Frugal Mania

I am so sorry to have left you high and dry, without your regular serving of Frugal Mania!  The simple truth is that the news has gotten the best of me lately and the economic forecast just seems to get worse with every passing hour.

The government is now bailing out private sector businesses at an unprecedented rate and the American taxpayers are expected - as always - to shut up and foot the bill.  Only this time that bill is said to be over a trillion dollars.

That’s $1,000,000,000,000 and guess what?  We can’t afford it.

Unfortunately it looks as though there isn’t much we can do about it right now but since it was the American people who put the politicians in office it is absolutely imperative that we don’t sit on our hands and remain silent.

We’ve got to speak out with our votes this election season. We’ve got to ask tough questions of these people who want to be entrusted with our money and we have got to expect to get straight answers to those questions.

If you are not registered to vote, get off your butt and get it done.  On November 4th, don’t you dare miss your chance to tell politicians what you want and who you think can deliver it best.

Voting is a responsibility and if you don’t take that responsibility seriously no one is going to take your complaining seriously, especially not me.  The government is supposed to be of, by and for the people, so We The People need to start taking the reigns back and fast.

Okay, so technically speaking I’m late to the party, but let me set the scene for you here.  Bear with me, this is going to be long-winded.

I received a new Dell laptop about four months ago.  Beautiful machine, lightning fast and has all the bells and whistles. Needless to say it wasn’t something I would have bought myself.  A few days ago - last Friday to be exact - I was working on it as usual when suddenly I got it.  The dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

Then darkness.  Nothing.

I took a deep breath and tried to reboot.  Again, nothing.

A two hour call to Dell Tech Support later (which was an absolute joke, I might add) and I am being sent a new memory card, though that "won’t fix the problem".  I am told that I will need to reinstall Windows Vista.  Thankfully I have a roommate who is tech savvy enough to help me retrieve all of my data before I attempted such a feat.

Well today after installing the new memory I am trying to reinstall Vista.  Still trying at 8:35pm when I started at 1:30pm.

Lovely.

Okay, now on to the point of this meandering post.  While surfing around for alternatives to the various CPU-intensive Windows software programs that come automatically with PCs and laptops these days, I came across an open source program that allows me to access my instant messaging software from AOL, Yahoo and Gmail (and ICQ, MSN and others if I used them).  This software is lightweight, easy on the memory and lightning fast, though it does lack all the incredibly unnecessary bells and whistles that have become attached to AIM and Yahoo Instant Messenger these days.

This program is called Pidgin and it is open source freeware.  If you are so inclined, I strongly encourage you to download it and give it a whirl.  It took all of 2 minutes for me to become a believer.  I have uninstalled the other IM programs and feel completely safe in doing so.

That’s all I had to say, though it took me a while to say it.

Welcome to September at Frugal Mania, and Happy Labor Day to my frugal friends here in the United States.

Let me start by asking that everyone say a prayer for our friends along the Gulf Coast who are suffering through the wrath of Hurricane Gustav.  I worked at the local Red Cross Evacuation Center here in Birmingham in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita three years ago and I am so thankful that the majority of people in harm’s way evacuated this time before the danger was at their door.

It is September and the kids are back at school.  The summer months are waning and before long the sultry summer nights will give way to the cooler breezes of the autumn.  This time of year always makes me think about where I am in my frugal journey.  I tend to reevaluate myself and take a good look at what I am doing and how I can do it better.

As of today I officially have legitimate health insurance and thankfully it is not costing me an arm and a leg.  Even still, I have been remembering how well I once took care of myself (ah, to be young again) and wondering to myself why I don’t do better these days.  In a post today over at Earthly Garden I talk about the idea of growing and using medicinal herbs.  Until I moved three months ago I had quite a selection of herbal remedies at my disposal but due to the lateness of the season I neglected to start them up again -yet.

I don’t want to make this post a downer, so I am going to encourage all of you to take a few minutes today to look objectively at your frugal practices.  Which ones are working?  Which ones aren’t?  Which ones could use a little help?

If you care to share, I would be happy to offer my support and advice!