Readers' Tips

Starting an IRA

For lots of free information on IRAs, and pretty good plans too for small accounts, contact major mutual fund companies such as T. Rowe Price www.troweprice.com or Vanguard www.vanguard.com. These companies let you choose to put your IRA into money market funds, and have lots of choices for conservative investing. The web sites are worth a read. They have interactive calculators to help you figure out what sort of IRA would be a good deal for you.

You can get other ideas for IRAs by reading magazines at your library, such as Money magazine or Kipingler's Personal Finance. Your bank can give you an IRA which holds CDs, but I think the mutual fund company money market funds offer a better deal. They also have more choices which will appeal to you as you learn more.

Remember, although the law lets you put $2000 a year into an IRA, you don't have to put the whole $2000 in if you can't afford it. It's better to put whatever you can into the account each year than to skip a year's contribution because you think you can't afford it. Some folks get to deduct their IRA contribution from their income tax; this is a great deal if you qualify. You can call the IRS for a free, informative booklet on whether you qualify.
JCW

editor's note: more suggestions for getting started with an IRA at www.stretcher.com/stories/00/000508b.cfm

Cleaning Silk Flowers

Take your silk plants outside, where you have an electrical outlet available and take your blow dryer with you. Put the blow dryer on "low" and simply blow the dust away! If any dust remains, use one of the new 'Pledge' or 'Swiffer' cloths to gently wipe off the flowers and leaves. This works incredibly well for me.

An older method is to take your items outside and sprinkle them with cornmeal. Place a plastic bag over the item and turn them upside down, shaking them. The cornmeal supposedly works as a "scrubbing" effect, to remove the dust from the flowers/leaves. When you turn the item upside down and shake, it is supposed to remove the dust by the scrubbing and also remove the cornmeal from the item.
H.

editor's note: more methods for cleaning your silk foliage at www.stretcher.com/stories/00/000508a.cfm

Free Flowers

The local Bureau of Land Management office has packets of wildflower seeds that they give to anyone who calls--as much as is wanted--in order to have folks have a wildflower belt around their homes to slow down wild fires.
Stan

editor's note: Bureau of Land Management's website directory is at www.blm.gov/nhp/directory/index.htm

Pays to Compare

I have a problem with Office Max. The prices in the store and in the catalog may not be the same. I purchased a package of Avery card stock and the price in the store was almost $12.00. After paying, I wandered over to the catalog and looked up the same item. The price there was $2.50 less. I took the item back to the cashier and demanded and got that amount of refund. So always look in the catalog first.
Lois B.

Alternative to Face Wash / Make-Up Removers

Finding myself stuck in the shower without my face wash, I decided to try my daughters baby shampoo as a quick alternative. To my surprise it worked wonderfully. Not only did it remove my make-up but, being tear- free, it also gently removed my eye make-up. It left my face soft and thoroughly cleansed. Some baby shampoos even contain a light conditioner which works great to moisturize extra dry skin, and at under $3 a bottle it's quite a savings over high priced facial cleansers. And I'm sure my daughter doesn't mind sharing her shampoo with mommy!
Jennifer G

Teen's First Car?

The far better solution to the "teenager's car" is for the teenager not to own one at all. I can think of several good reasons for a teenager to defer the purchase until after college when they begin full time employment.

1. If a teen buys a car, especially the more expensive model that you mention, the teen generally spends most of their part-time earnings paying for the car, insurance, and upkeep. I know that my first car, a 1980 Chevrolet Chevette cost me approximately $375 a month back in 1982 when you considered payments ($128), insurance ($55), gas ($65) and other expenses. And that was pretty cheap. A four year payment on a $10K auto note is now over $250 per month.
   
   
2. Buying a car also may force a teen to incur more educational debt. I used to see people with professional degrees with college loans in excess of $100k. Now, I am beginning to see college graduates with four year degrees with that debt load. I attribute this to students who have a car in college with several credit cards.
   
   
3. Teens with automobiles in their name statistically have more accidents than those driving their parent's vehicle. I attribute that to the parents having less control over the use of the vehicle.
   
   
4. If you are a true "dollar stretcher," shouldn't you be encouraging parents to teach their kids to use public transportation rather than owning a car? You would be surprised the number of places you can get to on a bus or bike when you don't have a car. When I was an undergrad in 1980 at the University of Dayton, the few students that had cars usually drove a 1968 LTD or 1975 Ford Pinto or a 1978 Chevette. Ten years later when I was in the MBA program at the University of Missouri, I could not believe the number of luxury cars driven by students - Lexus, Miata, etc.

editor's note: Joseph is referring to an article I wrote www.stretcher.com/stories/00/000424m.cfm on a teen's first car. I focused on how to find the most cost efficient car and not whether it was a good idea to buy one. He makes some good points.

She Still Gets Flowers!

During our early courting and first year of marriage my husband brought me many flowers from the local florist. Now that we are a frugal couple, he takes the vases from before back to reuse. This saves him $4.00 on a small vase and $6.00 on the large ones!!!! That can cut the cost of a mother's day bouquet from 18.00 to 12.00 by bringing a vase from our home!!! Check with your local florist. You may also be able to pick up (excellent condition only) vases at local garage sales.
Donna K.

Generic vs. Generic

A real good medication tip I found out last week. When you ask a chain pharmacy for a generic they usually have a set generic price. I am taking a medication that is $128 a month by the manufacturer, I asked for a generic and it was $86 so I was still not feeling great about the price. I went on to the internet and pulled up Planet RX finding that there were actually 12 other generic brands of this particular medication. I printed out the price sheet and went back to the store and was told that the policy was to charge a set price on all their generic brands. I then took my sheet of prices to a smaller pharmacy not a chain and the pharmacist ordered the lower generic for me for the next month. I ended up getting the exact same medication for $l9.95 and for another $.71 my doctor agreed to write the RX for 2 mg that could be split in half each day. It last me twice as long and the total price for 2 months came to $20.66! I learned the hard way the true meaning of generic and chain stores!
Carol

Give Your Kitchen a Facelift

As a former small businessman whose "Cabinet Facelift" company specialized in re-facing kitchen cabinets, I think it is an important alternative to the ultra-expensive replacement. Briefly, re-facing leaves the cabinets in place, removes and replaces the doors (usually with a raised panel door front) and applies veneer of the same wood type as the new doors. I usually replaced flat surface doors with raised panel ones, usually oak, and usually stained the new veneer and finished it with a wood sealant. The cost -- even the retail cost to my customers -- was less than $2500 for a complete kitchen, including the occasional replacement of a solid door with a glass one. The huge benefits to the homeowner were 1) the cabinets remained in place during the entire procedure, and 2) the cost was a fraction of the replacement.
Tom L.

Cool Flowers

I enjoyed the article on making fresh flowers last longer www.stretcher.com/stories/00/000424n.cfm . I have an additional tip, a variation on placing the flowers in the coldest room at night. My Nana always places her floral arrangements in the refrigerator at night, and brings them out in the room during the day. I learned this from her several years ago. I noticed that the flowers we had given her in May were still looking good in July!
MB

editor's note: you'll notice that the florist keeps them in a large walk-in refrigerator

Save Your Ink

Black ink cartridge will last much longer if you print on economy and check mark greyscale on the printer. At least it does for an HP Deskjet.
JC

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