If you didn’t need it in the first place, why would you buy a blouse that you had no pants to match, then go shopping for the pants and find another pair that has no blouse to match? Now you have two more items in the closet that you HAVE to go shopping for, and the vicious circle begins all over.

 Friends have told me that they want to know what is new and that is how they find out.  I say if you didn’t know there was a new style out there you wouldn’t miss it. When you need a new outfit for a special occasion is time enough to go look for a replacement and buy what is now in fashion.  Let’s face it, even if you have the will power to not buy that amazing jean jacket, you now feel like crap knowing it is out there in someone else’s closet instead of yours.  Ignorance, in this case, my friends, is bliss.

 The only time you should ever enter a kitchen gadget store is if you meet all of the following criteria:

• Entertaining is your very favorite pastime.
• Your family doesn’t find true happiness wallowing in junk food.
• You have more money than you know what to do with.
• You have a very large kitchen, with too much counter and cabinet space that you are trying to fill.

 Fact: wine racks are great, if you drink and store delicate wines with corked bottles that require aging and cool dark storage.  For the two bottles of white zin that you buy when the girls are stopping by with a rental movie, throw them in the fridge (laying the bottle down if it is corked, and standing it up if screw-top capped).And how many kinds of cork screws do you need to have?  Do you live in a wine cellar or a house?

 Unless you are kosher, do you really need three or four sets of dishes, plus a snack set, plus a set to use outside on the patio? Fine china, carefully stored, and brought out for those formal holiday dinners is great.  Every day dishes that are microwave and dishwasher safe are a necessity.  Paper plates are great for outdoors.  Teas sets and snack sets are for the kind of people who don’t need to be reading this article!

Small appliances for the kitchen can get out of hand, too. Everybody needs a can opener, either manual or electric at some time in their lives.  Microwaves have become a necessity in the kitchen. If you drink coffee, you have to have a coffeemaker.  Coffee grinders are fine, if you really buy only whole bean coffee.  However, you can grind you coffee for free at the supermarket when you buy it, too. On the other hand, coffee grinders also can be used to grind seeds, nuts, and some spices, which comes in handy at times. Think!  Are you going to use this item, or do you just want it?

How many of you need both a toaster and a toaster oven?  White and wheat sliced bread users can easily do with one or the other.  If you are into bagels and other odd shaped breads you need the toaster oven, which can handle both.  And speaking of ovens, don’t you think a portable electric roaster, a toaster oven and a Foreman grill are going a bit too far? 

If you are into health foods and juicing, it is a good idea to have a powerful, high end juicer.  They cost a bit more, but are both healthier and cheaper than buying the juice, and I have been told by one who knows, that replacing cheap juicers ends up costing much more than buying the right one in the first place.

 The same would go for blenders and food processers.  If you only use your blender on rare occasions to mix up a batch of margaritas and crush some ice, go to Walmart and pick up something cheap. I cook a lot, and have been using the same food processer for twenty years…a cheap one at that.  Only now, have I begun to think I might need a new one.                      

What I am trying to say is just this.  A fork scrambles an egg very easily.  You don’t need a special tool for that.  If you bake all your own breads you probably need a bread machine or a heavy duty mixer.  But for cake mixes, whipped cream, mashed potatoes and meringue, an inexpensive hand mixer is all you will ever need!

If you own a stove, a microwave and a pot, why would you ever need a special iced tea maker? Is it really difficult to throw a few tea bags into a pot of hot water, let it steep a while and then add ice cubes to it? And let us not forget those cute little electric egg poachers, the vibrating suction cup that scrambles your eggs in the shell,  and those darling little pans that grill your cheese sandwich on both sides at once!

Kitchen gadget stores should be taboo to anyone who is struggling to make ends meet, doesn’t live for the joys of cooking in and cleaning a kitchen, and who doesn’t have a kitchen the size of a studio apartment.

Every time I flip on the television I see ads for new businesses that are offering short term loans that horrify me.  They are tremendously creative…you can borrow against your paycheck at a high interest rate.  If you are ridiculous enough to do this, you will end up receiving a paycheck that is even smaller than what you usually get and it will already have been spent before you cash it.

If you are not working because you have been in an accident and have a personal injury attorney on your case, there are companies that offer to give you the money up front…before you win  the case.  They say that if you don’t win, you don’t have to pay it back.  You can be sure, they will not make the offer unless they have been guaranteed a successful outcome by your attorney.  Again, in addition to giving 30-40 per cent of the settlement to your attorney and paying off the rest of your bills, you now owe the loan company their piece of the pie.

There are lots more of these schemes floating around.  You can pay someone a percentage of what you owe to have them teach you how to pay them, you can have someone negotiate your debts to get them lowered (and give all you save to them for doing it), and you can take out more credit cards, at unbelievably high interest rates to pay off the other cards. 

But my very favorite is the small, instant loans you can pick up to avoid paying late payment fees.  They tell you that, rather than paying those late payments, you can borrow $300  to pay your car payment of rent (does anyone pay that little any more), at a mere cost of $48 or so.  The kicker here is that you pay that $48 if you are able to repay the loan in one week.  It compounds at an alarming rate after that.

All of these schemes are there only to make them money…and put you deeper in debt.  It is unfortunate that many of you have lived in a world where you have gotten everything you want most of your life.  If you couldn’t afford, or your parents couldn’t, you simply charged it…assuming, I guess that it would go away or somebody would bail you out.

In simpler times, if you couldn’t afford that Christmas gift, you put it away on “layaway” and were given X number of weeks to make payments on it.  If you couldn’t pay it off…you lost the item…and the money.  That has evolved into “delayed payments” which allow you to take it home, use it, and get billed for it months later.  By that time, of course, you have forgotten you bought it, have no money to pay it off, and now get hit with huge interest rates.

This may be difficult to comprehend, but, kids, you do not need a new computer, iPhone, Wii game, and so on every time a new model comes out.  When times are bad and money is scarce you sometimes have to choose between what you would like to have, and what you need to have to live.  You have to save up for a special item, repair things instead of replacing them, or…BIG SHOCK…do without them. You can do it…your parents did!

 A couple years ago,  I was in a serious panic about my financial security, my retirement woes, and my seeming inability to do anything at all about them.  I was afraid to spend any money at all, and frankly, was so down in the dumps that it would have been a total waste if I had gone partying.  But my friends and I came up with a wonderful way to spend New Year’s Eve, that cost us very little, was amazingly entertaining, and is now a tradition that we look forward to doing for the rest of our lives.

 Of course, we are in the last third of our lives, so we had no concerns about kiddies at home, or teenagers out at wild drinking parties, or even on the roads with drunks driving around. What we decided to do is have a pajama party. 

 Now, don’t get nasty, or laugh at us.  Think about it.  What are the disadvantages of going out on New Year’s Eve?  Number one would be the huge expense, since all prices for dinners, shows, or hotel packages are usually greatly inflated for the holiday. And if you choose this form of entertainment you also need dressy clothing, accessories, a trip to the beauty shop, etc. 

 The second concern is drinking.  At all of these events, it seems that drinking to excess is the major goal, which mean you will feel lousy, both during and after it is over.  Driving in that condition is stupid and can be lethal, especially if you live in a cold climate where snow, sleet, and slush will further complicate things.  And even if you aren’t drunk, there are plenty of them on the road.  Of course, you can always have a designated driver, who has a really terrific time pretending it was worth the money to watch you get stinking drunk.

 Even if you made it through a really nice evening, where both the food and the entertainment were good, you weren’t seated at a table with crashing boors, and you managed to sip your wine in moderation, you still have to take your aching feet and exhausted bodies home. This could include waiting in long lines to get a costly taxi, or,  finding your car, warming it up, and possibly having to dig it out of the snow…and then facing the long drive home.

 Actually, the hotel packages are a really good thing in this respect.  It is far better to limp up to your room and snuggle into a warm bed at your hotel, sleep as late as you like, and have them serve your breakfast in your room.  Pricey, but better than that long, cold drive home.

 So quit snickering and listen up.  What my friends and I do is simply this.  In the late afternoon, they show up at my house with pillows, blankets, jammies, a change of clothes, snacks and games. Nobody is on the streets yet, so it is an easy drive.  Everything gets dumped in the guest bedroom for the time being, food gets stored, and off we go for an inexpensive dinner BEFORE the streets are packed and they hike up the prices.  Jeans and sweats are worn…this is all about comfort and convenience.

 Upon arriving home, we figure out our nesting arrangements, which are somewhat simple in my home, since I have a guest bedroom, two sofa beds, another couch, and a cot.  But if the party got bigger, I would simply tell them to bring sleeping bags.  The champagne goes in the frig, snacks are laid out, and then we chat, play cards, dominos, catch phrase, trivial pursuit, or whatever we feel like doing, including television.

 One of the most interesting aspects of this, is that we have, for years, joked about having trouble staying up until midnight to toast the new year.  But last year, we were having such a comfortable, wonderful time that we were up until almost 4:00 am. 

 Once everyone is awake and hungry, we then make breakfast…usually pancakes or omelets, fruit, and whatever side meat someone contributes.  By mid-afternoon we are usually ready to resume our daily lives.  All of us agree that we wouldn’t change a thing for next year’s sleepover.

 When I think of the ways I used to spend New Year’s Eve, I realize how empty and sad those parties were.  People get drunk and loud, and spend most of their time pretending they are having fun. We have no “morning after”  blues, hangovers, or fear of having spent too much.  Bonding with old friends is far easier in small, more intimate surroundings.  And if you don’t wake up in the morning with a headache and guilty feelings over your behavior or wasting money, it is truly a nice start to a better year.

Electric space heaters do a fine job of warming the entire area of a small closed room. The greatest warmth will be near the ceiling. These convection units come in all prices, shapes and sizes. They might have only a heating element, or they may also include a fan with several settings. They turn off automatically when the room reaches the temperature set by the unit or by you. They will go on again as the room cools.

The infrared radiant heaters do not heat the air in a room. They are composed of thin, flat plates, designed to cover a large area.. Wide, tall infrared heaters will generally do the best job. The long wave infrared radiation is not absorbed by the air. Rather, it hits something solid in the room (object or person) and changes the radiation into heat. So it stands to reason that radiant heaters are more efficient at quickly warming a person. The heater hasn’t got any moving parts, is silent, and cannot be affected by air movement. That makes it excellent for warming you in an outdoor situation. The infrared heater uses less energy and requires less repair.

Both types of heaters are safe to use, as long as you follow the directions of the manufacturer. Almost all of them have automatic shut-off in case of overheating or if the unit gets knocked over. No portable heater should ever be left on when nobody is home and using it. It is wise to check for the Underwriters Laboratories seal of approval when shopping for your heater. In fact, you should always do some research before you purchase, and read some of the comments made by people who own them, to find out the operating cost and dependability of each model you are considering.

As long as you are living in it, the house is your collateral. No credit check is required. You do not have to repay the loan unless you move or die. If the property devalues, you can never owe more than it is worth. Any equity in the home can be used, tax free, in any way you wish or need. Any equity that you spend is simply added on to the loan, which is paid back by your heirs if they wish to keep the house, or otherwise it reverts to the mortgage company.

This debt will include high interest rates, usually from eight to ten per cent of the value of your home. They may also tack on closing fees and various other fees. You are decreasing the amount your heirs will receive, since the full payment will come out of the sale of the home before they see any money at all.

In addition, you must be certain that Social Security will not be halted because of too large a loan received from the reverse mortgage. But that really isn’t the worst of it. Because of the unstable economy, reverse mortgaging has become a high pressure sales business (kind of like time sharing ). What may appear to be a legitimate offer can be a scam that will only waste what little security you may have, and take your home from you on top of it.

These agents and brokers will get you to sign away the rights to your home and leave you with nothing.
You need to steer clear of anyone offering you a deal that transfers ownership of your home to would be unknown investors. Some scam artists are saying that loans are HUD sanctioned when they are not.

Do not do business with anyone who tells you that you need to invest the proceeds from your reverse mortgage. At best, you will end up paying even more fees for investments that are not necessarily safe. At worst, they won’t invest it at all…they will steal it.

Reverse mortgages are not all bad. But it is much safer to try to make it on your income by tightening your belt, down-sizing your home if you can, and following my tips on how to lower your bills, stay warm, and eat well, on a very tight budget.

This bulb is composed of a metal and ceramic base, glass, phosphor, and a tiny bit of mercury. And that is what all the panic is about. Someone out there is attempting to terrify CFL users by scaring them to death with the mercury, which, of course, is hazardous to your health.  My guess is that this is being perpetrated by either the manufacturers of incandescent bulbs, or their investors!

To get this into perspective, let’s look at how much mercury is in this bulb.  There are 5 mg., or 2 ten thousandths of an ounce of mercury in a bulb.  It will either be a tiny bead (the size of a period ) or a vapor that cannot be seen.

The fever thermometers that we have been using all our life contain over one hundred times more than that. To provide the electricity for your incandescent light bulb, a coal powered power plant will emit as much as four times that amount of mercury!

 However, no mercury is always best, so you need to dispose of these bulbs and clean up any breaks carefully. All Home Depot and Lowes  stores accept old fluorescent bulbs of all sizes.  Just bring them in and they will handle the recycling of them. However, should one break there are some precautions you should take:

• Immediately turn off the heat or a/c, open a window, and turn on an exhaust fan, a ceiling fan, or some other fan if you have one, leave the room and close the door.  In fifteen minutes or so, the mercury will have exited the room…if you have no fan, stay away a little longer.
• Obviously, kids and animals need to be kept away from there.

•  Don’t use your broom or vacuum cleaner to pick up the shards.  Use cardboard to sweep it together, into a sealable plastic bag.  Put the cardboard in there as well.   Masking tape is great for picking up the tiny pieces. Wipe down the area with a damp paper towel when you are done…all refuse goes in the sealed plastic bag. 
• It’s not a bad idea to wear plastic gloves when doing this…or wash them thoroughly when you are done. Bring the bag to your recycle center.   

 Now get this into perspective, please!  If you broke twelve or more bulbs in the house every day for fourteen days, you might start to have some symptoms…like tiredness, clumsiness, trouble remembering things, and lack of concentration.  Breaking one CFL is not going to hurt you!