Is it me?

Is it me or has something broken arround here?

*Shakes head* - I go away for a little while and look...

Now is a good time to buy domain names

With the recent world wide panic over the US dollar causing a slump in it's value now might be a good time to buy domain names when the money is processed through the US.

How does this work?

Quite simply when teh dollar weakens against the pound, yen, euro or anyother currency the effect is that less of that currancy is needed to buy a dollar. So the price of goods in America comes down ony for those of us outside of America.

For example my domain name shop is backed by TuCows and the payment processing is done in US Dollars. Now take for example .eu names. They cost $10. This has not changed but the cost of those $10 has gone down so now a .eu should cost about £6.30 (or less).

If you are a blogger this would be an ideal time to move to your own name. Not only do you get extra presteage and so forth but as the Dollar buckles on the world market you get this for a very low price. The same goes for hosting and anything else you might order from the US.

Ron Paul commends a return to the gold standard

Ron Paul (whoever he is) suggests a return to the gold standard. I'm not an American so I have no idea who this guy is but his arguments are strong ones. World the world be better served with gold based economy? Prices should go down, jobs up and spending has to be cut by government. However, and he does not say this, spending stimulates economy.

Watch the video and then share your opinion.

Stand up to the Banks

Right now banks around the world are charging very high rates of interest even though many are getting 0% loans themselves. This selfishness coupled with some American banks charging 30% or more APR on credit has sparked outrage. Add to this mix the new media of youtube and blogs and suddenly the banks have to answer to the people.

Bankrupcy Laws in Russia

How a country deals with bankrupted and struggling companies can have a huge impact on teh way the country recovers. For example if the company can be sold or restructured rather than broken up the realisable value is higher (meaning creditors get paid) and people get to keep their jobs.

Getting our stuff together.

I know I'm not the only one to feel the sting of the credit crunch, the pull of the beach and the lack of anything very positive to say about living on less. It's a malady that seems to be grabbing us all in one way or another.

However, while I work on making this a more fun place for us all to blog I thought I'd share some links. A lot of these links are very green because green living is eco living.

Fancy writing for us - guest posts ar always welcome.
Greening is Easy AND Can Make You A Profit – Garage Sale Sustainability
The Credit Crunchies Facebook page
Green Moral - a green blog (by me)
The Morton Arboretum On The Cutting Edge; Beer Bottle Glass Sustainable Paving
The Casual Gardener
The Fermented Goodness of Home Made Herb Vinegar

Bail Out Fail

I remain unconvinced about the value of the big bail out the banks and other lending institutions have been enjoying. Take for example a letter from one of my credit card providers telling me the APR will now be slightly more the 31%.

But don't worry, they say, it's only 28.15% p.a. for balance transfers.

Given the price of loans and the cost of overdrafts I think that I would be better off using other forms of credit if I need it.

I think we all know where the credit card company can stick their offer.

No buget veggy patch

Over at Green Moral I've been asking questions and talking about digging gardens. Have you any ideas for planting a garden not on a low budget but on no budget?

Grow your own: Part 1.

Growing your own food is one great way to reduce your bills and make your money go further. I intend to talk a lot about living a low impact lifestyle that has small needs and can be sustained even without a full time job. It's how I live.

Right now I'm helping one person have a nice garden with a (small) vegetable patch. The garden started bad (take a look and is now looking quite fine.

I'll be posting all over the web about this and other topics in a distributed blogging effort I like to call Matt's Big Garden (look for posts tagged MattsBigGarden)

Online Job Hunting

There was a time when a person who wanted to find work had to buy newspaper and look through the classified ads section. The advent of the internet has changed that by creating opportunities for people to work either in a different state or in another country.



It has made the world a smaller place rendering it accessible for anyone with a computer to search for a job and apply to it.



There are many sites that offer such services. All the person has to do is open an account, fill up the necessary fields then submit your resume.

» Continue Reading: Online Job Hunting

Recession's Effects on Your Business and How to Control them.

The impact of recession can be very damaging not only to households but to businesses as well. Learn about these effects of recession and prevent your business from succumbing into its deadly claws.


1. Customer scarcity

When you have too few customers, consequently, your income suffers as well. The rising prices make customers too picky or less interested in giving you business. Existing customers may also be re-assessing their spending, which results in fewer orders for you.

So what do you do? How about changing your customer acquisition techniques?

Have you tried online marketing? This may not be suitable to all businesses but there's no harm in considering it. Online marketing has many forms and doing your assignment will prove to be helpful in determining which technique will benefit most your business.


2. Ridiculously high credit card debt

Inflation is likely to happen during inflation, which means your expenses can be higher than normal. If you have been relying on your credit card for payments, you now need to monitor your spending really closely. This is because losing track of your expenses can surprise you one day when you no longer have enough funds to pay off all your debt. You do not want to have problem with your credit card because a bad rating will not be of great help when you are trying to obtain approval for loans.

» Continue Reading: Recession's Effects on Your Business and How to Control them.

The credit crunchies early UK budget report

You can follow developments fairly live on twitter.com #budget09 and #budget. There is a budget summary from the BBC.

The truth of matters is that the economy is shrinking and so there is a squeeze going on. This budget while not very dramatic mirrors this.

There was a serious economic situation like this after the Great War (World War One) and the first country out of that got ther by spending hard and giving away bread. Also they grew the army to make jobs. That was Germany and e all know how that ended up.

Have your say.