Farmers Struggling To Make Ends Meet!
Posted on July 3, 2008
Filed Under economy | 1 Comment
We all know that the cost of food is rising daily. Milk, meat, rice and bread prices seem to rise almost as quickly as fuel costs are rising. I have recently become more involved in the Virginia farming community and have been listening to the buzz as they struggle to make ends meet. These men and women are not the huge corporate farms of the mid west but cattle and tobacco farmers who might have a few hundred to a thousand acres of prime Virginia farmland.
The cost of fuel is the primary concern as all farm equipment has to be run on either gasoline or diesel. Farmers who spend a large majority of their time on plowing, disking, raking, mowing, etc are truly feeling the pinch of rising cost of fuel. Stop and think for a moment how high your monthly fuel costs would be if you drove all day long, five to six days a week.
The cost of fertilizer, seed, feed for the stock, and labor has also been rising steadily. While the price in the grocery store seem to be going up right along with them, you would think that the farmers would be getting more for their produce but it seems to get lost somewhere along the way.
Most of the farmers that I know have full or part time jobs and farm in their ’spare’ time and to help pay the taxes on the land and they are struggling to accomplish that now. Add to that the continuing drought in the South East and more and more farmers here are throwing in the towel and turning the family farm into a subdivision. There doesn’t seem to be any good solution in sight as the real estate market is not booming either.
If you have been thinking of buying a farm or a part of a farm, here is a listing of available farms in South Central Virginia. It’s a fairly extensive listing…
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My Not Exactly Vacation
Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
I haven’t exactly been on vacation but it sure seems like I have been on vacation from writing. The furor of trying to get the new shop open has been taking up most of my time. We moved the shop over the weekend and open in our new location tomorrow.
I am still trying to get things put away so that the shop will be functional tomorrow. I have gone from total chaos as I had lots of free help which got things moved but also meant that there was no organization to the move at all. People grabbed things and stuck them anywhere. I got here yesterday and had to move boxes of things so that I could move furniture and put those things away. I got a great deal done yesterday and even more today as I am waiting for the phone company.
The good news is that high speed internet is included in my rent here so I will be able to update this site from work and I should have time to do it daily. I am also way behind on my reader so need to spend some time catching up with everyone. I’m looking forward to it and will share a roundup of my favorites in the next day or so.
Just like coming back from vacation, I am brimming with ideas. You can look forward to some perspectives on the economy from people in different walks of life as it is a major topic of conversation. You might be surprised at how it is affecting people from all walks of life but then again you might not.
Until Tomorrow….
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Sorry President Bush But My Stimulus Check Is Paying Bills
Posted on June 12, 2008
Filed Under debt | 3 Comments
I got my notice in the mail on Tuesday that my stimulus check should be here this week. As I check the mailbox every day, I think about what I am going to do with it. I have gone back and forth between increasing my emergency fund or paying off bills. Either way my stimulus check will not be used to purchase anything.
Its funny as I sit here and think about what I would have done with it a year ago. I would have considered it ‘found’ money and used it to purchase something that I needed or wanted. It would have been outside of my budget and I would have felt no guilt about using it to buy something.
There are many things that I could purchase with it. I could put a down payment on a smaller used car that gets better gas mileage. I could buy new living room furniture. I could make some home improvements. I could even use it to buy the countertop for the new shop. I could even buy a decent lawn mower so that I could mow my own grass.
Yes, there are many, many things that I would like to have but my priorities are paying off debt and saving money. My emergency fund is only $500. It’s better than nothing but still not large enough for me to be comfortable with it. I have been whittling away at my debts but honestly, keeping a roof over my head and some food has been most of what I could manage. There hasn’t been a lot left over for paying extra on bills.
I have finally decided that the stimulus check will go to pay down my debt. My emergency fund will have to suffice for the moment as the difference in what I earn in interest on it and what I pay in interest on my debt is huge. So rather than stimulating the national economy, I will be making my creditors happy.
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The Economics of Air Conditioning
Posted on June 10, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 11 Comments
It’s been 101 and 102 degrees here in Central Virginia for the last week. It really makes me wonder whether I need to buy a window air conditioner. I survived last year with very little discomfort and I really dislike air conditioning. It makes it impossible to go outside without dying of the heat when it is this hot. However, right now I am dying of the heat inside.
I actually checked into central air last year. The estimates started at $6,000 which is just out of the question for me. I love old houses but they do come complete with their own set of issues. I could put a large window a/c unit in downstairs and that would help but it would also run up my electric bill.
The short term solution is to use window fans at night and keep the house pretty much closed up during the day. All the shades are drawn and the insulated curtains on the west side of the house. This keeps the brutal afternoon sun from turning the house into a solar oven and works until about 5 pm when the temperatures really start to rise.
After sunset, I open the blinds and curtains and turn on the fans. The most powerful fan is in the upstairs hall window to pull the hottest air up the stairwell and out the window. It’s actually pretty effective and between it and the two window fans blowing in downstairs, the temperature drops about 10 degrees in 30 minutes downstairs.
I am praying that the heat wave will break tomorrow as predicted and temperatures will get back to the lower 90s. That 10-12 degree drop makes a heck of a difference and will make the house a lot more tolerable.
My electric bill during the summer runs approximately $50 a month with no air conditioning. My guestimate is that it would go up approximately $100- 150 a month if I put in a unit that was big enough to cool the downstairs. That’s a really big bite out of my budget for the two or three hours that my house is really not tolerable.
I think I am going to hold out as long as possible without the a/c and pray that temperatures will stay more moderate for the majority of the summer. And I will bet that air conditioning rates right up there with TV for being something that most people would not live without. What do you think? Could you live without A/C?
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A Letter to My Daughter on Graduation Day
Posted on June 5, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 7 Comments
Dear Lexi,
Tomorrow you will graduate from High School and the major part of your life thus far will be over. Up until now, your father and I have guided you and protected you. We have held your hand while you learned to walk and walked beside you when you learned to ride a bike. We have watched while you tested your wings with a car of your own and a job.
As you step out into the world, there are things that I would tell you. I know that you want to take a year off before college but I would urge you to go now. Life has a tendency to get in the way and once you have a job going back to school will just get harder. While I am sure that you can find a job, a college degree opens doors to opportunities that you might miss otherwise.
I would tell you to always pay yourself first. Put as much money into savings as you can and leave it there until you have enough to live on for 6 months or so. You will never be sorry. Start your retirement fund early and don’t touch it. If you go to work for a company that matches your contributions, take advantage of it.
Be wary of credit cards. They are too easy to get and too hard to pay off. If you have to buy it on credit, you probably can’t afford it anyway and most likely don’t need it. If you use credit cards regularly, you will pay many times for the same item. Save buying on credit for two major purchases, a car and a house.
Invest your money in things that you understand. If you don’t understand it, then either educate yourself or find something you do understand. This understanding will help you decide when to invest, when to hold and when to sell.
Find a job doing something that you love to do. You spend most of your life at work, it helps to enjoy what you are doing. This may be a strange forum to say that while making a lot of money is great, doing something that you enjoy and are good at will bring you more satisfaction in the long run so try to find a balance between being a starving artist and overstressed ceo.
Keep an emergency savings account. In a perfect world, this would be enough to support you for 6 months but it can be as little as $1000. The emergency funds purpose is to pay for emergencies. I know you are saying “duh, Mom” but you have to understand that an emergency is not the concert tickets that you can get at the last minute or for those cute shoes that you just have to have to go with your new dress. It is for things like the car broke down and I can’t get to work without it.
When you find that special person, make sure that they are someone who will support and respect you. Hopefully, you will find someone with similar goals to yours, both financial and life goals. I have found that while love is grand if the support, respect and common goals aren’t there, love loses out at worst and at best your life will be a struggle.
Whatever you do, do it with all your heart. You are smart enough to do anything you want to do, you just have to make up your mind that you are going to do it. Don’t let anyone beat you down. Don’t settle for second best, you deserve the best of the best.
And remember always that I love you and that you always have a place to come home to.
Love, Mom
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Summer Posting Schedule
Posted on June 4, 2008
Filed Under carnival | 1 Comment
I am going to have to work out a new summer posting schedule. Business has picked up for the summer at the shop and I am finding that I am working longer hours. There is also so much more to be done on the farm during the summer that I am finding it difficult to sit down and do any serious writing on a daily basis.
I have been recreating all of my business records and trying to get things caught up there as well so my computer time has been spent there. I hope that I will be getting back on some sort of schedule in the next week or so but this week is going to be a challenge. My daughter is graduating from high school on Friday and I have my final foster care class on Saturday.
I am going to be looking for guest posts over the summer so if you are interested in writing a guest post, please contact me. Over the summer, I am going to be posting during the week and will take weekends off. Hopefully that will give me time to get things done on the farm as well as compensate for the shop being busier.
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Make Your Own Dishwasher Soap & More
Posted on May 30, 2008
Filed Under frugal living | Leave a Comment
My unfrugal present to myself was to have a cleaning lady come and clean my house. This is definitely a luxury item but I had gotten some money for my birthday. I look around the house now and I think it is money well spent. The whole house just glows.
It did however bring to mind the money that I spend every month on cleaning products. Dishwasher detergent always ends up being one of the more expensive cleaners. The others seem to last longer and I can find less expensive alternatives. The cheap dishwasher detergents just seem to end up a gelatinous clump in the dispenser so I decided to make my own. I finally settled on this recipe as it has few ingredients and they can be easily found at Walmart. Look for essential oil in the craft section or check out Michael’s in the candle section. I have put links to Washing Soda and borax just so you can see the boxes.
Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
1 Cup Washing Soda
1 Cup Borax
2-3 drops of essential oil
Add all ingredients to food processor bowl or blender and process until they are powder. Store in a cannister or coffee can which is airtight. Use 1-2 tablespoons per load depending on the hardness of your water. If you are getting spots or residue try using a little less. The first time I used it I put too much in and it did leave a residue. You can also substitute white vinegar for Rinse Aide.
I used an apple pie fragrance oil that I had used for making candles and when the dishwasher runs, the whole kitchen smells like apple pie. It is so much nicer than the acrid smell of commercial dishwasher powder.
Other Uses for Washing Soda and Borax
If you are wondering what to do with the rest of the borax and washing soda, here are some additional uses.
For the remainder of the washing soda you can also try The Simple Dollar’s recipe for Homemade Laundry detergent.
Carpet Cleaner/Pesticide
2 Cups Cornmeal
1 Cup Borax
2-3 drops of essential oil
Add all ingredients to food processor or blender and grind to a powder. Sprinkle on carpet and let sit for an hour or so before vacuuming. Store remainder in air tight container. The borax will kill fleas and other pests but it can also hurt your pets if they walk in it and lick their feet. Be sure to keep kids and pets off until it is vacuumed up.
Drain Cleaner
1/2 cup Washing Soda
2 Cups boiling Water
Put washing soda directly into the drain and pour in boiling water. Leave for 10-15 minutes and then flush with more hot water.
General Housecleaning
Floors:
2 Tb Washing Soda in a gallon of water. Wash as usual.
General Purpose Cleaning Spray
1 tsp Washing Soda per gallon of water. Add to spray bottle and clean away.
You can add a drop of essential oil to any of these recipes. It leaves a nice clean fresh scent and gets the job done. For additional homemade cleaning products, check out the article at Being Frugal.
Do you make any of your own cleaning products? How have they worked for you?
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50th Birthweek Thoughts and Roundup
Posted on May 29, 2008
Filed Under carnival | 8 Comments
by pic fix
No matter how fast time rushes by once you hit 40, it seems like it is going to slow down for this last week of my 40s. It’s pretty much been a celebration since last Friday when I got my new computer for my birthday. Tomorrow night I am going out for a birthday dinner with friends and gee, my birthday isn’t until Saturday so instead of having a birthday, I am having a birth week.
Most of this week, I have been trying to reload software, restore data, recover passwords and just generally get back into the habit of writing again. This evening I spent visiting my favorite sites and catching up on the news.
These are a few of my favorites:
Frugal Dad had an awakening when he sat down and did the numbers on Kroger’s fuel discount. I am always amazed at how much difference there can be in food prices between local grocery stores. Frugal Dad’s experience just highlights it.
Ana at Debt Free Revolution had a revelation when she talked to her husband about how to spend their economic stimulus check. Sounds like there might be a little revolting going on in the troops there but it also sounds like they are well on their way to working it out.
Telling It Like It Is has a post that will go down as one of my all time favorites, In Memory of the Sad Passing of Common Sense.
You will want to read Paid Twice on Don’t Let the Reality of Future Debt Discourage Present Progress. Do we define ourselves by our financial situation? Check it out!
Squawk Fox spends 24 hours without electricity and lives through it! It’s amazing how little we really need.
Being Frugal is looking at how to save water this week as well as money. She has some great tips.
Dead beat relatives are always a way to get people’s blood stirred up as Mrs. Micah discovers in this post. My personal rule is that if I give money to a relative it’s a gift. If I have it to give away, that’s fine and if I don’t I say so.
The Simple Dollar has an article on Tomorrow Boxes. I have used this method in the past with a little modification. I have a box for stuff that I am not quite sure what to do with or if I want. I put it away for 6 months to a year and anything that has stayed in the box is most likely going to be given or thrown away.
I could go on and on as I have been catching up on 3 weeks worth of reading but I think this is enough for today.
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Gasoline Gaining on Mortgage
Posted on May 28, 2008
Filed Under budget | 9 Comments
In reading around the net, there seems to be two opinions, either people think that the gasoline increases are not such a big deal and the rest of us are making a big to do about nothing or people like me who are seeing an ever larger percentage of our budget going to fuel costs. For me personally, gasoline is quickly rivaling my mortgage as my largest expense.
If I break down my budget into large categories and put it into round numbers, it looks something like this:
Mortgage $750
Gasoline $300
Groceries $100
Utilities $150
Insurance $50
Misc $50
As you can see, with the exception of my mortgage, gasoline is now the largest portion of my budget even if you add all the other costs together. A year ago, I was driving twice as much and my fuel costs were less than half what they are today. I have become the master at combining trips and don’t drive anywhere that is not a necessity.
Country Point of View
My bank and the nearest grocery store are 12 miles from my house. The local convenience store is 4 miles or 7 miles. The nearest Walmart and main shopping areas, restaurants, movie theaters, Lowes, etc are 25 miles away. My mini van gets approximately 25 miles to the gallon which means that it takes 1 gallon or $3.89 to go to the grocery store and 2 gallons or $7.78 to go to Walmart.
I laugh when I make my weekly trip to town. I feel like I am back in the old days when country folks cleaned up and went to town on Saturday night. They stocked up and did their socializing at the same time and that’s what it is coming to with fuel prices what they are today.
Alternatives
Brad Walker in TN has his own solution to high fuel prices. He is riding his horse to school. Also in TN a farmer decides to forgo spending money on gas by hooking up his mules to rake his hay. He figures he saves about $70 per day by taking one tractor out of the picture. Of course the Amish have been saving money on fuel for years.
Now I know that most people don’t have a horse in their back yard or fields of hay to mow but there are also alternatives if you live in the city or suburbs. Use public transportation if possible. A bus or a train is less expensive than putting fuel in your car and gives you the opportunity to relax and read the paper on the way to work.
If public transportation isn’t available, organize a car pool. This can reduce your fuel costs considerably and can also give you a chance to read, nap or just relax and socialize a bit on the way to work. Are you close enough to work to walk or ride a bicycle? Both of these are great exercise although you may need to allow a little extra time for your trip.
How is the rising cost of fuel affecting your life? Have you made changes in the way you do things to save money on fuel? I’d love to hear about them.
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Garden of Frugality
Posted on May 27, 2008
Filed Under frugal living | 4 Comments
I thought it was time to update everyone on the garden of frugality. In an effort to save money, eat better and become more self sufficient, I planted several rather creative gardens. My salad garden has lettuce, carrots, spinach, radishes and onions planted in a children’s swimming pool.
In the last week, I have started harvesting the lettuce and spinach. I cut a small portion of it yesterday and fed salad to a small army. The pictures above were taken early last weekand over the last week, it has doubled in size and filled in every space in the pool.
The lettuce has taken over the garden to the point where I am going to be eating a lot of salad this week just to thin it out so that the other vegetables have a chance. Week before last when the lettuce was still pretty small, I planted a square of it in the square foot garden as well. I paid $1.79 for 1/4 pound of seed and I still have most if it.
I have also decided that lettuce will make a good border planting for my spring bulb garden. It’s really pretty and by the time that the daffodils, iris and tulips are ready to be cut back the lettuce should be done. That will be part of the plan for next year.
In the square foot garden, I have already planted green beans, lima beans, a second planting of lettuce, beets, carrots, radishes and a couple of herbs. The green beans and limas are up and growing and the salad veggies aren’t far behind them.
Next step is planting the summer vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, basil, squash and cucumbers. These will need a bit more room than the beans and get planted in either a separate container or in the ground. I have a spot in mind for the cukes and squash as they take up SO much room.
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