Author Archives: Money Reasons

About Money Reasons

A offbeat personal finance blogger that comes from the tech world.

Overreaction to Baby Stuck in Washing Machine

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Why are we such negative people?

The latest buzz on the internet was that a baby boy was put into a washing machine as part of a peek-a-boo game with what looks like a teenager or young man putting the baby in the washing machine as part of the game.  The problem was that the man didn’t realize that once the door was shut, the machine started up.

After the washer started up, both the man and the babysitter of the toddler started freaking out!  It was obvious that the accident wasn’t intentional.  This was a game that went bad because the man and babysitter was young and naive.  I’m sure that the man didn’t intend for the washing machine to start!  So the media is jumping all over this and a blogger (her name escapes me, but she was very white) said that the reason that they (girlfriend and man) weren’t arrested because of racism!   I thought that the statement by the blogger was an incredible stupid statement!  Since the girlfriend and man (who is probably her boyfriend) told the police that it was their child, are the police to arrest every parent that make a dumb mistake?

Now we hear that the real mom of the baby is pressing charges!!!  This is a huge overreaction (along with the blogger’s reaction), there are plenty of criminal acts that deserve the attention of the court system, instead of a man trying to make a small child laugh.

I can honestly say that hearing the doctor female blogger accusing the police of racism, and the reaction of the mom (hasn’t she ever done dumb things in her life?  I know I have when I was younger), make me feel sad for the country.

While as a parent if my child was put in a washing machine, I definitely wouldn’t be happy!  But instead of trying to get the babysitter and man arrested for being dumb, I just wouldn’t use them for babysitting services anymore.

Another thing that I consider very sad is that the employee who saved the baby wasn’t mentioned at all.  I find it odd that the blogger (again the white female with a doctorate degree, I wish I noted her blog) didn’t take into consideration that the employee in the video fix the problem with superhuman speed.  He was the hero in this mishap, and he is totally ignored!!!  I’m pretty sure he saved that baby’s life!  No kudos for him?  What gives…

So my question for readers…  Should people be arrested because they are young and naive (or dumb)?

Thanks,

MR

Update:  Okay, I’ve come to realize that some readers might not understand the way that some Laundromat washing machine work.  Unlike washing machines at home, some of these machines (esp.the older ones) don’t have a start and stop button.  You put the money in, and then when you are ready for the machine to start, you just close the door.  I know this from my days as a college student going to the Laundromat to wash my clothes.  Perhaps this is why many think that this was a malicious act, when in reality, the man that shut the door (perhaps he has a washing machine at home were he lives that has a start button) was just trying to make the child smile and laugh.

 

 

Are Robert Kiyosaki’s Books a Stepping Stone To Wealth?

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I decided to go back and re-read (actually listen to the audio books format) some of the famous “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” author, Robert Kiyosaki’s original books.

Much to my surprise, they are actually very good!  Oh sure, they are lacking in details and the content is not always spot on, but overall they are good and may serve as a motivator to read better books on becoming wealthy!  Sometimes, jumping right into more detailed and truthfully more valuable books is intimidating and a deterrent for the average Joe to read.  The famous “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” author’s books serves as a stepping stone to these more complex, step-by-step kinds of books.  Especially if you start early in your life, and you take it slowly and make better choices.  If you are married with kids, it’s still possible, but definitely more risky, consider my first review of his books:  Robert Kiyosaki’s books.

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Perhaps I like his books because I like to break things down into the lowest common denominator (the simplest form of an problem) when I’m explaining things to people.  Robert does just that with the following books: “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, “Cashflow Quadrant”, “Retire Young, Retire Rich” and “Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing”.  Part of the struggle on the path to wealth is believing you can be wealthy.

While reviewing Mr. Kiyosaki’s books, I listened with understanding on what he was saying this time around, and I actually think I got more from his books than when I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” about ten years ago.  If you have an audiobook version of the story as I do, listen to it a few times and see if you catch some things that you may have missed the first time around.

For me personally, I’m ready for the next level of understanding from other great authors.  Oh, and while I like the above books that Robert wrote, I’m in no way, shape or form recommending his classes.  Just the books.  I’ve heard some pretty negative things about this classes (which he doesn’t teach anyway), so perhaps do some research before considering something that expensive.

If you asked me what the best message from Robert’s books above would be, I’d have to quote him in saying “Grow Assets not Liabilities“, because this is the central theme of all of his books mentioned above.

Do you have any opinion of the author that you’d like to share?

MR

 

Losing Weight Frugally?

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I’m down over 20 pounds to date.

It’s been a hard time losing weight because I’ve been sick with vertigo like symptoms for the past month.  Even so, I’ve still manage to lose at least 5 more pounds since my symptoms started.

So the question is: “Am I Losing Weight Frugally“?  After all this was and still is part of my goal!

The answer is: “Yes“, but I’m not doing it as frugally as I had hoped that I would.

I started out being very frugal, eating both very healthy and inexpensive foods like eggs, peanuts, cheese and broccoli.  And those worked out well at first, but eventually they got boring.  So I decided to spice it up with some grilled hamburger, and that was a good and welcome change, but that got old too.  So that’s when I started cooking salmon burgers!  Good but on the pricey side, but to make matters worse I started craving chocolate, and I bought some Atkin’s low carb bars (peanut butter and chocolate crisps).  Those last two were getting on the pricier side, especially when I went through the Atkin’s bars in two days (the box cost about $6.00).  The salmon is very heathy for you but the chocolate bars isn’t but at least it’s crunchy!

white egg

Actually I’ve been craving fish a lot lately, and too much tuna isn’t good for you…  Oh Well…

I’ve made the eggs less boring by warning up my eggs in the microwave (be carefully since they will explode if you aren’t careful!).  Of course I remove the shell first and only have the egg in for a few seconds (just enough to take the chill off and give them some warmth!  It’s not great, but it’s better than cold hard-boiled eggs.

So if you have any tips, for low carb foods, please comment!  I need to keep myself in check from a cost perspective!

Cheers,

MR

P.S. Remember to take a good vitamin while you are on a low carb diet.  It slipped my mind this last time!

Beyond Frugal – Fixing My Son’s Broken Bike

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An unfortunate thing happened last week… my wife ran over my son’s bike!

Actually she was backing up the car and my son left his bike behind the car.  As she was backing up, she heard it fall and stopped immediately.  Even though she basically just tapped the bike and if fell, it was enough of an impact to cause a slight misalignment with the handlebars and break one of the brake levers.  The brake levers were plastic so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised…

Now we debated about going to the store and just buying another bike (at around $200+ a pop), but I thought I could fix it for less (plus it was only about 1 year old).  So I asked Mr Google if he could help and sure enough I found an excellent video on replacing brake levers.

Here it is cost saving video that showed me how to do this DIY project:

 

So the brake lever cost me $17.00 and the handle grips cost me $8.00 for a total cost of $25.00.  So by fixing it myself, I was able to save about $175!   The surprising thing was that it was very easy to do, and the system we now have in place is actually better than the previous system that was on the bike!

I was surprise how easy it was to do it myself and fix the brake levers!  I ended up replace both brake levers with some nice metal ones that I got on eBay, that way they look like they were meant to go together and give the bike a better look than having two different brake levers.

I also was surprised that I found that replace the broken parts was kind of cool because I learned a few things I didn’t  known before!  So not only was the replacement frugal, it was beyond frugal because I learned something cool in the process!

While replace my son’s brake levers wasn’t too difficult, I’m sure you could google other parts that need fixed on your bike…

Cheers,

MR