Some of you may live within a short drive or even within walking distance of your neighborhood post office. But unfortunately in my case, my local post office is a bit of a distance away situated within the city center, and getting there frequently requires that I fight through road rage inducing traffic jams and suffer through depressingly long lines once I’ve arrived. While I’m sure the folks at the U.S. postal service (USPS) do the best they can under the circumstances, I pretty much avoid visiting the post office as best as I can – turning to the free USPS website to manage the bulk of my postal decisions whenever possible.

Put Your Mail On Hold For Free By Requesting USPS Hold Mail Service Online

Unless you have someone at home to receive your mail for you, those of you planning to be away for an extended period of time (3 days or more) on vacation or for a business trip may want to notify your local post office to put your mail on hold while you’re gone. While you can always visit your local post office, wade through the customer service lines, and fill out one of those Hold Mail paper card forms – the easiest way to put your mail on hold is via the Internet through the USPS homepage. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year, the website is certainly the easiest way to process all of your mail routing submissions. Your hold mail request can even go into effect the same business day if you submit the request by 3:00 am EST.

Currently, the USPS offers consumers the ability to temporarily put home and business mail on hold for a minimum of 3 days, up to a maximum of 30 days. During the length of the hold period, the home resident or business owner’s letters and packages are held at the Post Office, with normal delivery not resuming in bulk until the date specified.

At the present time, the USPS hold mail feature is free, regardless of whether the request is submitted in person or online. But with the way the postal service is hemorrhaging money and now trying to cut costs and save money by closing out branches and cutting back on staff, I wouldn’t be too surprised if they started imposing a USPS hold mail surcharge of $1.00 or more for each request one of these days. But for now:

• To submit a hold mail request online, visit the USPS Hold Mail Service web page. At the present time, you cannot put your mail on hold by phoning in your request.
• On the Hold Mail page, enter your 5 digit zip code number in the Create a Request box and click on Go. Bear in mind, while the online hold mail service is available in most areas of the country, not all Zip codes will qualify.
• Next, follow the displayed instructions by providing your name, mailing address, phone number, hold mail start date, as well as the date you would like your normal mail service to resume.
• Remember to record your Confirmation Number. This number is important because you will need it to make any future changes to your online request – such as if you decide to cancel the order or you later decide that you will need your mail held for a longer period of time than initially requested.

If you anticipate being away for longer than 30 days, you may need to consider having your mail forwarded to another temporary address. While the online USPS Hold Mail service is free, requesting temporary mail forwarding or any other service that requires a formal address change requires the payment of a $1.00 online service fee. The USPS requires this $1.00 fee be charged to a valid credit card for identity confirmation purposes. While some people may find this small charge rather annoying and somewhat of a deterrent to using this web convenience, I find the tiny fee to be worth the benefit of not having to deal with the time and hassle of personally visiting my local post office branch. Don’t you agree this online service is still worth the nominal cost?

Alternatively for the super frugal cheapskates, you can always print out the paper Authorization to Hold Mail (PS Form 8076) manually and give it to your letter carrier or mail it to the post office that delivers your mail for free (minus the obligatory cost of postage).

Source URL: How To Request USPS Hold Mail Service Online

Copyright Protected © 2009 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

From the various articles available online, you’ll frequently read comments and posts from individuals claiming that their personal cancers and miscarriages were the direct results of living too close to nearby power lines. Though when subjected to scientific scrutiny, this does not necessarily indicate a definitive connection between the two, it’s easy to see how the passionate and emotional voices could come to such conclusions. In my case, both of my parents are survivors of lymphoma cancer. Both of them successfully completed their chemotherapy treatments and both were able to cure themselves of the cancers that plagued their bodies for months. However, as far as I know – they and I have never lived in close proximity to power lines of any sort. However, if we hypothetically had, I’m sure I would have immediately jumped to such emotional conclusions as well and pointed to power lines as the leading cause of the cancers. As I examine this controversial issue, it’s important to bear in mind that when it comes to such ubiquitous and misunderstood issues as the effects of electromagnetic fields from power lines, people’s reactions may frequently be driven more by emotion and passion than by reason and true evidence.

I’m Buying A Dream House: But It’s Located Near Electrical Power Lines

After years of renting, I’m finally in the process of buying my first home. At the conclusion of months of tireless searching and countless weekdays and weekends of visiting open houses and housing prospects, I’ve finally found the perfect starter home in the perfect location. It’s a beautiful single family house -  a brand spanking new construction home in a very desirable location near major transportation routes with excellent accessibility to stores and close proximity to places I need to be on a regular basis. But there’s a problem, and a big problem at that depending on how you look at it. The prospective new construction lot I’m looking at is located somewhat near a string of power lines and within viewing proximity of several gigantic power line towers. To be precise, the constructed home would be located approximately 350 yards (1050 feet or 320 meters) from the nearest high voltage powerline.

The first time I drove through the newly minted housing development – I instantly fell in love. But after I saw the looming power lines in the distance, I began to have second doubts. Aside from the unsightly nature of the looming eye sores, I had mild qualms about the safety and health hazards of living in such relative close proximity to the gargantuan steel structures and high tension wires. After all, I was brought up by my parents and shaped by the mainstream media and social norms to naturally believe in certain things – such assorted health based beliefs like – microwave ovens emanate hazardous radiation waves, smoking causes cancer, Tylenol damages your liver, immunizing your child may lead to him or her developing autism, diet coke causes cancer, red meat is unhealthy, eating too much fish can lead to mercury poisoning, too much egg yolk will kill you, and finally – prolonged exposure to high tension powerlines can cause leukemia in children and lead to other cancers and Alzheimer type afflictions in adults.

But instead of taking such beliefs at face value this time around, and probably because the home and the neighborhood otherwise satisfied almost every other factor on my check list, I decided to investigate the power line health issue in greater depth. What I discovered was rather troubling – but not for the reasons you might think. After hours and days of research and pouring over numerous governmental issued reports on powerlines and research articles on the alleged connection between power line generated radiation and cancer in humans, I’ve come to the overwhelming conclusion that there is simply insufficient evidence at this time to establish a causal link between the two. Despite my own hard conclusions based on existing data, concrete facts, and actual measurements conducted by invited powerline company personnel of the suspected area, I don’t think a consensus on this controversial issue will ever fully be reached by all people. It seems that for every scientific study which appears to conclusively link power lines to various health issues, there’s another prominent health study which conclusively refutes it. Despite the fact that the “scientific research reports” that allege a real causal link between power line electro-magnetic field radiation and cancer afflictions only comprise about 10-20% of the total research, and a dominant 80% or so (based on my very rough fuzzy math estimates) refute a definitive link between the two, the “yes it causes cancer” crowd seems to win out in most debates, drowning out the rest – presumably through their ability to sway opinions through the use of emotional rhetoric and scare tactics.

Is It Safe To Live Near Power Lines? Does EMF Radiation From PowerLines Cause Cancer?

Power lines frequently generate intense opposition and heated protest – from homeowners to environmentalists – from power company authorities to even bloggers like yours truly. The responses are frequently conflicting and emotionally heated. The debate stems from the powerful but invisible electro-magnetic fields (EMF) generated by power lines as electricity is transmitted through them. Some say the magnetic waves corrupt DNA structures and contribute to the development of various cancers. Although these electrical magnetic fields are also generated by common house hold appliances such as TV’s, alarm clocks, cell phones, hair blow dryers, computers, can openers, and electric blankets, much of this debate tends to focus exclusively on high tension power lines and the gigantic pylon towers that support them in certain neighborhoods.

While it’s nearly impossible for me to discuss the entire scientific bases for the various conclusions out there, suffice it is to say – once you are able to discard the hype and hysteria, the general consensus by the most reputable sources do strongly suggest that currently, there is insufficient evidence to make the quantum leap that magnetic fields from power lines have the capacity to cause childhood leukemia, childhood brain tumors, or other cancers in children – and that presently, there is totally inadequate and inconsistent evidence to establish a relationship between power line fields and breast cancer or other forms of brain tumors in adults. This is not to suggest there is absolutely no possibility of a casual link between the two, but that the realm of verifiable data and research can not yet scientifically link the two as cause and effect.

Extensive research has been performed on the issue and major health organizations such as the National Cancer Institute, the National Research Council, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) -  have all performed studies and looked at the available research – and opined that there is not conclusive evidence that EMF exposure poses a cancerous risk or that  residence near high voltage lines increases health risks. Authorities such as the NIH have noted that the available research, despite all of the inflammatory passions involved, fail to demonstrate that the levels of risk represent a real increase in cancer occurrences. Furthermore, such public health authorities have criticized the inflammatory research out there that report a causation link between powerline exposure and cancer, citing possible pervasive study biases stemming from the faulty selection of study subjects and failures to take into consideration other contributing factors such as poverty, nutrition, obesity, pure chance, and sample sizes based on volunteered opinions alone. Despite these authoritative findings, public hysteria will likely always remain – it’s just the infallibility of human nature.

New conflicting reports and absolutely contradicting updates by the media and various vested interests on both sides of the divide are constantly being disseminated every year on the supposed dangers of power lines, perpetually shaping the public’s emotional perception of the issue. However, if you really want to listen to the most authoritative voices on cancer research regarding EMF radiation fields, powerlines, and their effects on human children and adults, try reading the following online articles. Please let me know if there are any more authoritative sources on the matter:

1. Electric and Magnetic Fields: National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences
2. Health Risks Associated With Living Near High Voltage Power Lines: Health Physics Society (July 2008)
3. Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF): Health Concerns: Connecticut Department of Public Health (April 2008)
4. Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) Radiation From Power Lines: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (May 2006)
5. Electromagnetic Fields and Public Health: World Health Organization (May 2006)
6. Magnetic Fields Exposure and Cancer: Questions and Answers: National Cancer Institute, U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (April 2005)
7. Electromagnetic Fields Explained: Arizona Association of Realtors (2003)
8. Power Line Fields and Public Health: American Physical Society (1995)

Effect Of Home’s Proximity To Power Lines On Future Resale Value

Admittedly, regardless of the scientific research, people will always be scared of power lines. No matter what the government or health authorities tell the masses, and no matter what little concrete correlation there is with power lines and EMF induced cancers, it’s a virtual given that a vocal segment of the population will never be swayed and will forever regard power lines as instant cancer-causing implementations of electrical doom (laced with extra helpings of government cover ups). For property owners and real estate agents, this is what we call an unfortunate, but irremediable defect – something objectionable about a property that cannot be readily changed. Similar unchangeable defects would be living near railroad tracks, living near an expressway, or living within smelling distance of a waste treatment plant.

While it’s true that location in somewhat close proximity to power lines will diminish the overall buyer pool of individuals who would consider your home as a viable purchase (possibly turning off families with very small children perhaps), its desirably is also greatly influenced by other location factors as well. While there may not be a significant drop in property value in certain otherwise very desirable neighborhoods, there may be fewer buyers who will be willing to buy the house when you decide to resell it. Some may be paranoid of the potential health hazards, while others simply won’t be able to live with the prospect of having ugly power line towers as permanent ornaments of their neighborhood landscape. While obviously there will always remain an active market for these types of homes, some have suggested that the houses and condos located in close proximity to power lines and power line towers should expect a 1-2% price hit, while others have suggested higher discounts up to 5% or more. However, in my personal research of price comparables in various housing neighborhoods located near powerlines that I’ve sought out, I haven’t found that to be the case.

Remember, everyone has a price. While off the cusp, I’m sure everyone will say that they would never purchase a home near a power line – if they were offered the opportunity to purchase a sprawling mansion for half the price of other comparable homes in the area, I’m sure they would feel differently. The fact that there are homes located near graveyards, cemeteries, nuclear power plants, prisons, and heavily trafficked highways show that everyone has a price. It just depends on how accurately a property’s price reflects all of the variables.

Would I Personally Buy A House Located Near Power Lines?

Yes, I would – assuming the home was properly priced, not located directly underneath the power lines, was not directly within view from the front or back of the home, and was sufficiently far enough to satisfy my own whims of prudent avoidance. In fact, I am currently faced with that decision right now, and I believe the answer is a resounding – yes. In the spirit of prudent avoidance, it also depends on how far the home is in relation to the nearest powerline pylon tower and proximately to the powerlines themselves. If my property or backyard directly touched the power line towers or if they ominously loomed over my property like hulking giants, that in of itself would probably be a deal killer for me.

While I personally believe the EMF health dangers of powerlines to be overblown and vastly exaggerated, I think it’s still wise to exercise a reasonable dose of paranoid caution. While I believe the direct connection between powerline EMF waves are extremely tenuous and not proven by available science, I still think it’s best to limit the distance between powerlines and one’s home – just in case. Once again, this is simply prudent avoidance – as the possible dangers, no matter how miniscule or conceivably great, are so potentially devastating if ever found to be true. Besides, from a purely aesthetic point of view, who wants to stare at one of those ugly power line towers from either the front or back yard anyway? I think if the lines are only mere steps from you home or literally sitting in your backyard, this may be a concern. But if they are sufficiently far away in the distance, I think any potential health concerns would be greatly diminished.

So how close is it too close to be living near high tension power lines? Many power line researchers have pointed out that there is generally no serious cause for concern for homes located at least 300 feet away (roughly the length of a football field) from the nearest power line as EMF levels decrease rapidly and exponentially with distance from the lines. At this distance, the EMF levels from the lines are no different from the typical background levels found in most homes. If you are not certain about the EMF levels in or around your home, it’s best to contact your local power company and request an EMF reading. Many power companies will perform an EMF measurement for free, particularly if you are a prospective home buyer interested in a new housing development.

Just to get the opinion of readers, what do you think of the photographer’s proximity to the nearest power lines based on the photograph provided directly above? This is the approximate location of the housing lot I am currently considering as a prospective home buyer. The nearest power lines are about 350 yards away (more than 3 football lengths). In the photo provided, they perhaps appear larger than they ought to primarily because they are located on the top of a hill on a higher elevation, and there are no trees yet planted to obscure them as is usually the case in established old communities with power lines. Far enough to be objectively safe or still close enough to cause fear? What do you think?

Source URL: Buying A House Near PowerLines: Do Power Lines Cause Cancer?

Copyright Protected © 2009 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Since I was a little kid, I’ve always dreamed of hitting it big and winning the lottery. I’m not talking about winning the Texas Holdem poker pot at your buddy’s house, or lucking out at grandma’s Bingo night, but rather about  landing one of those mega jackpots – the ones you see on TV that feature the screaming people holding the oversized checks – the Powerball’s and the Mega Millions lotteries. Alas – I’ve yet to experience success in any type of sweepstakes or lottery drawing other than that one time I won my elementary school’s carnival raffle as a kid (and even then my “prize” was simply a free lunch and movie date of sorts with my school principle). But certainly one can dream right?

For many people, winning a multi million dollar lottery jackpot is truly the ultimate once-in-a-lifetime fantasy. In light of spiking unemployment rates and the ongoing recession, some people now even see lotteries as their best and only chance to ever gain a personal net worth of a million dollars or more. But unfortunately for them and the millions of people who participate in the daily and weekly lottery drawings, the odds are astronomically stacked against them – so much so that their chances of being struck by lightening or even drowning in their own bathtubs are much higher than that of ever winning. Participants of the popular Powerball lottery currently face an unfathomable 1 in 195 million chance for the top prize. Players of Powerball’s biggest rival, the Mega Millions game, face slightly better odds at 1 in 175 million, but still face a daunting uphill climb to the pinnacle prize.

Play The Lottery Only If You Can Afford It, and Play Only For Fun

The terrible combination of staggering odds and irresistible lures of behemoth jackpot rewards of $300 million or more is precisely why these multi-state lottery games have exploded in popularity over the years, and are now legalized and widely available in the majority of U.S. states. Rather than raise taxes and offend mainstream taxpayers, state governments seem content now to fleece the participants of lottery games with heavy taxes to pay for government expenses like new prisons, new schools, and public transportation costs.

Unfortunately, it’s also been said that state lotteries and legalized gambling activities sanctioned by politicians and governments are nothing more than taxes on the poor and the addicted. A variety of online statistics show that nearly 20% of lottery players contribute more than 80% of the revenue that multi-state lottery games rake in – and that disproportionately, the majority of participants are lower income, minority men who have less than a college education (which explains why it always seems like those on the lower rung of the socio-economic ladder tend to win these lotteries on TV). While wealthier folks do occasionally snap up lottery tickets for amusement purposes, it’s frequently the financially poor and downtrodden who pump their weekly pay checks and life savings into chasing the elusive and nearly unattainable lottery windfall.

When it comes to playing the lottery, there are two important rules of thumb – play only if you can afford it, and secondly, play only for fun. A live lottery drawing is a wonderful rush of adrenaline inducing amusement, but remember, it is just a game – one with such distantly long shot odds that even with the advantages of multiple lifetimes, the odds of winning it all are still incredibly slim. Furthermore, be forewarned that while money can certainly solve a wide host of life’s problems, bear in mind that too much of it at once has been known to inflict massive chaos and misery on those who are ill prepared to handle the emotional windfall and public attention that ensues. Don’t believe the Powerball curse? Don’t believe that all of your fair weather friends, envious enemies, distant uncles, and hand out desiring cousins will be coming out of the wood work to clamber for some of your new found cash? Then take a look at this news story of 8 recent lottery winners who won the lottery but ultimately squandered their new found fortunes, filing for bankruptcy years later. If their testimonies don’t dissuade you from playing the lottery and hoping to land it all, you might as well follow these lottery pointers for the most efficient path to winning the jackpot:

The Not-So-Secret Secrets To Winning The Lottery:

1) You Must Play To Win: Like many things in life, you must pay to play, and assume some measure of risk for the big pay off. Each Powerball and Mega Millions ticket only costs a $1.00 to play, but if you don’t actually go out to your local supermarket, gas station, or convenience store to purchase one, you have absolutely zero chance of winning, no matter how slim the odds are to begin with.

2) Buy Just One Ticket Or Two Tickets Every Week (At Most): The key to winning a major lottery is to always be a participant and prospective candidate to win by simply playing. There is no sense in ever buying multiple tickets to any one lottery drawing to increase one’s odds. With Powerball odds of 1:195 million and Mega Millions odds of 1:175 million, changing that 1 into a 2 or 3 isn’t going to make a noticeable dent in your long shot odds. There is no appreciable statistical difference between odds of 1 in 195 million chances and 5 in 195 million chances – your odds are still incredibly slim. However, there is a huge difference between odds of zero in 195 million and 1 in 195 million. The key to winning the lottery is to just be a player, not try to increase your odds of striking the jackpot. Think of it this way – with a single ticket, your odds of losing are likely 99.99999%. Even with hundreds of ticket entries, your odds of losing likely only improve marginally to 99.99998% – still pretty unfavorable. But with that one lone ticket, at least you have a chance.

3) Lottery Numbers Are 100% Random: Presuming that there is no hidden conspiracy among the lottery conductors to rig the lottery balls and barrels in those live drawings – the presumption is that the final lottery drawing numbers are determined by random luck and chance. Unless you can somehow calculate wind velocity, drag, angle, and physical trajectory to such a degree that you can mathematically calculate how the individually numbered ping pong balls will end up in the lottery machines, there is no sense trying to predict the final number.

If you opt for the self selection method when picking your numbers during the ticket buying process, there is no sense fussing to ensure that you have a broad mix of numbers with an ample mixture of high and low numbers, or odds and evens. The final selected numbers are determined at random – plain and simple. Feel free to pick your lottery numbers based on your own propriety formulas derived from special dates and numbers such as birth dates, wedding anniversaries, and juxtapositions of your house number or a family member’s age. But if you want to save time – go with the automatically generated number options. Or in the alternative for better tracking purposes, you can stick to playing the same sequence of numbers your entire life. Randomly generated and self selected numbers all stand the same equal chance of winning. Unlike the creation and algorithm generation of credit card numbers, the outcome of lottery numbers follow no precise formula.

4) Past Number Results Have Zero Bearing On Future Results: As I indicated above, lottery results are generated at random depending on how the numbered balls land during those televised drawings. The lottery machines do not search for particular numbers or combination of numbers which have not been selected in the past. They have no memory of past results. There is no real meaningful pattern in past and future lottery numbers and you will be better off saving your money rather than going out and buying useless books on lottery number picking strategy.

5) Lucky Charms and Lucky Numbers Are Useless: Go out and purchase rabbit foots, four leaf clovers, and kidnap leprechauns all you want – they are simply amusing talismans that have not been proven to yield any tangible results beyond abstract and completely unverifiable notions of luck. Seek lottery number inspirations from your dreams and prayers, or go with numbers that you found luckier than others if that will make the lottery game more inspirational or exciting for you. But do bear in mind – it still boils down to pure 100% unadulterated luck and good fortune.

6) Reduce Your Lottery Odds By Playing the Quick Picks: In almost all cases, the scratch off tickets that you frequently find in supermarket vending machines and at gas stations feature better odds than your run of the mill Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets. The potential jackpot pay outs for the quick pick scratch offs are much lower, but the odds are much better than those for the mega multi-state lotteries.

Instead Of Gambling Your Life and Betting Against The Odds, How About Playing The Sure Thing?

The sight of that beaming person on TV holding up that gigantic check and presenting all those zeros for all to see is no doubt quite a tantalizing scene. It certainly is an infectious and dazzling lure, and a very powerful television media message to those of us sitting on our sofas at home watching the spectacle. But frankly, such a fruition in our own lives is not statistically realistic and within the realm of practical possibility. It is certainly tantalizing enough of an incentive that I am personally willing to pluck in my fistful of dollars for a few lottery tickets whenever the Powerball or Mega Million jackpots rise to ungodly sums every blue moon, but in terms of my day to day life, I try to focus on the lifestyle decisions that emphasize savings and paying down debt that really do matter. Certainly, go ahead and play for fun on occasion if you wish, but don’t make it into an addiction or bad habit, especially if you can’t afford the financial cost of even putting food on the table. If you truly want to jump start or improve your financial life and fix those money troubles, there are things you can do today where the odds of financial success are not so prohibitively onerous. Yes, those actions are not as sexy or glamorous as the dream of winning the lottery, but the favorable results of those actions are more within the realm of possibility for people like you and I.

If you really want to improve your monetary situation, instead of chasing the unattainable home run hit of a lottery jackpot, why not pay yourself the money you would have spent on lottery tickets by saving it or investing it for the future? Try depositing the cash you have set aside into a high interest savings account or opening a discount broker account and investing the funds in the stock market. With high interest bank accounts and tax advantaged investment options like Roth IRA accounts and 401k’s, there are numerous ways for you to take advantage of the amazing power of compound interest to grow your fledgling investment into a lottery jackpot size reward many years down the road. As some financial pundits and gurus have astutely pointed out, if you take that $150.00 a year you would have spent on lottery tickets and put it into a tax deferred IRA or 401k plan at age 30, you’ll have grown it to $28,000 by age 65, assuming a reasonable 8.00% rate of return. To turn your investment into a hefty $500,000 nest egg, you’d only have to save away a little less than $100.00 a month starting at age 21. Think of it – which one of these two scenarios is more likely – that you will be able to find an extra $100 a month lying around to save up or invest, or that you will hit the 1 in almost several million odds of even snagging the lower end 6 figure lottery jackpots? Play the lottery for amusement purposes if you wish to be entertained, but don’t make it a fool’s bet for your financial salvation.

Source URL: How To Win The Lottery: Powerball and Mega Millions

Copyright Protected © 2009 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Save The Environment and De-clutter Your Life By Reducing Junk Mail Trash

According to online statistics from sources such as the Center for a New American Dream (CNAD), a non profit organization based in Maryland whose stated mission is to protect the environment by helping Americans develop sustainable consumption habits – simply by eliminating the amount of junk mail you receive every day can significantly reduce the amount of energy and natural resources you consume, as well as greatly reduce the landfill space usage and carbon footprint that you leave behind. For example, according to numbers provided by CNAD, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and various sources, did you know that:

• The average American household receives unsolicited junk mail equivalent to 1.5 trees every year, which comes out to more than 100 million trees for all U.S. households combined – the equivalent of deforesting the U.S. Rocky Mountain National Park every four months.
• 5.4 million tons of bulk catalogs and other direct mailings wind up in the U.S. municipal solid waste stream every year – paper products which take as much energy to manufacture as 660,000 SUV’s consume in a single year, and not even including the energy needed to print and transport them all.
• American consumers throw away 44% of bulk mail unopened, while recycling only 32% of all that bulk mail – spending the equivalent of 8 months per lifetime opening junk mail letters and packages.
• The process of manufacturing and recycling bulk paper parcels wastes more than 28 billion gallons of water every year.
• Taxpayers spend more than $370 million every year just to collect and dispose of all the paper based junk mail that doesn’t get recycled.

While I’m by no means a tree-hugging hippy, at some point the issue of junk mail just gets to become too much of a colossal waste of environmental resources, not to mention a tremendous mis-allocation of time and money that could be better spent elsewhere. It’s time for each of us to cut back on the number of postal junk mail that we receive. Together in aggregate, we can indeed make a huge positive difference in the world. Besides, reducing junk mail solicitations can also greatly help us streamline and declutter our already complicated lives. Assuring that you only receive letters that are important to you, it also helps to reduce the chances that vital pieces of mail get lost in the shuffle amongst all of those weekly circulars, bulk catalogs, and credit card envelopes cramming up your mailbox.

Protect Your Mailbox Privacy and Prevent Identity Theft By Being Pro-Active

Because the whole concept of direct marketing is such an incredibly incentivized and lucrative business proposition for the mass mailing companies, it’s nearly impossible to stop the junk mail stream completely. Everytime you sign up for a new credit card, subscribe to a magazine, purchase an item from a catalog, donate money to a charity, fill out a product warranty card, or buy a new car – you are potentially offering up your name and address to the direct marketers. Not only do these casual exchanges have the potential to lead to more junk mail down the road if you allow your personal address to be used in that way, they are also breeding cesspools for potential identity fraud and privacy violations. To stem the flow requires a multi-pronged attack that entails that you not only take pro-active actions, but also adopt preventative measures. Remember, contrary to popular belief, there is no actual legal right to automatically opt out of all junk mail, however we do have the right to be free of unwanted solicitations once we’ve properly and duly notified the junk mail spammer.

For starters, I recommend that you not waste money on programs out there that purportedly offer to help you remove your name from the junk mail offers and mailing lists, as you can easily do it yourself for free and with minimal effort. But if you wish to automate the opt out process and perpetually keep yourself off such lists, you may wish to try out junk mail prevention services like Tonic Mail Stopper (formerly called Green Dimes). However, note that even with the use of online programs that automate the process, like trying to get rid of roaches, there is just no easy way to permanently halt the unwelcome torrent of junk mail that surges into your mail box on a daily basis. The nearly unstoppable junk mail solicitations simply have an uncanny way of showing up even after you’ve seemingly snuffed them out at their source. Fortunately, there are strategies and tactful ways to combat the junk mail problem.

Steps To Fight Back and Reduce The Junk Mail That You Receive

1) Remove Your Name From the Direct Marketing Association’s Mailing List: Consumers receive the vast majority of their unsolicited junk mail from just three sources: the DMA (advertising letters, flyers, and brochures), the Abacus Catalog Alliance (retail store and online catalogs), and the major credit report bureaus (credit card applications and insurance offers). If you do nothing else, I highly recommend that you at least take the time to visit the Direct Marketing Association’s DMA Choice registration page, and get your name placed onto their do-not-mail list. DMA member merchants are required to update their mailing lists regularly and stop marketing to consumers that have opted out.

Getting onto the DMA do-no-mail list is one of the easiest things you can do to significantly reduce the junk mail that you receive. You will be able to remove your name and mailing address from the national mailing lists of a great number of direct marketing companies this way. While wiping your name and address from their roster is quick and easy, bear in mind that your online removal request is only valid for 3 years and you’ll have to re-register again after that time. There is absolutely no fee for online registration, but mail in submission requires a $1.00 check or money order processing charge.

• Register Names Of Deceased: The Direct Marketing Association also gives friends, relatives, and caregivers the ability to remove the names of deceased family members and other individuals from commercial marketing lists via the association’s Deceased Do Not Contact (DDNC) registrar (no verification fee). I haven’t tried myself, but I wonder if it’s possible for very-much alive consumers to intentionally placed themselves onto the list and pretend to have died to rid themselves of junk mail. It’s worth a shot I suppose although I haven’t really thought out the potential consequences of such a creative approach. If you’ve placed yourself onto the Deceased Do Not Contact list before, please share your results!

2) Remove Your Name From the Epsilon Abacus Cooperative Mailing List: Abacus, a division of Epsilon Data Services runs perhaps the largest database of mailing addresses out there for its members, mostly catalog and retail companies. Merchant members of the Abacus Cooperative contribute information about their customers and transactions  in exchange for information about other customers that may be interested in their products. As such, Abacus retains a pretty accurate database of consumer spending habits and personal contact information. Opting out is easy and signing up allows you to permanently halt the catalog mailers from the association’s members. Simply visit the Abacus Opt Out page and follow the appropriate instructions, or e-mail abacusoptout@epsilon.com with your full name and current address to request permanent removal.

3) Opt Out Of All Pre-Approved Credit Card Junk Mail: Visit OptOutPrescreen.com to stem the flow of pre-approved credit card solicitations clogging up your mail box. The website is the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry homepage to accept and process requests from consumers to opt-in or opt-out of firm offers of credit or insurance. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the credit reporting companies of Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and even little known Innovis are permitted to include your name and address on marketing lists used by credit card issuers, mortgage brokers, and insurers to make offers of credit or insurance that are not necessarily initiated by you. However, they must also abide by your wish to opt out and put an end to these credit card pre-approvals if that is your wish. Simply visit the OptOutPrescreen.com website to get your name deleted from their lists for a period of 5 years or longer. If you desire permanent removal, simply select the mail-in option (I highly recommend this). To submit your request, you will need to provide your full name, mailing address, birth date, and social security number. Unfortunately, this service is not currently available for businesses or companies.

4) Opt Out Of All Flyers, Brochures, and Coupon Packs: Some people like receiving weekly flyers and monthly coupon books filled with assorted promotional offers from local stores and companies. I on the other hand hate receiving them and regard them as junk mail. These types of bulk mail bundles generally involve envelopes containing a wide array of ads and coupons for locally based stores and services such as window replacement, carpet cleaning, air duct services, car washing, restaurants, and even promotional leaflets for various acai berry scams. I have yet to find any of these coupons useful.

Most of these coupon booklets are usually generically addressed to “current resident” or “current occupant” and sent out en masse with no personalization of any sort. They also frequently contain postcards with ads, often accompanied by pictures of missing children. In almost all cases, the name, phone number, and sometimes even the website address of the company that issued the junk mailer will be printed on the bulk mail package itself or on the accompanying card that contains your mailing address. Simply call or send a letter to the company directly to have your name and address taken off the bulk mailing list. For your reference, here are several of the biggest bulk coupon book marketing companies out there:

• Valassis, aka. Red Plum Coupons: Get yourself removed from Valassis or Red Plum’s coupon book mailing list by filling out and submitting an opt out request at the Valassis Consumer Support page, or by calling 1-888-241-6760. It takes about 5-6 weeks to process.
• Val Pak Savings Coupons: You can opt out of Val-Pak’s ubiquitous blue envelope packs by visiting the Cox Target Media mailing list removal request page. Be sure to input your address information exactly as it is printed on your ValPak envelope to ensure proper removal.

5) Ask Magazines and Charities Not To Sell Your Name Or Address: Tell magazines that you subscribe to and charities that you donate to the magic words – that you don’t want them to “sell, rent, share, or trade your name and address” with other businesses or charity organizations. 

6) Remove Yourself From Sweepstakes and Prize Drawings: The chances of ever winning are incredibly slim and not worth the hassle of having to deal with future junk mail solicitations. Besides, the main purpose of these contests and reward promotions is for companies to compile mailing lists of prospective customers, not to award prizes. Always avoid participating in any such offers unless you have the option, based on contest rules, to completely opt out of being placed on a mailing list. To get yourself removed from the major sweepstakes and prevent your address from being passed on to other companies for the purpose of receiving future marketing offers, contact the following:

• Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes: Call: 1-800-645-9242 or e-mail privacychoices@pchmail.com
• Readers Digest Sweepstakes: Call 1-800-310-6261 or send a letter request to Reader’s Digest customer service at: Reader’s Digest, PO Box 50005, Prescott, AZ 86301-5005

7) Avoid Filling Out Product Warranty Or Buyer Registration Cards: Contrary to popular belief, those product warranty registration cards that come with the products you buy have less to do with warranty coverage than they have to do with allowing the company to update their mailing lists. A product warranty is effective the moment you purchase the product and is almost always valid whether or not you return the product warranty card (as long as you have a proper receipt). You may have noticed that many of these registration cards frequently ask for lifestyle and personal interest hobby type information, along with details about your household makeup, your income bracket, and other seemingly irrelevant data. This is to allow the company to better categorize you into the proper demographic list for future marketing solicitations, and has little to do with the underlying warranty.

8) Refuse To Accept Junk Mail By Returning To Sender: Here’s a tip to combat against other unsolicited junk mail offers not covered by the items listed above. When junk letters arrive in envelopes that specifically indicate “change service requested” or “address service requested”, it means that you can refuse to receive the letter and have it returned to the sender on demand. Simply write “Refused – Return To Sender” or “Return To Sender – Refused By Addressee” on the envelope and drop it unopened back into the outgoing mailbox to have it sent back to the sender. In most cases, this will cause the sender to remove the address from its bulk mailing list. Additionally for such letters or bulk mailers where there is indication on the face that return postage is guaranteed, you may also wish to write “Remove me from your mailing list immediately” on the face of the envelope to punctuate your point. Remember, all such returned letters to the sender must be unopened so be certain of the nature of the contents before rejecting them.

9) Beware Of The U.S. Postal Service’s Change of Address Cards: One of the biggest and sneakiest secret of all – is that the United States Postal Service is perhaps one of the biggest exploiters of your mailing information out there. The Post Office generates a very large amount of income from selling the mail forwarding database that it regularly updates. Every time you move and fill out one of those permanent change of address cards or mail forwarding forms at the Post Office, your new mailing address information is almost always immediately offered to prospective direct mail marketers for a price. I’ve tried contacting the post office to compel them to stop giving out my new addresses to companies – but it’s been a pretty futile gesture on my part.

One way to get around this is to submit a temporary change of address for a long period of time such as 6 months. Your new address information is not passed along to businesses for temporary moves, only permanent ones. If you are willing to manually contact all of the legitimate companies that you do business with or have accounts with to advise them of your new permanent address change, this is one way to prevent the Post Office from updating the junk mail marketers of your new location. Of course, make sure all of your friends, relatives, and bill collectors know of your new address.

For consumers who wish to forcibly stop the flood of sexually explicit mail to their residence, one way is to submit a USPS Form 1500 (Prohibitory Order Application), which notifies the senders to cease and desist their mailers to you. I have yet to hear of anyone using this powerful tool to stop an overly aggressive (but non-sexually based) bulk mailing company’s marketing attempts, but it certainly is another potential way to discourage junk mail companies from cluttering up your mailbox.

10) Opt For Electronic Statements, and Stop Receiving Paper Bills: It’s time for everyone to join the modern era and put an end to paper statements by banking online and accessing their monthly bills and statements via the Internet. Not only do paper statements generate an inordinate amount of trash and clutter, these paper based bills are yet another opportunity for businesses to send you more junk through the mail. Contact your banks, credit card issuers, insurance companies, and utility providers – and sign up for automatic debit payments and electronic billing as soon as possible. Along with the reduction in clutter and paper usage, you’ll also save a lot of money on stamps by going paperless.

Source URL: How To Stop Receiving Paper Junk Mail and Save Trees

Copyright Protected © 2009 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Fortunately, a blog can still stay alive and remain healthy even without fresh updates for very long periods of time (weeks to months). One very unique aspect about blogs not found in most other industries is the ability to harness residual Internet traffic for long term growth despite lack of immediate content production. Oftentimes, it’s past blog posts that rank highly in Google keyword searches, which do the most to help sustain a blog’s successful traffic levels, and not posting frequency per se. Posting frequency is actually quite overrated, especially for mature sites that have at least a solid year’s worth of quality posts. Of course, in a perfect blogging world, the more posts that a site can accrue and index, the better, but offering a new post everyday is not necessarily a deal breaker. So long as the motivation to keep a blog alive is still there, a blog can still thrive, grow, become widely read, and become financially successful with proper monetization.

Even Formerly Consistent Bloggers Ultimately Get Bitten By Writer’s Block At Some Point Or Another

It’s been a year since I first started blogging for fun and transitioning my little hobby into a decent part time side job. I’ve had numerous ups and downs in terms of motivation and focus over the past few months – most of which I assumed I had permanently overcome. Much of the initial frustrations with running a fledgling personal finance blog happened early on when search traffic was non existent and lack of advertising success led me to question whether I could turn my hobby into a sustainable source of quasi-passive income. However, after 9 months in, the worries and gripes associated with the initial lack of blogging success faded away when my blogging efforts finally started to pay off and my efforts to convert organic search traffic into tangible pay per click and affiliate advertising income started to bear fruit en masse. Monetary success and upward trends in terms of website traffic have a way of greatly lifting one’s blogging spirits and sparking confidence to become more self motivated.

However, despite the steady traffic growth and monetization successes of my original personal finance blog and the newer health and fitness blog, persistent blogger’s block finally bit me again. For the last few weeks, I’ve struggled to motivate myself to update my blog posting and to adopt more sustainable entrepreneurial work habits. At first I tried cutting down my daily posting schedule to just a few personal finance and frugality articles a week, but ultimately even that proved difficult to sustain. I think after nearly a year of working continuously on my part time blogging business and putting time in at my full time job, I’ve finally burned out, at least for the moment. Thankfully, it’s happening during the annual summer slump, when most blogs and online websites see a noticeable decrease in search and referral traffic due to the cyclical and seasonal nature of Internet use. While certain niches such as college preparation and travel sites tend to enjoy an appreciable surge in traffic during the summer months, the vast majority of sites see a noticeable decline during the months of June, July, and August as prospective readers and viewers choose to spend their free time outdoors at amusement parks and take advantage of summer vacation traveling opportunities, putting off any significant financial moves or planning decisions until the fall.

As luck would have it, my sudden pangs of writer’s block couldn’t have come at a more fortunate time. The summer slump allows me to lesson the strain on my posting routine and take some time off to unwind and get away from the pressures of posting regularly. The urgency of needing to write regularly was starting to become a bit overwhelming. For those who wonder why I even bother stressing about the need to write regularly, or putting self imposed worries on myself, the answer is simple. I treat my network of blogs like a part time project that must be sustained consistently until the day they can completely overtake my full time job and allow me to become independently self employed and fully sustained financially. My dream and goal for myself has always been to become fully self employed, to become independent from the shackles of working for someone else (the Man if you will), and to find true financial freedom from the daily work grind. The fruits of success will be even sweeter when I can permanently escape the hassles and limitations of painfully long daily rush hour commutes and having to deal with high gas prices.

To reach this lofty but reachable goal of making money online through the monetization of my financial and health related blogs, I know I’ll need to get my blogging mojo back, so to speak. Unable to get out of this rut on my own, I’ve decided to take a little blogging break and go on vacation to momentarily escape my full time job and part time work responsibilities. I’m currently traveling overseas and will do so for the next few weeks. I plan to visit my parents and get my mind off the rigors of running a network of monetized blogs. It’s amazing how a little simple change of scenery and work space can refresh one’s motivation and perspective. I think it’s also the same reason why weeks ago I was trying to find public places outside of my home that provided complimentary free WiFi Internet access. It was probably in an attempt to escape the monotony and ho-hum sameness of working from home. Sometimes, a little healthy distraction is all we need to get our business minds back on track.

Source URL: Battling Blogger Burn Out and Lack Of Blog Posting Frequency

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The mere sight of the creepy crawly legs and wiggling antennas of the common household cockroach jetting out from dark corners and scampering across bathroom counters and kitchen floors utterly freaks me out. While I don’t instantly jump onto chairs, call my mommy, or scream at the top of my lungs like a little girl, I do become visibly startled and immediately shift into fight mode whenever I encounter a lost spider or resident evil roach in my apartment. I’m sure you PETA fanatics out there may be turned off by my disdain and opposition to the plight of roaches and other household vermin, but I don’t care. Roaches and insects have no place in my home and I’ll do whatever it takes to eradicate the pests. I’ve had too many unfortunate experiences and bad memories of living with roaches during my student years.

Fortunately, I’m currently at a place and time in my life where my financial means now permit me to live in a nicer home far away from roach, rat, and vermin infestation that used to plague the ghetto row houses and low cost apartment rentals where I used to live as a college and graduate student. It’s been a while since I’ve had to deal with the nuisance of roaches or had to arm myself with high caliber anti-roach weaponry to fight off the onslaught of the mighty cockroach horde. But sometimes, scenes on TV and real life will remind me of how things used to be. Right now there’s a really fascinating but disgusting show on the Discovery Channel called the Verminators that I absolutely love to watch. The reality TV show follows a crack team of household pest exterminators as they go from problem home to another, wiping out severe rat, roach, ant, maggot, spider, and even pigeon infestations. The reason I love the show is the gleeful delight and absolute warlike approach the personalities on the show exhibit towards their determination to kill off all resident bugs that infest the homes of their desperate clients. The exterminator pros show no mercy and go full out with their armament of sprays, powders, and oxygen masks to combat the invaders. One time they even brought out an actual gun to take out a mega-rat that was hiding in someone’s attic. The show, while visually horrendous, brings me back to my graduate school days when I faced a massive roach infestation of my own.

My Failed Battle Against The Impressive Roach Army That Resulted In Eventual Retreat and Surrender

Until recently, I’ve always had a roach problem wherever I lived. Even though I consider myself relatively clean when it comes keeping my home tidy, roaches always seemed to invade my home. Probably the biggest reason for that was the fact that much of my early life was spent as a financially frugal student. As I was primarily supported by my overseas-living parents during my early years, I made a conscientious decision to live in apartments and neighborhoods that were affordable, to help lessen the financial burden on my parents who had several tuitions and living expenses to pay for. But as a result of my cost saving measures, every place I’ve lived at was infested with vermin of all types – from rats to roaches. As indicated above, it wasn’t until my recent later years in my late 20’s that I’ve been able to move on up the financial ladder to higher class, vermin-free housing.

Probably the absolute worst out-of-control infestation experience occurred during my post law school years when I was still struggling to settle down with my fledgling law career and build a sustainable living. To keep expenses low and save money, I decided to move into a quiet garden apartment community in a suburb of Maryland. The commute was great, proximity to grocery stores was excellent, and the price seemed too good to be true – it was. Months into my lease, the nightmare began. While I maintained a clean apartment, washing my dishes after every meal and storing away all food products into air tight containers, I kept noticing the appearance of roaches. At first it was just one or two encounters a week. I squished the roaches with my shoe and flushed them down the toilet each time and hoped they would go away, but they never did. They simply started appearing in greater and greater numbers. It got to the point where everytime I turned on my bathroom light, I would see two or three small roaches hanging around the ceiling area or visibly trying to scurry into a wall corner. Each time I got chills and sweated profusely at the sight of the nightmarish invaders. Eventually, their presence spread from the bathroom and into the kitchen, and eventually into the living room. In time I started seeing them during the day as well, a warning sign that I had a serious problem. Roaches are biologically night animals. If you see one during the day, it likely indicates that you have a serious infestation as overcrowding under cabinets and refrigerators probably has forced them out into the open. For each single roach you see in the open, it probably represents hundreds more hiding behind your drywall or between your floorboards.

At the time I was busy with work so I had little time to deal with my apartment management and forcefully compel them to eliminate the pests. But in response to a few calls and complaints, my apartment complex hired an exterminator, but the roach baits they set forth were ineffective. Eventually I simply went full out and took matters into my own hands. I headed to Home Depot to arm myself with all that consumer bug fighting technology had to offer. I purchased every single roach bait, egg stopper, roach gels, boric acid powder, and roach spray brand I could find – everything from MaxForce to Raid. I probably purchased more roach motel traps and roach gel bait devices than I needed, but I was determined to eliminate their presence from my home forever. All in all, I probably had more than 60 individual roach bait traps for a small apartment that was only about 700 square feet in all. I lined all corners and walls with multiple roach baits, and inserted gel bait poisons into all cabinet cracks and wall corners. I also dusted hard to reach areas with a layer of boric acid, a white powder that is not grossly toxic to humans or most pets like cats, dogs, and birds, but is supposedly deadly towards insects as it eats away their hard shell skin thereby dehydrating them to death. However, while I started seeing piles of upside down roaches everywhere, indications that my baits were working, the onslaught kept coming. Everyday I would see dead roaches everywhere, but new live ones seemed to keep taking their places, gnawing on the dead roach carcasses for nourishment.

Even my poor pet parrot was not immune to the onslaught. Even though he was never physically harmed, his cage was also slowly invaded by the swarming roaches. To protect my pet parrot to the best of my ability, I made sure to keep his cage clean at all times and placed his cage on a plastic lawn furniture table in my living room. I lined the bottom of the plastic table with a thick coat of boric acid powder to ensure that the only way that roaches could invade the cage was by walking through the white powder of insect death. However, day in and day out, I would look at my parrot’s bedding liner to find that the roaches had determinedly strolled through the boric acid powder and made their way into the bottom liner of his cage to seek out food products. When I pulled out the cage’s poop tray to clean it one time, I freaked out when more than 15 roaches scurried out from the plate and began crawling the walls, heading to the ceiling to escape like some horror movie. The nightmarish sight sent deathly chills down my back, made me sweat in horror, and even caused me to bleat out a few uncontrollable expletives. Although upon inspection, the bird cage invading roaches were covered with boric acid powder from head to toe, the resilient suckers simply refused to die. While most online commentators generally cheer the beneficial roach killing abilities of boric acid powder, I must point out that the effects are often slow and unpredictable.

Although I was incredibly busy with my job at the time, I eventually found time to storm into my apartment complex manager’s office to demand that they hire a competent exterminator to fix this emergency situation. Eventually the management relented and hired a more expensive crew to come in and flush the roaches out. The professionals came in with their roach pesticide sprays and laid down lines of defensive deadly roach pesticide trails designed to kill roaches on contact that trample onto them. Then they used a special roach flushing agent to spray into floorboard cracks and underneath appliances to flush out the roach colonies into the open so that they would walk onto the pesticide laden floors. It worked for a while – as there was a huge spike in dead roach bodies as the flushed out roach families were annihilated. But even with professional baits laid out to control the outbreak, the efforts were ultimately futile. The roaches continued to crawl around my dishes, hide in my television set, relax in my stove, and even find their way into my fridge of all places. The final straw was when friends came over to visit me and one of them sat down on my sofa only to stand up moments later with a squished roach on her butt.

Eventually, I shifted into lawyer mode and sent a very threatening legal letter to my landlord demanding that I be fully released from my apartment lease obligations, citing the management’s violation and breach of our contract to keep the premises a safe and reasonably livable place. There was simply nothing else I could do. After talking with the exterminator, I learned that I was fighting a losing cause. Because my discount apartment complex was so old and populated by lower income families that had a habit of illegally stuffing multiple families into one apartment meant for only one, sanitation and cleanliness were major problems. Even though I kept my own apartment clean, massive roach infestations in the adjacent apartments were causing them to spill over into my unit. At the end, I was released from my lease and left my ghetto apartment in a hurry. Ultimately, I had to pay substantially more in monthly rent to live at a new, clean, and higher class apartment complex free of roaches and vermin. My rent soared from $800 a month at my old place to more than $1475 for the new place. While it’s a lot more money, I don’t regret a single thing about my decision to pay more in rent. Freedom from roach infestations is definitely worth the heavier financial price. Saving money is great, but having that extra few hundred in my account isn’t worth the sheer torment of living with roaches invading your life completely and taking over your sanity.

Roach Infestations Are Bad For Your Health and Must Be Eliminated Quickly (Easier Said Than Done)

So other than the scare factor, why are cockroaches and the infestation that they bring to our homes so bad for you and I? First of all, it should be noted that not all insects are inherently bad. Some bugs like spiders and millipedes actually serve useful ecological purposes. Without their presence, our human existence would be inundated with out of control growth populations of pesky critters of all sorts. Most of these utilitarian insects help to control general insect population by building webs to trap, eat, and kill off other insects, helping to keep a lid on spiraling population growth. While I’m generally afraid of insects and roaches in particular, there are bugs that I have friendly, harmonious relationships with. When I see insects like lady bugs or even cicadas, I don’t mind picking them up with my bare fingers to inspect them. I see them as friendly insects that help the environment, so I’m not automatically afraid of them. Roaches of all breeds on the other hand are a different story – they are simply vile. While cockroaches live all around the world and come in all shapes and sizes, the breeds I’m most adverse to are the classic American and German cockroach. These two breeds are the most common roach pests found in American homes.

Roaches are the ultimate scavengers and harbingers of disease, germs, and insect fecal wastes. They have no qualms about walking through through poo or other disgusting solids and liquids. Their bodies frequently carry around all sorts of germs and potential infection spreading agents. One huge problem that they cause for inhabitants of homes that they infect is the creation of roach dust that they build up and leave behind. Roach dust is made up of decayed roach body parts and droppings that become airborne, infecting our breathing and embedding itself onto our hairs, clothes, and furniture. Roach dust is a powerful asthmatic agent that has the potential to trigger significant asthma attacks in sensitive people.

Cockroaches will consume almost anything organic and even somethings otherwise inorganic. They’ll chew threw paper, cloth, oils, bodily wastes, and any type of food or liquid product you leave behind. These little evil cannibals will even snack on the dead bodies of their fellow roach comrades they come across. Nothing is off limits when it comes to their diets. In their never ending pursuit for food, roaches often follow the footsteps of humans into homes and stay close to sources of water and food – which is why they are often found in bathrooms, kitchens, and places where food is plentiful (like near your dog or cat’s food bowl).

The one singular thing that makes them so terrible and deserving of a spot in the Bible as an Old Testament plague is the fact they breed insanely fast and are nearly impossible to get rid of. Female roaches can lay up to 40 eggs at a time, laying up to a 400 evil babies in a lifetime. Their lifespan is a year long and adult roaches can go for a month without food, and even up to an hour without oxygen. They can live off of virtually anything. Even the organic glue compound found on the back of stamps or the nourishment of your dead skin flakes can sustain them for weeks.

Cockroaches are also very difficult to kill. Not only do they run like Olympic track stars, their bodies are extremely well adapted to fend off damage. Because their breathing system is made up of tubes on their bodies called trachea, they can continue to live even after their heads or limbs are chopped off – talk about walking zombies. Also, have you tried to chase down a roach with your shoe before? It’s nearly impossible. It’s like playing whack a mole on steroids as they dart around so fast, it’s scary. They are able to quickly scurry into wall corners and flatten their bodies to avoid your newspaper punishment. They are also primarily nocturnal, preferring to come out at night. When they do, they are very stealthy and experts at staying hidden, invading your cabinets, sinks, toothbrushes, and your food stocks right under your nose. At the mere presence of light, they often smartly run for cover, unlike their more stupid cousin bugs that often sit there, succumbing to flattening attacks by humans.

How Do I Get Rid Of A Mild Cockroach Infestation, and Kill Roaches Using Roach Bait and Roach Traps?

The following words of advice are only suitable for those of you who have mild roach outbreaks in your home. If you only see a lone roach wandering around your home once every year, you probably don’t have an infestation as it probably piggybacked into your home via a plastic grocery bag or something like that. However, if you are seeing them every few days, particular during the daytime when they are supposed to be in hiding, you may have a serious problem. If professional treatment and baiting are powerless, your only recourse may be to move out of your home completely like I did and not look back (if that option is available to you). Some things in life are lost causes. In serious infestations, the roaches probably have spread throughout all apartment buildings or all parts of your house. They’ve probably inhabited your base walls and have set up massive colonies of roach eggs and roach nurseries that are nearly impossible to eliminate completely. Remember, a single female roach once impregnated can continue to lay eggs throughout her entire life, spawning hundreds of hatchlings from just a single individual.

If the roach outbreak is not so dire where moving out is demanded, hiring a professional exterminator might due the trick. Professional exterminators have legal access to much more powerful roach flushing agents and pesticides to kill those little critters. For those who have children and pets in the home and are leery about using toxic pesticides, professional exterminators also have access to potent roach baits and gels that are less toxic for humans and pets. They work by slowly poisoning roaches. Laced with attractive smells to entice a roach, the victim eats the bait and ingests the delayed action poison that will ultimately kill it. When it travels back into the wall boards, it brings some of the poisoned food with it to share with others. In time, roach baits can kill off entire roach populations if the problem has not completely spiraled out of control.

In my opinion, cockroach bombs and roach foggers should be avoided. Not only are they extremely toxic to humans and pets, but their limitations are very well documented and observed. The irritants do drive away roaches temporarily, but they are not effective in killing the populations completely. The roaches will simply run for cover and hide until the toxic plumes have faded. As soon as you move back into your home after the roach bomb has done its work, they will come back out to play. Also, don’t waste your money on those pointless electronic pest control repellent scams that you see on TV all the time. Supposedly, simply by plugging the electronic pest control repellent device into your electrical outlet and activating it, the system emits an ultra high frequency wave that irritates and drives away pests like roaches and rodents. These devices are supposed to be safe for both humans and pets. However, they’re pure junk and scams in my opinion. Both rats and roaches are extremely durable and hardy animals, conditioned to survive even nuclear devastations if it ever came down to it, so neither of them is likely going to be stopped by some pointless frequency wave. To get rid of them, you’re going to have to resort to good old fashioned roach food deprivation and chemical warfare. Ditch the expensive electronic pest control repellent devices and don’t waste your money.

For those of you with mild roach infestations, here are some home remedies and homemade solutions to help you kill them, exterminate their colonies, and keep your home free of pesky cockroaches. Much of your efforts will be spent targeting notorious problem areas like the kitchen and bathroom.

Household Solutions To Get Rid Of A Mild To Manageable Roach Problem:

1) Eliminate the Roaches’ Source Of Food, Water, Shelter, and Entry – Unless you live in a shared apartment complex that allows roaches to travel freely from one unit until into another, keeping your home clean is the most effective way to get rid of roaches. Cockroaches invade our homes usually to seek out food and water. Wash your dishes immediately after every meal and wipe down kitchen counters frequently, as roaches like to snack on greases and food oils. Vacuum your carpet and wipe down your hardwood floors and tiles as often as you can to ensure no food or liquid particles remain to feed the roaches. Fix leaky faucets as well as they offer roaches a free tasty source of water to drink from. If you have pets like cats, dogs, or even birds, clean the pet living areas frequently and make sure their food bowls are washed and cleaned after use. Dog food sacks are frequently targets of roaches – always seal them in special airtight containers. Also, make sure there are no open canisters of food or liquids anywhere in your home. Roaches can sniff them out and they will find them. Practice throwing out your trash bags on a daily basis. Trash cans contain all sorts of attractive aromas for roaches. Eliminate this prevalent food source if you can.

Finding out how they are getting into your home is easier said than done. Oftentimes roaches found their way into your home via air vents, front doors, or even cracks outside of your home. Oftentimes, telltale signs like roach droppings – tiny brown pellets of slime, indicate the presence of roaches. Frequently, professional help is needed to help you pinpoint the entry way. Finding out where they are living in your home exactly is also difficult without expert help. But once you locate how they enter your home and where they congregate, a liberal application of roach pesticide spray along the access points will provide long lasting walkways of doom for these roaches.

2) Use Non Toxic Boric Acid Or Diatomaceous Earth - While I’ve personally had limited success with using boric acid or even diatomaceous earth powder to control roach populations, perhaps you’ll have more success than I. Borate powders are generally non toxic to humans, pets, and children although you obviously shouldn’t intentionally ingest them. Despite prolonged exposure, my parrot, my friend’s cat, and myself managed to remain perfectly healthy in the presence of boric dusted rooms. However, these powders are supposedly toxic and deadly against insects. As insects like roaches come into contact with the powder, the powder sticks onto their outer shell, causing gradual roach death. The downside is that boric acid powder kills very slowly and sometimes it may take days before the acid takes effect. But the plus side is that the compound can remain effective for years if the powder remains dry. Boric acid powders also allow you to dust in areas where the roaches are likely to hide and where humans and pets are less likely to come in contact with – such as in the crevices behind your kitchen appliances and spaces underneath your refrigerator.

Boric acid can be purchased at local retail hardware stores and most drug stores. They usually come in a squeeze bottle with a narrow spout that allows easy dusting once cut. Retail boric acid powder is usually white although some brands color the product light blue so you can see the product better. The key is to dust in areas where roaches are likely to walk through. Roach behavior usually dictates that they prefer to walk along edges where their bodies are in constant contact with some type of wall. Thus, remember to dust the boric acid under your stove and refrigerator, along wall edges, around door frames and open spaces inside of cabinets, sinks, and shelves.

Another product that is used by some is a form of illegal insecticide commonly called “Chinese Chalk”, because of their sale in many Chinatown locations. However the sale and purchase of Chinese Chalk is illegal due to the many child related poisonings attributed to the product’s resemblance to common classroom chalk. Supposedly, one can use the chalk to draw lines of kill zones on the ground to poison any roach or ant that walks across it. It probably works the same way as boric acid, but with substantially greater toxicity and health danger to humans. I don’t recommend using it – it’s illegal anyway.

3) Use Roach Traps, Roach Bait, and Roach Gels – Roach baits in all forms contain a combination of poison chemical and attractive food lures to entice roaches to eat them. They are actually quite effective if used in large quantities in strategic indoor locations where it’s dark and moist. Like boric acid powder, they both kill slowly. However, this slow killing power is actually the most effective form of mild roach infestation control because it allows the poison to be ingested and taken by the roach into the roach lair to kill the population at its source.

The baits can come in the form of a little plastic roach bait station (roach motel) or they can come in gel syringe form. The plastic roach baits are easier to set and tend to last longer in duration, but I think they are slightly less effective than roach gel baits. Gel baits are very effective but they tend to dry out quicker, not to mention the gels are messier and harder to clean up. The gels also need to be re-applied every few weeks for maximum effect. Roach gels should be lightly applied in corners, on plumping fixtures, on interior cabinet edge corners, and under appliances where it’s usually dark. Remember not to combine roach bait and roach gels with instant killing pesticide sprays. The objective with baits is not to kill them instantly, but to allow one infected roach to spread the poison love to others. Popular retail roach bait brands include MaxForce, Combat, and Raid. I don’t have any preferences or recommendations because they’re all about the same in terms of effectiveness. Try buying all three and using them all simultaneously if you have the money to do so – their poison chemical compositions differ somewhat.

4) Use Roach Insecticide Sprays – These aerosol powered spray cans contain a lethal dose of bug killing liquids. By spraying the roach insecticide chemicals along hidden baseboard floors and on dark and hidden areas underneath and inside cabinets where roaches frequent, you provide tremendous roach killing power on contact. The insecticide sprays contain a chemical that instantly starts to kill the roaches on contact should one wander across a sprayed area. While it’s great to know that it’s lights out for any roach that crosses its path, the sprays do not provide much residual or long lasting roach control. Only roach baits can target the roach nests and hit the source of the spawning problem. However, back when I had a heavy roach problem, I always kept a few bottles around at the ready. Chasing a fast running roach is much easier with a roach spray. It beats having to swing wildly like a drunkard with a shoe or newspaper.

5) Use Water Jars (Vegas Roach Jars) - Another common household remedy to combat mild roach problems is the use of a so-called Las Vegas roach trap jar. It’s called that because the practice was recently popularized by a Las Vegas news report of its effectiveness in catching roaches. While I’ve never tried it out, the concept sounds rather interesting.  The Vegas  cockroach trap consists of a glass jar filled with coffee grounds (as bait), and a little bit of water that is placed against a wall. It is important that the roach jar trap is placed against a wall because roaches prefer to travel along edges where their bodies can maintain constant contact with a wall. Some people like to place Scotch masking tape on the outside of the jar to give the roach more traction. However, once they fall into the jar, the slippery glass surface prevents them from being able to climb out. Supposedly, cockroaches are attracted to these water jars. This type of homemade anti-roach remedy if effective, is a wonderful alternative to using toxic insecticides and baits. But frankly, I’m not fully convinced the technique actually works.

I’m sure everyone has their own secrets and methods to killing roaches. Feel free to share your ideas.

Source URL: How To Kill Roaches And Get Rid Of A Home Cockroach Infestation

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Technology And The Internet Are Steadily Replacing The Out Dated Practice Of Getting News From A Traditional Newspaper

Does anybody actually read the newspaper anymore? I’m not talking about CNN.com, NewYorkTimes.com, or Washingtonpost.com – I’m talking about old fashioned plain paper print media. Most people I know who have had any exposure to computers and technology now get the bulk of their written news and entertainment updates from the Internet. Almost all major established newspaper publications nowadays operate their own websites filled with plenty of free content rich text to satisfy even the most information hungry and voracious of readers. With the heavy push towards Internet based news, it seems the traditional newspaper is slowly becoming a thing of the past due to its inability to keep up. Technology and the World Wide Web simply afford readers too many conveniently free reading options at their fingertips for present adopters and future generations to ever turn back to that age old print medium.

Even commercial advertisers are steadily following former newspaper readers out of the door and gradually putting their advertising dollars into online website banner and pay per click advertising solutions where online technology allows the ads to be strategically targeted to the exact demographic consumer the advertiser hopes to reach. Online free classified services like Craigslist have also struck huge blows against whatever remaining classified advertising potential that newspapers may have had left. It’s only a matter of time before the end of the newspaper as we know it.

I challenge you to find any one under the age of 35 these days who still enjoys reading from a traditional newspaper. The practice is simply boring and dry. In contrast, by going online, not only can I utilize news aggregation services like Google News and Yahoo News, and pull RSS news and blog feeds from hundred of respected news sources instantly, I can actively participate in online discussions by posting comments and offering my two cents about important issues I personally care about. Through the Internet, I can read all the primary points and counter points immediately to get the complete picture of what is going on in the world of current events. Who wants to get information from just a single slow moving and potentially biased newspaper publication source?

Unlike paper newspapers, the Internet also updates its archive and collection of news stories virtually instantaneously. Breaking news stories can be released to the reader as soon as they happen. When the Islamic terrorists hit the New York City World Trade Center on 9-11, internet news pages broke the announcement almost immediately. Traditional print newspapers simply can’t complete with that level of quickness and would not have been able to report on the story until at least the day after. Things have changed a lot since the baby boomer days. We are now living in a rapid fire instant news era. We want our news fast, and we want it free. Only the Internet can promise and deliver such instant informational gratification.

The Rise and Growth Of Bloggers and Blogging Will Only Further Change The Face of Journalism and Traditional Newspaper Reporting

The Internet age has also spurred on the growth and reach of the casual online blogger, and hastened the gradual decline of so-called legitimate press reporting media as we know it today. Legions of both amateur and professional bloggers, including personal finance bloggers such as myself, are doing our part to contribute to the whole information revolution comprised of all sorts of biased and unbiased viewpoints. As a whole, the ability of bloggers to reach a wide array of readers will only help spread the word of informational truth on a larger scale. Individually, we perhaps may be biased, uninformed, self-motivated, and personally skewed to our own predilections, but as a whole, citizen journalists help to positively expand the wealth of societal information available.

Of course there will always be anti-technology, Armageddon inspired naysayers that will want to cling on to print newspapers like a security blanket. The ridiculous argument of some that we still need to preserve the newspaper tradition because of what might happen if technology ever failed or satellites get blown out of the sky is just plain silly. That’s like saying we all should preserve the tradition of burning wooden logs at home because of what might happen if electricity ever permanently failed and we fell back into the stone age. It’s just not going to happen.

Despite The Growth Of The Internet, Newspapers Will Probably Not Disappear For A Few Decades, So Long As There Are Old Fashioned Folks Who Insist On Clinging Onto Their Old Ways Of Living

Since the rise of the Internet, even my own technologically clumsy parents have started to slowly embrace the Internet as a primary source for getting their daily dose of news, political commentary, and current event updates. However, like many of the baby boomer generation, they still prefer to resort to their old accustomed ways sometimes. While they’ve gradually started to use the Internet more and more in everyday life, my dad still goes out to the local convenience store every morning (as he’s done for decades) to buy his daily newspaper to take home to read. For him and those of the older generation, they probably get some semblance of habitual and familiar comfort by handling tangible things that they feel like they still understand – like paper newspapers. I think my dad still enjoys the timeless practice of reading the paper on his daily subway commute to the office instead of having to squint his eyes for hours at a time in front of a flickering computer screen.

But in the long run, the seemingly unstoppable reality is that as times passes, there will be less and less of individuals like my dad remaining to carry on the newspaper reading tradition. But at least for now, newspapers probably won’t disappear for years, so long as there are senior citizens, baby boomers, and stubborn technology Luddites who are not accustomed to the new technology of computers still around (is it really all that new anymore though?). While I see the newspaper form in inevitable decline in the future, perhaps the future isn’t now. It seems typical that futurists such as myself always seem to predict the future will arrive sooner than it actually does.

But even a futurist, and an early eager technology adopter such as myself must acknowledge that newspapers will be missed. After all, without newspapers around, where else am I supposed to get my Sunday paper grocery store coupons? The ones I see in magazines and loose leaf advertisement mailers and flyers aren’t as good as the ones I often see in my Sunday paper coupon bundle. And yet more importantly, without newspapers, what will we use to line bird cages and train puppies on? What will we use to wrap fish, or crumple up to use as cushion for the insides of boxes during a move or use as stuffing for packages? Computers, monitors, and keyboards simply aren’t as absorbent or cushiony, not to mention as cheap or plentiful.

Source URL: The Future Demise and End Of Newspapers and Print Media

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

It’s interesting to me how if you asked any little kid what they wanted to be when they grew up, almost all would respond with answers like doctor, lawyer, hip hop rapper, or even President of the United States. Unfortunately for those little kids, the great majority of them will never fulfill their childhood dreams or live up to the great but unrealistic expectations they envisioned due to their personal circumstances. People pick jobs and careers for many reasons, but their choices are often shaped by their own hyped views regarding what is hot and what is not, and frequently fraught with inaccuracies. Unfortunately, during the high school and college years, the media greatly reinforces the naive and misguided mystique that surrounds certain professions to the detriment of future entrants into the work force. Oftentimes the hype of certain careers tend to greatly exceed the lucrativeness and fulfillment potential of reality.

The job market and popular careers choices have changed greatly over the years and what was once perhaps lucrative no longer is. Here’s my list of what I believe are the top 5 most overrated careers and professions. I’m sure there are many people who are happy and content in the following careers and perhaps enjoy professional and personal success, but I think there are also many of those in the following fields that feel they have been misled down the primrose path to frustration and work dissatisfaction. These conclusions are based on my own personal views, and gleaned from views expressed in books, online articles, websites, blogs, and through my interactions with friends from all walks of life and professions. For more relevant input and insight, take a look at U.S. News and World Report’s own list of the most overrated careers. While their list is more comprehensive and generally applicable, mine is more focused on my own personal and unique experiences.

The Five Most Overrated Careers, Jobs, and Professions In My Opinion:

1) Attorney – Don’t get me started about lawyers, law school, and the legal profession. I don’t have too many good things to say about the whole business of becoming a lawyer and the realities of working as one. I’m an attorney myself, but I’m currently trying to get out of the profession completely and enter the work from home online business for myself. I find the whole legal career path to be an unforgiving and personally unfulfilling line of work.

Unfortunately for new legal field entrants, they don’t usually realize the market for lawyers is extremely saturated until it is too late, and are already in too deep. Currently, there are already too many lawyers everywhere and even more on the way. These days it is very, very, very easy to become an attorney. Saddled with poor grades or terrible LSAT standardized test scores? No problem. There are more than 4 whopping tiers of law schools that continue to expand in size every year. There’s a guaranteed spot on the student roster for every wannabe or lackluster student who wants to play the lawyer card. These days, anyone can apply to law school to become a lawyer because there are no strict educational prerequisites involved. As an insider, I can assure you – there is absolutely nothing special about lawyers and the skills and training they allegedly possess – they are a dime a dozen. Unless you graduated from a top ten ranking law school or entered a difficult legal niche field such as tax or patent law, you better get used to a meager and unrewarding professional life. My advice is to stay away from law school and to do anything else but that.

Like many who decided to enter law school, I originally applied out of mere default and lack of educational options at the time. After all, I wasn’t much of a math or science person, and studying business seemed to be too general and broad of a choice at the time. Why not attend law school and become a high priced lawyer and make millions of dollars a year by taking on high profile and exciting celebrity cases, I thought? Why not invest myself into a career that will allow me to not only become rich, but utilize my skills to help uphold justice and assist people who need legal representation? After all, lawyers spend their days honorably debating before judges in prestigious court room settings before trial juries and television crews right? Wrong!

The legal profession is the most grossly distorted career choice in the history of careers. Thanks to the overzealous and over-hyped glory and glitz of Hollywood media productions, most of the public’s view of the legal profession is framed and distorted by entertainment inspired sources such as TV shows of past and present like Ally McBeal, JAG, The Practice, and Law and Order, and popular court room drama filled movies like A Few Good Men. The truth and reality is that the vast majority of lawyers rarely ever see the inside of a court room, working as paper pushing transactional attorneys instead. The ones that do apply their craft in the court room, known as litigation work, still spend the vast bulk of their time and efforts stuffed in their offices before a computer screen, typing away and performing grueling and monotonous research and writing. The work is tedious, stressful, time consuming, and frequently unrewarding.

In the working arena, lawyers often have to deal with the frustrating aspects of working with ungrateful and belligerent clients who refuse to pay or ignore the advice and suggestions of their own counsel. For small law firm attorneys, the average salary almost always falls well short of media inspired dramatization. Most of my friends who graduated from top 50 law schools ended up with massive student loans of more than $100,000 and winded up in mere $50,000 a year lawyer jobs for many years. For those who find themselves working at higher paying big firm positions, the hours are insanely taxing and terribly destructive for those trying to balance a family and social life as well. Being forced to work 80-100 or more hours a week as a big firm associate is not unusual as many are pressed into strict billable hour requirements. The need to pay off massive student loans often force many new attorney recruits into lifelong professional servitude, whereby they are compelled to sacrifice their lives, their health, and their own happiness for an unattainable dream of work and play balance in the legal profession. For every Johnny Cochran, Mark Geragos, or Gloria Allred personalities on cable TV, there are thousands of struggling attorneys out there saddled with massive student loans, wondering why they chose to enter such a saturated and unhappy field to begin with. My advice – go be a dentist or something. There’s a lot of money in that racket and the barriers to entry are much higher, making the health care field a much more prestigious and balanced choice.

2) Real Estate Agent – Thanks to the array of house flipping shows on television that suddenly sprouted in the last few years, everyone and their uncle now thinks they can and should become a real estate agent. During the last few years, I’ve seen nearly all of my friends in some fashion or another try to dabble in the real estate market and try their luck in helping others buy and sell homes. Many went on to take the easy breezy real estate exam and obtain their real estate license.

Unfortunately the ease and simplicity of entering the real estate field is one of the key causes of the real estate profession’s current decline (that, and the real estate housing bubble). Because it’s so easy to become a certified real estate agent, the barriers to entry are very low. As a result, real estate agents are everywhere and there is not enough real estate business to go around. Especially in this real estate downturn, agents are finding themselves faced with dwindling business opportunities and diminishing commission fees. Furthermore, with the growth of online housing listing sites like Zillow and Yahoo Real Estate, and the surging popularity of do it yourself resources, the importance of having a real estate agent will continue to decline and gradually phase out. With the growth of online real estate blogs and finance sites, it’s getting much easier for ordinary people to buy and sell their own house or property without the assistance of a professional real estate agent.

3) Chef – Here’s another overrated career field that has fallen prey to the reckless glamorization committed by television media. Thanks to foreign import culinary shows like Iron Chef, American cooking related programs on the Food Network like Rachel Ray, and the popularity of reality competition shows like Bravo channel’s America’s Top Chef, every aspiring amateur chef out there thinks he or she can strike it big as a future professional chef to the rich and famous.

I used to date this girl who was a pharmacy student. She had a passion for food and was on the verge of dumping her pharmacy school studies to pursue her lofty dream of becoming a famous television cooking personality or working as a future top chef at a five star restaurant somewhere. Fortunately for her, she discovered early on how little entry level chefs really made and abandoned her unrealistic pursuits for a more stable career as a pharmacist. The reality is that most chefs are mere assembly line cooks, churning out the same concoctions over and over, chopping and dicing away in a hot and sweaty kitchen in the back of some restaurant for hours and hours. Frequently, the work hours extend into the weekends and late evenings, depriving them of much of their extracurricular quality of life.

4) Full Time Blogger Or Online Entrepreneur – This is one hits close to home for me, but I have mixed feelings on those that choose to blog as a full time profession. While I personally receive a decent amount of passive income from my finance blog and do pretty well for myself through my efforts to make money online blogging, the vast majority of bloggers out there will probably never fulfill their full time blogging income aspirations. While it’s good to pursue one’s dream of working from home and never having to put on that suit and tie and “work for the man” any longer, the reality is that blogging full time is difficult, time consuming and requires substantial discipline, especially in the early stages when online advertisement and affiliate income motivation are hard to come by. The lack of commentary participation and the lack of traffic and feedback by readers can quickly cause the average aspiring blogger to lose hope early on. It takes a certain focused and dedicated individual to successfully develop his or her web based pipe dream into a full fledged online Internet marketing empire.

The path to future passive income riches definitely crosses through the Internet and through search engines like Google, but the path is fraught with competition and lonely times. It is possible to make some decent side income on the web, but the vast majority will never reach the online income needed to sustain a full time blogging position. That’s just reality. For the masses who think it’s easy to slap up a simple make money online Wordpress blog and generate millions of hits instantly, resulting in substantial Google Adsense revenue, they are wrong. It easy to start out as a part time blogger as the barriers to entry are very low, but it’s hard to make a true full time living out of it.

5) Teacher – Working as a teacher is one of the noblest and most honorable jobs out there, but in terms of financial and perhaps even personal rewards, it is sorely lacking. Like stay at home moms, teachers are grossly underpaid for their efforts and the invaluable influence and steerage they have on the next generation of children and students. The thought of being allowed to take entire summers off as a teacher may be tempting, but the reality is that most teachers work during the off season as well – performing summer school work, tutoring, or volunteering their time for education related endeavors. For those that wind up teaching toddlers or grade school students, working as a teacher is akin to working as a full time babysitter. Not only do you have to teach the students something productive, but you also have to deal with their crazy behaviors, emotional outbursts, rebellious attitudes, and sometimes even violent propensities.

I have quite a few female friends who work as junior high and public high school teachers and they frequently seem worn out and utterly exhausted due to their jobs. While most enjoy their work somewhat, many are frustrated at the bureaucracy and the governmental policies that hinder their ability to truly make a difference in the lives of students as a whole. Many of my female teacher friends frequently gripe and complain about the inefficient aftermath of the No Child Left Behind Act and how the governmental policy has forced many of them to waste their time and limited efforts and resources on so-called “hopeless students”. These teachers want to make a difference and help promising students grow to their full potentials, but many of them find their hands hopelessly bound by standardized guideline requirements and expectations. Instead of being able to help gifted and talented students grow to the best of their abilities by giving them the educational attention they need to advance, much of the No Child Left Behind Act efforts are spent trying to discipline and reform issue prone students who refuse to learn at the same speed and pace as classmates in the same age group. Clearly, it’s a broken policy that demands major reform.

Source URL: My List Of The Top 5 Most Overrated Careers and Jobs

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve personally had many unforeseen and unexpected situations spring forth in the last couple of years, and have learned that life comes at you fast. In the last few months, I’ve had to deal with a family health emergency due to the sudden passing of my grandfather which required me to go on emergency leave to fly overseas to be with him. I’ve also had to deal with a significant tax liability bill recently that seemingly came out of no where in the tune of almost $10,000. Most recently, my car suddenly broke down, necessitating me to pay out a good chunk of cash – $80 for an emergency taxi ride, $140 to tow my car to the car dealership for servicing, and an additional $1,200 for the cost of repairing my vehicle’s broken alternator, car battery, and to replace the break pads. All of these sudden expenses are part of the natural course of living but they weren’t expected. Thankfully, I’ve learned to practice what I preach and have been able to maintain sufficient emergency funds to deal with most of my financial emergencies.

Anticipate the Unexpected, and Save Up Enough Money In Readily Accessible Accounts To Cover Several Months Worth Of Living Expenses

There is no hard and fast rule as to how much one needs to have stored away in an emergency fund, but most personal finance bloggers such as myself advocate sufficient liquid savings to survive for at least a few months with no incoming funds. That is, you need sufficient savings to pay for the cost of living in case you are suddenly bed ridden for whatever reason, at least until you can get back on your feet and generate income again. Personally, I keep at least $5,000 cash stored in my bank account for emergency purposes that I try my best to not co-mingle with other investment objectives. That amount of money that I keep aside is designed to handle financial emergencies such as sudden large tax bills, health related injuries or medical bills, emergency car repair, and even the lack of income due to unanticipated unemployment. While some financial advisers advocate earmarking one’s backup emergency fund savings to cover only truly emergency living expenses, I personally take a broader approach and use my  emergency fund money as a monetary buffer for various out of the norm, over the limit type expenses that include necessary car repair charges and unplanned vacation trips. Of course, I make a very strong effort to rapidly replenish the funds as soon as the temporary financial emergency crunch subsides.

So what should we consider as ideal assets for emergency fund planning purposes? Obviously the best sources are ones that are very liquid, that earn interest, that imposes no penalties or interest charges for withdraw, and those that are easily accessible and able to be withdrawn at a moment’s notice preferably in cash money form or equivalent. The most liquid form would clearly be money stored in a piggy bank or bills stashed under your mattress, but with bank branches located everywhere and interest generating accounts easily accessible through the Internet and 24 hour ATM machines, bank related holding accounts are the supreme form of emergency fund savings. Such bank related accounts and assets would include checking accounts, savings accounts, certain forms of laddered CD’s, and money market accounts. The recommended emergency fund storage solution for most people would be to keep at least 3-6 months worth of living income stored in a high yield savings account or money market account. Bank savings and money market accounts (not to be confused with broker based money market funds) are ideal for emergency fund saving purposes. They offer not only high interest earning opportunities but they also provide instant account access, allowing funds to be withdrawn quickly for emergency situations.

While it’s nearly unanimous that putting your money in a high interest savings account is the best way to save and contribute to an emergency fund, there is much greater debate when it comes to two other commonly used forms of emergency funding – money invested in the stock market, and credit cards (specifically 0% credit cards that offer introductory 0% APR interest for balance transfers).

Using Your Stocks, Mutual Funds, or Retirement Savings As Your Emergency Fund Is A Bad Idea

Personally, I have used my brokerage account as my emergency fund before, however I highly advise against the practice. Not only is the money not very liquid and difficult to convert to immediate cash to pay off emergency debts, but oftentimes such hasty and immediate sales of stocks and mutual funds end up being very counter productive and detrimental to one’s overall long term investment strategy. Currently I have a decent amount of money invested in various individuals stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds (ETF’s) through my online discount broker. Most of my brokerage money is being invested as part of a long term investment strategy. Having to sell my equity positions immediately and prematurely would disrupt my investment approach and force me to incur unplanned short term capital gains or sustain premature capital losses. Worse yet would be to withdraw funds from one of my retirement investment accounts such as my 401K, Traditional IRA account, or ROTH IRA. Not only would I disrupt the compound interest process that such tax deferred retirement accounts offer, but the withdraw itself may require me to pay out hefty early cash out penalties. While your investment account is obviously there as a final dead end source of money, one should look to other more liquid and less financially detrimental sources of emergency funds.

I Frequently Use No Fee Balance Transfer Credit Cards To Handle Emergency Expenses, But The Practice Is Only Suitable For Those Who Can Responsibly Handle Credit Card Bills and Payments

The use of 0% credit cards and balance transfers is my favorite and most commonly used source of emergency funds. I know this practice is highly frown upon by anti-credit card types, but it’s worked well for me over the years. Of course, the use of credit cards and particularly the practice of carrying large balance transfer balances (even at 0% APR) isn’t suitable for everyone. For those that have a history of overspending, or who have not demonstrated a responsible and mature ability to micromanage credit card balances, payment due dates, and minimum payment requirements, 0% balance transfer credit cards should be avoided. Those that can’t properly handle the use of credit cards and manage the logistics of balance transfers will risk making a terrible balance transfer mistake and wind up getting themselves into deeper financial trouble with credit card debt than they started out with. But for those who know how to make a balance transfer and know how balance transfer credit cards work, they are an invaluable financial tool to have in your emergency fund holster.

Back when I incurred a sudden and very unexpected $10,000 tax bill, I utilized my excellent FICO credit score to secure an attractive balance transfer card offer of 0% APR interest for 12 months. I utilized the 0% credit card’s high credit limit to pay off the $10,000 IRS tax bill and took advantage of the balance transfer card’s one year introductory period to slowly pay off the credit card debt which was basically the same IRS tax debt except in a much more manageable no interest form. Because I was diligent in making regular payments, I eventually paid back the entire liability and incurred absolutely no interest or penalties in the process. Balance transfer credit cards, when used properly, can help get you through such tough times and offer you a readily available source of interest free funds when you need them the most.

Of course, if the sudden financial emergency is quite substantial and the amount owed greatly exceeds what you anticipate being able to cover within the balance transfer card’s introductory rate period of 6-12 months or longer depending on whether you can keep rolling the balance onto a new 0% balance transfer credit card offer, I would suggest using something like a low interest balance transfer credit card for the life of the loan instead. While you’ll be paying a little bit more with a low interest balance transfer, at least the payments are predictable and you can take your time making regular payments towards paying off the bill without worrying that interest charges will drastically spike after the promo period is over.

Source URL: Do Credit Cards and Stocks Make Up Your Emergency Fund Savings?

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

For the last few days I’ve been a pretty sad fellow. Not only did I feel isolated and cut off from the real world without convenient home access to the Internet, I haven’t been able to properly update my personal finance blog, nor have I been able to check my email messages, or tend to the operations of any of my online passive income businesses. On a normal weekday I usually receive close to 50 emails a day from a variety of personal and business related sources. By the time my Internet service was finally restored, I was greatly backlogged and had major catching up to do.

I Never Realized How Much I Relied and Depended On Having Home Based Internet Access, Until It Was Suddenly Taken Away From Me

I used to feel this way about TV, but I now have a new love – my computer (and the Internet service it provides me). When my precious Internet is gone, I feel crippled. This is not the first time I’ve experienced an Internet outage due to loss of power, but it’s the first time I realized how much I depended on my broadband Internet service at home. In the past, whenever my cable Internet service was knocked out, I’d simply access my backup laptop’s wireless signal manager and search for one of my random neighbor’s unsecured wireless signal to piggy back off of. Oftentimes I would get lucky and find one subscribed to a different broadband Internet provider that still had active service. While the majority of the stray wireless signals were properly password protected, a few were left publicly accessible. However, as the importance of securing one’s wireless router from unwanted intrusion has picked up steam, I find that most signals today are properly secured and inaccessible to strangers like myself. Particularly in a condo complex such as mine that’s populated by mostly tech savvy young adults and families, finding an unsecured wireless signal to temporarily piggy back off of is proving more difficult nowadays.

Since I’ve been working from home for the last few months, I’m not able to access the web through an alternate location such as an office workspace. So for the last few days during the outage, I visited my local library to get my Internet fix and to keep tabs on my email messages the best I could. Due to usage limits of an hour per day on the computers at my public county library, I wasn’t able to fully respond to all messages during each sitting and frequently had to do the bare minimum when it came to managing my online finances and keeping track of all my wheelings and dealings. Since I’ve adopted the practice of going all electronic and paperless and have converted all my paper bills into e-billing and automatic debit payments, not having immediate home based access to the Internet puts me in an incredibly inconvenient position. It’s a hopeless and powerless feeling when you’re unable to properly manage and access important aspects of one’s personal and financial life in real time. Especially since I am currently managing a major balance transfer credit card arbitrage, not having online account access makes it difficult for me to keep tabs on monthly due dates and stay on top of my minimum payments. If I’m not careful with online due dates, I could easily unintentionally commit a tragic balance transfer mistake and ultimately face terrible repercussions. It’s been so long since I’ve performed paper or phone banking that I’m not even sure how it’s done anymore exactly or where to locate my backup paperwork. I’m simply so used to doing everything online these days.

We’ve Become An Extremely Technology and Internet Dependent Generation

The no-Internet experience left me amazed and somewhat alarmed at how much my life has grown so reliant on the availability of the Internet. While it’s only a single form of technology, it’s a mode of communication and source of information that I’ve become extremely dependent upon. It’s interesting how only about a decade ago, no one had even heard of Google, Yahoo, Mapquest, or CNN.com. Back in the Internet-less caveman days of the early 90’s, we relied on non electronic forms of communication and information gathering. Before the Internet, people relied on daily newspaper deliveries for their written news, people purchased hard compact discs for their music, paper maps were used to plot directions, and people actually obtained background information on a variety of common topics by turning to hardcover encyclopedias.

Today, people rely on CNN.com, NYTimes.com, Yahoo news, and even online blogs to get their daily news. People order songs individually from online vendors like iTunes. People use online websites like Mapquest or Google maps, or utilize handheld GPS devices to easily and automatically get directions to where they want to go. Nowadays, the old volumes of encyclopedias have become extinct as all forms of text and multimedia data have been compiled and stored onto easy to carry around storage disks, or have been uploaded onto online information repositories like Wikipedia. As a testament to its breadth, the Internet is even changing the way we order pizzas now. Today, the trend of ordering freshly made pizzas online in real time through vendors such as Papa John’s is growing rapidly. The Internet has essentially phased out the clutter generated by paper documents, menus, and voluminous booklets.

The Internet Is Replacing The Cell Phone and Cable TV As The Technology We Can Least Afford To Do Without

But with this great reliance comes the dangers as evidenced by how out of place I became as soon as this important technology was taken away from me. Today, with the Internet having enveloped and dominated our day to day lives, and high speed cable and DSL broadband having greatly expanded the media content we can now receive, we can barely function now without this important service. I know I can’t.

Without full Internet access for the last week or so, I became handicapped and only partially functional. In fact, I dare to say that not having access to the Internet was astronomically worse than not having my mobile phone or even not having a fully functional cable TV service. Both cellular phone and television service can be easily replaced and compensated by the power of the web. There are easy ways to make local, national, and even international phone calls for free using a computer and the Internet, and I can easily communicate with my friends and family through instant messaging or via social networks such as Facebook or Myspace. There are also plenty of free online shared videos on YouTube and daily updated news videos on the major news network websites that can replace the lack of TV service. But there is simply no duplicate or substitute for a non working Internet.

The Internet is so pervasive, it’s hard to know what life would be like if it ever disappeared. It’s a wonderful and powerful tool that has changed the way we interact, communicate, and live our lives, but at the same time it makes us very technologically dependent and vulnerable. We are more susceptible to critical financial and societal collapses from computer viral outbreaks or electrical infrastructure disruptions than ever before. Some say it has made us as a society more distant and anonymous to each other, but I disagree. I think it’s greatly improved our lives and has allowed us to reach out and touch others in a way not possible before. We can only hope that technology can continue to defy the elements of mother nature (thunderstorms) and adequately keep up with this never ending appetite for electronic convenience and digital information. Such electrical and service outages as I experienced this week mustn’t happen again. I just can’t bear to be without Internet access for too long. Things just don’t seem to run right or smoothly when I am offline for extended periods of time.

Source URL: Internet Service Is More Important To Me Than Phone or Cable TV

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Cooking and Preparing a Meal At Home Isn’t Easy For Busy Single Guys (Or Gals) On The Go Who Lack Speedy Cooking Skills

While I’m sure most amateur Iron Chefs out there may simply suggest that I take the effort to go buy groceries regularly and learn to cook home meals for myself, I’m also fairly sure most of the individuals that would suggest that are either married, or have jobs that allow them to spend time grocery shopping and cooking actual complete meals. Much of my life is on the go and oftentimes I simply don’t have the time to buy the ingredients needed to cook proper meals on a regular basis. If I had a family, a wife, and kids, I might be more motivated to do so, but when it’s just one person, it just doesn’t seem as cost or time efficient to do so. I did try cooking for a while, but each meal took too much time and oftentimes the vegetables that I purchased for use later expired by the time I got around to using them all. I have been told by friends and family that I’m very much the stereotypical single bachelor in his late 20’s – adequately knowledgeable about financial and technological matters, but absolute butterfingers in the kitchen. While my long term food strategy is to marry a girl who knows how to cook like a pro and keep me well fed with hot meals, my short term meal solution is to continue to find shortcut ways to assemble a reasonable balance between speed, taste, and nutrition.

I’ve tried the sandwich route, eating cheap ramen, frozen pizza, Chinese dumplings, and even cooking steak in the oven, but the truth of the matter is that none of these meal choices are remotely healthy. All they do is increase my sodium and saturated fat intake, thereby increasing my blood pressure count and making me feel sluggish, as well as causing me to grow a very slight belly pooch. Most instant food products contain high fat, high sodium, lots of calories, and offer little nutritional value in return. Even the common lunch meats that many commentators seem to speak so glowingly about are actually very unhealthy as they are quite high in sodium, fat content, and artificial preservatives.

Eating Vegetarian Meatless Burgers and Food Products Is My New Quick and Healthy Food Solution

However, recently I discovered a culinary lifesaver for single guys like myself – Boca burgers, from Kraft Foods! Actually, the terminology should probably be – vegetarian prepackaged frozen foods. As a little side clarification, I’m no anti-meat PETA fanatic. I’m a hearty beef, pork, and fish eater, who enjoys a nice juicy medium well done steak or hamburger patty off the barbecue grill as much as the next guy. While I do love the taste of genuine meat, I can still appreciate the overall health benefits of vegetarian food products that are often vegetable, grain, and soy protein based. While I’m not a health nut, I do try my best to focus on healthier foods when I can by increasing protein and fiber intake while limiting saturated fat, processed sugar, and sodium consumption.

One particular ingredient that is frequently found in vegetarian imitation meat products like the Boca food line is soy protein. Soy is a very healthy ingredient most commonly found in tofu, and is usually more nutritious and high in fiber than most meat products. While I love burgers, cutting down on red meat has been said to have appreciable health benefits, as over-consumptions has been tentatively linked to higher risk levels of colon cancer. Since I’m a pretty thin guy with a high metabolism, I don’t usually pay attention to caloric nutritional content, but I do pay extra notice to sodium, fat, and nutritional fiber percentages. The last time I had my physical exam and complete blood work done, my doctor advised me to consume more fiber. While I was otherwise very healthy, she suggested that I could benefit from an increased consumption of certain grains and vegetables high in dietary fiber. My purpose of eating vegetarian inspired burgers and sandwich products is to cut down on saturated fat and unhealthy ingredients of most other forms of prepackaged food, but do so in a way that is speedy and efficient. Even so-called healthier meat products like extra lean ground beef can only cut down the saturated fat content by so much. Veggie patties tend to contain less fat and much fewer calories – perfect for those who are weight and health conscious.

Boca and Other Vegetarian Food Products Require A Taste Compromise, But I think It’s Worth The Nutritional Benefits

While I’ll probably never quite give up the decadence of meat, I’ve grown to enjoy the taste of most vegetarian dishes. I’ve dined and eaten at very good vegetarian restaurants and cafes before. Many of the best vegetarian places are uniquely skilled at creating dishes that closely mimic the distinctive flavor of meat products but with all the nutritional benefits of soy and veggie ingredients. In downtown Washington D.C. near the Farragut North metro station where I work, there is a Korean, Asian fusion vegetarian cafe called Java Green that I often frequent. They serve the best vegetarian sandwiches and even die hard meat lovers enjoy them.

However, you don’t have to dine out to get vegetarian food. Easily found in your common supermarket are extensive lines of Boca and vegetarian food products in the frozen foods section near the ice cream, tater tots and frozen pizzas. The great thing about these meatless Boca products is that they come in a wide selection of concoctions, from organic meatless burger patties, to meatless sausages, meatless lasagnas, to even meatless tacos. The company really tries to disguise the vegetarian nature by creating imitation flavor. While the meatless products will never truly fool meat connoisseurs into believing they are really biting into a hunk of meat, for some of the burger products, they actually do a pretty good job of substitution.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell you’re really eating a vegetarian burger patty. When you stick the Boca veggie pattie between two slices of whole wheat burger buns, insert a layer of iceberg lettuce, add an extra tomato slice, slab on some wasabi horseradish, and squirt on a dab of low sodium ketchup, if you’re not paying attention, you could easily get fooled – not quite, but almost. The burgers even come in a variety of purportedly different flavors – including flame grilled, and roasted onion (although they all tasted the same to me). For those who like hot dogs, Boca even offers a nice line of meatless sausages and hot dog products.

While Boca from Kraft is probably the most well known vegetarian frozen food brand, there are also several competitors as well, such as Dr. Praeger, Morning Star Farms, and Gardenburger. However, I personally like Boca brands the best since I think they do the best job of re-creating the meaty flavor of real meat in their vegetarian products. The others, particularly Gardenburger seem to be geared towards the hardcore vegetarians as they are much more “vegetably flavored”. Gardenburger products contain more grains and vegetables – hence the more veggie, and less meaty taste. Gardenburger is not the best when it comes to recreating imitation meat flavor. Their vegetarian buffalo wings are terrible – I’m convinced they simply slapped some tofu soy concentrate together and compressed it together to give it the denser consistency of buffalo chicken meat (tastes nothing like real chicken however). I’m only a soft core, part time vegetarian so I’m not as into the pure vegetarian burger experience – I prefer vegetarian products that do a better job of imitating meat dishes, like Boca. Brands like Dr. Praeger, Morning Star Farms, and Gardenburger would probably be better suited for real vegetarians or vegans who want the true vegetarian experience without the imitation meat flavoring.

Nutrition Comparison Between Boca Vegetarian Meatless Burger and The Common Meat Patty

Below I’ve provided the Nutrition Facts for both your standard Boca burger patty (on the left) and your standard McDonald’s Big Mac Burger (on the right). Keep in mind that the Big Mac is not even the fast food chain’s least healthy meal option. Compare the caloric count, total fat content, as well as the sodium and sugar numbers. Scary isn’t it?

Boca Burger (Roasted Onion)	McDonald’s Big Mac Burger

Comparing the nutritional facts of Boca vegetarian burgers to that of your ordinary McDonald burger, the healthier choice is pretty clear. While Boca’ll never be perfect substitutes for meat products, once you get accustomed to the taste, they can serve as quick and easy healthy food choices. It’s just a matter of heating them up in the microwave at home and pairing up with some bread.

Source URL: A Healthy Meal Option For Guys Who Can’t Cook – Boca Veggie Burgers

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I recently read a very interesting online article from an English (United Kingdom) website today called the Times Online (I know it’s a well known site for British people, but I’ve never heard of it before). While the views expressed seem to come from a European perspective, with some interesting but different English terminology used in the comments section such as “blokes” and “birds” (translation: “guys” and “gals”), much of the opinion piece is also applicable to the American experience. The article addressed the familiar but sometimes complicated question of why today’s modern men seem reluctant, burdened, or feel socially awkward when it comes to talking about their moms or when it comes to actually calling them on a regular basis.

Today was Mother’s Day so I did manage to contact my mother who lives overseas with my dad to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. Of course she was quite surprised but happy to hear my message (she is my mom after all), but I think she mostly enjoyed the rarity of it all. I can’t remember the last time I ever gave her a present or anything on Mother’s day (during elementary school maybe), but I think on some level she understands that grown up sons at some point in their lives must exercise that desired financial and social independence from their parents, particularly from their moms. While I do love my mom to death, it is true – there is also something very unattractive and rather unhealthy for a man who is too clingy with his mother and refuses to cut the proverbial umbilical cord.

In General, Boys, Men, and Sons Have A Primitive But Instinctively Driven Desire To Seek Social and Financial Independence From Their Parental Guardians

This common practice and social phenomenon of sons never calling their mothers and only doing so when they actually need something from them seems to be quite prevalent. Haven’t you seen the recent Comcast Digital Voice mother’s day commercial? The commercial was advertising the company’s new digital phone service and was encouraging all viewers, but men in particular, to sign up with Comcast phone access this mother’s day so they could give their mothers a call and wish them well. The funny commercial had scenes of mothers of all countries and languages clutching phones to their ears and systemically fainting to the ground in disbelief as the voices of their sons sounded through the ear pieces. The humorous punch line is that sons never call, thus when they do, it creates such a monumental shock to the mothers that it leaves them dumbfounded.

But the truth of the matter is that most of the male friends I know, myself included rarely call or contact our moms. The more financially and socially independent men tend to be more self reliant and don’t feel the need to call their moms on a daily, weekly or even semi regular basis to talk about nothing in particular. If you asked me when was the last time that I actually called my mom or either parent over the phone, and not counting the times they called me first, I would have to offer you an embarrassed guilty look and say over 6 months to a 1 year ago. Ever since I became financially independent after graduate school and no longer needed to beg my parents for money, I’ve relied on my own abilities to eek out a living. Since then I’ve learned to take care of myself, gotten used to setting my own schedule, arranging my own meals, and keeping myself out of trouble. Everytime my parents call (especially when it’s my mom), I innately feel like I just reverted back to a childlike state in which I am still nagged and coddled by my guardians. Every time my dad calls he always wants to chat about my job or where I’m going with my life professionally and occupationally. But everytime the phone gets handed off to my mom, she starts chatting incessantly and repetitively about my diet, what I eat, what I shouldn’t eat, the importance of needing to cook for myself, and my sleeping habits. The nagging about my living lifestyle could seriously go on and on for hours if I didn’t conclude it at some point. Everytime I talk to them I feel like I’m in elementary school again, but the fact of the matter is I’m not. I’m a grown adult, with a full time job, who is paying the rent, taking care of the bills, and fending for myself as a man should.

The Social Difference Between How Grown Up Sons and Daughters Treat Their Parents

Sexist, stereotypical or not, I think most girls and women are closer to their mothers than boys and men are. Daughters simply are more driven to call their mothers on a regular basis and chat about random things like their eating habits, living habits, who they are seeing, or whether they are happy or not. It’s probably the inherent differences in male and female nature that explain why they treat their parents so differently once they’ve left the family nest. Perhaps women are simply more inclined to pick up the phone and call their moms or anyone else for that matter due to the lifetime motherly bond between them that’s never broken or altered. Maybe it’s how we are molded when we are young – daughters are generally raised to become nurturers, gatherers, and future mothers, while men are usually raised to become grown up hunters, and caretakers of their future brood. When I pick up the phone, I call a person for a specific purpose and not just to shoot the breeze. I always find it strange when some people call for no reason at all then just to chat.

When I was young, I always saw emotional reliance and financial dependence on my parents as a tremendous weakness. My view was that I would never become my own man until I could break away from them and financially fend for myself. I still hold that view today and see single friends in their early and mid 30’s who are still living at home with their moms and dads as pretty strange. I understand there are key differences in certain European, Asian, and Indian cultures whereby sons are expected to live at home with the parents until they marry, but I’m viewing all of this mostly through the classic American perspective that encourages independence, especially when it comes to males. I love my mom very much and she’s done a wonderful job of letting her two sons go off into the world on their own, but I know many other moms out there have trouble letting their little boys become men. It’s important to keep your little solider safe when he is young, but at some point you have to kick him out of the nest for his own good. The best thing my mom ever did for me was to let me be, and let me make mistakes and learn on my own.

Personally, I think it’s natural for men to want to break away from their mom’s embrace at some point. It’s all part of the growing up and rite of passage experience for males. How is he expected to one day take care of his own family if he cannot assert his own independence and take care of himself before letting others help take care of him. Besides, what woman would want a man who incessantly clings onto his mother? I know some women out there claim that they desire a man who loves his mom and treats her well, but obviously what women wouldn’t? Being kind and treating one’s mom well is one thing, but being a mama’s boy and always calling the mom to get her advice and approval is a little strange when the guy starts to reach his 30’s, 40’s or even 50’s. Living at home as a single male and having your mom still cook your food, do your laundry, and pick up after you just seems extremely childish. I have no problem with a girl or daughter calling her mom regularly after marriage, but when I hear about men who constantly feel the need to call their moms to get approvals or give updates, I simply find them to be very wimpy, for a lack of a better word. My mom will always be my mom and she will always have a special place in my personal hierarchy of women, but at some point, sons have to grow up and join the world of men and inevitably leave their moms behind to a certain degree. However, I will always treat my mom with love and respect – but not as a little boy, but as a grown up, financially independent man.

Source URL: Explaining Why Financially Independent Men Rarely Call Their Mothers

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

As you can tell, I am not too fond of tow truck drivers. My disdain also carries over to others in the parking profession, including but not limited to opportunistic car booters and sneaky meter maids who dart from car to car with their little hand held tri-corder gadgets, tucking tickets under windshield wipers and escaping before the driver comes back and catches them in the act. While these parking ticketers bug me somewhat, they don’t irritate me as much as tow truck drivers. Perhaps it’s because parking ticket fines are usually not as financially hefty or as personally offensive as getting your car manhandled and forcibly hauled away by a stranger. Most of the time, I see tow truck drivers as nothing but conniving, predatory, and opportunistic vultures who feast on the vulnerable and distracted plight of unsuspecting drivers.

Just Watching Others Get Their Cars Towed In Their Absence Irritates Me

A few years ago I lived near a shopping center located next to a major Metro subway station. Every morning as I walked to the station to take the train to work, I witnessed the daily spectacle of tow truck sharks preying on those who failed to notice the no parking warning signs for non patrons. At the start of every morning rush, like clockwork precision, several red tow trucks would park themselves in partially hidden locations throughout the shopping center parking lot, embed themselves among the other cars, and lie in wait for subway commuters to improperly park their cars and walk away. Oftentimes as I walked by their tow trucks, I could see the drivers eating their breakfast sandwiches behind the steering wheel as they waited. As soon as the commuters had walked out of sight and demonstrated that they weren’t parking their cars so they could shop at a plaza store, the tow trucks would take turns swooping in, jacking up each vehicle one by one, and speeding away with their precious cargo like a thief in the night – racking up an instant $150 towing fee for each car, plus an extra $25 per day service charge for the cost of daily impounding. What a lucrative but conniving racket.

The livelihood of tow truck drivers is based on their ability to successfully hide in the bushes with their getaway vehicles and lie in wait for hapless drivers to make a parking mistake or slip up. In their eyes, a breach is a breach – if you park past a certain white line, that means you’re going to get towed – there’s little mercy. When that happens, it’s almost a given that at least one tow truck vulture will pop out from the shadows and holler “Gotcha!” as he gleefully impounds your vehicle with cranes and hauls it away to the junkyard. I don’t really care much for their self righteous claims that they are simply doing their jobs. They purport to follow the law and abide by no parking signs, but the reality is that oftentimes these warnings signs are not always sufficiently clear, evident, or easily understandable. The whole towing business is absolutely ripe for unchecked, unaccountable, and abusive practices.

A&E’s Parking Wars Reality Television Show Tries To Humanize The Entertaining Lives Of Tow Truck Drivers, Car Booters, and Meter Maids – But They Still Come Off As Jerks, Albeit Funny Jerks

I guess the world of reality TV shows has finally come down to this – an entire show devoted to the people we all love to hate. Yes, they get yelled at, cursed at, bird flipped, and harassed, but apparently they have feelings too as well as stories to tell. The A&E Channel has released a not-so-new anymore show called Parking Wars that follows the daily working lives of parking meter maids, tow truck drivers, and grunts who make a living from slapping indestructible boots onto vehicle wheels. For those who’ve always wanted to know what it’s like to work on the seedy side of the parking business, this show does a good job of telling it like it is – through the daily lenses of the ticketers and the towers.

While the show infuses the parking meter maids and tow truck drivers with some personality and offers a glimpse into their gritty service with a smile lifestyle, they still come off as predatory and opportunistic hounds who howl with delight when they successfully snag and trap a potential victim – a person who probably was simply at the wrong spot at the wrong time. It’s clear these vultures get a kick from handing out tickets and I’m sure they feel a rush of superior adrenaline when they get to flex their powerful authority by taking away some one’s valuable vehicular possession. Street signs confusing or yellow no parking lines not easily apparent? Tough luck! Ticket and tow, and ask questions later – for they are the law. After all, what is the ordinary layperson going to do – spend thousands of hopeless dollars and file a lawsuit over a $200 towing charge or a $300 booted car fee?

In an episode of Parking Wars, the camera trailed one particular meter maid as she ducked behind a building corner and waited for the right opportunity to pounce – taking a few moments to bask in the inquisitive glory of the A&E camera crew. It was 3:55 p.m. on a weekday and she was waiting near a downtown city street that was close to rush hour time. According to warning signs, street parking was prohibited at the start of rush hour, designated at 4:00 p.m. The parking girl chatted away about how much of a rush she got from ticketing people and the excitement of giving them out. As soon as her watch ticked 4:00 p.m., she eagerly dashed out to begin her ticketing raid, working her way from one side of the street and down the row of parked cars that were now illegally parked on the street. In the distance the camera crew could see a few worried drivers run towards their vehicles, trying to beat the parking violation clock. Some successfully ducked into their vehicles and drove off before their cars were ticketed while others beat it only by a few minutes. One driver who received a ticket only a few seconds before he arrived back protested. However, the parking meter maid was unrelenting and refused to rescind tickets already written.

In one case we had two individuals who verbally protested their ticket concerns to the meter maid over a broken and easily missed no parking sign that was literally dangling upside down. However, their complaints fell on deaf ears as the quota driven ticketing attendant offered no sympathy. Those drivers who parked in the spot guarded by the upside down, broken sign perhaps had a very legitimate lack of proper notice defense. A reasonable driver would not have been able to read the signs as they may not have been readily apparent to a reasonable person. I recently experienced a similar parking ticket scenario. I received a small parking ticket in a neighborhood where there were no visible signs denoting the side street I was parked on as restricted parking. While there were signs elsewhere, there were none readily apparent where I had parked. Luckily I had my digital camera on me at the time, which I used to take photographs of my parked vehicle and the surrounding signs and street shots to prove my case. However, other people are not always as fortunate and most are at the authoritative whims and mercy of parking ticketers.

It’s A Rude And Dirty Job But Somebody Has To Do It… I Suppose

Yes they are financial predators that profit from the absent-mindedness of hapless drivers but I suppose they do serve a legitimate societal purpose. None of them are ever going to win a popularity contest but on some level I suppose they are just dutifully doing their job. After all, some do come to our rescue and save drivers who are stuck in a ditch or have a flat tire on the side of the road, and I’m sure some do a great job of clearing away road blockages and making our highways and local streets more passable. A tow truck did come to my rescue when I spun off the icy highway and into a ditch in upstate New York during one particularly bad winter storm last year. Occasionally, commendable credit is due.

But my biggest concern with the parking authority is that oftentimes, drivers are powerless to protect themselves against improper tows, unfair tickets, or even against scrape and scratch damages to our vehicles caused by improper and negligent towing techniques. Oftentimes it’s simply your word against theirs. I suppose the only real solution is to just stay out of their way if possible. Follow street signs to the letter, timely feed the meters, and don’t park in a spot if you have any doubts. That way, none of us will ever have to learn our parking lessons the hard way and find ourselves as entertaining sideshow victims on Parking Wars.

Source URL: “Parking Wars” Reinforces Why I Dislike Tow Truck Drivers

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I hate living, visiting, or even driving near cities with bad traffic. Unfortunately I happen to live near a major metropolitan hub that Forbes Magazine views as the city with the worst overall traffic in the United States – Washington D.C. I was rather taken back when I read that since I had always assumed the smoggy Southern California city of Los Angeles claimed that title, but then the dubious distinction doesn’t exactly surprise me. The D.C. Beltway certainly deserves that title as the highway is always filled to the brim with honking drivers.

Why does the local suburban crawl population in our area keep expanding every year? It only adds to the ever growing traffic congestion problem in the region where I live and grew up. Just because the public schools in suburban Maryland and Virginia are some of the best in the nation and the federal government places the vast majority of its jobs in the city doesn’t mean everyone have to move here. Why not move to say – neighboring West Virginia or the Appalachian area of Southern Virginia? I hear they have plenty of empty space and farm land that can use some occupying. But in all seriousness, the traffic in our nation’s capital is utterly insane and spiraling out of control. It is absolutely abnormal and I refuse to accept this dysfunctional bumper to bumper driving as the price of living in a popular metro region.

The American Love For Driving Is Getting Out Of Control And Needs To Be Reigned In

I have friends who spend hours and hours in traffic everyday and see the routine as perfectly normal – they’re simply used to it. When I ask them how they deal with the emotional agony, and wear and tear to their vehicles caused by repetitive stop and go traffic every morning and afternoon, they simply shrug and say they’re used to it. Most seem to have accepted this lot in life as simply part of the personal daily sacrifice needed to live in a city that offers great schools, great malls, great culture, and great jobs. Unfortunately I’m not as accepting of this plight as they are. Perhaps it’s because I’m a life-long public transportation commuter. Since college, I’ve only commuted by car to work a few times before. The vast majority of the time I take public transportation through the D.C. Metro – our underground subway train system. D.C. Metro is very convenient and reaches most of the major employment centers in the city. Fare prices are reasonable and the subway cars are generally well maintained. However, many people simply refuse to give up driving.

It’s truly a national obsession – Americans are infatuated and in love with their cars. Most refuse to give up their love of driving and insist on clogging up the highways with their one occupant vehicles every morning. They insist on being able to enjoy the convenience of commuting to work on their own and see driving their cars as the ultimate liberating American experience. But how liberating is it really when you are stuck in rush hour traffic for a 2 and a half hour commute each way for a total of 5 hours, when the total back and forth commute should have taken only an hour?

Back when I was a child (I sound like an old guy – but I’m only in my late 20’s), my family only owned a single car – a compact red Toyota Corolla, for a family of 4 people. It was occasionally inconvenient to share just one vehicle, but we managed well and relied primarily on public subway transportation. Nowadays, families have multiple cars and even children are now getting their own. With the hyper-consumerism mentality of today’s younger generation, it’s almost expected that each teen gets to have his or her own ride to drive around in. In some households, the number of vehicles, motorcycles, sport utility vehicles (SUV)’s, trucks, and recreation vehicles even dwarfs the number of individuals that make up the household as people nowadays own accessory vehicles such as fancy sports cars for special driving occasions. Eventually, all of these vehicles end up on the highways at the same time – stretching road handling capacity to the breaking point.

Yesterday I needed to run some errands during the day in an area inaccessible by subway so I decided to take my car – bad mistake. I hopped into my car and proceeded to my destination. On my way back home, I didn’t realize it was afternoon rush hour until it was too late. By the time I had winded onto the 495 Beltway there was no turning back – the die had been cast and I had become a member of the afternoon herd. I was only a mere 15 miles from home, but my slow chug through heavy rush hour traffic took 2 hours. The constant tapping of the break pedal was frustrating to no end.

Thankfully, High Gas Prices Will Help Control The Number Of Future Cars On The Road And Thin Out Rampant Traffic Jams

That’s why even with today’s spiraling and increasing gas prices at the pump, there’s a silver lining. With higher oil and gas prices will inevitably come a shift and change in American driving habits. The higher cost of driving will force many to think twice about storming onto the roads, and force solitary drivers who commute every day to work by themselves to buddy up and join a car pool. For those who absolutely must commute by themselves, this will require them to re-evaluate about where they need to go and plan ahead to maximize their gas usage. Higher gas prices will help eliminate traffic congestion and allow those who really need to drive to have a better and more efficient transportation experience. Yes it will financially affect me as well, but the price to pay will be worth the greatly improved driving experience.

In most major national and international metropolitan areas such as New York City, Tokyo, and in most densely populated Asian and European cities, city inhabitants have adapted well to a public transportation lifestyle. Many who live in traffic clogged cities don’t even own cars and get around fine on foot or via public subway trains and buses. There really is no reason why we must all be driving around huge clunking vehicles when a smaller vehicle option would do just as well. I’m looking forward to the day when higher gas prices eliminate most of the hulking SUV’s from the road and replace them with tiny two-man cars or even personal Segway scooters.

Of course, for such major driving and oil consumption habits to change, gas prices would have to increase and surge even more – double or triple from their current levels to maybe $8.00 or $10.00 a gallon. I’m sorry car lovers and driving enthusiasts – but I’m secretly rooting against the development of alternative fuels and the adoption of electricity, hydrogen, and ethanol powered cars. All they’ll do is make it cheaper to drive and substantially increase the number of drivers already on the road. In the alternative, if cheaper fuels are developed, I’m all in favor of some type of driving tax or federal traffic toll. Something needs to be done to reduce the number of cars overflowing our roads, choking up our infrastructure, and creating perpetual bottlenecks.

Source URL: One Great Potential Benefit Of Higher Gas Prices – Less Traffic

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Over the last few years, I’ve learned to incorporate blogging and online websites such as my personal finance and frugality blog and a few other attorney based blogs (I prefer not to reveal them here) into my tentative business goal of one day truly working for myself and ending the cycle of exchanging hours for money. While my online sites are certainly growing rapidly and exceeding my own expectations, since none of my non-traditional income streams have yet to fully develop and mature, I still have to rely on traditional employment means to support myself. Thus as much as I’d like to, I still cannot abandon my day job entirely. However, that doesn’t mean I must walk the age-old career oriented path that most people resort to following. With my college and law school degree already in hand, rather than working the law firm path, I’ve chosen to tap into my entrepreneurial spirit and work temporary positions to fund the growth of my home based businesses.

Unless Your Day Time Job Is Working As A Full Time Computer Guy Or Computer Gal, Finding Extra Time To Work On Your Online Side Ventures Is Difficult

While some personal finance and online commentators seem able to juggle their personal full time jobs with their blogging business duties, I’ve found that certain jobs are particularly difficult to juggle, particularly if you are walking the career oriented path. In my case, working as a full time practicing attorney would leave little time left for business blogging projects on the side. The hourly and work pressures (of office hours and take home assignments) would simply be too demanding. It’s certainly not a coincidence that the vast majority of online bloggers, and particularly personal finance bloggers tend to be predominantly computer network administrators, software engineers, or computer programmers – individuals with continuous access to computers and ample blogging time throughout the day while on the job. Unfortunately, most employees of other professions don’t have this same flexibility and luxury of ready-access to the computer that the computer techies have. That’s why for those individuals working in the legal, education, or even health care field, working full time jobs on a contractual, short term basis may be the only manageable way to generate livable income, but still have the vacant time to develop a side business that stands a chance to grow into a viable income replacement project one day.

Working A Temp Job Makes Devoting Time To Developing Home Based Businesses Possible

Since working as a full time temp worker in the contract attorney field, I’ve noticed that the working lifestyle, the flexible hours, and the non-stressful schedule of the temping profession absolutely compliments and suits individuals like me who want the ample time after work to devote to side projects. The fact of the matter is that blogging and working as a contract employee on a temporary, non permanent basis actually go quite well together. Trying to build several online and real life businesses takes substantial amounts of extra curricular time – the type of extra time outside of one’s job that those not in the computer field are usually unable to set aside. At the same time, it is not that I want to end up temping for the rest of my life, but I see it as a currently necessary and convenient way to support myself temporarily while building up the core of my side businesses while I am still relatively young in the grand scheme of things.

For those looking to build passive income streams through creating an online website business or running a self employment operation, you may want to give short term and long term temping some serious consideration. I know many would argue that that there is no future in performing temporary work, but personally, I see the same bleakness in permanent jobs that purport to offer job stability, and professional growth prospects. I have seen too many of my friends and acquaintances get badly burned in their professional careers and family life due to complete and over-reliance on their employer’s good graces and whims.

Plus, with self employment and having your own home business, there are a wealth of self employment tax deductions and tax deferred investment options at your disposal – not available to full time employees working for someone else. A few of them include the option to deduct the home office part of your home rental used in the regular course of your trade or business, as well as the ability to capitalize and reduce your taxable income of the portion pertaining to business assets, such as the cost of a business laptop notebook computer. I will discuss the wide variety of self employment tax deductions and financial benefits in a future post.

Source URL: Blogging And Working As A Temporary Contract Employee Go Well Together

Copyright Protected © 2008 Money Blue Book: Personal Finance Blog. All Rights Reserved.