Sorry if it seems like an odd question, but living in Brooklyn, NYC it’s quite difficult to rent for very cheap and condos are pretty expensive. A house, for a good one in the neighborhood I enjoy living in, is about $700,000 on average. And being that I decided to have 5 kids (yes, no rude comments please :] ) I would need a big place with 3 bedrooms.

I used to be a Sapphire man myself, but if you can find it locally (if not – ask your favorite liquor store owner), you really must try Hendrick’s (warning, music auto-plays on that site).

We’ll trade tips, and I’ll search for that tonic you recommended. Never thought about the impact that might have..

Do you have any advice for someone living and working in Detroit right now, with certain economic disaster if the government does not act to bail out the Big 3?

If the Big 3 are allowed to fail, there is a good chance that several of my family members (and possibly my wife and I) would be without jobs. There would be little chance of finding new employment in this area, and the prospects of selling our houses and moving out of the area would be very grim.

We live frugally and have some savings, but we are young and bought our house at the peak of the market in 2004, so we are taking a beating and have lost all of our equity. We have about $15,000 in savings, but if we sold our house right now we would have to pay the mortgage company about $50,000.

Should we be prepared to walk away from our houses and look for work in other cities? Things are VERY bad here, people outside of Michigan do not understand the devestation that has already taken place, and how much worse it will be if the Big 3 go down. It saddens me to see the complete disregard the rest of the nation has for one of it’s own states.

I dated a financial adviser for a couple of years and she would mention how expensive health care is when in your older years. Eating good quality food will improve and maintain your health for the long haul. The money you spend now on quality food will be returned many times over in medical savings and quality of life.

I tend to think so since I use tomatoes in a can I bought on sale.

But even if it weren’t, my homemade sauce is SO much better than store bought, and so easy, that I wouldn’t bother buying tomato sauce when I can just have the canned tomatoes on hand, which are much more flexible for all kinds of different cooking purposes as well

I graduated with my degree in Psychology, and I work two jobs. My first is at an investment firm, and I hate it. My second is at a foster care facility, and I like that one. I had an epiphany about six months ago that I would like to try nursing. I’ll need to go back to school, but I’m not sure what route I should take. Here are my options:

BSN (Second Degree Program): about $10k without financial aid, 1.5 years to complete. Pros: I won’t have to go back for a bachelor’s degree if I want a promotion, quicker to complete than the associate’s degree. Cons: expensive and I can’t work while I’m in school full time, so I’d need to save up money for my living expenses as well.

ADN: about $4k without financial aid, 2.5 years to complete. Pros: cheap! Cons: would have to go back for a bachelor’s if I wanted a promotion later or a pay raise, will take considerably longer than the BSN.

I should note that I’m unwilling to enter into more student loans, so I’ll be paying for this all out of pocket. The more expensive the program is, the longer I have to save up for it. I’ve read some of your past advice, and it seems as if you’ve advocated for taking immediate steps on new plans to keep you motivated. I’m dying to get out of my current job, and I’m not sure I can wait three or four years to do so! Help!

Thanks

Trent, I’d like to see a comparison of homemade spaghetti sauce vs. store bought.

“Review the readers digest penny pinchers almanac”

“It’s just as good as pasta sauce from a jar and way cheaper.”

I’ve looked around the internet and scanned my grocery store and all signs point to jar sauce being cheaper(though not nearly as tasty). I was wondering if you had stats to back up your claim.

-Nate

I’d like to second Sharon’s advice on the 529 as very useful for depositing monetary gifts to the child. It’s also a great way to encourage grandparents and other relatives to give money for the child’s future education and discourage excessive amounts of toys, gadgets, clothes, etc. in the present. This is especially important if you have a large, gift-giving family with few grandkids.

Re: private school. I know the question stipulated that money would be no object. Money is never not an object. We all pay for public schools. Some of them are excellent, many are very good, and most are adequate. We make public schools better by sending our children there. There are pretty bad schools out there, I know, but there are a number of overpriced and underperforming private schools, too. We don’t read as much about those.

I’ve read that an EMP bomb set off in metro areas would shut down our online economy, and unlike a power outage, it would disable generators, and obliterate stored information. Increased solar spots can take out satellites too, which could cause probems.

(An EMP bomb is an electro-magnetic pulse device that freezes electronics within a programmed range.)

At least with paper, you can stand in a long line and prove what you have.

- Whole Foods makes tonic water that is cane sugar based and doesn’t cost a ton compared to the fancy tonic waters on the market.

- Great point on online banks and gossip!

- We both share same philosophy on food. I buy high quality most of the time. And as I said in a recent post on my site, I get tons of pleasure from cooking and eating: http://www.scordo.com/blog/2008/12/getting-started-with-cooking-a.html

- On 520 savings (and this is just a thought), I’m not a big fan. I’d encourage and poor money into my child’s education (helping them become better students and getting better grades along the way). Grooming a stellar student, in my view, is more important than “saving” via a 529. If you produce a stellar child student, then the child should receive more than enough student aid to cover costs of undergrad education.

http://www.scordo.com.blog/blog – a practical living blog

This should help you maximize your returns on the CD or the High-Yield Savings account.

I wrote a review on it at http://www.sense2cents.com/2008/12/01/max-out-your-savings-using-moneyaisle/