8.01.2008

Food Bank: A Global Perspective


photo courtesy of PatL

The picture above is the one I started to use for my last post, but the comment attached to it was just too powerful to ignore. Clearly after reading it you will agree that it deserves it's own post. So, at the risk of being called a plagurist, I'm reproducing the entire comment of the person who provided me with the photo I was going to use for that post. There is not a single thing that I can add to what PatL says there.

Here is a link to PatL's photostream on Flickr.

Please be careful the next time you complain of being bored with your eating habits, or claim there's 'nothing' in your fridge to eat.

"Rice and money - mundane things, right? According to the World Bank, 2,700,000,000 people (2.7 billion, nearly half the world's population) live below the poverty line, earning less than $2US per day. And rice is the sole or primary sourced of food for almost half the world's population as well, with estimates of annual consumption ranging as low as 100kg per person.

Not quite 10 oz. of rice per person per day is consumed by half the world's population as their primary form of nourishment.Sources: aDollaraDay and Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations"

$2 per day. And 10oz. of rice per day. That's a budget that NOONE should have to live within! Take a moment and think about how many times you can divide the number 2 into the amount of money you spent today...

@W

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Food Bank: 5 Ways to REALLY Boost Your Food Budget


Photo courtesy of shine_dorydevlin

You've heard yourself say it a time or two... "I cannot possibly cut anything else out of this budget!" But just humor me by going along with this mental exercise.

The biggest and often most overlooked place for savings is your food expenditures. There is no way around the truth in this statement: "You ARE what you EAT."

If you have expensive tastes, your bills will be too. This can quickly be compounded when you are married with no kids, because you will most likely eat what your spouse eats in the evening. So if he/she has a thing for eating out frequently... good luck!

It is with this in mind that I came up with 5 simply profound ways to impact how much money you spend on food. This applies to both your grocery shopping and dining out. If you even try just 2 of these I promise you'll see a noticeable drop in what you spend.

If you don't have time to read each of the 5 points below, I think I can sum them up in one sentence.

Don't spend money buying things that are available for FREE!

While reading these points ask your self how that statement applies. Except for point #3, just don't do it.

1. Drink more WATER

Water is the cheapest most plentiful food resource we have available to us. Usually it can be found for FREE where ever you may be. If 'public water' is just a little more adventurous than you can handle, invest in a filtration method for your home. They can easily be added t your sink, or you can buy various pitchers from Brita or PUR on the cheap.

Drinking water throughout the day will also help you eat less, loose weight, and stay properly hydrated.

2. Buy less COFFEE

I'm not Anti-$tarbuck$ or anything... but $4? Everyday? Plus a pastry or sandwich or CD....

7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, Panera, McDonald's, Seattle's Best, & Bengal Traders (Exxon) are not exempt either... it's a ripoff!

I would venture to say there is not a workplace in America that doesn't offer free coffee and tea. Does it really taste better just cause you paid for it?

3. Stop buying ALCOHOL... period

Literally, It's one of the oldest sayings in the book, (and yes I AM talking about the bible)

"EAT, DRINK, and be MERRY"

It's found in Luke 12:19 (NIV) , but it's not an endorsement for "buying out the bar" as hiphop loves to proclaim. In fact it's the opposite. Let's read it in context:

18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

I just have one thing to say about that...OUCH!

If you drink socially, odds are you pay almost as much per alcoholic drink as you do for your entree... and lets face it, who buys just ONE drink? (Whew, I thank God I don't drink alcohol anymore!)

4. Stick with the Small or Medium sized "Value Meals"

Since the start of the year I've really cut down quite a bit on eating fast food. (It helps to mention that I've completely QUIT drinking soda as well, as this truly makes a difference.) Ah but Wendy's still has a hold on me. Sometimes when standing in line, I hear other people order a #6 (mmm the Homestyle Chicken Breast meal...) but they make one mistake. They order the "Great-Big-Ole-Biggie" size for the soda and fries. When they do this it ends up costing nearly $8 bucks! Then later when I'm eating in the restaurant, I see them toss the half-eaten meal in the trash.

Solution: Stick with the small. I only buy one meal from Wendy's now. The "DoubleStack Attack". It's $3.49 and it's more than enough for me to eat as a lunch meal. I just ask them to add lettuce and tomato (which they do for FREE!) and I've got the equivalent of whatever 'Feature' burger they're offering.

Another tip that I'll throw in for free is to not buy a 'meal' at all and just get the sandwich. I do this when I go to Burger King. I get 2 Whopper Jr's, no cheese. (They charge .40 cents per slice!, which after tax drive the cost up a full dollar.) 2 Whopper Jr's = $2.10 and I'm FULL! Need something to drink with it? Wait till you get home to eat it! I know you have juice/soda at home c'mon.

5. Brown bag it

It's unfashionable, It's borderline miserly, and it can be boring. But it save a whole heckuva lot of money! (and time)

The only con, if you can call it one, is that you have to prepare this ahead of time. But it's time well spent, rather than money spent poorly eh?

I apologize I know this post was a bit lengthy, but as I said if you incorporate just 2 of them you'll see improved results.

God Bless ya,

@W

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7.30.2008

More Improvements to the blog: Tweaking Ad Content


Photo courtesy of hegarty_david


Google Adsense is supposed to allow users to publish ads relevant to the topics of their posts and generate revenue when an ad is clicked ... but so far for me it's been VERY hit or miss. I apologize to anyone who has seen me post on eliminating credit card debt, only to scroll down on the very same page and see an ad claiming "Instant credit approval in 30 seconds, no questions asked!" (Please see the attached photo for an example of the types of ads that were seen in this post: http://atriskliving.blogspot.com/2008/07/tired-of-rejection-consumers-turn-to.html)

Rest assured that I'm working to fine tune the ads that appear on the site to make sure they point to other resources aligned with the moral and spiritual beliefs ascribed to by myself and you, my readers. It's very time consuming to comb thru the various ads placed on each page of the site, but I am doing my best to address this.

Now, with that said, I still want to encourage you to not be affraid of clicking any ad that may interest you because, as I said before, they do provide revenue for the site.

I just wanted to make it known that this is yet another way that you can contribute to the success of this site and it's message, this is not meant as a 'Fundraiser' or 'Money making scam' in any way.

In the near future I plan to do a post explaining exactly how the ad revenue is generated, and explain how it factors into our efforts to eliminate our debt. I think it will be helpful to show you how simple and beneficial this type of tool can be for creating passive income.

Thank you for being a part of our experience!

@W

7.28.2008

How Cycling is Changing My Finances & My Life...


Photo courtesy of .kol tregaskes

I'll be turning 30 in September, and I wanted to do something monumental to celebrate. I was looking for a personal challenge that would both push me and reward me on a number of levels. Somehow cycling has become that challenge for me.

A few years ago when my wife first moved into her condo, we saw 2 mountain bikes (male and female) next to the dumpster with a note on them that read: "Free Bikes, only about 100 miles worth of use ... Enjoy!" So we looked around to make sure this wasn't some sort of setup, and then wheeled them bad boys inside before the person changed their mind! lol

The bikes sat, the tires got flat, and we never ended up riding them until last month.

Around the same time a co-worker of mine who also lives close by, told me how he bikes in to work once or twice a week. He said the health benefits from it made him feel brand new, and that by doing so he saves about $30 in gas per week. ($$Ca-ching$$)

After hearing that, I was sold on the idea... but he went on to explain that it takes him 1 hour and 45 mins. to get to work, and that's just ONE WAY! Also it's about 26 miles from Leesburg to Tyson's Corner... or the distance of a marathon!

Like I said I was already sold on the idea because gas ain't cheap and $30 a week equals $120 a month that can go towards debt... That's a no brainer for a Gazelle Intense dude like myself right?

Yeah, I was sold alright, that is until I got out on the WO&D Trail for the first time. I was overdressed, poorly hydrated, and over-confident. It took me about an hour to go 5 miles my first time out. but it taught me a lesson in preparation. (Click the link to read my wife's excellent article on it) The next time out it took me 30 mins. but it taught me how to efficiently use my gearshift. Each time out I kept learning something new and adding it to my routine and now I can do that same 5 miles in about 15 mins. But while these time improvements were great for a 5 mile distance, they accounted for roughly 10% of the total distance to my goal.

See, It's great to have short-term goals, but it's important to keep in mind how well they are helping you meet your expected goal. This is particularly important to keep in mind when dealing with finances. Yes, it's hard to stop living in the moment and focusing on what this week's check will do for you this week. But at some point I hope you'll ask your self "What do I need to do so that one day I won't need to worry about next week's check being short?" or " When do I want to stop working for my income?" or "When do I want to start saving for my future, retirement, children, or business?".

Short-term goals are great. But they're called 'short-term' for a reason. They are meant to lead to a larger success, and they provide you with the momentum and confidence to do so.

Yesterday, I reached my goal in cycling, I made it all the way to my job in 1 hour and 40 mins. And I achieved this a full month before my birthday! Yes it's a great feat and I'm proud of what I accomplished. But it has now forced my long-term goal to change. See I didn't take into account that once I made it to my goal, I would also have to cycle all the way back home the same day.(I barely had enough energy to make TO my goal lol. You mean to tell me I gotta go BACK?!) So now my next challenge is to be able to make it to work and back home in decent time! But at least all it costs me is a FREE gallon of water per round trip instead of $4 per gallon of gas to drive!

Happy Trails!

@W

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