! This article is from WAY back in the day: May 10, 2010. It was the eighth piece I published. Since the article has a Thanksgiving theme, sort of, I thought I’d re-run it in honor of turkey day.)

About five months ago I walked over to the Asian market to buy carrots and came home with a turkey. Yes, I know the difference between root vegetables and edible fowls. But the bird was on sale for 25 cents a pound. The whole thing cost only $2.65. I’ve paid more than that for a soft drink at a ballpark.

(What does this have to do with Dr. Demento? I’ll get to that.)

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Two quick grocery hacks.

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DF and I didn’t plan to buy eggs or meat today at the supermarket. But we wound up using two quick grocery hacks that saved us quite a bit of money.

While these quick grocery hacks are recurring deals, they’re not always available. We’ve made it a habit always to look for them, though, and today is one of those days that paid off.

The first is to watch for “repack” eggs. Sometimes one or more eggs in a carton will crack and the dozen is unsellable as-is.

An enterprising dairy manager simply repacks the unbroken eggs into cartons with “Grade B” stamped on them.

Some of these cartons are just standard white eggs. Other times, it’s quite the mix of cackleberries: medium-sized, huge, white, brown, bearing an “EB” (Eggland’s Best)

Sometimes I think the B stands for “broken.” Other times I think it stands for “better deal” – because non-organic eggs usually cost from $1.99 to $2.99; those Eggland’s Best are currently $3.99 a dozen. The repack eggs cost 99 cents at one store and $1.29 to $1.49 a dozen at the other. On this trip we bought two dozen.

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