May 1, 2008 by Dave.

Yesterday I got to do something I rarely get to do, read the newspaper. An actual newspaper, that is, not just catching an article online. Newspapers appear to be a dying breed, with online media and television being the primary way to get news today. I got to read 2 good articles worth noting.

The first, from the Philadelphia Daily News, called Let us Pay: Struggling with Soaring costs of Food, Fuel, Rent, talks about the struggles of people meeting their daily living expenses. A staffer at a local church speaks about how the economy has changed the members of her congregation: “I remember when I came, we had the conversation of ‘What are we going to do for “them,” for those in need?’ ” Eileen Jones of the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown said. “But with the way the economic status is now, it’s no longer them - it’s us. There are people in our congregation that need the help of our food cupboard, and they’re embarrassed to ask.”

And as one person put it when talking about their bakery business being slower than usual: “You can’t run your car on chocolate mousse.” With gas at over $3.50 a gallon, people are making choices with their discretionary spending. Buy a cake or put gas in the car? Maybe buy food for the dinner table or put gas in the car? As someone who has worked in the gasoline business for many years, I have been on the receiving end of many irate customers complaining about rising gas prices. However, what I’ve seen over the past several years as prices have risen, the complaints have went from being directed at the poor clerk or merchant that makes the same profit regardless of gas prices to venting about the oil companies that are raking in the profits. Customers now seem to understand that it is not the fault of the local gas station. That doesn’t change the fact though that, especially in the suburbs, even going to the grocery store requires a car. It’s a simple equation for many: No gas, no car. No car, no job. No job, no food on the table or money for rent/mortgage.

Along with this article was a Q&A of with Bruce Rader, an assistant finance professor at Temple University. One of the questions struck a chord with me:

Q: Do people’s salaries typically reflect what’s going

on in the economy?

A: That’s what eventually should happen. We haven’t seen that in a while, though, especially for the middle class. We might see that pressure. I think the Fed has to worry about this rise in oil and food prices feeding over into the rest of the economy. People are demanding higher wages so they can meet their costs. No one wants to have a lower cost of living.

This is because on Tuesday, I received my letter with my new salary, which will be in my paycheck this week. I was rewarded with a 1.5% raise (woo-hoo!), which not only does not cover the cost of living, it doesn’t even cover the increase in the cost of medical benefits that I received January 1^st. Amazing how the cost of benefits always promptly hits your paycheck, but you are basically taking a paycut for the first several months of the year until the raise kicks in (if you even get a raise, which I didn’t get for 2 years at my job prior to this). When I read the letter, my reaction was “I’ll be sure not to spend all the money in one place.” Which prompted the comment from our office’s admin: “Yeah, that seems to be the general reaction from everybody.”

It seems we have all been beaten down by the economy, resigned to shrinking wages and higher costs of everything.

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February 18, 2008 by Dave.

As an adoptive parent, I know firsthand how expensive adoption can be but also how rewarding it can be.  My wife and I would like to adopt a little brother or sister for Joshua, but quite frankly we just can’t afford it right now.  But at least we have him.  I can’t imagine my life without our son and feel the frustration of prospective parents that can’t adopt due to the expense involved. So when I was watching the Dave Ramsey Show last night on Fox Business, Dave mentioned about the Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his mission entitled Shaohannah’s Hope.  Being curious, I checked out Steven’s website and it had a link to the Shaohanna’s Hope website. The story started when Steven’s 11 year old daugher Emily returned from a trip to Haiti wanted to help the orphans that she saw on the trip. Emily already knew that God wanted her family to adopt, but her parents resisted.  Emily’s mother Mary Beth was concerned about raising another child, especially since Steven was on the road performing for most of the year.  But Emily persisted and prayed.  Her prayers were answered as the Chapmans adopted Shaohanna Hope, the first of 3 daughters they would adopt. 

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February 17, 2008 by Dave.

My wife and I recently upgraded our cellphones with Verizon to the LG VX8550 (new Chocolate). After 3+ years, it was time to upgrade; I had already went through 2 used phones after losing my LG VX6000 and my wife had no reception inside our house. Which is why we are with Verizon…T-Mobile and Sprint don’t work in our house and Nextel phones just annoy me. That being said, reception is much better in our house with both phones; rarely do our calls go right to voice mail without ringing and I don’t get that “Warning-No Service Available” when I make a call.  Plus, with my new every two plan and a buy one get one deal, the phones were free, which is the right price for me.

So, here’s my I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to just disconnecting our home line altogether, which would save us between $35-$40/month. The base rate for my package is $32.99/month. I have a bundle package through Verizon so I would lose some discounts but also wouldn’t have to pay the 15 different types of taxes and fees either. In addition, most people call my wife and I on our cellphones anyway (at least anyone we actually want to talk to and some we don’t). My concern would be going over my minutes; we have a shared plan with 1400 minutes and come pretty close to that number, mainly because of my job. I do have a Skype phone, but need to renew my SkypeOut plan. $36 per year isn’t bad to save about the same amount per month. I think it’s just an emotional thing at this point. Having a landline for all my life, I just can’t “cut the wires” so to speak.

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