fivecentnickel.com &#187; Frugality

Weekly Roundup – Massive Failure Edition

Saving for Retirement at the Last Minute

How Planning Your Meals Will Save You Money

Guest Contributor — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:16 +0000

This is a guest post from Kyle of Suburban Dollar. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.

Lets face it, one of our biggest expenses outside of our mortgages is the cost of keeping our bellies full. Unfortunately, eating is a necessity. We have to get food, and most of us aren’t willing to eat other peoples garbage.

There are tons of ways you can save money on groceries like growing a garden, clipping coupons, buying bulk, and tracking cyclical prices. While these are all great ways to reduce your costs they should all be parts of a bigger plan.

Plans are the keys to success in just about everything we do. Football teams plan for the next game, architects draw up plans to build a skyscraper, and you should plan your meals in advance to save you time and money.

Here are the steps you should take weekly or monthly to maximize your savings and save some time.

Plan your meals

This is the first and most important step. Sit down and plan out your meals for the next week, two weeks, or month. This should include both the main course and the side(s). If you make your lunches every day and cook breakfast, make sure you include those meals in the plan.

By the time you are finished you should have a list of at least seven days of meals that should look something like this:

Meal	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Lunch	Bologna and Pickles	Tuna Salad	Left Overs	Ham and Cheese, Snack Pack	Left Overs	BLT	Brunch w/ inlaws
Dinner	Lasagna	Grilled Pork Chops, Rice, and Green Beans	Beer Butt Chicken, Potatoes, Broccoli	Chicken Pot Pie	Chicken Noodle Soup	Hot Dogs, Salad, Chips	Eat Out

Make a list

Now you need to sit down with your plan and write down every ingredient you will need throughout the week to make you meals. Be sure to include any staples you may need like bread, milk, orange juice, or cereal. This is why planning your meals in advance is so great. You can easily make a list of everything you need for the week and not have to worry about forgetting anything.

Check it twice

Now that you have a list the first thing you should do is go through the list and determine what you already have. Go through your fridge, freezer, and pantry. Mark off every item you already own and don’t need to buy. This will help you eliminate duplicate purchases.

Find the deals

For the remaining items on your list start researching the best prices available in your area. This usually means looking through the Sunday circulars to find the best bargain for your buck. Once you have located the best deals, circle them and stack your circulars up. You won’t need to drive all over town to get the best deals, just take the circulars to Wal-Mart and have them do a price match.

Hunt for coupons

This might take you a little bit of time, but coupons are free money so get to work. Online coupons are all the rage these days, and both stores and manufacturers are getting in on the game. I like to sit down with my list and find as many coupons as possible. I scour the internet for any coupons related to those products, print them off, and take them with me.

Go alone, shop swiftly

Now you just need to load up your coupons, circulars, list, and money. Head off to the store, but go alone. You already know what you need, and bringing another person will only distract you. Move swiftly through your list picking up only those items you have identified as needs. I say swiftly because the longer you linger, the more time you have to be tempted by ads and wandering thoughts.

Once you get to the checkout line, put your stuff on the belt, but leave anything you want to price match until the end. Put the circulars on these items so your intentions are clear. Finally, pay your bill and get out of Dodge.

Closing thoughts

If you actually take a bit of time to sit down and go through each of these steps, you’re guaranteed to save yourself both time at the store and money in your pocket. An added benefit is you get to prevent the inevitable question… “What are we going to have for dinner tonight, dear?”

Do you have any tips for planning meals in advance?

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Clean and Maintain Your Windows Computer for Free

Matt — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:00:05 +0000

Is it really necessary to buy software programs to clean and/or protect your Windows computer? And either way… Which ones should you use?

“Yesterday it worked, today it is not working, Windows is like that.”
-Margaret Segall

Why take advice from me?

Though I do not speak of it often I am an Information Technology Manager (a.k.a. “computer guy”) by trade, and have been cleaning and maintaining desktop PCs, laptops, and servers for almost 10 years now. What have I learned? A ton…

But rather than bore you with a lot of useless information, today I will focus on one topic that you do care about: How to maintain the speed and cleanliness of your computer using nothing but free software.

As you may well know I carefully filter all of my spending decisions, so my preference for free software should come as no surprise. While there are certain programs that must be purchased, the ones needed to clean and maintain your computer do not have to fall into that category. In fact, I have found that free software is 100% effective when it comes to cleaning computers.

Today my goal is to give non-techies a quick, easy, and free way to clean and maintaing their own PCs. Who knows, this could even be the start of a new career for you!!!

All the cool kids use Firefox

I will start with a maintenance tip since prevention is always the best medicine — use Firefox as your Internet browser. This it is your single best defense against getting infected with viruses, spyware, malware, etc.

I recommend Firefox not only because the majority of spyware, malware, and viruses out there today are developed to exploit the security holes in Internet Explorer (IE), but also because it provides a superior browsing experience to that of IE.

If you are already infected to the point where you have time to go knit a sweater between mouse clicks, you can clean it yourself – for free – using the arsenal of geek love below.

Five free products you need

Here is a brief description of the products you will need as well as a link to each:

Firefox – As noted above, this is a free Internet browser that has been taking market share from IE for years now. The majority of IT professionals use Firefox as their default browser, so be wise and use what the geeks-in-the-know use.
MalwareBytes Anti-Malware – A free and extremely effective spyware/malware removal program that I install on every computer in my home and in my corporate network. Another free option (which I haven’t used, so I can’t vouch for it) is SuperAntiSpyware. Why not pay for one of the “professional” spyware removal programs? Because you don’t need to.
Avast Antivirus – Hallelujah… A full featured antivirus software for free! The free edition is only intended for non-commercial and home use, so make sure you meet those requirements. Two other popular (and free) options are Grisoft AVG Free and Avira AntiVir.
Ccleaner – This cool little freebie offers an easy way to clean unnecessary temp files and also provides a registry clean up tool. It does a lot of things that many PC technicians used to have to do manually, and has been an invaluable tool in my IT apps arsenal.
Defraggler – Use this tool last… After you have already installed and employed all the previous programs. Made by the same company as Ccleaner, Defraggler will help speed up your PC by defragmenting the files on your hard drive. I use it because it is superior to the built-in Windows defrag utility. I suggest setting up a monthly automatic defrag (to run while you’re sleeping) for best results.

Don’t forget… Now that you’ve cleaned your PC, make sure you start using Firefox as your default browser!

Now don’t be selfish

If this post did help you clean up your PC, be kind and pass it along to friends, family, and coworkers, you computer technician, you. Heck, after awhile, you may even be able to start charging people to do this for them. Don’t say I never gave you any useful, income-generating ideas!

Happy cleaning!

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The Best Ways to “Spend” Your College Windfalls

Laura — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:00:42 +0000

My sister and brother both attend college and this week they received their tuition refunds. Since my mother has told us numerous times that paying for college is our responsibility, we’ve tried to get as many grants and scholarships possible.

While I attended college on a mix of financial aid grants and scholarships, so far my siblings have been able to pay without resorting to loans (learning from my mistakes has some benefits).

Whenever I received money while attending school, I was in the habit of saving some of it and spending the rest frivolously. Looking back, I wish I had been more prudent with my money. It would’ve put me in a much better situation and I could’ve taken significantly less loans out.

That being the case, I wanted to share some better ways to use your tuition refund, or any other windfall.

Start or build up your emergency fund

If you haven’t done so already, establishing an emergency fund can be a smart move. Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean you won’t have emergencies. Keep your money in a high yield savings account to help it gain interest while you attend school.

Many college students have low necessary expenses, so even a small tuition refund can be a big help. Each semester, you can grow the fund with your refunds. An added bonus is that, when you graduate, you’ll have a bit of cushion to help you transition to the “real world.”

Pay off your credit card debt

I listed this second because I think an emergency fund is vital. If you’re like me, however, you probably have a couple of credit cards with balances on them. Instead of waiting, use the refund to pay down your debt. I’m all for using the debt snowball method, as knocking out those low balance debts can be a huge boost.

Unless you have a regular source of income and can handle them responsibly, you should then hide your credit cards. If you’re looking to build your credit history, consider setting up a small recurring payment ($40 or less) and pay it off every month.

Invest your money in an IRA

If you’ve saved some money and have no debts, you’re in a very good position. You should consider putting some of your tuition refund away in a Roth IRA. The benefit of a Roth IRA is that, while you pay taxes on the money before you put it in, you can withdraw funds without taxes or penalties once you’ve reached age 59-1/2 and held the funds in the Roth for at least five years.

I don’t think many college student get this much back, but I should mention that the annual contribution limit is $5,000 ($6,000 if you’re 50 or older). Since you’ll be starting young, you’ll also gain the advantage of compound interest. Let that compound interest to work in your favor by investing for your long-term future.

Set aside some money for fun

You’ve worked hard, so it’s not a bad idea to splurge a bit. Remember, though, to set a limit and keep it. For example, put aside some money in a savings account for a summer trip. That way you can have a wonderful experience to remember without worrying about debt. It’s really up to you as to what you consider fun.

Any other thoughts?

My view is that you should do whatever you can to establish good habits as early as possible. After you graduate, you’ll be thrilled that you started off on the right foot. If you’re still in college, you should apply for as many scholarships and grants that you can. Sure, it takes some work, but it’s well worth the effort.

For those of you that are out of college, if you could go back, what (if anything) would you change?

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Saving and Spending During the Holiday Season

Matt — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:00:29 +0000

It’s time people! Whether you like it or not, the Holiday season will be upon us in the blink of an eye. Are you financially prepared?

“The wise man plans and saves for the future, but the foolish person squanders what he has.”

-Proverb

Today I will outline two basic concepts. One will touch on saving for a “traditional spending” Christmas, and the other will challenge you to do what we do… Forget commercial Christmas and develop your own idea of giving for the season.

Because it makes more sense, I will spend most of my time on the latter.

Two very differing views toward Christmas

1. Participating in the modern gift exchange culture as we know it.

The following represents the “normal” point-of-view in our culture:

Wait until December
Go buy a ton of gifts for friends, family, and coworkers — on credit, no less
Attend a bunch of Christmas parties
Exchange gifts at each one

What’s my opinion? Don’t participate. Modern gift exchanges in our culture reek of binging, excess, and indulgence. If you must participate, make sure you start saving now… You’ll need it.

If you are firmly entrenched in this camp, then create a separate fund for Holiday spending and contribute to it for the next few months so you can fund your upcoming retail extravaganza. This will help you avoid using your credit card as much as if you did nothing to prepare.

Instead of simply following the status quo, why not start thinking outside the box. Here are some reasons why:

You don’t really have any money. If you’re reading this, there’s a decent chance that you’re in debt. Stop pretending you have more money that you really do, and use any extra available funds to move toward financial freedom. Once you’re free from the bondage of debt, then go buy gifts with money that you actually have!
Most Americans don’t NEED more stuff. In most cases, our needs our well provided for, so Christmas is (more often than not) all about want want want. If that’s the case with you or your family, consider using your money for something more useful this year — like paying off your debt.

If you’re still intent on giving gifts, read on…

2. Participating in gift exchanges on your own terms.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… Break free from a culture of temptation. Live outside the box and exercise the lost arts of creativity and resourcefulness.

Here are several ways for you to change your approach toward gift giving for Christmas 2009:

Greatly limit your participating in gift exchanges this year. My wife and I have done this for the last several years. We give sensible gifts to our nieces and nephews, participate in one $20 gift exchange with each side of our family, and limit our spending on each other to $50.
Communicate with your loved ones. We’ve made clear to our family and friends that we’re not planning on giving gifts, and that we expect nothing in return. Were they upset? No. Quite the contrary. Once we spoke up, it turned out that most everyone agreed. We all saved money and focused instead on simply spending time with each other.
Make homemade cards and gifts. Instead of feeding the corporate consumerism monster, consider a homemade gift. Aside from being a great way to save money, boost creativity, and build your self-reliance, it’s also a great family-building exercise. Some of my best memories of Christmas-time are of making homemade Christmas ornaments, decorations, and gifts with my family when I was growing up. Give it a shot… I promise you won’t regret it.
Offer your services as a gift. Don’t have the time to make cards and gifts this year? Make a few simple coupons for your services and give them away to loved ones. Often times they need your expertise way more than another tie, pair of socks, or a gift certificate. Are you a computer technician? Give people coupons for a free computer clean-up. Are you a massage therapist? Give people coupons for one free massage. Are you the ring master at a circus? Give people free passes to the show. You get the point. Not only will you be helping them out, but you’ll also create an opportunity to spend time together.

Don’t limit yourself

One more thing… Don’t limit your use of this approach to Christmas. Use it for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. To give you an example, my wife just made “Tub Crayons” as a birthday gift for our friends two year old. The recipe was pulled from the Dining on a Dime Cook Book: 1000 Money Saving Recipes and Tips (which we HIGHLY recommend). It was both inexpensive and simple to prepare.

Don’t be selfish… Share your ideas with us!

I’ve just offered up a few idea here, but don’t limit yourself to what I’ve mentioned. Consider your family and friends, and think about what you can do to make this year extra special for them.

I encourage you to save your money and be creative. Make people dinner, write them a song/poem, or offer to babysit. Instead of spending your time shopping for them, spend your time coming up with a creative way to show them that you love them. I can promise you this… They’ll remember it much more fondly than they would another $15 tie from Walmart!

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Seven Search Tips to Help You Save Money with Google

Guest Contributor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:20:48 +0000

This is a guest post from Ann Smarty, a blogger, search marketer and social media enthusiast. If you like what you see here, please consider following Ann on Twitter.

Being a search marketer and online entrepreneur, I am on the web approximately nine hours per day, seven days a week. It is safe to assume that Google search takes no less than three hours of that time daily. So let me tell you, I have had the opportunity to see and try in practice all the beauty of Google search.

And like in any area of your life, Google can be really helpful for saving money when shopping. Let me share a few tips:

1. Use Google to convert currencies

The simplest, yet one the most useful Google hacks is to just type something like:

[5 pounds in USD]

and you got it:

2. Use Google as a calculator

Can’t tell how much you save with the coupon? You don’t have to go anywhere — just type it in Google and you’re done:

3. Use Google to search through reviews and forum opinions

Google has recently introduced quite a few cool features to its interface, many of which help when it comes to shopping on a budget. The first feature I want to talk about is “reviews and forums”. Here’s what you need to do:

Search for whatever you plan to buy
Click “More option” below the search field
Click “Forums” or “Reviews” to see what people are saying about that thing you need to purchase

4. Use Google to find recent product news and reviews

That’s another option within the left-hand pane that we discovered in the previous tip. As you may have noticed, Google sometimes (but not always) tends to rank old pages higher just because they are supposed to be more trustworthy. Oftentimes, however, you need to know what has just been said about some product you are considering. So:

Click “More Options“
Choose “Reviews” or “Forums“
Click “Past 24 hours“, “Past week“, “Past year” or “Custom date range“

5. Use Google to compare prices

Yes, you heard me right! You can let Google show prices right on your search results page for quick comparisons:

Click “More Options“
Click “Prices from the page“

6. Use Google to compare prices from various brands

Say, you want to search for Sony laptops as well as Acer laptops to compare prices right within the results page. If you search [sony laptop acer laptop] you will only get results where all of these terms are used on one page. Instead, you want either of the pairs [sony laptop] or [acer laptop]. So what you need to type is:

[sony laptop OR acer laptop]

Now, just click “Prices from the page” to the left of the search results and you get the list of prices for both laptops on one page throughout various stores:

7. Use Google to search within any money-saving site

This one is actually my favorite. I am so used to Google search that I never care to even look for the search option on any site. All I need is to type site:sitename.com and search within any site using the above mentioned wonderful options.

Let me demonstrate this with an example. Let’s say you want to quickly search through Buxr.com (a coupon directory) for laptop deals. You could easily do this with the following search string:

[site:buxr.com laptop]

Not only will Google show you the most recent updates from the site, it will also let you know the exact time the deal was published:

Hopefully, you will be able to take advantage of these Google search tips!

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Create Your Own “Extended Warranty Fund”

Nickel — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:00:40 +0000

Extended warranties are, almost without exception, a bad deal for consumers. In fact, according to Consumer Reports:

“Retailers are pushing hard to get you to buy extended warranties, or service plans, because they’re cash cows. Stores keep 50 percent or more of what they charge for warranties. That’s much more than they can make selling actual products.”

Thus, while extended warranties were once reserved for high dollar purchases, many retailers have started pushing them for relatively minor items, as well. And why wouldn’t they? They’re practically printing money.

In most cases, however, you’re only paying for marginal coverage when you buy an extended warranty. Consider the case of a gadget with a one year manufacturer’s warranty. You can easily extend that to two years by using the right credit card.

Thus, the three year warranty that you’re being offered is essentially a bet that your purchase will break between 24-36 months after you purchase it. And guess what? Even if it happens, you can probably get something far better (and cheaper) by then.

So what’s a savvy shopper to do?

Create an “extended warranty fund”

Instead of buying warranty after warranty, why not create an “extended warranty fund.” In other words, whenever a retailer offers you an extended warranty, simply transfer that amount of money into a dedicated savings account*.

If/when problems arise, you can simply pay for the repairs (or replacement) out of your warranty fund. And once the fund builds up to a sufficiently healthy size, you can back off on your contributions.

There are two main benefits to self-insuring in this way. First, you’ll get to earn interest on the money as it accrues. Second, you’ll be the one that gets to keep the cash when your stuff doesn’t break.

Sure, there are bound to be some instances in which you would’ve been better off with the extended warranty, but remember… These warranties are designed to be profitable. Thus, more often than not, you’ll come out ahead by skipping them entirely.

*Note: Yes, I realize that this sounds suspiciously like an emergency fund. I prefer to make a distinction, though, as a broken TV doesn’t really constitute a true emergency, and thus shouldn’t be paid for out of your emergency fund.

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The Pareto Principle and Building a Better You

Nickel — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:00:07 +0000

The Pareto Principle holds that, for many events, 80% of the effects can be attributed to 20% of the causes. Also known as “the 80/20 rule,” or “the law of the vital few,” the Pareto Principle has been found to apply to a surprisingly wide variety of things in everyday life.

Examples of the Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle is named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), who observed that 80% of the land in Italy was controlled by just 20% of the population. Intrigued, Pareto looked to other countries and found similar ratios. More recently, a 1992 United Nations study revealed that 80% of the world’s wealth (actually 82.7%) is controlled by 20% of the population.

Looking more broadly:

It’s been long recognized, or at least assumed, that 80% of sales come from 20% of clients (or 20% of salespeople).
Microsoft has noted that, by fixing the top 20% of bugs, they could squash 80% of errors and crashes. (Note: I wonder when they’re planning on doing this…)
In 2000, 20% of taxpayers paid 81.2% of US income taxes. (Note: This is perhaps not surprising given the large share of wealth that they control.)
20% of employees account for 80% of absenteeism.
It appears that fellow blogger J.D. Roth wears 20% of his shirts 80% of the time (if not more).

And the list goes on.

Why the Pareto Principle matters

To see how this principle can help you in everyday life, it might be best to turn it around…

What would you do if I told you that 80% of your efforts are (in many cases) largely wasted, producing only 20% of your results? I’d be willing to bet that you’d take a closer look at how you spend your time and make some changes.

While it’s arguable whether or not the numbers really work out to 80/20 in any particular case, the larger point still stands… The majority of your productivity typically comes from a minority of your efforts.

By looking critically at how you spend your time/effort, you can dramatically improve your productivity. Try to identify the things that produce the most results and focus on doing them. Likewise, try to shun (or at least streamline) activities that don’t produce much in the way of results.

The same principles can, of course, be applied to things like spending. While you may have certain critical things that are indispensable, yet only used rarely, I’d bet that you only regularly use a small fraction of your “stuff.” If you can learn to look at your purchases with a more discerning eye, your money will go further, and you’ll wind up with far less clutter.

Have you ever evaluated how you spend your time/efforts/money in this way? If so, what did you find? And what (if any) changes did you institute?

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Why a Degree From a Fancy College Isn’t Worth It

Guest Contributor — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:51 +0000

This is a guest post from Neal Frankle of Wealth Pilgrim. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.

Have you ever wondered if it makes sense to spend big bucks on an undergraduate education? Some time ago, I read another blogger’s post explaining why college is worth the cost.

The value of education

This particular blogger’s logic was interesting and unique — he calculated the added income received as a result of having a fancy degree versus what the student could have earned with the money in alternative investments. After all, spending money on college is an investment and should be evaluated as such. Right?

He found that you (or your child or grandchild) usually do well by biting the bullet and spending the money. Let’s say, for example, that it costs you $200k to go to college. As a result of attending college, let’s further assume that you earn an additional $25k per year for the rest of your life. He argues that it’s a hands-down smart investment.

A different view

As far as I’m concerned, the foregoing math is right, but the comparison is wrong — or at least incomplete. I do agree that college is an investment. It costs way too much money and takes way too much time to just be considered as an “experience” — or at least that’s how I see it.

You’ll have one set of “experiences” at an Ivy League school, and a different set of “experiences” at a less expensive state college. There’s no way of knowing in advance which will be more important, or which will have a greater positive impact.

No, the way to decide where to do your undergraduate work is to consider the extra income you could produce as a result of going to an expensive school vs. getting the same degree at a less expensive school. That’s it. And when you look at it that way, the result favors spending as little as possible on undergraduate school.

Should you pay more?

Let’s consider the facts:

The most selective — and generally most expensive — schools usually attract the brightest students. And you’d expect those bright kids to excel once they join the workforce no matter where they went to school, right?

So the real question is: Do the bright students who attend top schools earn more over their lifetimes than they would have had they gone to a less prestigious and less expensive school?

Said another way, are your lifetime earnings a result of who you are or where you went to school?

Princeton economist Alan Krueger and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation researcher Stacy Berg Dale tried to answer this question. They looked at students who were smart enough to be accepted at the top schools, but who chose to go to less selective (and lower cost) institutions.

What do you think they learned?

Smart kids who went to the expensive schools were no more successful than similarly qualified students who attended less expensive schools. In other words, the student matters. The school doesn’t.

A real-life example

Not convinced? Here’s a true story from my own neighborhood.

My daughter just graduated high school. Her ultimate goal is to work on the business side of music performance. She was accepted at NYU, Berklee School of Music, and two state colleges. NYU and Berklee both cost north of $55k/year. The state colleges cost 75% less.

A few months ago, my wife was talking with our neighbor about the situation. My wife didn’t know it at the time, but our neighbor’s two sons were recent graduates of the Berklee School of Music.

When my wife told our neighbor about our situation, she immediately asked her two sons (living at home) to come out and speak to my wife. They told her what a great school Berklee was, and how much they regretted going there. Why?

Two reasons:

First, each child was now saddled with over $100,000 in debt. They calculated that it would take 7 to 10 years to get out of debt.

Second, while they were both working in the music industry, they were working alongside other recent graduates who attended cheaper state schools. It turned out that they didn’t need the expensive college degree to qualify for the jobs they wanted.

My wife asked the boys which state college the boys’ co-workers attended. The boys told my wife that 5 out of 6 of their co-workers went to one of the state colleges my daughter was accepted to. Where do you think my daughter is going to attend?

Here’s a hint: Go State!

What do you think?

Do you think it’s worth selling a kidney to cover the cost of an undergraduate education? Why or why not?

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Preserving the Harvest

Guest Contributor — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:53:54 +0000

This is a guest post from SD Guy of StretchyDollar.com. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.

Depending on where you live and when you planted your garden, you’ve most likely been enjoying the fruits of your labor. We’ve had a good year, though it’s been difficult to keep the birds away.

One of the best things about having your own garden is that you can walk right out into your backyard and pick some fresh produce and eat it right there, on the spot. No running to the grocery store or the farmer’s market, no standing in line, no $4 for a pound of strawberries, and no pesticides or other “unknowns” to wash off.

But what about your excess harvest? We’ve produced way more food than we can handle all at once, and so we’ve had to consider our options when it comes to preserving our ‘leftover’ vegetables. What follows is an overview of some of the things you’ll need, as well as an indication of the costs involved.

Freezing

Freezing is one of the easiest ways to store vegetables, and if you blanch (i.e., ‘flash boil’) the vegetables before you freeze them, they will retain their nutrients much better and keep much longer. We’ve been able to freeze some of just about everything, expect our spinach.

Cost: Super cheap
Needs: A box of Ziploc freezer bags

Pickling

This is great for things like cucumbers or beets. I’m not sure if you can pickle tomatoes or peppers. Pickling looks to be a bit more difficult to master than other methods – the process itself is easy, but apparently takes ‘just the right touch’ to be successful.

Cost: Moderate
Needs: Canning salt, pressure/water bath canner, vinegar, jars, lids, rings, spices, brine

Jams/Jellies

Most people think of fruits when you mention preserves, but vegetables are catching on as well. I recently had a great jalapeno jelly that greatly complimented my bagel with cheese. You can do freezer jam as well, which is very common. It’s quicker, cheaper, yummier, and doesn’t have as many preservatives.

Cost: Moderate (cheap after you have a canner)
Needs: Water bath canner or pressure canner, pectin, jars, lids, rings, freezer containers (if you decide to do freezer jam)

Canning

There are two canning methods: pressure canning and water bath canning. I still have memories of the kitchen in my childhood home being covered with jars full of tomatoes and peaches that we enjoyed all winter long. We’ve grew seven tomato plants as well as lot of carrots, peas. All are suitable for canning.

If you are persistent you can pick up canning jars at Salvation Army, Savers, or Goodwill-type places.

Cost: Moderate (need lots of cans, lids and rings and a canner)
Needs: Cans, lids, rings, pressure or water bath canner

Drying

A food dehydrator is a necessity here, and since we don’t have one, we didn’t dry any food this year.

Cost: High
Needs: Food dehydrator, storage bags, or containers

Juices

If you’re a fan of V8, you can use a juicer or a blender to create your own tasty beverages. Tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and radishes can be combined to make a tasty treat. Adding a bit of lemon juice can help equalize the tastes. We’re big fans of tomatoes, so I’m sure some of this juice will find its way into our fridge. This can be frozen, as well.

Cost: Moderate
Needs: cans, lids, rings, pressure or water bath canner

Storing

Some foods (like potatoes and radishes) can be easily stored in a cool, dry area.

Cost: Free (unless you buy boxes or bags)
Needs: Boxes or bags

The bottom line

You don’t have to have a green thumb to cash in on the benefits of canning, preserving and storing food. If you’re unable to maintain a garden, another option is to stockpile produce from local growers. Stop by local orchards and farms, farmer’s markets, and roadside stands and inquire about bulk deals. Take your spoils home, preserve the in whichever method you prefer, and enjoy nutritious produce all winter long!

For a very full rundown on the exact specifics of each of these preservation methods, check out PickYourOwn.org

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Get Cheap Car Rentals From Priceline (or Hotwire)

Nickel — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:00:57 +0000

By the time most of you read this, I’ll be airborne. I’m heading out for a short work-related trip, and will be renting a car at the other end. Unfortunately, I waited until the last minute to book a car rental, and the rates were atrocious.

According to Kayak (my overall favorite travel site) the best I could do was $149/day for a full-sized car. Yes, smaller cars were marginally cheaper, and they might upgrade me at the rental counter due to availability, but I’m tall and want the guaranteed legroom.

After a quick perusal of the rental agency web pages confirmed these rates, I decided to try something I’ve never used before… Priceline.

Checking rental car prices at Hotwire

Before heading over to Priceline, I decided to check Hotwire to get a feel for the types of discounts that might be available. For those that are unfamiliar with these services, Hotwire and Priceline are both travel discounters with a twist.

Neither Hotwire nor Priceline let you know who your service provider will be prior to the transaction. Hotwire does, however, list prices up front. In contrast, Priceline lets you “name your own price.” Of course, they won’t necessarily accept it, but it’s worth a shot.

According to Hotwire, I could get a full-sized car for $89/day — much cheaper than going straight to the source. Moreover, since Hotwire only uses “mainstream” rental companies (Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz, and National), I wasn’t too concerned about which one it would end being.

Naming my own rental car price at Priceline

With the $89/day price point in hand, I headed over to Priceline. Like Hotwire, Priceline only uses major rental companies (Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, and National) so I wasn’t too concerned about which one I’d end up with.

I’ve read that a good strategy for figuring out what to bid on Priceline is to undercut the Hotwire price by about 20%. I ended up bidding $70/day for a full-sized car and got shot down. However, they offered me a “one-time opportunity” to rent for $83/day. Not wanting to spend any more time on this, I accepted.

In the end, I was able to save roughly 45% over the going rate. I could’ve probably gotten the car even cheaper (and saved on some taxes/fees) if I’d been willing to look at off-airport car rental locations, but this is a very quick trip and I don’t want to deal with it.

The downside of travel discounters

The biggest downside to both Priceline and Hotwire is that your arrangements are non-refundable and cannot be modified. If your Priceline bid is accepted, you are charged immediately. Likewise, if you accept a Hotwire deal, you pay immediately. Here’s the scoop from Priceline:

Priceline rental cars are non-refundable, non-transferable and non-changeable even if the reservation is not used.

If your offer is accepted, we will immediately lock in your reservation and charge your credit card. If your offer is not accepted, your credit card will not be charged.

Additional changes may apply at the counter if you pick-up or drop-off the car at a different date or time than you requested for your reservation.

Only the driver will be able to pick up this rental car at the counter. You will be able to add an additional driver at the counter for an additional charge.

The driver will be required to present a valid driver’s license and a valid credit card or debit card in his/her name with a minimum of $200 available credit as a security deposit on the vehicle. If you plan to use a debit card, you may be required to provide round-trip flight information at the rental counter.

Your offer price does not include vehicle liability, collision or personal accident coverage for your rental car. You should determine if you have insurance coverage prior to pick-up. Additional insurance can be purchased at the rental counter.

Something else to keep in mind is that you can’t instantly re-bid on Priceline. In fact, you can only bid once every 24 hours for a particular date, type of car, and location. You can, however, bid more often if you’re willing to change one or more of those variables.

Finally, as I’ve already noted, you don’t find out who you’ll be dealing with until after you pay. For rental cars, I don’t really care. As long as it’s a reputable company, I’ll rent from pretty much anyone. But for hotels? In some instances, location is critical, and not being able to control exactly where I’ll be staying could be a problem.

Into the unknown…

And now I’m just hoping that there’s actually a car waiting for me at the rental counter when I arrive. While I expect everything to be fine, I’ve never used Priceline before (have you?), so I’m still in the “get to know you” phase.

I’m assuming that everything will go smoothly, but I’ll be sure to update when everything is said and done.

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Avoid Lifestyle Inflation: Create an Artificial Sense of Scarcity

Nickel — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:00:04 +0000

Lifestyle inflation is a huge threat to your financial well-being. Unless you’re exceptionally well-disciplined, it’s very difficult to keep your spending from increasing in lockstep with your earnings.

The primary reason for this is that gradual increases in your income/spending are, more often than not, barely perceptible from one year to the next. If you step back and look at the big picture, however, you’ll see that you’ve been working for years and never really getting ahead.

What can we do about it?

One of my favorite tricks for beating lifestyle inflation is to create what I call an artificial sense of scarcity. By this, I mean that you should go out of your way to “hide” your money from yourself.

Start by moving your long-term savings out of your “everyday” bank. Out of sight, out of mind. If you don’t see the money sitting there every time check your accounts, you won’t be constantly reminded of its presence, and you won’t be tempted to spend it.

Beyond this, whenever you get a raise, make a point of increasing the percentage of your salary that goes into your retirement accounts. Also consider setting up (or increasing) an automatic transfer that draws off a portion of your income for long-term goals.

Note that I’m not saying that you should never enjoy the fruits of your labor. We all like nice things, and might reasonably want to elevate our lifestyle over time. I’m simply suggesting that such changes should be the result of a conscious decision.

Also note that this doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition… At my first “real” job, I started out stashing 5% of my salary in my retirement account. From that point forward, I increased my contribution percentage by half of each raise that I received.

For example, when I got a 4% raise at the of my first year, I contacted HR and increased my retirement contribution to 7%. Splitting my raises like this allowed us to enjoy a bit more take home pay while jacking up our savings. Best of all, it was totally painless — you won’t miss what you’ve never had.

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Can We Take Frugality Too Far?

Guest Contributor — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:00:45 +0000

This is a guest post from Kevin Mercadante of Out of Your Rut. Kevin is also author of Lighten Your Load, an e-book focused on reducing expenses while still maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.

At the risk accused of heresy, I’d like to open up a discussion of — for lack of a better description — frugality’s darker side. True, most of us have room for more frugal in our living and spending habits, but is it possible to take things to the point of being counterproductive?

Can we be honest? Free spending is usually about convenience; there may be a cheaper alternative, but we buy what’s convenient so we don’t have to spend time investigating our options. We often justify paying the going rate with the fact that we’re saving time.

As toxic as this approach might be to our budgets, we have to acknowledge the reality that being frugal will in most cases involve a trade-off between time and money. We may have to spend more time shopping, clipping coupons, negotiating, fixing things ourselves, etc. that free spenders mostly ignore.

But how much time should we spend on this?

A real opportunity cost

None of us should make frugality so central in our lives that we spend inordinate amounts of time cutting expenses. If we do, we risk reducing the time available for earning more money, either through primary jobs, side ventures, or learning new skills that increase our earning potential.

For example, if you spend your spare time fixing whatever breaks in your house or on your car, it might be difficult to find the time to run a side business, take on a part time job, or enroll in computer or foreign language courses. In other words, you might be missing out on numerous opportunities to increase your income.

The earning-versus-saving conflict could be a case of “six of one, half a dozen of the other,” but earning capacity should generally take precedence over saving money, if only because there’s a limit to how far you can cut expenses. Earning more money, on the other hand, has no ceiling (at least in theory).

Making ourselves miserable

Part of sound money management is being more deliberate in our spending habits. That largely means putting limits on how much we spend for each expense category, but… If a budget is too tight, we can start feeling trapped.

Since most of us don’t do captivity well, it’s best to budget some money for letting loose and being frivolous from time to time. It’s far better to do that than to let frustration build to a level at which we abandon our budgets entirely. Managing emotions is just as important as managing money.

Taking unnecessary risks

No effort at being frugal is worth endangering yourself. So why is it that people are sometimes so consumed by the desire to save money that they do things like performing major home repairs that should be left to INSURED professionals.

Maybe you can fix that leak in your roof, but what if you fall off, get injured, and can’t work for six months, how much money have you saved? Do what you can within reason to save money, but never ignore the risks that you’re taking in the process. Some expenses may not be worth cutting.

Making others miserable

Do you know anyone who makes a scene when whenever they open their wallet? I’ve been in restaurants with people who insist on a single check, and then do a Jekyll-and-Hyde routine when the bill arrives. Out comes the paper, pen, and calculator, followed by “friendly” disputes with others in the party as well the wait staff.

“I didn’t order this… I only ordered one of that and you charged me for two… I didn’t order a salad, I shared her salad…”

And so on. They’ll even go so far as talking down the tip due to alleged poor service.

Here’s a tip for you… If going to a restaurant isn’t in your budget, don’t go. If your budget is limited, ask for separate checks. Don’t let your budget come between you and others.

Relationships with family and friends should be reciprocal — you give and you get. You don’t want a reputation as the one who is first in line when it’s time to get, but who quietly slips to the back of the line when it’s time to step up and give.

Such people are difficult to be around, and the one thing you need when you’re trying to save money is friends. While good friends don’t cost anything. they’re hard to find. Don’t take advantage of them.

Crossing a forbidden line

I think we can all agree that we need to be on the lookout for different ways to save money. That being said, we shouldn’t take it to the extreme and use frugality as a justification for outright theft, either.

Examples include “everybody does it” activities such as theft of employer office supplies, taking handfuls of condiments from restaurants, exaggerating hours worked, fudging expense reports, or taking things under the “finder’s keepers” rule.

Balance should be the key in all that we do in life. We can and should work to save money, but we need to balance that effort against the costs we may incur in other areas of our lives.

What do you think?

How far is too far? Can efforts to save money have the opposite effect?

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The Fallacy of Relative Price Evaluation

Nickel — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:51:08 +0000

We’re just back from an end-of-summer trip to the beach. A good time was had by all, and the kids headed back to school this morning. While on the road, I had an interesting experience with the concept of relative price evaluation, and I wanted to share a few thoughts here.

How people evaluate purchase prices

For a bit of background, I recently finished reading Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. In case you’re not familiar with it, this is a fascinating book on behavioral economics that’s written for “everyman,” and which has graced both the NY Times and Wall St. Journal bestseller lists.

In his book, Ariely talked about a variety of topics, including our tendency to view prices in a relative context. As an example, he talked about the purchase of a pen vs. the purchase of an expensive suit. If you could drive 15 minutes across town to save $7 on a $25 pen, would you do it? Many would. But what if you could make the same drive to save $7 on a $495 suit? Many wouldn’t bother.

Ariely then asks:

“Is 15 minutes of your time worth $7, or isn’t it? In reality, of course, $7 is $7 – no matter how you count it. The only question you should ask yourself in these cases is whether the 15-minute trip across town, and the extra 15 minutes it would take, is worth the extra $7 you would save. Whether the amount from which this $7 will be saved is $10 or $10,000 should be irrelevant.”

Our experience

My own experience with this came when we arrived at our destination. We stayed in a beachfront hotel, but the parking deck was across a busy street with no crosswalk. We could park there for free, or we could opt for valet parking for $10/day.

Given the amount of money that we were already spending to stay at the hotel, I was tempted to go with the valet parking. After all, what’s another ten bucks per day? Just a drop in the bucket. But then it hit me…

If we had been staying at a cheaper hotel, there’s no way I would’ve willingly spent $10/day (plus tips) for valet service. After all, we only needed the car about once per day. Why should I spend ten bucks to save an extra three minute walk across the street to the parking deck?

Lessons learned

I think the lesson here is that you need to boil your buying decisions down to their most basic level. Look at the actual dollar amounts involved instead of viewing things in a relative context. If you don’t, then your high dollar purchases will almost certainly wind up costing you even more.

This isn’t to say that you should automatically drive across town to save a few bucks. Rather, you need to consider the value of your time and the added cost (gas, wear and tear, etc.) vs. the actual amount to be saved and make an informed decision.

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Good Deals Don’t Always Pay

Matt — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:00:07 +0000

While I am a staunch frugalite, I am not a cheapskate! In fact, price is but one of many factors I consider when making a purchase, no matter how large or small. Like anyone else, however, I’ve made mistakes in the past that serve as continual reminders that good deals don’t always pay!

You get what you pay for…

Here are three examples that cheaper is not always better.

1. As a child growing up, my father bought ten $25 dollar lawnmowers in the span of approximately 10 years.

Problematic behavior: Although he only spent $25 each year on mowers, the trouble far out-weighed the savings. The mowers were hard to start, and rarely ran properly. We had to go purchase, pick up, and haul a “new” piece of junk home each and every spring. My father ended up spending $250 on lawnmowers and put up with a lot of headaches in search of a “good deal.” In the end, he ended up spending more than a new mower would’ve cost in the first place.

Healthy behavior: The above example doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy used. Rather, the lesson here is that you should look at more than price alone when searching for a deal. Instead of purchasing cheap mowers, my father would have been better served by buying one brand new mower for $150, maintaining it each year, and enjoying the benefits of a trouble-free machine.

2. My wife has a friend who has gotten a “good deal” at garage sales nearly every summer weekend of her life for the past 15 years.

Problematic behavior: While she’s getting a “good deal,” she’s also accumulating a ton of crap that she doesn’t need or use. My wife and I recently spent an entire Saturday helping her move, and we couldn’t believe the enormous collection of unused goods that she has — and continues to add to. All in the name of getting a good deal!

Healthy behavior: My wife’s friend is actually wasting both money and time with her garage sale addiction. If she either used the goods, or turned around and sold them for a profit, then she’d be practicing wise behavior. Instead, she accumulates and forgets. This is a perfect illustration of how getting a “good price” doesn’t automatically translate into a good buy. A healthy change would be to de-clutter and focus on living simply. Another idea would be for her to start selling her stuff on eBay — ideally at a profit.

3. I saved some money by having a “friend of a friend” do the the body work on my Jeep Cherokee – he started in December of 2008 and, to date (July of 2009), has yet to complete the work.

Problematic behavior: You may remember the story… My wife and I are currently a one car couple. We saved money by having an friend of a friend fix our Jeep, but… Here we are, seven months later and we are still without the extra set of wheels, and are pulling our hair out dealing with this guy. Beyond the frustration of waiting, I’ve also kept the vehicle insured (I pay my insurance in 6 month intervals) because I assumed I’d have it back within a few weeks.

Healthy behavior: While I should’ve done a better job of checking out the repairman, this whole thing can be blamed on me wanting to get a “good deal.” Because I hadn’t properly budgeted for this sort of repair in the past, I made decisions I wouldn’t have normally made. Lesson learned??? Budget for the unexpected so you won’t be blindsided when the unexpected happens. Your emergency fund is your friend. Luckily, I have receipts for the money I’ve paid this guy, but the time and frustration involved have made me rethink the definition of a “good deal”!

What about you?

I’m sure we’ve all had experiences similar to those outlined above. Do you have any recent examples of “good deals” that backfired on you? What lessons did you learn?

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Save Money by Questioning Your Purchases

Nickel — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:00:05 +0000

Today I just wanted to highlight an excellent comment that I recently received. In response to “Quit Shopping, Save Money,” a reader named ‘sekishin‘ said:

“When considering a purchase, picture a stranger offering you [the cash value of the purchase] or the item in question. Which is of greater value you? Which would you choose?”

This is a great piece of advice, and one that could save us all a lot of money. If someone walked up and offered to give you $1000 cash or that new HDTV you’ve been drooling over, which would you choose? If you’d rather have the cash, then you better think twice before trading your hard-earned cash for that shiny new TV.

The point here is that simply stopping to question your buying decisions can go a long way toward cutting down on frivolous expenditures. If the purchase is still worth it to you, and if you have room in your budget, then go ahead and buy it. If not, then you should turn around and walk away before you change your mind.

Do you have any tricks for stopping yourself from making spending mistakes?

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Testimony of a One Car Couple

Matt — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:00:46 +0000

Up until a few months ago, if someone would have asked my wife or me to get rid of one of our cars, we would’ve just snickered and responded, “Impossible!” But then it happened… I wrecked my car.

A bit of background

From the time we met in 2003 up until seven months ago, my wife and I had always viewed two cars as a necessity. Then on Thursday, December 19th, 2008 I rear-ended a pickup truck at a busy intersection and wrecked my 2001 Jeep Cherokee.

At the time, my Jeep was worth about $5,000 and the initial quote to repair the damage was upwards of $9,000! In other words, it was totaled. I called a mechanic friend up and asked if he could come by and give it a once over to see if anyone he knew could do the body work for a reasonable amount of money. He obliged.

As it turns out, he did have a business associate who, despite being a wee bit unreliable, would be able to do the work for around $3,000 parts and labor. I jumped at the chance.

As the weeks rolled by and my Jeep was still “being fixed,” I grew increasingly impatient and my wife was far from happy. After all, she was the one responsible for carting me around until my Jeep was back in working condition.

The weeks turned into months, and now here we are in the middle of the summer and I still don’t have my Jeep back! We’ve certainly learned an important lesson about “getting a good deal,” but that’s a topic for another post.

Today I want to focus on how we successfully adapted to becoming a one car family. without killing each other, or hating the end result.

Changes we’ve made

My wife and I work in different towns, so she started dropping me off at a bus stop on her way to work. From there, I was able to catch a bus straight to my workplace. The stop was right off an expressway exit for her, so it took little more than five extra minutes each morning.

To save money, I purchased bus passes in 10 ride increments and wound up paying $1/ride. After work, I would catch a bus back to the dropoff/pickup spot and wait for my wife to arrive on her way home. We coordinated the pick up times via phone, and it worked out quite well.

Once summer came, and my wife began her three month vacation, things changed a little. Some days (fewer than I would like) I ride my bike about 10 miles to and from work. On days that I don’t ride, my wife gets up with me and drives me in.

I don’t want to spend too much more time talking about how we get around with just one car, so I’ll just say this: We do our best to coordinate our schedules, and we go out of our way to accommodate each other. A side benefit is that we get to spend more time together.

Tips for making it work

Increase organization. Creating (and using!) a “Family Calendar” has gone from being a bit of an inside joke in our marriage to being a necessity. Before we commit to anything, we check the family calendar for availability and vehicle options.
Embrace the bike. Unless you own a pair of shorts with a pad in the crotch, you probably don’t ride your bike as much as could/should. We didn’t either. If you want to increase your bike usage, get in better shape, ditch your gym membership, or all of the above… Simply get rid of one of your vehicles.
Ride the bus/train. Using public transportation in small town USA might make you feel like a bit of a pariah, but… I got past that, embraced my options, and used them to improve my situation. I found that counting myself among all other people, regardless of income or status, was healthy on many different levels.
Carpool whenever possible. Share rides with friends or neighbors when you can. Just be careful not to take advantage of them. It’s always a good idea to offer some sort of payment if you can’t fully reciprocate, and always work to fit your life around their schedule.
Stay home more. Enjoy time with your family, complete projects around the house, read more, make/eat homemade meals, grow a garden, talk to your spouse more, and/or spend time with your kids. All of these things will have a positive impact on your life.
Simplify your life. Getting rid of a vehicle may seem like it complicates things, but we found that it actually made our lives far simpler. The whole process forced us to “trim the fat,” so to speak. We’ve learned better communication and organization and, now that we’re seven months into it, we’ve come to enjoy the increased levels of simplicity and contentment.

Making it permanent?

What really surprised me was that my wife asked me the other night if we should just sell my Jeep when we get it back. That’s actually what inspired me to write this post. If you knew my wife, you’d be surprised, too. She’s taken this all in stride, but was pretty annoyed with the whole situation at first.

Over time, however, the idea of having just one care has grown on her. When you add up all the associated costs, getting rid of the Jeep altogether would save us around $350/month. That’s money that we could be using for getting out of debt instead of tooling around town.

So no… We still don’t have the Jeep back, and we’re now seven months into the repair process. I’ve begun calling the bodyshop guy every day to ask for status updates, and things have started moving faster. We’re still not sure if we’ll sell the Jeep when we get it back, but we sure are leaning that way.

We just don’t seem to need it anymore!

What do you think?

If your hand was forced, as in our situation, could you and your wife/family get get by with one less vehicle? How much trouble would it cause? How much money would it save?

What if you weren’t forced? Would you ever consider getting rid of an extra vehicle voluntarily?

Or perhaps you’ve already done it… If so, please weigh in.

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Strategies to Curb Lifestyle Inflation

Matt — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:00:53 +0000

“It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.”

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt

One of the greatest threats to an increase in income is simply the passing of time. Without proper awareness and discipline, slow and steady salary increases can go virtually unnoticed, and most definitely underutilized.

An example

Barry and Bonnie Bernstein are your typical middle-class couple. Both attended college and earned bachelor’s degrees in their respective fields of study. After college, Barry successfully landed a good job and has been slowly but surely working his way up the corporate ladder. Bonnie also landed a decent job straight out of school, and has taken on more and more responsibility, and thus has enjoyed a steadily increasing income.

The Bernstein’s are not financial experts by any stretch of the imagination, but over the years they managed to buy a nice home and save enough to go on nice vacations, purchase decent automobiles, and enjoy a stable financial existence. However, as time went by and their salaries steadily increased, those extra wages never seemed to make a noticeable impact on their savings.

Their extra money that came from regular salary increases was always absorbed by the “this and that” of life – car repairs, shopping trips, nights on the town, etc. In fact, over the course of 10 years, the Bernstein’s combined salaries increased by nearly $40,000 but they had little to show for it.

What Gives?

“If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.”
Benjamin Franklin

No change goes more unnoticed than slow, steady change. The Bernstein’s story is all to familiar. Add the American culture of spend before you earn to a lack of deliberate financial discipline, and you have a delicious recipe for false prosperity. This philosophy is sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly. Human nature dictates that, unless we make diligence and discipline a part of our daily financial decisions, our excess will be piddled away almost without trying.

So what’s the answer?

“My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.”
-Errol Flynn

In short, awareness and discipline are your best friends when it comes to proper money management. Below are some specific steps you can take that, if consistently utilized, will go a long way toward solving your problems.

Beware of lifestyle inflation

As always, the first step is admitting that we have a problem. As I stated above, unless you are deliberate with your money, you will most likely succumb to the pressures of culture and advertising. Carry this knowledge with you throughout each day, and consider it whenever you’re faced with a financial decision. Remember… We’re creatures of desire and, left unchecked, those desires typically get the best of us.

My wife and I fell victim to lifestyle inflation for the first four years of our marriage. It wasn’t until six months ago that we recognized the problem and worked to implement a plan to curb it.

Maintain a long-term perspective

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of setting personal financial goals. Consider trying to run a race with no idea how far away the finish line is. You can’t devise (or adjust) the proper approach without a full understanding of what your end result is.

No matter your age, income, or debt level, make sure you consider where you would like to be down the financial road. Do you want to retire early? Set your goals accordingly. Do you want to gain financial independence so you can pursue your passions without worrying about money? Set your goals accordingly.

The latter is my long-term financial goal.

Set a target savings % — not an amount, but a percentage

Instead of (or in addition to) setting a goal to save a certain amount of money over a specific time frame, you should set savings goals based on a percentage of your income. If you easily reach your target, increase it. The power of the percentage is that your savings automatically increase along with your income.

The first savings percentage goal I had was to save 5% of my income. I have successfully reached that and have since reached farther. Now my wife and I are striving to reach a 10% savings mark. Once we reach that point, we’ll increase it further. We’ll repeat this cycle until we’re saving as much of our income as possible.

Automate your savings

“Pay yourself first.” “Set it & forget it.” “You won’t miss it.”

There’s a good reason that you’ve heard these tips many times over… They work! An automated savings plan is an incredibly powerful way to help you reach your goals. Trust me, once you set up the automatic transactions, you’ll never regret it. You also won’t believe how fast your money accumulates. Combine this with the targeted percentage approach (above) and you’ll be well on your way.

My wife and I use the “Automatic Savings Plan” feature offered by ING Direct to automate our savings plan. If you’re not already a customer of ING Direct, I highly recommend them.

Work to reduce expenses as your income increases

Lastly, don’t forget to practice frugality. Frugal living will help you to reduce expenses, and reducing expenses is arguably better than getting a raise. Once you either get a raise, or successfully eliminate an expense, make sure you follow through on your financial goals by adjusting your savings goals accordingly.

I make sure I go over my income and expenses each time I review my budget. This ensures proper allocation of newly freed up monies and provides the follow through you need to successfully reach your goals!

Just do it

Don’t be like the Bernsteins! Practice these deliberate, goal-oriented financial tips to curb your lifestyle inflation and set yourself up for long-term success.

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Quit Shopping, Save Money

Guest Contributor — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:00:24 +0000

This is a guest post by J. Money of Budgets are Sexy. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.

If you can go two entire weeks without spending a penny on anything other than bills, your mortgage (or rent), and food, you will impress the pants off of me! In fact, I might even consider you my new best friend. The unfortunate truth is that not many can pull off this feat and, sadly, I remain friend-less.

The challenge

Today, I challenge YOU to take me up on the offer. I know for a fact you have it in you, it’s just a matter of unleashing your inner frugal demons… It’s not going to be easy, but I can tell you from experience that you’ll look at spending a whole lot differently when this two weeks is up.

Not only will you realize how much you actually spend in a given week, but you’ll learn how to avoid putting yourself in the position to buy in the first place. If nothing else, you’ll come away with more money in your pockets and you’ll think twice before you go back to your old habits.

Believe it or not, I have tried this unimaginable idea myself. And it wasn’t only for two weeks either. Oh no, it was for 40 days straight! As in almost 6 weeks! As in I almost had to drink myself to sleep every night so I wouldn’t be tempted to leave the house! Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but you get the point.

In all honesty, I thought I was the bomb when it came to saving money. In truth, however, I wasn’t that good at being frugal with my money on a consistent basis. I wasn’t in crazy amounts of debt or anything, but if I saw a new gadget at Best Buy, I’d buy it. A new $100 jacket? I’d pick it up without much thought.

I never really understood how much I was spending until I STOPPED spending. It’s funny to read that back to myself here, but it’s so eerily true. The minute I had to scold myself for picking something up, I started seeing those dollar signs. Actually, it was more like hearing the ringing of cash registers.

Lessons learned

The point is this… Forty days straight of nothing but paying bills and eating/drinking really taught me a few things:

I didn’t really NEED anything. It may sound crazy, but I didn’t need those graphic tees I picked up once a week, or those random paintings of apples I swore would look great in my kitchen. They all would have been nice, but I didn’t have to have them.
Willpower is crazy powerful! It helped that I was giving up shopping for Lent, and thus I had the big man upstairs watching over me, but the fact of the matter was that I used to suck at going anywhere and not buying something. Challenging yourself can go far, especially in personal finance.
After you get through the first two weeks, you’re golden. I won’t sugarcoat it… The first weeks suck. You’ll forget by day three and buy a song or something on iTunes, but that’s okay. You’re bound to mess up once or twice, but if you stick with it, you’ll get used to it and won’t even think about it anymore. It’s amazing.

I promise, your whole mindset will change when you physically stop shopping. It’s like the world just slows down, and you’ve suddenly got tons of extra time. The odd part is that I can’t even recall when I’ve been to the mall since taking up this challenge. Before I did this, I’d visit at least three times a month.

Now, I watch those Benjamins build up, and I blog/read/hang out with friends when I’m bored. It’s not as exciting as blaring Kanye West from your new $500 speakers, but it sure feels like you’re Kanye West when you look at your bank statement.

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Avoiding Do-It-Yourself Disasters

Nickel — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:01:04 +0000

As we head into the 4th of July weekend, I thought I’d lighten things up a bit, so… Have you ever had a do-it-yourself disaster? I’m talking about cases where you tackled a project yourself in the name of saving money and wound up creating an even more expensive repair for yourself.

Know your limits

I’ll start by saying that I’m a fairly handy guy, and I thoroughly enjoy most do-it-yourself projects. Not only do I get the satisfaction of a job well done, but I also save a nice chunk of change as compared to paying someone else to do it. I do, however, have a pretty good sense of my limits, and I try not to tackle jobs that I’m likely to botch.

For example, while I’m happy to repair a leaky shower faucet, I tend to shy away from major car repairs. The reason for this is that I’m what you might call an “efficient” mechanic — I typically have extra parts left over when I’m finished. As such, I’m likely to end up doing more harm than good, and creating an expensive repair bill for myself.

The point here is that one of the most important do-it-yourself skills that you can develop is a healthy respect for your own limits. Yes, it’s important to have the right tools and quality materials, but… If you simply don’t have what it takes to get the job done, you might to end up with an even bigger repair bill on your hands than if you hadn’t tried in the first place.

A real-life example

Case in point… A few years back, a friend of the family moved into a new house and decided that the hardwood floors would look a bit better if they were refinished. Thinking that he’d save a good bit of money by doing it himself, he broke out the sander and got to work.

As stupid as this sounds, what he didn’t realize was that he actually had laminate flooring that was designed to look like hardwood. Not surprisingly, he ended up doing a good bit of damage to the flooring, and wound up having to pay to have the entire floor replaced.

What about you?

Do you have any examples of do-it-yourself projects where you would’ve been better off paying someone else? Please share them in the comments. If nothing else, it will give everyone a good laugh…

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Breaking Free From a Culture of Temptation

Matt — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:00:32 +0000

Money… can symbolize work, power, love won, or love denied. It can take the form of expensive homes, expensive clothes, expensive presents. Luxuries become necessities. Debt compensates for all shortcomings. “For people to admit they can’t afford things they want means placing themselves in a position of weakness,” says Dr. Edward J. Khantzian, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “They have to say no to themselves, and nobody likes that.”
-Time Magazine, October 1982

Prior to January 1st, 2009… On any given weeknight, you would’ve been just as likely to find my wife and me out at a restaurant, taking in a movie, or simply shopping as you would have been to find us at home. We were what some advertisers might call “The Perfect Consumers.”

When we got bored, which happened often, we would get in the car and drive toward town. Sometimes we didn’t even have a specific destination in mind, other than to go somewhere to spend money on food, clothing, or any other form of entertainment.

While we didn’t frequently blow money on large ticket items or live “lavishly,” we did spend our money liberally and without purpose. We weren’t content, we weren’t saving, and we had no financial security.

And then it happened… Approximately six months ago, we experienced a financial rebirth. So what has changed in the time since then? Most everything!

If you’ve been following my articles here on FCN, then you know that we have:

Changed our money mindset from a “trade time for money” approach to a “let your money work for you” approach.
Voluntarily spent time off the grid in an effort to save money and work toward our goal of becoming increasingly self-reliant.
Started a garden in hopes of reaping the benefits of homegrown foods, including both financial and health-related benefits.
Installed rain barrels to harvest water for free irrigation.
Started making our own household cleaners to save money and reduce our reliance on chemicals.

Add these articles to what I’ve been writing about over at Debt Free Adventure, and you can see that we’ve experienced a tremendous amount of change in the past six months. We’re working against the grain to return to a simpler, less expensive, more resourceful and more satisfying way of life.

How does this relate to culture and temptation?

“‘Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall.”
-William Shakespeare

My wife and I have worked hard to shake the mindset of “spend to be happy.” We’ve even gone so far as to cancel our satellite TV service, and yet… We’re still influenced by the long-lasting and far-reaching effects of advertising.

When I talk about the changes my wife and I have made in our pursuit of financial independence, most people think we’ve gone overboard. You don’t have to go back too far, however, to reach a time when our view was the majority view. In my opinion this change is the result of cultural changes that have been driven by the media and advertising.

Over the past six months we’ve worked hard to:

study personal finance
practice frugality
reduce our spending
increase our giving
increase our savings
decrease our debt

Although we’re now tempted by fewer things, we still have to work to consciously pass our decisions through a filter of frugality. And even after doing so, I still sometimes want to buy things that I don’t need. Here are a few recent examples…

Temptations that I’ve recently fought off

“A Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time”
-Ralphie Parker, A Christmas Story

1. A new bicycle for commuting to work ($600)

In an effort to save money and get more exercise, I’ve recently begun biking to work ten miles each way. My bike is not a commuting road bike, but it’s a high-quality bike nonetheless. It was designed for hardcore trail riding and racing, but with a few recent alterations I’ve successfully turned into more of a road bike.

In my efforts to transform the bike, I stopped by a local bike shop just to check things out and get a few supplies. Predictably, it was only a matter of minutes before I was salivating over the Trek FX 7.2 hybrid — a bike designed for commuting.

This may sound silly, but at that moment, this bike was my Red Ryder BB Gun! The price was actually reasonable at just under $500, and I promptly began coveting it. My existing bike was good, but there were a few things I didn’t like about it. The biggest issues that I as having were:

A lack of a rear rack, which is essential if you want to carry any cargo
A seating position that’s a bit aggressive for comfortably riding miles

While I didn’t need a new bike, I seriously entertained the purchase. In the end, however, I fell back a great technique for avoiding impulse purchases. More specifically, I decided to wait one day for every $100 that I was tempted to spend. After tax and additional parts (rear rack, fenders, and so on), I was looking at around $600 out the door, so I had to wait six days to make my purchase.

Over the next six days, I discovered that my old bike does indeed have rear rack mounts built into the frame — all I needed was the rack itself. I also came to the renewed realization that what I truly want is to use that $600 for debt repayment and/or emergency fund savings.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that I simply did not need the bike, regardless of how bad I wanted it. My bike is more than sufficient and, now that I’ve made a few simple upgrades/adjustments, it will work great for what I require of it.

2. A store-bought vermicomposting bin ($130)

Instead of buying one, I decided to make my own. I spent just a fraction of what I would’ve paid in the store ($22), and it works great. I hope to put together an article about this soon.

3. A store-bought kitchen composting bucket ($20)

Here again, I made my own… And only spent $1.50! This will likewise be the subject of a forthcoming post.

Both of these compost-related purchases were very tempting, and I really had to fight the urge to buy and instead choose the frugal road. Beyond saving money, I have more pride in these possessions — partly because I made/improved them, and partly because I know that I sacrificed my short-term wants for my greater goal.

So what’s the answer?

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty”
-Socrates

Do I believe that advertising is inherently evil, and that marketers should be drawn and quartered? No, absolutely not. I do, however, believe that the entire system has been spinning out of control for years, and I think that many people are finally ready for a change. I know I was!

This post is an attempt to raise awareness that we’ve wallowed in financial ignorance long enough! We’re bombarded with hundreds upon hundreds of advertisements each day. Do we run right out and purchase the item we are being shown? Sometimes, but not usually. However…

This constant bombardment has a long-term (detrimental) impact on our mindset. It predisposes us to spend rather than save. There once was a time when our nation’s mindset was something along the lines of work, earn, give, save, and reuse.

Nowadays, our mindset has been transformed to one of work, earn, buy, and dispose. As far as I’m concerned, it’s high time that we reclaim (or adopt) a healthy mindset that encourages us to “spend less than we earn” and invest in the ideas of compounding interest.
in my opinion, your mindset is the most powerful tool that you have.

To help get us back on track, I offer the following simple concepts:

Be content with what you have. Don’t run out and buy things just because you have a fleeting desire for them. Your financial freedom is at stake!
Turn off your TV and limit your media exposure. The most eloquent of contrarians could not argue against the fact that mass media promotes a spendthrift mentality. Your financial freedom is at stake!
Use what you already have. My bike may not have been my first choice, but it was my best choice. If tempted, go through your existing belongings and use what you have for a few weeks to curb your temptation. Your financial freedom is at stake!
And remember the adage… Spend less than you earn. If you don’t, you’ll soon be broke! Your financial freedom is at stake!

What about you?

Have you successfully battled against a strong temptation to spend and won? If so, how did you do it? If not, what would you do differently next time?

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Eating Out Without Breaking Your Budget

Laura — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:00:48 +0000

Being frugal doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy yourself. Believe it or not, you can still go out and have a good time. In fact, there are plenty of ways to cut costs while still being able to join friends for an occasional restaurant meal.

The first step is to know exactly how much money you have to spend, and to take that amount with you in cash. If you instead rely on a debit or credit card, you might be tempted to spend more than you’ve allotted.

Another important point: Don’t skimp on the tip! Be sure to include both the tax and tip when you’re setting your budget. Beyond that…

How to save money when eating out

Ask around to find local spots. We asked some friends for suggestions when we first moved to the area and discovered a fantastic Cuban place in the area. Their lunch specials (entree and two sides) start at $5.95, and their dinners start at $7.95. The portions are great, and I usually end up with a to-go box. Plus, they even have a live band on the weekends.
Make sure you have leftovers. Be sure to take advantage of whatever freebies the restaurant offers. For example, you can take the edge off your appetite with chips or bread. Also, if your dinner includes a salad, then you should eat that before starting on your entree. I usually end up having plenty of leftovers to take home. Two meals for the price of one!
Go out for lunch instead of dinner. Most restaurants offer better prices at lunch vs. dinner. Yes, the portions are typically smaller, but you can save a good bit of money by doing this.
Skip the appetizers. Instead of ordering an appetizer, just go straight to the main course. Appetizers are often overpriced, and most restaurants provide large enough portions that they’re really not necessary.
Mix appetizers. If you don’t want to skip the appetizers entirely, you can often save money by ordering two appetizers instead of an appetizer and an entree.
Skip dessert. Another great way to slice a decent amount off the bill is to skip dessert. Like appetizers, desserts are often overpriced. Not only will your wallet thank you, but so will your waistline.
Get a discount. Take advantage of weekday dinner specials, use coupons (e.g., the Entertainment book , and/or use a site like Restaurant.com to get gift certificates on the cheap.

Now it’s your turn…

Do you have any tips for saving money when you eat out?

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Benefits of Homemade Household Cleaners

Matt — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:17:22 +0000

Have you ever considered making your own household cleaning products? It’s actually pretty easy to do, and the results can be quite good. But is it worth the trouble?

As with many do-it-yourself projects, there’s a tendency to focus on cost when deciding whether or not to make your own cleaning products. Some people assert that the money saved doesn’t justify the time invested — i.e., the opportunity cost is just too high. For others, the money saved is well worth the work required.

Looking beyond the financial aspects, there are actually a number of other reasons that I’m interested in making my own cleaning products. In hopes of stirring up some intelligent debate, I’ve listed below all of the cleaning products that I’ve made, or intend to make. After that, I provide a list of seven benefits beyond saving money.

Homemade cleaning products

Laundry Detergent – Done! Making my own homemade laundry detergent was the project that started it all. The recipe that I followed resulted in powdered laundry detergent, and it required just three simple and natural ingredients. Best of all, it works great.
Dishwashing detergent – Done! I’ve also created my own powdered dishwasher detergent. This recipe also contains only 3 natural ingredients and works wonderfully! I have yet to publish a pictorial tutorial for this recipe but plan to do so soon.
All-purpose cleaner – Yet to do. Though I have yet to make this cleaner, I do know that you can use washing soda diluted in water to clean nearly everything. Whatever I end up making, I want it to be in liquid form so I can use the spray bottle that I have ready and waiting!
Glass cleaner – Yet to do. I have another spray bottle just waiting for some homemade glass cleaner. This project will likely utilize white vinegar or maybe a little ammonia — I haven’t yet decided on a recipe yet.

I’m not sure if I’ll go beyond this, though I could see myself making shampoo, lotion, toothpaste, etc. if I had enough time. Maybe I can persuade my wife to take interest in a few of these projects and help out.

Advantage of homemade cleaning products

Looking beyond the financial benefits, here are seven benefits of making your own cleaning products:

Freedom from advertising – I have always hated commercial advertisements for products, but the older I get, the more I see them as not only annoying, but detrimental. Of course, there are purposeful uses for advertising, but the extent to which commercials are used in American mass media is nothing short of bombardment. I want something different, so I make my own cleaning products.
Creative and independent mindset – Once you make your first homemade cleaning product, there’s a good chance that you’ll be hooked. I’ve always wanted to do this sort of thing, but never got around to it. Once I took that initial step toward product independence, my creative juices were flowing, and I immediately began to look for other things I could make myself. I like to exercise creativity and independent thought, so I make my own cleaning products.
Environmentally friendly – By making my own products, I no longer rely on large plastic detergent containers. Granted, I recycled them anyway, but this way I cut back on the amount of packaging that we wast. Instead of traditional packaging, my wife and I store many of our homemade products in the 32 oz. yogurt containers we have left over from our healthy breakfasts. I’m opposed to extravagant, expensive, and unnecessary packaging and I also disagree with running harsh chemicals down the drain, so I make my own cleaning products.
Self-reliance – Although I’m still buying the products required for my homemade cleaners, the ingredients that I’ve been using are raw natural ingredients that I combine into an end product. This helps to eliminate reliance on commercially advertised products, and also exercises my resourcefulness. I want to create my own simple, resourceful, and effective products, so I make my own cleaning products.
Education – Making your own products is a great way to learn. Doing so involves a bit of math, chemistry, and even art. It’s also important to me to know as much about what I keep in my home as possible. I like to learn and stay informed, so I make my own cleaning products.
Knowledge of ingredients – I no longer have to wonder about the contents of the products I use. I can pronounce the name of every ingredient in my recipes, and can count them on one hand. Again, I can rest easy knowing that I’m doing my part to steer clear of washing harsh chemicals down the drain. I prefer to know the origin and purpose for all the ingredients, so I make my own cleaning products.
Because they work – Thanks to billion dollar advertising budgets, we’ve come to accept that the best products are those that are sold in big name stores. I’ve noticed that this mindset bleeds into nearly every aspect of our lives, and is utterly unsupported except by popular thought. Every product that my wife and I have created has worked just as well, if not better than, any chemical-laden commercial product that we’ve used in the past. I’m trying to shed any and all product brainwashing that I may have undergone, so I make my own cleaning products.

Of course, the reality is that you’ll also save a few cents (if not more) with each application of every product. Thus, it stands to reason that the more products you make yourself, the more money you’ll wind up saving. If you’re worried about the time commitment, I’d recommend making your cleaners in bulk. In the end, nearly any recipe you choose to follow will take far less time than a trip to the store.

What’s your view? Do you make your own cleaners? Why or why not?

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Gardening for Health, Wealth, and Independence

Matt — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:00:25 +0000

“How fair is a garden amid the toils and passions of existence.”

-Benjamin Disraeli

In recent years, the adoption of an independent and sustainable lifestyle has become increasingly attractive to a growing number of people. I am one of the many who seek such a lifestyle and, though I am far from reaching this goal, my journey has begun.

Getting there will be neither quick nor easy, but I’m up for the challenge, and am taking things one step at a time. One project that has recently gripped my attention has been growing a vegetable garden.

“Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.”

-Henry David Thoreau

There is something powerful about the practice of planting, nurturing, harvesting, and eating your own food. I love the entire process, but couldn’t partake for the last few years. Since we bought a new home, our summers have been consumed with other projects like installing our lawn, landscaping, etc. It wasn’t until this year that I was able to spend time on my garden.

Setting the stage

We live on less than a quarter acre in the suburbs. As such, we don’t have a lot of space. At our previous house, I just tilled up a big spot in the back yard, brought in some compost, planted my veggies, and called it a day. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t fly in suburbia.

I don’t think that having a tilled-up back yard is against the rules of my homeowners association, but I do know it would attract many unhappy looks from my neighbors. Thus, I decided to install our new garden in pretty little planter boxes.

I started with some very reasonably priced wood. Instead of using a common but expensive garden box wood like redwood, I chose to go with Douglas fir. The boards are much cheaper, but will still last for quite a few years. I ended up building two boxes, one for vegetables and the other for herbs. My veggie box is reasonably large at 4′ x 8′, whereas my herb box is much smaller at 2′ x 4′.

When it came time to plant, I started out in two distinct rows but soon realized that I’d run out of space if I kept up that way. Thus, I started staggering the plants to make them fit. While I managed to fit everything in, I’m guessing that thing might be a bit crowded this year — especially for my tomato plants!

“Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas.”

-Elizabeth Murray

The contents of our garden

The following list provides a rundown of what’s in our garden this year:

3 broccoli plants
4 Early Girl tomato plants
4 Delicious tomato plants
2 Cherry tomato plants
4 yellow bell pepper plants
4 red bell pepper plants
1 green zucchini plant
1 Jalapeno plant
6 green romaine lettuce plants
2 basil herbs
1 chive herb
1 sage herb
1 thyme herb

And here are some pictures of the end product:

The benefits of a garden

When I consider all of the benefits of growing these plants, I get very excited. I’m a total garden nerd! Add to that my rain barrels, and I’m in Heaven. Growing your own garden boosts your self-reliance, along with these other awesome advantages:

Saves you money. The cost of produce is on the rise, and growing your own not only saves you money, it also frees you from the worry of fluctuating prices!
You control the pesticide use. Can’t afford to buy organic? You can now! This will be our third attempt at a garden, and we have yet to use any chemicals. There are many natural ways to fend off pests and disease. One trick that my wife and I employ is to plant a Marigold border around our garden.
Fresh and ripe. Store bought produce is often picked before it is ripe. This is done to prevent spoilage and decrease damage. The problem is, picking produce before it is ripe reduces its nutritional value.
Great taste. The taste of a fresh, organically grown fruit, vegetable, or herb far exceeds that of its store bought counterpart.
Ability to preserve. Growing your own food gives you an opportunity to preserve your food for use throughout the year. This allows you to enjoy the fruit of your labors even in the dead of winter.
Education. A garden is a great way to educate your children about health, independence, and hard work.
Free therapy. Gardens provide you with an opportunity to commune with nature, which is definitely good for the soul.

“A garden is the best alternative therapy.”

-Germaine Greer

Growing your own garden provides a glimpse of a simpler life that can be very rewarding. Couple the independence gained with the money saved and you have yourself a very powerful tool. Also, remember that you don’t need a ton of land to have a good garden. Here’s an example of great gardening in a small space.

I’ll be a gardener until the day I die.

What about you? Do you garden? If so…why?

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Save Money (and Water!) With a Rain Barrel

Matt — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:00:07 +0000

Installing a rain barrel is an excellent way to reduce runoff, keep storm water out of the municipal system, and save money. Pure rain collected from your rooftop has relatively few contaminants, and is perfect for a variety of outdoor uses.

The idea of harnessing rainwater has intrigued me for years now, but I’ve never gotten around to implementing it. That is, until a few weeks ago when I stumbled on a promotion for heavily discounted, professionally crafted rain barrels. I was smitten!

Why you should use a rain barrel

What follows is a list of some of the advantages of using a rain barrel:

Rainwater is free. Using rain water will reduce your water bill. If you have “city water,” you pay your municipality for supplying the water based on your usage level. If you have “well water,” you pay for the electricity to run your water pump. Rain barrels
Rainwater can reduce your sewer bill. Because many cities base your sewer bill on your water consumption, rain barrels can provide additional savings. In such cases, your only real alternative is to have a separate water meter installed for your outdoor spigots. A rain barrel is much, much cheaper.
Rainwater is natural and useful. It’s soft, free of dissolved minerals, and chlorine free. In other words, it’s great for use on your plants, garden, lawn, and for washing vehicles.
Rainwater usage is sustainable. Collecting rain water for use around my home is no different than the concept of harnessing wind power for electricity. Use of naturally occurring systems reduces the load on our existing infrastructure. I’m not a tree hugger, but I am interested in a more intelligent system.

Rain barrels are a simple, inexpensive, and practical way for us to save money, reduce our environmental impact, and increase our independence from established municipalities. Whether you live in the city, the country, or the suburbs, you too can use and benefit from a rainwater collection system.

Why municipalities want us to use rain barrels

Rainwater collection systems don’t just benefit individuals — they benefit local communities, as well. This is especially true in areas where storm sewers and sanitary sewers are still combined; by collecting rainwater, you can reduce the load on your local water treatment facilities.

In addition, 40% of the water that people use during the spring, summer, and fall goes into such outdoor applications as washing cars and watering lawns and gardens. As such, rain barrels can reduce demand during peak months.

Where can you get rain barrels?

Given the above, it’s not too surprising that many municipalities are selling truckloads of rain barrels with little or no markup. If you’re curious about this possibility, contact your local government to see if they’re doing something like this. I purchased 2 rain barrels for $48 apiece. At retail prices, these would’ve cost me around $150 apiece!

If you’re not as lucky as me, you still have some options:

Make your own rain barrels. I won’t delve into the necessary parts, tools, and instructions that you’ll need if you go this route. Instead, I’ll provide you with this links to a downloadable pdf with instructions on how to build your own. Unless you find a great deal like I did, I’d suggest going this route — the difficulty level is not very high.
Purchase retail rain barrels. If you’re not a do-it-yourselfer, and you can’t find a deal from your local government, then check your local hardware store. Not everyone sells them, though, so you might want to call ahead to be sure they have what you’re looking for.

Closing thoughts

I’m fired up to finish the installation of my new rainwater collection system! They’re assembled and ready to go… I just need to connect them to my downspouts. I plan on finishing this project over the weekend.

Have you been kicking around the idea of installing some rain barrels for your home or business? With the many benefits outlined above, this is a great time to put your plan into action and realize the idea! Or do you already have rain barrels in place? If so, let us know how you like them.

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Planning a Family Vacation Without Breaking the Bank

Laura — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:00:49 +0000

Taking a summer vacation can be a great way to get away and spend some time together as a family. In some cases, however, vacations end up draining savings accounts and causing more stress then they relieve.

The good news is that it doesn’t have expensive to go on a great vacation. I’ve listed below some tips that helped us save money on our last couple of vacations.

Compare prices on multiple travel sites

You can often find great travel deals online. Just be sure to compare prices across sites, as the results can be surprisingly different.

If you’re new to online travel planning, here are some sites that we use:

If you have any questions about local hotels, TripAdvisor is a great resource.

Handling a car rental for the trip

For our family vacations, we usually rent a car. Our cars are older and have pretty high mileage, so we don’t like to go to far from home in them. Beyond that, rening a car is typically cheaper for us than flying, and we’re usually able to make the drive itself relatively entertaining.

Using Priceline’s bid option, we got a ‘name brand’ standard size car rental for one week at $14/day (plus fees). For the sake of comparison, the ‘base’ rate from the rental agency’s site was about $220.

Another tip here is that many credit cards provide car rental insurance and, in some cases, your car insurance will cover the rental as long as you’re driving it in place of your own car. If you’re not sure, call and check.

Finding a good deal on a hotel

On our last trip, we went down to Orlando to see Disney World and Universal Studios. Once again, we used Priceline to bid on a three star or higher hotel and ended up saving around $50/night after taxes and fees. Our hotel was so close to Disney World that we could see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from our window.

Dining out inexpensively

We usually try to find hotels that include breakfast. We then eat out for dinner and save the leftovers for lunch. This is especially easy if your hotel has a kitchenette.It worked pretty well last year. We checked and the hotel has a kitchenette.

A great way to find local spots with great food at a reasonable price is to read reviews online. One useful trick for this is to look up your hotel on TripAdvisor and read the reviews — many travelers talk about their dining experiences in the area. You can also check menus online with MenuPages, and even make reservations with OpenTable.

A few other money saving tips include skipping the appetizers — order a salad with your entree instead — and skipping (or splitting) dessert.

Souvenir shopping for friends and family

Picking up a few local gifts for friends and family is often a part of our family getaways. We are, however, careful not to buy too much, as we don’t want to create clutter.

The key is to avoid overpriced trinkets from souvenir shops. Instead, try to pick up a thoughtful gift that reflects the local culture.

Have fun!

Remember… The whole point of going on vacation is to relax and have fun. By planning ahead and saving up for your expenses, you can relieve a lot of the stress associated with going on vacation.

One last tip… Be sure to check out local activities/events in addition to the “big” attractions. Viator is an excellent resource when it comes to planning a memorable vacation.

What trips are you planning this year?

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Tips for Making a Major Purchase

Laura — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:40:16 +0000

Making a big purchase can be a nerve-wracking process. You worry about paying too much, you can’t decide whether or not to get the extended warranty, etc. In the end, you just don’t want to waste your hard earned cash. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be a stressful experience. What follows are some tips for finding a good deal and protecting your purchase.

Establish a baseline for the big purchase

This is a simple step that can help you immensely. For example, my husband is currently saving up for a large screen, LCD HDTV. He has a pretty good idea of what he wants and he’s willing to save up so we can pay for it all at once. To get a rough idea of how much we can expect to spend, I ran a quick Google search. I simply searched for 42″ LCD HDTV and, within seconds, got a target price range of $660-$845 in the shopping results.

Automate your savings

Rather than paying with credit and then slowly paying it off, make a commitment to save for your big purchase in advance. Go ahead and automate your savings to help you accumulate what you need in a dedicated account. Keeping the money in a separate account helps protect you from the temptation to dip into your emergency fund to make the purchase, and automating the transfer guarantees it’ll happen.

While this sort of thing is often easiest to set up with an online savings account, many local banks and credit unions also allow you to open additional accounts without fees. We use ING Direct for our savings as we can automatically create a sub-account online and in a minute or two.

Comparison shopping

This is the fun part, as you get to shop around and try to find the best deal. The key here is to look for the best overall value for your money.

Beware of shopping base on price alone: Some people believe they are saving money by getting the cheapest item but it can backfire. There’s a difference between being frugal and being cheap. In the case of the former, you’re getting more for your money. In the case of the latter, you’re buying something that will likely wear out and need to be replaced.

In any case, double check the specs to make sure you’re getting what you want. My husband, for example, saw what appeared to be a great deal on an LCD TV. After reading the specs, however, he saw it doesn’t offer the resolution that he’s after.

Read reviews: When you go shopping for an appliance or computer, look at reviews online and also ask your friends to see which items are likely to do the best job and last a long time. Depending on what you’re looking for, Amazon.com is a great source of user reviews. Alternatively, Consumer Reports is a great source for unbiased information, and they rate just about everything (including cars).

Find the best deal: It can really pay to search a bit to find a good deal on an item. If you’re buying online, sites like RetailMeNot and Keycode can be a great source of discount codes that can save you 10-25%.

Beyond this, I use price comparison search engines to find the best deal. Even if you’re planning on buying locally, this information can be invaluable as it gives you ammunition for haggling with the merchant.

Making the big purchase

You’ve found a great deal, and now you want to protect your purchase. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be difficult, and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. In many cases, you can automate your price protection for free, and you might even qualify for a free extended warranty.

Price protection: Nothing is worse than buying an item only to have the price drop a few days later. While most retailers have a price protection policy, you still have to catch the price change within a certain window of time to make your claim. That’s where websites like PriceProtectr come in…

PriceProtectr saves you money by checking on prices after you made the purchase and informing you of a price drop. Simply enter the url of any item that you bought online along with the price you paid and PriceProtectr will do the rest. You’ll get an e-mail if/when the prices drops. Note that you can also use this to monitor prices at brick and mortar store with a web presence.

It’s also a good idea to check the benefits associated with your credit card. If they offer price protection, you may want to pay the item on the credit card — just be sure to pay it off in full with the money that you’ve been saving.

Extended warranties: While most big ticket items come with a warranty, many people want some extra protection. What few people realize is that, simply by paying with a credit card, you may already be getting an extended warranty. For example, the American Express Buyer’s Assurance program doubles the manufacturer’s warranty up to an additional year. Many MasterCard- and Visa-branded cards offer something similar.

Why pay for something that you’re already getting? Call the customer service number on the back of your credit card and ask about their extended warranty policy. Just be sure to save your receipts, as you’ll need proof of purchase to make your claim.

Closing thoughts

Making a major purchase doesn’t have to be a chore. If you plan ahead and save your money, you might even have a bit of fun during the process. And best of all, you’ll get a great deal while remaining debt free.

What about you? Do you have any tips for making big purchases?

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Free Summer Movies for Kids – 2009 Edition

Nickel — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:30:40 +0000

In honor of Memorial Day, which marks the unofficial start of summer, it’s time to start thinking about cheap entertainment for you and your kids. Given that catching a movie is one of the best ways to beat the heat, I’ve put together a list of free (or really cheap) summer movie theater promos. In case you’re not aware, theaters often have special summer promos where they show G or PG rates files on weekday morning for free, or nearly so.

While we’re generally happy with our Netflix membership, nothing beats an occasional trip to an actual movie theater. What follows is my best attempt at compiling these free movie offers for major theater chains. If your favorite theater isn’t listed, give them a call, as it’s possible that I either missed them, or they didn’t have their information listed online.

Free (or cheap) summer movies

AMC Summer Movie Camp – $1 movies for charity, Wednesdays at 10AM from June 17 – Aug 5 (in most markets). Group tickets on sale starting June 10th.
Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse – Ten weeks of kids movies on weekday mornings. All ten movies can be purchases in advance for $5 (total) or you can purchase tickets for each show at the box office for $1/each. Runs for 10 weeks, dates have yet to be announced.
Classic Cinemas Wednesday Morning Movie Series – G and PG rated movies for just $1 on Wednesday mornings at 10AM for nine weeks from June 17 through Aug 12.
Clearview Cinemas – Eight weeks of family films. Free admission, every Thursday @ 10:30AM starting July 2.
Cobb Theatres – Advertising free summer kids shows, but you need to click through and select your local theatre to get details.
Georgia Theatre Company –
Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10AM from June 9 through July 30. Admission is $1, kids soda and popcorn available for $1.50 each.
Kerasotes Theaters Summer Movie Program (pdf) – Seven weeks of summer vacation movies at 10AM on Wednesdays and Thursdays from June 24 – Aug 6.
Malco Theatres – $2 movies for charity at 10AM every Tuesday and Wednesday from June 2 – July 29.
Marcus Theatres – “Kids Rule” summer film series from June 17 – Aug 13. Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 10AM (except July 1/2). All seats $3.00 w/free popcorn.
Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival – Select G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. Admission is free. You can check the movies as well as a list of locations, dates, and times by clicking through and selecting your state.
United Artists – Participating in Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival (link leads to Regal announcement).
Edwards Cinemas – Participating in Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival (link leads to Regal announcement).

If you’re aware of any other major theater chains that offer something similar, please leave a comment with details.

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What’s Your Money Mindset?

Matt — Thu, 21 May 2009 10:00:20 +0000

I come from middle-class roots and was brought up with what I’ve recently heard referred to as a “middle-class money mindset.” By that, I mean that I’ve been primarily concerned with:

Getting an education
Developing a skill/career
Honing that skill
Using that skill to work and trade time for money
Saving that money
Working to a ripe old age, and then retiring
Living happily ever after

More recently, I’ve come to realize that this isn’t what I want out of life. Rather, I want to develop a “wealthy money mindset.” By that, I mean that I want to:

Embrace the concept of compounding interest
Always spend less than I earn and avoid debt
Save/invest as much of my income as possible
Achieve financial independence
Spend my “work” week pursuing my passions
Never retire, but rather continue pursuing my passions
Give generously

Wealth is, of course, a very personal concept, so your definition might differ from mine. That’s fine — to each his own!

My story

The following is a brief synopsis of how I came to realize that I need to abandon my middle class money mindset and replace it with one of passionate, wealthy living.

After graduating from high school, I secured student loans and worked part-time as a waiter to put myself through college. I chased after the “middle class dream” of getting a degree and building a career in hopes that it would lead me down the path toward wealth and peace of mind. At the time, I had no personal definition of wealth. The only “goal” that I had was that I wanted to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I was truly ignorant and clueless.

In May of 2000, I graduated from college with a degree in Information Technology. I had over $30k in student loan debt and more than $5k in credit card debt. As far as the world was concerned, I was finally ready to start my career and begin trading my time for money!

As I continued down the path of modern consumerism, I was indifferent toward my personal debt. Then, about six months ago, I finally had my fill of running on the hamster wheel of life and getting nowhere fast. I started a personal finance blog, committed myself to debt reduction, and vowed to pursue my newfound passion all the way to financial freedom.

My extreme mindset makeover

In a recent discussion with my father I told him that I had rewritten my entire view of money and wealth. Intrigued, he asked me to elaborate. I explained to him that I had come to the realization that I needed to get out of debt, reduce my standard of living, spend less than I earn, give generously, save the difference, and eventually live off the interest. Knowing me from birth, and knowing my traditional spending habits, he was flabbergasted to hear such words coming out of my mouth.

I actually fell off the middle class mindset cliff the day I sat down and figured out exactly how much of my money goes toward interest payments month in and month out. If you’re in debt, I suggest that you do the same. Once I realized how much of my money was going toward interest payments, I was able to put my debts in proper perspective. From here, I:

Developed a financial philosophy based on sacrifice – The more I sacrifice in the short term, the faster I’ll reach my financial goals. I’d much rather sacrifice when I am young, than worry about money in my later years.
Discovered the importance of financial mentors – My mentors are people who have already accomplished what I have set out to accomplish, and are currently living the life that I want to be living. Conferring with these mentors helps me to continually transform my financial thought process from that of a middle class man to that of a wealthy man.

I’m now committed to doing the following in pursuit of financial freedom and wealthy living:

Eliminating all debt including my mortgage
Simplifying my life
Saving aggressively, increasing as my debts dwindle
Giving generously, increasing as my debts dwindle
Pursuing my passions and developing income from them at my own pace
Continuing saving/investing until I can live off my nest egg

These last points are going to be unique to each of us, but the general principles of my extreme mindset makeover stand. Now I just have to figure out how much I want/need to save before I start giving the surplus away, but that’s a topic for another day…

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How to Plan a Wedding Without Breaking Your Budget

Laura — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:00:15 +0000

Did you know that the average cost of a wedding in the United States is nearly $28,000? Or that wedding receptions are typically half the cost of the entire wedding? For many couples, their wedding ends up being an extremely expensive event that really hurts their finances.

My friend is actually getting married in a few months and we’ve been talking about ways to make it both memorable and affordable. What follows are some tips for planning your wedding without busting your budget.

Consider your budget before you start planning

For starters, who’s paying for the wedding? In some cases, the bride’s family pays for both the wedding and the reception. In other cases, the families share the cost. And in still others, the bride and groom are on their own. In my friends’s case, they’re sharing the cost with their family. Fortunately, they’ve been saving up money for this special occasion since before they got engaged. Planning ahead and saving is the best way to have your dream wedding without winding up in debt.

Choose your wedding date and time wisely

The date and time of your wedding has a huge impact on how much things will cost. The most popular (and thus expensive) months to get married are June through August. You can usually save a lot of money if you choose a less popular month.

In addition, the most expensive rates for reception halls are on Saturday nights. By choosing a different day, you can get the same reception hall and services for considerably less money. If you can’t switch days, try moving the wedding up to an earlier time so you can cut your reception costs by serving a lighter meal.

For example, Kate from The Paycheck Chronicles had a cocktail reception, and Adam from Man vs. Debt served appetizers. In both cases, the guests had a great time and the bride and groom saved a bunch of money.

Count and choose your guests thoughtfully

The bigger the reception, the higher the costs. Thus, you should focus on inviting guests who you truly want to be a part of your special day. While you may have pressure from your family to include distant relatives, it’s up to you whether or not you include them. We included a few such relatives to compromise with our parents, in part because they helped out with the wedding costs. However, the reception included our dearest and closest friends and family only.

Allocate money to important details, cut expenses elsewhere

Focus on details that matter to you and find creative ways to cut costs on other expenses. It’s all about prioritizing your budget and making it go further. Be sure to focus on your personal preferences rather than those of your friends.

Many brides choose to make their own wedding favors, both to save money and to give a personal touch to the occasion. You should also check on things like whether or not the reception hall will allow you to make your own centerpieces.

Another option is to have your friends use their unique talents to help with the wedding in place of giving you a gift. For example, we had a friend with appropriate experience who helped with the flower arrangements. She did a wonderful job and we saved quite a bit of money. We also had my husband’s grandmother make our wedding cake. It was special touch for us, and our guests loved it.

Of course, it’s important to do this only if you’ll both be happy with the arrangement. If you’re not happy with your friend’s portfolio, or if you’re worried that this might strain the relationship, then it’s probably better to pay someone else to handle it.

You should also think twice about items like chair covers at your reception. Do you think it’ll really make a big difference or are you just enticed by the sales pitch?

And remember… This is just the beginning of your marriage

Your wedding day is just the first day of a (hopefully) long and happy marriage. It’ll be a special day regardless of how much you spend. By all means, enjoy yourself, but do so without breaking the bank. Starting off your marriage on solid financial footing is the greatest gift you can ask for.

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Preventing Impulse Buys and Combatting Clutter

Laura — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:00:05 +0000

I’m guilty of buying small gadgets and/or books that I don’t really need. On the surface, many of these items look like they’ll save me time or money, but I either rarely use them or otherwise find that I don’t want to keep them around. Not only does this waste money, but it also results in clutter. Since we live in an apartment with limited space, eliminating clutter is something that I work on all the time.

Preventing impulse buys

Perhaps the most important thing you can do to prevent clutter is to resist clever marketing ploys. Take a look around yourself. Chance are that much of the clutter in your house is the result of impulse buys that seemed like a great idea at the time even though they weren’t. In order to prevent these types of purchases, you need to learn to distinguish fleeting desires from genuine wants and needs.

Commit to asking yourself some questions before you buy:

Do I really want/need it?
How often will I use it?
Where am I going to put it?
What’s the worst thing that will happen if I wait?

If you answer these questions honestly, you’ll go a long way toward cutting down on your impulse buy and the clutter that inevitably results.

Combatting clutter once you have it

Despite your best intentions, chances are that excess stuff will gradually accumulate around your home. Be proactive if you don’t want it getting out of hand. Here are a few ideas for getting a handle on things:

Consider swapping with family or friends. Get together with your family and friends to swap furniture, clothes, books, movies, etc. This not only saves you money, it also keeps perfectly useful items out of the landfill and reduces the amount of idle stuff sitting around your home.

Donate items to a worthy cause. Aside from taking things to Goodwill, look for charities that need specific items. For example, Phones for Life and Donate A Phone are always on the lookout for used cell phones, and New Eyes for the Needy wants your old eyeglasses. In addition to clearing our some space and doing a good deed, your donation might also qualify for an income tax deduction.

Sell your excess stuff. Consider having a yard sale, or selling your stuff on eBay. You’ll free up some space, and you’ll also generate some cash that can be used for paying off debt, adding to your emergency fund, or saving for other goals.

Do you have any tips for preventing impulse buys or reducing clutter?

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How to Save Money on Car Insurance

Nickel — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:15:19 +0000

As a followup to my earlier articles on how to save money on health insurance and life insurance, I thought I’d tackle car insurance. What follows is a list of six tips for reducing your premiums and saving a ton of money.

Keep your driving record clean

In other words, don’t get nailed for speeding like I did a few months back. I was fortunate in that it was a first offense, and I was able to keep my record clean by pleading nolo contendre (no contest) and paying the fine, but… Next time I won’t be so lucky, as I’ll wind up with points on my license and higher insurance premiums.

Increase your deductible

If you’re willing to bear a greater portion of the risk, you can save a significant amount of money. Simply call your agent and ask them to increase your deductible. Just be sure that you have enough cash on hand to cover your out-of-pocket expenses in the event of an accident.

Drop unnecessary coverage

If you’re driving an older car, you might want to consider dropping your comprehensive and/or collision coverage entirely. After all, what’s the sense in paying a ton of money to insure against damage to a car that might not be worth repairing? Note that I’m not suggesting that you drop your insurance coverage entirely, just the portion that pays for repairs on your own car.

Bundle multiple policy types together

I can’t speak for all insurance companies, but we get a nice “multi-line” discount for carrying multiple policies with a single company. We actually have two car policies, our homeowner’s policy, a personal articles policy (for my wife’s engagement and wedding rings) and an umbrella policy all with the same company.

Ask about other discounts

You might qualify for discounts for being accident-free, renewing your policy, driving relatively few miles each year, taking a defensive driving course, etc. Be sure to talk to your agent and get what you have coming to you.

Shop around

Assuming that you’re doing everything else right, another great way to save money on car insurance is to comparison shop. You can either call around to local agents, or check an auto insurance comparison website. Whatever you do, be sure to buy from a reputable company so you won’t run into any problems if/when you file a claim.

So there you have it… Six simple tips for saving money on car insurance. If you have any further suggestions, please be sure share them in the comments.

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Off the Grid and Into the Future

Matt — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:00:24 +0000

Last week, while busily bullet-pointing how to prepare for a power outage, I noted that my wife and I were considering going “off the grid” one day a week as a way to save a bit of money and to spend more quality time together.

Although my wife thought it was a great idea at the time, she grew skeptical a week later when it was time to throw the breakers. After some prodding, however, she agreed to participate. This article is a story about what we learned from our initial experience, and where it’s leading us…

Going off the grid

Going off the grid one day a week was easier than you might expect. Don’t get me wrong, it’s completely different and does take effort, but once you adopt the mindset, it’s not a big deal. We ended up leaving the breakers on, and just made a conscious effort to avoid using electricity. We watched zero television and kept the lights and furnace off, but did continue regular use of our water, gas stove, and sewer. As such, this first run was far from true off the grid living!

After the experience was over, we decided to continue this exercise each Saturday for the foreseeable future. We expect to save a bit of money (perhaps as much as $20/month) with our little experiment, and have already noticed growth in our relationship. We’ve also found that flirting with these concepts has motivated us to become more self-sufficient, and less reliant on grid living.

Before we go any further, I feel as though I should define what “off the grid” means to me. When I say “off the grid,” I’m referring to a simpler, more self-reliant lifestyle for my family. In no way do I mean to imply that our goal is to become recluses that completely shun modern conveniences and fail to contribute to society at large. What I really want to do is to practice preparedness and frugality by becoming less reliant on our existing infrastructure.

Five lifestyle goals

Here are five important lifestyle changes we are hoping to adopt and embrace as we become more comfortable moving “off the grid”:

Self reliance. We’d like to reduce our dependence on societal systems such as sewer, water, power grids, gas, etc. If those utilities were ever to cease to function, we’d have alternative options at the ready.
Cost control. If utilities prices were to skyrocket — as we’ve already witnessed over the past couple of years — we’d be less dependent on them and could reduce our costs.
Simplified living. Less dependence on modern systems means we could return to a less stressful, more basic way of life. This is very attractive to us.
Learning old-world skills. We’ll exercise our creativity, handiness, and ingenuity as we build our knowledge and competency in things like gardening, canning, building, etc.
Focus on relationships. We’ll build and strengthen family relationships by tuning out or turning off outside technological influences and focusing on people instead.

A little history, a loose plan, and a looming problem

In reading so far, you might have envisioned my wife and I living on acres of country land with chickens running around, cattle in a pasture, etc. In truth, none of these are part of our current lifestyle, though I’d very much like to make vision reality! Let me paint you a more accurate picture of me, my background, and my relevant situation.

While I didn’t grow up in the holler, my daddy wasn’t a coal miner, and I don’t fly a rebel flag or drive a monster truck, I’m a country boy at heart. As such, I have a strong desire to lead as independent and self-reliant a life as possible. As a child and young man, I:

Grew up on 20 acres
Was basically a lumberjack – we heated our home with a wood stove
Raised chickens, cows, and horses
Was first employed by the farmer down the street as a hay bailing grunt

As a young adult, I moved away from my country boy roots and sold my soul to the real estate devils when I moved into the suburbs where I now:

Live on 0.17 acres
Have an 80% efficiency furnace to heat my home
Raise nothing but blood pressure, and maybe a few herbs
Work as an IT Manager

Though my wife and I are currently suburban DINKs, we’re planing on getting back to basics and are counting the days until we find our “dream home” in which we’ll start a family. As of now, we envision a self-constructed dome home complete with a wood burning stove to provide heat during the cold Michigan winters. This dream of ours is not going to happen overnight, and it’s going to require a lot of patience and sacrifice. To make it happen, we’ll need to cut spending, reduce our debt, and save a lot of money.

The biggest problem we’re currently facing is that, like so many other Americans, we’re upside down on our house. We bought our house with no money down, and are now faced with the realization that we owe much more than it’s currently worth. Fortunately, when we purchased our current home two years ago, we limited our monthly payments (including taxes and insurance) to 23% of our net income. Thus, we’re not saddled with onerous mortgage payments.

To get started we’ve decided to wean ourselves off things slowly, and have likewise begun planning for the implementation of alternative ways of life while still living in our DINK laden suburbanite neighborhood.

Some interesting additions

Since I first mentioned the idea of going off the grid, we’ve committed to starting a garden and purchasing canning supplies. We’re planning on starting to grow a lot of the produce that we would otherwise purchase throughout the year, and we’ll be purchasing both a pressure canner and a hot-water-bath canner that will help us store our bounty. As an aside, here’s here’s a link to a great guide on when to use a water-bath vs. pressure canner.

Concluding thoughts

After everything was said and done, my wife and I were both quite happy with our little “off the grid” experiment. We’ve also been a bit surprised by the shockwaves that it’s created in our life. Not only will we be saving a bit of money and spending some nice time together, but we’ll also be learning a ton of great new skills, and growing more and more self-reliant as time goes by. We’re most excited about our vision for the new home and lifestyle that we have set our sights on. Now it’s just a matter of pushing forward and maintaining discipline.

Have you ever considered going “off the grid”, or otherwise changing your lifestyle to reduce your dependence on modern conveniences? Do you have any other ideas for simplifying life, improving your self-reliance, and/or saving money by “downshifting.”

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How to Haggle: More Tips on Haggling

Nickel — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:25:27 +0000

Since we’ve been on the subject of haggling for a better deal, I thought I’d highlight some lessons from an old article that I recently ran across. As much as you might hate haggling, you can save a great deal of money by doing it.

For starters, approach it from the right perspective:

“People equate negotiating with arguing,” says Roger Fisher, director of the Harvard Negotiation Project and author of Getting to Yes. “But if you view it as a discussion of joint interests, you’ll be more likely to put fair terms on the table and find common ground.”

Next, try one or more of these five magic lines:

“Hmmm, I don’t know…” Indecision and silence are your friend. Let them know that you’re on the fence and you might just get a better deal.
“Help me spend my money here.” Big ticket prices are almost always negotiable — if you’re talking to the right person. Find that person and ask.
“Your rivals can do it for less.” Use their competition against them. If their competitors can afford to charge you less, then so can they.
“I feel like I was tricked.” If you’ve been misled in any way, use it to your advantage. Doing so can only improve your leverage.
“But you broke your promise.” Always be sure to hold to hold them to whatever promises they’ve made during your negotiations.

Or you could just fall back on one of my personal favorites:

“Is that the best you can do?”

Try it sometime. Say those seven words, and then just wait. As awkward as the resulting silence might seem, it’s even more uncomfortable for your adversary. The ball is now in their court, and nothing more will happen until they respond.

And one final tip… If you’re negotiating a major purchase, you might want to take a few notes during the course of your discussion. Doing so will not only help keep you from getting flustered, but it will also gives you something to fall back on if the final details don’t match what you talked about.

Source: Reader’s Digest

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How to Haggle

Nickel — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:00:38 +0000

As a followup to this week’s article about negotiating to reduce your bills, I wanted to point out an interesting piece on haggling when shopping. As awkward as you might feel asking for a discount, especially if you’re doing it in person as opposed to over the phone, those that are willing to haggle can save a good bit of money.

I won’t recap the entire story here, but I did want to highlight a few salient points. First and foremost, the article underscored the importance of practice. The more you do it, the easier (and more effective) it gets.

They also pointed out the importance of only haggling with people that are empowered to adjust the price. In other words, don’t waste your time bugging the cashier in a big box discount store. Instead, focus your efforts on sales associates, department managers, etc.

In addition, they listed situations in which haggling is especially likely to pay off. These included:

Renting hotel rooms
Making bulk purchases
Buying big-ticket items
Buying anything marked down or damaged
Buying floor models
Buying used items
Buying open packages

Personal haggling success

I’ve had a reasonable amount of success with haggling in everyday life, though I typically only do it when I have a good justification*. For example, I once drove across town to buy a dehumidifier that was supposedly in stock. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the store, they couldn’t find it. Instead of leaving empty-handed, I asked for a discount on the next better model, and they agreed.

I’ve also had pretty good success getting stores to sweeten the deal when making a major purchase (e.g., free delivery or accessories when purchasing an appliance). I’ve also had good luck getter retailers to not only match, but beat their competitor’s prices. Of course, you can often do even better by going online and skipping the haggling altogether.

What about you?

Do you haggle when shopping? If so, under what circumstances? And how much success have you had? If not, why not?

*Note: I’m ignoring here those situations in which you’re expected to haggle, such as when buying a house or a car. It should go without saying that I negotiate as hard as I can under such circumstances.

Via: Consumerism Commentary

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How to Prepare for a Power Outage – Without a Generator

Matt — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:00:03 +0000

Since most power outages occur during the spring and summers months, this article will focus on power outages in warmer weather. If you experience an outage in cold weather, make sure you have an alternative heat source such as a propane-powered heater and lots of fuel! Either that, or you’ll need a generator.

This past weekend we had some beautifully terrible thunderstorms that knocked out power for the better part of two days. Though the outage was a pain in the butt, the experience provided us the rare opportunity of being “unplugged” and turned out to be a real blessing in disguise.

Like so many other unexpected situations, involuntarily living without power caused us to think outside the box and to brainstorm ways to prepare in the event that something similar happens again. We were slapped in the face by the reality of our sheer dependence on grid living, and quickly began to revert to products and techniques employed by our ancestors in the pre-electricity era.

We thought about renting a generator but decided against it and chose to “tough it out” instead. Over the last 2 years, we’ve had to rent a generator three times, costing us around $50 each time. We considered purchasing a generator but due to the high debt repayment plan we’re following, we haven’t been able to delegate the $700 needed to purchase one. Instead, we’ve put a few great fundamental precautions in place to prepare ourselves for situations like these.

How to deal with a power outage

Stay informed. Know your power company’s phone number and call them immediately to report the outage. They will also be able to give you an estimate of how long the outage will last. Another thing you’ll need to stay informed is a crank operated radio.
Maintain a good first aid kit. Be sure to include a few days supply of any prescription medications.
Ensure you have a good water source. If you have an electric well pump, you’ll lose water pressure, so be sure you have enough drinking water ready.
Create an old time refrigerator. Keep ten or more two liter bottles or half gallon milk containers filled with water in your freezer. When the power goes out, place five or six of the frozen bottles in your refrigerator to keep things cool. This is actually how the original refrigerators worked.
Pack a cooler of food. Take a few essential food items out of your fridge and place them in a camping cooler with two or three more frozen containers, or with some of the ice cubes from your freezer.
Tape off your fridge and freezer. Put painters or masking tape over your fridge and freezer doors so you don’t absent-mindedly open them. This will help keep all the precious cool air inside where it belongs. You can also put heavy blankets over them for added insulation.
Candles, lighters, flashlights, and batteries. Stockpile twenty or more large, cheap candles for use as light sources. Keep several candles in each room and give each person (but not your kids!) a lighter. When anyone enters or leaves a room they can light or blow out the candle accordingly. You’ll also want to stockpile batteries and give each person in your house a personal flashlight. I suggest investing in a good flashlight such as a Surefire. There’s a high initial cost, but these lights are virtually indestructible and will last forever as long as you don’t lose them.
Have a camp stove ready. If you have an electric stove, invest in a propane powered camp stove and a few portable propane bottles so you’ll have a way to cook if needed. Just be sure to read the instructions for your stove and cook outside if necessary.
Prepare your pantry with a few quick emergency meals. An example of a meal that you can whip up quickly and with minimal effort is black bean spaghetti. Mix together a can of black beans & a can of spaghetti sauce, boil up some noodles and voíla, you have yourself a healthy and cheap emergency meal. Some other quick & easy options are soup, crackers, beans, and peanut butter & honey sandwiches (my wife’s favorite).
Have a collection of non-electric games. These will give you something fun while the power is it. Consider things such as Yahtzee, playing cards, dice, trivia, charades, Monopoly, etc. My wife and I played Yahtzee by candlelight. Very fun and actually quite romantic.
Make sure you have “car chargers” for cell phones. This will ensure that you can keep your battery charged even when the power is out. Just be sure to plug your phone in during any car trips during the power outage, no matter how short they might be.
Disconnect garage door opener. Make sure you know how to disconnect your garage door opener so you can get the car out of the garage.
Go outside. If it is still light and the weather is nice, go for a walk or a bike ride, or any other activity to get you out of the house. Sometimes my wife and I go for a nice relaxing drive in the country. Just be careful with gas usage if your local gas stations are also affected by the outage.
Internet access. If you need internet access and have a laptop, take it to your local coffee shop. If you don’t have a laptop, go to your local library. Of course, if the outage is widespread, you might be out of luck.
Maintain a positive attitude. This is crucial for keeping spirits high… Especially if you’re the head of the house.

These tips, when employed as directed above, will help you wait out a two or three day power outage without losing all the food in your fridge to spoilage. If you are out of power much longer than this, you will likely need a generator.

Life without power

During our recent outage, my wife and I realized that we actually enjoyed our “time in the dark.” The time we spent without electricity was some of the best we have spent together in months. We talked for hours, went for a long bike ride in the rain, and played Yahtzee by candlelight. We had so much fun together, and were able to truly pay our full attention to one another, that we enjoyed each other’s company on a deep and unusual level without all the interruptions of modern life.

Because of this, and as an additional way to lower our monthly expenses, we’re considering going “Off The Grid” one day a week. We’re actually going to turn off all the breakers in our electric panel and live as though we have no electricity (with the exception of our refrigerator and freezer of course). But that’s another post for another time!

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How to Negotiate and Lower Your Bills

Laura — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:00:12 +0000

We’ve recently been looking at our expenses to see if we can lower any of our bills. So far, the results have been promising. Earlier this year, we cut our car insurance bill in half. We also noticed that our cable and internet bill went up, so we called our provider. After speaking with customer service, they extended our promotional rate for another year. That 5-10 minute phone call saved us around $150.

A big reason that more people don’t do this sort of thing is that they don’t know where to start, or they think it’s too hard to do. Trust me, it’s a lot easier than you might imagine. The web also has tons of resources to help you with your bills, and by using these along with the RECAP method (outlined below), you can lower your household bills painlessly.

The RECAP method

I’m currently reading Nudge, a book about behavioral economics. In it, the authors talk about “RECAP” as a way to assist consumers handle making complex decisions, such as comparing cell phone usage and looking at plans. It involves the following steps: Record, Evaluate, and Compare Alternative Prices.

What follows is a rundown of how you can use this model to systematically negotiate and optimize your household bills.

Record your current bill and usage for each company

Look at your bills carefully and examine your services and all costs. For example, when looking at your cell phone bill, note how many minutes you get and any other benefits that you might have, like rollover minutes. Be informed of every fee that currently exists with your services.

Evaluate whether or not you’ve optimized your service

Sometimes we pay more for something than we actually use. Keeping with the cell phone example, take a loot at the average number of minutes you’ve used in the past 6 months. Are you close to the limit, or could you move down a tier? Sometimes people buy a plan thinking they’d rather be safe than sorry, but they end up wasting a ton of money.

When I looked at our cable and internet bill, I saw that we’re using all of the services, so I knew we wanted to keep them. Thus, when I called the company, I was only interested in negotiating the price.

Compare Alternative Prices

Take a look around, and write down how much each comparable service’s costs, paying attention to any extra hidden fees that switching may include. Use an online tool like BillShrink to find better deals. LowerMyBills also allows you to comparison shop. Sites like these save a lot of time and reduce the legwork you need to be successful.

Handling the phone conversations

So you’ve done your due diligence and you’re ready to talk to your current provider. How do you handle the phone call?

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind as you speak with the company on lowering your bill:

Take notes during all of your calls. Keep a notebook or spreadsheet of who you talk to, when you called, and what you agreed to. You may have to go back and reference the call if there is an error with your bill, so be thorough. I’ve had this happen once or twice for cable, but as soon as I mentioned the customer service representative’s name and summarized the conversation, it was quickly resolved in my favor.

Be brief when explaining why you want a discount. Customer service representatives are trained to counter your arguments. Be polite, direct, and calm. Getting emotional will not help, and you might even wind up with negative notes added to your account.

Ask them what can they do to help you. I called our cable and internet company and simply said: “I’m calling because we noticed our bill increased. We’re really tight on money right now, so I wanted to see what you could do to help us.” This puts the ball in their court, and makes it awkward for them to say no. The customer service representative placed us on hold or a minute or so and when she came back, she gave us the discount.

Be ready to actually switch companies. If you’re not getting the service and price that you need, you have to be ready to walk away. Most of the time you’ll be transferred to the cancellation department (sometimes referred to as “retentions”) which usually has more authority to help you.

What not to say

In talking about negotiating with banks, Ramit Sethi had some good points on what not to say:

“Are you sure?” Don’t make it easy for the rep to say no.

“Is there anything else I can do?” Again, imagine if you were a customer service rep and someone said this. It would make your life easier to just say “no.” As a customer, don’t make it easy for companies to say no.

“Okay.” Don’t give up here. Despite what you learned in sex ed, “No” does not mean “No” when it comes from a bank.

Avoid questions with one word answers. Instead, ask what else they can do tell help you. Engage them and it will be harder for them to dismiss you.

How much have you saved?

I’ve shared a couple of my personal experiences with lowering our bills. I’m curious to hear your negotiating tips. What does (or doesn’t) work? And how much have you saved by calling companies and negotiating with them?

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How to Save Money on Life Insurance

Nickel — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:00:41 +0000

Life insurance is an incredibly important financial product. Unfortunately, it’s also relatively costly. With that in mind, I thought I’d put together some tips for saving money when you’re in the market for a life insurance policy.

Get healthy

Any insurer worth their salt will require a physical as part of the underwriting process. The good news is that it’s easy — they’ll send someone out to your home or office. Smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, etc. will all result in significantly higher premiums. So… Leading a generally healthy lifestyle will save you a lot of money on your life insurance premiums.

Buy it only if you need it

Life insurance makes the most sense for people with significant financial responsibilities. If others depend on you for financial support, then you most likely need it. However, if you’re young, unmarried, and childless, you may be able to skip it and bank the savings.

Buy term and invest the difference

The simplest and cheapest form of life insurance is a term policy. While insurance policies with a cash value, such as whole life or universal life, can make sense in certain circumstances, you can save a good bit of money by foregoing the investment component, buying a term policy, and investing your savings on your own.

Don’t buy more than you need

The more coverage you buy, the more it will cost. You don’t want to go cheap and leave your loved ones high and dry, but it also doesn’t make sense to buy more than you really need. Just don’t forget to factor in the effects of inflation.

Pay attention to your payment terms

Most insurers allow you to pay monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. While paying monthly might sound better than coughing up a year’s worth of premiums in advance, keep in mind that many companies charge for the privilege.

Shop around

The premiums on identical policies from different issuers can vary widely. Thus, it pays to shop around. Either enlist the help of a reputable insurance agent or do what we did — poke around on a life insurance comparison website. Just don’t buy from a company on the brink of bankruptcy in the interest of saving a few bucks.

So there you have it… Six simple tips for saving money on life insurance. If you have any further suggestions, please be sure share them in the comments.

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Turbo Tax E-file Meltdown and an IRS Reprieve

File Taxes for Free With TurboTax

Nickel — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:16:03 +0000

A few weeks ago, I did a head-to-head comparison of TurboTax vs. TaxCut, and I also noted that TurboTax has been rated the best tax preparation software.

At the time, however, I wasn’t aware that you can use TurboTax for free if you make less than $30k. Note that I’m not talking about the free 1040EZ filing that they offer when you hit their homepage. Rather, I’m talking about their so-called Tax Freedom Edition, which is available as part of the Free File Alliance.

Note that this is a more or less complete version of TurboTax, with access to not only the 1040EZ, but also the 1040A and 1040 forms. In order to qualify, you must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Earned an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for tax year 2008 of $30,000 or less; or
Qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); or
Served Active Duty Military with AGI of $56,000 or less

If you don’t qualify, be sure to sign up to win TurboTax for free. You have just under 12 hours left to enter. Good luck!

Hat tip: Poorer Than You

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How to Save Money on Groceries – 45 Ways to Reduce Your Grocery Bill

Nickel — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:00:00 +0000

The recession in full swing and many families have been tightening their belts. With that in mind, I thought I’d spend a bit of time talking about how to save money on what, for many of us, is a major monthly expenditure — groceries! None of this is rocket science, but it does take a bit of discipline. With a bit of discipline, you can save a lot of money each and every month. Oh, and you might end up eating healthier, too. Talk about a win-win!

Tips for Saving Money on Groceries

Go shopping alone
Have a budget and stick to it
Make fewer, larger trips
Don’t shop hungry
Plan your meals in advance
Scan your cupboards, pantry, and fridge before leaving
Keep a running list of items you need on your fridge
Break your list down by store and plan your outing accordingly
Plan your trip through the store to minimize wandering the aisles
Don’t forget your list when you head to the store, but…
Be willing to deviate from your list for great deals
Don’t be afraid of store brands
Buy the Sunday paper
Keep an eye on the weekly store circular
Clip (and use!) coupons for name brand items
Check the store’s website for printable coupons
Be on the lookout for “double coupon” days
Stack manufacturer and store coupons
Keep a price list/book so you know a deal when you see one
Learn your store’s sale cycle (sales are often cyclical)
Stock up (within reason) when things are on sale
Get rain checks when sale items are out of stock
Visit multiple stores to get the best deals, or…
Ask your preferred store to match prices form elsewhere
Avoid non-grocery items that can be bought for less elsewhere
Joins the store’s affinity program and flash your card
Buy a chest freezer
Buy in bulk, but…
Be sure to look at unit pricing
Bring a calculator (unless you’re a math whiz)
Be on the lookout for “shrinkage” (e.g., 1.5 quarts vs. half gallon)
Cook large batches and freeze for later
Don’t waste leftovers
Eat less – seriously, many people eat way more than necessary
Cook from scratch, avoid processed foods
Avoid frozen/prepared entrees
Eat more fruits/veggies, cut back on meat
Eat in season fruits/vegetables
Plant a garden
Hit the local farmer’s market
Drink more water, fewer costly beverages
Be on the lookout for pricing errors at the register
Be sure they scan instant coupons that are attached to some items
Always fill out and send your rebates

Finally, consider the value of your time. While minimizing your expenditures is always a good idea, it doesn’t always make sense to spend tons of extra time in hopes of saving a few cents off your grocery bill.

How Do You Save Money on Groceries?

Now it’s your turn. While the list above is a good start, I’ve undoubtedly missed a number of things. So… If you have any suggestions as to how to save money on groceries, please share them in the comments.

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Save on Healthcare: Cheap Immunizations at the Health Department

Nickel — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:33:49 +0000

As a followup to this morning’s post on how to save on health insurance, I wanted to pass along a frugal healthcare tip that my wife an I learned shortly after our oldest son was born. At the time, we were living on a shoestring budget as graduate students. The good news is that we had health insurance. The bad news is that it covered a very limited amount of well-child care.

If you’re a parent, then you’re likely aware that babies require a lot in the way of well-child care. There are frequent checkups and numerous vaccinations in that first year, and these things add up fast. Unfortunately, we would’ve tapped out our well-child allowance in the first visit or two if we had allowed our pediatrician to administer the necessary vaccinations. That would’ve left us on our own for well-child care for the balance of the year, and we really couldn’t afford that.

Instead of biting the bullet, we explored our options. In doing so, we discovered that the county health department offered the very same immunizations for the low price of $20 per visit, regardless of how many shots you needed. Given that it would’ve cost $50-$100 per shot at the doctor’s office, we saved a ton of money without compromising on quality of care.

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How to Save Money on Health Insurance

Laura — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:03:10 +0000

Having health insurance helps protect your family from medical problems, and can also help you avoid huge medical bills. Unfortunately, an estimated 47 million Americans are uninsured. A major contributor to this statistic is the high cost of health insurance premiums. The good news is that there are a few things you can do to reduce your health insurance premiums and associated healthcare expenses.

Increase your health insurance deductible

This isn’t possible with all plans, but a higher deductible can save you hundreds and monthly premiums. Just be sure that your emergency fund or health savings account (HSA) can cover the deductible.

Go for generic drugs whenever possible

Some drugs are available in generic form at less than half the cost of the name brand version. On top of this, many major retailers (e.g., Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, and Walgreens) offer $4 prescriptions, and some even offer free antibiotics.

Try health clinics

I’ve found this to be a great option for some of my exams, and it can also help save on prescriptions. With my previous health insurance, my co-pay was $30/month for one of my prescriptions. By going to the university health clinic, I pay $40 for three month supply. I save $240/year just by doing that. Check with your local health department to see if there are any such clinics in your area.

Look into private health insurance

Employers don’t always offer the best deal on health insurance. Shop around online and see if there a policy that is more affordable for you. You may also qualify for some state run health insurance programs, which can likewise reduce the costs.

So there you have it… Four tips for saving money on health insurance and medical care. While many people are trying to cut costs and save money, that doesn’t have to involve sacrificing the quality of your healthcare. Do you have any additional tips for reducing your health insurance premiums or otherwise saving money on healthcare?

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Guest Contributor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:00:45 +0000

This is a guest post from WC of The Writer’s Coin. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.

I don’t know why, but I’ve been getting free issues of a magazine called Time Out Chicago for the past few weeks. It sums up what’s going on in the city, things to do, good deals to be had, and other stuff.

This week, the cover feature was “Make Money: 44 Ways to Score Cash Fast.” I figured I’d thumb through it and find a bunch of tried and true tips for earning extra money, or maybe some money saving ideas — the kinds of things that you see on personal finance blogs all over the ‘net.

Instead, I found some ideas that I had never heard of before, and I wanted to highlight them here. Some are wacky, some are kinky, and some are downright ridiculous. But who knows, if these people are doing it, maybe you can too:

Polish your acting skills. Head to the hospital and pretend that you have a ruptured spleen or a busted johnson (my personal favorite). Hey, Kramer did it on Seinfeld, and all he had to do was get gonorrhea. $14–$35/hour.
Sell your underwear on online. Hey, if people are willing to buy chewed-up gum and potato chips that look like the Virgin Mary, why not panties? $15 apiece.
Sex talk. Phone sex operators can make some pretty good money and all you need is a landline and your imagination. This reminds me of poor Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love… Scamming potential clients would probably be more lucrative. $9–$20/hour.
Take off your pants and jacket. Donating sperm is still in vogue, and can net you $25 per deposit. For the ladies: you can donate your eggs for $7,000–$10,000… But you’ll have to go under for it. Scary.
Sell plasma. Giving blood is always fun, but at $20–$30 for two hours, I don’t know if it’s worth it. Plus the needles and the blood…
Be a script writer. This one appealed to me because I’m a writer, but this is simply transcribing stuff. If you can type and have your own equipment (a PC should suffice) then you can rake in $16–$20/hour. The pros can charge from $110–$165, so make sure you underbid them.
Special delivery. One guy runs a site called The Kinky Llama, and he delivers sex products on his bike. Anywhere, anytime. Sound crazy? He probably is, but he makes about $1,500/week. Not bad… Let’s hope he doesn’t drop his cargo all over the street though — it could be scary.
Get hitched. Marrying for money has a price tag, and apparently it’s between $5,000 and $50,000. Of course, you have to go through all the hassle, and maybe even kiss the person to convince the authorities, but if you’re desperate I guess it’s an option.
Get naked. This is probably the easiest tip of all. Nude models just have to stand there and hold a pose while ersatz painters ogle them. You can make $15/hour, but I don’t know if I could stand still long enough to make it worth my while. At least it would motivate me to go to the gym more often.

I’m curious how many people out there would actually try out these tips. If you’re interested in any of them, just do a little research and I’m sure you’ll find something similar in your area. If you do, then be sure to come back and tell us how it went… As long as it isn’t too embarrassing.

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Spending Habits that Will Make you Graduate Poor

Guest Contributor — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:00:00 +0000

This is a guest post from The Studenomist of Studenomics. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.

As a college student going to school in a tough economy, I’ve made it a personal goal to graduate with as much money saved as possible. How do I intend to pull this off? After all, it seems like everyone these days is completing college either broke or in debt. My answer is simple… In addition to working year round, I’ve done my best to avoid the following spending habits.

1. Always buying new

When you’re in college (and even after you graduate) you shouldn’t be purchasing everything new. You should look for used textbooks, used furniture, and even used school supplies. Take a look around a college bookstore. In many cases, new textbooks now sell for over $100. That’s an awful lot of money, especially considering that most students take upwards of five courses per semester.

Likewise, when you move into your dorm or apartment, you should challenge yourself to see how much used furniture you can gather. After all, if you furnished a dorm with all new items, it would cost you a fortune. There’s no shame in having used items, especially if it helps you meet your financial goals.

2. Keeping up with technology

As a student, all you really need technology-wise is a basic cell phone and a standard laptop. I’ve never understood why college students feel compelled to buy the biggest and best plasma TV or the latest high-end laptop, but many do. Sure, I recently purchased an iPhone, but that was after years of waiting and having actually saved up the money for it. All too often, I see students rushing to purchase the latest and greatest technology with – yep, you guessed it – a credit card.

3. Entitlement spending

Many students feel that, just because they work hard at school, they “deserve” certain rewards that help them maintain a certain quality of life. One of the most common “entitlement purchases” that I see around campus is when someone purchases a new car so they can arrive at school in style. In reality, driving that new car to school may wind up costing more than your tuition. The cost of that car, interest payments, insurance, gas, maintenance, and parking fees will only put you further into debt.

4. Taking random courses

While everyone needs to fill up their schedule, there’s no point in signing up for a course if you’re not sure that it will interest you or help you progress toward your degree. Sure, you might want to explore your interests, but keep in mind that every time you take an unnecessary course (or drop a course) you’re literally throwing money away. That money could’ve been used to pay for courses that would’ve actually helped your get your degree, or perhaps you could’ve even stashed it in a high yield savings account.

Have you fallen prey to any of these spending habits?

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Save Money With Do-it-Yourself Car Repairs

Laura — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:00:26 +0000

True story: My brother’s car broke down and we couldn’t get it to move. My husband, my brother, and I pushed it off the main road and called around to see what it could be done. We got the car towed to a local shop (our previous mechanic retired, so we just found someone nearby).

We learned the hard way

Shortly thereafter, we got a phone call from the shop. My brother needed to pay around $1,200 to replace his clutch. The amount surprised us, and we asked if it would be possible to get it running so he could get home. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

We had the car towed back to my brother’s home thinking that it’d be awhile before he had enough saved up for the repairs. Shortly thereafter, I received a call from my mom to let me know that the car was running again. She had an acquaintance who does car repairs, and she asked them for help. The total cost? Less than $20!

Do you know what they found? The car had no oil in it! They also replaced a missing hose. My brother is very fortunate that he didn’t lose the car. He’s also fortunate that he didn’t spend $1,200 on an unnecessary repair. He has now learned how to check and change his own oil, and we all learned a valuable lesson: Learning some of the basics of car repair can save you a lot of money.

Do-it-yourself isn’t hard

Maintaining a vehicle costs money, but just blindly trusting a mechanic can cost you even more money. In fact, typical labor rates range from $50-$120/hour. Being able to handle some basic car repairs can increase the life of your vehicle and keeping money in your pocket (some of which should be set aside for huge repairs).

If you’ve never done this before, start small. Don’t risk ruining your engine or transmission just to save a few bucks. Here are some relatively easy things you can do to keep your car in good condition:

Check all fluids in your car (motor oil, washer fluid, and transmission fluid) and adjust their levels as needed
Check, clean, and perhaps replace the air filter your car. When air filters are clogged, your gas mileage deteriorates.
Check your tires to make sure the pressure is correct as determined by your owner’s manual. Keeping your tires at the proper inflation improves gas mileage and can extend the life of your tires.
Check and maintain your car battery. Keep it clean by removing any deposits on the posts. They usually last around 5 years before needing to be replaced.
Replace your windshield wiper blades if they are worn. Tell your local auto parts shop which car you need them for and they’ll find the match. You might also want to apply some Rain-X at the same time.

Look at your car’s manual and follow that maintenance schedule given, some repair shops recommend more frequent maintenance schedules to increase their revenue.

DIY doesn’t mean you can’t have help

If it makes you feel more comfortable, help someone else with their do-it-yourself maintenance. This will give you a chance to ask questions and take notes. And once you’re ready to do your own maintenance, be sure to keep records of what you did and when.

If you need some sites to learn how to perform some of these maintenance checks, here are some helpful links that I found and used for the article:

If you doubt your abilities or want a professional to handle it, then by all means, find a good mechanic that you can trust.

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Visualize Your Savings Goals

Nickel — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:00:43 +0000

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to achieving major savings goals is maintaining your focus. The bigger the goal, the longer it typically takes to achieve it, and the easier it is to take your eye of the ball. One particularly effective trick for combating this possibility is to create a visual reminder of your savings goal.

Lessons from an eleven year old

I was recently reminded of how well this approach works when I discovered that our eleven year old was carrying around a tattered picture of an ASUS Eee PC netbook. Yep, that’s it (alongside his wallet) in the photo above. He’s been saving up for his own computer for quite awhile now, and he was concerned about blowing his hard-earned money on a less worthy item during a moment of weakness.

We’ve actually talked quite a bit with the kids about impulse purchases and how much they can set you back when you’re saving up for something big. In an attempt to avoid these sorts of problems, he decided to print out a picture of a computer like the one he wanted to buy and slip it into his wallet, thereby ensuring that he’d see it every time he was tempted to spend money.

And guess what? It worked. He saved like a madman with nary a setback and, as of last week, he’s the proud new owner of his very own netbook. So take it from an eleven year old… If you’re having trouble meeting your savings goals, create a visual reminder of whatever it is that you’re saving for and slip it into your wallet or purse.

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Save Money by Renting Out a Room

Nickel — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:00:36 +0000

While reading the newspaper this weekend, I ran across an article about people renting out rooms and/or taking on roommates to make ends meet. Not surprisingly, the current economic climate has resulted in a major uptick in the number of people looking for roommates. And for good reason… Taking on a roommate not only dramatically reduces your rent/mortgage obligation, but can also save you a substantial amount of money when it comes to utilities.

Better still, we’re talking about post-tax dollars here, so your savings will be amplified. Remember back in the 1700s when Benjamin Franklin said that a penny saved is a penny earned? No? Well, it doesn’t really matter, because he was wrong. Rather, as Andrew Tobias has argued, a penny saved is more like two pennies earned. The reason for this is that taxes take a substantial bite out of every dollar that you earn. Thus, while I’ve previously made the case for balancing your budget by earning extra money, the value of trimming your expenses cannot be overstated.

So… This all begs the question of whether (or under what circumstances) you’d be willing to take on a roommate (or housemate, as the case may be). If you’re already doing so, please share your thoughts. If you’re thinking about it, what’s holding you back? If you’re dead set against it, what are your primary objections?

As for us, there’s really no way we could pull it off. We have four kids, so bringing in an outsider is pretty much out of the question even if we had the space. Fortunately, we’re on very solid financial footing, so this is mostly an exercise in hypotheticals for us. Nonetheless, I thought it would be an interesting topic for discussion.

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