Edith Ann | 08/01/2008 1:45 pm

Life in the Little Lane: Edith Ann Gets 50 Cents Back on a Dollar

Mom and Dad were real worried about all our lifetime savings being in this bank that is in big, big trouble. Mom said that she read that we might not be able to get all our money out. So they had to call the bank.

They called over and over again before Dad finally got through to someone who would explain what was happening to our savings. Daddy got real red in the face and hung up very upset. He said to Mom, “We’ll be lucky if we get 50 cents back on a dollar.” I cannot believe this. We give the bank our life’s savings and the bank gives us back just enough for my allowance.

I have thought about this a lot and I’ve decided I am not going to take any allowance anymore. It’s the least I can do.

Not only that but I have decided I’m going to get a job after school this fall. Maybe a lemonade stand would be a way I could help out. Yes, I make good lemonade. The secret is to use real lemons and a few limes — with some of Mom’s Crystal Light. Delicious and not fattening. All the grownups and their kids are fat and need to lose weight.

I could make a lot, I bet, and pretty soon we would have some new life’s savings to put back in the bank. Only this time I will insist that we go to another bank!

About the lemonade: How much should I charge? Should I sell cookies, too? If so, what kind? —Edith Ann

Read more about: Edith Ann, Humor, Illustrations, IndyMac, Life in the Little Lane, Money

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Dear Edith Ann How sweet of you to give up your allowance! I think a lemonade stand is a grand idea! I would suggest you sell lemonade by the glass for, hmmm, 25 cents? Or you could brand it, call it lemon latte and charge $3!! Now that would be helpful to your Mom and Dad. Cookies are a good idea too (not peanut butter even though that is my favorite) or maybe a biscotti?! And you could charge more for that. Don’t worry that the price is a bit high a lot of people seem to really enjoy paying more. Good Luck Edith!

By kim speight on 08/01/2008 1:11 pm

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Hi, Kim. Thanks for your ideas but to be honest, My lemonade is not good enough to charge $3 dollars, no matter what I I call it. Although Lemonade Latte has a nice sound to it so I may use it as a marketing trick but I will have to make it less the $3 dollars because once people tasted it, they would never come back for seconds at such a high price.By the way, what is a biscotti? And do you have an easy recipe? Edith

By Edith Ann on 08/02/2008 3:49 pm

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HI Edith Ann. Getting a job to help your family is a wonderful idea. My little girl wanted to work so much that she took our old barely-working plain old manual lawnmower and went from house to house asking people if they wanted their lawns mowed. Some did! And she made enough to buy herself some of the little things we could not afford for her. I was very proud of her. And your parents will be proud of you, too. You asked about biscotti. It’s very much like a cookie, but it’s a little like crunchy bread, too, only sweeter. Part if its name — the first two letters, “bi,” — mean “two,” because these little biscuits or cookies get backed twice — once as a loaf, and once sliced up into their long slender shapes. Here’s a recipe (below), but you may need some help with it. Making cookies can be hard work. • 3/4 cup sugar • 2 cups flour • 3 eggs • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder • 1/2 tsp cinnamon • 1 1/2 cups whole unblanched almonds • 2 tsp vanilla • Preparation: Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Add almonds. In another small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla. Fold egg mixture into the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until dough is stiff. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and split in two. Roll each piece into a log around the same length as your baking sheet. Place the logs on the baking sheet and flatten slightly. Make sure to leave plenty of room between them. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let cool. Leave the oven on. Slice each log into 1/3” slices diagonally. Place (cut side down) on the baking sheet. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until crispy. From http://coffeetea.about.com/od/biscotti/r/tuscanbisc.htm

By rocky rocky on 08/02/2008 7:23 pm

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Rocky Rocky, this recipe seems a little hard, since I don’t know blanched or unblanched almonds are, but thanks anyway.Edith.

By Edith Ann on 08/05/2008 3:55 pm

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You’re right, Edith Ann. Life is too complicated as it is. Next time your mom thinks about going to the bakery section at the supermarket, mention biscotti. Bet they’ll have some. Good night, now, Little One. Sweet dreams.

By rocky rocky on 08/05/2008 8:34 pm

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Greetings Edith Ann. I hope life isn’t serving you too many lemons. At the rate the economy is plummeting, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we could have a bank panic similar to the one that occurred in 1933, although not on the same scale. More than 4,000 banks went belly-up that year. We also saw a lot of banks get into trouble in the early 1990s’s during the savings & loan crisis. Bush II signed deposit-insurance reform into law in 2006, which created the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF). So, now, when failures occur like the collapse of the IndyMac Bank last month, and the FDIC has to repay depositors, it comes out of the DIF. The IndyMac failure will cost the DIF up to $8 billion, from what I’ve read, which would be 10% of the entire fund! So, anyone who really believes their money is safe in the bank in case of a depression, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

By James the Game on 08/01/2008 2:19 pm

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James, Hey, thanks fpr the history and math lesson. I’m pretty good at both but I didn’t know about the things you talked about. And don’ worry about me holding my breath. Once when I got angry, I did this once and blacked out. So I don’t do this any more even though I get real angy when I think of our family losing our life’s savings. I still get angry but I keep right on breathing. Edith

By Edith Ann on 08/02/2008 3:41 pm

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When I was 8 years old, E.A., I took 700 pennies down to Old Kent Bank and opened a passbook savings account. I remember my mother started storing extra food in the house in 1973-4 during the recession. She’d lived through the Great Depression as a child. Hope you didn’t mind the math/history lesson; I promise not to give you any homework! Cheers.

By James the Game on 08/03/2008 12:11 am

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edith ann, james and everybody else, here is an article about how the government cooks its numbers for our consumption: http://harpers.org/archive/2008/05/0082023

By mary lou s on 08/03/2008 11:27 pm

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Yeah, around 1974, when my mother started stocking extra cans of food because of her concerns about the recession, we also started saving quarters that were minted before 1965, because they had less copper in them before 1965.The U.S. half-dollar, dollar, dimes & quarters minted 1964 and before are made out of 90% silver. They are selling at nearly 10 times the face value. Speaking of how things are cooked, I just read an interesting blurb by a food author named Michael Pollan, who says the food industry is duping us. Here’s a snippet of what he had to say about why it’s so complicated to read nutrition labels anymore: “If you go to the store, you can buy a pound of oats, organic oats, for 79 cents. There’s no money in that, because it doesn’t have any brand identification. It’s a commodity, and the prices of commodity are constantly falling over time. So you make money by processing it, adding value to it. So you take those oats, and you turn them into Cheerios, and then you can charge four bucks for that 79 cents — and actually even less than that, a few pennies of oats. And then after a few years, Cheerios become a commodity. You know, everyone’s ripping off your little circles. And so, you have to move to the next thing, which are like cereal bars. And now there’s cereal straws, you know, that your kids are supposed to suck milk through, and then they eat the straw. It’s made out of the cereal material. It’s extruded. So, you see, every level of further complication gives you some intellectual property, a product no one else has, and the ability to charge a whole lot more for these very cheap raw ingredients.”

By James the Game on 08/03/2008 11:48 pm

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I thought something like that was going on, didn’t you, mary lou?

By Edith Ann on 08/06/2008 8:13 pm

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I thought something like that was going on, didn’t you, mary lou?

By Edith Ann on 08/06/2008 8:13 pm

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Hey Edith. This is a great lesson for all of us to follow—when life hands you lemons, make lemonade!

By Serena . on 08/01/2008 2:55 pm

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Edith, on second thought, you might make more money if you forget the lemonade and the cookies. Here’s what you do—since your dad isn’t drinking anymore, borrow some of his Vodka. Ron White says, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Then find someone who’s life has given them vodka, and have a party.” But, forget the party, you could make a small fortune here—just don’t get caught cause you’re too young to be serving alcohol.

By Serena . on 08/01/2008 3:07 pm

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Hey, Serena, Have you already had a nip of vodka. It’s a good idea but my dad didn’t stop drinking until he’d used up every drop of alcohol in the house. WE have two cans of frozen marguarita mix which I could spike the lemonade with. What do you think.

By Edith Ann on 08/02/2008 3:57 pm