Yearly Archives: 2009

Re-Using Printer Paper At Work

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A few months ago, when I was walking by a fellow prisoner, erh… cube dweller, I noticed that he had a stack of paper that was about 1 foot high.  I was perplexed… what was it for?  So I asked him, he told me it was scrap paper.  I thought that was a pretty good idea.  But wow, 1 foot high… hmmm.

So I decided to build on his idea.  I’ve collected used printer paper (that is in good shape) in a pile like my buddy’s.  But instead of using it just as scrap paper, I decided to use it as a daily log.  Instead of staples, I’ve been using a metal clip to hold the papers together in groups of 5.  Then when I am finished for the week the daily log represents, I punch holes in them and put them in a notebook folder.

Getting more out of used printer paper

Getting more out of used printer paper

After a month, I’ll start to purge them from the folder and throw them in a recycling bin.

-D

Kids Allowance Amount

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I decided to start a weekly allowance for both of my kids after they had their 5th birthday.  I basically decided to keep it simple.  I just give them $1 for each year of age ($5 for my 5-year-old, $9 for my 9-year-old).

Depending on how well I’m doing financially on down the road, I might increase the amounts for both kids once they reach a certain age.  Maybe something like this:

Age Allowance
1 thru 9 $1 for every age year
10 thru 16 $1 per age + $5
16 thru 18/21 $1 per age + $10

So: if my son were 12, then he would get $17 weekly.
if he were 17, then he would get $27 weekly.

I marked “18/21” in the table above, because I haven’t decided yet when to stop providing an allowance to my kids. I might also increase it to $50 once they start college. I’m not sure, It’s still up in the air on that one too.

Update:  My son is now 11 years old as of 2012, but I forgot about the extra five dollars I was going to give him.  Quite honestly though, money has been tight for me lately, so I might delay that increase until he is 13, 14 or 15.  At Age 16, I will make sure he gets the extra $5 plus his age.

Hope you enjoyed my model,

-MR

Investment Losses

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Well, we are finally in the 4th quarter of 2009!  Time to start looking at any losses in our brokerage accounts (this past year was bad for me, too many high beta stock).  Beta is the risk factor the stock is rated at, 1 being average risk, and anything higher than 1 being more risky.

If your losses are greater than you gains, you can take the losses as a deduction against your earned income but only up to $3,000 worth.  The amount over $3,000 will have to be taken against future years gains (or it’s also possible to take it against past years gains, but that’s a bit more tricky).

Hopefully, you don’t have any wash sales (I’ll explain this in a future post)…

As for me, I won’t be taking any losses, at least not this October or November.  Depending on how the market does in December, I might cash some stocks in.  Most likely, I won’t even cash out then either.  I’ll wait until next year to consider losses.  I don’t like to sell low and buy high…

Hopefully, the market and labor market will be back fully back on track sometime in 2010.

-D

Navy Shower

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Showering the Navy way…

 

 

This summer, I started showering the Navy way.  Ironically, I didn’t know it was called that at the time.  I was showering, and thought “Wow, most of the shower water is being wasted and that I could reduce my water usage”.

Here is What I Did:

So I started to soak myself, turn off the water, scrub down, then turn the water back on to wash away the soap and shampoo.  I cut my water consumption by about half.  Later, after I got a rhythm, I was able to cut my water usage by at least 80%.  I’m sure it’s possible to achieve a better percentage, but this was fine for me.

At the time, I thought it was pretty clever and I told one of the older guys at work…  He said “So you took a Navy shower huh”.  I googled it, and apparently, that’s almost exactly what I did.

A Navy shower is one where you:

  • Soak yourself
  • Turn the water off
  • Lather up and scrub
  • Turn the water back on, and rinse
  • Dry

My buddy (a Navy man) told me that the fresh water stored on the ship was a limited supply.  And apparently, to conserve the fresh water, everybody would follow the technique above to save as much water as possible.

Practicing such a technique will:

  1. Save you money (less water waste)
  2. Conserve water (better for the environment)
  3. Keep water hot for the family (nobody likes a cold shower)

What a great way to get more bang for your buck!  You (and your family) will benefit 3 ways all at once.

I don’t practice this on very cold winter days, although, it’s a great way to wake up!  Coffee is overrated anyway… 😉

Another debatable perk is…  After doing this for a while, taking a nice regular hot shower is a treat, almost a luxury.  I now make sure I take a regular shower at least once a week just to reward myself and enjoy it!

Anyway, that’s my 3 cents for the day!

-MR