The mainstream media is finally comfortable using the word recession. I’ve been saying recession for a long time now and, in fact, I am comfortable using the word depression as well. Take an honest look around you. The jobless rate is frightening. Prices for food and other necessary items are going up instead of coming down. Housing prices might be more affordable for purchase now, but millions of people are losing money when they sell – or just plain losing their homes. Rental prices for homes and apartments are still sky-high and are not coming down to meet the demand for lower cost housing.

A depression could not be far off. Now, think about stories you have heard from people who were alive in the depression era. My grandparents are mostly dead, but I do have one grandmother who is still around to tell me stores of how she and her family survived. Also, my parents were both raised depression-era parents and were instilled with values of frugality and self sufficiency. Thank goodness they passed those values down to me.

Up north we always kept large gardens. My mother canned fruits and vegetables. I see now the value of growing as much of my own food as possible and “putting it away” for later use. I am ready to learn how to can. However, I live in Florida now and I have to re-learn how to grow a successful food crop. I know I am going to have to have good soil brought in. I will need to build a tarp to make sure my crops do not burn up in the sun. I will need to learn about planting season here and what foods do the best.

Fruit is an easy option to start. We have a large yard and although the grapefruit tree was cut down a few years back, the star fruit tree we trimmed to the ground this year will be back within two years. We have lemons and oranges in pots that are ready to go into the ground. We have apple trees of a variety that grow well in the Florida climate. I have looked online and found suppliers for Blueberry and Blackberry plants that should do well here. All of these things can be canned and will also provide a good deal of fruit to be eaten fresh.

I’m starting to get my financial things squared away. I am reaching some agreements with my ex husband about our house and getting as many small obstacles out of the way as I can so that I can press aggressively on toward buying one of the townhomes in a community slightly north of here when I lived when I was first married to my ex. I feel like it is a perfect place for me and my daughter.

Anyway, I am also looking at some of the smaller issues; like what items of furniture that I already own will fit one of the townhomes. What do I want to get rid of or replace or upgrade. I know that I will go ahead and buy a plasma TV that I can put on the wall with a LCD mount. I’ve put of f buying one based solely on the idea of saving money while I can. Even so, it is a “luxury” that won’t actually put me off my budget much and it will get its fair share of use. I’ll probably also replace my formal Victorian sofa with something much more kid-friendly, like a La-Z-Boy sofa. I know they are not massive purchases, but my head has just been in the kid of place where huge expenditures make me happy. I like comfort and security and lots of time with my family.

I would like to say definitively that all of the things I just talked about are solid goals for 2009. Of course, that all depends on what the school district does about salaries and new hires. It’s a tight situation with my job right now. As good as I am in my position, I can only move up if there is room for me to move up. It’s a logical process. Since it is only February, I am going to assume these are my goals for the year. If things change, then I will adapt.

After the 2008 gas price fiasco, we started off 2009 right. Gas prices here in my part of Florida hovered right around $1.50 a gallon. The, last week they shot up 20 cents everywhere. I tried to look at the going price per barrel to gain some insight into WHY the prices went up, but I could not locate any information that made sense. I grudgingly filled up my tank and wondered what might happen next week.

AAA Auto Club South keeps tabs on gas prices in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee and says the cost per gallon of regular gasoline did indeed rise about 20 cents all around our region this past week.

Here’s the part that might make you angry. Those gas prices went up, but the closing cost for a barrel of oil actually went DOWN last week, to $5.51 less than the prior week. Oil closed on Friday at $40.83 a barrel – down about $9 from, earlier in the week.

AAA is saying that the lower oil prices might finally have an effect on gas prices this coming week.

My super great deal this week was on Colgate toothpaste. CVS has several varieties of the 6 oz. size on sale this week 2 for $5. That makes them $2.50 each. I bought three and used a $1.50 off printable coupon I found online – making them $1 each. I paid using $3 in Extras Bucks I had from my CVS vitamin purcahse last week. On top of that, CVS gave me $2 in Extra Bucks for buying the Colgate that I can use on a future purchase in the next month.

So, I “made” $2 on the deal. Actually, it was more like $2.50, because the register spit out an extra 50 cents in Extra Bucks based on my “fall spending”. Nice bonus.

Looking back at the ad just now, it looks like the limit was not on three toothpastes, but on three EB deals. So, If I go back and buy one more toothpaste and use another $1.50 off coupon, I should get another $2 in EB. I will give it a try tomorrow.

I may not always post the details, but one of the things I am going to try to do in 2009 is make sure I get at least one amazing deal a week. I can remember years past when I got dozens of free Milton Bradley games or massive boxes of Ziploc reusable containers for $.19 a box. Deals like that used to be easy to find.

Now days you have to search a little harder.

I went ahead and started this week. I’ll call this my first great deal of 2009.

At CVS all Nature’s Bounty vitamins and supplements are Buy One Get One Free (BOGO). On top of that, CVS will give you $3 in what they call Extra Bucks (EB) to spend on a future purchase.

I signed up at the Nature’s Bounty website for their newsletter and they gave me a printable coupon for $2. I also found an additional $2 printable coupon elsewhere.

I found bottles of Potassium Gluconate 595 Mg Caplets at my local CVS for $4.89. I picked up two bottles, used a $2 coupon for each of them and ended up paying $.89 for the two bottles, since one was free. I also received the $3EB.

Essentially, I made $3.11.

I take the Potassium when I have had to take a diuretic or am dehydrated. It also helps when I have a headache or when my high-protein diet causes a potassium shortage.

I think we all knew things for the housing market were only going to get worse, even though we hoped with all our might it would not happen. Hey, believe me, I am one of the people impacted by this mess. I have been divorced over two years now, and we cannot even put our home on the market since we know we will never get nearly enough to cover paying off the bank. We bought at the top of the bubble.

My ex lives in the house and is blessed that he can actually afford the payments. We are not caught in the trap of an ARM, thankfully. Our only headache is that we bought the house for such a high price that if we were to sell it for the going rate right now; we would not be able to cover the cost of the remained of our loan and would have to plunge into our savings accounts to pay it off. So, as much as I want that house out of the picture and loathe the idea that I still own a home with my ex, it would be unwise to sell right now.

On the other hand, those who have never owned a home and are also in a good situation to secure one of the very low interest loans are in a VERY good place when it comes to the availability of low priced homes. If I wiggle a few tings around in my personal situation, I am one of those people. I am heartily considering just signing the house over to my ex and moving along. I can pick up one of the townhomes in the community where I lived when I was first married for nearly the price we sold one for back in 2002.

Still, the overall picture is not good for our collective economy. Everything is so interlinked. More sad news about the housing market only serves as a harbinger about the jobless rate to come and issues like budget shortfalls in city and state governments. Schools are closing, businesses are shutting their doors, and the deep discounts offered by many retailers BEFORE Christmas are all sad signs of the state of our economy.

I keep thinking that I need to get my rear end in gear and put out a massive garden in the yard next year. I want to be as self-sufficient as possible.

Even in this down economy, there are opportunities out there for you to be able to invest in a safe way. An investment does not have to be the purchase of a home or thousands of dollars in high risk stocks. There are small ways that everyone with a few dollars in their pocket can get involved in a simple way to grow your money.

Rebuilding of America (ROA) is an affordable investment opportunity that costs just $20 to join, plus a processing fee of $5. Your investment is out into Jumbo Certificates of Deposit, which happen to be fully insured by the FDIC. Then, ROA then “leverages the CDs to purchase, rehabilitate, modernize or finish foreclosed income producing properties all throughout the USA.”

ROA’s operates using the interest on the CD’ and then distributes the profits from their projects to the investors annually. Because the original investments are never actually used for the projects (just the interest, remember?), they are safe and are returned to the investors after the five-year term of the CD. It’s a unique investment project for those of us in the ranks of the middle class, or for those learning how to invest. Most other investment projects require a much higher minimum investment, while the idea behind ROA is that $20 is a amount that most anyone can afford – thus keeping the project attainable to a majority of people.

Jim Jameson, CEO of Rebuilding of America, says something I find very telling about the ROA project: “If Obama and McCain can raise millions of dollars at $5 per person to buy ads and run their campaigns, I figured we can use the same power of the masses to really make a change in our economy.”

The projects that ROA will tackle with the interest earned from the CDs will be reviving things like a housing project for senior citizens that was 60% complete when the construction company went bankrupt, a low-income housing project that was devastated when Hurricane Katrina hit, and other localized projects that revive communities, provide jobs, and stimulate true change for the people they benefit.

I think this is an exciting take on true grass-roots efforts and an inspiring example of everyday people working to be the ones who actually change our nation.

Ok, so I just wrote that article about using layaway and how people are using credit cards less than usual this Christmas shopping season. No sooner had I published the article than I found some cool, related stats on a study released today by the National Retail Federation.

They surveyed 8,758 consumers on their proposed holiday shopping habits and among other findings, they found that shoppers who will use credit cards as their primary method of paying for holiday gifts will fall when compared to a similar survey taken in 2007.

Yay for the American consumer public for finally getting it through their collective heads that credit is not the way to go. This has been a long time coming, although most people only finally saw the light this year before the presidential election and during the bank bailouts.

Pinching pennies did not used to be cool. Of course, I pinched pennies for the sheer pleasure of doing so. Even when I was in a position to have to worry about anything financially, I was frugal on a daily basis.

Now, though, pretty much everyone is pinching pennies. Frugality is the new frivolity. Even with gas prices coming down at the pump, there is a collective expectation hat things are only going to get worse. I’m not the only one with a renewed love for coupons, sales, promotional pens and free trials. I’ve been brushing my teeth on the sample tubes we had saved up from dentist visits for over 6 months now. Not buying toothpaste is a small savings, but it feels good to know I’ve found even a small way to cut back on spending.

And so, as we approach Christmas and that time of year where we all seem to spend more when it comes to gift giving, meals, vacations, and winter bills, I know we are all going to be on the lookout for all things free. I know I will.

The seniors are doing their research papers right now. They have to research a career that interests them. I’ve had a good time helping them with the research, the outlines, the thesis statements, etc. I look forward to seeing rough drafts on Monday and delving into the editing portion.

Anyway, one of the boys came up to me early this week and said, “If I become a firefighter, will I have to pay taxes?”

I told him, “Of course you will.”

He looked at me with a blank face for a moment and then he finally said, “But Obama won the election and firefighters make less than $250k a year.”

“You will STILL have to pay income taxes,” I reiterated.

I went on to explain that Obama has promised to add an additional tax deduction for working people. He has said that the tax rate for middle income families will be less than it was during the Reagan years (not difficult to do, by the way), that families making less that $250k a year will not see a tax increase, and that middle income families will receive tax relief. The key word is relief, which in and of itself is a rather ambiguous word.

Nowhere does Obama say that middle income families will no longer have to pay taxes at all. However, SO many people came out of election season believing that. MANY voters think that their boat just bought the gravy train. As sorry as I feel for those who are uninformed, I also have to say that they could have avoided ignorance by doing a little light reading on Obama’s own website.

Foolishness.

When I sit down to pay my bills I am always shocked at the myriad of small expenses that hit me throughout the month, adding up to a point that my finances are tight month after month. No matter how bad the economy gets, we will all still have the same basic expenses and the prices just never seem to anything except increases. People are making less, more people are unemployed, and yet utilities and other necessities keep escalating in price.

However, there are still a few bargains to be found if you know where to look. I’ve gotten ahead financially by doing things like couponing, shopping for loss leaders, waiting to buy large ticket items until they are on sale, planning ahead on meals, eating out less, and even shopping for used clothing and books (my one weakness when it comes to buying stuff I do not really need).

A nose for frugality can take you a long way in making your budget stretch. For example, did you know that you can get prescription eyeglasses for as little as $8 a pair at Zenni Optical? That includes a cool frame, single vision lenses, and extras like UV protection and an anti-scratch coating. ZenniOptical.com only sells their own manufactured frames direct to you, so they are cutting out both the middleman and most of the cost of advertising.

There’s just no excuse anymore for walking into your optometrist’s office and paying hundred’s of dollar for the same thing. Your money is better used somewhere else – like keeping ahead of your monthly bills!

You know that super cheap gas I blogged about yesterday? Well, it’s drawn a lot of attention all around the Tampa Bay area.

The local papers ran a story about the low price at this particular station. And, due to all the people who wanted to get in on the deal blocking traffic in the area, the local police ended up stepping in and giving the management three options:
1. devise a traffic plan
2. hire off-duty officers to direct traffic
3. let the police impose a traffic strategy

The station’s management did not choose any of those options. According to police, their corporate offices told them to raise the price per gallon. Management for the gas station, however, said the price increase was due to getting a new shipment at a higher price.

Bummer. I guess that’s why it was higher when I went by this afternoon. (When I went by at 6 a.m. today, they were out of everything except diesel.)

In any event, it’s still the best price in the area.

When I was a teen, I liked to scour the thrift stores for vintage clothing and shoes. As an adult, I went in for shoes for my daughter sometimes, because I often found almost-new designer shoes for kids at the local Hospice store. Other than that, I would only go in on a lark looking for books or board games or old glassware.

With the economy getting worse and worse, I find myself wandering around in the Salvation Army around the corner a lot more often. And it’s not just me – a survey of over 200 resale and thrift shops showed about two-thirds of those businesses reported higher sales in 2008 compared to the previous year, with an average sales increase of 35 percent. They also say they are seeing a lot more middle-class and upper-class customers.

Everyone is looking for ways to cut corners. The disposable income just isn’t there for a lot of people anymore. In the past, people were blowing money on eating out and expensive cruises, luxury food items and trial runs of alli diet pills. Not anymore. Gas, food, and taxes are eating up a larger portion of most people’s paychecks than ever before and those who want to stay in the black are tightening up their budgets.

I know that gas prices are way down all over the place, but today I was on my way to pick up my daughter from school and I saw up a head a few blocks a snarl of cars in the road. I looked a little harder and realized it was a backup of people trying to get into a gas station. I looked at the sign for the gas prices and saw they were selling regular gas for $2.89 a gallon. No wonder everyone was crazy to get in on the deal.

So, here is my dilemma. Is the price that station is offering worth my time and effort to get in the car snarl for my turn at the pumps? I am considering leaving early tomorrow morning to see if I can get there before 6 a.m. and avoid a line. Of course, I am not even sure they will be open then.

What would you do?

Now that I am on a path to healing and independence after my divorce, the first things I have in mind are getting grounded in a new job and quickly following that up with the purchase of a townhome in the community where I lived when I was first married. I have a good bit of money saved and prices have come WAY down for local housing – so I thought things were looking up for me.

And now, here we are with a huge kink in the national financial situation. Massive banks are failing, especially those that were focused on selling mortgages. Lenders are logically going to go back to the days when it was just plain harder to get a loan, even with good credit and a steady paycheck. Times may be tough for first time home buyers, which would include me.

I suppose I will plan as I go, get my head up and continue to squirrel away my pennies, as I have been doing for the past couple of years. But then, there is the question of how safe my bank is right now. I use a credit union and a major national bank. Are they safe? Do I withdraw my money now and hide it in a firebox in a hole in my backyard?

While more banks are expected to kick the proverbial dust in the coming weeks, most are indeed safe. Even if your bank goes belly-up, your money is actually safe because the FDIC insures most deposits. You are insured for $100,000 per bank, per person for checking, savings, money market and CDs. So, if you happen to have $200,000 in an individual account, it might be a good time to at least diversify.
Retirement accounts are insured up to $250,000.
Still, I actually had a dream last night where I was standing in a line at the ATM and I was at least 100 people from the front of the line. In the dream, I was fearful that there would not be any cash left by the time I got to the machine – even though in all actuality ATM withdrawals are limited by a per day limit. Still, my underlying fear about banks now was driving my dream.
As an aside, let me just say I wish more people would listen to Glenn Beck. When that man goes out on a limb to make a prediction about money or politics, he tends to be spot on.