First of all the cost of smart TV’s has declined a lot in recent years. I would recommend a smart TV if you do not already have one. As an example at Walmart they have several different brands to choose from. For example if you wanted a 55 inch Toshiba it is currently selling for $358, an RCA 55 inch is $298, a Visio sells for about $378. An Ensign TV sells for less than the name brands but the sound is not nearly as quality as the name brands, so I would recommend getting a name brand TV. I have a Toshiba smart TV and love it.

If you have Dish Satellite TV or Direct TV, you are probably paying about $140 a month for the 80 channel package and more than that if you have their largest package. We cancelled dish and went with a different set up and are saving a lot monthly.

The smart TV’s have a Roku built in so you do not need to buy one. If you do not have a smart TV and your TV has an extra HDMI input, then you can buy a Roku for about $30 at Amazon or Ebay. We subscribe to Sling which offers two packages having about 40 channels each. If you watch Fox News one package has that along with the other thirty plus channels. If you like the ESPN channels the other package has that. Each package costs $30 a month or if you have both of them it costs $50 a month. We have Netflix for movies. Also we have Amazon Prime so that entitles you to their Amazon Prime TV package which has lots of free movies and recent movies that can be rented on line. I have MLB TV which allows me to watch any MLB baseball game for the pre-season and regular season , plus the post season, for $129 a year.

We have an outside antenna that cost about $100 which provides us with the local channels at no cost. I just disconnected the Dish from the satellite dish and hooked the antenna to that coaxial cable. There were two TV’s connected to Dish and I now get the local channels on both TV’s. The only cost for those channels is the antenna. We get about 42 channels on the antenna among them, NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox local.

On the smart TV you have a choice of a number of AP’s that provide even more channels many of them free. For example there are over 100 free channels on Pluto TV. There are movies, and networks that only appear on Pluto TV. For example “The First” is a great network that Bill O’Reilly originated, he is on each week day on that network. I watch “I’m Right” that follows O’Reilly with Jessie Kelly, it is great. Following that is Buck Sexton that has conservative views, he also is the person that fills the time spot on the radio that Rush Limbaugh was on. All this is free on Pluto TV. You just need to go to the Ap’s on your smart TV and add it to the selection that will appear on you main screen.

If we add the cost of doing your family TV in this manner let’s see how much you can save. Let’s say you just choose the Orange Sling Package, that would be $30, Netflix is $12.95, Prime is about $12 a month(it costs about $139 paid annually). Allocating the cost of antenna over a year , it would cost less than $10 a month. So your monthly cost is now only less than $65 a month.

Since COVID-19 many people have lost or changed jobs or are still unemployed many by choice. There are many jobs available in most parts of the United States that pay over $20 an hour which used to be considered a good salary rate. Now that the minimum wage has been raised in many states it is not uncommon to see big placards in the windows of business saying “Now Hiring” pay $15 an hour to $24 an hour.
Many of those places are fast food restaurants. Drug chains are looking for cashiers and assistants. Retail stores are looking for cashiers and stockers. Costco, Walmart, and Sam’s are looking for employees in all areas. Amazon is looking for help in the warehouses, drivers for their Prime vans, and administrative offices. Call Centers are looking for employees to take reservations and answer questions concerning their products.

If you want to work at home, there are many choices for the call center positions advertised.

You can start building a business at home using Craigslist in your area as a product source and a place to sell the products you buy. Offerup also offers a place to find items to sell and a place to sell them. One of the good things about Offerup is that allows the potential buyers to make an offer if they do not like the price the product is listed for.

I explained in a previous post how to set up and buy and sell bicycles in your area. My experience recently has been that the market for used bicycles has all but dried up since COVID-19 and some of the chain stores are offering bicycles at a relatively reasonable price. Although the new bicycles are almost all made in China and the quality is not always good. For example a Roadmaster brand bicycle sold by Walmart is the worst bike that was ever manufactured. They do not work well and they are uncomfortable. They are cheaply priced but they still are not worth the money. It is like throwing the money down the drain. I tried to make from $25 to $50 on each bicycle I bought for resale. Obviously, I was not going to get rich and it did take time and money to go get the bike.

Now I am buying one golf cart at a time and reselling it with ads on Craigslist and Offerup. I bought one two weeks ago for $750 from a guy that offered the cart at his garage sale for $1500, a week later he dropped the price to $1000 for an EZGO 1981 model golf cart with batteries three years old(Batteries usually last about five years if water is kept in the cells). I noticed he was getting ready to move right away in fact he was leaving later in the day I approached him. I ask how much he would take for the golf cart, he said he was asking $1000 and had contacted a neighbor to sell it for him because he was moving to Florida. He said one guy offered him $500 for it. I said I will give you $750 right now. His reply surprised me, “I can do that “. I went home got the money and paid him for it. I had never driven a golf cart before, he had to show me how it worked. I put an ad on Craigslist in Phoenix and Offerup that night. My ad had the golf cart for $1150. A fellow came the next day and bought the cart for $1150 for his daughter to have to drive to her high school.

Two days later I bought a year 2000 Western Golf Cart that looked a little like a Studebaker car for $1,900 about 45 miles from where I live. There was an ad for a golf cart delivery service for a reasonable price. He charged me $125 to deliver the cart. There are probably golf cart delivery services in you area on your Craigslist or Offerup. I had $2,025 invested in the cart. I advertised the cart the next day for $2,500. I had several calls from people nearby and some from as far as 400 miles from here. The guy in New Mexico was going to drive down here and get the cart, I encouraged him to find a card closer to him and even sent him emails with a similar cart a little closer. Then I had a guy that lived north of Phoenix 60 miles from my place that had a flatbed trailer to haul the cart that was going to come see it. He stood me up. After that I parked the cart near a busy street and put pull tabs with my name and phone number below the for sale sign. In two days time twelve people took pull tabs. I called the guy that stood me up and ask if he still had an interest in the cart, he replied he would come the next day. I put a flyer at the RV park post office near me and got a call from a person there. The guy that stood me up texted he was coming the next day with his trailer to see the cart. He and his wife did come and they did buy the cart for $2,400. There was a real extensive article on the web that told how great these carts are that I included in my ad on Craigslist.

I then saw a 1996 Hyundai golf cart for sale with many parts replaced , new batteries, LED lights, and it is a four seater. I guess I can take our friends for a ride if I do not sell it. The previous two carts were golf carts with bag holders on the back rather than seats. The guy wanted $2,400 I offered $2,200 and he accepted that. I am going to ask $2,950 for the cart. I called my delivery guy and ask how much to go 45 miles to get the cart and it was $120, so I will have $2,320 in it. As you can see it looks like it is relatively easy to make $300 or more off of the sale of each golf cart in the price range I am exploring. https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yfp-t&ei=UTF-8&p=Hyundai+golf+cart#id=2&vid=6486aa6a37f221c74137066fa0272661&action=view if you go to this web address you can take a virtual tour in You Tube in a 1992 Hyundai golf cart and hear about it’s tributes.

Maybe you could do the same thing in your area not restricted golf carts because there are many things being offered on Craigslist and Offerup that could be bought and marked up for resale and there are virtually no expenses in advertising them and finding buyers. Good luck give it try.

I have posted several times how to set up a family budget, but at this point in a run away inflationary economy other measures are necessary. I would suggest that you isolate the cost of groceries and fuel and work on controlling as much as possible the cost of those items.

We all know to watch for service stations that sell gas more economically than others. For example , if you look at the price per gallon of gas at Chevron no matter where you live it can be 50 cents to a dollar more expensive that the surrounding stations, so don’t buy gas at Chevron. I have found that to be true all across the country. Also do not buy fuel that was supplemented with corn products it is bad for your car. In Arizona 87 Octane is the lowest sold but in many states they sell 85 Octane and then 87 Octane and it is usually as much as 50 cents higher sometimes the markup is not that much. Most cars in the owner’s manual recommend 87 Octane fuel. When I was traveling in Denver last week, four stations in one area were having a gas war and selling gas at as low as $3.25 a gallon. Look for areas in the city where you live to see if there are stations having gas wars. Also if you Google low gas prices and the area where you live there are apps that will give you the address of the lowest price stations in your area each and every day. Be sure to keep your oil changes up to date, they will help keep your fuel consumption down. In hot areas if you have to wait for someone in your family or for an appointment, shut the engine off and go inside a nearby building and have them meet your there instead of sitting in your car with the engine idling for long periods of time.

Investment in the stock market does not look good at the present and has not been good all during the current administration in Washington. I took most of my money out of the market several months ago and have avoided even worse declines. It does not appear that the market will turn around any time soon as those in control do numerous things that discourage businesses and affect their profits negatively.

One financial analyst wrote a long discourse on whether people should have gold and silver in their investment portfolio. David Ramsey’s recommendation was that only about 5% of a person’s investment portfolio should be in gold. He was not in favor of people buying silver. I have known people that were gold poor, they had more in gold than they did in conventional stocks and bonds. Ramsey points out that gold and silver have not appreciated a large amount but they are stable. If a person wants a stable investment, gold and silver could provide that but you are not going to be suddenly rich because you own gold.

These are difficult times and it is evident that we need to elect leaders that know what they are doing rather than politicians that do not know what they are doing.

When Joe Biden was running for President, he said he was going to eliminate fossil fuel. No one thought he would do all he could to eliminate fossil fuel the first day. Then to top it off be bull headed enough to continue that program when it became evident the United States needs the fossil fuel with the war in Ukraine to keep functioning. His less than effective release of oil reserves did done nothing to reduce the cost of fuel. Fuel costs have risen every single week since Joe Biden took office in most sections of the country. The only permanent way to reduce the fuel costs is allow drilling on Federal Lands like it was under Trump. The United States is not ready for electric cars yet, they do not even have the charging stations to support the current electric cars in existence.

Today the news said the average electric car sells for $68,000. That is more than the average family income in most states. There is a Chevrolet Volt stripped that sells for a little less than $30,000 but what about families that cannot fit into to a compact car. Also the driving distance after charging is much less for the cheaper electric vehicles. Most electric SUV’s cost over $80,000.

A large segment of the population is on fixed income and could never afford an electric car. At current prices and as the fuel prices increase they cannot afford to drive even to work or take short trips. Driving vacations are out in many cases because the prohibitive fuel cost. The cost here in Arizona at the lowest station in Casa Grande is $5.49 a gallon. Then President Biden has the gall to say the increasing cost of fuel is a good thing to prepare people to purchase electric vehicles. President Biden never even had a drivers license for many years he took the train from Delaware to Washington D.C. for many years. He has no idea of the budget challenges of the a family under the conditions that he has created by his executive orders.

If you read the definition on the internet of the make up of the United States Government, it defines the three levels of government as envisioned by the writers of the U.S. Constitution. It states there are three branches of government, the Executive Branch responsible for enforcing the laws Congress has enacted. Congress made up of two bodies the House of Representative and the Senate is responsible for making the laws, and lastly the Judiciary , the Supreme Court responsible for interpreting the laws enacted by the Congress.

Does that look like our government today? No, it does not, the President is proposing virtually every law enacted, enacting laws by executive order while Congress does nothing to override bad Executive Orders. So, in effect the United States is a dictatorship with the President doing as he pleases with little input or resistance from the Congress. Congress proposes some laws but the very few are enacted because they vote along party lines rather than for the good of the country. The Judiciary is slow to act and can decide if they want to hear a case or not. Because of that many important cases are never heard by the Supreme Court.

What to do about all this? The primary elections are beginning to occur around the country. Get out and vote for candidates that will reign in an uncontrollable President. A person that will change an inactive Congress, close our borders, allow drilling so we can become energy independent again. The arrogance of one woman U.S. Senator said look folks I do not have a gasoline fuel problem I have an electric car. Get rid of people like her that are not realistic that people cannot afford an electric car , there are not enough charging stations. Also some engineers have stated that more electricity will be needed than ever before to charge the vehicles and that solar energy is not sufficient to support that need so we will have rolling electric outages..

HELP GET GOOD CANDIDATES, GO TO GET ACQUAINTED SESSIONS FOR THE CANDIDATES SO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE VOTING FOR. HELP STABLILIZE THE GOVERNMENT FROM OUR PRESENT FRAGILE STATUS.

I think we will all agree that we are living in a period when the world is experiencing unstable conditions that affect virtually every country on the globe. We need to be prepared in case of an emergency with a wide variety of items to keep our families in survival mode.

We would need non-perishable food that can be purchased from a number of suppliers on line. Some include enough food for as much as three months and other survival necessities.
A personal first-aid kit. A flashlight and battery-powered radio. You’ve probably heard about these and other basics for an emergency, but some other items are particularly important if you’re 50 or older.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a list of information targeted specifically for older Americans facing an emergency. Among the items the agency recommends you have on hand:

A three-day minimum supply of medications, along with a cooler and ice packs if your medications require refrigeration. Also, medical supplies if needed, such as syringes.
Contact lens solution, glasses and/or hearing aids and extra batteries for people who need them.
An identification band with your full name, a list of any allergies and a family-member contact number.
Information about your medical devices, including oxygen, walkers and wheelchairs. The information should include model numbers and the vendor of the products.
Documents in a waterproof bag. They should include a personal care plan; contact information for family members; a medication list including the dosage, exact name, pharmacy information and the prescribing doctor for each medication; a list of food or medical allergies; copies of photo IDs and medical insurance cards; and a durable power of attorney and/or medical power of attorney documents.
Cash to be used if automatic teller and credit card machines are not working.
The CDC also is recommending people include additional supplies to address the spread of the coronavirus, flu and other viruses. They include cloth face coverings for everyone 2 and older, soap, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes.

It was surprising to my wife and I our reaction when a forest fire threatened our summer home in Colorado three years ago. We were given three hours to return to our place and get any items we could load up and take out of the area. As we viewed the fire which was a wide area within a mile of our home we ask ourselves what do we need to get. We had a new TV in the bedroom, we took the TV , our computer, and tablets and all the important papers we had and a few kitchen items my wife did not have at our other home. We looked for valuables, jewelry , photo albums , and found a few other items all of which we had to be able to carry in our car. The fire got to within 400 yards of our place so it survived.

No matter what the ages are of your family you need to make a family list of the items each person in the family would like to take in the event of evacuation. Keep some cash in your home so if the banking system is down because of internet failure you have something you can purchase water and food items with. Make a list of prescriptions required by your family members and keep them all together so you can box them and take them with you in a hurry.

We live in very perilous times when even our own government appears to be lost, sadly like our leader appears to be. As we have seen in Ukraine and with all the illegal immigrants coming across our border most of the children and some adults have identification wrist bands in case they get separated.

As soon as possible have a family meeting and discuss what items are needed to keep your family functioning in the event you have to leave your home or your utilities and internet access are not available. Keep at least a half tank of gasoline in at least one car all the time in the event fuel is not available. Set aside some money each month to purchase non-perishable food, flashlights, blankets , water , and survival items. Then have follow up meetings to see how the family is progressing