Belt Tightening 101 - Refresher Course

Taking a look at my grocery list today I had to seriously think about pruning my list of "wants" and thin the list to concentrate on my "needs". It would be great to be able to afford four New York Strip steaks this weekend, but at a price tag of $7.59 a pound, I think we'll be grilling burgers instead. Sure, we can dress them up, but they're not going to be steak.

I try to make sure that we have "the fixin's" that everybody likes; french fries, for instance. But at $2.00 for a 16 oz bag of frozen I find myself opting, instead, for a 10-pound bag of taters for $3.99. To me, this is wise investing. I know my target demographic (a hungry family), I know the risk associated with investing in a bag of potatoes, and I know that in the potato market there are various ways to improve my liquidity by using this asset wisely. Used wisely, $4.00 worth of taters can stretch $25 worth of meat into seven dinnertime meals for my family.

When I make sloppy joes, for instance, I always throw a couple of finely diced potatoes in with the meat as it browns. It stretches the meat and nobody recognizes the potatoes once they get covered with sauce. Moms like me are tricky and we're smart.

Perhaps the Obama administration, Larry Sommers, Tim Geithner, and perhaps even Barack himself would learn a thing or two from housewives across America - if they would climb down from their ivory towered high horses for just a bit.

We know from experience, but mostly we know from surviving lean times how to work within a budget. We've learned that we can't simply open our neighbors' wallets and take a few bills out when we come up short. We've learned how to use that $4.00 bag of taters to get seven meals rather than spending nearly that amount of buy enough product for only one meal.

Mr. Obama, if you're in the mood to hear from us we're willing to give you some good advice. Spend less than you take in, and learn to live within your means. Also, I'm sure that even in your culture, Mr. Obama, stealing is against the law.

November 3, 2009 Elections

Today there is a small ballot issue in my now hometown of St. Joseph County, Indiana which involves adding an additional income tax of 0.25% to the taxes that we pay. I believe this measure is going to go down in flames because our Common Council, a group of which the majority are democrats, recently voted (against overwhelming public opposition) to allow the City of South Bend to gleen from the residents of the County an additional 1% in income taxes to be used for police and fire services within the City of South Bend ONLY and NOT to be used for the surrounding areas.

Problem is, while the scare tactics caused our County Common Council to cave, the Mayor's office knew that there was a million dollar emergency rainy day fund that could be tapped at will. This fact was not disclosed prior to the vote. Then, as if the monarch Steve Leucke wasn't happy with the additional monies, he hired a "green" guy for the city. Salary is estimated at over $100k a year.

So, at the end of today I hope that the politicians get a clear message:

WE'RE MAD AS HELL AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!