Dear Mary: My wife and I inherited a small printing business 40 years ago and have run it successfully ever since. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years, but we continue to survive. Now we need to upgrade our equipment to remain competitive. We need to purchase a digital production press. With supplies, training and shipping the cost will be about $20,000.

The problem is that we do not have that amount of money to buy the press and our credit seems to be holding us back from getting a loan. We are confident that with the increased business the press will generate, we can pay it back, in the same way we have paid for all of our other machines and equipment.

Is there any lender you know of who will consider our 40 years of success and the potential we have for increasing our business?

Thank you and God bless all that you do to help others. –Jack P., Pennsylvania

Dear Jack: Your situation may be ideal for funding through Lending Club, a peer-to-peer network that was founded in 2007. Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is fairly new to the world of personal finance. Think of it as cutting out the banks, which it is. In P2P lending, people like you and me lend money to people like you and me. This cuts the banks out of the loop all together resulting in lower rates for creditworthy borrowers better rates of interest for savvy investors than any of us can get at banks or credit unions.

At the Lending Club, potential borrowers fill out a loan application and submit it online. A committee looks at the application and applicants’ credit reports. If approved, the committee determines the fixed rate of interest that you will pay. Then your loan it is posted for funding.

As an investor, I can go online and agree to participate in funding your loan. Let’s say that I have $50 to deposit into my account at Lending Club. I can choose to “lend” all of it to help fund one borrower’s loan, or I can divvy it up (diversify) amount a number of different borrowers. I choose what rate of interest I want to earn, which correlates directly to the amount of risk I’m willing to take. The riskier the borrower, the greater the interest rate available to investors.

Should you be approved for funding, it’s likely that hundreds of Lending Club investors will fund your loan in small increments like $20 each. That way investors can fund many loans with small amounts rather than putting all of their eggs into one basket.

Amazingly, Lending Club, which is fully FDIC-insured and regulated by the same federal laws that regulate U.S. banks, funds more than $100 million in loans every month—far more than its closest P2P competitor, Prosper.com.

To demonstrate how much I like the idea of peer-to-peer lending, I’ll make you an offer: If you apply for a loan to buy that new piece of equipment by clicking on this LendingClub.com link–and your loan is approved for funding–I will personally be one of the investors that helps you to upgrade your business.

When your loan appears for funding on LendingClub.com, send me a note. Once I am able to verify that your loan came through this link, I will invest in it.

Question: Have you considered social lending as an alternative to dealing with a traditional bank or credit union?

This column Social Lending Benefits Borrowers and Investors is today's post at Mary Hunt's Everyday Cheapskate blog.

Yesterday I found a surprise on the front porch—a dutifully-delivered telephone book, complete with Yellow Pages and the old familiar “white” ones, too, a term I used advisedly as that color is anything but white.

Am I the only one who thought telephone books went out with VCRs? Apparently they have not because someone out there is spending a ton of money to produce and deliver them. Which begs the question, “What to do with a perfectly good telephone book?” Today’s first tipster begs to answer.

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SHRED BED. Whether for cushioning a package or lining an animal’s bed, shredded phone book paper produces a nice soft shred. A great new use for clean but outdated or unused phone books. — Linda

AUTOMATIC BONUS. For online bill paying we use a credit card to pay for everything. We use the points to get gift cards and travel or cash to pay towards the card. It’s like getting an extra bonus. We schedule the card to be paid in full monthly, so no worries on interest charges. — Kathleen

SAVING LIKE MAD. My husband and I take the money we save using coupons at the grocery store and place it in our “mad money” container. We also add any spare change to the container, too. It is amazing how it adds up when you actually save this money. Our mad money has funded weekend getaways, special purchases and savings for a grandchild’s education. — Jan

ALL-PURPOSE ALOE. Instead of buying lotions and creams, after-sun, sunburn remedies or expensive products for facial complexions, I buy 100 percent pure aloe vera. It is all-natural (check the ingredient list to make sure there’s only one ingredient) and it smooths, soothes and heals skin quickly. Aloe vera works wonders and I only have to buy one product for multiple issues. If you can’t find it at your favorite stores, look for it at a health food store. — Valerie

WINE WITH A PURPOSE. I’ve found that an empty wine bottle works wonders for my neglected plants. Filled with water and shoved upside-down into the dirt, it’s like watering—only different. My plants suck the water out of the bottles at their own individual rate and that’s helped me reduce my plant maintenance to once a week. I have several tomato plants in my backyard garden that like this method, too. And, emptying a wine bottle is a bunch more fun for me than going to the store and buying glass watering globes for $5. My “glass globes” come with wine in them and when empty, hydrate my plants. It’s a win-win situation. — Kim

SNEAKY MOM. I trick my picky children into eating the bread “heels” by turning them inside out in a sandwich. My girls are none the wiser. It’s worked like a charm for years. — Shayna

STUCK-ON GUM REMOVAL. A dampened fabric softener sheet works wonders in removing sticking items like gum from the inside of a a clothes dryer. — Tracy

Question: How long has it been since you looked up a phone number in a physical phone book?

This column A Shred of Purpose for Phone Books is today's post at Mary Hunt's Everyday Cheapskate blog.

Just as summer-grilling season approaches, here comes news that the cost of supermarket beef has hit an all-time high, up at least 5 percent so far this year, and still rising.

Recently, I caught up with Teri Gault, founder of the TheGroceryGame.com, to find out what’s going on. Teri and her TGG crew closely monitor national food prices on a daily basis, so they’re my go-to source for all things related to the cost of food. But more than that, Teri has great ideas for how to overcome this kind of unhappy news so we can afford to keep our grills fired up this summer.

It’s a problem of supply and the environment, reports Teri. The U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest level since 1952. Cattle producers have been hard hit by drought, late freezing weather, doubling of feed costs and poor pasture conditions. Supplies are down, which drives prices up both at the grocery store and restaurants, too. But not to worry. Teri says that overcoming the high cost of beef is a matter of changing our thinking, habits and behaviors.

Stock up on sales. Review the front page of store circulars for weekly specials—often as much as 50-67 percent off the original price. Instead of buying a variety of meats at full price, buy multiple cuts of one or two types of meat on sale and freeze for later use.

Slow cook cheap cuts. Slow cooking cheap cuts of beef like tri-tip, chuck and flank steak, turns them as tender as T-bones, but for a lot less money. And when the cheap cuts are on sale? That’s a double-whammy that will make beef cheap as chicken. As a bonus, using your slow cooker this summer will keep your kitchen cool.

Invest in a deep freezer. Store extra sale meats in a deep freezer, enabling a variety of choices, from chicken and pork to beef and ground turkey. The savings earned by purchasing meats and frozen products on sale will pay for the cost of the deep freezer within a few months or fewer.

Switch to lower-priced meats. Chicken and turkey are the cheapest meats available, so incorporate more of them into meals by switching out higher priced beef or pork one to two times per week.

Meatless Monday. Dedicate at least one day per week to a meatless meal. Incorporate new sources of protein through legumes such as beans and lentils. Look to eggs and cheese as the basis for delicious dinner entrees.

Meat as a side dish. There is some thought that Americans eat way too much red meat and I suspect there’s something to that. But as an alternative to going vegetarian, consider ways to serve less meat, vegetables more. Think of meat as an accompaniment rather than the main attraction in a meal. Meat sauce over pasta is a great example, too, of how you can use meat as an ingredient.

I’ve been a member of TheGroceryGame.com for many years. I rely heavily on Teri’s List to make sure I’m spending the very least at the grocery store. I just don’t have time to do all the work myself. Trust me, it’s a lot of work to track sales, gather coupons and figure out when a sale is really a sale; when to stock up and when to wait.

TGG is amazing. I’ve learned so much, not the least of which is to shop the sales! I rarely pay full price for any grocery items. The cost of TGG membership is about $1.25 per week. Check it out then accept TGG’s kind offer of a Free trial. You won’t be disappointed.

Question: Are you and/or your family eating more, less or about the same amount of meat these days? Have you noticed prices going up?

This column How to Beat the High Cost of Beef is today's post at Mary Hunt's Everyday Cheapskate blog.

I don’t consider myself a complete stranger to high-priced gourmet fare. After all, I did enjoy a lovely $100-per-person meal once. But even that experience in my semi-impressive culinary repertoire did not prepare me to handle gracefully the idea of a 10-course dinner with a price tag of $25,000 per person. And it wasn’t a political fundraiser. Just a fancy meal in an exotic location—Bangkok, Thailand.

Sure, this gastronomic extravaganza included the very best in Cristal champagne, foie gras, truffles, Kobe beef, Beluga caviar, Belon oysters and mousseline of pattes rouges’ crayfish with morel mushroom infusion, but come on! Twenty-five grand per person—a price that does not include tax or gratuity or airfare?

I don’t think I could do that even if I were so rich $25,000 would be mere pennies as compared to my vast net worth. There are some things I simply would not be able to get out of my mind like:

$25,000 could feed a four-person family in the U.S. for 3.7 years.

$25,000 could feed 100 children in a third-world country for 2.36 years.

$25,000 could pay for a new 2013 Ford Fusion, with $ 2,700 left for gasoline.

$25,000 would cover all costs for 4 months at the most expensive college in the U.S.—Sarah Lawrence College—or the entire cost for 4.1 students to get their AA degrees from any number of U.S. community colleges.

$25,000 would just about cover all of the costs to provide two deep wells fitted with hand pumps to provide up to 5,600 gallons of safe water per day to benefit as many as 600 people in an impoverished community in Africa where children have no choice but to walk long distances to find water that is often dirty and disease-ridden.

I could keep going with this, pointing out that $25,000 would pay for much needed replacement windows and a roof for friends of mine who’ve been out of work for too long, but I’ll refrain. And I’ll try not to get all worked up that the tax and tip alone for a party of two at the extravagant event in Bangkok would boost the tab by at least another $15,000.

Instead, I’m going to be grateful that we live in a country where we are free to do with our money as we please even if that means dropping a load on something as fleeting as a 10-course meal.

Question: If you had $25,000 spare what would you do with it?

This column $25,000-Per-Person Dinner is Hard to Swallow is today's post at Mary Hunt's Everyday Cheapskate blog.

Dear Mary: We grow our own potatoes but I find I still want to spend money at the supermarket to buy frozen hash browns and Tater Tots. I hate to do it because we have so many potatoes. But every time I’ve tried to make them myself, they turn to mush. Thanks for any ideas you might have. –Norma, Wisconsin

Dear Norma: I tore through my vast recipe collections and have come up with three recipes for you that use potatoes and other ordinary ingredients, which you’re bound to have on hand.

The Hash Browns are very traditional, Crispy Potatoes make an elegant side dish for just about any dinner entree, and I believe you’ll find the Potatoes Bites to be a more than reasonable facsimile of your favorite “Tater Tots.” All of these recipes are a bit involved, but the results are well worth the effort!

Question: What’s your favorite way to eat potatoes?

This column Homemade Hash Browns and Tater Tots is today's post at Mary Hunt's Everyday Cheapskate blog.