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Recent Comments:
Stevia shakes up the sweetener wars {Daily Finance}
Sep 21st 2009 9:23PM Douglas: you're right, I confused my soda companies for a minute there due to convoluted sentence structure. it's now correct.
Coke CEO attacks soda tax as a Commie tactic {Daily Finance}
Sep 15th 2009 8:43PM Tana, I too read the Obamafoodorama blog post, which was part of my inspiration :) there's a link in there somewhere... my editors sometimes move 'em around!
Mommy blogger brouhaha is the new Mary Kay {Daily Finance}
Jul 16th 2009 8:00PM Dena, that's exactly what I was thinking... it seems so manic and all-consuming and unapologetically commercial, and that's the exact opposite of what I'm looking for in an online community. also, what about the kids?
How I almost lost my house {WalletPop}
Feb 13th 2009 5:29PM great post and an honest story, Geoff: I too was behind on my mortgage several years ago, similar circumstances, and I think at some point you just see the payoff notices and want to shut your eyes and put your fingers in your ears and start singing LALAlalalala! we were 180 days behind when the vultures started showing up offering to buy our house at a screaming deal. luckily, we had a lot of equity and were able to work out a deal with the mortgage company. but it was amazing how quickly you can go from one month to four months behind and then have no. idea. how to dig yourself out.
now the priority is groceries, mortgage, and everything else, in that order; but it's also true that your power, water, gas and phone seem far less negotiable and, in a pinch, it's hard to ignore the lights going out in favor of writing a check to some faceless bank.
Star in your own bodice-buster {WalletPop}
Feb 13th 2009 4:15PM Julie, will you write a romance novel starring me and... umm... how 'bout Jon Hamm? or better yet, Donald Draper. that'll utilize you!
Would you trust a pregnancy test from Dollar Tree? {WalletPop}
Jan 26th 2009 11:52AM ha. seriously? why pay extra for a bunch of fancy plastic and neat little doohickeys that say "pregnant" and "not pregnant"? the pregnancy tests at the dollar store are cheaper b/c they're not so convenient to use, but the basic chemistry is the same.
i've used 'em! and they were correct.
in fact, some women who are struggling to get pregnant and testing a lot buy little strips in bulk online for less than a dollar apiece.
What should be done about health insurance? The Gilbert plan {WalletPop}
Nov 7th 2008 12:53PM Stephen, it's brilliant! I love the concept of foregoing health insurance. every time I bring it up I get a tongue-lashing (or, I suppose, keyboard-lashing) from loving mamas and papas who are sure I'm endangering my family by considering it. we need real reform, not tax credits, and the Patch Adams plan is a great place to start!
What the meltdown means to me, a 35-year-old married West Coast homeowner {WalletPop}
Oct 8th 2008 2:05PM Joe and others: refinancing would have been a terrible choice for me not just because of the all-to-often utilized opportunity to take money out, but also because refinancing simply costs money. mortgage brokers are eager to help you refinance because they charge points and closing costs each time, typically adding $5000-$10,000 to the principal. in my situation, I wouldn't have been able to reduce my interest rate enough to justify the points.
Should you take your money out of WaMu? {WalletPop}
Sep 24th 2008 6:00PM Michelle, I think Wachovia will weather this storm o.k. -- they've always been on the conservative side. I used to work there so I know a lot about their general lending strategy.
however, my principle of credit union vs. public mega-bank holds true; in my opinion, you'll always be better off with a small, local credit union where the profits go back to the accountholders.
Overrated: Low-fat food can make you ...fat {WalletPop}
Sep 12th 2008 7:43PM I certainly agree that everything should be eaten in moderation but nowhere in the article did I suggest gorging oneself on bacon and cream. but if a person *were* to remove processed foods from his diet, it would be highly unlikely he'd want to gorge himself, as his metabolism wouldn't be fooled by excessive sweetness. embracing processed sweeteners -- and I include cane sugars of all sorts in this description, not just artificial sweeteners -- as a culture has robbed our bodies of the ability to hear the "I'm full" or "I need a good serving of vegetables" signals.
if you're tempted to eat full fat foods because of this article, please cook them from scratch, yourself, and make sure you know a lot about where your food comes from. buy meats from farmers who avoid feeding their animals corn and soy. try traditional preparation methods. use stone-ground flour. you'll find it's *really* hard to get fat eating like our great-grandmothers did!
