Round-ups

It’s a quarter to two, there’s no one in the house…except Cassie and me. I’ve neglected visiting my blogging friends for so long, I’ve forgotten what they write about. So here’s a chance, in the wee hours, to do a little blog-hopping.

Frugal Scholar has been holding forth on any number of interesting issues. Yesterday she was riding my favorite hobby horse, Ol’ Income Inequality. Giddyap! La Maya glommed onto the same subject the other day, having recently come across the chart that shows how real income in the U.S. rose from about 1830 to 1970 and has been dropping ever since. More recently it seems to have dropped precipitously. While gut instinct tells me that we’re worse off now than we were under Bill Clinton (or hell…even under Ronald Reagan!), one needs to keep in mind that “real income” figures don’t necessarily take all the important metrics under consideration. For example, in 1830 (or even early 1970) workers didn’t routinely have their employers pay most or all of their health care insurance. Factors such as smaller household size, widespread two-earner households, the existence of passive income, and rising real consumption also come into play here.

Still at FS, take time to wonder at the real estate market, where Frugal trots out another of my pet hobbyhorses: foreign investors in distressed U.S. real estate. During the savings & loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the same darn thing we’re seeing now happened: as Americans defaulted on loans and lenders sank beneath the waves, Canadians rushed into the Arizona real estate market, turning homes all over established middle-class neighborhoods into rentals. As absentee landlords, they didn’t give one thin damn about who they were renting to or what the renters were doing to the property. Forthwith we saw blight spread through once pleasant and safe central city districts. The minute the economy improved, middle-class homeowners fled to the new suburbs, created as developers bladed the Sonoran desert at the rate of an acre an hour to accommodate people who wanted nothing more than to get quit of their ratty new neighbors and to move into HOAs and gated communities, which they imagined would protect their investments in their homes.

On a lighter note, over at A Gai Shan Life, Revanche solicits opinions on this cute little blouse she got at 50 percent off. Even at the mark-down, is it worth keeping? Revanche has discovered the benefits of investing in Vanguard’s Admiral Shares, where expense ratios are extravagantly low.

At Surviving and Thriving, Donna Freedman tries to cope with the anger she feels at the current vogue for open hatred. This is a long and thoughtful essay, well worth the read.

Over Forty and Loving It isn’t loving having to deal with punch-a-button mazes. Ugh. Just imagine being the poor wretch that you finally do reach, after ten or fifteen minutes of farting around in the phone tree. By the time I reach a person, I’m so furious it’s really hard to keep that angry edge out of my voice. I’ll bet those boiler room phone answering drones get sooooo much abuse from the public. What a way to earn your minimum wage!

Over at My Journey to Millions, Evan has come across a strange critter: the conduit municipal bond. I’d never heard of this before. It certainly is an eyebrow-raiser.

At Out of Debt Again, Mrs. Accountability reports that she and Mr. A managed to beat back their credit-card debt by over $5000 in just six months. Awesome! Congratulations, Mrs. A!

Speaking of the good fight against debt and for financial health, J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly has a nice post on how to combat the frugalist doldrums. What do you do when you think you just can’t bear to look at another budget ever again?

Holy mackerel! Did you know kids could become victims of identity theft, too? Over at Free Money Finance, FMF advises on this issue and suggests several ways to protect  your kids.

Five-Cent Nickel is running an employment survey of his readers, asking what’s your job outlook. One of Nickel’s collaborators, Laura Martinez, does a good job of explaining auto title loans and their dangers.

At Brip Blap, Steve engaged the current “What’s in Your Wallet” meme the other day. He wraps up with an intriguing speculation about the future of wallets.

Simple Life in France, being preggers, visited a French dietition and ended up with a very interesting post on la différance between French and American viewpoints on what’s healthy.

And now, mes amies, daylight is breaking and I’m going back to bed.

Guercino, Aurora, Goddess of Dawn. Public domain.

My friend and colleague with the talent as an artist has started her own website! Check it out. So far she has just a few images up, but she intends to paint regularly and offer her work online. One of our readers bought her still life of pears when it went online here at FaM. It’s a miniature—6 x 6, I think—and I believe that, at least at the outset, most of what will go up at her site will be 6 x 6 or 5 x 7 canvases.

Evan has a really interesting article—actually, one of several home runs in a row—at My Journey to Millions, suggesting that if you run low on cash, interest charges on the reviled credit card may actually cost you less than a bank overdraft charge.

In the “some people’s kids” department, get a load of this astonishing story from Donna Freedman over at Surviving and Thriving. I thought I had the all-time winning house-sitter story (maybe sometime I’ll tell it to you), but this one may cap mine.

Like Evan, Revanche has posted several interesting pieces at A Gai Shan Life over the past few days. Don’t miss her awesome photos of Chicago, and then scroll up and down to the several posts on either side.

At Out of Debt Again, Mrs. Accountability is bracing for the cold & flu season with a long list of natural remedies. Check out her fun guest post at The Digerati Life, by the way.

Over at Passage des Perles, Duchesse has a wardrobe challenge going. What I’d like to know is this: is it easier for men to restrict their wardrobes than for women to do so? On the face of it, one might imagine so…think of all the men we love who would happily spend the rest of their lives in a pair of shorts, a T-shirt, and a pair of zorries. But even though the suit and tie men wear to work is basically a uniform, one wonders.

Mary at Simply Forties is headed back to visit her hometown after a couple of footloose years. Ogod. While you’re at that site, don’t miss this amazing thing.

There’s SO much more out there. But I’ve gotta get going. Cassie the Corgi is throwing her ball at me, and I’ve got a full, FULL day ahead of me. Why don’t you share your favorite links of the week in the comments?

What with most of my time absorbed by teaching, I’ve been remiss in reporting on the various goings-on in the PF blogosphere. Here are a few items of interest…

Simple Life in France and her DH, still waiting for le gouvernement to approve him to go back to teaching after his convalescence from injuries suffered in a serious road accident, have come to rest in a tiny apartment, where they may find themselves when the baby arrives. At least they now have Internet access!

Check out this interesting post at Over Forty and Loving It, who reports that honey and milk have untold benefits for your skin.

At Bargaineering, Jim asks if your recession is over. Good question!

Free Money Finance has been running a series on the ten worst mistakes an investor can make. The latest installment is here; links to earlier posts can be found at the bottom of that page.

Five-Cent Nickel just posted a very interesting article about managing money invested in an HSA. Something to think about, and be aware of.

J.D. Roth and his wife are getting ready for a nice junket to Europe. In the course of searching through his closet for clothes to pack, J.D. launches into an amazing rumination on shopping and decluttering. Picture what he says here…I do mean amazing!

If like me, you make up stories when you fill in applications for the endlessly annoying store “membership” cards—fake phone numbers you haven’t a chance of remembering if you leave the card at home, for example—Simply Forties has found the iPhone app for you! It generates and stores your cards’ bar codes, which the cashier can scan right from your phone.

Karen Datko at MSN Smart Spending reports on what the new healthcare reforms will mean for you. It really is hard to understand how the Party of No figures this legislation is bad for you and bad for America. It may not be so great for the insurance companies that pour dollars into that party’s coffers, but for the rest of us? hm.

At I Pick Up Pennies, Abigail decides to cancel the Sunday paper, having realized it’s an inefficient way to gather coupons and is otherwise…well, you have to know The Arizona Republic to (dis)appreciate it! 😀

Frugal Scholar, worrying about the future of higher education in Louisiana and, by extension, the future of her and Mr. FS’s jobs, takes comfort in the discovery of a source of free food.

I love this sweet story from Stew at Gather Little by Little. Money indeed isn’t everything.

Donna Freedman advises on how to save some bucks on “salvage” groceries: food whose packaging has been slightly damaged.

At The Digerati Life, Silicon Valley Blogger lauds index mutual funds and explains why.

Financial Samurai alleges that the average American net worth is “huge” at $182,000, a claim that kicks off a lively chain of comments.

Mrs. Accountability has an incredible mega-giveaway going on, to celebrate Out of Debt Again’s third anniversary. Go there now to join the fun, because time’s a-wastin’.

Over at The Millionaire Nurse, Dr. Dean offers seven tips for avoiding the use of plastics: not only ecofriendly but also frugal!

Bucksome Boomer holds forth on a subject near and dear to my heart: budget skin-care tips.

Little House in the Valley recently spotted an ugly scam that preys on people who are deep in debt.

And so, to work…

Life goes on in other parts of the world, even though the economy and 110-degree heat under cloudy skies have pretty much brought a stop to existence in these parts. Here and there, some interesting posts:

Evan, over at My Journey to Millions, celebrates his second blogiversary by celebrating the impending birth of his son with a lovely letter to the young fellow. Ah, to be in the fresh morning of life again…

Mrs. Accountability is still struggling with the aftermath of a computer meltdown, with data she thought had been backed up NOT, after all… Nightmarish. She just learned that when you order up a copy of your income tax returns, the IRS sends you a report that does not duplicate, by a long shot, all the data you enter in a 1040 and related forms. It costs $57 to get the real thing.

J.D. Roth has launched an interesting project: he’s going to relaunch an existing but dormant blog, Animal Intelligence, and at Get Rich Slowly he’s going to track and report upon the steps and progress he makes toward turning that site into a money-maker. He plans to donate the AI proceeds to charity. For sure, that’ll keep me coming around GRS, and I’ll also want to keep an eye on the critter blog.

Frugal Scholar figured out that some purchases made in thrift shops can be traded in at Buffalo Exchange. That’s kind of a neat insight…if you were clever enough about it, you could pick up treasures at Goodwill that don’t fit and schlep them to B.E. for credit toward purchases that do fit.

Dividend Monk now has his entire eight-part series on growing wealth online.

Speaking of prefab houses, as we were the other day, check out Little House in the Valley’s recent discovery! These houses are too kewl to be believed—though a bit on the pricey side, considering that you have to buy the lot and pay for services and contractors.

At Punch Debt in the Face, Ninja is about to say goodbye to bachelorhood! In celebration he’s posted a beautiful paean to Girl Ninja. Be sure to read some of the other posts near this one, also inspired by this great life change.

In the singleton department, Single Guy Money discusses the value of renter’s insurance and provides some tips to things to look for.

Money Beagle reports that his beloved former dwelling has been repossessed by the person who bought it. An anonymous commenter at this post makes some scary speculation about deflation. Conveniently, over at WiseBread, Phil holds forth on the subject with “All about Deflation.”

Welp, time to go on about some Saturday activities. More later…

So, what are those Yakezie folks up to? Thought I’d take a little stroll through that country, and here’s what I came upon:

A lot of stuff is going on over at My Journey to Millions. Evan and Mrs. E are expecting(!), which inspires some existential thinking about wealth, spending, and one’s tastes and character. He also  has an interesting post on defining the client relationship in your side job—or, we might add, in any profession where what you’re selling to a client is essentially your time.

Consumer Boomer has an article of interest to everyone, even those who aren’t yet in the pre-retirement set: Boosting Your Mutual Fund Performance.

With a whole lot of tap-dancing, Little House in the Valley and her DH managed to knock $63 off the monthly recurring bills. w00t!

Over at Out of Debt Again, the incredibly green-thumbed Mrs. Accountability has posted another of her mouth-watering photos of her garden produce. You have to live through a string of 110-degree days to realize what an accomplishment this is. My tomatoes are invariably fried by this time of year. Mrs. A has also begun a series on using Quicken, which starts off with an introduction to the program’s sophisticated ability to download transactions from a bank account.

Frugal Zeitgeist has got a good conversation going with readers over the question of whether we should care where a given consumer product comes from. An expat living in Egypt, FZ has been contemplating cheap places to live, most recently 2010’s cheapest countries.

BTW, Frugal Z— Any way you could shuck the program that sends commenters an e-mail asking them to accept “information” from your mailing list? It’s frustrating to take time to write a comment and then get a “request for information from the [the blogger’s] mailing list,” which apparently will automatically create a subscription.

Miss Thrifty, a lively Brit, has a highly entertaining piece titled “A Week in the Life of Austerity Britain.” Things are rough over there, but maybe not so rough as to keep one from purchasing…what else? The new iPhone. Nevvermind that you may have to patch it with the Home Handyman’s Secret Weapon.

At Cool to Be Frugal, a new baby has arrived. Mwa ha hah! There’ll be some changes made…

My Money Minute gets a conversation going about the scheme to charge shoppers for bags (in D.C., he was charged for a paper bag!). More behavioral legislation, comin’ your way!

Ten p.m. and neither the pooch nor I have had dinner. Time to pack it in, ladies and gents!

If you came here following a ping, you’ve found the beta version of Funny about Money in WordPress. After I’ve worked out a few bugs, I plan to migrate the domain name to this site. Till then, to ease the workload I’m copying current posts from iWeb to WordPress as I write them.

The past week’s violent summer rains have borne fruit in the form of a spectacular new flower, spotted on an otherwise unassuming little cactus that grows under my desert willow’s canopy. Isn’t that the loveliest shade of pink? It’s evidently a variety of Easter lily cactus-the blossom has the classic trumpet shape. I’ve never seen one before that wasn’t white or magenta.

A lot has been going on while Funny was off the air. Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, along with Lynnae of BeingFrugal.net and Steve of Brip-Blap, got on this weekend’s Marketplace Money, quite a nice coup, indeed!

Feeling cranky as I am about Apple these days, I enjoyed Jim’s gentle jibe at the ridiculousness of the iPhone craze.

Out of Debt again is back from summer camp and Mrs. Micah is back from vacation and plumping her first blogiversary contest. Be This Way has her hands full this summer, between moving her dad out of his house and putting her own house on the market. Meanwhile, also on the home front Be This Way’s little one has already begun to test the law of nature that says to outwit a small child a parent must be faster than the child by a factor of ten to the twenty-seventh power.

Plonkee has an interesting series of discussions going on the question of whether one should (or would) move to engineer a lower cost of living. Five-cent Nickel thunders about the state of financial education in this country…only one small element, I might add, in the overall state of American education. Wisebread reports on a new subspecies of the Trophy Wife: the SAHW (she stays at home whether she has kids or not). Lordie. Who’d’ve thunk it?

SmallNotebook.org has a nice essay on how to zing “natural” housecleaning products to get them to work a little better. At The Simple Dollar, Trent et famille are off to the state fair and planning ways to keep their outing frugal. And My Dollar Plan offers an interesting strategy to use your Roth IRA to help lower your tax bill.