Living Fair

Gas Pumping and the Impact of 1 Degree

At Laborfair, we're all about frugal. In a recession who isn't?  Unlike other online services that promise "rated" providers and charge a fee, Laborfair is completely free of charge to search, find, and contact quality, reliable help easily and safely--cost savings we hope you pass on to the provider you hire. You can be thrifty and still get the help you need while paying someone a fair and living wage for their work. Cool. Goodbye Do It Yourself, Hello, Do It For Me.

This month I've noticed more and more online content devoted to helping us manage what TV and radio commentators and just about everyone you know are calling, a recession. Move over "reduce, reuse, recycle",  enter the single buzz saw of a word "economize".  I've seen literally hundreds of articles popping up from every corner with one central theme, cinch in the belt, times are tough. Personally, I believe a recessionary environment after this orgy of consumer spending and mortgage debacle is a good thing for the country. A cheaper dollar will help our exports, while encouraging the kind of innovation that forces our beloved US of A to be more competitive long term. Don't hate me for being honest--it's time to take our collective economic future and be wise with it.

So, with that in mind, I am always looking for ways to save money and other resources by educating myself around efficiency. Hiring all help on Laborfair is one, who can argue with local people to people hiring and the cost savings therein?

Here's a few links from this week that I like in particular.....Home Renovations that Pay Off  and my personal favorite...

How to Save Money on Gas

When I go to the gas station I get mad, visibly and physically full of rancor. My ears start to burn when I look at the price per gallon running up like a flag on a pole. I feel angry--at the war(s) we're engaged in and this purposeless loss of life, at this stupid, short-sighted and ignorant President, at our collective inability to bypass the car lobbies and get afffordable US made electric, ethanol, or fuel cell cars into the mainstream. I start feeling fanatical....then I remember Gandhi's "be the change" and take a deep breath, in and out, and send peace into the world while I think about how to save money on gas.

Check out these tips on saving gas excerpted into an email and sent to me by my sister, Hazel. Hazel is a woman hellbent on walking everywhere possible rather than pay an oil company from the Middle East one cent more than she has to-- crazy bit of research but I found it useful.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon.In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3 )stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money. 

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY.The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This r oof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount. 

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as thegas is being delivered, and you might pick up some f the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

My lease on my Mini Cooper is up next month. I'm thinking of moving to an electric bicycle. I live in San Francisco, with all those hills, after all. Phew.

Cheers,

Jenna

Resourcefulness and Resources for Petowners

Maybe election coverage and the verbal judo between Hilary and Barack is on your mind. Maybe who wins the Democratic nomination takes a backseat to how the national economy is doing and your ever dwindling monthly budget. Today, the Fed Chairman, Bernanke, told the House Financial Services Committee, "The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable” since the summer. No disrespect implied however, it's not too hard to see why. A cripplingly expensive war, oil prices at upwards of $3 a gallon, further inflationary pressures, slow job growth, a severe mortgage lending crisis and a credit crunch--it's time to get the Mr. Fix-it's in fast.  Over the span of just eight days in January, the Fed slashed rates by 1.25 percentage points — the biggest one-month reduction in a quarter century. Economists and Wall Street investors predict the Fed will cut rates again at its next meeting on March 18. As interest rates continue to fall to inspire investment, we're all more cautious. We should be. 

Like you, I like finding a good deal. I'm reading Pennysaver more than I used to and I save money where and when I can. Take my dogs. They're like my children. I adore them.  I've been searching for high quality monthly flea repellent and heart worm medicine on sale and never can find it. My vet sells it for far far more than I can pay for it--big markup there.  If you own a dog, you know. It's very, very expensive stuff.  My Laborfair.com dogwalker, smart, sassy and in-the-know girl that she is, told me about a mobile low cost vaccination clinic for pets. This past weekend, I gave it a try. Every weekend, VIP Petcare Services travels in a van to popular pet stores throughout the Bay Area and gives affordable vaccinations and GREAT discounts on heartworm tests and popular medications. ICheck out their website for a complete list of clinic locations. I saved $50 on a full year's supply of Frontline and Heartguard--- and got a FREE heartworm test for....

Don Pablo Picasso      and  Don Diego Rivera.

Laborfair's team mascots and all-around office comedians.

It's a good deal. Here's to petcare that's fair! Jenna

No Country for Young Men? Silver-haired and Service-Oriented

February has a unique attribution as Spunky Old Broads Month.  Ah, the Spunky Old Broads -- those wise, strong, active women we all know and love. At 64, my mother is very spunky (although she's a class act so I'm not sure the word "broad" applies).  She's athletic and opinionated. Over the Christmas holiday, out mountain biking together amidst the splendor of Virginia's Allegheny mountains, she made it absolutely clear that I was never to place her in "a home".  Her preference is to leave this life like the Eskimos/Inuit do out on the edge of a snow mound or something similar, on her own property . The Inuit custom in their society is for elderly people who became too sick or debilitated to care for themselves or contribute to society to voluntarily walk off into the night to die. While there's a nobility in that kind of selfless demise, for my mother and yours I would think, that's unlikely to happen. My siblings and I are absolutely committed to helping her stay in her own home as long as possible.

This month, the Atlantic Monthly, has a superb feature on what the US will look like by 2030,No Country for Young Men. Writer, Megan McCardle, (despite her blatant reference to Cormac McCarthy) gives an amazingly candid and well-researched look at the consequences of the aging of our nation. She shows in vivid detail what the face of America will look like as the Baby Boomer generation takes hold--not only addressing the much-discussed and frankly frightening economicsfrom an accounting perspective but rather digging down into how this changes our economy from production-focused (i.e. making the better mousetrap quicker) to service-oriented (how many gerontologists and senior care workers we're going to need to address this sea-change in our population demographics).  She writes:

"As the Boomers age, they will consume fewer of the things that we produce efficiently, and more of the things that we provide relatively inefficiently. Productivity is notoriously difficult to pro­ject, but many forces will be pushing it downward as the Baby Boomers age.

Since services are labor-intensive, and the number of service-consuming seniors will grow rapidly, we’ll need a lot more workers (that’s bad news for those who favor restrictive immigration policies, particularly the kind that keep low-skilled workers out). And, of course, the mix of service workers that we’ll need will be different from what it is today. In effect, the next 20 years will require a massive transfer of resources and people away from the care of children, who will decline in relative number, and toward the care of old people."

Wooieeeeeeeeeeeeee, it's time to get with the program and start instituting national policies that will address this incoming tsunami of a domestic issue. How are dual income families and working women, married or single, going to afford this kind of care? Where are they going to find it in the quantity of providers we're going to need?   

For my mom, when she's really old and incapable of caring for herself properly, we'll need to find an excellent and affordable nurse, home health aide, hospice worker...you name it. At Laborfair, we're thinking of these challenges now. We're here to help you prepare for this by matching you with great people you can hire direct for your aging parents. Go the FAIR!

Video interview with Jenna Raby, founder & CEO of Laborfair.com

Watch this interview with Jenna Raby, founder and CEO of Laborfair.com. Jenna talks about Laborfair with Steven Tse of eBay during the 2008 San Francisco Home Show. Learn about what Laborfair.com is, its free service to consumers, the range of service providers Laborfair.com offers and how it differentiates from other online marketplaces like Craigslist.

Moving Tip #28 Friends Don’t Let Friends Move Them

Budget Rental has a humorous ad campaign. Combine stick figure drawings and pithy counsel on making moving bearable and be memorable. I don't know about asking your friends to move for you, particularly at this time of year. Any time of year for that matter. I made this mistake three years ago when I moved out West from New York City. What was supposed to take 4 hours, took 10. There is always way more to deal with than you think when you first look around. I vowed never to ask personal friends or family members for moving help. I felt so guilty I could barely concentrate on the move and well, my brother bitched about how he was going to reciprocate one day. He obviously forgot I painted his office and cleaned his windows last time I visited. The holidays are an insanely busy time of the year for just about everyone. Right now, we have over 50 movers with references looking for extra moving/hauling gigs. Don't want to ask your friends? Get the online equivalent at a fair price. YES! You just have to rent the truck and find some new friends on Laborfair.