Category: Intentional Spending

Initially when planning everyone’s clothing for Pesach, I wasn’t planning to buy my ds15 a new suit, because the one we bought him last year that is still in fantastic condition.  When I bought it for him, I thought he’d reached his adult size (he was the same size as dh), and figured it would fit forever.  But though he’s still the same height, he’s gotten broader and his suit pants are getting a little snug at the waist. 

I know he would have loved a new suit, but was happy to have what he had, and wouldn’t ask for it.  But I also know he’s a person who really appreciates nice clothing, and getting him a new suit (especially since it wasn’t strictly speaking necessary) would be a major emotional deposit for him.  I didn’t feel any pressure of needing to buy one, but since I had the ability and desire to buy him something now, I did some quick online browsing at overstock.com (where I bought him his bar mitzva suit that we were very happy with).   And late Monday night from the comfort of my own home, I did some quick suit shopping with my ds15 for Pesach. 

He knows just what he likes – single breasted, three buttons, side vents, black with pin stripes – so it took me about two minutes to eliminate all the other options that weren’t suitable once I asked him for guidelines to look for.   Once I had my choices on the computer screen, I asked him to come over, showed him what I was looking at, and asked him to choose from my selections.  He was very happy with one of them (a 100% wool Pierre Cardin suit – under $120 with shipping), and less than ten minutes after he sat down with me, I completed the order.  (He said, “Mommy, that’s one thing I like about you – you’re so efficient!” :))

I was prepared for it not to arrive in time for Pesach since the order wouldn’t be processed until Tuesday, but it actually arrived just two days later, yesterday (Thursday) afternoon!  It came when I was out, but ds15 opened it up, and was very pleased with the cut and the quality of it.  I’m glad he was so happy with it.  I was also glad to see it was a nice quality suit, and was very impressed by the quick delivery.  Today I’ll take it to get hemmed and checked for shaatnez and can have it in time for Pesach with no pressure. 

I really enjoyed shopping like this.  It was so convenient and easy – last year we spent quite a long time in the men’s suit store, with him trying on different options.  I felt uncomfortable being the only woman in a male store, and the owner was so busy with other customers that he wasn’t able to give us much attention (not a complaint, it’s a busy time of year for him so I didn’t expect more).   And I spent a lot more on that suit.  I still had to pay the extra cost of hemming and shaatnez testing, as well as going back to pick it up when it was ready, so whatever time/additional costs I have to spend now I would have had to spend anyway.  

Do I think that he needs a new suit every year?  Absolutely not.  A good suit should be able to last for years.  I don’t believe that everyone in the family needs to be outfitted from head to toe in brand new yom tov clothing twice a year (which is part of why I can enjoy yom tov without thinking it will cost me $3000 for just this week).  But I also anticipate that the dollar will be worth significantly less next year than this, and I don’t know next year what my resources will be.  So I consider it very worthwhile not just in the short term, but in the longer term to get him something that will be appropriate for a long time to come.

And what about his suit from last year?  Since it’s a very well made suit, and as I said already, still in perfect condition, I realized it would be perfect for my dh!  My husband doesn’t feel the need for a new suit (I started to order a suit for him, too, but he asked me not to), but this would be just the right size for him.  Doesn’t that work well for everyone?

Avivah

Months ago I heard about a great online source for prescription glasses, but didn’t have the necessary information to place an order. Getting the info meant contacting my optometrist, but because it wasn’t a priority I didn’t do it right away.  When a couple of weeks ago I took my ds15 for his yearly check up, it seemed like a good time to get the details for the prescription for myself, my dd14, and ds15. 

That day I ordered glasses for ds through the office I was at (he wanted the designer frames that were $225, but that’s not what I agreed to), but got online once I was home to see about what was involved in placing an order for dd and me.  I wanted to get a back up pair for her, and the anti-reflection coating on mine was scratched, so I wanted something new, but didn’t want to pay over $100 since except for the scratches, they’re fine. 

The site I ordered from is www.zennioptical.com.  I couldn’t believe how astonishingly easy it was to order the glasses, once I had the necessary details.  And the prices are amazing – they start at $8 a pair.  So of course I started looking first at the least expensive ones.  🙂  I paid $12.95 for mine for a full rim metal alloy frame (there was an extra $4.95 fee for the anti reflective coating), and $8 for dd for a two tone plastic frame with an incised pattern on the temples.  Shipping was $4.95, so it was under $26 for both pairs. 

Of course the day after I ordered the glasses, dd’s glasses frame broke. (This isn’t a one time event :)).  She was able to glue them and still use them in the meantime (and I can get them replaced for free from the eye doctor when I find the time to get over there), but we were both looking forward to the order arriving.  It took two weeks from the time I placed the order to the time they arrived on my doorstep. 

While I was selecting my glasses, I was very tempted to order another couple of pairs for myself (one as a backup, one as prescription sunglasses to use when driving in the summer), but thought it prudent to get the first pair and see how they were before committing to more.  They came today, and I’m thrilled!  Three times I’ve tried to have the ones I bought from the optometrist adjusted, and despite that they still slide down my nose.  But I popped these $13 glasses on, and they fit perfectly!  It’s a strange feeling to put glasses on and have them stay right where I put them. 🙂  Dd’s also fit well and look good, with no need for adjustment.  The glasses are comparable in quality to the ones we’ve been buying for years for significantly more from the eye doctor. 

To be able to buy glasses online, you need to have an eye exam done, and know the prescription details, including pupillary distance (the site explains everything very clearly).  My prescription has stayed the same over the last few years, and dd had an eye exam (along with new glasses) in the summer, so we had the up to date details on record. If you’re a glasses wearer, or one of your kids is, you owe it to yourself to check out this possibility.  I’ve always felt that the expense of glasses was unavoidable, so it’s really fun to learn that it’s not!

Avivah 

My dryer has become increasingly problematic in the last few weeks.  It started by lengthening the drying cycles, until it would go for hours at a time even when set to the shortest setting.  At least the clothes were dry when we would finally realize the dryer hadn’t shut itself off, though.  It was annoying to have it running so long since it’s a huge electricity hog, and I try to keep my electric use in check by minimizing the use of things like this.  But my kids do the laundry, so I’m not usually aware of what setting they put things on, and they won’t mention something like the cycles taking longer than usual until it becomes very noticeable.  This is something that got worse and worse but didn’t seem like it was worth mentioning.

Then about a week and a half ago, even after hours in the dryer, the clothes weren’t coming out dry!   I suggested to my son on laundry duty for this month that he hang the clothes outside, a suggestion that met with a less than enthusiastic reception.  He didn’t feel there was much appeal standing outside in the cold, hanging laundry, not to mention that it’s a lot quicker to throw a load into the dryer.  So the laundry was backing up, and several family members were wondering why they had no shirts to wear, despite having sent them to the basement for washing long before (laundry is supposed to be done every 2 or 3 days, and as long as the clothes are brought down, they usually are washed in a timely way).  His frustration level mounted when he finally took me up on my suggestion to wash several loads at night before he went to sleep, and then hang them all at once in the morning. 

That sounds like a reasonable idea, doesn’t it?  The night he did all the laundry, he called the weather hotline to check if rain was expected.  It was, during the night, but it didn’t rain then.  So the next morning, before I was even up, thinking he was clear as far as rain went, he spent 45 minutes hanging up every piece of laundry, even the tiniest items.  And as he was finishing hanging everything, the skies opened up.  No, frustrated isn’t a strong enough term to express his feelings at that moment! 

Fortunately, my dear husband came to the rescue, and decided to learn some dryer repair. 🙂  He did some reading, and then opened up the dryer and took it apart.  (Doesn’t that sound impressive?  His friends thought so!)  He found a lot of lint accumulation, so he cleaned it out and put it all back together, hoping that would resolve the issue.  Unfortunately, it didn’t solve the problem, though it’s good to get the excess lint out of the way as it can become a fire hazard.  So he did some more reading, then took it apart again, and discovered that the heating element was burnt out. 

That necessitated buying another heating element, but when he did the initial pricing and discovered it would be $75 to buy it, he suggested it would be cheaper if I got a used dryer on Craig’s List.  I suggested that he first call a couple of appliance repairmen and find out if they had ideas for where to buy the piece.  He made a couple of calls, found a place to buy the element for $25 (and one of the repairmen offered him a job!), and went out to buy it.  Back at home, he was getting ready to put it in when he inadvertently stepped on the heating element that he had placed on the floor, smooshing the coil out of shape.  So he tried to reshape it, and installed it.  He turned on the dryer, only to watch it promptly short out!

Fortuntately, my husband isn’t a quitter, so back to the store he went, buying another $25 element (he said he considered the extra cost the fee for his education :)), and then again installed it.  Quick and easy this time around, and the dryer now works perfectly!  Not only is it heating properly, but the issue with the timer resolved, too.  And you can bet my son is relieved to have it working!

Avivah

Back in the summer, I shared with you that someone I know only very casually called me to ask if we’d be interested in a bunch of toys that her married daughter was getting rid of.  I said, ‘sure!’, and she brought over a few bags of toys.   Most of those toys weren’t suitable for our family, and it was one of the rare occasions that I thought to myself that I’d say ‘no’ if asked again.  But my kids enjoyed going through the bags, got some nice looseleafs from one bag, cleaned up and sold some of the Barbies from another bag, and we donated or threw away the rest. 

A couple of weeks after she offered us the toys, she called again, saying now she was cleaning and had some more toys. Those were a lot nicer!  When she brought them by we were chatting for a while, and she very hesitantly mentioned that she often froze leftover chicken and meat from Shabbos because she hates to throw it away. She doesn’t use it because it’s just her and her husband at home, and they don’t want to eat leftovers from Shabbos all week.  She didn’t want to offend me, but wondered if we might use it?  No, I wasn’t offended.  She said got the impression that we had similar values in terms of not being wasteful of resources and that’s why she thought to ask me.  So about once a month since then, she calls me and brings over her leftovers (just fleishigs, nothing else).  It’s a big enough amount for her in her freezer that it’s a burden, but small enough for us that it becomes one generous dinner. 🙂 Since it’s frozen, I can’t always tell exactly what each item is without defrosting it, so last time I decided they were all similar enough to throw everything into one pot – my kids kept saying how amazing it was!

I got another call yesterday from this same woman – would I be interested in a frozen 12 pound turkey?  (This is on sale now for $2.99 lb, so it’s a value of over $35.)  She bought two for Thanksgiving, but it was more than they needed, so they only cooked one.  It’s been in her freezer since then, because they don’t like turkey.  No problem, I assured her, I could find something to do with it. 🙂  At first I thought I’d put it in my freezer for Pesach, but when I sent one of the kids downstairs with it, they came back up telling me there was no room.  (I really have to go downstairs to see for myself why the freezer is so full, because it seems to me it shouldn’t be after I dehydrated lots of frozen veggies to empty it out.)  Since the only place I had space to put it was the fridge, it’s now defrosting there and we’ll enjoy it for Shabbos. 

I have a policy of saying ‘yes’ to just about everything that is offered to us unless I’m sure it’s something we won’t use.  (Don’t think I have offers right and left being made to me – I don’t, but when it happens this is my policy.)  I may not be able to use it, but I always ask the person offering it to me if it would be okay with them if I pass it on if it doesn’t meet our needs.  The reason I say ‘yes’ even if I’m not sure it will be useful to us is that once you say ‘no’ to someone, do you think they’ll feel comfortable asking you again the next time?  Probably not.  We live in a time of so much material abundance that people are afraid to offend someone by offering them something.  But people don’t usually make these offers because they see someone else as being in need or lacking – it’s because they have something they value that they would rather to give to someone they know who will appreciate it than an impersonal thrift store.  When they see that you’re a person who accepts their offer in the spirit it was intended, they can feel good about sending your way whatever they give you, and might even think of you again in the future when they have something to pass on.   I think H-shem has many ways to send brocha (blessing) into our lives, and sometimes it’s through other people.  You have to make it easy for them, though!

We’ll certainly be enjoying our turkey dinner with our guests this Friday night!

Avivah

>>I’ve found that since I have such a good stockpile of non-perishable food, my grocery bill is less every month.<<

I got online with the intent to post about exactly this point, Michelle.  I realized this morning that I’ve been misrepresenting how much I spend monthly on food here with all of you.  I’ve been saying that I spend $600 monthly for our family of ten.  But in fact, since I buy about six weeks worth of food for that amount, my true monthly costs are much closer to $400.  And every single month, though I’m spending the same $600, the pantry is getting a little more full.   

The reason this suddenly hit me is that today is the day that I re-start my monthly budget, and I’m not planning to do my main shopping for another couple of weeks.  I did do some quick supplementary shopping, though, and got about $110 of chicken and veggies today (in addition to chicken for the next couple of weeks for Shabbos, it included a case of chicken wings, almost 35 lb, that I’m putting aside for meals during chol hamoed Pesach – bbq wings make a tasty and inexpensive meal), and am well set for another couple of weeks. 

Actually, I realized, I’m set for more than that.  When I buy chicken, fruits, or vegetables that end up being canned or dehydrated, since that money has been spent in that given month, I consider them as consumed.  But in actuality, they usually aren’t used for weeks or even months.  A case in point is the beef that I’m using for this week’s beef stew – I canned a lot of it after Sukkos.  That money was spent long ago but I’ll enjoy the benefits now.  The same thing with all of the ingredients that I’m using for almost everything else in my weekly menu plan – I don’t have to go out and buy anything.  We have cottage cheese, cheese, and butter in the freezer; bulk oatmeal, wheat, cornmeal and sweeteners for baking; potatoes, yams, and eggs bought by the case last month; dried beans bought on sale.     

This is something that everyone can (and should) do – make it your personal challenge to make your budget for four weeks last for five.  It will probably mean choosing cheaper alternatives to some of what you currently are buying, until you get stocked up.  But you’ll find it paying off as you find you can go longer periods of time between shopping trips, and are able to spend less on groceries while the quality of your diet stays the same or even improves.

You know, with the wiggle room this creates in my food budget, I could start buying more expensive cuts of meat or stop paying attention to the unit pricing of items I buy.  I could buy more processed food so I spend less time in the kitchen. But why would I do that?  My careful spending isn’t motivated by a lack of money (most people seem to assume that frugality is a strategy taken on out of financial desperation), but in the desire to be as responsible as I can with the means that I have. 

It’s sad to me that some people assume that someone who spends the amount I do must be giving up quality or quantity – you know, “Well, I buy healthy foods and they cost so much more, and she would have to spend a lot more, too, if she cared about nutrition,” or “We like to enjoy our food, and her kids must be deprived to eat such a cheap diet.”  It makes no difference to me how much people spend, as long as they can afford it and they have peace of mind, but I sometimes wonder if people want to think that those who spend much less than they do are deprived or off balanced, so that they can continue to justify their spending habits as essential.  I haven’t had to give up anything to shop for food the way that I do (except unnecessary time and energy!).  In fact, I buy a lot of things that many people would consider luxuries (for example, coconut/palm oils, honey/agave/sucanat – no cheap oils or sugar), and we’re able to eat a very healthy and abundant diet that we all enjoy. It’s shopping carefully that makes room in the budget for items that could otherwise be considered luxuries.

It’s so much more fun to see how we’re the ones who have the power to learn new strategies.  It’s a fun challenge to make meals we love and simultaneously keep my food bills low!

Avivah

Almost three months ago in mid December, I wrote a post about my concerns that people’s credit card limits were suddenly being slashed.  Well, it’s good the mainstream news eventually gets around to covering issues that are happening in real people’s lives, so that the masses can be warned. Here’s a recent article now being featured at the top of Yahoo news as of today.

Take a look at this to see what’s going on – by the time the mainstream news covers something, it’s usually not anything new, but so prevalent that it’s a major issue for a lot of people.   This article makes it sound a lot more mild than it actually is, since a huge number of people facing this scenario aren’t able to quickly pay off their cards or reduce their spending to below their limits, making for massive fees (note that no one in that situation was featured).  The article didn’t mention that credit card companies are also suddenly drastically raising interest rates, something that should be of concern to anyone who doesn’t pay off their accounts in full each month.  If you are still heavily dependent on your credit cards, please, start weaning yourself off of them immediately.

Also, I think it’s prudent to keep an eye on your credit card account just in case there’s a sudden policy change that takes effect.  Don’t think you’ll get any warning.  For the last few months I’ve been checking mine twice a month instead of just once (an online account makes this easy), because getting a bill that shows lots of unexpected fees isn’t fun, and neither is trying to argue with a credit card company representative to have them refund those fees.  Prevention is the best cure, and forewarned is forearmed!

Avivah

I often see the suggestion made to join a warehouse store to save money on food and paper goods, because it’s assumed that it’s going to be a cheaper option.  I used to shop at warehouse stores, but now I seriously question if it’s a financial savings for most shoppers. 

First of all, there’s the membership fee of about $40 for a year.  That doesn’t sound like much, right?  In a year, of course you’ll save lots more than that!  Or will you?  So let’s start by looking to see if you can recoup your fee, which you’ll have to do to break even.  (There’s no savings unless you can do more than break even, obviously.)

Saving money in a warehouse store is an art, but most people think that all they have to do is shop there to save money!  They walk around dumping oversized packages of whatever strikes their fancy into their carts, positive that it’s lots cheaper than they could buy it for in a regular supermarket.  Everyone knows that buying in bulk will save money, and seemingly, when you’re in a warehouse store, you’re buying in bulk.  But things aren’t always what they may seem, and that’s an assumption that will cost you money.  My hesitations about endorsing warehouse stores as money saving options are below.

1) First of all, the majority of food items sold in warehouse stores are processed items.  When you buy processed foods, you’re buying foods that are full of additives, GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, plus bad fats like cottonseed/vegetable/soybean oil.   And you’re paying significantly more than the cost of ingredients themselves, for the convenience of not having to make the food yourself.   Right off the bat, I’d tell you to cut your convenience food consumption and that will make a much bigger dent in your food budget than shopping at stores like these.  But I know that many people enjoy these foods and don’t want to give them up, and are happy to get them a little cheaper.  So once you’ve determined the item you’re considering is a value for you to purchase, look at the unit pricing.  How much is it per ounce?  How does it compare to the per ounce cost of a smaller box at your supermarket?  You need to know this information to be an educated shopper.  It might be a little less expensive than the regularly priced item (or not – the Sam’s Club here is in the same complex as Walmart, and I often can find the same thing cheaper at Walmart – and you don’t need a membership to shop at Walmart).  But once you start comparing the sale prices of the supermarket items to warehouse items, the super-sized boxes stop looking so appealing! 

2) Then, most of the foods in the warehouse store are brand names, with the exception of the one store brand.  Name brand companies have spent plenty on advertising to make people think they’re offering top value, but in reality, there’s not much difference between most of the companies.  Recognizing this makes it easier to stay away from name brands, and choosing the less expensive labels is another good way to save money (not including fantastic sales or couponing, which can make it possible to spend less on name brands, but which only apply in regular supermarkets). 

3) What about when it’s not less expensive to buy in the larger package?  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because you’re buying a fifty pound bag of something, it by default must be cheaper.  I haven’t found this to be the case at all.  On a regular basis I find it less expensive to buy items in the smaller packages – for example, it’s significantly cheaper for me to buy 1 lb bags of beans or rice than to buy it in 25 or 50 pound bags.  It may be counterintuitive, but it’s true.  Again, you need to know what the unit pricing on the item is.

4) So you’ve determined the item is a good value, and you bring it home.  Do you use it in the same quantities you would otherwise have used it?  When I shopped at these stores, I found myself buying larger amounts of things than needed because ‘it was such a good deal’.  But if you’d usually use a standard box of Cheerios for your children’s breakfast, and you end up using a mega sized box (ie, double) instead because you feel it was so cheap, you haven’t really saved anything.  You’ve just spent almost double what you would have otherwise, without even realizing how you’re draining your budget – because you’re busy feeling so good that you bought your Cheerios cheaply.  People do the same thing when being extravagant in the use of paper plates or paper napkins, because they bought so much. That’s fine if your goal is to increase your quantities, but don’t fool yourself and think that you’ve saved money. 

5) I also found myself buying things that I didn’t really need, just because it seemed like a good price.  So you need to be sure that you won’t fritter away whatever savings you think you’re gaining by buying things that you don’t really need.

I found that there were only about three items that were money savers for me, and none of them justified the cost of membership – 40 lb bucket of powdered laundry detergent, instant yeast, and dishwashing liquid.  At the end of my membership period, I bought enough of those items to last for six months.  I had initially planned to renew after six months passed (thereby getting 18 months of shopping out of my 12 month membership), but then realized that it would be more worthwhile to put some energy into finding cheaper alternatives or better sources for those items.  And that’s what I did.  I’m able to easily find every single item I ever used to buy at the same price or less without ever entering a warehouse store.

(Obviously, if you live where there are several large supermarkets, there will be more competitive sales on food and paper goods than for someone who lives in a very rural area and has only one small local store.  In that case, they’d probably save money at the warehouse store.  I don’t think the majority of shoppers fit into this category, though.)

To sum up, psychologically warehouse stores are very effective, because people really believe they’re saving money. And if their prior option was to shop at regular supermarket prices for name brand processed foods, they will save money.  But for the careful shopper, she’d be hard pressed to save enough to cover her membership fees in the course of a year.

Avivah

>>Do you have a budget? If so, how did you create your budget?” 

The answer is yes, I do keep to a budget, but since there are a few steps in beginning to budget, in order that this will be of help I’ll start at with the first thing first.

The very first thing you need to do is track your spending – every penny of it.  If you use debit and credit cards exclusively, this will be very easy.  Take your last three months of bank/credit card statements out.  If you use any cash at all, make a note of this, too, no matter how small or insignificant it seems to be.  Twenty dollar bills get frittered away with frightening ease with nothing to show for it, and you need to know where it’s gone.  Then , write down exactly what you spent and what it was spent on. 

After you’ve written everything down, look at where your money went.  You’ll see some categories emerge – food, bills (each one should be it’s own category), clothing, transportation, gas, medical, etc.  Write down each category at the top of a paper, and then write down under it the expenses that relate to that.  If you have so many things that you find the expenses hard to categorize, that’s fine. More categories will probably help you keep things clear than fewer.

Once you’ve done this, total up how much you’ve spent in each category.  This will give you a very clear idea of exactly where your money is going, and you must know what your real spending is and where it’s going.  Someone with six kids a couple of months ago told me she spent $150 a week on food.  I told her I’d love to hear her tips because she’s clearly using a lot of frugal strategies to achieve that.  She looked surprised and told me she wasn’t especially careful.  I right away knew that she had no idea what she was really spending.  About six weeks later we bumped into each other again, and she told me that she was totally wrong, that she spent significantly more than she thought (as in $400 a week).  But it wasn’t until we spoke that she started to pay attention to it. 

You can see how it’s going to be hard to budget successfully if you think you spend $600 in a given category, and are really spending $1600!  And it’s also going to affect your receptiveness to getting your costs in order, if you think you already are being careful.  (Here’s something I’ve found – most people think they are pretty reasonable in their spending, regardless of their debt loads.)  So reality is important to have on your side. 

Here are my categories: maaser (tithe – this gets taken off the top before anything), mortgage, car insurance, telephone, gas (for the vehicle), gas/electric, life insurance for dh, life ins. for me, transportation (for dh), midwife (she’s wonderful about letting me make monthly payments instead of one large lump sum), clothing, savings.  I have specific categories at certain times of year for holiday expenses that I determine in advance (before Purim includes mishloach manos, matanos le’evyonim; Pesach includes shmura matza and other related expenses).  I also have a miscellaneous category, but I don’t suggest you do that until you’ve been tracking your spending for a while and are already very careful with your money.  It’s too easy to get sloppy about that.

 Don’t be afraid of this step.  Once you know what you’re spending, then you can start to have fun slashing every single category.  There are so many frugal strategies in every area of life, and it’s very exciting to see how much less you can spend without compromising your quality of life.  In fact, living responsibly within your financial means and utilizing your creative side to do that not only doesn’t compromise your quality of life, but greatly improves it!  As I’ve said before, frugality isn’t about doing without; it’s about finding out what’s most important to you and making sure your spending responsibly reflects that.  It’s definitely a lot more fun to live debt free, knowing when you spend on something that you really have the money to buy it and to find alternatives when you don’t have the money, than to live in denial. 

Avivah

I’ve mentioned that I love to read, and generally have a pile that I’m in the middle of reading at any given time on various topics.  One area that’s been of interest to me for years is finances.  I’ve heard several times that Dave Ramsey (whose books I think are great) has very effectively marketed the ideas of Larry Burkett, and finally decided to read some of Larry Burkett’s books.

I just finished a book by Burkett entitled The Coming Economic Earthquake.  This book was written in 1991, and details the concerns Burkett had about the economy and his predictions as to how it would play out.  As he said in his intro, he went out on a limb to write this, since if he was right, people would say he was lucky, and if he was wrong, people would say he didn’t know what he was talking about, but he felt it was his obligation to warn people about what he saw coming.  He estimated his predictions would play out around the year 2000, though he said it could take longer.  When asked before he died if he thought he had been off track in making these predictions since it hadn’t yet happened, he said, no, he thought it would be even worse than he predicted because the longer the delay, the worse the earthquake.

This book was riveting reading, and I told my ds15 and dd14 that I thought they’d enjoy reading it, too.  (They have to read for an hour a day from something I’ve approved – that hour doesn’t include their recreational reading – so I would allow this for their official reading.)  It’s very clear, interesting, and systematically puts together a lot of information that I’ve spent months assembling for myself from various sources.  What makes it especially interesting is to see how on target he was – every day right now, every time I hear the news or read an online financial article, I see exactly what he was predicting playing out.  Whereas someone might have discounted what he wrote even two years ago as unlikely and alarmist, now it’s almost eery to see how on target he was.

Last February, long before there was any news or discussion about it, I became very concerned about the economy, and shared that privately with some of you.  I’ve been asked about what my concerns were based on, and tried to succinctly respond by summing up several major factors, how they tied in together, and how they would affect all of us.  Larry Burkett has done a much better job than I ever could in explaining this!  I really recommend this book, to understand many aspects of the economy and why what we’re going through is happening. As I said, it’s clear and easy to read, unlike other books filled with graphs and technical jargon that I’ve found challenging to digest.

My ds told me he didn’t want to read it, because listening to me discuss the economy is depressing enough.  🙂  (He is reading it and enjoying it very much now.)  But I told him that I actually didn’t find it depressing at all – if anything, it almost cheered me up.  It’s bothered me for many months now to feel like I was seeing things that no one was expressing the slightest bit of concern about, and I felt bringing them up would cause me to be labeled paranoid (though now the regular news is a lot more alarming than what I shared with friends thirteen months ago).  Somehow it heartened me to see it all outlined just the way it was, to know what we’re really going to be dealing with and why, and that it’s not my overactive negative outlook (I’m not a pessimist by nature at all).   It’s always easier to deal with something concrete than something vague.  So go get it from your library and get educated!

Avivah

The toilet in my kids’ bathroom hasn’t been working properly for several weeks, and it’s been annoying but manageable because there are other bathrooms they can use.  My husband had tried about three weeks ago with a neighbor to fix it (the neighbor had a powerful tool to use for it), but it didn’t help.  I really didn’t want to call a plumber, but wishing a problem like this will resolve itself on its own is foolish, and that toilet can’t be properly cleaned because it drains so slowly when flushed.  So last night I brought it to my husband’s attention again, and he was very gracious about my reminder.  🙂 

His first response was to say that I should call a plumber.  I told him if he wanted to do that, he was welcome to, and however he wanted to resolve it was fine with me.  I know that trying to figure out what the problem was really wasn’t something he wanted to do, after already spending so much time on it.  But I also knew he didn’t want to pay a plumber to do something he probably could figure out – I mean, it was kind of obvious to him that something was stuck there, and it was just an issue of how to get it out.  (We once called a repairman in on erev Pesach a few hours before a three day yom tov began, because the fridge wasn’t cooling at all.  He walked in, pulled the fridge out from the wall, pulled out a turkey bone from the cooling fan behind it, and told us his fee.  $60 for less than five minutes.  I was glad to have it working again and felt it was worth the price, but after seeing how simple the solution was to what seemed like a big problem, my dh was motivated to try to figure out what was going on himself in the future before paying someone else for it.)

He bought some bathroom tools this morning, and together with the kids (they’re active and helpful assistants! – they were having fun working the auger for an hour today) tried it again.  Finally he came downstairs and told me he’d have to take the whole toilet off to get whatever it was out, that it must be something rigid and hard inside, because anything flexible or soft would have come out by then.  So he totally took it out – and thought he found the problem.  Those of you with young children can appreciate how a not so tiny plastic clamp and large plastic screw could not only be thrown in the toilet, but someone would try to flush it down.   Those things were wedged in the pipe, and that’s what he thought was keeping everything from passing through.  He removed them and was very happy to have gotten to the root of the problem, but the toilet still wasn’t flushing properly.  He kept working at it, and found the shower head from their shower wedged in, still assembled in one piece!  (My ds10 when he saw that, said, “Oh, I was wondering why the water flow from the shower was different!”  Why doesn’t anyone mention these things to me when they happen?)  Getting it out wasn’t a small job because it’s round and really stuck in there; it perfectly fits the inside of the pipe.  Actually, it seems that all of the effort to push whatever was in the way through the pipes just further wedged this in!  Once he got it out, everything was as good as new!  (I know that if you don’t have children you can’t imagine how this is possible – the answer is a 17 month old plus a 2 3/4 year old equal these kind of fun situations!)

For those of you wondering, no, my husband isn’t a plumber and he’s learned most of the practical handyman type skills since we bought this house less than three years ago, out of necessity.  Home owners know how there’s always something breaking or needing repair, and it gets very expensive, very quickly, if your only recourse is to call a professional in.  The bigger your family, the more things happen as a result of regular living, and we have a lot of people very actively using our home all day long, every day!  It’s very financially worthwhile to figure out how to do the majority of your home repairs on your own.  We’ve gotten a couple of how-to books, and use the internet to research specific problems and how to fix them. 

You won’t be surprised that I’ll tell you it’s very gratifying to find ways to do something like this, to successfully resolve an issue that would have the vast majority of people dialing the plumber long ago.  My husband has a great sense of accomplishment after finishing this project!  The kids are already happy to see it flushing normally again.  And I’ll be so happy to go into Shabbos with the kids’ bathroom not only working well but properly cleaned.

Avivah