The Digerati Life

The Frugal Duchess talks about her frugal memoir and her favorite money saving tips.

As you may already know, The Frugal Duchess, Ms. Sharon Harvey Rosenberg, is currently holding a book tour around the web. Sharon writes for the Miami Herald on financial topics and also runs The Frugal Duchess blog, which you no doubt have seen mentioned here on our site throughout the years. As some background, I’d like to mention that Sharon’s blog was one of the handful I found inspiration from to start my own blog. You can pick up her blog feed here.

We’re truly honored to be one of the stops on her book tour! When Sharon contacted me about her book, I jumped at the chance to check it out. Her book weaves money saving advice along with stories from her life, and is called “The Frugal Duchess: How To Live Well and Save Money”, which you’ll find listed in Amazon.

So what we’ve got here today is an interview with Sharon, which I thought would be a wonderful way to learn more about her and what she’s worked on.

An Interview With The Frugal Duchess

SVB: Do you have objectives for your book? What inspired you to write one?

The Frugal Duchess: That’s a great question. I wrote a book that offers a memoir with frugal tips. The book tells the story about my parents’ Depression Era childhood. I discuss and demonstrate how the Depression shaped my parents’ lives during the 1930s-1940s and how the Depression influenced the choices my parents made when they raised me and my siblings during 1960s and 1970s.

In the Frugal Duchess, I also offer a literary tour of the homes and towns where my family has lived over the last four generations.

I wanted to deliver a frugal living book that people would want to read for pleasure. Writing a book was been a childhood dream.

SVB: Do you find that frugality is something that is “built in” rather than taught? Do you find that frugality is a trait that doesn’t come naturally to everyone? (Sometime ago, I wrote about the science behind money behaviors and the influence of genes on how we spend (or save), and I thought to explore this topic a bit here.)

The Frugal Duchess: Very interesting question: Nurture versus nature? Some folks — of course — are hard-wired for thrifty living. From the cradle, some people are natural savers. I see that trait in my children. One child may be thrifty and hold onto every penny of a birthday check or allowance.

Other kids, however, are big spenders even in preschool. They’ll run after the ice cream truck and spend their last dollar on a Popsicle.

Fortunately, frugality is also an acquired habit. Kids and adults can be taught to live frugally. I’m not naturally frugal. But I’ve taught myself — and my kids — to spend mindfully and to save willingly.

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Here are 6 ways you can get your free credit scores and reports, including a comprehensive credit information package on discount. myFICO’s Credit Complete product is on sale.

With the credit crisis in the forefront, it’s more important than ever to keep tabs on how our credit scores are doing. And a few companies and services are realizing this need. As consumers, we’re able to get a hold of our credit scores and credit reports in a variety of ways. So I’ve compiled these resources from where you can get your credit information — some of these sites have been around a while, some I’m familiar with while others I’ve just come to hear about:

Where To Get Cheap and Free Credit Scores and Reports

myFICO has just reported that their flagship product, FICO Credit Complete, is on sale right now. If you’d like to go the one-stop shop route, you can receive your full credit profile through myFICO, which will provide you your information in one easy package. We’ve got now till October 22, 2008 to order the comprehensive FICO Credit Complete package which will give us all 3 of our FICO scores and reports (from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) for $38.28 or 20% off from the usual product price of $47.85. To receive the discount, you can order here by entering promo code FALLFCC11. If you’re after the big picture, then you may want to consider this option.

That said, there are sites out there that can give you your credit scores and reports for free (with a few caveats), which I’m listing below. I’ve seen a few sites on this roster also being reviewed at other cool personal finance blogs like Stop Buying Crap, which you can visit for additional commentary.

Credit Karma is a new site that offers free credit scores. They will charge you nothing for your score. But there’s a small catch — you’ll have to provide your social security number so they can retrieve your credit information. They assure us that they’ve taken steps to ensure the security of our SSNs; as you’d expect, it’s encrypted and shielded on the site. With some exploration, you’ll see that Credit Karma makes their money through the typical affiliate sales and advertising monetization model that free service web sites provide. I’ve perused their blog as well, which has lots of useful credit-related info.

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How will your money fare after the presidential elections? Let’s review where Obama and McCain stand on some financial issues.

With elections around the corner, I thought I’d chime in on a well-worn financial topic — the one that pits our presidential candidates against each other on the subject of money. It’s about time too, since I’m receiving more and more (unsolicited) political messages and notices from my old friends via email; clearly, our political climate is heating up as we approach election day. So I’d like to take a break from the usual harping we’ve been doing here about the weak stock market and the unrelenting economic crisis to do a quick run through on where the candidates sit on some issues.

Obama vs McCain, Which One?

I’m seeing that Barack Obama offers us ordinary citizens more services, for a price. John McCain, while applauding the Federal Government move to rescue the economy, wants to cut our taxes even more, especially for the richest 10%. He intends to pay for the government’s needs by limiting the war in Iraq, cutting “pork” from Congress, reducing the military budget, and by hoping that the tax cuts will result in more business nationwide.

Our Mass Transit System Is Pitiful

Obama wants to spend more than 60 billion on fast Internet services (we are way behind Europe in this area), better education (though he refrains from offering vouchers), on rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure such as high-speed rail (again we are way behind Europe), and on research on alternate fuels. He plans on raising taxes for those who earn more than $250,000 a year.

The Trickle Down Economy: Do You Hear The Tinkling?

Meanwhile, McCain is apparently favoring the trickle down economy trumpeted by Ronald Reagan. It means that when rich people and companies are doing well, the financial fruits will come trickling down to the average Joe. And for rich folks to do well, he plans on lowering their taxes too, hoping they will invest their excess money into new industries and new jobs (hoping doesn’t cost anything).

Welfare State?

Conversely, Obama would like to emphasize plans to help the less favored by lowering taxes for seniors, students, low income workers and mortgage owners (we lost quite a few of those in the last 12 months). According to Roger Lowenstein, “McCain would continue his non-interventionist approach.” In other words, he favors letting the markets decide who wins and who loses. Or said another way: he prefers to let the markets do as they will, with the government not intervening so much.

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I always enjoy going to Ginger’s site — the blog called “Girls Just Wanna Have Funds”. I find myself invigorated every time I pay her a visit, thanks to the vibrant colors of her site and the energy she puts forth in her posts. Well this time, Ginger brings us an awesome Carnival of Personal Finance, which I was happy to be part of. Our post on Best Places For Your Money When The Stock Market Tanks made it as an Editor’s Choice! Thank you to Ginger for presenting a great array of finance articles, some of which got my attention:

• Funny About Money: On The Trail Of The Elusive Job
• The Passive Dad: Free Creative Ideas to Help Friends Facing Foreclosure or Bankruptcy
• Ask Mr. Credit Card: How To Dispute An Item On Your Credit Report

In the meantime, Dollar Frugal hosts a hefty Festival of Frugality, Benjamin Franklin Edition, which contain these informative and timely frugal posts:

• The Personal Financier: Roller Coaster Ride In A Manic Depressive Stock Market
• Financial Wellness Project: Save, Don’t Borrow: Building Up For Our Japan Fund
• Almost Frugal: Stay Warmer in Cold Weather

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Do you use green food saver bags as a way to make food last longer? Here are some ideas to make produce last.

We all want to minimize waste and lower our grocery bills, right? We can achieve this to some degree by preventing our produce from spoiling before we’re ready to consume these food items. This was one interesting question that brought up many good responses at the Wesabe forum discussions. One community member wonders whether green food saver bags (as seen on TV) were worth purchasing. I can only assume that she was referring to the “Debbie Meyer Green Bags” that are hawked in infomercials, the greenbags.com web site, the Home Shopping Network and other channels.

These green bags are intended to slow the decay of fresh fruits and vegetables when you put them in storage. The claim is that these bags will prolong the life of your perishables by absorbing any gas released by the food items. The ethylene gas released by fruits and vegetables actually speeds up the ripening process. At last check, 20 bags were going for about $10 plus $7 for shipping — that’s $17 for 20 bags or around 85 cents a bag!

Now, it would be great if something can be done to make our produce last longer, but are the bags worth the money? Would the “investment” in these bags be offset by the money you save when you prevent produce from spoiling?

How To Make Food Last Longer

Some responses to this question have come from the Wesabe community:

1. The best way to keep food from going bad? More frequent trips to the farmer’s market or the grocery store. Also, buy what’s in season as they will last longer, will taste better and will usually cost less!

2. Go for grocery delivery if you can, which will bring your produce to your doorstep, cut down on your shopping time and save you money on gas. A delivery service like Door To Door Organics in Michigan or in Orlando would help.

3. Consumer Reports claims that the green bags don’t do the job. They performed a test using a variety of fruits and vegetables stored in various ways: they stored the foods in the green bags, in regular Ziploc bags, on a counter, in a fridge and in plastic supermarket bags. They got unfavorable results for the green bags except when it involved bananas, as they report here:

From Consumer Reports: We saw green inside the Green Bags, but often it was mold. Blackberries became moldy after three weeks, strawberries and basil after a month, and peppers and tomatoes after five weeks. It was a tough test, but the same foods stored in other ways nearly always had less mold or none after the same time. Only bananas fared significantly better in Green Bags: After two weeks, they were firm and had not turned black.

4. Some people freeze their fruits and vegetables and say that thawed berries and frozen banana pops taste great. Hmmm…. maybe I should try this out!

5. Some ways to keep herbs longer: store them in olive oil, or blend them with a bit of water, puree then freeze them into ice cubes.

6. If you store food in Ziploc bags, make sure you date your bags so you know how long something has been sitting in your fridge. Wrap food items loosely in paper towels before putting them in bags, and wash the items right before you consume them, not before you store them.

7. Freeze foods or be creative with your items, especially when you notice them going ripe. Preserve them in jars or include them in cakes and pastries to make them last.

8. Consider using reusable glass jars and recyclable plastic containers for storage instead of plastic bags as a “greener” solution and as a way to save money as well.

If you’ve got additional ideas on how to make your perishables take on a longer shelf-life, do share!

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The harsh reality and aftermath of foreclosure: personal stories of financial loss from Foreclosure Alley.“You know you’re in trouble when the lawn is brown and the pool is green.”

Something making the rounds of the web is a haunting, somewhat gloomy video on foreclosures — the scenes of which show some surprising, unexpected details. We hear about the foreclosure statistics and the stories in the news, mostly on a detached level. But as I find out more about the personal stories of people whose lives have been greatly upturned by the real estate bust and what seems very much like an economic recession borne of the financial crisis we’ve been hit with, I can’t help but feel sadness and dismay for the things that have transpired.

Despite all the talk that we should just let the market do what it will do, it doesn’t change the fact that financial loss has wrecked people’s lives significantly. The news is littered with many such stories, including this one about a family with a toddler who is forced to live in a tent, and a desperate 90 year old woman who shot herself while in the process of being evicted from her foreclosed home.

For many, a home to live in has become harder to find, as people with damaged credit are finding it harder to find a place to rent. Landlords are becoming much stricter about whom they sign up as tenants, no doubt, due to difficulties with previous renters.

Remember the infamous poster boy for foreclosure and real estate decline: Casey Serin? From his example, we see that when things go wrong financially, it can escalate quickly and significantly. Once you make a few financial mistakes, it can be one short step from missed payments to homelessness: your credit gets damaged, your debt load spirals and before long, you’re evicted.

The Story Of Foreclosure Alley: Main Points

What struck me most about this video about foreclosed homes in Southern California (in a suburban development of large, spacious homes now dubbed as “Foreclosure Alley”) were these facts:

1. One in two homes sold last month was a home that was previously repossessed. 700 families lose their homes to foreclosure everyday.

2. The typical foreclosed home is a newer house in a newer neighborhood that was purchased over the last 5 years.

3. Many families that abandon their homes no longer care about what they leave behind. You’ll find so much stuff in these homes when the cleaning crew comes by. All the items they come across — even brand new large, flat-screen television sets, appliances, computers, printers and other electronic gadgets will be thrown out to a landfill! Ironically, the cleaners claim that it takes too much time and money to donate these items to charity. Some surprising materials that people leave behind: photo albums, pink slips for vehicles, birth certificates and other important documents, and in one case, even an urn carrying remains of a loved one. These latter items are eventually returned to their owners.

4. People leave behind many valuable material possessions during a foreclosure because they may no longer be able to pay for them (as they try to walk away from debt and financial obligations) or because they are at a low emotional point and just want to “get things over with”. It’s a point of despair and abandonment when they leave their foreclosed home still stuffed to the brim with their former lives.

5. The business of “trashing” is done by a cleaning company that specializes in cleaning out foreclosed homes. Such companies are doing very well at this time, with business currently booming.

6. Part of fixing up a foreclosed home (other than cleaning it out) is to spray paint a dead lawn to get it ready for resale. It’s done for instant curb appeal.

7. How far have prices gone down? Original prices for these foreclosed homes just a few short years ago: $399,000. Today, they’re worth $180,000.

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Photo by Digital Sextant

It’s been a while since I got tagged with a financial meme. This time, Aryn from Sound Money Matters tagged me to answer the question: What is some of the best financial advice you’ve received?

I grew up in a household that didn’t really talk about money that much — at least, to the extent that I would have liked to. To this day, my father doesn’t really like it when I talk about money; whenever I bring the subject up, he is quick to remind me that “money isn’t everything”. I guess it’s never really been an exciting topic for my parents, who are both hard-working people who have a pretty relaxed view about finance. All I can say is that while growing up, I noticed that my parents never fussed or worried about money (regardless of how much or how little they had of it), which took a backstage to everything else. Money came second to faith, family and community.

But I’ll have to say that one of the most meaningful pieces of financial advice I’ve ever gotten, actually came from my dear old Dad. He told me to study well and to get into the field of technology and computer science. He advised me to pursue a career that was in high demand; if I did so, then I shouldn’t have an issue about keeping a job or making enough bucks.

Well, I guess he was right. I have to say thanks to my Dad for the awesome advice!

Now if you’re reading this and you have a blog, consider yourself tagged. Won’t you share with us the best advice you’ve come across?

Now on to financial articles I enjoyed this week!

Recommended Personal Finance Reads

• Five Cent Nickel shares some lessons from the stock market game — a game his ten year old son is playing at school.
• Blueprint For Financial Prosperity shares with us how to sell our gold jewelry. Wait, don’t we need to hold on to our gold now that the economy and the stock market are on the rocks?
• Get Rich Slowly: J.D. tracks the time and money he spends on growing his own food and maintaining his lovely edible garden.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter barely avoided carrying a credit card balance, but worked out a way to pay off the debt on his card.
• No Credit Needed walks us through how he allocates the funds in his savings account for various financial goals.
• Lazy Man and Money: I was amused by these three ridiculous and stupid ideas that can save you money, care of Lazy Man. How about these wild ways to save? Or these equally outrageous ways?
• The Smarter Wallet shares the truth about bank fees — what else can your bank be hiding?
• Frugal Dad offers unique strategies to recession-proof your household.
• Money Smart Life: discusses how busy parents can handle a home-based business. This sure fits our household to a T!
• Gen X Finance: Should FDIC protection limits be raised from $100,000 to $250,000?
• The Sun’s Financial Diary ponders whether gold is a good choice to hedge against inflation.
• Million Dollar Journey brings up the “R” word for “global recession”.
• Brip Blap: could the economic crisis have a hand at devaluing MBAs?
• My Dollar Plan: if you live to eat (who doesn’t ?) then try out this yummy and frugal chicken soup.
• Rich Credit Debt Loan shares with us how to get motivated to organize our finances.
• Money Ning gives us 10 activities for the bear market. I’ve written an article along these lines discussing effective strategies to leverage a weak stock market.

Additional News Around The Financial Blogosphere

• Penny Jobs: Why We Should Put Our Hope Back In Capitalism
• So Cal Savvy: I Am Young And I’m Buying Stocks On Sale
• Lance Turner: Credit Crisis Further Weakens Big Newspapers
• Twenties Money: 5 Tips for Job Fair Success
• Green Panda Treehouse: Joint Accounts: How We Budget Deposits and Withdrawals
• Free From Broke: Happy 1st Birthday! Congratulations on hitting your first anniversary milestone, and may there be many years of fun-filled blogging ahead of you!

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I caught wind of a sign up offer by TradeKing, a popular online brokerage among financial bloggers. If you’re considering signing up with an online brokerage, you can avail of a timely bonus by TradeKing during the month of October. Once you open and fund your brokerage account with a minimum of $2,500 and make your first trade, TradeKing will apply a $50 sign up bonus to your account.

Following are some details about TradeKing and the terms and conditions of the bonus itself.

Details On TradeKing

• They offer $4.95 for each equity or option trade (with 65 cents per option contract).
• They will reimburse any transfer fees up to $150.
• No inactivity fees.
• They were awarded Smart Money’s honor of #1 Discount Broker in its annual Broker Survey of US Brokers in 2006 and 2007. The award was based on how well the brokerage rated in terms of commissions, interest rates, mutual funds, investment products, banking amenities, trading tools, research and customer service.
• They were awarded 4 stars (the highest ranking) by Barron’s in its 12th Annual Survey of Best Browser-Based Online Brokers in 2007. TradeKing was ranked second out of fifteen online brokers for “Usability” and “Cost”.
• Other great features they have available: a learning center, community section, tools and research area.

Details On The $50 Sign Up Bonus

• The offer will expire on October 31, 2008.
• You need to fund your account with at least $2,500.
• Only new non-retirement accounts are eligible to receive the bonus.
• You’ll need to execute a trade within 180 days of opening your account.
• The offer is not transferable and not valid in conjunction with other offers.
• Only US residents qualify for the offer, which is limited to one bonus per household.
• You’ll need to maintain a minimum balance of $2,500 in your account apart from trading losses for the first six months in order to keep the $50 bonus.
• You’ll need to sign up through a promotional link to receive the bonus. The offer won’t register if you sign up directly via the TradeKing site.

Interested? Then you may apply here for a TradeKing account and to receive the bonus.

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