How much is enuf?

The Minimalist Baby.

2013-06-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of blogs in which people write about how to be a minimalist parent or how to raise a minimalist child. But these maternity packs given out to new parents in Finland have to top the list! A box full of essentials to get a child started in life...and even the box that the items come in can be turned around and used as a newborn crib! Amazing! Read the article, "Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes" here. Or checkout a list of maternity pack contents, here.

It's fantastic that even the box can be used as a newborn crib, the lid of the box as a table top/decoration, and that there are re-usable cloth diapers included in the package!!!

There are even design competitions to make the boxes, read about it here.

Income.

2011-09-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Surviving & Thriving on $12,000 a year. Donna Freedman @ msn.

Could you live well on $30k a year? See Donna Freedman's article, here.

How to live well on $40,000 or less. See Donna Freedman's article.

The secret to living well on $40,000 a year. See Kimberly Palmer @ US News, here.

How to Survive & Thrive on a Teacher's Salary. Danny Kofke, here.

Scraping by on $150,000 a year. Money magazine, here.

Down and out on $250,000 a year? @msn money, here.

Airstream.

2011-08-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Simple, clean, streamlined, minimal, and lovely. 1978 Airstream make-over. See the architect's makeover photos here.

Also featured on Apartment Therapy here.

US Debt.

2011-08-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

What does all of this talk about the US Debt Ceiling mean? How much debt does the US really have? See this link for an amazing eye opening visualization of the amount of debt! Holy cow!

$330,000 home for $16.

2011-07-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

A $330,000 home for $16? 'This is not a normal process'

by CASEY NORTON

Bio

WFAA

Posted on July 14, 2011 at 11:34 PM

Updated today at 9:19 AM

FLOWER MOUND — A little-known Texas law and a foreclosure could have a man in Flower Mound living on Easy Street.

Flower Mound's Waterford Drive is lined with well-manicured $300,000 homes. So, when a new neighbor moved in without the usual sale, mortgage-paying homeowners had a few questions.

"What paperwork is it and how is it legally binding if he doesn't legally own the house?" said Leigh Lowrie, a neighboring resident. "He just squats there."

Lowrie and her husband said the house down the street was in foreclosure for more than a year and the owner walked away. Then, the mortgage company went out of business.

Apparently, that opened the door for someone to take advantage of the situation. But, Kenneth Robinson said he's no squatter. He said he moved in on June 17 after months of research about a Texas law called "adverse possession."

"This is not a normal process, but it is not a process that is not known," he said. "It's just not known to everybody."

He says an online form he printed out and filed at the Denton County courthouse for $16 gave him rights to the house. The paper says the house was abandoned and he's claiming ownership.

"I added some things here for my own protection," Robinson said.

The house is virtually empty, with just a few pieces of furniture. There is no running water or electricity.

But, Robinson said just by setting up camp in the living room, Texas law gives him exclusive negotiating rights with the original owner. If the owner wants him out, he would have to pay off his massive mortgage debt and the bank would have to file a complicated lawsuit.

Robinson believes because of the cost, neither is likely. The law says if he stays in the house, after three years he can ask the court for the title.

He told News 8 his goal is to eventually have the title of the home and be named the legal owner of the home.

"Absolutely," he said. "I want to be owner of record. At this point, because I possess it, I am the owner."

Robinson posted "no trespassing" signs after neighbors asked police to arrest him for breaking in.

Flower mound officers say they can't remove him from the property because home ownership is a civil matter, not criminal.

Lowrie and her neighbors continue to look for legal ways to get him out. They are talking to the mortgage company, real estate agents and attorneys. They're convinced he broke into the house to take possession, but Robinson told News 8 he found a key and he gained access legally.

"If he wants the house, buy the house like everyone else had to," Lowrie said. "Get the money, buy the house."

Robinson said he's not buying anything. As far as he's concerned, the $330,000 house is already his and he has the paperwork to prove it.
*Forget using coupons, this looks like a deal of the century! Read the full article here.

B&B.

2011-07-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

Shabby Chic, Rachel Ashwell designed B&B in Texas. This tiny cottage is the "Meadow Manor"! Very cute! The picket fence is a little much for me though...

The white interior is crisp, clean, and soothing! Wow! Really what more than this does a kitchen need?

Cute and minimalist, yet it has everything you need! See The Prarie B&B "Tour" here. The light color scheme is a lovely inpsiration,...

Starting over with simple beauty and grace.

2011-07-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful home! This article in the LA Times was about the designer Rachel Ashwell going thru life changes with grace in her new home after filing bankruptcy, having to move, and closing several of her stores. Her home is beautiful and minimalist in her own Shabby Chic way.

Rachel Ashwell's home

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Crisp poplin slipcovers that Ashwell calls Pinnies epitomize her quest for simple elegance -- and a brighter outlook. "You can just stick them in the washer on the cold cycle, then dry them on a line outside," she says. "It's more eco-friendly, and they'll smell like sunshine."

I luv the idea of slip covers that are easy to wash and I luv that a designer embraces the idea of air drying the slip covers! How eco-friendly! Read the full article here.

Non-electric fridge.

2011-07-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

There are several different models of "non-electric" fridges. However, all are based on evaporation of water. The simplest fridge exists in areas of the world that lack electricity, such as in hot rural Africa. The "fridge" is very basically two porous clay pots one larger one & one smaller one, that are nested together. In between the inner spaces are filled with a porous material like sand. The sandy area is filled with water anywhere from several times daily to every several days. The water leaches thru the porous clay pots and saturates the unglazed pots. As the water evaporates it cools the pots. The top of the pots is covered with a damp cloth. The inside temperature of the pots is cool enough to extend the shelf life of many food items:

Food	Unrefrigerated shelf life	Shelf life with zeer
Tomatoes^[10]	2 days	20 days
Guava^[10]	2 days	20 days
Rocket^[10]	1 day	5 days
Eggplant^[7]^[9]	1–3 days	21–27 days
Meat^[11]	<1 day	~14 days

Some models of the "pot-in-pot" fridge or "Zeer" fridge are elevated on stands to increase air circulation around the pot and thus increase in evaporation to have lower inside the pot temperatures:

A version of this was developed by a potter in India, who developed the "Miti Cool" Company. The neat thing about this square/rectangular shaped clay "fridge" is that it can also hold up to 20 L of water and uses "clay filters" to filter the water and keep it cool. The water, which is poured in the top of the "fridge" not only acts in the same evaporative manner to cool the contents of the fridge but is also a water storage system! Amazing! The inside of the fridge is fairly small, but effective in lowering the temperature in comparison to the room temperature by about 10 degrees C or 32 degrees F...all without electricity (this does vary however depending on the relative humidity in the environment)! This may not be the appropriate temperature to store dairy or meat items, but may be very useful to extend the life of fresh produces such as fruits and vegetables! What a clever design!

The "Miti Cool" Company also produces other environmentally friendly products from local materials such as clay pots, clay pressure cookers, clay water filters, clay water storage jugs, etc.

What a clever and environmentally friendly product and way to live. If shipping over seas is goes against your better "green" judgement, there are plenty of tutorials available online on how to use regular terra-cotta or clay pots from your local hardware/garden supply store, sand, and water, to put together a more basic outdoors non-electric cooler on the cheap! Or even cheaper, search your local "craigslist" or thrift shop and pick up some terra-cotta pots and try this out as a summer project to keep your fresh veggies cool, cool drinking water in the heat of the summer, or keep all of your csa veggies/fruits fresh longer!

California bans styrofoam!

2011-06-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

California Becomes First State to Ban Styrofoam Containers

KTLA News
3:41 PM PDT, June 3, 2011

SACRAMENTO (KTLA) -- Restaurants in the state of California will no longer be able to offer patrons Styrofoam containers starting in 2016, state legislators voted Friday.

The state Senate passed the bill on a 21-15 vote prohibiting vendors from using polystyrene containers.

The ban would apply to restaurants and grocery stores and become effective July 1, 2016.

Schools would have to comply by July 1, 2017.

The bill, which was introduced by Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), has been criticized by commerce leaders who say the bill threatens thousands of manufacturing jobs.

Environmentalists say banning the containers would help reduce waste issues, taking decades to break down.

Styrofoam is often mistaken for food or prey by seabirds, marine mammals, fish, and sea turtles.

Over 50 cities in California have already enacted their own ban on polystyrene. California is now the first to enact a statewide ban.

Cell phones and cancer.

2011-05-31T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today on CNN the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that cell phones are possibly carcinogenic (cancer causing) to humans. Read the article here.

If anyone was looking for that one last reason to decrease the use of their cell phone or drop their cell phone service all together, here you go! After all, humans have survived for quite a while without cell phones, so why have we become so dependent on them?

Cuba food rationing.

2011-04-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

Cuban Food Rations To End, December 2009

For 47 years, the ration “libreta” has been the means to a diet of rice, legumes, salt, potatoes, bread and eggs that most say is only good for 10 to 15 days.

The average wage for a Cuban citizen, whether a doctor or a street cleaner, is approximately $20 a month with most of their needs being met through heavily subsidized government services such as education, health care, housing and transportation.

UK food rationing for 1 week vs English breakfast of today.

2011-04-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

What lessons have been learned from the past to teach current and future generations?

An educational tool about weekly food rations, for one person, during WW2 in the UK can be found here. Compare that to one typical English breakfast of today:

Food, clothing, petrol, furniture, soap, cosmetics...rationing.

2011-04-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

If you had to live with rationing right now, what would be essential to you? If you were only allowed to purchase one new outfit per member of your family, per year, how would that affect your shopping decisions? Would it change the way you act/play or care for your clothing???

During WW2 in the UK: You had a total of 66 coupons to last you a year to purchase cloth, clothes, footwear and knitting wool….all found within the food rationing booklets. In 1942, the clothing ration coupons were cut to 48 and in 1943, they were cut again to only 36 for an entire year!

UK Adult food rations for one week, starting in January 1940.

4 oz bacon or ham

8 oz sugar

2 oz loose tea

2 oz jam spread

1 oz cheese

1 shilling’s worth of meat

8 oz fats of which only 2 oz could be butter

One thing I like in the above picture, although a tiny fridge with limited food products available, there is very little excess "trash" or disposable packaging!

*1944 eggs were rationed with 30 allocations of 1 egg. Expectant mothers were allocated 2 eggs, and some children and invalids were allocated 3 eggs/week. Some were allocated 1 egg per week or one packet of egg powder which would yield 12 eggs per month. Vegetarians were allowed 2 eggs per week.

*Bread was not rationed until 1946.

*Vegetables were not rationed but were often in short supply. So people who had a small area of land were encouraged to plant “victory gardens”.

*One pint of milk/day for children under 15 and to expectant or nursing mothers.

Typical food rationing for one week:

Ironically most authors describe this period of time as a period during which the majority of the people in the country were slim/slender or far from obese!

Food rationing ended 9 years after the war ended. Food rationing lasted for 14 years until midnight July 4, 1954.

Children were sent to live in the countryside which was thought to be safer. Typical clothing (which all fit in one tiny suitcase):

Sunday/best dress

Tunic/gym dress

Blouse

Skirt

Cardigan

Pajamas/sleep wear/slippers

Petticoat/slip

Sock

Undershirt/bra

Panties

Liberty bodice

Handkerchief

Warm hat

Shoes/winter

Gloves

Coat

What clothing cost in terms of rationing coupons: (patrons also had to pay the full cash value in addition to ration coupons).

Woman’s night dress : 6 coupons

Man’s overcoat: 16 coupons

Dress: 11 coupons

Underpants: 4 coupons

Handkerchief: ½ coupon

Pyjamas: 8 coupons

Simple weight loss plan.

2011-04-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

An inspiring story is circulating on the net today about a lady who "used 4 easy tips to lose weight". She lost a total of 232 lbs over 15 months without a personal trainer, surgery, or any expensive investments! She followed some advice from her doctor and stuck with her plan! If more people could be self-disciplined and follow this advice, people wouldn't need to have risky gastric bypass surgeries! Amazing! Great job Anita!

1. Eat 8 ounces of food every 3 hours

2. No sugary drinks

3. Do not skip meals

4. Do not tell anyone what you're doing

Plastic recycle.

2011-04-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

It seems like nearly everything available for purchase at the supermarket is covered with plastic. The only options are to buy fruit and veggies from the farmer's market or bulk grains. I was encouraged to find out that I can recycle alot of the plastic that is covering some of the items. For example, my family needs toilet paper, it's very difficult to find toilet paper that doesn't have at least one layer of plastic, if not individually wrapped plastic rolls like the Costco Kirkland brand. I am delighted to find out that these plastics are recyclable now. I don't think that plastic recycling will cause me to go back to my old ways of buying everything wrapped in plastic, but it will make me feel a little better for items that I already have in my pantry or that I have a difficult time finding alternatives to purchase (ie. toilet paper). The images above are taken from a web page all about plastic recycling! Awesome! This is a result of "ziploc and recycle bank joining forces". An article on CNN "Recycle sandwich bags, dry-cleaning bags, and more" describes this in further detail.

I think it is fantastic that companies are listening to consumers to adjust packaging on products and recycling. Now, I have to try and figure out how do I store & sort all of these different types of recyclable materials and then, when do I find the time to drop them off at each appropriate location! So far it seems the simplest approach is to not purchase anything with plastic. I have to admit I haven't stepped foot into a Ralphs, Vons, Costco, Sam's Club, or Walmart for the longest time, since I didn't know what I would do with the plastic packaging...who know's what will happen over the next few weeks now...

I am in the process of trying to "clean up my home" and have a more minimalist environment. Being able to recycle plastic items will be a big plus in that journey!

Die later diet.

2011-03-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

The Die-Later Diet

David Murdock, a major investor in longevity research and the chairman of Dole Food, is convinced that the right variety of plants eaten in copious amounts offers the promise of optimal health. Below is one day’s worth of meals. Total calories: 1,545. His current age: 87. His goal: 125.

Breakfast (8-9 a.m.)

Cold whole natural grains with fruit and almond milk, accompanied by an egg-white omelet and a smoothie that includes up to 20 different kinds of fruit and vegetables.

Lunch (1 p.m.)

Vegetable soup (recipe) made from organic vegetable broth, fresh vegetables and fresh herbs; salmon with steamed vegetables and whole grains.

Afternoon Snack (3-4 p.m.)

Crackers with natural peanut butter or almond butter and fresh fruit.

Dinner (6:30-7 p.m.)

A salad dressed with olive oil, accompanied by vegetable soup and white fish with steamed vegetables and grains.

Snack

Chocolate cookies made from dark cocoa and walnuts (high in antioxidants) and honey.

Happiness:income:home.

2011-03-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

In a previous post I mentioned that I stumbled upon an article that declared that $75,000 was the income the average American needed to reach in order to have the ultimate income to happiness ratio.

I was thinking about that today as I read through the real estate listings online for the Los Angeles area. Based on an income of $75,000, that family would qualify for only 3-3.5 times the annual income for a mortgage or $225,000-262,500. Even though, that is quite a large sum of money that can be repaid over 30 years, it certainly isn't enough to buy a home in Los Angeles... Even if by the grace of God, if that were enough to buy a home in Los Angeles, it would still mean being chained to a job for another 15-30 years! Either way, the outlook seems fairly bleak for many taking that route.

Another thought is that $225,000 is what you would qualify for to take out as a 30 year mortgage, given that you also had 20% to put down in cash plus closing fees, which would bring your purchasing ability up to $281,250.

Another thing I'm not quite sure I fully understand is the mortgage interest deduction and how that is so helpful with reducing overall taxes. As far as I can see, it does decrease somewhat the amount of taxes paid each fiscal year. However, in the end, you end up paying 2-2.5 times the original price of the home in interest fees over a period of 30 years! Yikes! Why would anyone want to purchase a home if they were paying so much? Also, what is this I hear about a possibility that mortgage interest deductions are going to be taken away? It seems like if that's the case, there isn't much of a point to buy homes anymore in California!

This is more like what I need: How to buy a 250k home for 40k. The homes being purchased in the video in Florida for 40k look so nice! Dreaming is so fun!

Happiness and Money.

2011-03-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

How much do you need to earn to be happy? Does a better job or a better education earn you more money and thus make you more happy? Does it make people happy to "keep up with the Joneses" or does it make people happy to have larger homes, expensive cars, lots of stuff, lots of gadgets or lots of vacations??? I often wondered, how much would I need to earn to support my family in the US, meet basic needs, and reach maximal happiness? A recent pole found that people's happiness level continued to rise along with their income up to $75,000 annual income. After that the pole found no more increased happiness levels with income: The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000.

I suspect that these numbers would change slightly depending on which city the individual lived in, for example in a lower cost of living midwest suburb or in pricey Manhattan, NY. Other factors that may change these calculations could be the rising costs of health care/medical problems, educational loans, the number of children in the household, the number of extended members of the family being supported in the household (ie. grandparents, cousins, etc.), rising costs of fossil fuels, etc.

The article also does not mention if that salary is for one provider or for the total income for a household. In previous articles that I've read, that was the total income for the household for a family to reach maximal happiness. If you compare the number $75,000 to the graph of the average American family income and expenditures, you will see the average income is $63,091 before taxes. If the average American income is less than the maximal happiness income # does that mean that the majority of Americans are unhappy? I know I've been quite happy on a much lower # than 75k!

Time.

2011-03-01T12:29:00.000-08:00

I am working on finding a better time schedule for myself right now. I thought I'd start by figuring out what the average time period people alot to different tasks. Maybe that could help me find the time in the day I need to set aside for exercise or to get my house chores completed or time to cook at home from scratch. So here are some interesting facts I found:

Work. An average of 7.5 hours work per day, weekdays. This number can increase because many people bring work home or have to do extra hours on the weekend.

Sleep. In a previous article I found research stating that we should sleep 6-8 hours per night.

Household activities. (Cooking, cleaning, paying the bills, etc). Men spent 2 hours and women spent 2.6 hours per day.

Leisure. (TV, exercise, socializing, etc). Average for men 5.8 hours/day and women 5.1 hours per day. The largest section of leisure time was tv watching at 2.8 hours/day!

Care of children. Adults living with children under 6 years old spent 2 hours of time taking care of them per day. If the child was between 6-18 this was reduced to 45 min per day! What???

Internet. In this 2004 article, published in The New York Times, the average american internet user was surveyed to use their computer for 3 hours per day.

Phone/smart phone. This varies between land lines, home phones, cell phones, VOIP calls, and texting. But according to my friends son, most "cool" people don't even bother to make phone calls anymore, they just send a "text" or "tweet".

Commute. In 2005 the average commute time in the US was 24 min (each way), or 100 hours per year!

Final calculation of hours: add up all of the hours above for work, commute, sleep, household activities, leisure, care of the children, internet, etc. and you may find a number which exceeds 24 hours/day which is not physically possible! Interestingly these facts and figures did not include other things I find necessary throughout the day like bathing, eating, shopping for groceries, etc.

Comparing the average american income, to average spending, to hours spent in the day enjoying that income is even more interesting. See the graph below.

Blog.

2011-02-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

Great article about "Queen of the Mommy Bloggers" at the NYTimes! I had no idea that blogging could be lucrative!

Soda and cancer.

2011-02-17T22:51:00.000-08:00

Drinking water. Recommended 6-8 glasses of water per day. Are you in need of some motivation to drink your water today? A recent study on the chemicals that cause sodas to be colored brown concluded that the chemicals involved in this process may be responsible for thyroid cancer, lung cancer, and liver cancer! Read about the article "Do the Chemicals that turn soda brown also cause cancer?" by Bryan Walsh! OMG!

Toddler's diet.

2011-02-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Toddlers' Junk-Food Diet May Lead to Lower IQ. Interesting article. If you needed inspiration to eat healthy and cook at home today, there you go!

Freegans.

2011-02-08T09:57:00.000-08:00

Minimalist say that they are "minsumers" or purchase very little...maybe they make sure it's only what they need or the best they can afford. Freegans take it a step further and are the ultimate anti-consumerist. Freegan is a combination of words from "free" and "vegan" although not all freegans are vegan. Anti-consumerist eating can include dumpster diving (salvaging food from market dumpsters), wild foraging, theft, gardening, and bartering. Freegans may also find clothing or furnishings on the street or in dumpsters. The Key To A Free Lunch, in the LA Times explains more on this concept. Freegans: They Live Off What We Toss In The Trash, is another well written article.

For gourmet meals out of the dumpster see The Freegan Kitchen. If you had the opportunity to get 10+ lbs of bananas would you make banana bread or freeze some of them? This gal from the tv show Extreme Couponing even dumpster dives for coupons:

This is a musical/song about dumpster diving:

Freegans in NYC:

Freegans in Canada:

Freegans in Stockholm:

If you had the chance to forage or partake in freegan activites, would you? I have plenty of co-workers who won't even buy marked down produce or day old bread that's marked down. They turn up their noses and protest and start singing songs from the musical "Oliver" of "Annie"...seriously! I've had other friends tell me that once you earn a certain amount of money, that means "you never have shop at stores like Target or Marshalls ever, ever again"...I was pretty shocked, clearly I was unaware of those rules, and clearly I'm not in that category...for those people I won't even ask if they know what a freegan is... Dumpster diving or freeganism is not legal in all areas...I'm not even sure where it IS legal. So how far would you go to be more green and frugal or to be more of a "minsumer"?

And if you think that all dumpster divers are uneducated, homeless people, with political statements, check out this UCSD Professor who takes his students around on tours of local dumpsters:

Milton Saier, PhD!

Downtime.

2011-02-05T00:02:00.000-08:00

I found this photo flipping through reader submitted travel photos for the online LA Times! I started thinking how lovely it would be to take a vacation or have some downtime. Just two sets of feet relaxing in the sushine, it looks wonderful!

I started to think about an article I read a while back from CNN "Who gets the most (and least) vacation." Don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm trying to compete with people across the globe or "keep up with the Joneses"...I was just curious as to what people thought was enuf vacation time across the globe. Chart from CNN article:

PAID TIME OFF

Country/Region	Minimum Paid Vacation Days	Paid public holidays	Total
Australia	20	11 (avg.)	31**
Austria	25	13	38
Belgium	20	10	30
Bulgaria	20	12	32
Canada	10	10 (avg.)	20
Cyprus	21	15	36
Czech Rep.	20	11	31
Denmark	25	10	35
Egypt	21	16	37
Estonia	28	10	38
Finland	30	14	44
France	30	10	40
Germany	24	10	34
Greece	25	12	37
Hong Kong	14	12	26
Hungary	23 (if over thirty-one yrs old)	10	33
India	12	19	31
Indonesia	12	13	25
Ireland	20	9	29
Israel	24	16 (avg.)	40
Italy	20	11	31
Japan	20	15	35
Latvia	20	11	31
Lebanon	15	18	33
Lithuania	28	12	40
Luxembourg	25	10	35
Malaysia	16	12 + state holidays	28 + state holidays
Malta	24	14	38
Morocco	21	19	40
Netherlands	20	8	28
New Zealand	20	11	31
Pakistan	14	14	28
Philippines	5	14	19
Poland	26	10	36
Portugal	22	12	34
Romania	21	7	28
Singapore	14	12	26
Slovakia	20	15	35
Slovenia	20	16	36
South Africa	21	12	33
South Korea	19	11	30
Spain	22	14	36
Sweden	25	11	36
Taiwan	14	11	25
Thailand	6	13	19
United Arab Emirates	30	9	39
United Kingdom	20	8	28
United States	15*	10*	25*
Vietnam	14	8	22

Where do you rank in this list? Is it enuf vacation time/time off for you?

Work.

2011-02-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

How much time should we devote to work per week? Reading "Your Money or Your Life", there is a good section that discusses all of the extra time we spend during the week that is really work related, such as getting ready for work, getting the car ready for work, bringing work home, thinking about work at home, doing your laundry for work, getting your haircut for work, taking a class for work and then the time we need as downtime to recover from work (ie. workout out, watching tv, movies, vacation, etc). When you add up all of the prep time for work, an 8 hour work days easily turns into 10-12 hour days with a commute!

How much time do people spend working, here's a great statistical chart: Average Annual Hours Actually Worked Per Worker. For 2009 the US dropped to rank #7 (1768 hours) out of 36 countries, when ranking who works the most, when you click on the tab arrows to change the data from an alphabetical listing. Greece worked the most hours at 2119 and Netherlands worked the least at 1378. Looks like I need to move!