Living off the grid

I have been thinking more and more being able to up live off the grid.

I don't know that it will happen ever, it sure won't be anytime soon.

I just get tired having so little control over things, like my electric bill, it went up a lot and I honestly don't know we have been doing pretty good about shutting off lights and keeping things more unplugged.

We have been really working on planning our garden we know what we are going to plant and have a rough map for our garden I will be writing about that a
lot starting next week.

Growing your own food that is one big way to be self sustaining.

Is the bad economy really that surprizing

I don't know if economy posts belong on a blog that I am gearing towards living simply but, it does effect us all and lets face it, sometimes our personal economy is what got us into simple living.

Yesterday the stock market tanked almost 300 points today promises more of the same, They say because the jobless rate is increasing, and profits for companies are not in line with expectations.

The experts are shocked, why, In my home town several companies have started layoffs and I have heard of other companies around the country laying off thousands of people.

Yet the experts are caught off guard, is because they just want things to improve so badly they are ignoring all the bad news and clinging desperately to what good news it out there.

Income tax refund

I have never had a windfall anyone in my family who dies either has no money or does not leave me any, i do get tire of hearing about people who come into money and buy cars or pay off their house, I know some one whose in laws even bought them a house because they had a bankruptcy on their credit report.

I just filed my income tax return and it was already accepted by the IRS and I am getting back more than I thought, a little over 4000 dollars, not bad.

Now what to do with it, I know me and my wife will have different ideas, maybe we can compromise.

It is only lettuce

Yesterday at work one of my coworkers called me over to out Cafe area where he was showing me how much food he to throw away.

it was 4 cases of Lettuce, it expired yesterday but it is vacuumed sealed and keep as cold as you can keep lettuce, and looks as fresh as the day they packed it.

By certain laws and company policies we had to throw it out.

It is a shame that is how we feel about food in this country we have had so much for so long we think nothing of throwing 40 pounds of lettuce in the trash.

Of course part of the reason companies have become paranoid about giving stuff away is because of lawsuits so in some instances you can see why they do just throw it out.

Preparing for a lay off

My wife may be losing her job, she works for a small wholesale company and recently some big guys have moved and really started taking business away.

Her boss, the owner of the company does not seem too optimistic about their chances so we are going to take a little time and prepare for the worse.

In recent months we have adjusted our lifestyle to basically be able to live off my income, it is a little tight but it is doable, and we have been using her income to pay off bills.

It is a strategy that has been working very well, but I am going to tweak it a bit.

I keep 1000 dollars in a savings account for emergencies, I am going to at least double that, maybe triple, before I get back into out full blown debt reduction plan.

My job is pretty safe, as far as I know, and Will be getting a raise in April, plus we have large income tax refund coming in February.

So it should not be too bad especially since we have been trying to get my wife home more anyway.

I just wanted it to be on our terms but things don't always go that way.

Trade in your electronics

I just read an interesting article from www.yahoo.com about websites that you can trade in your old cell phones, and laptops and other electronics.

I entered some info about some old stuff laying around the house, a laptop, and blackberry I decided I did not need and could not afford, and few other things.

They offered 43 dollars for a laptop, yes it is a dinosaur and nothing cool like like an Alienware computer but still I was a little shocked.

Yes it is better than just throwing it out, and it would get it out of the house but wow that is not much.

I did not realize how many sites there were that let you sell old electronics.

My debt reduction plan

We just recently paid off our last credit card, I started late last year with around 3000 dollars and now we owe nothing in credit card debt.

We, still have car, window loan, student debt and a mortgage and my same as cash computer loan, which has to paid off by October.

I think I am going to focust on our car and computer, we owe around 95oo hundred on our 2008 cobalt, I really think we can pay it off this year, maybe by summer definatly by Autumn.

The computer really should not be too much of an issue as I already have it budgeted in.