- Oct 3, 2007
- 1,539
That's true, but paranoia, internet hysteria, and helicopter parenting are at an all time high.
Living frugal, practical, saving money and raising healthy children
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That's true, but paranoia, internet hysteria, and helicopter parenting are at an all time high.
I think it's something all parents that take the time to reflect upon realize in an intellectual sense from early on. The problem is reconciling our innate emotional instinct to protect our children with the fact that sheltering them from the world is in effect preventing them from fully experiencing life. At the moment my children are still dependent upon my wife and I for almost everything. I'm hoping that with time as they become more independent and capable of dealing with life head on it becomes a much easier task.
Down since when? One thing that is definitely up is sensationalist news in your face 24-7. Even if violence and murder are down the news coverage of it is up when given the fact that we have 24-7 news channels and internet news sites.
"According to data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States is becoming safer nearly every year. In the 20 years through 2012, the U.S. violent crime rate has been almost cut in half. Just since 2007, the nation’s violent crime rate has declined from 471.8 to 386.9 incidents per 100,000 people."
Ashful
Minister of Fire
They have only discovered that working in a bank is more lucrative than robbing it and does not land you in jail.
You nailed that one, Rick! 99 keeps telling me "Look at this feature on the remote-it can mute the sound; change the channel; and even turn the tv off!" She wins again!
- Oct 3, 2007
- 1,539
For me its an hour of NPR in the morning, an hour of NPR in the afternoon (in the car), and seeing what the local weather guesser has to say between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. I can't say that know what Justin Bieber is up to at any given moment, or that I know the "shocking truth about ________ that ________ doesn't want you to know," but I have a fairly decent grasp of what's going in the world.
mass_burner
Minister of Fire
Yes, and check the stats for white collar crime, fraud, insider trading, uh, don't know what you call it...breaking the world's banking system. These are at an all-time high (and at the same time people in prison for these crimes is still very low).
bobdog2o02
Minister of Fire
I can honestly say i just read all 5 pages of this thread and found only two people actually answered the OP's question. I have enjoyed the banter and philosophy though. To answer the question i give some background on myself. I am 30 years old. My Mom and Dad were 17/21 respectively when i was born. My father is a bipolar drunk that could not hold a job for more than a year before quitting because he "could do his boss's job better". For the past 20yrs my dad has been self employed in the trades, i have learned all that he does because i worked summers and evenings sometimes with him. SKILLS will save your but when TSHTF. Mom is the most patient person i know. All the love i grew up with came from her, after i was born she was left supporting the broken needs of my father and the needs of an infant, all with a high school diploma. She has never made more than $12/hour. We got through a lot of tough years with help from the grandparents, I also saw two people making TERRIBLE decisions financially. Living beyond their means. I moved out in 2007, my mom left dad 3 months later.
My life has been AWESOME, i went to a great public school system, learned lots of trades during my upbringing; finish carpentry, framing, flooring, roofing, painting, electrical, plumbing, some hvac..... If it has to do with houses i can do it. I went to a two years trade school, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster PA. I started a career in Electronic security. I currently work for the industry leader in Fire Protection making a good living 42K. My wife has been my best friend since i met her at age 18 in 2002. Got married in 2010. She is an accountant and makes exactly the same $ as me. We bought our first house in the summer of 2011. $155K We were approved for up to $300K RIDICULOUS.
My advice to the OP.
1. Cook at home, eating out is very expensive. My parents only cooked one meal per week at home. When first dating my wife a lot of our time together was in the kitchen. cooking eating, and cleaning up TOGETHER. Builds great trust and bonds the more time you spend doing things together.
2. Use any skills you have and learn any you can that can save $ at home. The only thing i pay someone else to do around my house is charge the A/C since the refrigerant is a regulated chemical, otherwise i'd buy the tools and do that too.
3. We make our own soaps, laundry detergent, handsoap etc..... I can make 5 gallons of HE detergent for $4, i can share the formula if you want
4. Plant a garden, we can stuff from the back yard. canning is awesome since you dont have to pay for electric to keep it like freezing, also will last through a summer power outtage,,,,,,,,,
5. Most important, make reasonable decisions with your money. Our 155K house is affordable under my or my wife's salary alone. This exeptionally important now since my wife lost her job last week. But since we "live cheap" we dont need to worry.
I hope this wasnt too much of a rant but i feel proud to have had the upbringing i did. I learned first hand the folly of irresponsible decisions.
Yes but you're exposed to it in other ways too. People talking it around the water cooler in the office, at the Little League game, on Facebook, in the waiting room at the doctor's office etc etc. My point was that although there may have been more violent crime years ago you were generally less likely to learn about it and when you did learn about it wasn't harped on ad nauseam the way it is today. I think that's what's part of driving the idea that the world is a more dangerous place today. But then I am a news junkie myself and could be wrong about it.
I agree that the news media creates a climate of fear, but that has IMO been true since at least the 70s. As a kid then, the public elementary school had an evening event where they brought in all the kids and parents and showed them a little 'true story' movie about some kids that had been abducted off the street and killed. It was quite graphic and everyone left stunned and terrified. Nice.
Parents kept a close eye on me after that....for about 2 weeks.
Parents kept a close eye on me after that....for about 2 weeks.
Funny that you mentioned getting approved for a 300K mortgage and only spending 155K. I remember when we bought our home that the amount we were approved for was ridiculous based on our income at the time. We only ended spending about 50-60% of the amount we'd been approved for. The bank doesn't give a damn how the size of your monthly payment affects the quality of sleep you get each night.
I already do a lot of the other things that you suggested. We eat a few times a year at restaurants we know we'll enjoy. I find that most restaurants offer crap food and charge you an arm and a leg for it. Eating at home has gotten to be a little expensive because we buy organic and non GMO foods. ("Im hyper paranoid about the chemicals used in the mainstream food production int his country but that's another thread for another day) We will be staring our own vegetable garden either this year or next. We make our own laundry detergent, do as much of the carpentry/paingting/plumbing/electrical etc etc as we're capable of around the house. We try to minimize our energy and electricity costs, pay the car insurance in one lump some to get discounts, call the credit card companies every 4 months or so to bug them to lower our rates even though we've managed to not have a monthly balance on them for a few years running now, shop at Goodwill/thrift shops for clothing, look on Craigslist for items that we are OK with buying used, keep the children's birthday parties simple and cheap but at the same time fun for them, don't buy bottled water anymore but had our well water tested for peace of mind etc etc
You mentioned making smart decisions with money and that goes without saying although I find the justifications that some people offer regarding some of the money decisions they make downright bizarre.
I think another very important thing to do is always be asking yourself is this a want or a need. There is a huge amount of psychological research that goes into marketing and sales. I've read about some of it and it's both interesting and disturbing. It's led me to those business and people who would be in a position to market or sell something to me as the enemy. I understand that there are very good and worthwhile products out there but I tend to go into every situation with the thought that someone's out to screw me and only change my mind when the evidence to the contrary has become overwhelming. My wife claims I'm unneccesarily rude to car salesman but I think they've earned it, "oh let me go talk to my finance manager to see what i can do for you," BS! You know what you can sell this car for and if you're gone longer than three minutes I won't still be sitting in this chair when you get back.
News has become much more sensationalized entertainment based and is very often full of inaccuracies. It has also been corporatized to the point where one rarely gets both sides of a story. Coverage of important issues is thin or entirely lacking. The mainstream media completely failed us with the selling of the Iraq War. I stopped watching tv news about 10 yrs ago with the exception of Fri night PBS newshour on occasion. Regular broadcast news is terrible and cable news is usually worse.
I agree that the news creates a climate of fear, but that has IMO been true since at least the 70s. As a kid then, the public school had an evening event where they brought in all the kids and parents and showed them a little movie about some kids that had been abducted off the street and killed. It was quite graphic and everyone left stunned and terrified. Nice.
Parents kept a close eye on me after that....for about 2 weeks.
I wasn't around for most of the 70's and they very little part I was around for was spent in diapers. I grew up in the 80's and early 90's but I don't recall the media being so invasive in our lives. The big thing I remember from the 1980's was watching the Space Shuttle challenger explode on live TV in 1986 when I was in the fourth grade. Christa Mcauliffe was from NH so many of my teachers actually personally knew her. I remember them all crying and hugging each other.
Yeah I enjoy reading foreign news sources as well as carefully selected domestic ones. I also purchased an internet radio a while back and I can get news and music from all over the world while I'm doing various things throughout the house. Trust me when I say that you don't know what surreal is until you've been listening to a Merle Haggard or Johnny Cash song on the radio and when the song ends the DJ starts speaking Chinese.
I suspect your parents sheltered you from the news cycle, Dana. My parents had 'the news' blaring on the TV at every meal, morning and evening, 7 days a week, from as early as I can remember (say 4 yo in 1972). I saw it all and had it explained to me through my parents eyes...'what was wrong...' with 'the world' and 'those people'. I haven't watched TV news since moving out in 1986. I saw enough.
Where do you think 'white flight' came from in the 60s and 70s? TV and movies. Destroyed much of the urban culture in the US, just for ratings to sell stuff.
My wife works 25 miles outside Philly, and meets a bunch of people who haven't set foot in the city (2X the size of Boston) for 10 years or more, but they go home and watch the 11 o'clock news about it every night.
Where do you think 'white flight' came from in the 60s and 70s? TV and movies. Destroyed much of the urban culture in the US, just for ratings to sell stuff.
My wife works 25 miles outside Philly, and meets a bunch of people who haven't set foot in the city (2X the size of Boston) for 10 years or more, but they go home and watch the 11 o'clock news about it every night.
bobdog2o02
Minister of Fire
Pffft. In the sixties I was in Singapore and watched Bonanza on TV one night. Imagine Hoss Cartwright with a high voice speaking in Chinese.
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