Seven Days

January 12, 2009

No it is not the new lame romantic comedy staring Hugh Grant. What it is is my one week plan to live healthy and saving some coin to boot.

 

It involves seven days of lots of this :

weight

 

None of this:

pint

 

Or This:

restaurant

The two things I am not doing (eating out or drinking adult beverages) are where I spend most of my entertainment dollars.  It is just a good way for me to put into context how much money I spend on these luxary items, and replace it with a healthy habit of bring more physically active.  We will see how it goes…..


All Real-Estate Is Local

January 8, 2009

case-schiller2

            This is a graph that was created by data that is published by Case-Shiller on a monthly basis. The numbers are normalized so that they both have the same starting point. The graph clearly shows the massive run-up and burst in housing prices in ONLY certain areas. Places like Cleveland that never had the huge bubble in the first place are simply “adjusting” to their fair market value, not “crashing” like many of the previously HOT markets.

What I get from this graph is that when these lines drop near to or below the 100 line it would be time to jump back in.

But I could be wrong! Your guess is as good as mine. 


Space Heater Anyone?

January 8, 2009

           Currently I do not own my own home, but that my change this summer, but in the meantime I am renting. I don’t really mind renting; there are plenty of perks, when my disposal breaks I just call my landlord and let him deal with a gross backed up drain.

 

            I also get to live in an awesome location that I could not afford to buy in. Renting of course has its disadvantages, rentals often have a multitude of problems, and you’re not building any equity. I really like my rental, especially the neighborhood, but it does have one above mentioned drawback.

 

HEATING BILLS SUCK!

 

            For the month about Nov 15- Dec 15 it was close to $400 bucks! Now this was an estimated bill (those jerks at the gas company can’t come out and measure every month!) but it still hurts. In the meantime I have:

Installed storm windows

Put in an programmable thermostat

Hung plastic over all the windows

Weather stripped anything and everything I can find.

 

So we will see more next month, more to come, and until then……

 

250px-spaceheater-1