I haven't gotten any of DR's books, but I can tell you what listening to his radio show did for us: -We moved to a place with a low COL. -In a span of less than 18 months, we paid off over $10,000 in credit cards, student loans, and car debt. We paid cash for two new-to-us cars. -We bought a house with a fifteen year note, the total mortgage of which is roughly equal to 18 months of DH's net income. -While our house needs work and we still have a ton of education debt, we have a long term plan in place to pay for these things. -Our children's college is taken care of. -We pay a set amount into savings every month- this is paid, like a bill, in addition to our monthly escrow payment (which pays for car and homeowner's insurance, tag renewal, and property taxes).

I have a theory that most people who are really into the consumeristic aspects of society are only minimally aware of it. I think that when people realize how they are being economically exploited and manipulated by advertising, they want less stuff almost automatically.

Ooh, me, me! Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first movie I ever saw in the theatre. I was two at the time, but I can still remember how scared I was when the giant stone ball rolled down the chute. I have been in love with Harrison Ford ever since. I have been looking forward to the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for at least ten years. Oh, and by the way? My first dog's name was Indiana. There is so much educational stuff you can do these movies: history, geography, religion, ethics, probably more.

Okay, so I will tell DH that we are both right. :001_smile: It's certainly got me thinking. If dude had said, "My wife has to work, she'll go bonkers staying at home" or "My wife has to work, staying home for five years is too much of a risk to her career", I can honestly say that I would not have said anything, even to DH, because those would be statements of value (and the values of that family are none of my business). In all probability, I wouldn't even have given it a second thought. However, since he couched it strictly in monetary terms, I was prompted to do a little mental arithmatic. I empathize with all the posters who talked about people with money complaining about money. I have an aunt, who is really a wonderful person, but I cannot be around her when she talks about money. Her kids are a little older than mine, she stays home. Her husband makes more money than mine does, and she complains about money all.the.time. Keep in mind, they have a beautiful home in a lovely country setting, two miles away they have a house on a large, clean lake and a powerful boat (they own these jointly with friends/relatives), they both drive very nice cars, both have cell phones plus a house phone, DSL, satellite TV, and everytime I talk to her she's dropping the kids off at my grandma's because she's going to the gym, or getting a massage, or going out to lunch with her friends. So I really don't know what she's complaining about.

DH and I are having a friendly debate, and we need outside opinions. The Background: (You can skip down to the bolded part if you want.) DH works with the husband half of a couple who has a 9 month old son, and his wife is 5 months pregnant with a daughter. The wife works full time as a car salesperson, 9 to 5. The husband works 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Because of some commuting issues, the little son is in daycare a full week- 40 hours. Now, we know a lady who works at the (wonderful, loving) daycare that the son attends, and so we know that it costs $4.50 per hour. Because DH and the husband are in the same union and make the same amount of money, we know that the husband's salary is about $30,000 per year, plus wonderful fringe benefits. Also, the husband was left several rental properties by his late father, so they have that income. They both drive nice new trucks and have a Corvette that lives in the garage most of the year, as well as other extras like season Packers tickets. They live in the nicest subdivision in town. So clearly, these people have financial resources that exclude them from subsidy programs like state help with daycare and WIC. The other day, DD and I were eating lunch at work with DH the husband was lamenting to DH about kids being so expensive- formula and diapers have gone up, soon they'll be paying $9 an hour in daycare, both their cars suck so much gas that they are spending $50 a week on his wife's commute alone, oh, verily, a tale of woe. "And my wife has to work," he continued, "she makes as much as I do, sometimes more." When DH got home, he said, "After hearing [dude] at work today, I'm so glad you stay home." I said, "I don't think he really minds the expense, otherwise they would do something to change it." DH looked at me funny. "Look," I said, "it's costing them over $20,000 a year just in daycare and gas, and she only makes about $30,000." "Well," said DH, "they're still $10,000 to the good." "Yes," I said, "but after taxes it's less, and if she was at home she could do all sorts of other things to save money- like we do- cloth diapers and breastfeeding, and giving up one of the new cars, for starters." "Ah," said DH, "but now you are making values judgment, not an economic argument." So we continued debating, because I think I am making a case for sound economics, but DH thinks I am making a case for leading a more family centered lifestyle. So which is it?

When we go to Wal Mart now, we take our own cloth shopping bags, and then everyone looks at us weird because we go the plastic bag recycling stand and fish out a nest of bags to take home to line the trash cans. However, these bags have been used at least once, so we are still reducing the number of plastic bags manufactured (either shopping or commercial trash bags) and eventually ending up goodness-knows-where.

I know, it is weird how some dog papering works. I know very little about dog breeding/showing, but I know that my aunt's lab Hershey had love child puppies, and after that they couldn't get any of her subsequent puppies papered, because apparently Hershey was a ruined woman.

You can use produce bags as protection against cross-contamination. You just wrap your meat or veggies as you put them in the cart, and then you don't have to obsessively (or, in my case, as obsessively) hover over the cashier/bagger. Also, as thrilled as I am that WM is selling reusable bags, check your thrift store. I have about 30 large, nice, heavy canvas bags with long handles, and I didn't pay more than $0.50 for a one of them. Most of them were a quarter each. (Okay, I paid $1 for an awesome, hand made, polka-dot lined patchwork bag, but that's our library bag. :)) I didn't get all the bags on one trip to the thrift store, but they all came from the same thrift store over a period of about 3 months, so probably about 5 visits.

I sort of do uniforms for myself, the kids, and DH's dressier clothes (he has a work uniform). Our clothes are sorted in complete outfits- for example, today I am wearing wide leg jeans, a blue fitted T-shirt, and a gray sweater. When I do laundry, I hang all three of these items on the same hanger. I never, ever wear the blue T-shirt with anything other than the gray sweater or the wide leg jeans, never wear the gray sweater with anything other than the blue... you get the idea. This takes virtually all the hassle out of deciding what to wear- which usually is actually trying to decide if x goes with y, and trying to figure out if y is clean or not. You just grab the hanger and you're good to go. If some of the items in a given outfit are not too dirty and can be worn again, they go back on the hanger. So this method doesn't really create more laundry. It does, however, require having more clothes. I converted to the outfit principle about two years ago, and have noticed that, in order to do it correctly, we each needed about 8 extra items per season (that is, fall/winter and spring/summer, so 16 extra items, total). Since I buy about 85% of our clothes at thrift stores, this is not a big deal. (Not counting socks, undergarments, and shoes.) When I do buy brand new clothes, it is to fill in gaps that the thrift store has been unable to fill- usually this is tank tops and T-shirts for me, and onesies for DD. This stuff generally isn't not too pricey, even for the really high quality American Apparel items. We have need other, more expensive items as well (like special, enormous-necked button downs for DH) but because this system allows me to be much more organized and methodical about shopping for needs (vs. the dreaded impulse buy), I have not spent a nickel more on clothes than I did before. Oh, and the other advantage to this system is that it uses closet space very efficiently.

Are you planning on getting the Basset Hound fixed? Because if you had planned to breed her (y'know, on purpose, to another Basset Hound) you may have trouble getting her puppies papered since she has already whelped a litter of mixed breed, love child puppies. Just FYI.

Ooh, that would be great! The tryouts are at the downtown Westin Hotel. I don't live too far from Chicago. I'm in the U.P. of Michigan, so I am remote to virtually every major metropolitan area in the U.S., but Chicago is the closest of those. Our little airport has daily commuter flights to Chicago; a ticket is about $300. So we could swing that, even if I had to stay a night in a hotel. Getting out to L.A., on the other hand, probably would be a financial hardship. I know that my family would be very supportive, and probably lend me (or even give me outright) at least some of the money to go. But I am frugal by nature, and the thought of spending good $$$ on a plane ticket (that may turn out to be utterly pointless) just kind of sticks in my craw. But, if the second round tryouts are really hard, what the heck! In a way, that makes me want to go, because I can afford a little Chicago get-away. It's the L.A. leg of the journey that has me worried. I got the mental_floss and College Quiz Bowl books to study. If anybody knows of good trivia books, let me know!

...by passing the online quiz. This means I have to go to Chicago, on my own dime (at the specific time and place they dictate). Then, should I make it to the third round, they can call me to come out to L.A., again on my own dime, but then they might not even put me on the show. The "callback" to L.A. is an invitation, not a commitment. They decide who they want on the show based on the pool of contestants that are available that day. Considering this could get quite expensive, should I even bother?

No way, no how is anyone ever bringing a gun in my house. I know several people who have been accidentally shot, two being fatalities, one of the fatalities being a seven year old boy. I hate guns, they make me anxious on a completely visceral level. Whether or not it is reasonable, I do not care. Guns in my house is not a subject that is up for debate. Having gotten all that out of the way, and having exposed myself as kind of nutty, I can honestly say that a knife, even a big one, as owned by a responsible young adult would not bother me. So long as it was properly, safely out of the way of young kids, I wouldn't have a problem with it being kept in my house.

Even if you know that the credits won't transfer, I would still advise every h.s. junior/senior to take one two college classes, if for no other reason than to learn about the following: how to park and find buildings and classrooms on campus how to schedule a class how to read a syllabus how to interact with a prof how to approach a classmate for notes if you miss a class how to read the gen ed/liberal arts requirements and their class summaries etc.

Hee hee hee.