Saving Money as Prices Increase

[daugen]

Barter is wonderful. It's how it all began. Before money, way before money.
Indians had wampum. We have Visa and Paypal.
Caesar had his likeness stamped in gold.

I suggest if you are going to experiment with bitcoin, be very knowledgeable about your risks. And use only a tiny percentage, say 1 percent of your investment portfolio,
and do your experimenting with that. Folks like to gamble and when you get into high risk investments, the trick is limiting your exposure.
Keep the family farm with Vanguard and your gun money in bitcoin. I'm a retired insurance underwriter and CFP, older and more conservative. Same age as Shooterdon.
And out of touch with current means of "making a killing" in the market. I don't want to, you never get big reward without big risk, or rarely. But I surely digress...

I read Morningstar every day and the greed indicator is almost pegged on high on Wall Street.
But pigs get slaughtered...
it would not take much in the South China Sea to make our stock market flip from greed to fear, to flight, taking lots of your money with it.

thank goodness high commodity prices are helping the farming community. But I bet their propane, diesel and fertilizer costs have really jumped.

regular gas was 3.79 locally, wow, here we go again with 60-70 dollar fill ups. That sure lightens your wallet.
High gas prices are very hard on lower income folks, we all have to drive, to work, to the supermarket, since most of us don't live in cities.

good thing I don't drive very much, the moan of my Ram hemi guarantees me 16mpg. Not much I can improve on that, except
get a smaller truck, which I would if the market hadn't gone off its rails and dealers are adding 1500 bucks to plain vanilla cars and trucks.
You used to get 9 grand off a 50-60K new truck if you bought at the end of the season.
It's a great time to sell and a bad time to buy, mostly.

the trick is being reasonably patient. That's a work in progress with me.

 

[jyoutz]

Do those actually move any air? My BIL has one, but it doesn't seem to do much.

I heated with wood for 30 years. What works is if you have a forced air furnace and just turn the cool fan on. The furnace fan will circulate air throughout the house and equalize the temperature.

 

[Snobdds]

I come from an economic background so I am intrigued and curious. That's it so far. The thing that bugs me with crypto is you're not buying assets or debt value, your buying system value (the blockchain). Which is a huge departure from our concept of worth. Most forms of currency don't have drastic and quick changes in value. Crypto behaves like a stock market with high volatility, but is suppose to be a form of currency? I have not been able to understand that relationship, while also considering you have no physical asset to sell or collect.

For example, business price goods with the underlying understanding that the currency buying those goods are stable. It cost too much to watch currency value and change the price of goods all the time to ensure they are not loosing money through buying power. With crypto, bitcoin might fall 10k in one day. If I was selling something and accepted bitcoin, I would have to make sure what the value of bitcoin was that day to adjust the price accordingly. That's weird and not economic efficient long term.

I just read the new mayor of new york wants to be paid in bitcoin. Am I missing something?

 

[Hay Dude]

Yep

 

[Snobdds]

Yep

Is that a yep you agree or a yep I am missing something?

 

[arto98607]

Are you saying it costs $7 per month in electricity to heat your whole house with oil filled radiators - or is it just one room part time (IE. when occupied)?

We had a two stage (about 11 kW max output) geothermal heat-pump installed back in 2003 and I certainly have no regrets.

When it runs it's usually on one stage only 90%+ of the time & pulling little over 2 kW.

It's also an excellent low kW operation AC

Here is our utility company's energy report from last month, comparing 90 similar homes in our area.

So it (Geothermal) saves money, but only if you calculate over a long time



PS. This includes two large refrigerators, three freezers and whatever power I use in the shop!

 

[Oaktree]

We had a very large garden when I was growing up and there were 6 of us to feed. The last garden I had was about 20 years ago and I learned a lesson. For a household of two, there are not enough savings and the work is not worth it. The taste of fresh vegetables is great but I can live without it. Just lazy and cheap I guess.

We also raised rabbits and meat chickens. I never got back into it and glad I did not.

I buy a lot of food on sale and in bulk. Invested in a higher end vacuum sealer for meat to make meat purchases last longer.

I do a bit of bartering and that is a win-win for both parties. Some of it involves tractor work but I will never wear out my tractor so the hours are meaningless.

I have a garden. Not as huge as what some here have, but not small either. Other than weeding (ugh), it's not a huge hassle. Fortunately, other than the occasional woodchuck critters aren't a big problem. We like the fresh vegetables, and have enough extra to put up for winter. We do have a vacuum sealer (it was a gift, don't think I would have bought one)...nice for stuff like berries or peas that don't can well, and it minimizes freezer burn but the bags are pricey. Nice to have canned vegetables that aren't loaded with sodium & preservatives.

Never raised rabbits, but we've had chickens from time to time. Way more trouble than they're worth, and they're a predator magnet.

Do some bartering, very little of it involves tractoring (most of my neighbors have their own).

I am not smart enough to understand bitcoin or stuff like that. I think I understand inflation and cannot comment on it without getting political. But hard assets will hold value.
........
I remain optimistic that this too shall pass.

I don't get bitcoin either. I've tried to read up on how it works, but it makes my head explode. Not gonna invest in something I don't understand.
I kinda, sorta get how inflation can get started and snowball, but that's about it. Common sense may never prevail, but agree that this too will pass.

I read Morningstar every day and the greed indicator is almost pegged on high on Wall Street.
But pigs get slaughtered...

I have some money in the stock market, but I try to choose solid companies that are run well. I avoid "fad" stocks (EV manufacturers, social media companies, etc.) like the plague. IMHO the rapid rise of most of them is a combination of greed and fear of missing out.

So it (Geothermal) saves money, but only if you calculate over a long time

I presume you're talking about using the earth as a heat source/sink, not tapping thermal hot spots.

I think it depends on where you live as to how well it works. It would seem to me that it works best in places with a mild climate...neither too hot nor too cold. Here in northern New England the frost line can get down 4' in the winter...getting that piping deep enough so it's below the frost line adds $$$ to the up-front cost, especially in our rocky soil. I'd imagine you'd need to do something similar in a place like Florida where it's hot year round to get down far enough so you're below the warm soil (for cooling purposes). In both cases, the payback period would be much longer, maybe excessively so.

 

[daugen]

geothermal can make a lot of sense for the long haul; the private Quaker school I'm on the board of put in a big system under the soccer field
almost 15 years ago. Took forever to grow that grass back in, big discussion of sod vs ?
I asked if we ever had to tear it up. Nope. Frankly I was surprised but our ground must not move around that much.
And I think we are at the Northern end of that goldilocks area Oaktree has mentioned.
I believe the original projections for efficiencies and long term savings bore out over time.
If there aren't a lot of them in your area, might tell you something...

I imagine if you spent enough money you could accomplish almost anything but unless you have both considerable disposable income
as well as a major personal commitment to our planet, might not work for most folks.

But then your nice to do might be my must do and vice versa.

I have found most of the folks on this forum own land and sure don't want it polluted or spoiled.
Ultimately cleaning up our messes costs a lot more than preventing them.

good preventative maintenance usually saves money long term.
You know, like taking roses home to your wife...

 

[arto98607]

......................snip.......................

I presume you're talking about using the earth as a heat source/sink, not tapping thermal hot spots.

I think it depends on where you live as to how well it works. It would seem to me that it works best in places with a mild climate...neither too hot nor too cold. Here in northern New England the frost line can get down 4' in the winter...getting that piping deep enough so it's below the frost line adds $$$ to the up-front cost, especially in our rocky soil. I'd imagine you'd need to do something similar in a place like Florida where it's hot year round to get down far enough so you're below the warm soil (for cooling purposes). In both cases, the payback period would be much longer, maybe excessively so.

Yes I was talking about geothermal heat-pump as mentioned in post #84 earlier.

They can drill down vertically to whatever depth is needed no problem, and it will work fine up north or down south for heating & cooling as needed!
With the right equipment to drill, rocky soil will not be much of a problem.

In our climate the installer recommended digging 5' x 5' ditch with length depending on how much energy is needed for house heating.


I think it's important to have an experienced contractor who knows how properly to install geothermal heat-pump systems.
IE. That is all they do - usually not a low bidder

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Huh? Are you saying it's greater than 100% efficient?

It depends on the outside temperature. If it's above freezing, a heat pump is about 300% efficient. If it starts icing the evaporator, efficiency drops until it can be a bit worse than straight electric baseboard heat. On a 40 degree night, a heat pump is cheap to run. On a 20 degree night, not so much. That's why geothermal heat pumps are the only practical heat pump system where arctic temperatures are common.

I have a heat pump system, but leave the thermostat set for 65 degrees, 55 degrees if we are going to be away from home. If we want to be warmer, light a fire in the wood stove. A ceiling fan in the room with the stove, set to winter circ, spreads the heat throughout the rest of the house. We opened up the floor plan a few years back, so the family room, kitchen, and living room have wide openings.