The Frugal Librarian #2: Mortgage refinancing

- Bill 2 Comments

frugallibrarianIf I could time the market, I’d probably be a millionaire and not working here. Or, living out of a cardboard box because I got cocky. Depends on how you look at it.

But this much I’ve read is certain…refinancing your mortgage can save you a whole bunch of money. The adage is that if a mortgage rate is 1% lower than your current rate, it is advantageous to pay the closing costs (around $1500) to have them rework your loan with the new rate.

With the economy, mortgages are at 37-year-lows. You are going to be hard-pressed to find a more competitive rate at another time. Plus, since the fed cut the short term lending rate yet again, this should move over into the mortgage market in the coming weeks, making things even more interesting.

Only a fool would feel pressured to make such a snap decision, but in the coming weeks this could be a bird in hand for your wallet. It only takes a minute to compute your scenario online. You may very well find that a cut from 6.375% to 4.5% is like someone handing you a couple hundred bucks each month. Yes please.

Here are the rates from some local lenders:

Ascentra Credit Union
IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union
Wells Fargo Bank

NewYear’s Resolutions

- Ann Leave a comment

s1 It’s that time of year again! The end of the old — the start of a new one — with all of the guilt and good intentions that go into making us think about New Year’s resolutions. Notice I said “think about,” which is not necessarily the same thing as “make.” For those of us of a certain vintage — say past puberty — we may have long ago given up on New Year’s resolutions. We know, empirically at least, that we can make dramatic changes in our lives at any time of year — it doesn’t have to be the first of the year or the first of a week. We just have to decide and then DO! Still, I’m a sucker for any kind of “should” so I usually end up vowing to magically “be better” in the upcoming year. And typically, I always have the same three resolutions: Lose weight, get organized and save money. Hmmph, I don’t really like what that says about me, but when you think about it, those are probably the top three resolutions world-wide. So, assuming I’m not alone, here’s a few titles that can help out quite a few of us:

Resolution #1: Lose Weight!never-say-diet

Never Say Diet: Make Five Decisions and Break the Fat Habit for Good by Chantel Hobbs. This one sounds perfect for me. Somehow, it seems that whenever I say “I’m on a diet,” I automatically get hungry. And if this book isn’t up your alley, there’s a plethora of specific diet books on our shelves, including Bob Greene’s The Best Life Diet and WeightWatcher’s Start Living, Start Losing: Inspirational Stories That Will Motivate You Now.

Resolution #2: Get Organized!clutter

With all the Christmas packaging to dispose of and all the decorations to put away, this is a great time to really get your whole house in order. A saver by nature, sometimes it’s hard for me to let go of things. One great book I found is The Clutter Cure: Three Steps to Letting Go of Stuff, Organizing Your Space & Creating the Home of Your Dreams by Judi Culbertson. Her three easy steps (identify, assess and take action) are realistic and easy enough for most anyone to follow. Another title, Real Simple: the Organized Home by Ken Cronstrom, is just very refreshing. It’s filled with lots of colored photographs that make me wish my house looked that way!

Resolution # 3: Save Money!idiot

With the economy pretty shaky these days, saving money just makes sense. For a colorful take on a ticklish subject, try How Come That Idiot’s Rich and I’m Not? by Robert Sherman. This book is organized by 8 simple secrets — sounds easy enough to actually try! Another approach, depending where you are on your financial path, there’s Seven Years to Seven Figures by Michael Masterson. It’s subtitle is The Fast-Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire, which is appealing to just about everybody.

Well, good luck to those of you who are actually making New Year’s Resolutions.  Check out our displays on all three of these resolutions for other reading suggestions.  As for me, next year at this time, I’m going to be thin, organized  and rich — just like I was going to be this year!

The Armchair Traveler Returns with The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

- Lynn 2 Comments

geography-of-blissIf you’re a fan of public radio, you’ll love the audio version of this “travelogue of ideas.” Eric Weiner is the reader; as an NPR reporter, he knows how to edit his stories so they make for compelling listening, as well as reading.

To research The Geography of Bliss, Weiner decides to visit countries that rate at the high and low ends of various happiness indexes. The journey, of course, is more interesting than the goal, and we are immersed in the cultures of Iceland, Bhutan, Holland, Switzerland and others. Weiner, with his dark sense of humor, never takes himself or his quest too seriously and makes for a very accomplished narrator. What is the happiest place on earth? You’ll have to read or listen yourself.

Favorite Books from our Blogging Librarians, 2008

- Ann 1 Comment

The end of the year always brings an avalanche lists and awards – winners for being the “best” in various fields and lists of the “Top 10” of just about everything. In that spirit, the Davenport Library is joining in with our own end-of-year list. Here are the favorite books that our Blogging Librarians read in 2008.

Lynn’s favorite was The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett about the Queen of England taking up reading. It had great insight into the life of the Queen and the (sometime subversive) value of reading. Read her description of it here.

Bill liked Red White and Brew : an American Brew Odyssey by Brian Yaegaer. Follow Yaeger cross-country as he explores the brew pubs and small breweries of America.

Rita recommends following the Harlan Coben mystery series on CD. With great characters and interesting puzzles to solve, you’ll want to read/listen to them all.

Rebecca loved Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, about a boy who runs away with the circus. Rebecca says this was one of those rare books that is life-changing, making you stop and see the world from an entirely new perspective. She blogged about it here.

Tana’s favorite was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Tana wrote about it before Oprah picked it for her bookclub, predicting that this was a book that would take the country by storm. Read her blog post here.

My choice is So Young Brave and Handsome by Leif Enger, a poignant coming-of-age story set at the end of the Wild West era. Full of adventure and emotion, I wrote more about it here.

Those are our picks – what about you? What was your favorite book that you read in 2008?

DVDS for January

- Ann Leave a comment

January 6

pineapplePineapple Express – Ed Begley Jr, Nora Dunn, Seth Rogan

Dale (Seth Rogan) is a constantly stoned court clerk that finds himself on the run with his dealer, after Dale witnesses the murder of a drug lord and leaves a rare form of marijuana at the scene that can be traced back to him and his dealer.

January 13 apploosa

Appaloosa – Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen

Based on the 2005 Western novel by Robert B. Parker, ” Appaloosa” is centered around lawman Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his deputy Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen), two friends who are hired to defend a lawless 1880s town from a murderous rancher (Jeremy Irons). Their efforts are disrupted and their friendship tested by the arrival of a woman (Renée Zellweger).

swing

Swing Vote – Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper

Bud, an apathetic, beer-slinging, lovable loser, is coasting through a life that has passed him by when his 12-year-old daughter accidentally sets off a chain of events which culminates in the presidential election coming down to one vote…her dad’s.

January 27

vicky1

Vicky Christina Barcelona – Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johannson

Two American women, one engaged to be married and the other sexually flirtatious, both become romantically involved with a painter while on vacation in Barcelona, only to find they have competition in the form of the painter’s ex-wife.

A Platter of Figs by David Tanis

- Ann 1 Comment

Celebrating the simple beauty of food, A Platter of Figs by David Tanis will tempt you with beautiful, unpretentious recipes, gorgeous photos and a simple philosophy – cooking should be a joy, eating should be a pleasurable experience and both should preferably be shared with friends.

The recipes are arranged seasonally, spring through winter, rather than by course, the idea being you should celebrate what each season offers. This fits in nicely with the current trend toward eating locally and sustainably, but it also has everything to do with flavor – fresh picked, in-season food is undeniably the best tasting.

Recipes range from the simple – Warm Asparagus Vinaigrette – to the more complex – Chicken Tagine with Pumpkin and Chickpeas – but all are clearly explained. Stories of Tanis’s life and travels (which are reflected in his recipes) are scattered throughout the book, adding a warm and friendly atmosphere to the cookbook. A beautiful book about beautiful food.

The Frugal Librarian #1: Energy Audit

- Bill 3 Comments

Welcome to our first installment of the Frugal Librarian. It is an empirically proven fact that denizens of this profession possess an uncanny sense of value. In turn, they pass that savings on to you, the consumer.

However, while some folks pinch pennies, this guy has actually been known to cut off the circulation to their extremities. This is his story.

frugallibrarianSomeone was saying something the other day about reducing one’s carbon footprint. I went to my happy place spiritually where I pretend I’m paying attention. When I came out of this trance, they were gone, as was their message about conservation. Shame.

While I am a responsible consumer, I am even more motivated by the massive amount of financial green (huh, see witty the play on words??) I can save with the MidAmerican Energy Audit. Here’s what happened. I called MidAmerican and they made an appointment to dispatch a representative to my house. At no cost, this man went from room to room taking measurements. Next words out of his mouth were, “Want some light bulbs?” “Yes sir. Yes sir, I do.” “How about a new shower head?” “Sounds nifty to me.” Make all the jokes you want about how thick one has to be to not be able to screw in a light bulb. Sometimes they don’t UN-screw safely. Does that punitively affect one’s cognitive credit score?

He also calculated that if I spend roughly another 900 dollars to put more blow-in insulation in my attic, MidAmerican will cut me a check for $600. The savings on the heat bill would pay for my portion of that within one year, he calculated, citing that 85% of a building’s heat loss comes from the top.

In under 40 minutes, with a twitch of his nose, off this jolly magic man went into the chill night. “On reasonably-priced economy sedan!” he bellowed. “Merry savings to all, and to all a warm night!”

Holiday Movies

- Ann Leave a comment

Love Christmas movies but can’t seem to find the right ones on television? Try one of these classic titles, old and new, from the library. Fix a cup of hot chocolate, sit back and relax.

Christmas Carol – various versions

Classic Dickens story about a bitter old man who’s given a chance for redemption when three ghosts come to visit him on Christmas Eve.

A Christmas Story – Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin

Ralphie Parker, a 1940s nine-year-old, pulls out all the stops to obtain the ultimate Christmas present- a Red Rider BB gun- in this delightfully funny holiday movie.

Elf – Will Farrell, Bob Newhart

A young orphan child mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag and is transported back to the North Pole to be raised as an elf. Years later, Buddy learns he is not really an elf and goes on a journey to New York to find his true identity.

Fred Claus – Vince Vaughn, Elizabeth Banks

Fred Claus has lived in his little brother’s shadow for most of his life. Fred is in jail and Nicholas has to bail him out on the condition he come to the North Pole and repay his debt.

Miracle on 34th Street – Natalie Wood, Maureen O’Hara

The real Santa is hired by Macy’s to play Santa in the Thanksgiving Day parade, but he has to prove in court that he is who he says he is.

Holiday Inn – Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby

Two song and dance men join together and start a hotel that’s open only on holidays.

It’s a Wonderful Life – Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed

George is saved from a suicide attempt by an angel and is then shown how important he is to the people who love him. A Christmas classic.

White Christmas – Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney

The classic musical about two guys that become a popular song-and-dance team and play at a resort for charity.

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