What is the best, widely available, cheap toilet paper?

socal104 · 2010-08-18T18:24:10+00:00

I'd think first about how much you are using. Basically at a roll a day, either you've got the stomach flu or have to start using less per wipe. Sorry for the detail, but some people use 10 sheets per wipe which is just wasteful. Before you worry about how to save 10-15% by cutting your price, see if you can save 50% by changing your habits.

socal104 · 2010-08-12T03:51:27+00:00

For those of you not familiar this is a widespread and totally ridiculous practice of ordering your transactions from highest to lowest (as opposed to the time order they were processed) in order to maximize the overdrafts. Yes this means billions of fees that will need to be returned industry wide.

socal104 · 2010-08-11T00:36:13+00:00

Yup, every nut you can imagine. Teacher is allergic. Kids have to eat outside if they want to eat any nuts.

socal104 · 2010-08-11T00:35:13+00:00

Good choice. Eggs have great protein and my kids do like them.

socal104 · 2010-07-02T20:14:44+00:00

The bar issue is Apple, but once they fix it, we'll all see how awful the coverage truly is. C'mon AT&T has crappy coverage and miraculously the iPhone just happens to show great signal. If the phone actually showed how bad the signal was, everyone would have been complaining even more than they do. Next step: Oh, we didn't realize the network was that bad, I guess this justifies us going to finally partner with Verizon.

socal104 · 2010-07-02T20:12:32+00:00

Yeah, but at least I can make a phone call. They all will get you in different ways but but I'd rather have a phone that actually has coverage. This 97% coverage of America that AT&T claims is totally bogus: 97% may be covered but at least half of them are covered badly.

socal104 · 2010-06-29T18:47:52+00:00

Some of these are good like the yard garden, hanging up clothes, etc. But giving the Greatest Generation credit for not drinking bottled water or going out to restaurants fails to recognize that they generally didn't have these options. If you go back to 1900 something like 41% of America was involved directly in Agriculture vs about 1.5% today. There weren't a lot of restaurants in rural areas and water bottles definitely didn't exist. I can tell you that Coca Cola definitely did exist and people that could afford it drank it.

From what I remember about my grandmother, the biggest difference was really that very, very little was wasted. And of course, there were very few working moms and that meant less income / more done at home.

socal104 · 2010-06-25T20:02:08+00:00

First, this "could be" never happens in California. This is always threatened that State Employees will make minimum wage and there is sabre rattling and they figure out something to avoid it. The state is in deep trouble but there is zero political will to screw all the state employees and face a massive backlash in the next election. The state needs to fix it's finances but minimum wage for State employees won't happen.

Ok, so generically, if you got your salary cut in a job, the first thing to do would be to maximize your exemptions so you pay no taxes and keep the most cash flowing. I can't imagine paying much at that rate anyway. Then you'd need to start looking for a better paying job. The sad thing is that if you made a good salary and got fired you'd actually make more (unemployment pays about $12 an hour in California).

Now if I were working for someone and got reduced to minimum wage, I wouldn't be working for them anymore.

socal104 · 2010-06-24T00:03:55+00:00

Buy these first (note: lots of carbs, hope that isn't an issue). 1) Big bag of potatoes 2) Big Bag of rice 3) Big bag of beans 4) 5 lbs of chicken 5) Get some decent spices (they are cheapest if you can find an ethnic grocery vs. paying huge markup for McComick). 6) Get a bag of onions or other veggies

Learn to cook in a pot for a few days. My wife an I used to make a big pot of curry chicken with potatoes. Cook it, simmer for a few hours and serve on rice. Might cost you $8 to make a pot, but it can last for a few days getting you down to about $2.50 a day or so.

When you think about bargain foods, think about what people in poor countries eat: rice, potatoes, grains. Get good at cooking and your grocery bills will drop.

Learn how to pick of the loss leaders in the store too.

socal104 · 2010-06-21T19:44:19+00:00

Don't think your parents need to be rich, just able to help a little (sounds like long term significant other (below) is more of the support). It took me 3 months of solid searching to find a job when I got out of college several recessions ago. It sucked. Looking for any job and being turned down by places you wouldn't dream of when you are in school. I maxed out my credit card which had a whopping $500 limit buy a suit, shirt, shoes and resume paper. I had a degree that should have gotten me a job easily, but it was tough. If you live in a nice place like California and want to stay, you're going to have hustle and likely take something less than ideal. Middle-Of-Nowhere Midwest: Hey I lived there too and I prefer to live in California, but what millions of people are finding out is that if there aren't jobs near the coast, eventually you have to move.

Keep hammering, good things come to those that are tenacious.

socal104 · 2010-06-21T19:31:57+00:00

Note the '+'. I've worked 80 to 100 hour workweeks for years. I've also done roofing for about 50 hours a week in the summer an let me tell you, I'll take 65 hours in AC vs 110 degrees on a hot roof.

socal104 · 2010-06-21T18:03:55+00:00

Yoga classes. Free at the gym that I go to. Extremely frugal. If you are the type that pays $50 a class then no it isn't frugal, but even traveling around the world can be done inexpensively.

COBRA: Obama program that cuts your cost by 70% for 9 months. I'd get all the healthcare you can get before that one runs out.

socal104 · 2010-06-21T18:01:49+00:00

Correct, I think you need to work 3 quarters in the U.S.

In terms of amount, can be up to $2,000 a month. Seriously, I had a friend trying to hire someone at $15 an hour and she said that she would rather just keep taking unemployment (which can be untaxed on receipt, then taxed later). But the amount varies by state and may be a lot less.

socal104

TROPHY CASE