Composting

Now that I'm finally coming up with topics other than politics, it's time to get back into posting. So let's talk about composting! Get it?

Hey NYC, you know those brown bins that say "Food Scraps & Yard Waste" on them? It turns out (Gothamist) most people have no idea what to do with them! I'm sure you're not one of those people, but in case you aren't positive you're using it right, here's what goes into the bin:

• Anything you could've eaten, but didn't -- stale/moldy bread, fruits/vegetables that went bad, leftovers from meals you can't remember, etc.
• Anything that was part of food -- apple cores, orange peels, avocado pits, bones, eggshells, shrimp tails, etc.
• Paper products that can't be recycled -- paper towels, waxed paper, oily pizza boxes (but you can recycle the top half), messed-up takeout delivery bags, etc.
• Miscellaneous food-related stuff -- single-use chopsticks, wooden skewers, old fry oil, the paper that butter comes wrapped in, etc.
• Yard waste -- Not that we really have yards here, but leaves, twigs, grass, etc. can go in there if you've got them.

Basically, if it died, it can be composted.

Want to know what doesn't go into the bin? Scroll down that Gothamist article I linked above, but essentially: Everything else, and that includes plastic bags!

But doesn't it stink? What, the bin outside? That's why it has a latching lid! Just hold your breath when you dump stuff in.

Or did you mean the pail? Mine doesn't, and here's how I keep it that way:

Firstly, I try to empty it at least once a week. After emptying, I rinse it out in the sink. I wash it with soap and water about once a month.

Secondly, I dust a little baking soda (did you know you can buy it by the bucket?) and lay a single sheet of paper towel on the bottom (I like Bounty select-a-size, they're almost a perfect fit). That keeps anything from sticking, and also prevents the pail from absorbing nasty odors.

And finally, I try to leave it open as much as possible, so it doesn't stay damp and start growing mold or rotting (that's what really stinks).

The only trouble is I leave my pail on the floor, and my dog thinks it's her personal snack box. As soon as something she'd like goes in there I close it, but I don't latch it; she can't get in, and that little bit of air keeps it from smelling.

Happy composting, and bring those plastic bags to the supermarket for recycling!

Note: As an Amazon associate, I may earn a commission from purchases made through links followed from this page.

Mortgages

My wife and I just bought a house on Friday. It's our first house, after living in two different apartments, so we are very excited about finally paying for something that will hold a value. We both feel like we're dumping money into a black hole by paying rent, whereas with a house, each mortgage payment is adding more and more to the portion of the house that we own, instead of the bank.
So today at work, I decided I'd like to see what the payments and whatnot will look like. Like any good computer guy, I built up a nice Excel spreadsheet to list everything out. Turns out the whole mortgage thing is a little frightening! We'll be paying for this house through about 2038, and we'll end up shelling out about 2.25x the purchase price!
Obviously, this got me thinking of ways to pay it off a little early, and so I decided to make the spreadsheet easy for anyone to use. Assuming I can figure out how to post it in here somewhere, I'll release it for everyone to take advantage of...
Update: So it seems Blogspot is unable to accept files other than images/video, nor can I place it into a CDATA section within a text area. So until I find a good hosting service, you'll just have to type this stuff in yourself. Here is how I set up my spreadsheet:

Excel Mortgage Calculator

Across the top starting at cell A1, create bold, centered column headers:

• Year
• Month
• Payment
• Interest Paid
• Principle Paid
• Remaining Balance
• Paid So Far

On the next row, fill in a few of the cells like this:

• 1
• =$J$4
• (Empty)
• (Empty)
• (Empty)
• =$J$1
• (Empty)

On the next row, fill in the cells like this:

• (Empty)
• =DATE(YEAR(B2), MONTH(B2) + 1, DAY(B2))
• =$J$6
• =-IPMT($J$2 / 12, 1, $J$3 * 12, F2)
• =C3-D3
• =F2 - E3
• =SUM($C$3:C3)

Now, copy that last row and paste it into every row through 362. As a shortcut, after copying the row, you can select that whole huge block of cells and paste; they'll all fill in properly. After filling those in, write in the year numbers down column A, one every 12 cells (so cell A2 has "1", A14 has "2", and so on down to "31" in cell A362).
Next, create a small table over on the right side by creating bold labels down column I like this:

• Starting Balance
• Interest Rate
• Term (years)
• Starting Date
• (Empty)
• Monthly Payment

Values for those labels you just created go in column J. For now, just enter "30" for the term, and "=-PMT($J$2 / 12, $J$3 * 12, $J$1)" for the monthly payment.
You're almost done now. Everything would work, but it wouldn't be very legible, so let's do some quick formatting:

• Click on the "B" column to select the whole thing, go to the menu item "Format | Cells", choose "Date" as the category and "Mar-01" as the type.
• Columns C through G get the "Currency" category with negative numbers marked as red and in parenthesis.
• Cells J1 and J6 get the same Currency formatting as columns C-G.
• Cell J2 gets formatting as a Percentage with 3 decimal places.
• Cell J4 gets the same Date formatting as column B.
• Feel free to change the column widths however you like.

To Use

Type in your mortgage terms in the little table at the right. It defaults to 30 years because that is common and it prevents Excel from filling all of the cells with error codes, but you can change the value however you need. The length of the table won't change if you change the term, though, so you may need to copy/paste some new rows or delete/ignore existing rows.
The monthly payment will automatically be calculated based on the values you set above; if it is not the same as your real mortgage, it is probably due to extra fees charged by your bank (such as mortgage insurance), which have nothing to do with your loan payments and are only tacked on for convenience.
Now the table should be listing out how your mortgage will act as you pay it off. To pre-pay portions of it, just change the payment for the month to see how things change. For example, you can save quite a bit of time by paying an extra $1000 per year or by paying as if it was a 20-year loan whenever possible.
I hope this helps all of those other new home-buyers like myself figure out how all this financing stuff works. Please feel free to leave comments on how you like the spreadsheet. I'm sorry I wasn't able to post the original.
2013-04-22 Update: This spreadsheet is completely compatible with OpenOffice and LibreOffice, which is what I use now.
2016-02-28 Update: I have since switched to Google Docs, which means I can make a template so anybody can copy and edit without needing to trust a downloaded MS Office file. Just go here and choose Make a Copy from the File menu. I've changed the formatting a little from what I described above.