Teaneck,nj Mom Sells Cakes From Home. Is That Illegal?
Business By mom2my3girlz Updated 22 Jul 2009 , 2:27am by JanH
MyDiWa, love your post.
How come if General Motors can't pay their bills, well then that's just how business works sometimes ..... oh well! But if Joe 6-Pack can't pay his bills because GM laid him off and he goes from $60K a year to 18K unemployment, then he's labled a deadbeat and a no-account?
Hate double standards. Especially when it seems to be the middle class working guy who gets it in the rear end every time.
Trust me, her house is bigger than mine. Her kitchen is probably bigger than my house. And nowhere did I imply that I am better than her, just maybe more careful.
I didn't say it was entirely the bank's fault. Those people sign on the dotted line and know what they can and can not afford. My tone has not changed. I still believe people shouldn't buy stuff if they can't afford it. I stand behind that 100%. I think it is terrible for people to put themselves and their kids through this because they have to have unnecessary things. If people could learn to do without, our country would be in a better position financially, in my opinion.
Now, we both have different opinions and that is fine with me. I agree to disagree. This is a huge forum and people are going to disagree. However, you don't appreciate me judging this woman so how about you not judge me and call me nasty things?
Did anybody notice on her webpage, beside the title, "mortgage apple cakes" it's trademarked, copyrighted, and whatever R stands for? just wondering the significance of that, isn't it alot of trouble (and $$) to get trademarks, copyrights, etc?
Yes there are odd laws on the books... but health regs aren't odd laws. Certainly you don't equate health regulations with passing horses on the highway?? And I think a huge point is being missed here. No one here is saying turn her in or burn her at the stake... no one here brought this to the masses... it was already brought by the media before it came here. The purpose of this thread was to ask if there was someway that what she is doing is legal. If it was, maybe others could benefit from finding out how. In a state where you can't bake from your home kitchen, when you hear that someone is (especially having it be on TV) you get excited at the thought. Someone asked a question... is this legal. She got an answer. Why berate people for answering truthfully. I certainly don't care what she does either way. I wouldn't berate her for trying to help her family out.
I am not a perfect person, I don't even believe in karma... but why would people have bad karma for asking a question?
As I already stated....
My remark was specifically to those that ran over to the OTHER site where the article came from to play "cake police".
http://www.northjersey.com/bergen/Teaneck_woman_hopes_bake_sale_will_forestall_foreclosure.html[/url]
jimandmollie,
In the time it took you to make assumptions on this woman's character, you could have found out that this woman has lived in this home for TWENTY years.
From another article...
"The problems started when a contractor abandoned renovation work after having gutted her house.
"We had a contractor working on the house and he messed up about $50,000 worth of things in the house and plumbing $20,000 alone, which we had to redo," Logan said.
After getting a foreclosure notice from her mortgage company in January, she applied to the "Making Home Affordable" program -- set up by the Obama administration. To comply with the programs terms, she's got to make three payments -- each a bit more than $2,500 -- by Oct. 1"
http://cbs2chicago.com/watercooler/bake.sale.new.2.1091450.html
Some may say desperate times call for desperate measures however, it's still breaking the law......What will she sell to make next month's payment?
I've said it before ....
If you're going to justify an illegal activity, then you might as well just grow pot in your garage and sell it. Less work and more profit (uh, from what I hear!)
You're right, and you don't even have to put the oven on!
I thought you had to put it in the oven to dry it?
Not that I know anything about it (microwaves were around when I was younger) 
Some may say desperate times call for desperate measures however, it's still breaking the law......What will she sell to make next month's payment?
I've said it before ....
If you're going to justify an illegal activity, then you might as well just grow pot in your garage and sell it. Less work and more profit (uh, from what I hear!)
You're right, and you don't even have to put the oven on!I thought you had to put it in the oven to dry it?
Not that I know anything about it (microwaves were around when I was younger)
LOL, I don't know you guys seem to know an AWFUL lot about growing this stuff!
Maybe it may all turn out okay.
A high school girl here started baking, decorating and selling cookies a short while back. The local newspaper did a whole article about her, pics and all. Yeah, news is really slow in this small town in NJ.
This is illegal, but then a local bakery offered her space and time in their kitchen so she could continue to her interest in baking.
Maybe someone will do that for her.
MyDiWa, love your post.
How come if General Motors can't pay their bills, well then that's just how business works sometimes ..... oh well! But if Joe 6-Pack can't pay his bills because GM laid him off and he goes from $60K a year to 18K unemployment, then he's labled a deadbeat and a no-account?
Hate double standards. Especially when it seems to be the middle class working guy who gets it in the rear end every time.
AMEN... this is exactly what happened to me and my (NOW EX) husband (and our two kids; we each had one when we got married). When we bought out house we could afford it and then some (we could have afforded a house about 3x the size and cost, but were playing it safe--bought a fixer upper in a rural part of the state with very low taxes). We had saved a nice down payment, and since we both had excellent credit, and got a great interest rate (none of that sub-prime, balloon and/or piggyback mortgage crap so many others got sucked into). We were able to pay our mortgage and all of our bills, place a large portion of our joint income into SAVINGS, and still have a nice life without going overboard on vacations and other excessive "luxuries." We had a great life--living the American dream, without going overboard. But then the rug was pulled out from under us when he hurt himself on the job, had surgery and rehab (that took MONTHS)... after he finally got back to work, two months later he lost the job he had held for 20 years... it was all down hill from there. He was out of work 9 months that time... then just in and out of work the next couple years, each job at successively less income. Of course we were living on a shoestring budget--no longer indulging int he luxuries we had been able to before--but at some point it became hopeless and we had to abandon ship, so to speak.
We did everything the "right" way--we could MORE than afford the home we had, and were even planning ahead for "just in case" (saving as much as we could)... but sometimes, "just in case" is worse than you could EVER imagine and your life gets turned upside down because of it.
Wow, I'm kind of shocked at how judgmental some people are. I'm thinking that the only thought in this poor womans mind is "what can I do to save my home?" Maybe it is illegal but I'm sure if she knew that, she probably wouldn't have been doing it in the first place.
And seriously, comparing selling cakes to selling drugs is a little ridiculous don't you think?!?
Selling food without a license is against the law and if somebody's not following proper food safe practices they could potentially make people who consume their food very sick.
So comparing selling cakes illegally to selling drugs is not a ridiculous comparison...........they're both illegal and they're both potentially harmful.
That's the problem........people who break the law justify it to themselves by saying "it's just cake".............. now THAT'S ridiculous.
Obviously this lady didn't know she was breaking any laws or she wouldn't have gone on T.V. exposing herself. I'm sure she knows now.
I told my DH about this yesterday and he said she probably doesn't know it's illegal. It is really only the people who want to do this as a biz that find out of it is legal or not. "The HD will probably just give her a warning first, before the fine. Otherwise, HD would fine everyone quickly and be very $$". And most likely, the IRS won't come after her....like they don't come after people for selling on ebay and not reporting income. Not that he is an expert. I actually don't think he knows enough about the cake biz to be able to say that, but......
Has anyone watched the show Weeds? (to go along with the other marijuana theories lol). This situation reminds me so much of it. The main character lost her husband to a heart attack and she decides to start selling pot to make her mortgage payments. It makes for great entertainment, but absolutely no sense. The whole time you watch her selling, growing, getting 'shaken-down' by other growers, etc, you wonder why didn't you just get a normal day job?
I feel for the woman, life has thrown her some curve balls. But surely there is a much more sustainable (and dare I say practical) way to solve her problems then by holding a bake sale? If the lady was going for an all out cake business, then I could see it as her setting herself up with a job/career (thoughts aside on what kind of a profit margin we would be talking about initially).
I've got to agree with some of the previous posters; organic sugar? trademarked website? Just doesn't add up to the 'desperate' image.
My 2 cents...
I believe she really didn't know about licensing. I didn't till I joined Cake Central.
I'm NJ and hobby only, but when I take cake to a party/dinner/event etc. people often ask about making a cake for them. So I do the "NJ doesn't license home kitchens" spiel...and people are genuinely surprised. So it's not really common knowledge.
But....despite her story: Isn't EVERYONE who bakes/decorates cakes for money doing it to pay a mortgage/rent/taxes/bills?
Some may say desperate times call for desperate measures however, it's still breaking the law......What will she sell to make next month's payment?
I've said it before ....
If you're going to justify an illegal activity, then you might as well just grow pot in your garage and sell it. Less work and more profit (uh, from what I hear!)
Not me - I can't even keep house plants alive! I can just see myself crying over a dying, wilted pot plant the same way I can cry over a lopsided cake.
Selling food without a license is against the law and if somebody's not following proper food safe practices they could potentially make people who consume their food very sick.
So comparing selling cakes illegally to selling drugs is not a ridiculous comparison...........they're both illegal and they're both potentially harmful.
That's the problem........people who break the law justify it to themselves by saying "it's just cake"..............
now THAT'S ridiculous.Obviously this lady didn't know she was breaking any laws or she wouldn't have gone on T.V. exposing herself. I'm sure she knows now.
No, it is an absolutely ridiculous comparison along with being absolutely agenda ridden and absolutely void of common sense.
I, along with MILLIONS of people, who have had their lives turned upside down due to drug dealers, would laugh at the comparison. From the abandoned children, the overworked police, the single mothers, the children of addicts, the nurses and doctors of addicted newborns, the counselors, the judges, social workers, those that have lost a loved one, those that live in terror in their neighborhoods taken over by sellers, etc, etc, etc. They would ALL laugh. Selling drugs IS harmful...there is no "potentially" about it.
And if you truly believe that there is no difference I am more than sure you have sped or ran a red light in your lifetime. SO shame on you! Breaking the law is breaking the law So you are right there with child molesters, prostitutes, rapists, and murderers. ...that is according to you.
No, it is an absolutely ridiculous comparison along with being absolutely agenda ridden and absolutely void of common sense.
I, along with MILLIONS of people, who have had their lives turned upside down due to drug dealers, would laugh at the comparison. From the abandoned children, the overworked police, the single mothers, the children of addicts, the nurses and doctors of addicted newborns, the counselors, the judges, social workers, those that have lost a loved one, those that live in terror in their neighborhoods taken over by sellers, etc, etc, etc. They would ALL laugh. Selling drugs IS harmful...there is no "potentially" about it.
And if you truly believe that there is no difference I am more than sure you have sped or ran a red light in your lifetime. SO shame on you! Breaking the law is breaking the law So you are right there with child molesters, prostitutes, rapists, and murderers. ...that is according to you.
Well, well, isn't that last paragraph filled with pent up rage?
I'm "agenda ridden" now am I? LOL!! Just what "agenda" would that be? Oh, I think I know.....must be that pesky agenda to be a law-abiding citizen. Is that the one? Why must I be so frivolous?
It's LAUGHABLE that you assume I believe there is "no difference" between a drug dealer and an illegal home baker. It's SO laughable that I won't even bother getting into it......less we forget this is a CAKE site.
Isn't it silly to jump down my throat and write that I'm "absolutely void of common sense"? Must you always be so argumentative and insulting? People should be able to debate an issue without the mud slinging insults.
You can ignore the "laws made by flawed men" if you choose, I'm sure the judge would be amused by that logic.
Now I'm off to bake for an order in my "law abiding" "licensed" home kitchen, from which the profits help to pay my mortgage too!
I just got a hydroponic garden for my birthday. I'm talking the professional growing containers, huge 400W bulbs, hood, ballast and stand. You would be surprised how many people were inquiring about growing marijuana when I go in to buy something from the hydroponic store. You can actually buy books at B&N about how to grow the stuff. Me? I'm growing oregano, basil, chives, parsley and cilantro LOL.... but people do it!! You could make a lot of money too from what I heard, it's dumb!
My brother in law is a narcotic officer and tells me that other than my wacky-home-state-of-California, you get in trouble for growing what would amount to a pound or something of marijuana just for even keeping one plant alive. People are nuts!!
I do think it will be legalized, country-wide sometime in my little son's lifetime, give or take 50 years. The income from the stuff is going to speak a lot if the economy keeps up the way it has been going, just MHO....
Some may say desperate times call for desperate measures however, it's still breaking the law......What will she sell to make next month's payment?
I've said it before ....
If you're going to justify an illegal activity, then you might as well just grow pot in your garage and sell it. Less work and more profit (uh, from what I hear!)
Not me - I can't even keep house plants alive! I can just see myself crying over a dying, wilted pot plant the same way I can cry over a lopsided cake.
The point is that illegal is illegal.
Speeding is "no big deal" .... until someone dies in a car wreck.
Rolling thru a stop sign is "no big deal" ..... until it's your car that's hit.
Selling cakes from an unlicensed facility is "no big deal" .... until someone goes to the emergency room with the noro-virus from someone practicing unsafe food handling. (For those who don't know, noro-virus (and I"m not sure on the spelling) is caused by fecal matter .... folks not washing their hands.)
Yes, you can still drive safely without a valid driver's license ... but it's still illegal to drive without a valid driver's license.
So ..... all those in favor of not renewing your drivers license, raise your hand.
That's what I thought.
I hope you (the generic you) are teaching your children how to work within our system to change any laws that they think are bad .... and not teaching them that just because they believe a law is bad that it's ok to break it.
agreed with debi along with the 'growing pot in your garage' point.. or how ever she put it. 
I do feel bad for her along with every one else, but I dont like how people try and justify breaking the law in certain situations and how its not ok in others. Unfortunately the law is the law for a reason and people do not have a right to break it based on their own discrepancy.
Indy - you are a brave, brave woman 
! By the way "I demand your business plan".... oops... guess that was from another thread...
I do agree that breaking the law in any way is a bad thing. Her baking out of her home is illegal and therefore, she should not do it. However, comparing what she is doing to selling drugs is, in my opinion, utterly ridiculous. I think that would be like comparing "speeding" to "rape". This is however, just my opinion.
I do agree that breaking the law in any way is a bad thing. Her baking out of her home is illegal and therefore, she should not do it. However, comparing what she is doing to selling drugs is, in my opinion, utterly ridiculous. I think that would be like comparing "speeding" to "rape". This is however, just my opinion.
This thread has gotten a bit out of control..... 
Are we seriously debating whether or not cake baking at home is the same as selling drugs? 
Everyone on all sides seem to be a bit judemental. The way I see it is the lady probably makes a good apple cake and thought she could at least make that to help her family. It's like the ad's on craigs list begging for money, except she offering something for the "donation". She probably dosn't know it's illegal, and I personally think all this back and forth about it is nuts. Nobody here knows for sure her situation, or what's really going on. It's all just speculation then arguing about the speculation. Since it is illegal i am sure the health department has talked to her about it and have it under control. wrong is wrong, but sometimes a little compasion is needed. Personally I think all the regulations is nuts. It use to be that women could do things like bake cakes or cookie from home and make a little extra income, but now it seems you can't even send home made baked goods to you kid's school. Also i believe that if you don't wash your hands before making food for yourself or family then you won't whether your licenced or not. Should everyone work within the law, yes. Is it a cardinal sin like selling drugs, no......that's my opinion....
Should everyone work within the law, yes. Is it a cardinal sin like selling drugs, no......that's my opinion....
Selling drugs is a cardinal sin?
Should everyone work within the law, yes. Is it a cardinal sin like selling drugs, no......that's my opinion....
Selling drugs is a cardinal sin?
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