A large retail and commercial center, anchored by Gerrity's Supermarkets, is planned in Chestnuthill Township, along with an upgraded park and ride.Mount Effort Development Company, LLC of New Jersey hopes to build a 15-acre, 101,400 square foot collection of stores, offices and a transportation hub at the corner of route 115 and State Road in Mount Effort.Gerrity's is an upscale grocery store similar to Wegman's, developer Keith Beccia said. The store will have 45,000 square [...]
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الأحد، 15 مايو 2016
Hundreds of properties for tax sale in Monroe County
About 500 properties in Monroe County will be offered for sale to the highest bidder Wednesday to satisfy back tax bills.The annual judicial tax sale is aimed at settling school, municipal and county property tax bills that are at least two years old. Current owners have until the time of sale, which begins at 10 a.m. at the Monroe County Administrative Center, to keep properties off the auction block by paying the back taxes.Nearly all parcels still listed on the Monroe County [...]
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Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/1rNTUVN
The Life-Changing Magic of Buying Used Stuff
A few weeks ago, a family friend’s dog ate my four-year-old’s shoes. Then, a week later, the same dog ate my six-year-old’s shoes.
Within a span of eight days, two pairs of shoes were shredded beyond repair by the same dog near the front door at the same house.
But, was I mad? Absolutely not.
Our dog is 14 years old, deaf, and blind, so we aren’t used to guarding our property in the same way as other pet owners. So, in part, it was probably our fault for leaving our shoes out in the open in the first place.
But more importantly, those shoes weren’t worth crying over anyway – mainly because I paid around $4 total for both pairs.
The Magic of Buying Used
Since having children, I’ve fallen in love with buying used. With just a few exceptions (like cribs), almost everything you’d need for your kids can be found at a discount secondhand. When they were babies, Santa even got our kids used Christmas presents because he (ahem) knew they wouldn’t notice.
And now that they’re older, we save a lot of heartache at our house by mostly buying gently used items that cost a few bucks apiece. It’s magic I tell you, and not just because I’m cheap.
I actually think buying used makes life easier.
When you pay full price, it’s easy to get wrapped up in an item’s value. Your perfect new car gets a ding at the grocery store and you’re tempted to freak. Or, your kid spills chocolate syrup on their new white shirt and you’re instantly mad at them.
By buying used, you can avoid all the drama and stress, and instead use that energy on the things that matter most in life.
Four Reasons Buying Used Makes Life Easier
Buying used might come with a stigma among some people, but the benefits far outweigh any awkward moments you might experience. Here are just a few reasons buying nearly anything used is a good idea – both for our mental health and our long-term wealth.
Clothes get ruined, and you don’t have to care.
Kids ruin clothes; it’s an indisputable fact of life. They spill food on themselves while they eat, slide through the grass like it’s a slip-n-slide, and aren’t all that careful with markers or paint.
When all the clothes you buy are expensive, it’s easy to spend far too much time trying to prevent the inevitable stains that kids cause every day of their lives. But when you buy used, you can spend your time on something else. Why? Because you don’t have to care.
I’m not saying you should stop caring about your children’s clothes altogether. Even when you buy used, you can keep the family wardrobe clean and in good shape. But when your kid decides to color himself in with a marker, your stress levels will be markedly different if you paid $1 for the shirt instead of $40.
When you buy used, it’s much easier to shrug your shoulders and move on with your life.
You don’t lose sleep when something breaks or gets damaged.
When you buy stuff new – and especially expensive stuff – it’s easy to spend a lot of time worrying about it. This is especially true when it comes to cars, furniture, and other big-ticket items that cost thousands of dollars.
But when you buy used (and pay a fraction of the price), you don’t lose sleep when life happens. If your cat scratches on the corner of your used couch, so what? You paid $200 for it, not $1,000. And when a bird treats your used car like a toilet, you can simply wash it off and carry on with your life.
The less you pay for something, the less stress you’ll endure when something bad happens to it. Obviously, this becomes even more true when we’re talking about items that are expensive to begin with.
Used stuff is infinitely cheaper.
Heartache aside, you can save oodles of money by buying most of your stuff used. And keeping more money in your pocket – or your savings account – is as surefire a way as any to make your life easier.
Used clothing, for example, can be found for as little as 1% of the retail price if you find a good garage sale or shop at Goodwill when it’s 50% off. You can save even more if you’re willing to buy used cars, secondhand furniture, and housewares that have plenty of life left.
You might have to shop around to find exactly what you’re looking for, but that time will be worth it if you’re able to save big on nearly everything you buy. Websites like Craigslist.org are a great place to pick up these priceless gems, along with garage sales, consignment stores, and of course, thrift stores.
You can usually sell used stuff for the same price you paid (and sometimes more).
One of the best parts about buying used stuff is the fact that you can often resell it for close to what you paid. As long as you keep it in good shape, you can usually get your money back – but that’s after you extract as much use and value out of it as you can.
I did this with almost all of my children’s clothes when they were really small. I bought the majority of their clothes at garage sales for 25 cents or 50 cents apiece, got plenty of wear out of them all, then resold them in subsequent garage sales as my children grew up.
And I absolutely did the same with all of their baby gear – the swings, the high chairs, and the cribs. In fact, I bought really fancy Bellini brand baby furniture for $500 off Craigslist when I was pregnant with my first child — and then turned around and sold it on Craigslist for $750 several years later.
Yes, if you buy quality items at a good price and take really good care of them, you can even turn a profit! And if not? Well, at least you didn’t pay a ton of money to begin with.
The Bottom Line
The benefits of buying used are nearly limitless. In addition to saving money, you can also save yourself from a boatload of stress and worry. I’ve always felt that life was too short to worry about “stuff” anyway — which is why I don’t. But buying used makes it that much easier not to care too much.
Next time you find yourself stressing over a dent in your new car, a rip in your daughter’s expensive shirt, or a chewed-up pair of shoes, ask yourself if the initial cost was worth the stress you’re feeling. Chances are, the answer is no.
Do you buy used stuff? If so, what are the biggest benefits in your eyes?
Related Articles
- Two-Sided Coin: Should You Always Buy a Used Car?
- The Challenges of Buying Used and How to Overcome Them
- Do We Have Our Possessions Backwards? Some Thoughts on the Stuff We Own
- 10 Things You Shouldn’t Buy Used
The post The Life-Changing Magic of Buying Used Stuff appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Would You Eat Roadkill to Save Money on Groceries?
Saving money on groceries is Penny Hoarding 101.
Your grocery bill is perhaps the most variable line item in your budget, and saving significant amounts of money doesn’t take too much time or effort — even if couponing isn’t your thing.
You can shop at a cheaper store, get rebates for stuff you’ve already bought and even try simple hacks like shopping with a basket instead of a cart.
If you’re more adventurous, you might try urban foraging or picking edible weeds — but would you be willing to eat roadkill to save money on meat?
Some people do.
Yes, for real. It’s actually totally legal in a lot of states.
But before you head out to the highway with a shovel, there’s some stuff you need to know.
… Really?
Listen, I know it sounds nuts.
But as you may know, meat’s expensive — even if you work hard to save money on it by shopping at wholesalers or using coupons.
Plus, the meat you buy in the grocery store can be a little gray — ethically speaking, that is.
Even if no amount of animal rights information would turn you vegan (in the words of my ex, “If cows didn’t want to be eaten, they shouldn’t have evolved to be so delicious”), it’s hard to ignore the huge, unnecessary carbon footprint of the typical American’s meat-heavy diet.
It takes 441 gallons of water to produce just one pound of boneless meat, according to a UC Davis study.
All of this to say nothing of the dangers of unsustainable factory farming — anyone remember Chipotle’s giant E. coli problem?
And forget grass-fed, free-range, antibiotic-and-hormone-free “happy meat.”
“If we raised all the cows in the United States on grass (all 100 million of them), cattle would require (using the figure of 10 acres per cow) almost half the country’s land (and this figure excludes space needed for pastured chicken and pigs),” the New York Times reports.
Leveling cities to turn half the country’s land into pasture is not exactly “sustainable.”
Road-killed meat is as “organic” as it gets — and it’s already dead, so you’re not contributing to any carbon footprint or animal rights problems. You’re simply eliminating waste.
Starting to sound a little less crazy? Keep reading.
Is It Legal to Eat Roadkill Where You Are?
Since you’re already going to be breaching some pretty well-entrenched cultural norms, it might be best not to breach the law, too.
If you’re bold enough to eat roadkill, the first thing you’ll want to establish is whether or not it’s actually legal where you live.
Laws vary by state. For instance, possession of roadkill is entirely illegal in Texas and California. It’s long been illegal in Washington state, too — although that’s set to change in July 2016.
Currently, maintenance workers are responsible for removing animal carcasses from the roadside. In some cases, the meat is donated to local Native American tribes.
Alaska also has a long-standing tradition of collecting road-killed moose meat for charity. It’s against the law for motorists to take it themselves.
But other states are more open-minded.
In Georgia, for example, you’re in the clear to collect the body of any native species — so long as you report road-killed black bears to the state.
In Ohio, you can collect deer, turkey, wild boars and feral hogs if you report them within 24 hours and get a permit.
States also distinguish between different types of animals and different body parts, which might not seem so strange when you consider the health concerns involved.
For instance, many big, hooved critters (think deer and elk) carry a neurological disorder called chronic wasting disease. So, some states place restrictions on their brains and nervous systems, if not their hides and antlers.
So the bottom line of the “Is it legal?” question is, “maybe, if you follow some rules.”
You’ll want to contact your state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife to get up-to-date information.
And while you’re busy Googling “chronic wasting disease”…
Is Eating Roadkill Safe?
Here’s the thing: If you didn’t dispatch a deer or rabbit with your own vehicle — or watch someone in your immediate vicinity mess up their car instead — you don’t know how long the meat’s been sitting there.
It’s significantly easier to assess the edibility of an animal if you’re, say, a hunter.
But if your interactions with dead animals have been limited to flushing goldfish and considering different pre-wrapped cuts at the supermarket, things might get a little hairy.
Literally.
Steven Rinella, hunter and author of “Meat Eater” — a chronicle about consuming wild game — made a useful suggestion to Missoulian magazine: If you find some roadkill that has fur, grab a handful and pull. If it comes off by the handful, maybe don’t make it into a stew.
Other warning signs include bloat, foul odor and swarming flies, but you’re facing a whole host of invisible risks, too.
Your critter might be infected with pathogens like E. coli, toxoplasmosis or worms — or the impact might’ve caused internal bleeding and spoiled the meat.
So the safety of road-killed meat is a little up in the air. And I don’t mean because you just hit it and sent it flying.
What Do You Do With Roadkill?
If you’re sure your roadkill’s of the highest and most edible quality, it’s time to make a commitment: Most states’ laws won’t allow you to take only parts of the animal.
You’re gonna have to lug the whole thing home and butcher it yourself.
Luckily, there are resources to help you figure it out — this is apparently a scenario people ask the internet about all the time. (Warning: the link is not for the faint of heart. Or those of you on your lunch break.)
You’ll want to complete this operation — and prepare or freeze the meat — as quickly as possible after the animal’s death to keep it fresh.
Speaking of preparation, are you finding yourself a little nervous about your opossum’s flavor?
You might want to get your hands on a quality wild game cookbook, as opposed to roadkill-specific ones, which are usually meant as a joke.
But you won’t necessarily need to go in for the masking powers of strong herbs and garlic.
Lots of road-killed meat is delicious, according to Jonathan McGowen — and he should know. He’s been eating it since he was 14.
Here’s what he told The Guardian:
“Rabbit is actually quite bland. Fox is far tastier; there’s never any fat on it, and it’s subtle, with a lovely texture, firm but soft. It’s much more versatile than beef, and has a salty, mineral taste rather like gammon. Frogs and toads taste like chicken and are great in stir-fries. Rat, which is nice and salty like pork, is good in a stir-fry, too – I’ll throw in celery, onion, peppers and, in autumn, wild mushrooms I’ve collected. Badger is not nice and hedgehog is hideous.”
So there you have it.
Next time you hit a fox or find the remnants of someone’s unfortunate run-in with a deer, you might consider your grocery trip finished.
No need to invite me over for dinner, though.
Your Turn: Would you eat roadkill? Let us know in the comments. Seriously, we want to know.
Jamie Cattanach (@jamiecattanach) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. The most exotic meat she’s ever eaten is ostrich, and that was at a Fuddruckers, so basically she has no sense of adventure.
The post Would You Eat Roadkill to Save Money on Groceries? appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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