Of Coffee, Flight Attendants, and Spaghetti Stirrers

This won’t exactly incite your flight attendant to deploy the emergency exit and slide to the tarmac, but next time you’re flying, pull out a travel mug when they offer coffee, tea or other drinkage. Why? Because that’s what you will do if you aspire to attain the status of green java guerrilla like Sarah Wilson-Jones.

“They looked at me kind of funny, but think of all of the cups they go through on one flight and for the hundreds of travelers every day,” Sarah says, while taking a break in one of her five Phoenix Coffee shops throughout Cleveland, Ohio.

When it comes to sustainable and affordable coffee and tea drinking, she and her husband and master roaster, Carl Jones, know the drill.

To enlist in this merry band of smart coffee drinkers, you must first arm yourself with a travel mug. And you must do whatever it takes to remember to carry it at all times. By doing so, you'll do your part to cut back on waste. Think about it. One cup a day times countless days and years. And that’s just you.

Sarah’s stores – and hopefully the espresso slingers near you – offer a $.10 discount for mug bearers, and a $.10 upcharge for the mug-barren who request disposable, compostable cups. She also offers a $.25 discount for those who bring their own canister or reusable bag when purchasing their coffee beans or tea leaves.

Even if your favorite coffee haunt doesn’t offer discounts for being eco-friendly, packing a travel mug is still a smart practice. And don’t be shy, soldier. Start bugging your baristas to implement some of these savings and practices, too.

Now that you’ve signed up, here are a few more tactics for courageous coffee commandos.  After all, earth-changing times call for aggressive coffee and tea drinking strategies:

● Use coffee or tea grounds as compost on your plants.

● Buy premium teas, especially green and white teas that can be infused twice or more before you do what? Right. Use them for compost.

● Make a giant ‘green impact’ by buying locally roasted Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance coffee.

● Strongly encourage your shop to use washable ceramic mugs and glasses, if they don’t already. “They have a sink, don’t they?” Sarah quips.

● Just as strongly encourage your cappuccino carriers to make real spoons available for stirring to eliminate disposable stirrers. Sarah says she’s heard of one shop using uncooked linguine noodles as stirrers, which are at least compostable. And interesting. Washable spoons, however, save waste.

● If you can employ burlap bags for mulching cloth, art, kids crafts, three-legged races or other purposes, inquire if they keep the coffee bags at their roastery. Phoenix even gives the chaff that gets separated in the roasting process to a local farmer for compost.

Photo credit: Nevit Dilmen

Christopher Johnston has written for American Theatre, Cleveland, Continental, Crain’s Cleveland Business, Editor & Publisher, The Plain Dealer, Progressive Architecture and Urban Design, and Scientific American, among other publications. He is currently writing a biography of Frederick C. Crawford, founding chairman of TRW Inc. As an avocation, he is a playwright and director, and this December, his play APORKALYPSE! will premier at convergence-continuum theatre in Cleveland.

Business Credit Cards: Are They Worth It?

Watch your mailbox. You could be getting applications for small business credit cards – even if you aren’t a business owner. A recent Wall Street Journal article points out that card issuers appear to be increasing their marketing of business cards – even to consumers who work for someone else. Sometimes camouflaged in vague terms like “professional” cards, these cards come with a serious disadvantage for the cardholder:

Business credit cards are not covered by the Credit CARD Act.

 

That means issuers can raise rates with little advance notice (and apply them retroactively), charge higher penalty fees, play with floating due dates, and do all those fun things they used to do with consumer credit cards before those tactics were outlawed. 

So why on earth would anyone want a small business credit card? Believe it or not, there are a few good reasons:

Business Card Pros:

Protect your personal credit scores. With the notable exception of Capital One, which has chosen to report business card activity on personal credit reports, most business credit cards aren't reported on personal credit reports unless you default. That means if your business can't afford to pay the bill in full each month, the fact that you are carrying a balance won't weigh down your personal credit scores. (Speaking of credit scores, you should expect to see an inquiry on at least one of your personal credit reports, since most of these cards require a personal credit check.)

Separate your business and personal finances: If you actually do own a business, keeping your business and personal purchases separate can be crucial for tax purposes. Having a dedicated business card makes this easier, though another alternative would be to use a personal card strictly for business purchases. Again, though, the activity on a personal card affects your personal credit scores, for better or for worse. 

Rich rewards:  You may find richer rewards on some small business credit cards. American Express, for example, is well known for both catering to small businesses, as well as offering solid rewards. The CitiBusiness AAdvantage Visa card gives 30,000 AAdvantage bonus miles if you make $750 in purchases the first four months. That's not hard to do if you are funding a new business.

Business Card Cons

Open yourself to the old tricks and traps. You can read our Consumer Guide to the Credit CARD Act here if you want more details about the practices that Congress banned on consumer cards. But I'll say it again: The CARD Act does not apply to business accounts. And that includes cards marketed to non-business owners as “professional” cards – at least for the time being. (I can see the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau having fun with this one.)

Note: Bank of America has stated they will extend many of the Credit CARD Act provisions to their business cards. A Capital One spokesperson is quoted in the WSJ article as saying that Capital One has applied many CARD Act protections to its business cards, but when I look at their web site, their card offers still list penalty fees that are now illegal on consumer cards.

We've said it before and we'll say it again. Just because the CARD Act protections are in place doesn't mean we can rest easy. There are still plenty of traps to watch out for.

 

 

Gerri Detweiler – Personal finance author and Credit Advisor for Credit.com, Gerri contributes budgeting, debt recovery and savings information online. She is also the co-author of a new ebook, Business Credit Success: Get on the Financing Fast Track.

 

Save Money and Have Fun Making Ginger Ale at Home

For the last couple of years, I've been making my own fermented foods – yogurt, sauerkraut and kombucha. It isn't hard to do, requires little in the way of expensive equipment and the results are usually delicious. As a bonus, my home made versions are much cheaper than their commercial counterparts, too. I can make a pint of kombucha for about 5 cents (the only purchased ingredients are sugar and tea bags), compared to the three bucks most stores charge for the stuff.

My kids like the yogurt I make, but they refuse to eat the sauerkraut or drink the kombucha. Last week, however, I started making a fermented beverage that they love: ginger ale. The great thing about home made ginger ale is that it uses real ginger (a lot of the store bought stuff has artificial flavors) and it uses real cane sugar instead of the cloying, goopy high-fructose corn syrup found in most soft drinks today. The other benefit is that you can experiment with the recipe until you find something that suits you.

I started making ginger ale after my friend Orli sent me this recipe she found online. The first time I made it was a bit of a disaster. I substituted 1/2 cup of honey (which came from the beehive I keep in our backyard) for the 1 cup of sugar the recipe calls for. After combining the ingredients, I poured the mixture in one of those swivel-topped bottles that fancy French lemonade comes in. I set the bottles on the kitchen counter for 24 hours and let the yeast work its magic.

Because I was unsure about the amount of fizziness the ginger ale would have, I put the bottle in the sink before uncorking it. With one hand over the top of the bottle to serve as a splash guard, I lifted the lever. A powerful jet of frothy ginger ale whooshed from the bottle, rebounding off my hand and splashing forcefully into the sink. The hissing fountain lasted for several seconds. The atomized beverage, strong with the essence of ginger, stung my eyes and my lungs. When the eruption subsided there was just a few ounces of liquid remaining in the bottle. I poured it into a glass and took a sip. There was no sweetness, and curiously, not much of a ginger taste either. I asked my wife to sip it and she almost gagged. She said it had an intolerable sulfur smell and taste. I hadn't noticed it but when I tasted it again I could sort of convince myself that there was a sulfurous tang.

I figured I'd used too much yeast, so for the next batch I used just an 1/8 of a teaspoon for one half gallon of ginger ale. I also used plastic screw top bottles instead of the lemonade bottle. I used a cup of sugar and about one-and-a-half times as much ginger as before.

24 hours later, I slowly unscrewed the lid, relieving the pressure gradually. It took over a minute for the pressure to subside. But the wait was worth it. The ginger ale was tangy, sweet, crisp and effervescent. Everyone in the family declared it a success.

And so, here is the modified recipe that I'm happy with:

2 tablespoons of grated ginger (50 cents)

1 cup white sugar (30 cents)

1 whole lemon (I get them free from a tree, but they cost about 25 cents in the store)

1/8 teaspoon or even less of yeast (less than ten cents)

A half gallon of filtered water

1. With a funnel, pour sugar and yeast into the bottle.

2. Finely grate the ginger and place in a measuring cup.

3. Squeeze the lemon's juice into the measuring cup and mix with the ginger.

4. Pour the mixture through the funnel into the bottle. Use a straw to push the pulp into the bottle. Put cap on and shake until sugar is dissolved. Set the bottle in a warm (not hot) place for 24 hours.

5. Open cap slowly. Pour into glass with ice and enjoy.

(I happen to like the ginger pulp, but you can use a strainer if you prefer not to have it.)

The price of a 750ml bottle of premium ginger ale, such as Reed's, is about $4.50. My ginger ale costs about 85 cents for the same amount and I think it tastes fresher and better. Making ginger ale is fun, easy, economical and delicious. I'll keep doing it.

Mark Frauenfelder – Editor-in-chief of MAKE magazine and the founder of the popular Boing Boing weblog, Mark was an editor at Wired from 1993-1998 and is the founding editor of Wired Online.

Reader Mail: Getting Out of Private Student Loan Hell

Following my recent post on how to ease your student loan burden, a reader wrote in asking for advice on how to better manage her private student loans, which are a bigger annoyance in some ways than federal loans.

           Dear Farnoosh,

I was hoping you would have some advice for people like me who have about 50K in private student loans. Yes I know, it’s crazy. My monthly payments are almost $500 a month (that could have been a really nice savings account) but I’m BARELY making the minimum payments. Please, please, please tell me there is something I can do to help my newly engaged, looking to buy a house, then get married but have no money-self.

P.S. This was all acquired from my culinary degree, which coincidentally the school from which I graduated no longer has a culinary program!!

Greatly Appreciated, Nicole

Dear Nicole,

To answer your question, there is something you can do. In fact, there are several things you can do. But before I give you advice, I need you to accept the following: This debt is only your responsibility and you must make paying it down a top priority. Realize that at the end of the day, unfortunately, no one is obligated to help you ease this burden. I know you’re frustrated and regret taking on this debt, but if you want to turn this ship around you need to take control of the situation and raise your commitment level to these loans. Otherwise you risk putting a great deal more at risk, including your ability to afford a wedding and own a home.

Here’s my honest advice, which has less to do with actually modifying your loans and more to do with modifying your lifestyle and making some key changes in your income and budget. Bottom line: No one cares more about your financial situation than you.

Boost income. Since you can barely make the minimum payments, it’s fair to say that you have an income problem. You have a $500-a-month dilemma. So what can you do in your spare time to bring in that money? With your culinary degree can you cater a couple of extra parties a month? Host private cooking classes? What else can you easily and quickly do? Babysit? Tutor? Freelance food and recipe articles? Embrace the fact that you’re young and educated. The job market is rough right now but by taking on an entrepreneurial spirit you can find a way to add a revenue stream or two.

Reduce spending. While you’re looking for ways to make money, take a long and hard look at your spending. What’s coming in and what’s going out? Why are you barely able to make the minimum on your student loans? What’s eating up your income on a monthly basis? It may not be one category of spending. It could be a collection of expenses from eating out to your rent to your gym membership to your cable bill. You need to make some adjustments. Substituting your gym membership, for example, for free runs in the park or free online workout classes, can save you $75 a month right there. This probably isn’t the advice you wanted to hear, but it’s the one sure-fire way you can personally take control of the situation.

Speak with your lender. If you haven’t done so already, it may be worth speaking to your lender about any alternatives to the current loan program you are in. Is there a way to stretch the repayment period? Or consolidate your loans to one loan with a reduced interest rate? You won’t know unless you ask.

Don’t miss any payments. The biggest danger of all is falling behind. I’ve seen scenarios where a $10,000 private loan balloons to $30,000 because of late or totally neglected monthly payments. If all you can afford is the monthly minimum right now, then stick with the minimum. Once you start making more money and reduce your spending you’ll have extra savings to play. At that point, put more money toward the principal of the loan.

 

Farnoosh Torabi – Credit.com Personal Finance Contributor, nationally recognized author, expert and television host. Her first book, You're So Money, is an acclaimed tell-all for young adults searching for financial independence. Her new book Psych Yourself Rich, gives readers the mindset and discipline to build their financial life.

Lessons from the Gilded Age, Part 3: Parties

Today we’re going to party like it’s 1897. So, pretend you’re loaded. No, I mean with money. Though alcohol fueled many of the Gilded Age’s most deliciously decadent moments. Like the evening when former president Ulysses S. Grant was so lit up at a party in New York that he stuck the lit end of his cigar into his mouth.

No, I mean pretend you’re so loaded that you can drop $8.5 million on one big blowout ball, just to show everyone else in society that you could outdo Caroline Astor, as Cornelia Bradley-Martin did. Then, when the press denounces you for this outrageously self-indulgent abuse of privilege, you move to England. But not before throwing a farewell party at the Waldorf-Astoria for your closest friends, and spending $2,668 per plate as one last slap at your detractors. 

      Bradley-Martin Ball of 1897. Harpers image via Wikipedia

This would be an appropriate time to give another tip of my metaphorical top hat to Greg King’s magnificent chronicling of the wonderful and wacky wealthy in his book, A Season of Splendor.

And here’s our lesson: If you’re going to throw a party, realize it’s not about how much you spend on your family and friends, but how much you value them.

What people enjoy and remember most is the engaging company and conversation shared. Yes, you want a few bottles of good wine and some tasty food, but again, this can be achieved without having to close all of your off-shore bank accounts.

If nothing else, our Gilded Ones teach us that too much money can devour all rationality from your brain. By the early 1900s, much to Madam Astor’s abhorrence, her exceedingly rich colleagues had perfected their pursuit of decadence with exquisite relish.

In the here’s-your-brain-on-mad-money category, one couple threw a Circus Ball, where an elephant wandered the house solely so that guests could feed it peanuts. Then there was the acclaimed Dog Dinner. Of the 200 guests, 100 were lavishly costumed canines accessorized with jewels such as a $315,000 diamond-studded collar. Liveried servants, of course, served a three-course feast of “stewed liver and rice, fricassee of bones, and specially baked biscuits.”

Even if you are fortunate enough to earn an income in league with the Astors and the Vanderbilts, just because you make a lot of money doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money. Like my cousin’s husband always says, “Save till it hurts, then save some more.”

Or invest, donate, pay down debt… Just don’t go crazy on those cotillions.

After all, our Gilded Agers were so enamored of turtle soup at their constant sumptuous soirees that they are single-handedly credited with driving the terrapin to extinction.

Christopher Johnston has written for American Theatre, Cleveland, Continental, Crain’s Cleveland Business, Editor & Publisher, The Plain Dealer, Progressive Architecture and Urban Design, and Scientific American, among other publications. He is currently writing a biography of Frederick C. Crawford, founding chairman of TRW Inc. As an avocation, he is a playwright and director, and this December, his play APORKALYPSE! will premier at convergence-continuum theatre in Cleveland.

Let Family be Family, Leave the Lending Business to the Banks

I remember when I was in high school and Friday night rolled around.  As most 17-year-olds, I was as broke as an old clock.  And, WOW, what $20 could buy in 1985.  So like most young kids do, I asked Banco Padres (the parent's bank) for $20 on a regular basis.  And it wasn't a loan for $20, because if it was then I defaulted on every single one of them.

So when is it time to stop asking family and friends for money?  It's my opinion that you should never, ever ask anyone other than a bank or some other form of official lender for money, ever.  Here's why...

1. Most "loans" are paid back under the terms of a promissory note.  Borrowing dough from mom and dad is not.  It's paid back under some loose assumption of terms, which often leads to misunderstandings and hurt feelings.  And nothing makes Thanksgiving dinner more uncomfortable than the elephant in the room, which is "the guy carving the turkey owes me $10,000."  


2. Co-signing is a temptation, which is fraught with peril.  Co-signing for a loan or anything for that matter is the financial equivalent of getting married.  You are officially connected and getting disconnected, which might seem really attractive, is next to impossible.  Lenders love two liable parties instead of just one.


3. "He who gets gypped has the memory of an elephant."  Notwithstanding the fact that I've now mentioned elephants twice in this article, the quote rings true.  I can't remember who gave me what at my wedding, but I sure can remember the folks who gave us nothing.  It's human tendency to remember these things and nothing is worse than the constant memory of getting ripped off, by a loved one.


4. Save the lending to the lenders.  Lenders are expected to be cut throats.  They'll report you to the credit bureaus, hire collectors to track you down, and might even sue you for delinquencies.  Do you really want to put your loved ones in that position?

Here's my suggestion, if you are seriously thinking of letting someone borrow money, just let them have it.  That way there's no expectation of getting paid back so there are no hurt feelings when the checks don't roll in.  But even then I'd think twice.  You're enabling irresponsibility by letting someone borrow or have money, plain and simple.  True example, a buddy of mine's father in-law borrowed $100,000 from my buddy's father.  He did this under the guise of saving his home and business.  Of course after he renewed his country club membership with a sizable chunk of the money it became quite obvious that he had no intention of handling the money as he had represented.

Let the banks be banks.  You be a friend or relative...and neither the two shall (or should) meet.

John Ulzheimer – Credit scoring and credit reporting expert and author, John is the President of Consumer Education for Credit.com. Formerly with Equifax and Fair Isaac, John shares his unique insight of the inner workings of credit scoring models and the credit reporting industry on CreditBloggers.com.

Small Credit Card Charges Could Mean a Big Problem

You see a small charge on your credit card you don’t recognize.

What do you do?

Small charges you don’t recognize can be a sign of a bigger problem. The New York Times takes a look at a lawsuit filed in March by the Federal Trade Commission, which claims that during the past four years, scammers raked in more than $10 million by putting small bogus charges – ranging from twenty cents to $9 – on consumers’ credit and debit cards. And in a scheme that apparently has dragged out for more than a year, scammers have made fake $1 purchases on iTunes customers' accounts, only to follow up with increasingly larger ones, sometimes totaling hundreds of dollars.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

An unknown charge could mean your account was compromised. Or it could just be that you don’t recognize the name of the company billing you for a purchase you made. After all, merchants have a limited number of characters with which to describe their products and services on statements, and those descriptions can be cryptic.

So what should you do when you find an odd charge on your credit or debit card statement? Here’s how I would handle it:

1.    Call the merchant to find out whether the charge is for an item you actually purchased. If the phone call doesn’t clear it up,

2.    Call your credit card company and file a dispute.

3.    If you believe your card number has been compromised – especially in the case of a debit card – cancel the card and ask for a replacement with a new number.

Remember, under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act, the most you can be held liable for is $50 in unauthorized purchases, and that's only if the card was physically presented in the transaction. Most card companies won't even hold you responsible for that if you notified them of the fraud promptly.

However, you have to read your statements to identify fraudulent charges – especially the small ones that are easy to overlook.

Gerri Detweiler – Personal finance author and Credit Advisor for Credit.com, Gerri contributes budgeting, debt recovery and savings information online. She is also the co-author of Reduce Debt, Reduce Stress: Real Life Solutions for Your Credit Crisis.

8 Ways to Ease the Student Loan Burden

A friend of mine just graduated from business school with six-figure loans totaling just over $1,000 in monthly payments. That’s more than his car loan, more than his rent, more than his monthly Visa bill.

At present, student loan debt has eclipsed credit card debt. According to a Wall Street Journal report, outstanding student loans – both private and public – amount to nearly $830 million. The report cites Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of Finaid.org and Fastweb.com. As a borrower, if you fall into that category, there’s no doubt that you may need help, fast.

Consider this advice:

Pay Down the Principal. The best way to get out of any kind of debt quickly is to pay it off aggressively and chop down the principal. When you boost income (which I’ll discuss how below) or get a lump sum of cash for your birthday or year-end bonus, pre-commit to putting at least 50% of that windfall toward your debt. Make sure you direct that extra payment toward the principal, not the interest (a common mistake).

Stay the Course. If you can only afford the minimum payment, don’t worry. More importantly, don’t ever miss a student loan payment since there is no statute of limitations on how far lenders can go to retrieve your payments, including garnishing your wages or taking money out of your tax returns. This can also put a big dent in your credit score and credit report.

Peg Payment to Income. If you have federal student loans, you may qualify for Income-Based Repayment (IBR), a program that helps borrowers cap their loan payments based on their income and family size. For most qualifying borrowers, IBR loan payments will amount to less than 10% of their income. The program will also forgive any remaining student loan debt after 25 years of making payments.

Work in Public Service. The Department of Education has also begun a program called Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), again, strictly for federal loan borrowers. If you work full-time for a “public service” employer such as a non-profit, AmeriCorps, PeaceCorps, the military or a government agency, PLSF may forgive your remaining debt after 10 years of employment and making on-time payments. During this time the IBR plan can help make your loan payments affordable.

Get a Gig. If you can’t get a raise at work, try to boost your income outside your 9 to 5 with part-time or freelance work, like child care, pet sitting, adult care, home care and tutoring (try sittercity.com or sitters.com) to online technical work (visit elance.com and freelanceswitch.com) to selling goods online (visit etsy.com, ebay.com and gazelle.com). Take it from me: I babysat, bird-sat and wrote freelance articles while working a full-time job out of graduate school, which helped me pay down my student loans in 3 years, instead of 10.

Shorten the Term. See if the bank will reduce the term or repayment period on your student loan. You’ll get out of debt faster but, of course, you’ll need to shore up more money each month. Or talk to your lender to see if there’s an alternative program that can help you keep your head above water temporarily.

Deduct It. You can deduct up to $2,500 in student loan interest from your taxable income and any savings you make can go toward paying down your debt.

Transfer Debt to a Personal Loan. If you get an offer to open a private loan with a lower rate than your existing student loan, consider transferring the debt. This is easier said than done (which is why it’s my last tip). Transferring debt to a loan product with a lower rate will lower your monthly minimums but you’ll need superb credit to qualify. But don’t fall into the trap of paying the lower monthly minimum or you may stretch the life of the loan for several more years, paying more interest in the long run. Psychologically this may not be the best solution for some folks.

Farnoosh Torabi – Credit.com Personal Finance Contributor, nationally recognized author, expert and television host. Her first book, You're So Money, is an acclaimed tell-all for young adults searching for financial independence. Her new book Psych Yourself Rich, gives readers the mindset and discipline to build their financial life.

New Credit Card Laws: Final Phase Begins

The third and final phase of the Credit Card Act of 2009 went into effect yesterday, on Aug. 22. And while most of the provisions went into effect in February of this year, the remaining provisions include some pretty significant changes that you should know about.

To help explain what these final changes mean for you, Adam Levin, chairman and founder of Credit.com, was invited to appear yesterday on ABC's Good Morning America. Watch the clip to hear more about the final changes pertaining to credit card fees, the new 6-month interest rate review mandate and new gift card rules that went into effect yesterday:

Fee Changes:

• Credit card issuers cannot charge you an inactivity fee for not using your card, including fees for not charging a certain amount each month.


• Credit card issuers cannot charge you a late fee greater than your minimum payment.

Interest Rate Reviews:

• If your rate was increased because of late payments, you must be given the opportunity to earn back your previous rate. By paying your account on time for six consecutive months, your credit card issuer must lower your interest rate back to the rate it was before the increase.

• If your rate was increased after January 1, 2009 for any reason, beginning in February 2011, your card issuer must review your account every six months to determine whether the reasons behind the rate increase still apply. If not, they must reduce the rate, though there is no specific amount by which it must be lowered.

Gift Card Changes:

• Gift cards, prepaid cards and gift certificates cannot expire within five years of activation, unless the terms and expiration are clearly disclosed before it’s purchased. If you load additional funds onto a card, the five year expiration period is extended by five years.

Thanks to the CARD Act, consumers are no longer solely at the mercy of their credit card issuer's whims. If you'd like more information on the CARD Act and want to know what changes you'll see with each provision, be sure to check out Credit.com's Consumer Guide: How the Credit CARD Act of 2009 Affects You.

Lessons from the Gilded Age, Part 2: House Rich?

Contemplating buying a bigger home or funding a refurbishment of an existing one?  This week's lesson from the Gilded Age looks to George Vanderbilt and the unsustainable housing practices of his era for inspiration on what not to do.

If you possess ranked-by-Fortune-magazine money, you want a comfortable home... or two. And you should. But, if you have to spend $70,000 in 1889 dollars or $1.4 million today to build a railroad spur to transport construction supplies to the site, you should probably think twice, no matter how much you’re worth. Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Vanderbilt?

       Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Nevertheless, George was the man who built Biltmore in Ashville, North Carolina, a strange and sad tale of uber opulence that is beautifully detailed in Greg King’s book, A Season of Splendor. Construction lasted six years, and at its peak cost $900,000 a day. Total cost for the 175,000-square-foot, 255-room mansion with an 800-foot-long façade on 125,000 acres was $6 million then, $120 million now. More than 100 years later, it remains the largest private house in America.

Old George’s experience reflects what many of us less-rich know: Contractors can let you down, no matter how gilded your age or your cage.

For instance, one morning, George learned that despite having spent millions on his manse, the plumbing had broken. He did what any self-respecting Gilded Age home owner would do, he departed for a tiger hunt in India.

According to one account at the time that King cites, George had actually learned that the troubles at Biltmore ran deeper than bad pipes: “The sunken foundation, the cracked marbles, the idle sawmill, the unproductive dairy farm, the expensive forestry school, the unprofitable truck farm, and all the failures that had been pointed out came rushing in on him. He could have stood all of these, but he could not stand this climax: he had spent $10 million on Biltmore, and he could not get a drink of water.”

So you have all of this money – $260 million in today’s dollars when he started the project – but you feel that you should build this immense monument to your wealth. Whether it’s a Gilded Age mansion or a suburban McMansion, it’s not necessarily the best use of your funds.

When George died prematurely from a ruptured appendix in 1914 at the age of 52, his net worth had dwindled to $23 million ($1 million then), all from “having expended his life and his fortune on the great baronial chateau in the wilds of North Carolina.”

Nothing wrong with having your home represent a significant portion of your net worth. But don’t get carried away like Old George did. Sure, it’s now a popular tourist destination, but it didn’t bring him the joy and serenity that a house should give its owner. Ultimately, that’s what makes a house a sustainable home.

Perhaps, Mr. Vanderbilt, you should have named it Biltbetter.

Credit.com's mortgage calculators can help you determine how much house you can afford to buy.

Christopher Johnston has written for American Theatre, Cleveland, Continental, Crain’s Cleveland Business, Editor & Publisher, The Plain Dealer, Progressive Architecture and Urban Design, and Scientific American, among other publications. He is currently writing a biography of Frederick C. Crawford, founding chairman of TRW Inc. As an avocation, he is a playwright and director, and this December, his play APORKALYPSE! will premier at convergence-continuum theatre in Cleveland.