Mighty Bargain Hunter

Roundup for week of 11 November 1007: Colonial Williamsburg edition

November 19th, 2007 | by mbhunter |

My family had a nice opportunity to take a quick trip down to Colonial Williamsburg® this weekend. They have a nice visitors center with a bridge that leads into the Revolutionary City™. At several points along the bridge going to the City, there were plaques in the floor of the bridge with various ideas and realities we would accept as we went back in time: no computers; no TV; no integration; no women’s suffrage. That people would pay no income tax and have no Social Security. That people would own other people. That our newest news would be a week old. That most of our things would be grown or made nearby. That we wouldn’t be able to travel more than 70 miles in one day. That we’d be subjects of His Majesty the King.

These folks get by day to day with almost no oil energy and a lot of human energy and without a lot of the mobility that we take for granted. This is the kind of life they had without cheap oil available, and I only hope that it can be this congenial and orderly afterwards. Probably not in my lifetime, but maybe at the tail end of my daughter’s. A lot of indiscretions will need to be shaken out of society for this to happen, though — one of the big things being the idea that people can get something for nothing. There’s no room whatsoever for slackers or freeloaders in this kind of society. This will shock a lot of people.

OK, enough soapbox. Here are posts of interest from the MBN and other great blogs in my reader:

• Free Money Finance lays it on the line regarding Michigan politics and taxes.
• All Financial Matters discusses what the right mix of stocks and bonds is.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity reviews The Little Book That Makes You Rich.
• Consumerism Commentary lists ten easy ways to save money without much effort. (Our credit union counts the coins right from the jar — even easier than rolling them!)
• Five Cent Nickel doesn’t think too much of gift cards.
• No Credit Needed outlines the ABCDE’s of planning for debt reduction. (Definitely a good five-step process to put up on the mirror.)
• Get Rich Slowly reviews The Incredible Secret Money Machine. (That book title sounds like it came straight out of a Simon and Garfunkel album. )
• The Sun’s Financial Diary is staying away from the health savings account for now.
• Generation X Finance illuminates the bright side of a declining dollar.
• Lazy Man and Money has a guest post from DebtFREE-Revolution on eliminating debt.
• Money Smart Life says that short-term disability insurance is for old married people.
• The Digerati Life posts on how to safely borrow for a house purchase.
• Frugal for Life hosts Festival of Frugality #100.

Thanks to Million Dollar Journey this week for including my Taco Bell post in the Carnival of Personal Finance!