Have you read Frugal Zeitgeist recently? I say recently as in the last year?

A lot of people have passed by and left very quickly.  A few people stick around but I am not sure why! I have to put my hands up and say quite honestly that it has been awful. I’ve written a lot of content but much if it easily forgettable, much of it off-topic and some even on topics I know very little about.

I have to say I am very sorry. I’m not after forgiveness though.  You reap what you sow.

So what am I going to do about it?

I fully intend to turn over the field, re-plant the seeds and get the crop back to it’s full health. If I don’t take action the blog will die a slow death and my pride in my work will too.

New posts are going to be of a much higher and well thought out quality with subjects I enjoy writing about and that are close to my heart as well as things I have properly researched rather than hashed together.

Old posts that have potential will be updated, sometimes republished as new. A lot of the completely irrelevant content is going to be taken down bit by bit.

I intend to get back to interacting a lot more with you all, rather than just throwing a link on Facebook and calling myself a social media user! I want to engage and give this small corner of the huge net some kind of purpose.

Here are some areas I expect to be working on:

• Talk on sustainability
• Minimising and downsizing
• More saving money posts from my perspective
• Travel tips and thoughts
• Recipes
• More video and graphical content in general
• Featured reader businesses and high quality guest posts

What can you do?

I don’t deserve anything from you, but if you could find some kindness in your heart I would love your help.

Let me know where you want the blog to go, things you would find interesting and just spur me on, correct me, keep me on my toes and of course keep (or even start) reading.

Thank you.

How Many People Have Died From Eating Fugu Every Year? If you’re aware of fugu, you probably know that many popular culture has portrayed it as a poisonous fish that many people have died from eating. The Japanese pufferfish, when ill-prepared, has poisonous parts that can kill a human. Still, it’s considered a delicacy and many people are willing to take the risk to shell up hundreds of dollars to take the risk.

But just how many people die every year from poorly-prepared Fugu? According to Wikipedia:

“Statistics from the Tokyo Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health indicate 20 to 44 incidents of fugu poisoning per year between 1996 and 2006 in Japan (a single incident may involve multiple diners). Each year, these incidents led to between 34 and 64 victims being hospitalized and zero to six deaths, an average fatality rate of 6.8%.^[11] Of the 23 incidents reported in Tokyo from 1993 through 2006, only one took place in a restaurant. All others involved fishermen eating their catch.^[11] Poisonings through amateur preparation can result from confusion between types of puffer, as well as improper methods, and some may represent deliberate suicide attempts.”

How Many People Have Died From Eating Fugu Every Year?

Okay 0-6, so not a lot of people actually die every year from eating fugu, but they could. The pufferfish contains lethal amounts of the poison ”tetrodotoxin” in its liver, ovaries, and skin. The poison is a sodium channel blocker which means it paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious while becoming paralyzed. Once the full effect of the poison set in the victim dies from asphyxiation.

There’s no antidote either, which is pretty scary. The good news is that if you’re looking for adventure, you can still eat fugu without putting yourself at risk. Go to a reputable chef. Eat fugu that was safely farmed (they get their poison from eating certain bacteria in their natural environment, but when raised in fisheries they no longer are toxic). Or just don’t eat fugu at all!

How many people die from eating fugu each year? Source : Wikipedia

Recent: How to Pick the Right Smartphone

Taxes Couples Filing Jointly - Tax season is upon us and for many husbands and wives, the time to decide between the married-filing-jointly or separately status on their returns. It may seem like a fairly straightforward decision, but there are several things to consider before a married couple decides their tax status.

Taxes: Couples Filing Jointly

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of “married-filing-jointly”. Firstly, it’s important to clarify that you can fill out this status on your return if you and your partner got married on the last day of the financial year. So if you’re filling out your tax return for 2011 and want to put “married” in your status, you must’ve gotten married by December 31, 2011 or earlier.

There’s no doubt that filing jointly definitely has its financial benefits. You both must provide your information on the return and both spouses must provide their signatures on the form.

As far as the tax benefits, most couples can expect lower tax rates and more breaks than if they were to file separately. The IRS on the matter:

But “married-filing-jointly” isn’t always the best option. If one partner has a suspicious source of income, or everything isn’t up to snuff, both people become responsible and therefore equally punishable. The IRS could come a-knockin’ for the unpaid money putting the innocent spouse in jeopardy. Even after a couple divorces, the joint tax return can prove problematic to someone married to an individual with a sketchy financial status.

So says Knowledge Base:

“The premise of this story likely sounds vaguely familiar and certainly far-fetched for most couples; however, the principle is applicable to all. Even in denominations of thousands instead of millions or billions, the illegal actions of one spouse can have negative tax consequences on both spouses.”

If there’s concern that one or both of you will get hit hard by the IRS, it’s probably best to check the “married-filing-separately” box instead. You’ll be taxed higher, but it might just save you some serious trouble down the road.

Taxes Couples Filing Jointly

Make sure you discuss the status of your tax return with your spouse. Chances are that you both will agree on filing jointly, although it’s important to decide whether or not there is any reason you should file separately to protect one partner.

Related: Filing Taxes Electronically

Thanks for reading – Taxes Couples Filing Jointly

Hybrid Animals - If there’s one thing Napoleon Dynamite arguably did for the world it was shine  a light onto the world of hybrid animals. For those of you not quite sure what hybrid animals (or animal hybrids, same diff) are, Wikipedia offers a pretty good explanation:

“From a taxonomic perspective, hybrid refers to offspring resulting from the interbreeding between two animals or plants of different species.”

Napoleon Dynamite Liger

A liger is just that– two species that were able to produce offspring. Sounds a bit dry so let’s get to a more fune explanation– there’s nothing quite like the scene where Napoleon explains Ligers to Deb:

Deb: What are you drawing?
Napoleon Dynamite: A liger.
Deb: What’s a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed… bred for its skills in magic.

Hybrid Animals

Sadly most hybrid animals aren’t bred for their magical skills– sorry Napoleon. Or maybe they are and it’s all under the radar. It’s not entirely clear. What is clear, however, is that hybrid animals have become somewhat common because of humans. It isn’t likely that a lion and a tiger would ever meet in the natural world and breed, but in captivity some species are similar enough to procreate successfully.

There are exceptions of course– and many people would be surprised to learn about how many plants are hybrids. Peppermint is a hybrid of spearmint and water mint. Grapefruits are a cross of pomelos and a Jamaican sweet orange.

Some examples of hybrid animals:

Zorse

A zebra-horse mix.

Zony

A pony and a zebra.

Zonky

A zebra and a donkey.

Wholpin

A cross between a false killer whale and a bottle nose dolphin. I bet these creatures look magnificent!

Beefalo

Buffalo and cow cross.

Jaglion

A cross between a jaguar and a lion.

Grolar

When a grizzly and a polar bear meet. I bet this is a beautiful creature but I would hate to find one rummaging around in my trash!

Cama

A cross between a camel and a llama.

Liger

Half-lion half-tiger when the daddy is a lion, they are the biggest cats in the world growing up to 800lbs. Yes Napoleon wasn’t lying!

Tiglon

A daddy tiger and mummy lion, stunning animals but not as big as ligers.

Animal Hybrids Sterile

Perhaps one of the reasons there are few hybrid animals in the natural world is because the offspring of two different species is usually sterile. Why?

“Hybrids are often sterile because te set of chromosomes from one species cannot pair during meiosis with the set of chromosomes from the other species.”

There are some exceptions however, which include naturally occurring grizzly-polar bear hybrids. Zoologists have found that these grolar bears are actually able to breed.

The ethics of breeding animal hybrids can be debated, but it’s hard not to be amazed at what mother nature is capable of.

Animal Hybrids. Source: Wikipedia

Related: Wolf-Dogs Kept as Pets

What Percentage of a Person is Water – It’s hard to ever give an exact figure on these kinds of questions but in general humans are more water than anything else. As a baby we can be around 75% water which may explain why we are like a big flubby blog however we decrease that as we get older with the biggest decrease happening within our first 10 years.

What Percentage of a Person is Water?

What Percentage of a Person is Water

Here is a look at how much of an adults body is typically water using some details from an interesting article on Wikipedia.

A good average to go by is that a 70kg make is likely to be around 60% water however this does vary person to person with things like obesity sometimes bringing that figure down to around 45%. Sickness, diet, generally population habits and more can affect the actual percentages but 60% is a good guestimate.

Of that 60% roughly 2/3rds is intracellular and 1/3rd is extracellular. Of that 1/3 extracellular 1/5th is plasma, 4/5ths are Interstitial fluid and Transcellular fluid and fluid Contained inside organs isn’t counted.

The details source article can be found here and contains a little more information.

It’s important that we keep our water levels good and drink around 9 glasses of water a day and more if exercising. We should keep back on the salt and of course eat a health diet and rehydrate if we feel at all dehydrated or sick, losing water in any way.

So, did you know that around 60% of you is likely water? Do you know any other interesting info about our make up?

Related: 70 Per Cent of Earth’s Surface is Covered by Water

Thanks for reading. - What Percentage of a Person is Water

Hypermiling and Saving Gas – Hypermiling is the new way in which eco-conscious/frugal folk are saving on gas. While the term might sound high-tech, the truth is that hypermiling is simply a series of (any) techniques that maximize your vehicle’s fuel economy. Hypermiling became popular during the 2000′s gas price hike and is now even a sport.

Yes, there are “Maximum Fuel Economy” contests in which car models and hypermiling expert drivers attempt to set records. The current world record is 213 miles per gallon in the Honda Insight. Second place went to the Toyota Prius with 136 miles to the gallon. Damn. And I thought 35mpg was impressive.

Hypermiling and Saving Gas

The site Supermiler has some great advice on how to save on gas. The following excerpt is taken from their site:

“Make hypermiling a game. Strive to improve your mileage over your previous best. I personally keep a note pad handy so I can take notes on where the traffic flows are worst and best. Try a few different routes and see what is the best, then use it. Once you have a benchmark of your mileage you’ll quickly realize when things are going bad and also when mileage is excellent. You’ll feel it!“

I’ve compiled the following list of ways to play the hypermiling game…

- Use your cruise control.

- Link up your trips.

- Turn off the engine or coast in neutral down hills.

- Accelerate slowly.

- Maintain your vehicle. Get your oil changed regularly.

- Make sure your tires are always sufficiently inflated. Under-inflated tires means the car will have to work harder against the resistance.

- Close sunroof at higher speeds.

- Plan when you drive– avoid choquer-bloque traffic and idling.

- Try not to rush. The faster you rush and the more quickly you have to break, the more gas you’re going to use.

- Empty the car of all heavy, unnecessary items.

- Avoid inclement weather. Snow, rain, etc. The worse the weather the more you’re going to have to alter your efficient driving to be safe or compensate for road resistance (snow, puddles, etc)

- Avoid unnecessary breaking. For a lot of the hardcore hypermilers, breaking is the ultimate no-no, so they’ll completely avoid stop-and-go traffic along with roads with stop signs, traffic lights, and other brake heavy routes.

Make an effort to try some hypermiling techniques and you too can maximize your fuel economy.

Hypermiling and Saving Gas

Recent: Investing Secrets of Warren Buffett

Hypermiling and Saving Gas

Growth Stocks Vs. Value Stocks – I’m sure you have heard both terms and you may well have also wondered what on earth they mean and which one is better!

Growth Stocks Vs. Value Stocks

Growth Stocks Vs. Value Stocks

The two terms do not actually apply to different stock options, rather they are just terms assigned by investors to separate two kinds of stock and different stocks can be defined differently based on a variety of criteria. Many investors roughly agree on what fits into what category though so lets take a look at some of those standards. The bullet points below have been taken from an article on About.

Guidelines for a Value Stock

• The price earnings ratio (P/E) should be in the bottom 10% of all companies.
• A price to earning growth ration (PEG) should be less than 1, which indicates the company is undervalued.
• There should be at least as much equity as debt.
• Current assets at twice current liabilities.
• Share price at tangible book value or less.

Guidelines for a Growth Stock

• Strong growth rate – both historic and projected forward. Historically, you want to see smaller companies with a 10%+ growth rate for the past five years and larger companies with 5% – 7%. You might want these same rates and more for projected five-year growth rates. Big companies will not grow as fast (normally) as small companies, so you need to make some accommodation.
• Strong Return on Equity. How does the company’s return on equity (ROE) compare with the industry and its five-year average?
• What about earnings per share (EPS) ? Especially look at pre-tax profit margins. Is the company translating sales into earnings? Is management controlling costs? Pre-tax margins should exceed the past five-year average and the industry average.
• What is the projected stock price? Can this stock double in price in five years? Analysts make these projections based on the business model and market position of the company.

Bullet points source: Stocks.About.com

So who would win? Growth Stocks Vs. Value Stocks….

For a moment personify the two. One is a triathlete and the other is an Ultimate Fighter. Their competition involves a tap out cage fight on one day and a 20mile run on the next day (or a month later due to injuries). Obviously one would win one and the other would win the other, i’ll leave it up to you which would win which!

The point is both have strengths and weaknesses that mean that in a truly diversified portfolio you need to make sure you have a range of growth and value stocks to make sure you can weather all weathers!

Of course you have to keep as eye on everything as they can become one or the other two, as this article on The Fool points out. Your portfolio needs constant attention to keep it balanced and performing at its peak.

Do you have any input on this topic?

Related: Why Global Stocks Will Rebound

Thanks for reading - Growth Stocks Vs. Value Stocks

This article is part of the Cost of Living by State Series and is a guest post by Robert Farrington from The College Investor which aims to provide financial freedom through information.

I hear on the news almost weekly how expensive it is to live in Southern California, and I don’t always agree.  While some things are cheaper in parts of the country (for the cost of my house, I could buy huge spreads in some parts of the country), all things are relative.

Some of My Costs

When I think of cost of living, here are some of my major expenses.  I have a nice suburban house in a good neighborhood – inland (no, not all Californians live on the beach or coast) – which is 20 minutes from everything I could ever dream of.  I have a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house on a half acre, with a great view.  It has a two car attached garage, a nice spread of grass, and lots of mature trees.

However, all of that comes at a cost – my home cost $575,000, and it is on the lower end of homes in my neighborhood, even at a price-per-square -foot of almost $240, which is cheap for the neighborhood as well.

But a home is more than just baseline costs – there are a lot of other expenses.  However, I’m lucky in that they are fairly cheap compared to other places.  For example, my property tax bill is only 1.1% annually, and thanks to a law known as Prop 13, they won’t be raised for the most part.

Utilities are also pretty cheap, except for water.  My average monthly gas and electric bill, year round, is $80.  I run the air conditioning maybe 5 days a year, and the same goes for the heater – maybe 5 days a year.  Water is the only killer – it is billed bi-monthly, and it comes in at around $280, so about $140 per month.  A large part of that is my large yard, but water in Southern California is expensive.  Some of my neighbors have even drilled wells and now use that water instead of paying for city water.

Finally, the last drawback of Southern California costs is transportation.  There is very little mass transit, and what does exist is poorly done.  As a result, I drive everywhere, and so does my wife.  We spend anywhere from $300-400 on gas alone each month, as I drive 17 miles one way to work, and she drives about 14 miles.  However, my 17 mile commute only takes me about 15 minutes, as it is all freeway, and it is great!  My wife, on the other hand, does sit in traffic every day, and her commute takes about 25 minutes.

The Perks of Southern California

What people forget is that Southern California is expensive because there are a ton of jobs, and they aren’t going away any time soon – the market is too diverse.  I’m in the hub of tech, biotech, defense contractors, and more.  There is huge government and private sector employment, and the unemployment rate is slightly lower than the national average.  However, if you want work, and have a college education, you can get a job quickly.

The better part of the employment picture is that the jobs pay a wage that allow for the “so-called” high cost of living in Southern California.  Yes, it does cost a bit more, but you have much higher earning potential and much more employment potential.

Furthermore, I’m not afraid to admit that I will pay a sunshine tax any day to live here.  I don’t know what snow is, or a blizzard, and drizzle is cause for alarm.  Never had a tornado or hurricane, and the closest to freezing it gets is 45 degrees.  Because of that, I save a lot of expenses related to everything storm, weather, and winter.  It keeps housing costs down, and more.

At the end of the day, it’s very hard to compare Southern California cost of living to those elsewhere, because the reasons for the higher cost can’t be justified elsewhere.  Yes, I could move to Montana, and get a huge property, but will I have a high paying job that is steady?  So there are trade-offs beyond just the basic costs!

Note from Forest: What an excellent insight! If you have any comments or thoughts for Robert or I then please leave a comment below. Also if you have any interest in writing a cost of living post for your State or area then please don’t hesitate to send an email to Forest@FrugalZeitgeist.com.

Is Precious Metals Investing a Bubble? Many people have turned to precious metals during the financial crises of the late 2000′s for the purpose of ‘safe’ investing, but is it a bubble trend on the verge of bursting?

It’s difficult to say and many experts have conflicting opinions on the matter. People invest in precious metals like gold and silver because they are considered to be less susceptible to the fluctuating market, as described in the following Wikipedia excerpt on “investing in gold”:

“Of all the precious metals, gold is the most popular as an investment. Investors generally buy gold as a hedge or harbor against economic, political, or social fiat currency crises (including investment market declines, burgeoning national debt, currency failure, inflation, war and social unrest).” 

Is Precious Metals Investing a Bubble?

As the financial crisis has continued over the years, so has the trend of investing in precious metals. But will the bubble burst? Let’s look at what some of the experts say on the matter.

Arguments that precious metals may be in a soon-to-burst bubble:

Wealth Cycles:

“The word bubble is often associated the word mania­—a word that connotes that the public has lost touch with reality. History is replete with manias of all stripes—canal manias, bridge manias, technology manias, and stock manias—and most of them involve a touch of madness when viewed through the rational passage of time.

But a bubble in precious metals will be unlike those manias because it combines both fear and greed. Profit-seekers will see rising prices as a sign to jump into the fray, and people just looking to preserve their purchasing power will make a mad dash as well. It is one of the very few bubbles that combine the madness of greed with the thrashing of panic.“

Fat Wallet writes:

“Today, gold sells for roughly 3x the cost of production and silver sells for anywhere from 2x to much much higher depending on whose model you use. To me, it all feels very much like how residential real estate felt in 2005.

So why do I care? I still hold a fair amount of gold and silver. I don’t want to sell too early and miss out on profits. Similarly, I do not want to hold on to long and be stuck with what I think will be tragically lower prices.

I’ll start off the discussion by saying I do think precious metals and specifically gold and silver are in a bubble.

I think at least 3 things have the potential to pop the bubble, either individually or in combination
1. Rising interest rates increase the carrying cost of gold and gold loans form the current near zero to 3-4%, thereby making it much more expensive to park money in gold
2. Mining capital expenditures currently in process come on line significantly increasing the annual production of PM
3. The current banking/currency panic abates, as all panics eventually do. “

Arguments that precious metals are NOT in a bubble:

Commodity expert John Stevenson responding in MoneyShow to the question: are precious metals in a bubble?

“Absolutely not. In fact, I think what you’re going to see is gold hitting $3,000 an ounce way before you ever see it dipping below $1,500 an ounce. So I think the best days are yet to come for gold investors.

… gold, as well as silver for that matter, have been historical currencies for thousands of years. In fact, we were on the gold standard in the US for many years, and the world was, the Western world was. What we’re seeing around the world is really a follow through from the 2008-2009 crash, where we saw consumers and businesses heavily indebted,. All that happened in the intermediating years is the government stood in and they were the spenders of last resort, and so the risk was transferred from the household sector to the corporate sector to the government sector.“

George Maniere stated in an article on the site Minyanville:

“I want to address some reports from the media that gold at $1,600 an ounce and silver having reached a high of $50 an ounce are in a bubble. I will go on record right now and say that this is nonsense. A bubble is not determined by price. A bubble is created by a run-up that is not supported by fundamentals. I remember back in 2000 during the dot-com tulip mania hearing a radio ad for a company called Seashells.com. It said just go to its website and purchase seashells. This was madness. I immediately called my broker and told her to dump my tech portfolio. What ensued was a very heated discussion that ended with my threat of pulling all my accounts from her company and filing charges with the SEC. She sold my tech portfolio while the Nasdaq was at 4,700, and several months later I watched as it cratered to 3,600 and in 2003 around 1,500.

That was a bubble. There was no fundamental reason for these companies to be trading at the levels they were. It was sheer irrational exuberance. The prices of gold and silver based on the debasement of currencies are in my opinion very cheap. I will go on record right now and say that by 2015 gold will be $5,000 an ounce and silver will be $125 an ounce, and I have had some very smart people tell me that my projections are too low. What is and will continue to drive the prices of gold and silver up is the continued debasement of currencies as debtor governments look for ways to pay off debts with paper of lesser value. My recommendation is to keep buying physical gold and silver and to keep trading ETFs and mining companies.”

What do you think? Are precious metals in a bubble and if so, when will that bubble burst?

Is Precious Metals Investing a Bubble?

Recent: Gas Prices Summer 2012

Is Precious Metals Investing a Bubble?

Best Cars on Gas – Gas consumption is extremely important right now especially as gas is at an all time high for this time of year in USA (see our article about the gas price) and it could reach $4.23 a gallon in April! Basically gas is pricey and is getting pricier in general. So a fuel efficient car is a serious consideration these days for the pocket and the ozone layer.

Best Cars on Gas

Best Cars on Gas

So what are the best cars for gas consumption?

Lets look at two sources to see what cars have been chosen and you can see how well they match up. One is from the USA and one from Canada. Even though the countries are next door they do have some differences in vehicles and of course terrain and weather varies too.

First off is FuelEconomy.gov.

Source: http://fueleconomy.gov/feg/best-worst.shtml

And then Canada’s NRCan Fuel Consumption Guide findings (sourced from our article on the subject: NRCan Fuel Consumption Guide)

Winners for 2011

Cars
Two-seater – Honda CR-Z
Subcompact – Ford Fiesta SFE
Compact – Honda Civic Hybrid
Mid-size – Toyota Prius
Full-size -Honda Accord Sedan
Full-size – Hyundai Sonata
Station wagon - Audi A3 TDI Clean Diesel
Station wagon - Volkswagen Golf Wagon TDI Clean Diesel

Light trucks
Pickup truck – Toyota Tacoma
Special purpose vehicle – Ford Escape Hybrid
Minivan – Toyota Sienna
Large van - Chevrolet Express Car

In both cases the Honda CR-Z wins the two seater option, probably the most common size in USA and Canada. Fuel Economy says that it gets a combined 37 miles to the gallon which is pretty decent. In general any of the cars from these lists will perform well and it all comes down to what you want and can afford.

Anyway, good luck finding that efficient car and if you do drive one on the list does it live up to it’s claims?

Thanks for reading.