Educating and entertaining myself by reading old blogposts, and I think this one has a small error. It’s David Bach who coined the “Latte Factor”; Richard Bach is the _Jonathan Livingston Seagull_ guy. Just FYI, from one bibliophile to another.

One change I’ve made in response to higher gas prices is to instigate the Two Stop Rule. This means that my car stays in the garage until I have a minimum of two stops that I need to make in one trip.

Because they’re beginning to mine a huge natural gas deposit under the cities in the DFW metroplex, all property owners are receiving thousands of dollars to lease our mineral rights. We got our $5300 check on Saturday and I called my neighbor to tell him it had arrived. He asked what we were going to spend it on!!! I said we’re not spending any of it, we already have enough crap in the house to meet the needs of three families. We’re paying taxes, retiring a credit card and saving the rest.

After reading a number of books on consumerism and illogical decision making, I decided that the branded toilet paper could go. I changed to a no frills one and guess what! The quality is better, the price is cheaper, and the roll thicker, i.e. it lasts no longer.

Ouch! Ouch! That’s the sound of me kicking myself for being too attached to something as silly as toilet paper!

Well after reading this blog I saw a commercial for this product “Manulife One” this is Canada’s first flexible mortgage account. It works by combining your mortgage with your chequing and savings account. As a result, the moment your income enters the account it immediately pays down your debt.

I am no financial advisor and I have a mess of debt myself but to me this just sounds odd. So I went back on the internet and looked it up and it still looks odd. Gail what do you think? I think it means people are in over there heads…..

1) cheaper players are uping their coffee quality, while still being cheaper – i.e. McDonalds, etc.
2) The original CEO, who is back at the helm, is irked by the watering down of the “Starbucks experience”, so wants to refocus on quality rather than mass presence.
3) Of course in a tighter market fewer people would be willing to spend $5 on a cup of coffee, however, Starbucks used to follow under the “lipstick economy” – i.e. inexpensive luxury.

The market Starbucks is in these days is certainly different at the height of its growth phase.

Currently, I haven’t changed my ways I manage my money. But according to my mom I seldom spend money on myself, and I could see that my job is safe at this moment. Anyway, I’m considering cancelling my trip to Japan later in the year (I haven’t bought the ticket yet b/c of bad planning). The money saved could be used to pay down my student debt. The interest rates are still pretty low at this moment so I hope that I could pay my debt down as much as I could. Who knows what’s going to happen in the next few months?

We haven’t really made any changes due to the economy, because despite price increases, we’re still living well within our means. We are planning on tightening up a little over the next two months, in order to cover a few major things without taking our savings down to zero or going into debt (spring vacation, materials for renos so that renos can get done while husband has time off), but after those things are paid for, should be smooth sailing once again.

Where I’m saving – I do grow a garden. I plan my driving to avoid wasting gas. I cook at home and I bake for entertainment. I really enjoy baking bread. I do dry my clothes on the clothes line. It’s helped me keep my power bill to $63/mth. I’d love to have some chickens for fresh eggs if I could get away with it, but I live in the outskirts of the city. I really would LOVE digital cable with a DVR but it’s just too expensive. I’m trying to stay away from the malls and stores to avoid unneeded spending. I bring my meals to work as well.

Signs of the economy slowing down are not always easy to see. I see changes in my friends and family. People are hestitant to travel and are staying home more. They are trying to pay off debt and trying to plan purchases instead of “buy now pay later”. Living in the Maritimes, more & more people are heading west. They don’t feel they have any choice.
As a banker, I still have tons of customers looking for limit increases, but there is also a lot of people looking for consolidation loans to try to lower their monthly costs.

I can tell when the economy is really running when I can’t find a dependable waiter or bartender attached to a meal costing less than $50 (even that became difficult at one point). The skilled members of the profession moved up for higher pay. Those left in the industry either can’t hack it or don’t care. When the economy truely starts to slow down, the standards for servers will increase as the skilled individuals are downsized from their higher paying jobs and competition for positions increases.

Is it wrong that I secretly yearn for the day when I head out for a patio lunch that getting a pint is no longer a crap shoot of an experience??