Daily Dose of Common Sense

With the unemployment rate at 9.9% in April, many American are still out of work. The recession has hit a lot of families hard and these people are struggling to make ends meet. Well, we can’t all be Sarah Ferguson with a bit of royal access to sell, so a few folks are falling back on simple skills to pay their bills.

My favorite story is about a grandmother in Georgia. She lost her job in 2007 and has not been able to find employment since. So, she fell back on her homemade pralines to earn money. She’s gotten great feedback on the candy, but there is a snag. Driving around to sell her product costs gas money she doesn’t have.

I have been out of work since 2007. I have worked all of my life and find it very difficult to ask for help. I raised four children without a father’s help (yes, I was married). Think about it — after all the years I have worked and raised a family, I am still dealing with threats to turn off my utilities and repossess my car. I only have three months before I pay it off and they’re demanding all the money now or they’ll take it back.

What have I learned from being unemployed? That it’s frustrating and demoralizing. I have learned I would prefer to work to support my family and that I don’t want to be dependent on a Congress that obviously does not have America’s best interests at heart. I have learned to have more compassion for people who are in this situation and I’m now more willing to help them.

Some people want to work because they enjoy it. Not everyone wants a handout or to ask for help. This grandmother is ready to do what it takes. In the past three years, she’s gone back to finish her Associate’s Degree and passed the Real Estate exam.

So, Internet, we know your powers when it comes to Betty White, but what about supporting some of these small, struggling businesspeople? Buy some candy for a good cause, dammit.

AdFreak has a great graphic of what you could buy instead of a Super Bowl commercial. While I don’t like some of the suggestions, the point remains clear: Super Bowl ads are a giant waste of money.

Yes, I know some of them are iconic and some of them are wildly popular. And, the ads are a main reason that people tune into the game. Agencies know the audience numbers are unbeatable on any other day in the modern television landscape. So, the ad dollars makes sense to some companies. (How else would GoDaddy be a household word?) But, most of the ads we’ll see on Super Bowl Sunday will only end up as a blip on our busy, over-programmed, short-attention-span radar.

I don’t begrudge the network for charging the amount they do for the airtime. I’m a firm believer that the free market should decide what the going rate is. If there are companies willing to pay it, then the network should reap the benefits. But, in this recession, does it really seem wise from the company’s perspective to pay $2.6 million for a 30-second spot during the game? Yes, that is over two and a half million dollars!

That’s why Pepsi’s decision to not place Super Bowl ads this year is so great. After almost 25 years of placing ads during the Super Bowl, they have decided to put the money towards a social media campaign. Pepsi usually purchases many 30-second spots during the game, so this is a huge chunk of change the company can use throughout 2010 and beyond. Plus, the announcement has been so startling that Pepsi is now getting more Super Bowl buzz than its rival Coke.

We’ll have to wait until next year to see what effect Pepsi’s pull-out will have on the ad rates. Could this be a trend other companies will follow? Until the economy bounces back and people have jobs again, I sure hope so.

Photo

Get ready, folks.

Under an energy bill passed by Congress in late 2007, the incandescent light bulb will start being phased out in the US in 2012 and totally phased out by 2014. 100 watt bulbs will be the first to go, and by 2014 the 40 watt bulb will be the last.

But, why?

In short, the incandescent light bulb wastes energy. A lot of energy. According to an article by US News and World Report, 90% percent of the energy that an incandescent light bulb burns is wasted as heat.

Currently, the most widely available alternative to incandescent bulbs is the CFL (Compact Flourescent) bulb. While CFL lights seem to cost more at checkout–about $3.00 per bulb compared to .50 cents per incandescent bulb–the overall energy and cost savings to households is significant. In fact, most reports agree that CFLs last up to 5 years longer and use 75% less energy, which means a 12% decrease in your electric bill per year.

Many complain that CFL bulbs don’t have the same color effect as incandescent bulbs; however, in recent years manufacturers of CFL bulbs have started to offer a wider range of options. Besides, isn’t the energy savings enough to override those concerns?

Energy Star has offered these tips to choosing the right CFL:

• Light color is measured on a temperature scale referred to as Kelvin (K).
• Lower Kelvin numbers mean the light appears more yellow; higher Kelvin numbers mean the light is whiter or bluer.
• For a whiter light, look for bulbs marked 3500-4100K.
• For bluer white light, look for bulbs marked 5000-6500K.

So, what are you waiting for? Jump in and beat the ban while saving yourself some money.

Photo

Summer is officially over. With some stores putting up their Christmas decorations in August, it seems as if summer is getting the bum’s rush. Besides getting shorter, summer is changing before our eyes. There are some traditional summertime staples that are fighting for survival.

The Clothesline

Remember your grandmother hanging her wet laundry outside to dry? The practice started to go out of fashion a few decades ago. But in the recession, you might consider hanging your clothes outside instead of running your dryer. Not so fast, say many towns and cities who consider clotheslines an eyesore. The opponents worry about the reduction in property values if everyone starts putting their skivvies outside. So, across the country, folks are fighting for the right to air their dirty laundry.

And, who can blame them? Summertime electric bills are no laughing matter. So, in not running the dryer, a reduction in power use would add up over time:

More than 5% of electricity used in homes goes to power clothes dryers, according to a U.S. Department of Energy report that looked at energy use in 2001.

Besides, have you smelled clothes that have been drying in the sun on a clothesline? There’s a reason why fabric softeners and laundry detergents try to bottle that fragrance.

Ease up, community powers-that-be. A few clotheslines here and there does not mean the neighborhood is becoming a tenement.

The Ice Cream Man

The sing-song jingle of the ice cream man is a memory we all share from childhood. You heard it and you ran like hellfire to find the truck. Well, the ice cream man is taking a beating these days. First, parents complained about the song the trucks play. It was too loud, was played when the truck was stopped, or played after dark. Now, many parents are railing against the continued presence of the ice cream vendors, especially if it happens to be nearby some kids. (I hate to point out the obvious, but isn’t that the target audience?)

The bottom line is that some parents want those sweet treats as far away from their kids as possible. (Apparently, the word “no” is hard to say to some kids.) And, in the times of rampant childhood obesity, people are listening. However, “according to Mister Softee, its typical small vanilla cone is 170 to 190 calories.” A lot of other snacks are much worse for kids than that.

We understand your kids drive you crazy when the truck shows up. But, the ice cream man only shows up a few months out of the year. Don’t ruin it for the rest of us who want the occasional frozen treat.

Reruns

The lazy days of summer aren’t that, well, lazy anymore. TV is no exception. It used to be that you could catch up on all the shows you missed during the year. Forget to see a few episodes of The Love Boat? This was no problem because you could see them (usually starring Charo) again and again over the course of the summer.

Reality TV mostly dominates the summer line up now. So, instead of reliving my favorite 30 Rock episodes, I had to run screaming from More to Love. Or, when I might have had a chance to check out struggling shows like, “Dollhouse” or “Parks & Recreation,” I had to take a shower after seeing the ads for “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.” Yes, I have a DVR. But, it’s nice to flip around and catch an old episode of “The Office” or “Ugly Betty”. Catching up is all too rare in the new summer “reality” of TV.

Some scripted shows, like Mad Men, come back during the summer, too. So, while summertime used to be a time to forget about TV for a while, you really can’t anymore.

Photos courtesy of Flickr: Cyron, duluoz cats

If there weren’t already enough reasons to make you think twice before you have kids, potential parents and irresponsible teens just got one more: Kids are really expensive. A recent report finds the average cost for raising a child born in the U.S. is now $221,000. This number only includes the money spent on the child until the age of 17, so college is not included.

If you already have kids, then this news is probably no surprise. Cell phones for the elementary school set? Check. Computers for “homework?” Check. TVs in every bedroom? Check. Whether it’s a Nintendo DS, Leapster, or an XBox, chances are that your child has one of them. Kids want THINGS. Mostly, they want what the other kids have in order to keep up.

Nowadays, however, it’s not just the fancy extras that add up on a parent’s child-rearing bill. Turns out the biggest expense categories in the report were for the basics. Kids need to eat and that’ll cost you. They need to wear something and that’ll cost you. And, they need a roof over their heads (usually), so that’ll cost you. In fact, housing is the largest single expense that parents shell out, followed by food and child care/education costs.

Over time, all this adds up to almost a quarter of a million dollars per child. So, before you have any mouths to feed, sit down with a calculator.

Many people consider bottled water, with its fancy packaging and names that recall clean and natural sources, to be purer than tap water. Only, don’t let the marketing fool you. While tap water doesn’t have a PR firm, it’s usually the better product of the two.

What, exactly, are tap water’s bragging rights? Cheaper and cleaner. Tap water comes out of your faucet and costs a fraction of the price of bottled. Sales for bottled water in 2008 were approximately $11.2 billion. At a recent hearing of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations:

“Americans are willing to pay top dollar for bottled water, which costs up to 1,900 times more than tap water and uses up to 2,000 times more energy to produce and deliver,” Michigan Representative Bart Stupak told the hearing.

Plus, with tap water, you know what you’re getting. The contents of bottled water aren’t regulated as heavily as tap water. The EPA oversees the quality of municipality water, and has stringent testing and safety regulations. The FDA oversees bottled water, and they don’t have the same standards of testing.

“Over the past several years, however, bottled water has been recalled due to contamination by arsenic, bromate, cleaning compounds, mold, and bacteria. In April, a dozen students at a California junior high school reportedly were sickened after drinking bottled water from a vending machine.”

If you believe the marketing hype that all bottled water comes from pure springs and crystal clear lakes, you’ll be interested to know where it really comes from. Between 25 and 40 percent of bottled water comes from U.S. municipality water supplies.

Lastly, we’d be remiss if we didn’t touch on the fact that plastic bottles are clogging up the landfills. And, most bottled water doesn’t contain fluoride, which helps to fight cavities.

So, do your wallet and your body a favor: turn to the tap next time you’re thirsty.

Photo

Are we finally about to see the end of the it’s-the-latest-most-expensive-therefore-gotta-have-it baby item competition? The New York Times had an article this week discussing the new frugality in the world of parenting. Garage sales, thrift stores, .99 stores, CraigsList, and hand-me-downs are now all the rage. It appears that the recession has caused many parents to wise up about the cost of baby things.

Some thrifty parents were watching costs even before the recession. Yes, it’s great that Bugaboos are now being re-gifted and resold to others, but some parents always knew that most any stroller will do when you need to get from point A to point B.

To show how out of control it was before the crash, read this excerpt from the article:

“Three years ago, in the heyday of the moment, someone would come into the shop and say, ‘I want the most expensive thing you have,’” said Ms. Mahar, a designer of educational toys and the owner of Kid O, a toy shop in Manhattan.

But now, she said: “People are much more discreet how they shop. Large orders are placed on the phone. And at birthday parties I see a difference. No one will bring a $300 LikeaBike anymore. Culturally, it’s just not acceptable anymore. Even for those who can afford a $200 toy.”

If someone brought a $300 bike to my kid’s birthday party, I think I would have heart failure. (But, please, if you must, her birthday is at the end of July.)

It’s good to see a little bit of sanity come back to the expense of parenting. I don’t want to be cheap, but I also want my kids to value their possessions and know the value of a dollar. Buying such extravagant toys and doo-dads doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially considering how long they use them. (Seriously, my daughter’s favorite toy for a year and a half has been a batch of plastic eggs. Cost: $.99 at CVS.)

Besides, with the way college tuition is these days, we’ll need every penny we can get later on.

…to get ourselves a treat. So went the movie theater jingle from a bygone era. Nowadays, you have to think twice before ordering from your cineplex’s concession stand. The prices of the snacks, not to mention the ticket itself, have steadily climbed in recent years. When I went to the theater in New York City today, I paid $4.50 for a small drink. That was on top of $12.50 for the movie ticket. Yeee-ouch! I could have kicked myself for not sneaking in a soda. Stupid thirst.

We know the theater chains make their money at the snack bar. However, in this economy the theaters had better wise up. As disposable income dries up, so will snack budgets. People will bring in their own treats and forgo the concession stand altogether. Charging $6.25 for ten small pretzel bites? That just seems crazy. Perhaps not selling as many Goobers will make the cineplexes lower their prices.

If you are a steadfast supporter of the snack bar, sign up for the theater chain’s frequent movie watcher club. Most of the big chains have some version of a customer loyalty club. Then, you might receive discounts and offers on tickets and snacks. And that means more popcorn for less money.

In this economy, almost everyone is looking for a good tip on how to cut corners. I saw an interesting blog post last week by Recession Mama over at MomLogic. It appears you can fund a reasonable vacation for a family of four by skipping soda in restaurants for one whole year.

It sounds crazy at first, but it makes sense after you see her math. If your family sticks with only water every time you eat out, you can save around $1,500 a year. If you don’t put the money toward a vacation, this change may make eating out more affordable for your family.

On a recent flight, my daughter fell asleep in her seat at an uncomfortable angle. I quietly asked the flight attendant for a pillow. She replied, “Sure. We have them available for $7.” What?! For a pillow? Um, no thanks. I’ll use my jacket instead.

As we know, the cash-strapped airlines are nickel-and-diming passengers to death. How to avoid paying those extra fees? Start by packing lightly to avoid a checked bag fee. Also, bring your own food on board. A few airlines charge an additional amount for the exit-row seats, which usually have a bit of extra leg room. So, sit in a regular row instead.

According to this article, some airlines now charge for advance assignment of window and aisle seats. Some day, we’ll all be stuck in middle seats.

Way to go, airlines. You’re making that proposed high-speed rail system look better and better all the time.