I sold at the Farmers Market in Norman for about 10 years and really enjoyed it. Got to know a lot of fantastic people. I still miss it. The best growers at the market were always the hardest workers that took pride in themselves, their effort to make the market a success, and the product they offered. There were a few retired people that did the market just for something to occupy their time and loved being a part of the market. They didn't produce a lot of veggies or fruit, but were just as valuable to the market as the big truck farmers were. They weren't always as busy and were great greeters and socializers that I loved being around them. The one negative is how many times you have to handle your product and the gas you burn if you have to go back and forth very much over any kind of distance. Being able to gauge correctly how much to bring and selling out right at closing time is the optimal way to go. less waste and work at the market. randy

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I agree that very few of them beat the averages ... how could they? They have offices to run, computers, phones, postage and staff ... and buy and sell a lot of stocks, and though their fees are low, many of them pretty well turn over their whole portfolio annually. Those that do that ... have a lot of capital gain to report to you (you hope!) annually ... of which the income tax people want their, in that case, ongoing, share. And they have that management expense fee (often higher than the income tax cost) that reduces their effective rate - and they get their guaranteed rate, whether they produce or not! Also - when it comes time to sell those units, you'd better have kept records of not just your original cost ... but also of all of those declared payouts that were reivested, in order to calculate your capital gain. Many mutual funds keep track of your average cost per unit ... that works O.K. ... until they get bought out/merged, etc. and usually the new system just starts from when they took over. Have you checked Morningstar, the agency that rates them? What about learning how money works and buying individual stocks yourself? I bought shares in one of Canada's half dozen or so nationwide banks over 40 years ago for about $4.20 per share, that was paying about a dime or a bit more as annual dividend. A year ago May each of those shares was "worth" (i.e. "could be sold for") $107.00 ... but they were heavily involved with the U.S. stinky problem mortgage situation, so their price slipped down through the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s into the 50s ... and have recovered a bit to low 60s. Some here recently said that, of course, I sold ... no, I hadn't. Partly, at the time of the high price, didn't have any idea that it would slide so far ... plus, it went from 4.5 doubles in 41 years to about 4 doubles in those years ... which, apart from the increased income via dividends over those 40 years, is a pretty good rate of growth. But if I were about to buy more bank shares, it'd be a different one, as this is not their first goof in recent years. Recently dividend rate grew from $2.80 to $3.08 to $3.48, which earlier in Canada were tax-advantaged, and recently that advantage increased substantially: so that a person with solely that kind of income went from tax-free $28,000. - 30,000. tax-free, to $46,345. tax-free, an increase of over 60% in one year. Further ... I've subscribed to what I consider Canada's best personal money management magazine for quite a number of years, that carries no ads, is pretty well all text - and the writers respond to subscribers' questions. Local subscribers meet regularly in about 40 places across Canada and I've met with about 20 others monthly here for about 8 years or so: many perspectives and I've learned a lot, there. Cost? Gas to get there, wear and tear on the car - plus, time ... a couple of hours a month, and another at the coffee house after, with a few of the guys and gals. If I'd put that $4.20 into the average even equity-based mutual fund 41 years ago, would the size of that asset have doubled that well? Rather doubtful, I think. A couple of mine have - several haven't. But I don't want to dump 'em this year, due to forced sale of a major holding - Canada's largest telco going private (damn it!). And that's with the income reinvested - and my shares paid me dividends quarterly, with frequent increases, for 41 years. However - the big proviso - the average growth rate has not been that good. I've avoided some taxes as I went along, but that piper will have to be paid, one of these days. Whether while I'm alive ... or for my executor to take care of, before dispersal of my estate to my kids and charities. Had I put that $4.20 into a bank account, GIC, bond, etc. where the number of dollars of principal has been guaranteed, would I have developed any such result? No way! Apart altogether from the tax advantages in the equity-based game (whether of the mutual fund or individual investment variety)! Did I say earlier ... that I prefer to run my own show? Further ... though it was 60 years ago, I grew up on a farm, and farmers are used to irregular income, with loss of some potential income when a cow dies, or reduced yields due to drought or flood (but the price of diesel fuel, fertilizer had to be paid, regardless). And seasonal income, for many. How many town folks could handle getting paid once or twice a year? Plus, they manipulate not only capital, but labour - to repair the tractor, or trade it on a bigger one? Which would require getting bigger tillage equipment, as well. Put a new roof on the barn, this year ... or build it larger? Farmers were much more used to uncertainty than city folks. Or, rather, than city folks used to be. Now, with pensions shrinking and disappearing like fog in the morning sun ... and, in many areas, the values of one's equity in one's owned home (well, "partly-owned", considering the mortgage), and with employment being uncertain, with full-time work scarcer, there have been major changes in the economic picture for city folks, as well. Back up and look at the far horizon ... occasionally, at least. Good wishes for increasingly more effective use of not only your income, but of your assets, as well. ole joyful

Zoe, to be completely honest, I probably wouldn't have taken your cat-scratching-post couch either, because it costs a fortune to have things reupholstered to look halfway good (and as chisue found, you may not even get halfway good out of it)! I've been watching Craigslist for furniture and thought I had come across a few decent things... until I found out what it would have cost to have them reupholstered, even with cheap fabric. Shocking! Even slipcovers are expensive too now - if you want something that actually fits and stays in place for more than a few minutes without being mostly sweaty, itchy spandex, it can cost as much as a complete reupholstering. (Let's not even talk about how many Craigslisters are completely delusional about what their worn-out, ugly furniture is worth. If you bought a couch from Billy-Joe's Discount Furniture and Bait Shop for $750 and let the kids and the dog jump all over it for 5 years, it sure ain't gonna be worth $250. It's very debatable whether it's worth $50, or really belongs out on the streetcorner for the scavengers.) BTW, with the upswing in bedbug and other infestations, some charities in my area are refusing upholstered items entirely. I also found out the hard way (and they may have gotten burned by this as well, thus rejecting all pieces with any cat damage at all) that an upholstered chair that had "a few cat scratches" had had a lot more "cat activity" on it than that! It was out of a storage unit in winter so I couldn't smell anything but as soon as I got it inside a nice warm apartment - whoooeeeee. Fragrant. As Frances points out, it's all very nice to recite the mantra that "everyone should buy only 'quality' furniture" (huge pet peeve: using the word "quality" when you mean "good quality"!) but let's be realistic. Most people of ordinary means can't come up with what "high quality" furniture costs these days. I went shopping for a sturdy, not fancy but reasonably nice-looking wooden bed frame year before last and got quite discouraged at the outrageous prices - but having something made was even more bruising to the checkbook. (Frances, I'm curious, does that $250-300 worth of supplies include the tools required to make a nice piece of furniture? If so, I'd very much love to know where you're buying your tools!) dabunch, I go to Dollar Tree every few weeks. It's a great place for consumable stuff like greeting cards, paper towels and baby wipes (for the dog), and they have some great knockoffs of pricier products. I don't see why I should pay $4 for a pint of Plax mouthwash when 1 1/2 pints of an identical product in a less-attractive bottle is $1.