Fiscal discipline can help family goals
Newsday reporter Daysi Calavia-Robertson, with her husband Matt, and children Fdr, 4, and Carolina, 2, shopped for fun treats and essentials at the Copiague Target, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, after completing the "No Spend Challenge." Credit: Danielle Silverman
I enjoyed reading “Saving spree payoff” [Business, 24], in which reporter Daysi Calavia-Robertson described her family’s successful commitment to spend money only on necessities (housing, utilities, groceries, etc.) for a month. As a baby boomer who learned how to budget out of necessity, I believe today’s young people could benefit from this plan.
It is easier to add to your everyday spending than cut back, and the “No Spend Challenge” is a great way to start, especially if you are saving for a down payment for a house. The challenge is all about self-discipline, and it could be tweaked to promote more saving while still rewarding the family as an incentive to continue.
Rosemary McKinley,
Southold
Look beyond toxin in household items
The Dec. 2 editorial, “Protect LI’s drinking water,” assumes that banning 1,4-dioxane will improve Long Island’s contaminated groundwater, when it will have no measurable impact.
The minuscule amounts of 1,4-dioxane found in cleaning products are irrelevant to this issue, and banning them is not a solution.
We recognize the severity of this issue and empathize with Long Island residents. However, efforts and resources should be focused on cleaning the groundwater contamination caused by former industrial and military facilities. Conversely, the fact that industrial uses of 1,4-dioxane are not addressed in a bill awaiting consideration by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is an example of why the logic behind the legislation is ill-advised.
This well-intended but misguided legislation — which would limit the amounts of 1,4-dioxane in household products like laundry soap, dish and hand soaps, and bath products — is only directing attention away from cleanup efforts that deserve immediate and widespread support.
We call on New York residents to urge Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo not to sign the bill. We hope he will work with us on a responsible, common-sense solution.
Stephen J. Caldeira,
Washington
Editor’s note: The writer is president and CEO of the Household & Commercial Products Association, a trade organization.
