Money Matters

For the last couple years I have really been trying to change some driving habits get better mileage on my van. Since I got the van on November 22, 2005 , I have averaged 18.4 MPG.

Since I actively started changing my driving habits, I have brought that average up to 20.4. More than a 10% improvement from before! This van (The 2005 Toyota Sienna, FWD) average was listed between 18 and 26, So I still feel that there is more that I can do to bring my mileage up further, but it is a good start.

One major change is allowing the van to coast (NOT NEUTRAL GEAR... As far as I know, that is illegal in most/all states.. at least it is here in Oregon) whenever possible on downhill slopes while maintaining the speed limit.

The other major change is that if I can help it, I try not to go more than 55 on the Highway. On places like I-5 this means staying all the way to the right behind some trucks sometimes... but of course if that is not possible, I once again go the full 65.

Trying to find the right balance is especially important on my van since it REQUIRES premium fuel. I did a test a couple of tanks ago with actually getting regular fuel and I only got 280 miles for the tank (15.5mpg).

That's all for now.

So, when I started "Money Matters" the goal was to spend 10% LESS overall this year. as it stands, I am currently about 4% over what I spent last year in bills and such. Inflation and a green lawn is making things a bit difficult.

I need to do a shout-out to my friend Ben, who introduced me to Mint.com . This site is free to use and was developed by Intuit. It is great for breaking down current transactions and helping with budget creation. I have only been using it for a few weeks, but it has been a great tool for helping me analyze my spending and break things down... all without a lot of effort on my part. This allows me to spend more time on other things.

One thing I have noticed over the last few weeks as I have been doing more BBQing is that the leftovers tend to stay preserved slightly longer than normal cooking, especially if frozen afterwords. This has led to me BBQing more at once and then freezing the leftover.  It is also nice because I can buy a lot of food that is either in bulk or clearance and cook it up while it is still good, for up to 50% off the regular price!

I am expanding upon my garden this year as well. As soon as my new planter box is done I will be checking out the clearance plants at the local stores to see what needs help. I am hoping to have a good yield this year, if I can ever get the stuff planted.  Otherwise, everything will be ready for next year, or I may try to make a clear cover for my new raised bed that I can do some winter gardening in.

One nice thing is that all medical bills are paid off. Luckily I have good insurance so it wasn't that much to begin with, but it is nice to know that I do not have major medical bills looming overhead.

The other day I was chatting with my friend Jon. He was telling me about the Urban Gardening that he has been working on and I started doing some research for a good way to do potatoes. I came across a potato tower design that seemed like it would work rather well. One benefit to this system is it does not take up much room (About as much as a garbage can) and can produce very large yields.

To start out with, some material needs to be used to make a round "Cage". You can use chicken wire, but if you can get your hands on something like stiff plastic webbing, it will be easier on your hands later on. To make the container, form the "cage" around a round garbage can or just free shape it about that size (33 Gallon or so). Now, you will see why you want to use a softer material, or at least round out the edges: Easiest way to close the form is to use zip-ties. These are also easy to cut apart when you go to harvest. Just place a zip-tie about every 3-4 inches up the height of the cage till you are at the top.

Now: Find a place for your cage while your potatoes grow. Either on a cement pad, or get a 3'x3' square plywood platform for it to sit on. This will make it easy to sift through the yield when harvesting comes around, and also helps prevent other bugs from working their way up from the ground into your nice fertile compost/soil.

The easiest way to line the bottom layer is to use newspaper. If you don't get the paper, go and grab one. It really will make this easy and they are already folded and will give you a bit of a guide to go by for height.

Line the edge of the inside of the cage with just one layer high (folded in half) of newspaper. Probably 4-8 pages thick. Now fill up to 1" from the top of the news paper full of soft sandy soil, and/or compost. Plant your potatoes in this layer. Water well and wait for them to grow.

When the potatoes have about 6-8" of green, it will be time to build your tower up another level. Using the 1" space you gave yourself when filling with soil, add another row of newspaper 7-9" tall. again: fill up with dirt until there is only 1 - 2" of greens showing from your potato plants. This will encourage your potato plants to turn everything below the soil into more root structure, which in turn will produce more potatoes.

Continue this process, up to about 36" tall. Make sure to continue using soft/supple soil. Do not use clay laden soil, as when this compacts, it will inhibit the growth of the potatoes.

Now: Just keep your plant happy until after it flowers. When the plant finally starts to die back in the early fall, chop the tops into the compost and remove the sip ties from the cage. Everything should pile nicely onto your platform so you can easily gather your harvest.

Enjoy!

So the other day I received my first Chain Mail scam. Through Snail Mail too!

Basically it is the letter that starts out as though it is written by an attorney, stating all of the reasons why this particular chain letter is legal. Then all you have to do is buy a mailing list from a legal source (200 people), photocopy the letter making change only to one section, the section with the names of 6 people. (By moving #6 to 5, 5 to 4 and so on... removing the old #1 and adding yourself to #6) then mailing the letter with the new names to the 200 people from the mailing list you bought. then you send out $1 to the old #1-#6.

Now, in theory: This system works. However, because you are taking a chance that any of the 200 people who's names you bought don't follow through with it it is seen as Lottery Via Mail (Very Illegal). Earlier versions of this letter at least as far as I am aware of have been ruled against in court as far back as 1972 (for what I have found).  Apparently though the general ruling of Chain Letters being illegal go as far back as the Great Depression.

I had found a forum on Hoax Museum where this type of letter has been talked about (In one thread) for the last 6 or so years.

I feel bad for the people that end up getting caught in the middle of this that have no clue to it's legality status. It also bums me out that because there are so many predatory people out there that use this as a means of control that it became illegal in the first place. To a point, this system follows very much a "Pay it Forward" mentality.

Now: Those of you that are saying that this is a Pyramid Scheme or a Ponsi scheme... No. It doesn't follow the logic of either of those two systems. For it to be a ponsi scheme, the money would have to be requested up front, then disappear into the night, but it is theoretically being sent to previous participants of this system.

For a Pyramid Scheme the person at the top would have to ALWAYS make more than the person at the bottom... Well, tell me: How does that work on a cycling system, where one person on a list is only ever there for 6 iterations of the letter? It doesn't. One person has a cap that they can ever make, and that cap is the same for the person at the beginning of the list as it is for the person at the end of the list (In Case your Curious: if there was a 100% return, then one person would have the potential of $64,000,000,000,000.... Most of these letters say that you will get about a 7% return, or about $800,000).  Some people have reported more, many have reported less... Mainly because many people are skeptical and check it out first.

So, lets change it up a little: I don't want to hear about weather or not this letter is legal (I will delete comments to that nature), but lets assume that this system WAS legal... Would you follow through with it if you got this letter? I know of at least one person that would, as I believe I would myself. I believe that it is because of the questionable legality that so many people do NOT make use of this.

So, this post will more likely be a series of posts.

Earlier this last month I was reminded once again why I want to try to decrease my dependency on the Grid. Something happened here in Newberg, OR and about 1/4 of the city was without power. I do what I can to try to curb my use on the grid.  I am already on Time-Of-Use to encourage off-peak power usage, but I know that I can do a lot more.

My house has A LOT of surface area on the south side of the house, and even with all of the Rain that we get, supposedly we have an average solar gain of 4 for this area. One of the issues I have with current solar energy means is that, especially in a residential setting, they are very stationary.

I have been contemplating some ideas to try to harvest as much "Natural" energy as possible. Recently, especially with all of the rain and recently talking about Gathering Rainwater, I am trying to figure out a good way that during the "Collection" process, I can take advantage of some Hydro energy.

Ideally I would like to be able to take advantage of Solar, Wind AND Hydro energy, and being in Oregon, I do not believe that this would be too difficult to do.  We get mild enough of each condition that at bare minimum I should be able to come up with something that utilizes all three to get consistent power throughout the year.

A Friend of mine that moved to California last year, shared with me his blog as well, in particular, his ideas for a Bicycle Powered Washing Machine. I thought this was rather ingenious, and was wondering by combining exercise with energy what I could find.  Then I remembered when I was a kid: My Dad used to use a generator on my bicycle that was attached to a lamp for a headlight. It was great! He even had it so if it dropped below a certain power that it would kick over to battery power if it was turned on.

Surely I can use this same concept to build a small-scale generator... The difficult part I think will be regulating the output to make sure that it doesn't overload.

More to come.