Get Your Money Out of Banks!

In the past, I've written about the importance of budgeting and being frugal.  Not only does it help you and your family, it works towards depriving the oligarchs their lifeblood -- money.  Today,  Occupy Wallstreet and other activists are promoting another wise way to protect your money and work toward an equitable future for everyone.  Today is Move Your Money Day!

Partially spurred on by the, now dead, move by Bank of America and other banks to charge their customers a monthly fee to use their debit cards (in addition to all the other ridiculous fees they charge), Move Your Money Day was thought up as a way to have people register their disgust with the banks and keep their money local.  As many people know, banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo took bailout money from the Government after they helped create the financial crisis from which we are currently suffering.  These "too big to fail" banks then proceeded to generate outrageous profits and give enormous bonuses to their 1% officers -- all on the backs of the 99%.

Now, there is nothing wrong, on the face of it, in making profits or giving bonuses.  However, these banks were only able to do so because they took the people's money.  Had they not taken the cash, they would have, if not failed outright, crumbled partially functional bankettes as they would have had to possibly divest to survive.  Sure, they paid the money back BUT they have yet to be held accountable for the damage they have wrought upon the economy of the United States, Europe, and the World!  Seeing how the Government is proving to be spineless when it come to making Wallstreet pay for its crimes and more than happy to give these banks a free pass, it is now up to the people.

How do we get at them?  Through their religion -- the free market.  That's right!  You have a choice and you can take your money out of these "too big to fail" felons and put it into a local banking establishment.  First, you'll be registering your discontent with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, and their ilk.  Second, you will be helping support your local economy because local banks and credit unions use local money to make local loans.  Third, you will be helping support a much more equitable banking industry over that of the industrial, heartless TARP-fueled banks of the world.

The Union Legion strongly endorses the use of local credit unions.  Your narrator has exclusively used one for many years.  Often, there are requirements which have to be met before you can join but those requirements may only be that you live in a certain area.  In a credit union, you are not a "customer" per se.  You are an owner.  When you join, you deposit a share.  This share is then kept with the bank and you can not withdraw it unless you are leaving the credit union.  Worried about accessing your share?  Don't be.  The share is a low sum -- around $20 or $25.  Once you are a member, you can enjoy many, if not all, of the products commercial banks offer -- but they will be called something different.  For example, CDs are not called CDs -- they are called share certificates at my credit union.  My "checking" account is called a share draft account.  Regardless of their names, these accounts function exactly the same as traditional accounts.  Plus, I have free checking, a free debit card, and I earn interest on both my draft and savings accounts.  Many credit unions also share an ATM network and, wouldn't you know it, they don't charge ATM access fees!

Even if you feel a credit union isn't the right answer for you, there are still local, traditional banks.  Again, these banks keep your money local but, most importantly, they aren't responsible for the economic mess everyone is slogging through.  As technology has improved these small banks have proven they too can provide the services of the big monster banks.

Don't get worried about moving your money.  It is a fairly simple process.  Take this point of advise though -- do your research first and know the features of your prospective new bank.  Then, open your new, local account first and link up your bill payments and direct deposits before you move your money.  Otherwise, you may run into some automated headaches later in the month when your rent isn't automatically paid.  Once your new account is set up, close out your account with the "too big to fail" bank.  I would even go so far as to encourage you to politely tell them why.  When finished, you will be saving more of your hard earned cash, keeping your money local to do local work, taking control over your money away from the "too big to fail" banks, and doing your part to let the wealthiest 1% know there will be an accounting for their actions.

Belated Earth Day Post! Save Money and Help the Environment

Reducing your impact on the environment isn't just some Hippy dream or agenda to turn us all into vegan bark-eaters. While I'm not denying a lot of Progressives seem focused entirely on the environment to the detriment of other important issues such as Human Rights and Social Equality, I would like to point out that some of their ideas and approaches can be beneficial to your budget, help the environment, and do damage to the heartless corporations and oligarchs which currently rule our country. As this blog is for Labor and other Human Rights issues, I've been slowly illustrating ways you can save money at home (benefit to the individual) and, in doing so deprive corporations of their life-blood -- your hard-earned cash (benefit to the country).

To that end, you can easily make your own laundry detergent in your own kitchen.  I made my own yesterday and it only took about 30 minutes (tops) to do -- and that was only because I was making my daughter lunch at the same time!  The recipe I used only has 4 ingredients:  Fels-Naptha® (Ivory soap can also be used), Borax, washing soda, and water.  With the exception of the water, all these ingredients are probably in the laundry isle of your local supermarket.  Combined, the ingredients cost me about $9 after tax.  "But that's not cheap!" you're probably shouting at your screen.  Hold on.  The recipe only uses ½ of the bar of Fels-Naptha®, 1 cup of Borax, and one cup of washing soda.  When these volumes are considered, the cost per batch is reduced to about $1.70!  Frugal eh?  Where are you going to find laundry detergent for that price? 

What would you do if I told you that it costs $1.70 to make not 1, not 3, but 5 GALLONS of laundry detergent!

Now are you interested?  Now, go out and get yourself a 5 gallon bucket (around $2 from a hardware store).

Here's the recipe:

1. In a saucepan or pot, grate ½ of the Fels-Naptha® bar and top off with water -- filling the saucepan.  Don't worry, you won't ruin your pot or poison your kids, this stuff is only soap and less harmful than the stuff you use to wash it normally.
2. Heat the water at medium-high and stir every so often to help melt the soap.  This will probably take about 15 minutes.
3. Fill up your 5 gallon bucket with hot water from the tap leaving some room for the melted soap mixture.  I did this in my bathtub.
4. To the water in the bucket, add 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of washing soda, and stir.
5. When the soap has completely melted in the saucepan, pour the mixture into the 5 gallon bucket and stir.
6. That's it.  You've made liquid laundry soap.  However, it does need to cool so wait overnight or so.  You'll find the liquid soap has congealed a bit.
7. Once cooled, mix up the liquid soap and pour into what ever smaller vessels you may have laying about.  I used my old laundry detergent container, gallon milk jugs, an empty shampoo bottle....

When you do your laundry, use ¾ a cup per load.  When you do the math, the cost of soap per load for your new, environmentally safer liquid laundry soap will be somewhere between 1 and 2¢!  Beat that!  The savings can go into your bank account and stay away from greedy corporations and their plutocratic overlords.  On top of that, your liquid laundry soap isn't being transported from some factory (reducing carbon emissions), adding phosphates to the environment, encouraging the abuse of petrochemicals (whether in the manufacture of the detergent or its container), and reducing landfill waste (you're reusing containers you would probably throw away).

There you have it:  good for your bottom dollar, good for the environment, and bad for greedy bastards.

The Clash and Bread

I've got another post I'm formulating in my head about some bullshit legislation being introduced in the New York State Legislature but I'm going to ruminate upon it a little longer while I'm working out.  Hopefully, I'll get it out tonight or tomorrow.  Until then I present you with this tidbit:

I recognize the Unions are trying to get caught up with the tastes of their younger members.  However, "We're not Going to Take It" by Twisted Sister, while awesome, is getting a little old to this listener.  In an effort to improve the cool factor for the Unions, I'd like to suggest they investigate the Clash.

If there ever was a band tailor-fit to the Labor and Social Justice Movements, it would be the Clash.  As an illustration of their awesomeness, I simply present their take on the Southern story of Stagger Lee -- Wrong 'em Boy-o:

Stagger Lee met Billy and they go down to gambling
Stagger Lee throwed seven
Billy said that he throwed eight
So Billy said, hey Stagger! I'm gonna make my big attack
I'm gonna have to leave my knife in your back

Why do you try to cheat?
And trample people under your feet
Don't you know it is wrong?
To cheat the trying man
So you better stop, it is the wrong 'em boy-o

You lie, steal, cheat and deceit
In such a small, small game
Don't you know it is wrong

Billy Boy has been shot
And Stagger Lee's come out on top
Don't you know it is wrong
To cheat the trying man
To cheat Stagger man
You'd better stop
So you must start all over again-all over again
You got to play it, Billy, play, you got to play it, Billy, play
And you will find it is the right 'em boy-o

But if you must lie and deceit
And trample people under your feet
Don't you know it is wrong
It is the wrong 'em boy-o

If I heard

Why do you try to cheat?
And trample people under your feet
Don't you know it is wrong?
To cheat the trying man
So you better stop, it is the wrong 'em boy-o

at a rally, I'd be psyched -- as would a lot in my generation (Gen-X -- we're notoriously hard to pin down but we do like our music).

Attention Unions of the World: Get some Clash for your rallys!  They are profoundly intelligent and their music is kick-ass.

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The invention of bread was one of humanities greatest advancements in the manufacture and storage of food.  Why is it people now buy this nearly essential food stuff as though it is a commodity?  Shelved and packaged in a supermarket.  Over priced with the profits going to some corporation somewhere?  We really ought to be distancing ourselves from the over reliance on corporations for our means of survival.  It really is a shame that, as a society, we have fallen into the "convenience trap" when we don't need to.

Making bread at home is amazingly simple and it costs pennies (yes, pennies) on the dollar when you compare it to the cost of bread in the store.  Plus, it tastes a lot better and makes your house smell great!

If you're interested in baking your own bread but you don't want to deal with kneading and all that nonsense, you're in luck.  You don't need to buy some expensive bread machine!  You can make bread at home with a bowl that you can cover (I use my crock pot) and a dutch oven (or a pizza stone and a oven-safe pot)!

Here's my recipe for a no knead whole grain bread:
Dry ingredients

1. 2 cups white flour
2. 2 cups whole wheat flour (or 2 more cups white)
3. 1 cup quick oats (or rolled oats)
4. 2 - 2.5 teaspoons salt
5. .5 teaspoon bakers yeast
6. (optional) 4 teaspoons wheat glutin
7. (optional) 4 maybe 5 tablespoons milled flaxseed

Wet ingredient -- 2.5 (maybe a touch more) warm water

Directions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in your bowl.
2. Add the water and mix.  Your mixture should be a sticky mess but not runny.  Add small amounts of water until you get something that looks a similar to sticky oatmeal.
3. Cover the bowl and leave it alone for 8 to 24 hours.  It should, roughly double in size.  Don't worry about messing things up.  If you go too long, everything will be fine (assuming it's been covered the cat hasn't sat on it).
   
4. After the dough has risen, dust a surface with flour to prevent the dough from sticking and scoop the dough out on to that surface.
5. Spread the dough out a bit and dust the top.  Fold the dough over on to itself 1 or 2 times.
6. Let the dough rest for 15 to 30  minutes (again, don't worry about going long on time).
7. After the dough has rested, form it into a boule.  Oh yeah, this recipe is for an "artisan" bread -- that expensive stuff and it's cheaper than many brands of white bread!
8. Let the boule rise for about 2 hours (at 70F, longer if cooler).
9. Preheat your oven and dutch oven to 475F.  If you are using a pizza stone, heat that up.
10. After the boule has risen and the oven has preheated, open the dutch oven and place you boule in it.  Be careful not to burn your hands.  Place the top back on the dutch oven and return it.  If you are using the pizza stone, pull it out and place the boule on it.  Then, take your oven-save pot and fill it with water and place that in the oven as well.
11. Bake the boule for 30 minutes with the top on the dutch oven (or with the pot of water in the oven).
12. After the 30 minutes, take the top off (or remove the pot with water) and bake an additional 15 minutes to crisp up the crust.  Do this final step to taste.  Some people like really crispy crusts while others like softer crusts.
13. Remove your new loaf of bread and place it on a rack to cool.  Listen to it and it will "talk" to you as it cools.  This is the sound of the crust crackling.
    

There you have it!  A loaf of healthy artisan bread that costs about less than $1.00 (cheaper if you find deals) to make.

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Edit 4/10/11: Changed cost of bread from >$1.50 to >$1.00. The loaf of bread I just baked cost about 50¢!

Budget to Help Yourself and to Help Weaken Plutocrats

In honor of the agreement (behind closed doors) and passing of the New York budget, I thought I would take a moment to write a little about how the poor -- because there will be more -- and the middle class can help remove themselves from the system that created monsters like the Kochs who fund Plutocrats like Cuomo.

I am well aware of the boycott of products made by Koch Industries or their subsidiaries.  While I support the boycott in principle, most people will be inclined to engage in it only for a limited period and, while it does single out a specific target, it does little to nothing to damage the system that created the Kochs and those like them.  A system which undervalues human rights and views people as a "resource".  A system profoundly anti-labor, anti-equal rights, and dedicated to a financial caste system.  If people want to take a stand against this system, it really isn't as hard to do as one might think but it does require a change in lifestyle and, surprisingly spending less and saving more.

While I do not have a credit card and haven't had one for almost 20 years, I realize getting rid of yours may prove rather difficult.  The United States, in particular, has become addicted to debt.  However, getting rid of a credit card and budgeting wisely will go a long way towards improving your personal financial health.  Think of it this way: every time you buy something with a credit card, instantly add 20% (or whatever your interest rate is) to its cost.  In other words, a $100 purchase really costs you $120 -- but only if you pay it off before the interest is added to your balance.  Then, that $100 becomes $120, then $144 and so on.  You can see the pattern, in short order (on the order of months) the value of your $100 is over shadowed by the debt generated by your credit card.  In an effort to eliminate financial waste this cycle has to be stopped.

While getting rid of your credit card makes good sense for your pocket book, how does it limit the system that creates plutocrats?  Simply put, the "economy" (the term is ironic because our financial system is not efficient) runs on debt.  Things like interest and debt are what makes the system run.  "Me alone can't make a difference", you might say.  I would counter that small groups of people, working together can change history -- and they have time and time again.  Look at Gandhi's salt protests or the American Revolution.  Keep that in mind whenever you feel overwhelmed by society's inequalities and corporate indifference.  You are not alone.  Only a 3% decrease in the debt generated in the United States would have a reverberation that could not be ignored.  The place to start is getting rid of your credit cards.

Alright, getting rid of your credit cards may involve a lifestyle change you need more time to prepare for and there are many websites (like Getting Rich Slowly) out there that can help along the way.  Fundamental to a change of this nature is coming to an understanding of the differences between "wants" and "needs".  The most basic needs would be things like nutritious food, clean water, and safe shelter.  As you can see, Society fails many of its Citizens on these basic needs -- largely as a result of a mistaken faith in the "free market".  Think about that for a moment, the "economic" system that feeds the Kochs denies some of its most vulnerable Citizens of their essential needs. 

Back to how "wants and needs" can be used to help you take a stand against plutocrats and corporatocracy.  Every single time you buy something, ask yourself "Do I NEED this or do I WANT this?"  There is nothing wrong with wanting something.  However, corporations go to great lengths to confuse us with what we want and what we need.  Have you ever told yourself you "need" that new pair of shoes or smart phone?  Sure, it is immediately followed up with a rationalization as to why you "need" that thing but, the truth is, you do not need a new pair of shoes unless you have worn out your last pair.  Smart phones....while they are pretty damn cool no one really needs one (yes, I have one but I'm honest with myself -- I wanted it).  Instead, be honest with yourself and your rationalization will become an explanation!  Instead of saying you "need" (the lie) a new pair of shoes for a job interview (the rationalization), realize you want a new pair of shoes (honest statement) for the interview (now, an explanation).  If one consistently applies this method when shopping for anything, you will find that you will see a beneficial impact on your budget.  You see, you will become aware of how much you buy that you do not really need and, possibly, may not want.  If you are uncertain as to whether you need or want something, put off the purchase for a week or so.  If you suffered no ill effects, you didn't need that item; you wanted it.  By decreasing your consumption, you put less into the system that demands rampant consumerism to survive.

Food budgets are a large part of most families budgets.  If you are a public servant like a teacher who may be laid off, your food budget is going to take up even more of your household budget should your income be cut off because of plutocratic cuts to the services you used to provide.  How can one make a significant impact in this spending area?  First, never, never buy your food with a credit card.  if you ever find yourself in a situation where you do not have the cash to buy food, ask family or friends to borrow some cash.  You can pay them back and not have to pay interest and you will be turning to your support system -- not a debt machine -- for assistance and, in doing so, you will be actually engaging society.  We should be depending upon each other and not some heartless corporation. 

Ask yourself if you want or need that food you are looking to buy and make sure you make a grocery list before you go in to the store.  Seems simple but, a lot of the foods sold in groceries these days are nothing but junk food meant to be bought on an impulse and no one "needs" them.  Having said that, the cheapest way to eat is to make your own food.  The real needs for a healthy diet are the raw ingredients, vegetables, meat, flour, and so one.  Instead of buying factory-prepared foods, buy the raw ingredients and learn to cook that food at home.  Not only will you be spending less, you will be learning how to cook, and you will be giving less monetary fuel to the likes of the Kochs.  For example, I can feed my daughter and I for about $40 a week.  Before I got smart about my shopping, I would spend around $100 a week just on myself (before I became a dad).  The difference?  I cook.  I cook everything from pizza to bread, to gumbo, to whatever catches my fancy and I cook extra -- to have leftovers for lunch at work, etc.  Recently, I've started looking into the cooking of the Shakers (a Christian religious sect known for their woodworking but who were also very efficient and hardy cooks).  Books like Seasoned with Grace: My Generation of Shaker Cooking can provide valuable tips.  Whenever possible, buy local food or grow your own.  The food is usually cheaper (when things like transportation are figured in), you cut out the middlemen (read: the Kochs and their ilk), and you keep the money local (thus helping preserve local agriculture).  Oh yeah, avoid fast food restaurants.  Sure they are convenient and their food tastes good but it is overpriced and continues a system that hates workers rights.

Ok.  I've written enough for one post and, undoubtedly you're ready to anything more exciting than continue reading (oh, things like cleaning your toilet probably seem more interesting).  No, I'm not some grubby Hippy so put that thought away.  I'm just like you -- an honest American worker trying to do the best he can for his family in a time where the government and society is run by greedy corporations.  I'll write more in later posts but before I go, I want to leave you with this thought,  the less you pay to ensure your needs are met and you maintain a comfortable quality of life, the more efficient you are.  The more efficient you are, the less money you waste and give to the wealthiest 1% and, therefore, limit the amount of money they can use to buy plutocrats like Cuomo, Obama, or Walker.  Finally, a great book to read to help get a grip on your finances is Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century.  There are many tips and techniques in that book which will go a long way of letting you take control of your budget and, as a result, take a little power back from the corporations that are running our country.