Living Better on Less: Economics for Smart People

Do you know what the scariest moment is in blogging? It's when you start posting on a new blog.

In the act of writing, there's nothing quite as scary as a blank page. Right? Well, this one isn't blank anymore.

"Hope springs eternal," and my hope is that this will be one of the best blogs in, well, the blogosphere. I want YOU -- all the yous out there -- to feel comfortable coming here regularly.

What's this blog about? It's about YOUR constructing a lifestyle that's both happy, rational, and inexpensive. Frankly, many of your fellow Americans are spending more -- and enjoying it less.

I'm partially retired, and this DAILY column will be relevant to "seniors" (a word I can't stand, even though I am one). But wasting less money is a concept that's relevant to those of all ages.

The dollars you don't waste are ones you can put to better purposes -- including saving and investment. It's a whole lot better when you money grows than when it goes out the window.

Are you getting 2% or 3% -- or even 4% -- on your savings at the local bank. If so, they're ripping you off. You can get 5% or higher if you know the right places.

Are you spending thousands of dollars a year on a car, in insurance, payments, depreciation, and gas and oil? If so, why? I haven't had a care in more than a decade, and I neither want nor need one. (You'll hear more about that in the weeks to come.)

Are you worried that you won't have enough money in retirement? Well, stop worrying. It should cost a lot less to live as a retiree than it does as a working stiff.

What it costs you (and your family) to live depends on the choices you make. Make better choices, and your cost-of-living will plummet.

Am I asking you to deprive yourself by living on red beans and rice? Nope, not unless you're big on red beans and rice.

Think of it this way: most of the foods that are bad for you are expensive. Things like salty snacks and well-marbled strip steaks. Eventually, they'll do damage to you health, and you'll find there are few things more costly than being sick.

Are you paying too much for drugs? There's a company in the Pittsburgh area -- Giant Eagle Pharmacy -- that gives away some generic antibiotics for free. In life, it doesn't get any cheaper than free.

Anyhow, I'll be writing my first columns this week, and the first two will be about where I live -- Ambridge, PA -- and why I live here. Hint: it's a very low-cost place to live.

I hope you like this column enough to keep coming back -- and to tell your friends about it. My goal is to match my friend Cindy at The Pink Flamingo. She's been getting 10,000 hits per day! Heck, I'd be happy with a mere 11,000. :-)

Steve Maloney
Ambridge, PA

P.S. I have two other blogs, both of them political sites: http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/ and
http://murthamustgo.blogspot.com/. You're also welcome to those sites.