values

Go out to lunch. Seriously.

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I’ve eaten in restaurants more often in the past 10 weeks than I have in the entire previous year. That’s not as big a deal as it seems, since in Seattle I cook almost all my own meals. Here in Anchorage, though, my hostess and I like to go to Harley’s Old Thyme Café. I’ve also enjoyed taking my muddy nephew, his little brother and his mom out to eat.

Not that I’ve completely lost my cheap edge: I often use BOGOs or other coupons that I’ve gotten from social media, the Val-Pak mailings and newspaper supplements.

Naturally it would be cheaper to heat up a can of soup. But isn’t it swell to have someone cook for you once in a while?

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The unbearable heaviness of student debt.

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Maybe you read the article about the doctor with $555,000 of student loan debt. In addition to that horrific sum (which started out as $250k in 2003) were a few other scary numbers:

  • A laid-off factory worker whose $300 unemployment check is garnished down to $180 because of the PLUS student loan she took out for her son.
  • A woman who after 14 years of deferment and forbearance (and bankruptcy) saw her Sallie Mae loan leap from $28,000 to more than $90,000. Her monthly payment was once $230; now it’s $816.
  • An estimated $730 billion of outstanding federal and private student-loan debt exists, and just 40 percent is being repaid. The rest is in default, deferment or forbearance.

Gargantuan loans taken out with no clear idea of how they’ll be repaid. Sound familiar?

Actually, there’s a crucial difference between subprime mortgages and student loans: You can’t return your diploma to the school and walk away from college debt. In fact, such debt can’t even be discharged in a bankruptcy. With few exceptions, student loans stay with you until you pay them back.

 

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Old chestnuts contain a kernel of truth.

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I know that I’m getting older because I have begun to find value in bromides. That’s why I’ve decided to highlight one every so often, starting today. After all, Ben Franklin made a decent living at it – not that my site is comparable to Poor Richard’s Almanack, for a number of reasons:

  • I don’t use a pen name.
  • I get to write what I want rather than what I think will sell.
  • I’m allowed to curse.
  • I know how to spell “almanac.”

Let me emphasize that an axiom is no substitute for independent thought. If patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, pious aphorisms are a way to appear profound when what you’re actually expressing is “Because I said so.”

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What can be more essential than giving?

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thChristina at the Northern Cheapskate blog recently wrote about needing a new toaster cover. The old one doesn’t owe her a thing because it’s more than a decade old, a “well-intentioned gift” from her mother that initially left Christina embarrassed. It was an old person’s item. Women in their early 20s didn’t use toaster covers.

Eventually she appreciated the gift. Still, the idea of “needing” a new one made her laugh: “The toaster won’t feel ashamed if it sits on the counter in its natural state.”

It’s more than just a toaster cover, of course.

 

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Two little boys, all alone.

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I was at the post office today mailing two long-delayed giveaway prizes (sorry, Diana and Denise — they’re on their way!). A young man came in carrying an infant car seat. While waiting in line I saw him smiling at the baby and making the occasional funny face. What a loving father, I thought.

As I got into my vehicle I saw two little boys, aged about 3 and 4, in the adjacent vehicle. One of the children caught my eye and smiled. The car’s windows were rolled down. No adult was in sight.

I started to back out of the parking space — and then pulled forward once more. It just didn’t seem right to leave two kids unsupervised.

Eventually their dad returned. You guessed it: He was the guy carrying the car seat.

“What took you so long, daddy?” one boy asked fretfully.

Good question.

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Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Bear, Alaska style (aka “a fed bear is a dead bear”).

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From an Anchorage Police Department press release:

“On 7-8-10 at 10:17 hours, Anchorage Police officers responded to the report of a woman chasing a black bear on the 200 block of Yellow Leaf Circle. Upon arrival, officers found that a woman…had indeed been chasing a black bear which had jumped the fence in her front yard and snatched up her pet rabbit in its teeth.

“The rabbit, known as ‘George,’ had been…known in the neighborhood because its back legs were paralyzed and his owner had fashioned a two-wheeled cart so he would have mobility.

“… George’s owner, upon hearing the cries of her rabbit, chased the bear in her stocking feet across several yards and down an alley before the bear reportedly turned and confronted her.

“The bear left the area with the rabbit.”

And this is why I love Alaska.

Now: Where to begin?

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A big meal plus leftovers for less than a buck.

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A former coworker hosted a potluck for me on Saturday. Among the goodies we enjoyed: Alaska salmon in a ginger-based marinade, burgers (meat or veggie), dilled potato salad, baked beans made from scratch in a slow cooker, a mesclun salad with chicken and grilled sweet potatoes, rosemary bread, eggplant pate, olives, grape tomatoes, melon and several desserts, including a Ukrainian rhubarb torte that was much classier than the rhubarb cake that I made recently.

I was the guest of honor but gently urged the hostess to tell me what I might contribute. It wound up being deviled eggs and two 12-packs of Diet Coke.

Someone suggested that potlucks would be a good subject for a frugality column. I laughed. Then I realized that she’s right. If I were unemployed or underemployed, I’d be attending or hosting potlucks as often as I could get away with it.

Consider that:

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Filthy lucre.

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The most-read piece I ever wrote for the Smart Spending blog was an essay called “See a penny? Pick it up!” Before MSN Money switched blog platforms, the article had received more than 1.6 million hits.

The comments were also numerous, and about evenly split: People who also happily gleaned change and people who thought the idea was unbelievably disgusting. Pick up dirty, germy, dog-peed-upon coins? Eeeeewwww.

I’m fully aware that found money isn’t clean. But it’s not as though I carry it home in my mouth.

Besides: I hate to break it to those folks, but the bills and specie they get from banks and stores are probably just as revolting.

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4 ways to think about money.

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Want to drop a bad habit or develop a good one? You need a plan. Or, rather, you need a list.

We Americans love our lists. We especially love short lists. Just check the headlines on magazines, features sites or blogs. You’ll almost certainly see ones like “Three easy steps to lose weight/stop smoking/become a millionaire.”

Having a list makes us feel we’re already halfway to achieving our goals. Lists make us feel confident and in charge: I’ve got it all figured out! Now I just have to implement it!

It’s never really that simple, of course. If three steps were all it took, we’d be surrounded by thin, rich people whose fingers were unstained.

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