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Banks Banks Banks

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've sort of been walking around in a state of shock because of the financial doom lately. You see, I've been reading about economic problems and peak oil for a year now. Starting back when things still looked pretty rosy. And I had been hoping for months that the people who were writing this doom and gloom stuff were crazy! But then so much of their "predictions" have started becoming reality. It really stinks. And has me not nervous so much as stunned.

Want to check on the soundness of your financial institution? The Life After the Oil Crash Breaking News Page offers these websites as places to check: http://www.bankrate.com/ and http://www.bauerfinancial.com/home.html. It's really easy to find your bank and check on how many stars it's got and read the bank's financial statements. I'm happy to report our two local banks, and even our icky large mortgage company (I prefer to bank local and small), all have four-star ratings. Yay!

Still, we've been using cash almost exclusively to pay for things lately. It's a good practice anyway. I think my bank has noticed, though. Today in the mail I got a reminder from them about how easy it is to use my Visa check card! Ack! That's scary. I do know that the small local businesses I frequent are much better off if I pay cash since they have to pay a lot of money to the credit card companies for the "privilege" of each transaction a customer makes with a credit card. Cash is the way to go.

I'm not saying go make a run or walk on your bank. That is not the best thing to do. Still, the best advice I've seen is to diversify your money into different banks (as if we have 100k or more!) and to be aware, very aware, of the health of your financial institutions. This is good for all of us to do at any time.

That said, I think the best way to get out of a funk is to do some hard work. Clean the house, weed the garden, take an hour's walk. I worked for more than ten hours yesterday, from 2 p.m. till 12:30 a.m., re-setting our entire health and body care department at the co-op. My legs ache today. I didn't sleep more than 6 hours last night. I'm dehydrated from all the coffee and chocolate. But you know what, I forgot about the state of the world for that entire time. It was great! And our department will look great after another several hours of putting it back together...

Comments

It's me said…
Hang in there. It does get kinda gloomy at times, but think how bad it would be if we had no clue it was coming and we didn't find out until after TSHTF!

Thanks for the links as far as the banks. I'll be checking mine.

Yeah... like anyone I know has $100,000 sitting around.
Connie said…
It's interesting to read others who are shocked or consumed by these things. Even as we prepare, we can see just what it is that we are preparing for!
thyme2garden said…
Hi Lisa,

Just wanted to let you know I 'stopped by'. Glad to see you are getting the word out about Peak Oil and the collapse of our Banking System. I can't wait to see you on Sunday! Nice website and blog..I will continue to read more..Have a great day ~ Allison
Thanks for the Bauer link. Luckily both my banks are 4-stars...

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