Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Source for reduced cost building materials

I came across this today and definitely wanted to share it. Habitat for Humanity operates retail stores called ReStores. They sell donated used and surplus building materials. Everything they sell is donated and the proceeds go back into building even more Habitat homes in your area. This page will let you see if there is a ReStore in your area.

I think this is a win/win situation. You get cheap materials and Habitat gets funds for their work.

Barbara

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

How not to be frugal

I usually don't get into politics but this does have to do with money. Our money (if you live in the US). These are quotes from The Daily Reckonging, about Bush's new budget.

First about defense:

"The Bush budget includes about three quarters of a trillion dollars for
defense. But defense has little to do with it. Defense against whom? A
disorderly bunch of fanatics with explosives around their waists and
box-cutters in their hands? The amount of money in the 'defense' budget
earmarked for these guys is trivial. And rightly so...the danger they
represent is trivial. No dear reader, the defense budget can better be
described as hundreds of billions of dollars we don't have, to buy weapons
we don't need, to fight enemies that don't exist.

The whole spectacle is breathtaking...and, like all public
spectacles...absurd."

And here is the non-frugal part, that just boggles my mind:

"Nearly half a trillion in debt will be added over the next two years
according to the Bush plan. Americans have neither the will, nor the money
to ever repay it. They cannot even keep up with the interest payments. So,
now the debt feeds on itself.

For one year, the budget includes 624.6 billion dollars for defense. To
help put that in perspective, here's an interesting tidbit: the defense
budget is more than the budgets for the Department of Education,
Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, HUD, Interior, EPA, Homeland Security,
Justice, State, Transportation, Labor, NASA, Engineers, Judiciary, and
VETS. COMBINED. And with 63 billion left over."

Barbara