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A Day in the Green Lane Turned Me Red but Saved Money

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May 20th, 2012

Being a green reader is fun; living the green life is not

I keep reading all this green stuff that everyone’s writing and I am full of admiration for those that would repair our planet. Then I decided to take the green matter one step further and live green. I made the announcement in the kitchen where my wife and her 2 assistants, my daughters, were preparing dinner. I ended my little speech by saying to my wife, “you are the manager of our Green Project. You decide what we do.” She nodded in silent acceptance. Oh boy… Did I hear shrieks of laughter after I left the kitchen?

Dinner

Dinner turned out to be salads, fresh fruit and 2 pieces of whole-wheat bread. The bread was quickly withdrawn when daughter number 2 reminded us that bread is baked in an electric oven and using electricity is a green no-no. I was about to suggest that we could get around the electrical problem by buying bread, which is a dietary necessity, but then I realized that the cooking factor would still be there. We definitely saved money on the dinner.

Shower

I hopped into the shower before going to bed to find the water icy cold. “I turned the boiler off. Heating water with electricity is a green no-no. I suggest you build one of those solar water heating panels tomorrow.”

“But I arranged to go fishing with the boys…”

“Your choice. I myself find the cold showers invigorating. Plus we’re saving money on electricity and saving the planet.” I saved more money on water. I was out of that shower in a flash.

Bed

“Reading lamps are out. Electricity again. But we don’t have to give up reading in bed, we’ll use candles. I managed about 2 pages of the thousand page monster book I was trying to finish. “Can’t we just…?” I asked. I got a silent headshake. Money saved on my candle.

Breakfast

Breakfast was cereal and cold milk and an awful concoction of hand-stirred cold coffee. I was presented with a small scrap of paper which simply read, “Savings to date $35.78.” I sprinted for the garage so I could get away from this self-inflicted madness and get to the office and environmental sanity as quickly as possible.

The car

The garage was locked with the largest padlock I have ever seen. Yep, my car is not green. It’s not even hybrid, just an old-fashioned fossil fuel guzzling super-comfortable Chev. I love it! I grabbed one of the girl’s old bikes from the toolshed, pumped up the tires and made for the station. I have to admit that I enjoyed the bike ride but hated inhaling everyone else’s exhaust fumes. I also hated the feeling that I was a moving target for every car on the road. I broke the green rules by riding on the electric powered train and enjoyed it. I may get back to bike riding in the countryside after this green experiment is over.

The office

The office brews great hot coffee, has an electric water cooler and as a senior draftsman I have an electric pencil sharpener.

The day

All in all I had a good “green” day. We saved money and if we keep this up and iron out some of the bumps, we can live green lives. Like everything else it will take some work.

Tags: Green living, saving money
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Designer Coffee and My Personal Finances

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May 19th, 2012

Can a blog article pay for 2 coffees and pastries?

I sinned this morning. Somewhere in the Bible there is a commandment, a lesser one, perhaps, but nevertheless a commandment, that says, “Thou shalt not forget”. I forgot, but in this case I paid the price with a smile.

I go along

This morning my wife had a chore in the adjoining town, saw me sitting blankly in front of the computer and asked if I’d like to come along. With a gasp of relief at having an alternative, I grabbed my car keys and off we went. The business was over in a few minutes and as we walked back to the car she said, “how about morning coffee in the mall?” That was the moment of my sin. Too late, I remembered the last time we had morning coffee in the mall. But things were different then.

The mall

The mall is huge. Two floors of heavy shopping, and to my surprise as a Recession Writer, thronged with shoppers. And most of the people were carrying shopping bags, a sure sign that they are buying or at worst, exchanging something they bought that didn’t fit. The coffee shop is great. It features the latest in coffee shop architecture and serves designer coffee to designer housewives wheeling little designer babies. The place is pretty full and the babble of conversation drowns out the coffee music.

We order

My wife orders a small cappuccino and a Danish pastry, with cinnamon, she says. I order a medium latte with a shot of caramel syrup and the same Danish. Everything is delicious. The Danish arrive on plates with a small mound of cinnamon dust on the side meaning that the waitress or the chef almost understood the order. Whatever, it was great. Then we got to the finances.

The bill

I am an article writer. An article takes me between 40 and 90 minutes to write, read and send. The average article brings in about $25.00. The coffee bill:

1 small cappuccino 4.25
1 medium latte with a shot of caramel syrup 5.00
2 Danish pastries with cinnamon on the side 8.00
Tip 2.15
Total 19.40

I’m satisfied

I never do exercises like the one above in case I come out losing. This particular one came out just fine – I’m quite content to devote an article to a coffee morning in pleasant surroundings which make me feel temporarily flush. Dinner, of course would be a 3 or 4 article affair depending on the restaurant and the menu. Has my financial life been reduced to an “article scale” in personal economics? I don’t think so, but the article writing side of my life definitely plays a part in what goes on a daily basis.

Last time in the mall

I thought back to our last coffee morning in the same coffee shop in the mall. I was newly unemployed and it hurt everywhere. The bill for the coffee was probably the same but at that time there were no articles to the rescue. I vowed ‘never again’.

Tags: Article writing, Coffee shop economics, Coffee shops
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I’m Running Away From It All!

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May 18th, 2012

I’m never coming back to recession-land turmoil again

I have fallen to pieces during the past month. I go to bed at night and I don’t sleep. At daybreak I find myself semi-comatose, in a cold sweat and screaming that the stock exchange fell every minute through the long night. It fell and fell into a bottomless pit and I couldn’t stop it. I saw the reels on the NYSE boards spinning out of control, the numbers falling lower and lower. I have to leave now. I must run and get away from this madness. This is no longer my world, the one I loved so much before prime mortgages and crumbling Mediterranean Rim countries.

Greece

Now it’s Greece. And if they manage to get that country back on the rails it will be Portugal. After that it will turn into a humongous game of dominoes, Spain, Italy and who knows where it will go from there. I called an airline, made a booking and tonight I’m off. Destination: The Red Sea port of Eilat. Remote. Warm. Great food. Pretty girls, unlimited underwater diving, no rain, and more great food.

Luggage

I packed my beloved gold Cross pen, my crossword dictionary, my little box of watercolors and headed for the airport. On the plane I had the best 8-hour sleep in months.

Welcome to Eilat

This morning I am lying on an old deck chair on a beach in Eilat. In the distance behind me you can see the craggy hills of the Sinai and in front of me, the calm waters of the Red Sea. I have found myself a secluded villa, haggled the price down from 1 million to 800,000 and got the title deeds in my hands without putting down one penny. Aha, here comes Jenny treading carefully across the sand. She is carrying a tray with two glasses of a delicious looking pink drink with frosting around the rim of the glass and little purple umbrellas shading the mixture. She hands me a glass and sits down on the sand at my feet. Jenny came with the villa – “meet Jenny, she will be your May, June and July Assistant,” said the agent.

The island delivery service

Yesterday’s helicopter mail-drop failed to arrive and that means that I missed the Wednesday NY Times crossword which in turn means that the whole week’s crossword program is shot. Everyone knows that the NY Times crossword runs in one week cycles. I am also waiting for the laptop I ordered from Amazon.

My novel

I feel that I need to do something to keep my brain occupied and exercised in this environment. In the old country I used to sharpen my wits on things like the stock exchange and the money market. Here it’s all beach, sunshine, Jenny and her drinks. I have decided to turn to writing – a novel. Or maybe one of those “How-to books”. Perhaps “How to get way from it all and do nothing”

Wait for it.

Tags: Financial crises, Getaways, Mediterranean Rim countries., stock exchange
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The AdvanceLoan Finance Blog

A Day in the Green Lane Turned Me Red but Saved Money

Designer Coffee and My Personal Finances

I’m Running Away From It All!