Skip to content
Home » The Frugal Life News 2005 Index » The Frugal Life News 04/11/05

The Frugal Life News 04/11/05

Archived Message of “The Frugal Life
News”

Published by The Frugal Life.com

Subscribe
Here

********************
The Frugal Life News
April 11, 2005 Edition
https://www.thefrugallife.com
The Frugal Life

******************
A Note From Randal
******************
Hello Everyone,

la_dog_cat_food

This issue is packed to the brim with great information, we hope you enjoy this issue as much as we do bringing it to you. Especially, take a look at the innovative recycling some countries have developed. :-)

As always, we appreciate all of your sharing of our ezines and websites.

Frugally yours,

Randal

************
Frugal Finances
************

“Why Even Free Money Can’t Get Workers to Save”

Is it just me or have you also noticed a raft of studies decrying the lack of retirement savings by workers?

The study cited above found even when employers give away money – by matching employee 401K contributions – many employees don’t take full advantage of this benefit.

Reasons for not saving included lack of knowledge about their company’s 401K plan, lack of knowledge about investing, procrastination, and yes… debt.

In fact, when presented with a hypothetical $500 windfall, over half of the employees who were not contributing enough to receive maximum free money said they’d use some or all of it to “pay down” debts.

While I support paying OFF debts, not simply paying them down and leaving behind roots for them to rise again, I also support getting as much free money as possible from your employer. When free money doesn’t motivate, it’s a sign debt is altering behavior at a core level.

But, according to this study, the biggest 401K free-money savings obstacle of all was a simple “lack of motivation.”

This study concludes employers need to be forceful and persistent, i.e., nags, to get their employees to save.

I have another opinion. I believe it’s difficult to motivate by nagging, and unachievable goals are actually de-motivators. Employees have heard advice from conventional financial planners for years that they will need a MILLION dollars for retirement. Employees know instinctively they’re not going to create a million dollars by saving $50 more per week… matching contributions included.

This advice just induces paralysis:

And, for whatever reason, we’re a “today” oriented culture. These 401K benefits arrive 20-40 years into an uncertain future.

Employers might be better served to support their employee’s total financial picture, not just retirement.

Since eliminating the “today” pain of debt is preferable to the “tomorrow” benefit of free money, adding debt elimination to their list of employee benefits would eliminate at least one major obstacle to retirement plan contributions.

If employees added $50 more per week to their debt elimination plan, they would almost certainly pay off a debt-card within a year or less, quickly producing positive feedback that increases each time a debt is paid off. It’s an energizing cycle.

Executing a plan to pay everything off, including their 30-year mortgage, in 5-7 years, and frequent successes, directly attacks the “motivation” obstacle.

Once they achieve debt-freedom, they’ll have momentum, motivation, and enough money to maximize their 401K contributions AND receive maximum free matching money. Now a million dollars doesn’t seem so far fetched. But wait, it gets even better…

Since they will have effectively cut their cost of living in half, they won’t need a million dollars in retirement. They will have enough money to consider retiring in 10 or 15 years, not 20 or 40 years.

Early retiring employees reduce employer costs, increase profits, create jobs, and build national wealth.

Everybody wins!

Greg Moore is the Architect of the Debt Freedom System,
“DebtIntoWealth — Lessons from My Journey to Debt Freedom.”
For your FREE Lesson 1, Click Here:

***************************
Free Lesson #1 – Debt Freedom Course
***************************

Pay off all of your debt in 5-7 years using the money you already make. Find out why financial guru and best-selling author, Suze Orman, is advising her millions of followers to “Pay Everything Off as Fast As Possible!

*****************************************

**************
Frugal Gardening
**************

With Spring fast approaching, repairing and painting needed areas can be done on clear days. Strip and repaint any window boxes or lawn furniture that needs a fresh coat. This will make them last longer so they do not need to be replaced.

Keep a close eye on indoor plants placed on southern windowsills. The low winter sun angles may cause scorching and damage these plants.

When deciding where to place plants around the house, in general plants with thick leaves can take lower light levels while plants with thin leaves will need more light.

As you check all your indoor plants, make sure that all five growth factors that are necessary for good plant health are present: humidity, light, moisture, nutrients and temperature.

When doing your monthly check of indoor plant leaves for insects, don’t be tempted to use leaf shine products to clean them. These can reduce the amount of light reaching the interior of the leaves by reflecting the light making it impossible for the leaves to absorbing it. This can result in unhealthy plants, especially for those resting in low light areas.

If fertilizing indoor plants, remember not to fertilize them in dry soil. Fertilizing with dry soil could result in burn roots. Before fertilizing, water plants a couple of hours ahead of time.

Best of luck in all your saving,

Jeffrey Strain
SavingAdvice.com

**************
Frugal Recycling
**************

Poop Paper – The Ultimate in Recycling :-)

Dung-based paper products help fund conservation programs. Elephant dung paper is a huge tourist product in Africa and Asia. In Scandinavia elk poop paper is the stationery of choice in most offices.

Dung paper is marketed through the Original Elephant Dung Paper Web site, which states that “Our paper is 100% bacteria free, 100% odor free, 100%
recycled, & 100% handmade — with the exception of some help from the elephants.”

“Over 50 percent of what they eat comes straight out the other end,” the company adds. “The elephants are kindly doing the first stage of any paper making process — getting the fibers.”

Elephant Dung Paper Website:

**************
Frugal How-To
**************

How To Preserve Your Identity – The Don’ts of ID Fraud

Barbara George has provided a good bit of information on ways to keep your identity safe. With this rapidly growing problem, you might want to take a look to see if there’s anything else you can do to make sure you’re not one
of the victims.

For the rest of the article go here:

Make Your Own Home And Beauty Products
Bath, Beauty, Perfumes, Cleaning and Air Freshener/Deodorizer

Essential oil kits allow you to make your own safe non-chemical home and beauty products. You’ll save a lot and feel better about making your home less toxic for yourself, children and pets. The Starter Pack has a Recipe Guide with tons of ideas.
http://www.theherbsplace.com/essentialkits.html
Make Your Own Home and Beauty Products

******************
Frugal Decorating
******************

Deodorize While You Kill Bacteria and Viruses

Essential oils will make your home smell wonderful without the dangerous air freshener chemicals that have been in the news. The big bonus is that you also get the anti-microbial properties of essential plant oils so you can kill germs throughout your home without bleach and toxic cleaning products.

The AromaBall is a handy plug-in appliance with a ceramic plate that holds a small pad on which you add essential oils. Easy-to-use as a night light.

Get more info and/or purchase here:
http://www.theherbsplace.com/essentialaroma.html
AromaBall for Deodorizer and Anti-Microbial Home Defense

***********
Frugal Pets
***********

Herbal Heartworm Program and Prevention

Robin Sockness works with pet owners with an individualized program and has currently worked with over 700 dogs. Herbs are safer and less expensive so it’s a win-win situation for all. Prevention programs are available also.
Read more about it here: http://www.theherbsplace.com/heartworm.html
Herbal Heartworm Program & Prevention

Free Information, Free Ecards, and Pet Foods Too!

Healthy Pet Corner provides lots of information and links for birds, cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, and reptiles.
http://www.healthypetcorner.com
Healthy Pet Corner – Your Pet Portal

*************************
Frugal Tips From Our Subscribers
*************************

Opt-Out of Junk Mail

Much of the junk mail we get comes from mailing lists sold by credit card companies. They want you to charge more! You can get off of these mailing lists for a period of five years or permanently by visiting the website below.

How about all those phone calls? The Direct Marketing Association maintains phone and mailing lists also, so be sure to visit that link below too.

We did this about a year ago and it really works! It’s amazing how little mail we get now and as far as phone calls. Maybe once a month .. and they are non-profits which I understand can’t be blocked from calling.

Be sure to do each person in your family! That makes a difference.

Credit Card Companies

The Direct Marketing Association

****************************
What’s Going On In The Forum
****************************

Maybe you can help these folks out with a few suggestions? Or post some of your own questions. LOG-IN TO POST Here’s the link:
https://www.thefrugallife.com/bulletinboard.html
Forum

Questions Needing Answers At The Forum

Automobile Forum
1. Help? I am in a very bad car deal. I am financing a 1999 Dodge Intrepid, I went to go try to trade it in and found out the car is only worth $1,500.00 dollars & I still owe $7,258.00 pay off price. Since i’m over my head by over $5000 the dealership wants a $3 or $4000 down payment which I can’t afford, this is the second dealership that tells me the same thing I don’t know what to do I want out of this car it’s been more of a head ache than anything else, somebody please help!

Cleaning Forum
1. Does anyone out there know how to get nail polish out of my white cotton sheets. Help!!!!

Family Forum
1. We recently bought a toddler bed for our 19 month old daughter.  We weren’t planning on getting her one so early, but we moved from Ohio to Washington State and her crib got broken.  It wasn’t safe to use.  I thought instead of buying a crib that wouldn’t get much use, we’d just get her the toddler bed.
 
Now the problem is that she will not stay in bed.  We can go through the bedtime routine and tuck her in.  But, she’ll wander back out after about 5 minutes.   We’ve tried putting a baby gate across her bedroom door.  She’ll either just sit in there and play or stand in the doorway and scream.  If we do manage to get her to sleep in her bed, she’ll wait until the middle of the night and crawl in bed with hubby and me.  That is a habit we don’t want her to get used to.
 
I’m at the point where I’m ready to go buy another crib and let her use that for a couple more months.  Do other toddlers have this problem?  Or is she just too young? Help? Chrissey

*************************
Home Based Business Ideas
*************************

Home Spa Party Plan – Make Bath and Body Products

Have you noticed how popular bath and pampering products have become? The HomeSpa Party Plan taps into that craze. Guests at HomeSpa parties will learn how to make bath salts, personalized perfumes, body spritzers and more using essential oils, while you make a nice income from Nature’s Sunshine.
http://www.theherbsplace.com/essentialspa.html
Home Spa Party

Flint River Ranch – Oven Baked Pet Foods

If you have pets, they’ll love Flint River and you can make an income providing good pet foods and other pet products to friends, neighbors and your family. Pets keep eating, so customers keep buying. If you love animals, this is a very rewarding home-based business. With only $100.00 volume a month you can earn 19% on all sales. Websites are not yet available.
http://www.healthypetcorner.com/FRR/busop.html
Flint River Ranch

Nature’s Sunshine Products – Herbs and Supplements

If you’ve been a natural health nut, you have a lot of information to share. Earn an income selling over 500 natural health products, beverages, essential oils, skin care systems, water filters, and more. Websites are also available for $15.95/month (plus an initial $19.95 set-up fee).
http://www.theherbsplace.com/busop.html
Nature’s Sunshine Products

Life’s Abundance Foods and Supplements

Life’s Abundance products by Dr. Jane Bicks and Dr. Barry Sears who developed the Zone Diet for Overweight Dogs. Besides dog, cat and horse products, they have a non-toxic line of cleaning products – safe for pets and children. Websites are available for $8.50/month (plus an initial $20 set-up fee).
http://www.healthypetcorner.com/HPN/busopform.html
Healthy Pet Net

ZoneNet Health Products

ZoneNet products are distributed by the same company that produces Healthy Pet Net. ZoneNet products are backed by the research and wisdom of Dr. Barry Sears one of America’s most trusted health and wellness experts. Their mission is to to develop superior functional food products that help people achieve long-term wellness. Websites are available for $8.50/month (plus an initial $20 set-up fee).

https://www.thefrugallife.com/ZoneNet/zone.html
ZoneNet Health Products

***************
Legal Disclaimer
***************
Information in The Frugal Life News (TFL) has been derived from sources believed accurate and reliable. In no event shall *The Frugal Life,* Randal Watkins, or the TFL staff be liable for any damages whatsoever resulting from any action arising in connection with the use of information herein.

TFL does not knowingly accept ads from advertisers deemed detrimental to TFL’s readers, however, publication of an ad in TFL does not constitute an endorsement for such product or service.

There is no remuneration for suggestions, tips, or ideas submitted by readers. All suggestions, tips, and ideas, submitted for publication in The Frugal Life, become the property of The Frugal Life, notwithstanding similar rights of the reader submitting such suggestions, tips, or ideas. TFL publishes readers’
names with their suggestions, tips, and ideas unless a reader requests otherwise at the time of the submission.

Leave a Reply