ONGOING CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MODERN LIVING…
What’s the most effective way to cut back on spending?
When you’re single, you don’t need much money. You need a place to live, a nice TV, and hopefully some cash left over for a social life.
If the social life works out, you get married. Then there’s the mortgage, and the baby, and the minivan, and before you know it, the lessons and the private school, and you have no money whatsoever. (Add “The Great Recession” to the mix and you’ve got a real party.)
What are the most effective ways you’ve discovered to cut back on your spending? Clipping coupons? Fewer meals out? Rethinking that scuba diving trip to the Maldives? Please let us know in the Comments section…
What’s the best way to treat – or prevent – spring allergies?
The big downside to spring for any allergy sufferer is the knowledge that your eyes nose and throat might, at any moment, stage an “uprising” against your face. We’re told to stay indoors to avoid the symptoms. Yeah, right.
I can spot a fellow allergy sufferer a mile away: they’ve got the puffy red eyes. (Which, come to think of it, also describes many college students.)
Have you successfully treated your spring allergy symptoms – OR – have you discovered a way to keep the symptoms away completely?
How do you tell when food has gone bad?
When you purchase food, you assume it’s fresh. (Or that it’s so filled with chemicals that nothing – save the chemicals themselves – will hurt you.) Then there’s food that’s gone bad: it either smells or has stuff growing on it – and unless we’re talking about expensive cheese, these are pretty good indications it shouldn’t be consumed.
What we’re concerned with, however, is the stuff you’re just not sure about; like the chinese food that’s been in the fridge four days – or the half a Gatorade that sat out a few hours. (And let’s not forget the salad dressing you remember purchasing during the Bush administration.)
Have YOU ever experienced the difficulties associated with “food gone bad”?
How do you transition to a less physically challenging occupation?
From Pete: “I was in plumbing and excavation for over 20 years. An auto accident has made me ’fragile’ and as a manager in today’s world you have to be in the field working with the troops. I can no longer use my body as my source of income. I’m afraid I may no longer be able to ‘learn’. Any ideas or resources?”
This is a great question, especially when you consider the fact that the same dilemma can be caused by any number of personal (or societal) changes – and Pete most certainly isn’t the only one in this particular boat these days.
So… what do you think Pete be be doing in his efforts to transfer to a less physically challenging occupation?