Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book.

The second I picked up Oblivious Investing by Mike Piper, I was immediately reminded of Michael Mihalik’s excellent Debt Is Slavery.

The two books have much in common. They’re written by people who aren’t personal finance gurus – instead, they just bring a lot of very specific passion about a very specific topic to the table. The books are short and very tight, drilling right in on their points. Their ideas are realistic and sensible – and the concepts are repeatedly backed up by both life experience and with the more lofty and scholarly writings of others.

While Mihalik drilled in on the dangers of debt, Piper’s focus is simple: investing can and should be simple and it shouldn’t require all your focus. Worrying about market fluctuations is bad. Picking stocks is a nerve-wracking gamble. Moving your money around all the time requires too much attention. Instead, Piper argues that we should be largely oblivious to our investments – and the idea is backed up with a lot of sound principles.

Piper’s book has two interconnected parts.

Part One: The Plan
Piper’s plan is very simple, but in those few pages he incorporates quite a lot of the ideas that have been written about for years by hundreds of investing experts – Burton Malkiel, John Bogle, and so on.

Here’s the idea. It’s possible to pick the best stocks if you have all of the information. However, there is so much information that it’s actually impossible for people – even people who devote their lives to the study – to absorb enough information to make those picks consistently.

What we can do is step back and look at some bigger patterns. Over the short term, the stock market fluctuates a lot – one only has to look at 2007 and 2008 to see that. Over the long term – ten to fifteen years or more – the stock market shows positive returns. Over even longer terms – twenty years or more – it shows very nice positive returns.

So, the first step is to figure out your goals. What are you saving for? How far off is that goal? If it’s not very far off, avoid the stock market – it’s too volatile. If it’s very far off (more than ten years), invest in the stock market – but invest in the whole stock market and do it as cheap as you can.

How do you do that? Buy index funds. Extremely broad index funds (like, for example, the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index) let you own every stock in the stock market all at once, and the costs are very small.

So, your investment plan is this: if your goal is short term, invest a certain amount each week/month into bonds or CDs or something else very stable and with positive low returns. If your goal is long term, invest a certain amount each week/month into a broad based index fund. Then, forget about it until you get close to your goal.

Part Two: The Noise
Once you’ve made the decision to invest, the real trick is to filter out the noise.

First, train yourself to ignore what’s going on today, this week, this month, and this year. The stock market is volatile – live with it. The trick is to remember that you’re investing for the long term. Volatility doesn’t equal long-term risk. Another thing to remember is that short term stock market volatility is entirely unpredictable. So just ignore it.

Second, don’t bother chasing the “best” funds. Instead, just put your money in an index fund that matches the market for cheap. Why? A fund that’s the “best” one year is quite likely to not be the best in subsequent years – the market changes, investors herd into the fund and flood it with too much money so that the strategy doesn’t work any more, and there’s a lot of cost in jumping from fund to fund. Just pick a steady, average fund and leave it there – ignore the “fund of the minute” and the talking heads on CNBC.

Third, ignore specific stock tips. The ones in the media are often placed there by analysts who are set to profit from people following that tip. The one from your uncle might be useful or it might not be – but don’t bet your future on it. Ignore all the specific investment tips.

If you’re filtering out all of that, you’re left with just one thing: your plan. Keep investing, steady and surely, and don’t sweat the little swings or the panicked talking heads.

Is Oblivious Investing Worth Reading?
Oblivious Investing does a fantastic job of laying out the “buy and hold” strategy in layman’s terms that anyone can understand. For a person who simply wants to begin investing their money for the long term but doesn’t want to spend every day praying at the altar of CNBC, Oblivious Investing is a great read.

If you want detailed advice on portfolio management, this isn’t your book. If you want comparisons of individual investment strategies, this isn’t your book. Piper makes one big point throughout this book – he makes it thoroughly and clearly, but Oblivious Investing doesn’t try to be a Swiss Army investment book. If you want that, read The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing.

I should say, though, that I subscribe to the investing strategy in Oblivious Investing. It works well for me and this is the best layman’s description of it that I’ve yet read.

A few days ago, I was browsing through Amazon’s software category when I stumbled upon the software best seller list. Intrigued, I took a look. Here’s the top twenty five when I found it (go ahead and check, it’s probably very similar right now):

1. Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (Windows)
2. QuickBooks Pro 2009 (Windows)
3. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition (Mac)
4. Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 (Windows)
5. Norton 360 (Windows)
6. Norton Internet Security 2009 (Windows)
7. Norton Antivirus 2009 (Windows)
8. Microsoft Outlook 2007 (Windows)
9. iLife ’09 (Mac)
10. Adobe Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements 7 (Windows)
11. iWork ’09 (Mac)
12. Microsoft Streets and Trips 2009 (Windows)
13. Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 (Windows)
14. QuickBooks Basic Payroll 2009 (Windows)
15. VMware Fusion 2 (Mac)
16. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard (Windows)
17. Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 (Mac)
18. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2 (Windows)
19. Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 (Windows)
20. Microsoft Office Professional 2007 (Windows)
21. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred (Windows)
22. TurboTax Deluxe Federal + State + eFile 2008 (Windows)
23. Rosetta Stone Version 3 Spanish (Windows/Mac)
24. Acronis True Image Home 2009 PC Backup & Recovery (Windows)
25. Mac OS X Version 10.5.6 Leopard (Mac)

Thousands upon thousands of dollars in software there – and thousands of copies are being sold each day. The amazing part is, for most of these pieces of software, there are free equivalents that do almost the same task. Let’s look at them!

OpenOffice
http://www.openoffice.org/
… instead of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition, iWork ’09, or Microsoft Office Professional 2007
OpenOffice is a top-notch replacement for the features of Microsoft Office. It includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database features and works on both Macs and PCs. I use my copy almost daily!

QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition 2009
http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/free-accounting-software.jsp
… instead of QuickBooks Pro 2009 or QuickBooks Basic Payroll 2009
Many small businesses dive straight into a paid copy of QuickBooks without even knowing if that’s what they need. Why not try out the free Simple Start version? If it works for you, it’s painless to upgrade later, and if not, you’re not out any money!

GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)
http://www.gimp.org/
… instead of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7
The GNU Image Manipulation Program is a fantastic tool for editing images. It can easily handle most of the tasks that Photoshop Elements can handle and exceeds it in many areas.

ZoneAlarm Free
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm
… instead of Norton Internet Security 2009, Kaspersky Internet Security 2009, or Norton 360
ZoneAlarm is one of the first pieces of software I put on any Windows machine. It does a spectacular job of keeping viruses and other malicious software from communicating back and forth using your computer, keeping you and your data safe.

AVG Free
http://free.avg.com/
… instead of Norton Antivirus 2009, Kaspersky Internet Security 2009, or Norton 360
AVG is the best free virus protection package out there, perfect for most home users. If you’re concerned about viruses, this is a must-have.

Google Picasa
http://picasa.google.com/
… instead of iPhoto/iLife ’09
Picasa helps you manage your images in a clever yet easy to use visual tool.

Sizzle
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Video/Sizzle-b.shtml
… instead of iDVD/iLife ’09
Sizzle is a great alternative to iDVD, helping you make DVD menus and such and burn them to blank DVD discs.

ZS4
http://www.zs4.net/
… instead of iMovie/iLife ’09, Adobe Premiere Elements 7, or Corel VideoStudio Pro X2
ZS4 is an incredibly powerful video editing tool, enabling you to manipulate video files and combine them to make movies on your computer.

Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
… instead of Garage Band/iLife ’09
While Audacity isn’t as full-featured as Garage Band, it does do a great job of simply recording your voice and your music. In fact, I prefer it for podcasting purposes – if you’re just getting started in recording, it’s likely that Garage Band is overkill and Audacity will meet your needs much better.

WordPress.com
http://www.wordpress.com/
… instead of iWeb/iLife ’09
Wordpress lets you host your own blog for free. It provides a very simple user interface and a very clean display for your posts, pictures, and other materials.

Google Maps
http://maps.google.com/
… instead of Microsoft Streets and Trips 2009
Google Maps can pretty much do everything that Streets and Trips can do. I’ve used it to plan every road trip we’ve taken in the last few years.

VirtualBox
http://www.virtualbox.org/
… instead of VMware Fusion 2
VirtualBox does for free what VMware does at a cost – allows you to run Windows on a Mac.

Digital Dictation
http://download.cnet.com/Digital-Dictation/3000-7239_4-10156035.html
… instead of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10
Want to dictate your words? Give Digital Dictation a shot before shelling out the money on expensive software. It does the trick for my (admittedly limited) dictation needs.

Ubuntu Linux
http://www.ubuntu.com/
… instead of Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2 or Mac OS X Version 10.5.6 Leopard
Ubuntu is nearly as user friendly as Windows, not nearly as prone to security holes, and costs nothing. What’s not to love?

Intuit Tax Freedom Project
http://turbotax.intuit.com/taxfreedom/
… instead of TurboTax Deluxe Federal + State + eFile 2008
If you make less than $30,000 a year or are a member of the military, you can do your taxes for free!

LiveMocha
http://www.livemocha.com/
… instead of Rosetta Stone Version 3 Spanish
LiveMocha helps you to learn foreign languages online for free – no need to invest hundreds of dollars in Rosetta Stone!

SugarSync
https://www.sugarsync.com/
… instead of Acronis True Image Home 2009 PC Backup & Recovery
SugarSync provides all the backup support that individual people might need. Just get a backup drive and SugarSync and your data is safe.

You could shell out your hard-earned dollars for this software – or you could try out some free alternatives first and keep your wallet firmly in your pocket where it belongs.

A few years ago, I first read David Allen’s seminal book on time management, Getting Things Done (here’s the skinny on what it’s all about). To put it bluntly, it was an epiphany for me.

Let me make it as clear as possible: without the insights from Getting Things Done, I would have never found the time to launch The Simple Dollar, nor would I have been as involved in my children’s life as I am today.

Since reading it the first time, I sit down about once a year and re-read Getting Things Done, hoping to add some new insights to my repertoire. On my first few readings, I mostly found value in reiterating the big points. Lately, though, I’ve found that the book contains a lot of hidden lessons that aren’t directly placed front and center.

Here are seven more subtle aspects of the book I’ve found useful in my life recently.

1. The best way to get things done is to “pre-work.”
The single biggest thing that constantly derails one’s effort to get to an empty inbox (i.e., to whack everything off of one’s to-do list) are deadlines. You have to get this item done by 4 PM today, so you toss aside all of the other stuff you might be working on – some of which is likely more useful than the task you’re doing – and get to work. At the end of the day, you have a full inbox/to-do list and you realize that this isn’t working too well.

Thus, one of the hidden goals of GTD is to pre-work – put in effort so that there are fewer and fewer of those urgent tasks that interrupt your work. The best way to do that is to “pre-work.” I do this by writing articles in advance. At my previous job, I used to fill out forms as early as I could, often filling them the rest of the way out with estimates, so that I wouldn’t be tied to the clock later on filling out that form. I’d write lots of “library” code that will likely have use in the future so that when the time came, I could quickly prototype things that were pretty nifty instead of burning the midnight oil.

“Pre-work” helps keep your schedule free of at least some interruptions and makes it much easier to bear down and focus on the more important tasks at hand, like the large projects that you’ve always wanted to accomplish.

2. Keep an active “someday” list – because “someday” arrives sooner than you think.
I take special effort to write down every project idea that crosses my head. Once a week or so, I’ll go through them and toss out a few of the truly frivolous ones, but for the most part, I keep that list. It’s usually between 50 and 100 projects long at any given time – and I may or may not ever do any of them.

So what’s the point? The reason is that “someday” arrives more often than you think. If I’ve managed to work through my inbox and have an empty afternoon ahead of me, the first place I turn is my “someday” list – and there’s always something worthwhile to do on there. My “someday” list produced this and this and this, among many other things.

3. The more you delete, the better.
I used to use services like Tumblr and Delicious to store piles upon piles of bookmarks for future reference. What I found, though, is that I rarely looked at them – and when I did think of trying to find something, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. It was far faster to just Google for it.

The same thing is true for paper documents. When I read a magazine, I toss it. I’ve stopped actively updating a recipe box since virtually any recipe I want is out there in the cloud. I don’t keep many books – I can just use PaperBackSwap to get any book I want again pretty quickly. Why store mountains of music when I can just use Pandora from pretty much anywhere? Sure, I keep a few of each type of thing – but why keep so much stuff when it’s easy to retrieve it again from the cloud when you want it.

Thus, I keep only the minimum amount of stuff – and it’s made my life far, far easier. Very little time is spent filing or organizing the stuff – and is instead spent getting stuff done. Erin’s right – clutter is the enemy of success.

4. Post-It notes as task reminders are useless.
Whenever I see a person with Post-It notes all over the place with task reminders written on it, I usually expect to find that person is good-hearted but surprisingly disorganized. Why? Because Post-It notes wind up all over the place. There’s no consistent place to go to find the next task that needs to be done.

The fewer places you have to look for the next thing to be done, the more successful you’re going to be. Spreading your to-do list across a bunch of websites, notebooks, sticky notes, and other things does nothing more than ensure things will slip through the cracks and also that you’ll spend a lot of time just figuring out what to do next – both are enemies of getting things done.

A single system, even if it’s nowhere near the best system, is better than three or four great systems.

5. Hands-free collection of ideas and to-dos is a winner.
I go back and forth between using a voice recorder and using a small microphone attached to my iPod Touch, but in either case, I find that having the ability to record thoughts while my hands are otherwise engaged (or at least one hand is) is absolutely amazing for productivity.

The key, though, is to make sure these thoughts are actually saved and processed somewhere. I listen to my voice recordings every day and jot them down in their appropriate place so that they don’t get lost in the shuffle.

What’s the benefit? Many of my best ideas come up out here:

I’m pushing one of my kids on the swing and an idea pops into my head. If I try to hold it there, I tend to forget it. If I stop pushing my kid to write it down, the moment is often broken and the child runs away to do something else. Instead, I just pull out that voice recorder with one hand, speak my thought, and keep going in the moment.

6. If you feel negative about something, address it immediately.
Sometimes, I get the sense I’m forgetting something important. When that feeling comes up, I pay attention to it, because it’s usually right. I almost always stop, check my calendar and my inbox, and almost always, I find that there was something that needs to be taken care of.

Trust your instincts, particularly when you’re going through daily routines that are familiar to you. If something sets off your radar and gives you a feeling that something’s not right, listen to it. Address it now rather than later.

This is actually a great principle for life in general. If you feel like something’s wrong in a relationship, address it sooner rather than later. If you feel like something’s wrong with a larger project, spend some time evaluating the project as a whole now before a bunch of work goes to waste.

7. The mechanics of the system itself are not all-powerful.
Every time I’ve run into problems with keeping track of the things I need to do, it’s because I’ve made things too complicated. For me, it’s simple. I jot down things I need to do wherever I’m at. When I’m at a computer, I record them all in one central place (I use Evernote). I keep an “inbox,” a calendar, a project list, and a “someday” list. And that’s it.

For some people, this is overkill. For others, this is not nearly enough. Everyone has a different level of organization that works. The point is if you find yourself fighting your system, then your system isn’t working. It’s either too simple or too complex – and I usually bet on too complex.

No system is all-powerful. No system is perfect for everyone. Instead, mix and match elements until you find what works for you.

Good luck!

Many newer readers of The Simple Dollar haven’t been exposed to the hundreds of great articles in the archives of the site, so this is a weekly series that highlights the five best posts from one year ago this week, as well as the five best posts from two years ago this week. I call it … the Time Machine.

One Year Ago (May 24-30, 2008)
Anticipation Buying – Sometimes we buy things in anticipation of a need, not in response to an actual need. Is this actually a sensible way to buy things?

Personal Finance 101: What Exactly Does It Mean to Own a Stock? – A great discussion on what it actually means to own stock.

The Methods You Use to Deal with Ordinary Life Will Fail You As an Investor – Investing doesn’t work like everyday life. In order to succeed, you need to control the impulses that help you to succeed in normal life.

Do I Need Long Term Disability Insurance? – This turned into a surprisingly useful discussion on whether younger working adults (particularly parents) need it.

Baking Soda: My Favorite Frugal Substance – There are so many useful ways to use baking soda – and it’s so inexpensive!

Two Years Ago (May 24-30, 2007)
Review: The Random Walk Guide to Investing – This may be the most insightful guide into how the stock market works (and why you should just invest in index funds) that I’ve ever read.

The “White Sheep” Syndrome: What To Do If You’re The Only Financially Sound Person In Your Family – A surprising number of people find themselves in this very situation. Everyone around them is drowning in debt and very poor at managing their money – and it causes a lot of problems.

Defining The Middle Class Through Statistics: Upward And Downward Mobility – The New York Times reveals some statistics on people who are upwardly mobile – and people who are downwardly mobile. I pull three usable conclusions out of the data.

Six Points of Advice If You’re considering Loaning Money to a Friend – Loaning money to friends is usually a bad idea. Here are six things to think about if you’re even considering it.

My Kitchen Bookshelf – These are the books I use for cooking advice and recipes in my own kitchen. I wrote this before I discovered How to Cook Everything, which is the best one-stop cookbook I’ve yet found.

If you’d like to browse through more of the archives, visit the chronology, where all posts are listed in chronological order.

Eight Ways to Get More out of The Simple Dollar
This is kind of a FAQ for new readers and is posted each week along with the Time Machine. Here are eight great ways for new readers to dig deeper into The Simple Dollar.

1. Subscribe by email or RSS. Visiting The Simple Dollar’s website is great, but for many people, it’s more convenient to receive the articles in another form. It’s easy to join 60,000 other subscribers and get The Simple Dollar’s content by email or in your RSS feeder (if you’re unfamiliar with RSS, check out Google Reader.

2. Comment. Each article on The Simple Dollar has lively discussion. Just click on the green square in the upper right of each article on the website and join in!

3. Read my story of financial meltdown and recovery. The Simple Dollar isn’t based on what I’ve read in books or learned in school. I’ve made a lifetime of financial mistakes – The Simple Dollar is a record of what works for me during the process of getting my life on a better track.

4. Download my free 49 page e-book. Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance On Just One Page is completely free. It summarizes all of the key lessons I’ve learned along the way about personal finance in one tidy package – in fact, all of the main principles can be found right on the cover.

5. Follow me on Twitter. I post tons of interesting articles, quotes, follow-up material, commentary, and other material on Twitter. Follow me! If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter, it’s essentially an open discussion forum for people to share ideas and thoughts with other like-minded folks – you just choose the people you want to listen to and their ideas and thoughts are all delivered to you on a single page.

6. Dig through “31 Days to Fix Your Finances.” 31 Days to Fix Your Finances is an article series that outlines how you can get a grip on your finances over the course of a month.

7. Send me your questions and suggestions. Send me an email and let me know what you’re thinking, what you’d like to see, and any questions you might have. I try to respond to as many emails as possible and I read them all. I may even use your question in a future article!

8. Email a great article you find to a friend. Find an article that you think your friend would love? At the bottom of each article, you’ll find a link that says “Email this” – just click on that, type in your friend’s address, and send it right along to them!

Your brother is stuck in a small town a few states away. His wallet was stolen and he’s without a vehicle. “Help!” he cries! He needs some cash as soon as possible. What are you going to do to help him?

Your daughter loses her job. She calls you up and begs for some help making the rent this month. How will you get the money to her?

Transferring money between people is a tricky problem. In a nutshell, the more flexible it is, the more you’ll pay, and the quicker it is, the more you’ll pay.

Obviously, there are a lot of different ways to transfer money between people who are separated by distance. Below, I’ve outlined four of the most common ones. Each plan has some benefits and some drawbacks to it and is perhaps most appropriate in different situations.

Western Union
Western Union has been a straightforward way to send money electronically since the days of the telegraph. The process is simple – you simply have the person you’re sending money to go to an agent location with a form of ID and you can send the money from your computer (or from another agent location). The recipient has cash in their hands in a few minutes.

When I was young, my family used Western Union a few times in a pinch. In particular, I remember my mother using it twice when my older brother was in the Navy and needed cash in a big pinch – we were in Illinois and he was in California.

Pros: It’s quick and requires almost nothing from the recipient (only a form of ID).
Cons: It’s very expensive compared to other methods. It does require that a Western Union office be available somewhere near the recipient.
When to use it: A person needs money immediately and has fairly limited resources.

Electronic transfer
To put it simply, electronic transfers means transferring money directly from one account at a financial institution to another account, either at the same institution or another institution. I personally use this method fairly often. It’s my preferred way to send money if it doesn’t need to be there instantaneously.

Pros: It usually costs nothing and can often be done from your computer with just a routing number and an account number.
Cons: It often takes several days to make it happen.
When to use it: The other person has a bank account and has some time.

Money orders
Money orders can easily be sent from any post office (and from some private businesses).

I generally find this solution works best when you’re not sending a large amount – some smaller post offices won’t cash money orders for enormous amounts. If you send an exceptionally large money order, the recipient (if they do not have a bank account) may wind up using a check-cashing service to cash it, which will knock 5% or so off their amount – not a good solution.

Pros: The only requirement for a recipient is that they can receive mail. They’re also pretty convenient to send.
Cons: It costs about a dollar and takes a few days to arrive.
When to use it: The recipient has limited resources and no local bank where they have an account.

Checks
Although many people still send checks for many purposes, I now see checks for person-to-person transfers as an archaic thing, surpassed by electronic transfers (which, in the end, are basically the same thing without the paper document).

Pros: It’s virtually free and incredibly convenient.
Cons: The recipient has to be able to receive mail, it takes a few days to arrive, and the recipient should have a bank account (or else they’ll have to use a check-cashing service).
When to use it: Most uses that aren’t covered above, though I prefer electronic transfers in most situations.

What solutions do you use for such transfers? What situations do they work best in?

Whenever I see great deals on free range chicken or beef, I stock up without hesitation, filling our freezer with pounds of roast, tenderloins, chicken breasts (and other pieces… and whole chickens), fish fillets, steaks, and chops. You might open our freezer and see dozens of pounds of such cuts, purchased because we found an exceptional deal.

One big complaint I often hear with such bulk food buying is that it’s boring. One older email from Jennifer sums this feeling up quite succinctly:

Buying food in such bulk quantities seems incredibly boring to me. What can possibly be tasty or exciting about having chops for the twentieth time this year?

I agree with Jennifer on one level – having the same old boring chops or chicken breasts every week for months would get quite old. I would certainly get tired of it, anyway.

The trick is to know how to jazz up these entrees, making them into something much more interesting – and with much more variety – for just pennies. Around here, most of our entrees find themselves undergoing some sort of preparation which will widely vary the flavor.

About Marinating Meat
The purpose of marinating meat is twofold. First, it serves to tenderize the meat – that’s why most marinade recipes include some sort of acid (vinegar and fruit juice are common ones). Simply soaking a meat in such a solution makes the meat softer – easier to cut and easier to chew. It also causes the meat to absorb some of the liquid, often making it moister.

Second (and perhaps more important), marinades imbue meat with additional flavors. During the process of softening the meat, the meat absorbs some of the liquid around it. If that liquid includes a variety of flavors, those flavors are absorbed into the meat itself.

Given the nearly infinite things one can use as a marinade, there’s a nearly infinite variety of flavors you can imbue your meat with.

What if you’re vegetarian? Almost any tough vegetable can be marinated. Zucchini, cucumbers, squash, and eggplant all turn out very well when marinated. In fact, I often use such tougher vegetables as a side dish.

About marinate versus marinade: marinate usually refers to the process of soaking the meat, while marinade refers to the liquid solution in which the meat is soaked.

Trent’s Ten Favorite Homemade “Nickel” Marinades
Here are ten homemade marinades that cost just pennies and can each really improve the flavor of your food. Using these marinades can transform an ordinary cut of meat in ten drastically different ways, from spicy to sweet, from sharp to subtle, from Mediterranean to Asian. Just mix the ingredients together, put the mixture on the meat in a bowl, and let it soak according to the times below – when it’s done, cook the meat as you normally would and enjoy some distinctive and delicious flavors!

Simple Marinade 1/2 cup lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon oregano, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper

Flexible Marinade 1 cup any kind of fruit juice you have on hand, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt

Apple Marinade 1/2 cup apple juice, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup honey, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon ginger (this is fairly low acid marinade, so leave it on for twice as long as listed below)

Asian Marinade 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, 1/3 cup cilantro, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon ginger, 2 cloves garlic or 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Balsamic Marinade 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons brown sugar, 1/4 cup minced onion, 3/4 teaspoon black pepper

Donkey Marinade 2/3 cup lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Lime Marinade 1/2 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup oil, 1 teaspoon tarragon, 1 teaspoon onion salt, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mediterranean Marinade 1 1/2 cups olive oil, 1 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 3 tablespoons oregano, 2 tablespoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Sneaky Marinade 3/4 cup orange juice, 4 teaspoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon anise, 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons tarragon

Spicy Marinade 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon onion, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1/4 teaspoon oregano

Teriyaki Marinade 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 3 oz. soy sauce, 1 clove garlic or one teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/2 cup pineapple juice (this is fairly low acid marinade, so leave it on for twice as long as listed below)

(Oops… did I include eleven marinades?)

How Long Should I Marinate?
If you marniate a meat too long, the meat will become soft and mushy from the effects of the natural acids in the marinade. If you don’t leave it on long enough, the meat won’t gain enough extra flavor. Here are some starting numbers to use – obviously, times may vary depending on the size of your meat, but these should get you in the ballpark.

Beef roasts 2 hours
Beef large steaks 1 hour
Beef small steaks 40 minutes
Chicken with bones 1 hour
Chicken without bones 40 minutes
Fish 30 minutes
Lamb chops 40 minutes
Pork chops and tenderloin 40 minutes
Pork roasts 2 hours
Shrimp 15 minutes

Additional Tips
First of all, don’t toss the marinade when you’re finished soaking the meat! I like to pour the leftover marinade directly on the entree just as it goes on the grill or into the skillet. This packs an additional punch of flavor. However, do not save the marinade and use it later in the cooking process – a marinade must be cooked just like the meat is, and if it is not, you run the risk of ingesting unhealthy proteins.

Another use for the marinades: they make great mix-ins for burgers. Make up a batch of your favorite, then add it directly to ground beef or ground turkey, roughly 1/2 cup per pound of meat. It can really change the dynamic of the burger!

Another tactic I like to use to try new marinades to ask for marinades and sauces for Christmas gifts, particularly those from local companies. We go to several gift exchanges around Christmastime and a few bottles of marinade and sauce make for a great, easy-to-select gift. Combined with the inexpensive bulk meats in our freezer, these sauces and marinades can create a true flavor explosion – much better than some gift you’re anxious to return as soon as you leave.

Good luck!

Two years ago (in those economic halcyon days before the so-called “Great Recession”), I wrote a short article entitled Is Not Spending Money Bad for the Economy? In it, I largely concluded (by my own logic) that not spending money – in other words, saving it – isn’t necessarily bad for the economy at at all.

Of course, this article was written against the backdrop of the economic conditions of the time. We were at the peak of six years of economic growth, with only the faintest hints of the economic onslaught about to occur. We, as Americans, also had a negative savings rate at the time – we were actually spending more than we earned as a whole (which meant that there were a whole lot of individuals spending far more than they earned).

Today, we live in a different world. Saving has certainly rebounded – many estimates show that the savings rate is now somewhere around 5%. The economy has certainly slowed as well, and countless trillions have been lost in a 50% dip in the stock market.

So, now’s the time to revisit that question: is saving money instead of actively spending it bad for the economy? Again, I come to the same conclusion – no – but this time, there’s a bit more food for thought on the vine.

The Paradox of Thrift
The whole idea that saving money is bad for the economy comes from the economist John Maynard Keynes, who referred to it as the “paradox of thrift.” (“Paradox of thrift” and John Maynard Keynes is one of those things you can bust out at a party to seem quite smart.) He believed that if everyone saved more money during times of recession, then demand for goods will fall. If demand for goods falls, then economic growth will stall, causing all sorts of additional economic problems (lost jobs, failed businesses, etc.).

It makes some sense on the surface. If everyone stopped spending money tomorrow, the economy would indeed fall apart. There are two big factors that keep this from happening.

First, when demand falls, prices fall, and when prices fall, people are more likely to spend money. That’s why sales always work – and thus businesses regularly have sales. If demand falls across the board, then businesses will lower their prices to get more customers.

Savings Accounts Contribute to the Economy
The second factor – and this is the big one – that makes the “paradox of thrift” fail is that putting money in savings accounts does not remove it from the economy. When you put money in a savings account, it becomes money that the bank can then lend out to businesses. Thus, when more people save, the banks have more resources to pump out to businesses, and when the businesses have more resources, they employ more people, innovate new products, and find new ways to sell.

This is a simple example of why the economy cycles back and forth between economic growth and recession. Right now, we’re in a recession and we’re putting our money away in various savings accounts and investments. That money is then being loaned out to businesses of all kinds who are taking advantage of the very low interest rates available. This means that businesses will soon begin hiring people – reducing unemployment and getting more money out there in the hands of consumers. With more people involved in steady work, more money will be spent and the economy begins to grow. Eventually, people stop saving as much – times are good. The banks then slowly close the taps since they don’t have as many resources for lending. Businesses feel the pinch and begin laying off workers – and we’re back to a recession again.

By saving, you’re actually doing your economic duty, just as you would be if you were buying things. A healthy economy needs plenty of both.

Hoarding Doesn’t Help the Economy
This, obviously, doesn’t include the guy with hundreds of dollars in his mattress or in his safe, or the guy who buys gold coins and buries them in his back yard. That type of saving (I view it as hoarding) does not help the economy at all, as it locks up money in a place where it’s not constantly being cycled back and forth between workers and employers, between businesses and customers.

If you’re concerned about whether or not saving money will help the economy, be aware that it will, but only if you actually invest it in a business (by buying stocks), in a community (by buying bonds), or in a bank where it can be distributed through business and personal loans. That way, you can not only build a safety net for yourself, but you can also do your part in making sure the economy functions like a well-oiled machine.

One of my favorite sections in what is undoubtedly my favorite personal finance book, Your Money or Your Life, discusses the process one can go through to find a job that is both high in integrity (meaning it’s actually in line with your values – you’re not selling your soul or killing your spirit by doing it) and high in pay.

A lot of people, quite frankly, view this as an impossibility. The general equation seems to be that following your passions means low pay and following the bucks means ditching your passions. From my perspective, this feeling usually results from too many years working thankless jobs that are incompatible with personal ethics and passions. Others have made themselves comfortable with a low-paying job that gives them the freedom that they want, but not the financial resources to create a strong personal safety net.

Your Money or Your Life argues that there is a third way (and, frankly, so does What Color Is Your Parachute?, which is a brilliant guide solely focused on careers). From page 228:

There is no Job Charming. The people we’ve met in these pages have had to do a lot of soul-searching, risk-taking, experimenting, and challenging of old beliefs in order to move forward into jobs with higher pay and high integrity. They’ve had to see that their lives are bigger than their jobs. The parts of themselves that had been suffocated by their paid employment had to be given room to breathe again. Visions from childhood of how life could be had to be excavated from under the status, seriousness and self-importance that masquerade as adulthood. They had to tell themselves the truth about whether or not their current employment was really doing what paid employment is supposed to do: earn money.

In other words, Your Money or Your Life argues that it is very difficult (not impossible, but difficult) to spend significantly less than you earn and build a financial foundation for yourself if you’re working in a way that’s at odds with the person you are. The solution? Get your spending under control, then find a job that pays well and lines up with your values.

Job Hunting Checklist
But how do you actually find that job? The book offers a checklist, and here it is, with some of my notes.

1. Purpose What’s the purpose of the job? Obviously, a big part of the purpose is to get paid – you need money in your pocket, right? But ask yourself this: is the task you spend many hours of your life on each day actually have a purpose that you find valuable?

This is trickier than it seems, especially since jobs that seem to have purpose early on eventually grow to not have that purpose later on. I felt this to some extent with my research job, where I felt a great deal of purpose when I first started, but that feeling waned as my project matured, eventually leaving me still enjoying some aspects quite a bit (the people in particular, and some individual pieces of the work), but being nervous and going through the motions in other respects.

For now, almost all of the work I do earns some money, but perhaps more importantly to me, it has a purpose – I’ve somehow been blessed with the opportunity to write about things that actually help people and this stuff is read by thousands upon thousands of people every day.

2. Intention Do you have the internal motivation to actually make good on your goals? Procrastination and a lack of focus are your enemies. Self-motivation, on the other hand, is a huge ally.

To put it in a more tangible sense, think about the career you dream of having – the high-paying, high-integrity job that you’ve always wanted. That’s your goal.

What are you doing today to get there? If you’re not doing anything at all, you’re not actually motivated to get there. If you know what you need to do but keep putting it off, procrastination is keeping you where you are.

3. Willingness It’s one thing to know what you need to do to make it happen. It’s another thing entirely to put your foot down and actually do it.

For years, I dreamed of being a writer, particularly one who could reach a lot of people with stuff that actually affected and helped them, and made enough from it to at least survive. I held that dream in my head – and I let it flounder.

It wasn’t until I actually started trying to make it happen that it actually happened. And it didn’t happen immediately. It took years of constant effort, eating a lot of my spare time, to make it happen.

The most important step is the first one – and the willingness to follow that step with another one.

4. Consciousness Keep your eyes open. The world around you is full of possibilities. It sounds sort of trite, but it’s true. Our days are loaded with opportunities to stand out from the pack and do something exceptional and interesting.

Look at every interaction you have as a meeting with a potential customer. Look at every experience as a possible source for an article. Look at every shop you visit as a potential retail location. Look at every moment as a source for ideas and opportunities.

The more you step back and look at your daily life through this lens, the more opportunities will bloom into view.

5. Recognition When do you know you’ve been successful? Most of the time, it’s not a clear demarcation.

Your Money or Your Life argues that the only real way to tell if you’re successful comes from inside. You can’t use income or recognition from others as a metric – it comes from you.

Some people feel successful immediately, with only a bit of success. Others never feel successful. The truth, though, is somewhere in the middle – you’re successful when you wake up, realize you’re happy with what you’re doing and what you’re getting paid for it – and you can’t imagine doing anything else.

You can get there. Today is the day to get started.