With tonight’s news that antibacterial soaps and cleaners are once again in the spotlight as possibly doing more harm than good, I’m reposting an entry I wrote in another blog about two years ago, but first, a couple of snippets from the article: 

In three separate studies, the researchers showed that the chemicals — triclosan and triclocarban — have potential to affect sex hormones and interfere with the nervous system.

They also may become suspects in the search for causes of autism.

Dan Chang, PhD, a professor of environmental engineering at U.C. Davis and one of the researchers involved, says he doesn’t want to cause a panic, but “the public should be aware of some of the concerns.”

While Chang and the other researchers involved in the studies admit that it’s too early to know whether the chemicals pose a serious health risk, it’s already been shown that the cleaners don’t work any better than regular soap and water — and may contribute to the rise of resistant bacteria. So, they ask, why take the risk?

READ the rest of this entry »

This article about the impact of gas prices on family visits was eye opening for me, but not because of the family visit bit - my family’s been far flung since I was a child.  Right now my closest relative (by a long shot) is a 10 hour drive from our home.  We’re used to thinking about gasoline costs vs plane fares vs just staying at home and hoping relatives can come to visit us instead. 

No, what was surprising to me was this part:

Rising gasoline prices don’t just hurt Americans’ pocketbooks …

they even curtail that old Sunday afternoon drive, according to a new CreditCards.com poll.

A majority of American adults (53 percent) say the cost of gasoline has caused them to cut back on driving to visit friends or family. Nearly two-thirds of those polled (66 percent) say driving for enjoyment has decreased because gas is too expensive, according to the poll …

and … 

“People can no longer afford a Sunday afternoon drive just to pass the time of day,” says Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling(NFCC), a nationwide group of nonprofit credit counseling agencies.

I had no idea driving around on Sunday afternoon was still a pastime!

OK, I’m going to post the link to this story with plenty of sites that offer coupons and discount codes galore, but I’m not going to go so far as to post them here and I’ll tell you why in a bit.  First, though, a snip from the story: 

Times are tough. The economy is weakening, consumer confidence is at a low and Americans are struggling just to buy basics like gas and groceries. So when it comes to getting goods that fall beyond the bare necessities, shoppers are getting smarter.

Not only has scouring the Web for the best possible price become standard protocol before buying a big-ticket item, but more consumers are employing creative strategies for scoring hot deals on everything from stereos to sweat pants.

Comparison shopping, haggling and swapping discount codes are all becoming mainstream marks of savvy shoppers. And retailers are playing along.

The key phrase in this bit is “retailers are playing along.”  Playing as in “the customer will get played.” READ the rest of this entry »

Seriously, how much would THIS suck??

Charles Nelson has paid about $30,000 in rent since moving into a spacious four-bedroom home in August. He was stunned when a real estate agent knocked on his door recently and said the home was in foreclosure.

His landlord had not paid the mortgage since he moved in and the bank is now demanding the house back. Nelson will also lose his $7,700 security deposit.

When he confronted the landlord, he says, he was given a terse response: “That’s none of your business.”

“I said, ‘I beg your pardon. It is my business. I mean, is somebody going to knock at the door and throw me out — throw my family out, or what?’ ” he said. 

Nelson, the owner of PCH Auto Sales, lives in the upper-middle class enclave of Laguna Hills, south of Los Angeles, with his girlfriend and two sons from previous marriages.

More than 100 miles away in the working-class city of Palmdale, Fai Nomaaea — a 35-year-old mother of eight — can relate. The single mom was cleaning the yard when a man handed her a notice of foreclosure. Like Nelson, she had been paying her rent on time every month.

Is easy to think of renters as being somewhat shielded from the mortgage crisis since, well .. they don’t have a mortgage!  Once you think it through, though, you realize that someone is paying a mortgage on that property and if they aren’t paying their bills, the bank isn’t going to cut a renter a break just because he or she is an innocent victim. READ the rest of this entry »

Although the drop in home prices is hurting current homeowners, folks looking to jump from renting to owning have been watching with some hope as prices move down.  Unfortunately, the credit market has changed so dramatically that while one side of the equation has become more enticing, the other side can be a crusher:

If you’re a first-time home buyer, you’ll find it a little harder to qualify for a mortgage than your counterpart did two years ago.

Wall Street’s credit crunch and record foreclosure rates have made investors nervous about home buyers with small down payments and lower credit scores.

A few years ago, real estate investors with rental properties were challenged by one simple fact - it was incredibly easy to get a mortgage.  I knew several people with investment properties (a couple of whom were drawn into the infomercial “you can get rich in real estate with no money down” world) who couldn’t find tenants.  Why would a tenant pay $1000 rent when deductible mortgages were available for about the same monthly payment? The people who DID apply were such bad credit risks that it really wasn’t worth the time and effort to deal with evictions and possible damage. 

Now lenders are finally beginning to behave rationally, but it’s got to kind of sting for renters who rightfully saw that rising prices could not continue forever and are starting to see some price breaks.  I saw something on television yesterday (I’m sorry I don’t have a cite but it I was not in control of the remote, it was a local public TV show that I didn’t recognize - long story involving a toddler button gadget thief and a knee reconstruction that has left me at the mercy of aforementioned thief), that said that a couple of years ago mortgage lenders were offering their best rates to folks with credit scores above around 660 but recently the requirement for the same best rates has jumped to 760.  That is a huge jump.  If your score is around 660, it’s going to take quite a bit of work to raise it to 760 and it won’t be overnight so get going!

It’s easy to see the change in gas prices in relation to oil prices, but what else is impacted when the price of oil goes through the roof?  How about - nearly everything?  Everything that has to be transported, anyway. But besides that, the list of products containing petrochemicals that we use daily is probably a lot longer than you think. 

Look around and see how many of these products you have in your home (and this is by no means a complete list) - READ the rest of this entry »

Tagging onto the Glossary entry for the Consumer Confidence Index, we have this news:

A key measure of consumer confidence dropped in May to the lowest level in 16 years, as Americans grew more concerned about their jobs and more pessimistic about business conditions.

The New York-based Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 57.2, the lowest level since October 1992, from a revised 62.8 in April. Economists had expected the index to decline to 61, according to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com.

With gas and food prices on the rise, home values declining and lending policies getting more strict, consumers of all incomes are being hit hard, according to Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody’s Economy.com.

This is the fifth month of declines, with a very large decline in the Present Situation Index (from 90.6 to 80.7) and a smaller decrease in the Expectations Index from 50 to 45.7. READ the rest of this entry »

What it is:

A measure of consumer optimism toward current economic conditions, adjusted monthly on the basis of a survey of about 5,000 households. The index considers consumer opinion on both current conditions (40% of the index) and future expectations (the other 60%). The survey is conducted by The Conference Board, and independent non-profit research company specializing in economic research.

What it means:

The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is a figure that businesses, economists and politicans use to gauge the economic status of the country. Changing numbers indicate either optimism or pessimism in the economy, depending on which way the trend is moving. READ the rest of this entry »

I just saw a commercial last night for the new Tums Quik Pak product.  Tums has jumped on the insta-tongue dissolve bandwagon (I’m sure there’s a more technical term for that in the marketing world) and has made a cool new Pixy Stix version of their antacid product. 

What’s wrong with this? READ the rest of this entry »

What it is:

A term used to describe the dollar amount an investor has to purchase in order to qualify for a reduced sales charge (load).  Purchases that meet breakpoint requirements may be made in one lump sum or over a defined amount of time.

What it means:

Very simply, it’s a “bulk discount.”  You give a mutual fund a good chunk of change and in return they give you a better deal.

READ the rest of this entry »