Ever wondered what it would be like to grow all of your own food at home, be completely independent from economic recession, gas prices, not knowing what kind of pesticides or other crap is dumped on your food, and the stress of feeling that you have to work a 9-to-5 job in order to put food on the table? If you’ve wanted to make that dream a reality, then urban homesteading, aka urban farming, might be the path for you.

Meet the Dervaes Family

Jules Dervaes and his four children moved to Pasadena, California (a Los Angeles suburb) in 1986. Jules slowly turned his one-fifth acre lot into a completely self-sustaining farm and urban garden to feed his family of four and actually have enough yield left over to make a decent income selling his food to local restaurants.

In fact, he’s done such a great job at it, that three of his four children are still living with him (all into their twenties and thirties), and here’s the kicker – NONE of them have jobs! You heard that right. They are all able to live on the food and income (about $30k per year) that their little one-fifth acre lot farm generates. And they’ve created an exceptional blog to boot, called Path to Freedom.

Pictures, or videos, often speak louder than words, so here’s a story that ABC’s Nightline did on the Dervaes urban farming family:

What I Love About Urban Homesteading

The Dervaes family story is great for so many different reasons:

• The family is very cohesive and happy doing what they are doing.
• They have built a true community amongst their neighbors and at home.
• At this point, they are probably carbon negative.
• They sell product to local restaurants, cutting down on the restaurant’s carbon footprint.
• They have learned skills that have been lost over the years.
• They are recession proof. Neither food nor fuel prices affect them much at all (other than the price they can charge for their food going up if food prices increase).
• They work for themselves. No stress of a full-time job.
• They took a rather boring house and made it beautiful with food.
• They know where all their food has come from and that it’s natural and healthy.

The Challenges of Urban Homesteading:

Their lives sound like utopian bliss, but let’s get realistic. I’m sure they had to overcome a hell of a lot to get there.

The Dervaes family have built a garden of Eden within their own backyard, but that didn’t happen overnight. The skills that they learned took years to learn and develop and most likely a lot of trial and error. Doing what they are doing also probably also took a huge up front investment to be able to buy all of the equipment that they have (and I’m guessing they had paid off the home in full). Not to mention that there are very few climates where you could do what they do year round (and homes in California are not cheap).

However, you shouldn’t let those things hold you back from following your dreams. Start small, find mentors, and slowly get to the place that you want to be. You might not get all the way to where the Dervaes family has ended up, but you may just become an urban homesteading model example in your own town.

Urban Farming Discussion:

• What’s your take on the Dervaes family and what they have created?
• Do you see urban homesteading as something you are interested in?
• What steps have you already taken to get there?

Related Posts:

• 55 hobbies you can Make Income from
• Marketable Hobbies: Get Paid to do what you Love
• Stop Dreaming & Start Retiring – Now!

An Intro to Urban Homesteading with the Dervaes Family is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

Tires rank right up there with brakes, seatbelts, and airbags when it comes to vehicle safety. You wouldn’t want any of the other three to be performing at sub-optimal levels, so why would you expect any less from your tires? When one or more of your tires is not inflated properly, it can lead to a few big potentially hazardous situations that put you and your loved ones safety at risk:

• Under-inflated tires experience added friction, which means added heat, and failure risk.
• Under-inflated tires can lead to an uneven driving experience, and potentially lead to other vehicle damage.
• If your tire is losing air pressure more quickly than normal, it can indicate a bigger problem, such as a nail or screw puncture or rim leak.

Fuel Efficiency & Other Cost Savings from Proper Tire Inflation

If safety isn’t a big enough concern, perhaps money-loss will be. Low tire pressure can be costly. Edmunds estimates that that for every 3 psi below spec, you burn 1 percent more fuel (and add 10 percent more tire wear). It’s not uncommon to be 10 psi below spec, which would waste 3 percent more fuel and increase tire wear by 45 percent.

• Under-inflated tires can wear irregularly, leading to the need to replace one or more before the others. And you should always replace all four at once so that tread is even. And that’s not cheap
• Under-inflated tires result in increased friction, overheating, and wear – and a shorter tire life. More frequent tire replacement = $.
• Under-inflated tires result in increased friction, leading to less fuel efficiency than properly inflated tires.

Learning how to change your car’s air filter can also have positive fuel efficiency results.

What Should my Tire Pressure Be?

The first step is knowing what your tire pressure should be. You can find out what your vehicle’s tire pressure should be by looking in your vehicle owner’s manual or on the little sticker on the inside of your driver’s side car door for the recommended psi.

How do I Check my Tire Pressure?

This is beautifully simple and cheap. The only tricky part is doing it at the right time. To get the most relevant tire pressure, you need to check when the tires are cool, just before you head out for the day, or hours after your vehicle has been idle. Tires that have been used recently will have a higher pressure due to the heat from use.

1. Get a cheap tire pressure gaugefrom any local auto parts store or hardware store. EVERYONE who owns a vehicle should have one.
2. Screw the cap off of your tire.
3. Apply the tire pressure gauge to get the tire pressure.
4. All four tires should be at the recommended tire pressure level and at an even pressure.

How to Inflate your Car Tires

1. You need air. I always go to a gas station or tire shop that has free air. Some will charge you for air (which is ridiculous). If they do, go elsewhere.
2. Inflate your tires to the recommended levels. I always go 2-3 PSI over because I have driven to fill the tires and they are hot from use.
3. If you go too much over, deflate the tires by tilting the valve stem until you hear the sound of air escaping the tire.

Check Tire Pressure Video

For those who like visual examples, here’s a simple video from Edmunds.com on how to do what I’ve described.

Getting in the Habit of Checking your Tire Pressure

This is probably the hardest part of keeping your tires properly inflated. I always visually look over my tires when filling up my gas tank. It gets me in the habit of checking, plus I’m right at a station with air hopefully, so I can fill up if need be. I’d also recommend throwing it on your calendar to check once a month when the tires are cool.

Tire Pressure Discussion:

• How often do you check your tire pressure?
• What do you do to remind yourself to check tire pressure?
• Do you own a tire pressure gauge? Digital or old fashion?

Related Posts:

• How to Donate your Car to Charity
• How to Get the Most out of Auto Insurance Quotes
• How to Check your Tire Age

How to Check Tire Pressure & Inflate your Tires is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

I have been quoted between $35-40 for the parts (an air filter) and the labor from an auto shop to replace the air filter in my Pontiac Grand Am.

That doesn’t sound bad on the surface, and if you’re not a DIY’er or scared of opening your car’s hood, you might jump at something like that. Don’t! I was able to purchase the exact same air filter at a local auto parts store for $7 and replace it in minutes.

Steps to Replace an Air Filter in a Vehicle

1. Find the housing. It is shaped like a round pan in older vehicles or a square box in newer ones (your manual will show you what it looks like if you’re not sure).
2. Pull out the old filter. Look for dirt. If it’s a grayish color, it probably needs to be replaced. You’ll have to un-screw the housing to open it.
3. Vacuum or wipe out the filter housing.
4. Pop the new air filter in.

You’re done! If you do it once, it shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to be able to do it again.

How Often Should you Change an Air Filter?

It’s usually recommended that you change the air filter every 12-15 months or about once a year.

Why Do you Need to Change the Air Filter?

The auto’s engine breathes through the air filter, which filters out dirt and other nasty stuff so that it can’t reach the engine. Replacing it can result in improved gas mileage and quicker acceleration.

How to Change Air Filter Video

Here’s a very simple and easy to follow video on how to change your car’s air filter:

Auto Maintenance Discussion:

• Have you changed your car’s air filter before?
• Did it surprise you how easy it was?
• What other auto maintenance do you do on your own?

Related Posts:

• Cheapest New Cars of 2012
• How to Save on Auto Insurance
• How to Get the Most out of Your Auto Insurance Quote
• How to Troubleshoot the Service Engine Light – For Free

How to Replace the Air Filter in a Car is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

I just watched “The Story of Stuff” for the first time on YouTube. I have always been very motivated to reduce my energy usage, minimize my consumption, and live a life that is more harmonious with the planet for financial and ethical reasons. This video shows me that I’m probably not doing nearly enough. The video attacks the linear economic model that our economy is currently based on. Some of the info. presented is new, a lot is repeat, but it’s brought together in a very clear and compelling way.

If you haven’t seen The Story of Stuff before, I’d recommend giving it a watch. It is enlightening, frightening, and motivating all at the same time. For those who are in debt or have simply come to the conclusion that you can’t buy happiness via ‘stuff’, it will probably be a real eye opener. Why share this on a personal finance blog? Well, you can make a strong argument that reducing consumption could be the #1 contributor to the building of wealth.

If you are particularly interested in simplifying your life, reducing your consumption, getting out of debt, and becoming financially free, here are some posts I’ve written around these topics:

My Series: Green Matters: Eco Friendly Cost Savings

Can Money Buy Happiness? 5 Arguments for and Against

3 Simplistic Strategies for Getting Rid of Clutter

My Personal Quest to De-Commercialize the Holidays

The 5 Best Places to Sell your Stuff

Consumers Need a 12-Step Program Too

And finally, if you liked the video enough, thestoryofstuff.com has a new video ‘The Story of Cap and Trade’ and a few others on the way.

Stuff Discussion:

• Did you watch the video? Thoughts?
• What have you done to cut back your consumption of stuff?
• What do we need to do to change or reverse the linear economic model, or are we all screwed?

The Story of Stuff & its Impact on your Personal Finances is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

1. Plan on taking two full weekends

In other words, there’s no need to rush to a purchase, and rushing can result in making choices based on emotion.

2. Get financing from your bank

This way, you don’t need to rely on the dealership for financing, which gives them the upper hand.

3. Sell your car on your own (no trade-in)

Dealers have no incentive to give you a good deal on your trade-in. They want to turn around and make a decent profit in selling it to someone else. Having sold a car on my own through Craigslist at the same price I bought it for two years earlier, I definitely concur.

4. Choose 3 cars

Focusing in on one car limits your options and flexibility, and gives the dealer all of the power.

5. Test drive the car

But never buy it on the spot. Go home. This puts you in the negotiation ‘drivers seat’.

6. Make a list of the options you need, and the options you want

This way you’re not paying for options that you don’t need.

7. Never start with invoice price

Dealers get around pricing at invoice by piling on additional fees. This is not the pricing model that you want to chase.

8. Competitive bid, and ask for the ‘drive it off the lot price’

Find 8-10 local dealerships and tell them that you are competitive bidding. If they say they ‘don’t do competitive bidding’, tell them that ‘if they give you the price and it’s the best, I would come down there to buy it today’. Getting the ‘out the door’ price is important in comparing apples to apples when buying a new vehicle. I think that this part of the buying process is the absolute most important in getting a good price on a new car.

9. During the first visit, just leave

Rob’s point here is that something always goes wrong on the first visit. They don’t have the car, the car is slightly different than what they said they had, there are fees added on, etc.

10. When they call you back, stick to your guns

They will try to wear you down. Stick to your guns. If you feel like an ass, don’t worry about it. You will. That’s only normal.

11. Don’t sign anything until you’ve got the deal that you want

12. Don’t buy any of the ‘back room’ offers

Extended warranties, rust protection, waxjobs, etc. Rob’s argument is that all of this stuff can be bought elsewhere for much cheaper.

New Car Negotiation Discussion:

• What car buying tips can you share?
• Have you tried any of the above car buying strategies? How did they work?

Related Posts:

• How to Save Money on Auto Insurance
  
• 2011 Cheapest New Cars
• The Tata Nano is a Market Changer, but would you Buy it?

12 Tips on how to Get a Good Deal on a New Car is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

Determining your tires age is very important to you and your family’s safety. I bought brand new tires two weeks ago and then discovered what (I’m guessing) few Americans have any awareness about whatsoever – tires have cryptic manufacture dates on them, and if you’re driving a tire over six years old, you could be in grave danger!

But they Look Brand New!

Have you ever thought the following when looking at your tires, “the tread looks great, no bald or worn out spots, these things could last another three years!”. They may last another three years, but your tread has little to do with it. What is more essential is the age of the tire. Tire’s are made of rubber, obviously, and when rubber gets old, it starts to dry and crack (often times from the inside out. This process is not always visible to the naked eye.

What’s more important than the thickness of the tread is the date that the tires were manufactured. Until last week I had no idea that the age of the tire mattered, I thought it was all in the tread and visible cracking. I also had no idea that tires have a manufacture date stamped on them. But the manufacturers don’t make it easy on you to figure this out.

How to Determine your Tire Age

Let’s discuss pre and post 2000 tire manufacturing date stamps (if your tire is older than this as indicated by a lack of this standard, you’ll want to have it replaced immediately). Tirerack.com has a great demonstration on how you can determine your tire’s ages:

Tires Manufacture Date After 2000

Since 2000, the week and year the tire was produced has been provided by the last four digits of the Tire Identification Number with the 2 digits being used to identify the week immediately preceding the 2 digits used to identify the year.

Example of a tire manufactured since 2000 with the current Tire Identification Number format:

In the example above: DOT U2LL LMLR 5107
DOT U2LL LMLR 5107	Manufactured during the 51st week of the year
DOT U2LL LMLR 5107	Manufactured during 2007

While the entire Tire Identification Number is required to be branded onto one sidewall of every tire, current regulations also require that DOT and the first digits of the Tire Identification Number must also be branded onto the opposite sidewall. Therefore, it is possible to see a Tire Identification Number that appears incomplete and requires looking at the tire’s other sidewall to find the entire Tire Identification Number

The use of a partial Tire Identification Number on the one sidewall (shown above) reduces the risk of injury to the mold technician that would have to install the weekly date code on the top sidewall portion of a hot tire mold.

Tire Manufacture Date Before 2000

The Tire Identification Number for tires produced prior to 2000 was based on the assumption that tires would not be in service for ten years. While they were required to provided the same information as today’s tires, the week and year the tire was produced was contained in the last three digits. The 2 digits used to identify the week a tire was manufactured immediately preceded a single digit used to identify the year.

Example of a tire manufactured before 2000 with the earlier Tire Identification Number format:

In the example above: DOT EJ8J DFM 408
DOT EJ8J DFM 408	Manufactured during the 40th week of the year
DOT EJ8J DFM 408	Manufactured during the 8th year of the decade

While the previous Tire Identification Number format identified that a tire was built in the 8th year of a decade, there was no universal identifier that confirmed which decade (tires produced in the 1990s may have a small triangle following the Tire Identification Number to identify the decade).

And finally, hold on to your sales receipt. Most tire manufacturer’s warranties cover their tires for four years from the date of purchase or five years from the week the tires were manufactured. So if you purchase new tires that were manufactured exactly two years ago they will be covered for a total of six years (four years from the date of purchase) as long as you have your receipt. If you lose your receipt, your tires’ warranty coverage will end five years from the week the tire was produced (resulting in the tire manufacturer’s warranty coverage ending only three years from the date of purchase in this example).

Will My Set of Four Tires All be the Same Age?

Another thing to note when getting new tires or checking your old is that all four tires will most likely not be the exact same age. Three of my new tires were made in the second week of 2008, while the fourth was made in the 21st week. Had any of my tires been manufactured over a year ago, I would have taken them back immediately and demanded a refund. When checking the age of your tires, check all four tires.

My Tires Don’t have a Code on Them!

If you do not see a manufacturing code on your tire, grab a flashlight and slide underneath your car to check the other side. Tire manufacturers want to make it as hard as possible for you to determine your tire’s age, so they’ve inconveniently placed the manufacture date on only one side of your tires.

Why Do Tire Companies Hide the Tires Manufacture Date?

Because they can and it’s profitable to. In many other countries, government works for consumers a little harder on their rights. In the good ole’ USA, big business lobbies against consumer rights and quite often wins. Why would the big tire manufactures want to pull their tires off the shelf to be destroyed?

Take a peek at this very informative video from ABC’s 20/20, in which a hidden video camera was used in tire stores. Some retailers were helpful and informed, others not so much. Some retailers were selling tires as old as 12 years! You have to wonder how much of this is corporate mandate versus ignorance.

It pays to be an informed consumer, both in terms of finance and safety. If you’ve bought old tires recently, hopefully you have save your receipts. Go back to the place you purchased from and see if they’ll swap newly manufactured tires (or demand it). If that doesn’t work, you should at least be able to get a credit towards new tires.

Related Posts:

• Nitrogen Tire Inflation
• How to Check Tire Pressure & Inflate your Tires
• How to Save on Auto Insurance: 11 Discounts

How Old are your Tires? Your Safety may Depend on the Answer is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.

Now that’s an electric vehicle to be proud of. I looked into the 100% electric, zero emission Tesla Roadster a little bit more after writing my last post ‘Who Keeps Killing the Electric Car?’. This thing is sweet! Anyone know where you can test drive one of these? It is guaranteed to make a huge impact on people’s perceptions of what an electric car can be, and already is. Here are some of the amazing specs on the Roadster (in just its first year of production):

Tesla Roadster Specs

• 100% electric with zero emissions
• The Tesla Roadster
• 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds (better than any car in the world with the exception of the Ferrari Enzo) , which trades at over $1,000,000 and has one-eighth of the efficiency)
• 135 mpg equivalent
• 220 miles per charge
• Less than 2 cents cost per mile
• tires and battery are recyclable
• fully charged battery in 3.5 hours
• carbon fiber body
• zero oil
• very little maintenance, with checkups needed only once every 12,000 miles
• 248 horsepower, 13,000 RPM
• top speed of 125 mph (they actually had to cap it, maybe so the police can catch up with you to give you a ticket?)
• heated leather seats with inflatable lumbar support
• touch-screen navigation
• 16″ front, 17″ rear 7 spoke wheels
• 7 speaker, ipod ready, 170 channel satellite stereo

These are just a few of the standard highlights of the Tesla Roadster. There’s one drawback – a price tag of $109,000. Before you laugh, I must say that if you were to find a comparable vehicle in performance, standard features, and looks from one of the luxury manufacturers you’d probably pay just as much or more and wouldn’t get quite the same unique driving experience (or peace of mind in knowing that you’re driving a zero emission vehicle). Who wouldn’t want to jump in this thing and take it for a ride with you? Watch Jay Leno take a ride in one:

It looks like the 2008 Tesla Roadster models are completely sold out, but you can reserve one for 2009. If money wasn’t an issue, I wouldn’t consider any other car. This is one company to rally behind. I wish them the best. For full disclosure, Tesla is NOT paying me, I’m just really pumped about this vehicle! Take a look at the unveiling:

Is the Tesla Roadster Worth its Price?

Of course, none of us truly NEED a vehicle, and being that this is a personal finance blog, I would never suggest spending $109,000 on a vehicle. However, this is a great first step in changing the perceptions of electric vehicles. I would expect that the Tesla Roadster is going to blaze a path in the evolution of electric vehicles being widely accessible and affordable for everyone. In fact, Tesla’s Elon Musk states that “Tesla model 2 will be a 5 door sedan at a $49,000 price point, and Tesla model 3 will be at a $30,000 price point.” Let’s just hope that they refuse all of GM’s bids to buy them out.

Tesla Roaster Discussion:

If you had the cash would you buy this vehicle?

Related Posts:

• Green Matters: Reducing my Commute will Fund my Retirement; 10 Ways you can Save at the Pump!
• Why Skyrocketing Gas Prices are Good for your Finances
• Electric & Hybrid Tax Credits by State
• Tesla S Model
• Chevy Volt Vs. Nissan Leaf

Tesla Roadster: Best Car of 2008 (and it’s 100% Electric) is copyrighted by 20somethingfinance.com without consent to republish.