Archive for September, 2008:
Preparing for the worst–a different sort of emergency fund
In the personal finance community, we often talk about how important it is to have an emergency fund. Preparing for a financial emergency is a good idea, but what about other types of emergencies?
All areas of the country can be affected by inclement weather. Hurricanes not only affect coastal regions, but their winds and rains can have an impact far from any ocean. With Hurricane Ike, residents of the Gulf Coast felt the strongest effects, but the storm headed northeast and walloped parts of the Midwest and Canada as well. Chicago faced serious flooding, and hurricane-force winds were felt in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and more. Some people are still without power here in Pittsburgh, one week after the storm passed through.
Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, blizzards, ice storms, strong thunderstorms, heat waves, power outages, and other disasters — man-made or natural — can spring up no matter where you live or what season.
To make life a little easier during such times, it’s important that all families have some sort of emergency kit.
I’ve never needed a full-blown emergency kit, but I’m just flirting with chance on this one. I have had times where I wished I had a few more candles, or a few more batteries, or a battery-operated radio during extended power outages.
I’m done messing around. Time for me to be a grown-up and get supplies together for those unexpected events.
I’m assembling kits for our apartment and our car, as well as updating our first-aid supplies for each location, and I’ll use a few posts this week to describe my process.
Feel free to join me! This is one of those things where you hear about it and say, “I need to do that,” and then sometimes, it gets put off until it’s forgotten. Don’t. If you need to do this, do it!
In the meantime, check out these helpful sites regarding emergency preparedness:
From the US government/orgs:
Ready.gov and the FEMA web site
From the blogs:
Lessons learned from our 30-hour power outage at Stretching a Buck
Ready for Gustav? At The Wisdom Journal
Freebies in my emergency kit at Freebies4Mom
Water: Don’t be without it at Small Notebook
It’s time again for hurricane 101 at HomeEc101
Preparing for the storm at Living Well on Less
Photo credit: Chris Violette, used with Creative Commons license
First loaf of bread
My first loaf of bread! And it actually turned out ok! Yay! I used a recipe within my owner’s manual. It’s half whole wheat (I used all-purpose flour for the other half). It was simple enough. Just measure and toss the ingredients in, turn it on and hope for the best.
I’ll definitely try making another loaf again soon. If you have a bread machine and you’ve been too intimidated to try it otu (like I was) give it a shot already!
Beware of survey advertising
I used to take internet surveys to make an extra few dollars. In all, I estimate that I earned about $30.
But, these surveys were about specific products, and in a way, taking the survey felt like I was subjecting myself to one big advertisement. I had to learn about the product, give my opinion on its various features and benefits, and describe whether it would be a product I’d want to purchase and use in the future.
I have to wonder about the motivations of the marketing companies behind such surveys.
True, they probably are seeking feedback on their product. But, they have to realize that when someone takes a 15+ minute survey about a product that may or may not be familiar to them, that’s a decent amount of exposure to their product.
Would you want to watch a 15-minute commercial or infomercial? Probably not. But by rewarding survey-takers with a few dollars, you have a motivated, captive audience who is now more aware of your specific product.
Recently, I decided the surveys weren’t worth my time. And, I decided that I’d be better off by avoiding these pseudo ads.
Today, J.D. at Get Rich Slowly wrote about the prevalence of advertising and how its presence can increase our levels of consumerism.
I think he makes great points.
There’s nothing wrong with participating in survey or opinion groups to earn a few bucks. But, I think we have to remember that we’re being exposed to advertising that can subconsciously lead us to spend (or want to spend) more.
