Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin
A Digest of Urban Survival Resources
ISSN 2161-5543
In This Issue:
1.
Creative solutions for better living
2.
$1000 micro-grants
can change lives
3.
Backyard
chickens in urban settings
4.
Alternatives
to PayPal, Best Pre-paid debit cards
A politician is a man
who will double-cross that bridge when he comes to it.
--Oscar Levant
Finding Creative Solutions to live a better life…
A number of years I ago I purchased and
flipped a couple of homes at a nice profit.
One of my earlier part time jobs had been a construction inspector,
working for a county housing rehab authority which made grants to construction
firms. The goal was to restore housing
in certain neighborhoods and to move in low-income families with realistic
mortgage payments.
I enjoy a doing a
certain amount of cosmetic work on properties and of course, the profits were
nice. It was mighty easy for me to
obtain a mortgage in those days. Believe
it or not, a drive-by appraisal, a handshake and my signature on the dotted
line was all that it required. No
extensive credit checks or other nonsense.
One of the reasons why
the real estate market is going nowhere today is because of the stringent
mortgage requirements which are a backlash to crazy ’give anyone a mortgage’
days…and fewer people have decent incomes now so qualifying is more difficult.
The area in which I had purchased these homes was
considered low income and creative financing was the rule of the day for
unloading these properties. Most often I
offered the home on a lease-option whereby 100% of the rent paid would apply to
the down payment for my potential buyer.
Within a year these folks could accumulate a reasonable down payment and
qualify for a mortgage.
In one case, I bought
a very nice home on an acre of land in an upscale area. Interest rates at the time were sky
high. I wound up substituting my VA
Certificate of Eligibility for that of the existing owner and gave him a cash
payment on top of that. The home
ultimately sold for more than double what I paid for it.
I share this with you
because much of our economy is based on the real estate industry and its
related consumption of household items such as carpet, appliances and so
on. Although interest rates and home
prices are low right now, too many people do not have an income sufficient to
meet loan criteria.
I always had to
chuckle at my Dad’s first home buying experience. He paid $10,000 at less than 2% interest rate
with 30 years to pay for it (My Dad was a Korean War vet and used his VA
certificate as well). It was the first home that I remember growing up in after
being an Army brat, then corporate brat.
Secondly, creative solutions, barter and alternative
financing have always been a useful means of keeping the economy going and such
tools should be explored.
When
splitting wood by hand, use a ratchet strap to save time. On flat ground, place upright 5 or 6 blocks
of wood close together. Place the strap
around the wood about ¾ of the way up and tighten. Then split the blocks.
PM’s
Compendium of Useful Resources
$1,000 grants
have proven they can change the lives of low-income individuals of potential.
Giving back to the community
is an important part of Live Green, Live Smart. We work with individuals and
organizations interested in creating a green community through research,
information sharing about sustainable and energy saving ideas or lifestyle
changes for eco-friendly citizenship.
One way we foster
these goals is through our Micro Grant Program, grant awards of $50 to $500 for
individuals and organizations working toward greener practices close to home.
Connecting
People
Joe’s mission with the MicroGrants organization is to connect the affluent with the low-income by offering a service to those who want to give and connecting them to a recipient who can utilize a mini-grant efficiently and productively. Here are links to these resources.
Joe’s mission with the MicroGrants organization is to connect the affluent with the low-income by offering a service to those who want to give and connecting them to a recipient who can utilize a mini-grant efficiently and productively. Here are links to these resources.
Note: You’ll find additional grant opportunities plus a mini-how to guide at
our PoorManSurvival.com site - click on the Free Money tab.
Backyard
Chickens
Raising food at home
is almost always cheaper than buying it from the supermarket and it’s
personally gratifying. There has been a
growth of families raising chickens in urban settings, despite an aversion to
this practice by some local officials.
Here are some tips:
>>Get six to
eight hens. At their peak, each chicken
will produce an egg a day. After a few
years, production will decrease but those hens are still good for keeping
insects such as fleas and ticks at bay.
>>Have a good
coop. Designs vary but a good roof is
necessary along with a ’run’ where the birds have space to roam.
>>Get advice
from local extension offices or poultry clubs and/or magazines.
>> Beware the bureaucrats. In some localities, hens are fine but not
roosters. In some areas, chickens are
not allowed so check first.
Source: Patricia
Foreman, author of City Chicks and host of the Chicken Whisperer talk
show on blogtalkradio.com
Alternatives
to PayPal, best pre-paid debit cards…
What irritates
most Americans is the lack of privacy, lack of say-so, lack of customer
support, high fees, etc. when it comes to big corporations nowadays…here are
some viable alternatives to explore.
Walmart’s efforts to enter the retail banking market have been
met with significant resistance. So Walmart partnered with Green Dot to issue
the Walmart MoneyCard Visa® Prepaid Card. While the MoneyCard is not a free prepaid credit card, it does offer very low costs.
But the big
feature is that through 12/31/2011, you can earn 1% cash back on all gas
purchases nationwide. While you can earn more rewards with a credit card, the
WalmartMoneyCard Visa® Prepaid Card is the only prepaid card I’ve found that
offers any cash back on gas purchases.
Learn more about the best choices at:
Google Checkout is rapidly becoming the choice of payment programs as an alternative to
PayPal…however, it’s not used by eBay and it requires a lengthier signup
process but worth investigating. There
is a class-action lawsuit pending against eBay and PayPal to ensure more
payment options are available to consumers.
EBay derives roughly 25% of its income from PayPal and since it is not a
bank, PayPal isn’t subject to the same set of rules and can screw up your
account (freeze) without warning or explanation. Learn more about Google at:
Additional resources:
Moneybookers is changing to Skrill.com as they were recently acquired There are some negative comments about them
but overall, they seem reliable.
Use an old ice cube tray inside your desk
drawer to corral odds and ends such as stamps, paperclips, rubber bands, etc.
ING Direct is well known for providing customers with excellent savings, checking, CD and mortgage accounts. Now ING has opened its doors to teenagers. A new feature called MONEY will be available soon so that teens and parents can begin working together to manage a savings account. This new feature will be in addition to the Kids Savings Account ING already offers.
Rid your clothes of moths by boiling
them for an hour in 118-degree water; freezing them for 12-hours also works.
The Nanny
State Updates…
Photography a
suspicious activity?
Long Beach, CA police
arrested a man or taking photos of “no aesthetic value.” The man, who takes photos for a local
newspaper, was detained after snapping shots of an oil refinery. Police say photography is considered a
‘suspicious activity if officers deem that it isn’t regular tourist behavior.”
The government
now harassing Gibson Guitars. The Department of Justice and agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service recently raided the Nashville factory of the iconic Gibson Guitar
Company. Federal agents stole (or confiscated according to federal euphemism)
half a million dollars of supplies. This has essentially stopped operations at
the company. Gibson gets its guitar
fingerboards partially finished from a manufacturer in India. The boards are
then finished by Gibson's workers in the U.S. They've done it this way
practically forever, but apparently some section of Indian law makes this
practice possibly slightly illegal.
Apparently some
section of Indian law makes this practice possibly slightly illegal. The raid
was preemptive punishment for this, even though there have been no complaints
from the Indian government and the illegality has yet to be fully determined.
Wired for Overregulation: Washington's
latest regulatory power grab
Outside the Washington headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission is a sculpture of a powerfully built, shirtless man forcibly restraining an unruly horse. It's called "Man Controlling Trade," and it captures a common attitude in government: Oftentimes, capitalist firms need to be saddled and broken. As Steve Chapman explains, that assumption underlies an antitrust suit filed Wednesday by the Justice Department to block a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.
Outside the Washington headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission is a sculpture of a powerfully built, shirtless man forcibly restraining an unruly horse. It's called "Man Controlling Trade," and it captures a common attitude in government: Oftentimes, capitalist firms need to be saddled and broken. As Steve Chapman explains, that assumption underlies an antitrust suit filed Wednesday by the Justice Department to block a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.
To save your back during garden cleanup, rake debris
onto an old blanket or tarp. Then simply
gather the corners and drag it away.
How
Politicians Are Wrecking the World Economy – the Parting Thought
For the last several
years, the big problem has been the economy. Not anymore. Politicians are now the problem.
The headline drama
masks the damage that elected officials are doing. The American job market is
terrible, with most companies reluctant to hire. After a huge, two year run-up,
the stock market, composed of publicly traded companies, is in the midst of a
dizzying correction. Weak consumer spending is a big drag on the economy. A
persistent housing bust, now in its fifth year, has drained Americans of nearly
$7 trillion worth of home equity. Those mostly seem like private-sector
problems, not public-sector ones. More
at:
Yours for the good
stuff, the Poor Man
Follow us on
Facebook
Twitter
Keep our
services free, visit our sites…
Check our
Resources
New self
sufficiency books added weekly
A Shallow
Planet Production
No comments:
Post a Comment