modern life

Scenes from a frugal weekend.

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thAnother quiet and rewarding weekend here at Chez Low-Key. “Rewarding” refers not just to R&R-value* but also to our finances.

Among the highlights:

A little Dumpster wading. While dropping off recyclables I checked the mixed-paper bin, as usual. This turned up 70 points for the My Coke Rewards program and also two glitzy gift bags (one Christmas, one birthday).

Using the wood-fired dryer. DF did a load of laundry late on Saturday morning and I arranged it on our drying racks in front of the fireplace insert. Some of it was dry by evening; all of it was dry by Sunday morning.

 

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How to beat the post-holiday slump.

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thRecently someone contacted Stacy Johnson of Money Talks News to ask for articles on non-costly ways to give back to the community. That assignment wound up in my lap, resulting in “You don’t need to be rich to lend a helping hand: 42 free or cheap ways to give.”

Researching it was fairly simple, because I do a lot of this stuff myself and also take inspiration from readers’ examples. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that giving is the perfect antidote to the midwinter blahs.

Here’s why.

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A robot cleans my floors.

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thThis is an unsolicited, unreimbursed testimonial for the robotic vacuum cleaner known as the iRobot Roomba. When I first heard the words “robotic vacuum” years ago I made a rude noise with my lips. It sounded like a pricey toy more than a useful appliance.

But DF, that most frugal and practical of men, has owned one model or another for years. When I moved in with him I decided to learn how to use it.

And then I fell in love with a little self-propelled disc.

Roomba delights me when she’s not scaring me with just how much dust and crud she’s picked up on what looked like clean-enough floors. (Yes, our Roomba is female. She makes us think of the robot maid from “The Jetsons.”)

Given that I have asthma, it’s smart to keep the environment as dust-free as possible. But vacuuming frequently hasn’t generally been high on my to-do list, even though I knew it should have been.

Recently I realized my asthma attacks have all but disappeared since I came to live with DF. Initially I thought it was because I was so much happier. Now I think it’s mostly Roomba’s doing.

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Do your pillowcases match?

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thDespite the no-kissing rule I imposed last week, DF has come down with the same crud I’ve still got. Maybe it was inevitable, which makes me grumpy when I think about all the kisses I skipped.

He went to work for a couple of hours the day after Christmas, saying he planned to wash the sheets when he got back. Sort of like locking the barn after the horses were gone, really, but he thought a good dose of Clorox might help get rid of some of the cooties.

Feeling generous, I put the sheets in myself after he left – including the pillowcases even though they aren’t white. In fact, they’re five different colors. Suddenly I realized that this would never have happened when I was a kid or a young married woman. Sheets and pillowcases had to match.

Guess what? I no longer care. How about you?

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Giveaway: “The Happiness of Pursuit.”

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happiness of pursuitAs others have pointed out, the Declaration of Independence doesn’t guarantee us happiness – merely its pursuit. Entrepreneur and author Chris Gillebeau has written a book that uses numerous (and varied!) bliss treks to illustrate how we might seek our own personal definitions of fulfillment.

“The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life” is based on the author’s own personal challenge (to visit all the countries of the world before age 35) and also on the fascinating endgames sought by others.

These aren’t famous people with deep pockets and a need to tell the universe how great they are. Instead, Guillebeau chose “ordinary people working toward extraordinary goals.”

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Unfamiliar area code? It’s probably a scam.

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thUnless you’re really lucky you’ve probably gotten spam/scam calls, often robotic ones. The smart money is on refusing to pick up the phone if it displays an unfamiliar area code (especially a toll-free one).

But if you have friends or family in places like Detroit (313), Houston (713) or Fort Lauderdale (954), you might pick up.

Those three cities are three of the top 10 area codes used by spam callers, according to a company called Whitepages. The others are:

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What does it take to retire successfully?

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20140909-MoneyTips-Fincon-The retiree-screen Res (FINAL)Where I grew up, people worked for as long as possible and felt diminished by retirement. Now it’s seen as a second chance.

Some people still say they plan to spend their golden years improving their golf swings or lying around in hammocks, but increasingly retirement is becoming an opportunity to start over: trying a different type of work, learning a new skill, maybe even running off to join the Peace Corps.

If you’d like to learn more, tune in to the Retiree Next Door Tweetcast next Tuesday, Nov. 18. Co-hosted by MoneyTips.com and certified financial planner Jeff Rose, the one-hour event will answer common questions and any additional queries sent in by listeners.

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How secure is your identity?

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th-1Here’s a startling stat: Nearly one in three persons surveyed by Experian believe they’re not at risk of identity theft because “thieves only want wealthy people’s identities.”

Wrong. It’s not how much money you make, but rather how much cybercrooks could make from you. 

“Identity thieves use data as their commodity, selling it to the highest bidder or for personal gain, so it’s important for consumers to protect their personal information,” says Becky Frost, senior manager of consumer education for Experian’s ProtectMyID.

Put another way: My long-unemployed mother was a victim of identity theft, and another relative who is self-employed had to get a credit freeze after someone tried opening credit cards in his name.

Both cases seem to have stemmed from credit-card applications filched from mailboxes. The bigger risk these days is cybercrime, if the Experian survey is any indication. 

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