I recently learned a very important lesson about the pitfalls of complacency. Since June 2004, we had been with an auto insurance company called South Coast Auto Insurance/Anchor General, which we had chosen for its competitive rates in the Los Angeles area. When we moved to a more remote area in December of 2005, we assumed that the new rate they gave us here was just as competitive as in Los Angeles, and thus paid our premiums without question at each renewal period.

It wasn’t until November of 2007 when I happened upon an article on MSNBC about Progressive offering pet coverage that I even considered changing insurance companies. Because our dogs Ludwig and Wolfgang are very important to us (they always wear seat belts in the car), I immediately went to the Progressive insurance website to find out more. I learned that the pet coverage is included with their collision coverage and therefore assumed that it would be much costlier. But I was wrong.

The coverage we had with Anchor General was only for liability and at a rate of $300 for 6 months. When I obtained a quote from Progressive, I was amazed to find that for only $60 more, we could have 10 times the amount of liability coverage than we had been getting from Anchor General as well as medical payments, comprehensive, collision (including $500 pet coverage), and roadside assistance.

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Semiannually, I take a pair of scissors and work my way through box after box and bag after bag of yarns which seem to have the ability to form tangles without human assistance. I untangle what I can, cut loose impossible knots, and roll up dozens of tidy yarn balls which will somehow unravel themselves in the next few months.

I have no trouble with the yarn I purchased for myself; these I keep in resealable plastic bags organized by fiber type. The real trouble is the accumulation of “interesting” yarns which my grandmother—a highly skilled knit and crochet artist—gifted regularly to me as a solution to her own yarn buildup. These yarns come in a larger variety of fibers than I usually buy and range in appearance from extremely beautiful to frightfully gaudy. There is rarely enough of one type of these miscellaneous yarns to make a whole project.

I have now resolved once and for all to reclaim the hours I spend reorganizing yarns for more profitable use. Having just become aware that many people are troubled by yarn accumulation and resort to giving away or donating materials which had cost them money, I would like to share my solution for disposing of yarn without waste. (more…)

The iVillage website is hosting a 30-day program called “Save Money, Make Money Community Challenge,” starting on March 3, 2008. It looks like you sign up with your email address and you will receive daily money saving tips and information on getting your personal finances in order.

Here is the brief description from the website:

“Get your financial life on track with iVillage and award-winning CNBC journalist, author and financial expert Sharon Epperson, as we take you on a new 30-day challenge to manage your money better and enjoy pocketbook power.

Sign up today to get started on the road to financial fitness. At every step of the way, you’ll receive great money-saving ideas that work for women like you. Get ready for simple strategies, easy tips, fun exercises, and motivational support from other women who want to save more, make more, and have more.”

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Most people inevitably own an innumerable rank of items which are both frequently and infrequently necessary. These miscellaneous items are often all too visible in the form of clutter and frustratingly invisible when they are wanted. The obvious solution is to place things near the location where they are most likely to be wanted and keep them out of sight. This can be done with an assortment of cabinets and containers which can be placed and hung anywhere.

Some objects do not need any modification to take on the new role of cabinet. For example, I have for many years used a faux antique birdcage to store attractive books. I also have an attractive wire puppy crate that is no longer in use which could store and display childhood stuffed animals. Other things can be become cabinets with simple additions and changes. Wooden boxes can have lids attached with hinges or wire. An unused aquarium can be polished or painted with glass paint and given an improvised lid. I have often contemplated the potential of spiral bindings from old notebooks to serve as hinges and have yet to try it.

Because looking expensive is not our first priority, my sister and I have a hobby of making cabinets from pine boards, scraps of plywood, and found items. These handcrafted cabinets can be used alone, stacked, mounted to a wall or placed on shelves and furniture. They add whimsy to our rooms and are ideal places to stash things which would otherwise accumulate on horizontal surfaces. Please allow me to introduce a few of our favorite cabinets.

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Do you have a daily indulgence that seems so trivial in cost that you see no harm in continuing to … well, indulge in it? Perhaps a Starbucks habit, eating lunch out, a pack of cigarettes, a candy bar, buying a daily newspaper from a newstand, etc.? Or not even a daily habit but a frequent one?

Consider this. Say you have a latte from Starbucks everyday, which only costs $3.00. But think about that $3.00 a day put into a savings account for x number of years, say until retirement. Ever wonder how much that $3.00 a day can be worth?

I used the Future Value Calculator below with the following figures: $0 initial investment, $90 monthly addition ($3 x 30 days), and the savings account interest rates from my current credit union savings account: .80% for balances under $999.99.

Firstly, keep these points in mind:

• This calculation is based on a regular credit union savings account interest rate and there are other high-interest savings accounts with higher APYs.
• There are savings accounts for which interest rates increase with the balance (but I only used the original .80% rate throughout because it would’ve taken me a really long time to figure it with changing rates and balances.)
• In this calculation, the interest is compounded monthly, but there are accounts that compound interest daily (such as my credit union).

So, in actuality the total savings and interest would be higher than below, but I think these figures would sufficiently illustrate my point. (more…)

Conversion of a Common Coniferous Conundrum

When we moved into our own home, my sister and I decided to make our first Christmas a memorable one, which included the purchase of a 7 foot tall Christmas tree. Another occasion which came with taking possession of the house was our going to the sanitation office and signing up for trash pickup, at which time we were warned that sanitation engineers would refuse to empty any trash container which was overfilled. To make sure we understood what it meant to overfill a trash container, the sanitation department employee showed us several photographs of a trash container into which a Christmas tree had been rammed with the lid in various half-hearted attempts at closure. Happily, this specific offense we will never be tempted to commit. For why on earth would two practical people like ourselves throw away (or reduce to mulch) a perfectly good used Christmas tree?

Almost as soon as we wrestled and tilted our Christmas tree into a position which passed for perpendicular, I began scheming at the potential uses of this sizable item which would become available as soon as December 26. However, to make the best of the purchase, we left the tree decorated well into January. After divesting the tree of it’s ornaments, we sawed off the branches while the tree was still standing, leaving a few attractive stumps. The branches were easily disposed of without upsetting the sanitation department. We then sawed off the part of the trunk that had been standing in water and were left with a 6+ foot tree trunk.

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