Comments on: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Family Pictures Edition

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:52:58 +0000

I have done this with a bunch of pictures also, and love geni.com for sharing and tagging them for family members. It’s free, you should def check it out if you aren’t on it already.

By: Kat

Kat — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:25:17 +0000

Oh my the dollar dance isn’t just in the Midwest. It is in the West as well. Only here it is not a dollar, it is more like $20 to $50. I don’t mind this dance, if and only if, the couple hasn’t registered for gifts.

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:14:04 +0000

Trent, I would love to know more about your picture archive. Did you use any particulare software? I keep saying I’m going to do all of my Dad’s families pictures before everyone dies off and nobody knows who the people are anymore! One of my husband’s cousins did theirs in a geneology format and printed out books for everyone for Christmas! Enjoy your work.

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:28:01 +0000

You will be very glad someday you went through all this effort to archive your photos.

I just returned from a family reunion where we watched a “movie” made of photos and (I think) Super 8 film, with a musical soundtrack added.

Watching some of those almost tore me up, but I was glad we had that digital record for our family.

By: jean

jean — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:46:04 +0000

I would like to see much written about how to preserve fresh foods until we can consume them.
I purchase small amounts at a time but wihout fail, end up discarding some

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:12:03 +0000

Just one comment. A digital slide show of your pictures is great and we do that, too, but there is nothing like getting those pictures printed and stored safely in an album with the story written, either in a hard copy digital storybook or a traditional scrapbook album. Hard drives and computers crash!

By: Ryan McLean

Ryan McLean — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:44:16 +0000

It has been a great week at thesimpledollar.com
I have loved all your posts (and tried to comment as many as I could to show my support).
Your posts have inspired me a lot. I run my own financial blog, I have used a couple of your posts on there (generally linking back to you) but I try my best to write my own great content.
Your content sparks ideas which I can write about and present to my readers. So thankyou

By: Andy @ bloginyourface.com

Andy @ bloginyourface.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:11:16 +0000

I fricking love garbanzo beans. Isn’t that what they make hummus out of too? Man, that stuff is amazing.

By: Shevy

Shevy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:06:06 +0000

I know certain cultures give an envelope containing money at the wedding but I hadn’t heard of the Dollar Dance.

At Jewish weddings the bride dances (or tries to dance) with every woman there while all the other women dance around in a big circle. Since we don’t have mixed dancing I’m not really sure if the guys do the same thing on their side but they often do really wild stuff like have someone who juggles fire or does acrobatics or something. But we don’t give money for the dances and boy, does the bride get tired and hot! It’s a lot of fun though.

As for paying $70/mo for a BlackBerry, I’ve been paying over $80/mo all along for my plain old cell phone with no data capability. I’m excited to have a BlackBerry now for about the same monthly cost and to be able to do so much more. (You are so lucky to have cheap cell phone plans in the US.) But I have no urge for an iPhone.

By: Collision

Collision — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:30:10 +0000

I do have to also object to the implication that people queuing for an iphone (or to see a Harry Potter movie, or to get an autograph of their favorite ball player) are only doing to fill an empty life. The opposite is true. They do it because they are part of a social group that enjoys a common interest. They want to be the first to show their friends a new toy. It’s no different in practice than a social group built around frugality.

Also celebrating a phone is no different at its core than celebrating a family photo. A photo is certainly more personal, but it still just the process of assigning an emotional value to an object. All human beings do that all the time.

People who queue for an iphone are no more “all about” a phone than people here are “all about” saving a penny. It’s just a part of them. They aren’t asking you to queue with them, they don’t require you as an outsider to value their phone as they do, so it doesn’t seem necessary to judge them for it.

By: j diggs

j diggs — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:19:02 +0000

I don’t have an iphone. I think they are super cool and very useful. I would say if you have a cell phone and can pick your plan it would be worth it. Guinness416 has a great point. Although we are all guilty of it, I don’t like justifying a choice that you make by riduculing others. I grew up with parents who painted “rich” people in that light. As I’ve gotten older, I strive not to judge people (in general &) for the way they spend their money, some can afford it, some can’t. At the end of the day they have to deal with those choices. I think it’s great to teach your kids and yourself to realize you don’t have to have “things” to make you happy, just not at the expense of belittling others.

By: Family Man

Family Man — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:42:12 +0000

Good stuff! I like the post about the dollar Dance. (I follow That blog.) I have been digitizing all of my family pictures as well. It brings back memories each and everytime.

no iphone for me.

~BTW congrats on the book!

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:39:56 +0000

I certainly share “remember that time we started queuing at 2am for world series tickets!” type stories with friends. And they’re almost more memorable than the games/concerts. We can’t be tucked in at 10pm every night! Gadgets aren’t really my thing and I don’t intend to buy an iphone, but snotty “Aren’t those hipsters so wasteful and isn’t our ramen for dinner lifestyle far superior” don’t paint their authors in a very flattering light.

By: ConnieB

ConnieB — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:37:28 +0000

LOL @ the dollar dance. That was something we decided not to do at our wedding!

I have my photos on screensaver as well, and I would not trade them for anything. They also help my daughter learn who family members are. Especially the ones she does not see as much!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:09:00 +0000

Like others, I think the iPhone can be cool and can be a justifiable purchase (depending on your income)…it’s the standing in line that I don’t get. At least not for adults with jobs. If I was a student still, I could almost see camping out for the experience (the goal of said line being less central than the fun of spending a night out on the sidewalk).

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:48:18 +0000

Like the wisebread article mentions, what gets me is that people will camp out overnight for this phone. That I don’t understand-camping out to purchase something. This goes for the day after Thanksgiving too. You rarely see people going to these lengths for more altruistic purposes, and that’s kinda sad.

By: Mar

Mar — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:45:12 +0000

I never thought to use my cell phone to record my daily spending – thanks for the idea, Nick! I don’t have the Iphone and don’t plan to get one ever, but the notepad feature on my cell phone is actually going to be used for this from now on.

I remember the dollar dances from small town Pennsylvania weddings, but I haven’t seen one in our more metropolitan area in a long time. The last one I did see, people were expected to pay $5! Maybe that’s why they are going out of style around here?

If you have one, your bank safety deposit box is another good place to store your photo backups.

By: momof4

momof4 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:35:11 +0000

The iphones outrageous costs are relative. We are replacing an existing phone plan with one. It is $25 more per month plus the price of the device. It will be a gift for my husband who doesn’t drink, go out for lunch, golf, fish or own a wii. Just because it’s not what you want to spend your money on is no reason to be snarky Trent : )

By: Sophia

Sophia — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:27:28 +0000

Did anyone read that Parade article and notice the guy who commented at the bottom that it was “pretty goofy” to feed a family of six on a pound of meat and some “pasta and other stuff”. He was referring the the BBQ noodle night recipe- which has tomatoes, milk, cheese, pasta, meat, and BBQ sauce. He ends with a snide comment about the medical bills they will be having in a few years, the implication being that it will be because they are eating so horribly.

By: MN Scout

MN Scout — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:02:37 +0000

Mike’s idea of using an external drive to back-up your digital photos is excellent. I’m an IT guy and it is always sad when I hear of people losing all their digital photos. It must feel similar to losing all your photos in a flood or fire. Once you back-up your photos, bring the external drive to work, or another familie’s house, so that if something happens to your house/apartment you won’t lose BUs and the original copies.