Change is Good

I have been working to update the blog.  You can see some changes have already happened --- more to come soon!  Judy

Preparation Can Be Simple and Helps with Your Fear Level

ל Lamed
She is not afraid of the snow for her household:
for all her household are clothed with scarlet. Proverbs 31: 21

We never know when an emergency or diaster happens in our own area. Preparation can really be simple. It requires just a little planning. I recently found this article, 9 ways to prepare for disaster, http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourLife/9-ways-to-prepare-for-disaster.aspx?page=1 . It covers finances, water, food, important documents, wills and the 72 hour survival kit. I consider this as simple as it gets. Of course if you can expand on preparation - I would recommend it!

Being Prepared as you can helps your fear level!

Judy

One Yearly Cycle Ends and Another Yearly Cycle Begins

ת Tau

Give her of the fruit of her hands;

and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Proverbs 31:31

The end of 2009 has arrived. 2010 is almost here. The cycle of the year continues moving. Reviewing where I have been and where I want to be next year at this time has been on my mind recently. "Life" seems to get in the way of goals. This year part of my goals is to write on the blogs more frequently. I have so many ideas that are bouncing around in my mind. Hopefully this year you will hear more of them.

Happy New Year!

Judy

The Winding Down of the Garden

ז Zayin

She considereth a field, and buyeth it:
with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
Proverbs 31:16

At the present my garden is winding down. Next week my husband plans to start cleaning up the pots where the vegetables are dead. He will have to dig the potatoes. That will be fun! I have a blog for my garden and other Sustainability ideas. http://thoughtsfromwisdom.blogspot.com/

In between my husband will also organizing the garage and storage areas for winter. It is busy times but it is good to be outside in such nice weather.

Enjoy your garden!

Judy

An Economic Survival Sustainability Plan for a Crisis

ל Lamed
She is not afraid of the snow for her household:
for all her household are clothed with scarlet. Proverbs 31: 21

This morning I was thinking about Joseph’s plan to survive the famine in Egypt. A modern application would be to have a survival plan or a sustainability plan for the current recession/depression or retirement or the years of agedness. Genesis 41:34 says the plan was for everyone to save a fifth part” or 20% of the yearly harvest (income) for the future famine (recession/depression/retirement/aged years). The government enacted the program for the people. Today our government has enacted a plan to handle this crisis. Yet, it would be wise to implement Joseph's program for our own home.

Now the question is how this 20% should be divided up looking towards the time of famine. The answer might be found in Genesis 47:13-21. This is how the people of Egypt handled the famine. First the people used cash to pay for food. Next they used portable wealth or long term investments such as horses/flocks/cattle, which today would be either selling or borrowing against our long term investments such as cars, furniture, collectibles, etc. Then at the last they sold or borrowed against the property and against their wages to keep going. The result was they worked for the government and lived in apartments in the cities and survived the famine.

Drawing from this I think it is wise to have the 20% divided up into three categories:

1. Cash or cash equivalents (In a 7 or 30 year system this would be items that would be used in1 year or less.)

a. Cash/gold/silver
b. Short term savings
c. Food for 1 year
d. Garden seeds
e. Medications
f. Clothing

2. Long Term Assets/Investments

7 year system - In a 7 year system this would be items that have value of 1-3 years.
30 year system - In a 30 year system this would be items that hold value 1-5 years.

a. Gold/Silver/Jewelry held for a hedge against inflation
b. Long Term Investments such as stocks, bonds
c. Your paid for furniture
d. Your paid for collections
e. Your paid for vehicles
f. Wheat/Grains

3. Property. Equipment Income Producing Skills (Education)

7 Year system - In a 7 years system this would be items that have a value of 7 years.
30 year system - In a 30 year system this would be items that have value up to 30 years.

a. Your home
b. Your business/employment
c. Your livelihood
d. Your education/training to increase and maintain your livelihood.

I find an exercise like this helps me in strategies for the future. I maintain a list of my items and how much they are worth. I then divide them into the three (3) categories to try and keep a balance between the categories. This 1/3 in Cash and cash equivalents, 1/3 portable wealth and long term investments, 1/3 land, equipment and livelihood/education categories help me make sure my life values are balanced.

Have fun trying this exercise on your life. Judy

Return on Sustainability - "Show me the Cash"

א Aleph Who can find a virtuous woman?

for her price is far above rubies.

Proverbs 31:10

"Show me the CASH" is a saying the fits with the subject of Sustainability. Businesses are asking the question - Is there a Return on Sustainability?" Homes need to ask the same question. Earlier in this blog I addressed the question of "Who can find Sustainability?" Now I want to expand on the question.

My Mother's birthday in June always bring a crowd to my house. Everyone wants to celebrate "Mom, Grandma, Grams" birthday. At large events I try to minimize the work. Paper plates goes a long ways on helping with clean up. My daugher-in-law was first to press the issue of recycling. She wanted to use her plate for the dessert as well. Next my oldest son comes out on the patio to find me carrying his paper plate. Do you compose the paper plates Mom?

As you can tell the issues of Recyling and Sutainability are common topics at our home. The balancing act is a challenge. The dish washer gets filled at all events. Therefore it would take 2 loads to run all of the dirty dishes. My garden is small by most gardener's standards. To compost would take 2 to 3 composters. Now why would I say that? Because when you start to look into composting you learn that at least 2 are really needed to continually handle the items that need compost -One for the brewing and one for the new items and Three even would be even better.

Business as I said face the same issues. How much will it cost to really enlarge the recycling and Sustainability items? - The old "Cash Savings Issue". I faced it that day on a small scale. Run an extra partial load of dishes (costs of electricity and water) or throw the paper plates in the garbage (gardbe bill costs and evnvironment costs). I do not have a third option of using someone else's composter (costs savings questionable).

Everyone faces these issues and answers them differently. I used paper plates.

Judy


Now which way saves the most? That is the same questio