Finding the Needle in the Haystack

Our new verbs like googling, Craigslisting, Ebaying, MapQuesting, facebooking, and freecycling, represent incredibly useful functions for the flow both of information and actual stuff. They connect PROVIDERS to SEEKERS in ways that could not have been imagined even a few years ago. Embracing these techniques provides surprising solutions to heretofore unsolvable problems.

Case in point: my digital camera which dropped from my bag and I unknowingly drove over. Dead. However, I love the camera. Knowing that its parts alone were costly, I set out to replace just the casing. And wouldn’t you know, the same model was being offered on Ebay, carefully warning the camera did not include memory card, battery, or manual…. Bringing that exact provider with this precise seeker – is that not a miracle? We can now find the needle in the haystack!

Fast forward. Today said camera stopped working; instead, a nasty “lens error, restart camera” message appeared. Neither trying that nor taking out and putting the battery back in did the trick. I was all set to just buy a new camera, knowing that repairs cost more than replacements, when I thought to google the camera model + “lens error message”. What popped up was MyBiggestComplaint.com, a blog that collects contributor gvetches.

There were no less than 159 complaints about just this problem. Many of the people had already done the research and reported standard camera site advice was useless. What does work, however, is to bang the camera hard. That didn’t work for mine, so I scrolled through the comments until a different fix was reported: adjust the lens itself, in case it is infinitesimally off-center. Eureka! Thirty seconds later my camera worked, and I’d saved $100. I added my method, so the next person has 160 people chiming in the fix-your-damn-camera chorus. Yup. This is miraculous.

PS - My laser printer stopped working - the paper LED blinked red and all the jiggling and bangin didn't work like it usually does. Thinking I'd need to buy a replacement tomorrow anyway, I googled "Brother HL2040 printer light blinking" and a site full of people's fixes came up. Third suggestion was the charm....

Join ShareOwners.org

My son Zach recommends joining this new group which works on corporate accountability issues and promotes shareholder activism.

ShareOwners.org is working to help promote market fairness for investors like you and me. This is our chance to have a real voice by working together. We need your help to make this work! Please click here to join the nonprofit and nonpartisan ShareOwners.org now.

Their site has a lot of great resources. Welcome to the fight! And keep your rooting for Congress to pass the Climate Change bill today!

New Homes for Mom's Damask Tablecloths

I've been on a decluttering tear, anticipating that the bid we have in on a short sale might, might, might be accepted by the mystery bank. Let's hear it for helping them detoxify their assets!
Looking around my home, I am eager to land my eye on things that are so much a part of my life that I never see them. The damask banquet tablecloths are a perfect example. I think they're from my parents, maybe from my in-laws. They are beautiful, formal, and require either professional laundering and pressing, or a chunk of time with an iron and starch. Forget it. I switched to non-wrinkle a few decades ago. I held the line for the seder, though. My cousin and I used to iron the tablecloth a day or two later, making a brief visit to the early 20th century. Gave up on that when I bought faux-damask wash and wear cloths and no one noticed the difference.
OK. I know I will never use these cloths. However, my mother prized them. She died 15 years ago, so I can't just call and ask her if she's OK with this. I was surprised at how aware I was of giving away something that was at one time a sort of family dowry item.
Enter freecycle. Several people expressed interest, and each now has a lovely tablecloth. I doubt I will ever think of the tablecloths again. However! There was a third table cloth, from an aunt. It is cutwork, yellow with white applique, exquisite. I used it once and it was a royal pain to clean, more suited for Versaille than a 21st century home. Way too obscure to put up on Ebay. Instinct said "Keep it", but for what?
Inspiration hit. Repurposed, the cloth could become beautiful window treatments for that mythic new house. On a window, instead of a table, we can enjoy the beautiful handiwork every day. So you don't have to give EVERYTHING away. When you edit, the treasures become more apparent.

Daily Worth: Smart, Wise, Classy and Sassy!

DailyWorth launched this winter, in the midst of financial storms, and arrives daily to remind its readers - primarily women - that we need to take care of ourselves and be smart about money, ever more so if there is less of it flowing in our lives. We get daily pep talks reminding us that getting our financial life in order requires that we get our heads on straight. No more pretending and denying that our finances are in control if they're not; time to admit that we often sabotage ourselves when we don't make ourselves pay attention to those boring numbers, pesky statements, and annoying details - they can make the difference between abundance and subsistence!

The Daily Worth Duo, Amanda and Cristina, both live on my street. I take great pride in having introduced them - realizing that these two terrific new neighbors both work at home, like me, we had tea one day - our faux water cooler. In truth we never found time to do this again, but when Amanda went looking for just the right writer to bring her DailyWorth dream idea to fruition, lo and behold. That spot-on, talented communicator was RIGHT DOWN THE BLOCK.

It's quick to subscribe to DailyWorth and the fun part, you'll receive a pithy daily suggestion about how to be financially proactive, professionally astute, and develop more backbone, something we all need. The graphics are understated and elegant and the writing sparkles. Hats off to Amanda who birthed Maya right along with bringing DailyWorth from concept to reality and leading the team onwards and upwards. They're a new link on my blog roll.

Now Nicholas, Alexander, Dylan, Maya, and Zuzu - my next door neighbor doggie - know what their moms do all day!

What is the Opposite of Frugal?

Reading all the media on the New Frugality, I am bemused. The presumption is that the opposite of frugal is luxurious. I disagree with that premise. For me, and many others, the opposite of frugal is wasteful. Why be wasteful, no matter what the economy looks like? Especially given environmental issues and overconsumption of resources.
I also disagree with another common idea - that the opposite of frugal is generous. I maintain that one can be frugal AND generous - in fact, frugality empowers generosity. Being sensibly frugal allows one to allot resources wisely - and generously. And makes splurging for an occasional luxury possible. Frugality is not about deprivation. It's about judgment.

Fidelity Investors: A Change to Vote AGAINST Genocide

Amazingly enough, Fidelity Investments is recommending that its shareholders vote AGAINST a shareholder sponsored resolution designed to "prevent holding investments in companies that, in the judgment of the Board, substanitaly contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity." If you have a Fidelity account, a proxy ballot will be arriving shortly, if it hasn't already.
Follow their simple instructions and go to
proxyvote.com . All you need to do is type in your unique 12-digit ID which is right there on your ballot, so no password or user name or anything that requires trying to remember anything! Then click on VOTE, and the ballot comes up. There are only 2 things to vote on. The first is whether you are in favor or opposed to the board nominees. What is important is #3, a lengthy list of all its various funds, followed by the wording above. They recommend you vote AGAINST, but what you want to do is vote FOR. I am such a good girl that I don't think I ever voted against a company's recommendations, but in this case, it feels great. You are voting for not being complicit with Chinese petroleum interests in the Sudan funding the Darfuri genocide!
Check out Investors against Genocide for more information. Similar resolutions can be voted in at Vanguard and American Funds.
Good work, IAG!!

Gorgeous image - here's its url -

All Things Solar in Philadelphia: PV America

Trade shows are candy store venues for wonks - and PV America, the solar industry's expo, does not disappoint! If you're in the Delaware Valley, you can attend for free today (Tuesday, 6/9) from 12:00-8:00. The show features row upon row of solar suppliers, manufacturers, marketers, financers, and installers - everything you wanted to know about solar.
Solar is finally going mainstream, due to stimulus money, state subsidies, improvements in technology, and dropping prices. According to Rhone Resch, head of the Solar Energy Industry Association, you could refinance your mortgage to pay for your system and when all the tax credits and state subsidies are factored in, you'll be saving more than you're paying for your system. Probably easier said than done, but solar is at last becoming competitive and easier to access.
Installation of solar is part of what drives up the cost - all those parts needing to be connected up on roofs. New manufacturing techniques have been developed to add more of those parts at the factory, bringing down installation costs considerably.
In fact, according to industry spokespeople, we're not far off from the day you'll buy solar power just like any other large appliance - at your big box home store. Not sure your average handyman will want to hang out on the roof, but once installation is simplified, even this will be possible. Home Depot already stocks a wide array of solar arrays!
My favorite solar vendor is Konarka, one of a number of manufacturers of plastic film impregnated with solar collectors. The material is light-weight, flexible, and even beautiful. (That's the pic here.)

Konarka Power Plastic is a photovoltaic material that captures both indoor and outdoor light and converts it into direct current (DC) electrical energy. This energy can be used immediately, stored for later use, or converted to other forms. Power Plastic can be applied to a limitless number of potential applications – from microelectronics to portable power, remote power and building-integrated applications.

The possible applications are endless, a great potential for innovation. I imagine third world women microentrepreneurs creating panels made of it, on site - creating solar jobs, as well as helping to expand its availability. It is capable of absorbing energy even indoors, so imagine if it becomes cheap enough to be wall-covering. And of course it's perfect for camping, or just walking - here is a computer bag which charges its laptop:
And, last but not least, their material is organic. Way cool!

Green Pizza - Beyond Pesto

This green pizza box is very cool - though I don't think it's possible, at least where I live, to recycle cardboard with pizza residue. Hat tip to www.unconsumption. Hat tip #2 to Becca for telling me about Unconsumption!

Green Box: Pizza Box Turns into Plates & Storage Unit. jeniwright

Kind of awesome. Via: Retro Thing