Author Archives: Money Reasons

About Money Reasons

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

Should Pennies Be Made From Recycled Plastic?

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In the United States, it cost more to make a penny than it’s worth!

“It costs almost 1.7 cents to make a penny,” said U.S. Mint director Ed Moy.  See original 2008 article here: Penny Problem.

Since it cost more to make a penny, why not start to make the pennies out of recycled plastic?

Plastic Penny

Plastic Penny

Think of the environmental benefits, those alone would be huge and since we could use recycled plastic, it would reduce the amount of plastic in landfills, not to mention the amount dumped into the ocean… like it was some type of huge liquid landfill (See Invisible war against our oceans).

Oh sure, such a program would cost more than making the penny out of plastic directly, but using recycled plastic would still be a huge decrease in the cost of the creation of pennies vs using metal, if we are smart about it…

I think it’s sad that inflation has been so rampant that it has decreased the value of a penny so much that it’s practically an inconvenience to carry them around.  Sadly, I’ve seen people throw pennies in the trash after receiving them as change.  I often wish there was a way to make a penny more valuable again, without incurring some type of drastic deflationary process that would hurt our economy instead of helping it.  Too bad there wasn’t a way that the government could do a strategic deflationary process…  Such a process would decrease the cost of items bought while giving everybody a boost by enabling the current currency that they own to be worth more.

Perhaps the strategic deflationary process would happen every 50 years?  It would have to be rare because it would be disruptive overall.

I wonder if I’ll live to see that time when eventually the 1 dollar bill falls to inflation to the point where it’s considered an inconvenience to carry?  Probably by that point all US coins (be it metal or plastic) would be too expensive to make.  I think the creation of plastic coins is something to be considered although hated I’m sure.  I wonder if there are other materials that might be a better option… hmmm

Interesting times we live in…

MR

Making a Temporary Illness Work To Your Advantage

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I’m still sick, but I’m optimistic about my blogging content once I get better…

Sometimes getting sick works to your advantage because it breaks an repeating routine and the downtime enables you to think see and think outside of your regular routine.  For me, such times enable to to take everything in and readjust my regular course based on what I find.

So while I still have vertigo-like symptoms, as long as I’m down for the count, I can still think and look down the road of each alternative path that has been an unforeseen option for me.  I like taking lemons and making lemonade with such problems, and this is one of the greatest potential moments in that process!

Some of my thoughts that I’ve been thinking of while I’ve been down is redesigning my site.  It’s plain and needs a good makeover.  To be honest it’s not optimally configured and hasn’t change in 3 years.  Once the dizziness goes away, that will be a priority.  Next, I would like to develop a few post each week that are consistent in topic.  This will enable me to keep my eye on the goal, so to speak.  Next, I’m thinking off adding some of my own flare…  By flare I mean something new, exciting, and hopefully original!

Well, I’m tapped out, getting better but still sick,

MR

 

Blogging While Sick

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It’s been 6 days since I posted my last blog entry, and I feel compelled to post this article even though I’m sick.

You see, for the past few days, I’ve had a dizziness that hasn’t completely gone away yet.  Slowly, I’m getting better, but I’m still sick.

Health is an interesting area for me, and I’m kind of mixed up when it comes to that topic.  Since I have an HSA, I hate to waste the money on myself, but if a member in my family become ill, I’m the first to suggest that they go to the doctor to make sure everything is okay.  This is one thing I hate about having an HSA…  I only go if it’s life threatening in my case, or I have an ailment that has lasted for months…

In some ways I even wonder if it’s worth having since we now have National Healthcare…

Right now my head is filling lightheaded, but still I blog on…  Blogging is a hobby, but also an integral part of my life, and not blogging for so long mandated that I worth through this illness and post this post.  Hopefully, by my next post, I’ll feel better and will have something better to write about!

Unfortunately, I’m tapped out now and need to go to bed though.

 

Everything Goes Trash Night – Bizarro Christmas Year 2

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Our community has a special trash night were we are allowed to get rid of everything except mattresses.  I blogged out it last year as “Everything Goes Trash Night is Like Bizarro Christmas” where this special day is almost like a holiday for my wife and I.  It’s a great opportunity to get rid of clutter!

It’s the anti-thesis of Christmas where instead of receiving stuff, we get to toss stuff out!  This year didn’t disappoint!

Bizarro Santa

Bizarro Santa

The list of things that we tossed out included the following:

  • A plastic luggage traveling casing for traveling (this thing was huge and took up way to much space in my garage…  I was also very ugly).
  • A cheap black office chair that was broken (I had this for over 12 years).
  • A heavy mirror that has sat in the basement since we moved into our house.
  • A heavy metal computer tower model 486 (I have no idea why I kept it so long).
  • Our lighting fixture that was replaced recently (a Chandelier).
  • Old Bean Bags that were taking up space.
  • The coffee table that we never used that sat in the basement.
  • The kid’s sandbox that was too old and the kids never played with.
  • A small fridge from my college days. (Still worked and was the first thing picked up by drive by folks looking for good stuff).
  • and other miscellaneous junk.

We put our stuff out late, so we missed a few of the opportunistic drive by folks looking to breathe a second life into our stuff, but we still have a few.  First was the guy in an SUV that was nicer than my cars.  He just picked up the college dorm room fridge and left.  The second was a guy in a small pickup, the took the heavy mirror, our Chandelier, and the coffee table.  The garbage collectors got the rest.

Next year we’ll try to put out our stuff earlier, that way they might find a second home.  Or perhaps Bizarro Santa will come and take them to the island of misfits…

Cheers,

MR