Now that we’re in the summer months (finally!), I wanted to cover a few must-haves for a summer wardrobe that will have you looking awesomely stylish without breaking the bank. These are the perfect complements to the basic building blocks for a frugal, functional, and fashionable wardrobe outlined in the post The Clothes Every Guy Should Own.

1) Sunglasses

If you had to buy one pair of sunglasses for the rest of your life, the Ray-ban New Wayfarer is the pair to get. They work for casual situations like bumming around the beach on weekends and formal events like weddings. For $80 through Amazon, the Tortiose can’t be beat.

2) T-Shirts

Nothing trumps the fit and comfort of American Apparel T-shirts. There are plenty of options in the color department but the Poly-Cotton (50% Polyester, 50% Cotton) 3-Pack of Heather Blue, Heather Forest, and Heather Plum is great for summer. At American Apparel stores, or online, for $48.

3) Navy Polo

Everyone should have a couple solid polo’s in their wardrobe. They look good tucked in with shorts or dressed up under a suit jacket. The Banana Republic Luxe-touch cotton polo is a reliable choice. Listed for $44.50 but can be had for about $30 most days with a 30%-35% off coupon code.

4) White OCBD

OCBD = Oxford Cloth Button Down. That refers to the fact that the collar buttons down, not the shirt! Although it’s not really a dress shirt, it works for casual days at the office and looks fantastic tucked into shorts with the sleeves rolled up (proper way to roll sleeves here). Under $25 from Old Navy, but may need to be tailored to bring in the sides and sleeves to skim the body, which should cost about $10.

5) Khaki Shorts

Shorts should hit above the knee, so you probably want a 9″ or 10″ inseam. And avoid cargo, unless you’re pledging a fraternity. A pair of Khaki shorts, like these from J. Crew for $33, are the workhorse of the summer.

6) Colored Chinos

I’m a big fan of the Docker’s Alpha Khaki, a go-anywhere do-anything chino. While you will be covered in the fall and winter with colors like Gravel and Dark Pebble, for the summer months mix in a fun color like Firebrush or Electric Blue. $35-$45 direct from Amazon.

7) Lightweight Belt

With shorts and summer chinos, you don’t want a heavy leather belt that’s designed for jeans. A Four-in-One belt, $30 from L.L. Bean, does the duty of four belts for the price of one.

8) Knit Tie and Tie Bar

It’s wedding season, and you’ll no doubt be required to put on a noose, err, tie. If you haven’t received the memo yet, nobody wears fat, lobster-bib sized ties anymore, outside mobsters. A navy knit tie, $15 from the Tie Bar, is a solid weight and at 2 3/4 inches it’s the perfect width that can be worn a thousand different ways. Throw in a 1 1/2 inch brushed silver tie bar, $15, and you’re set for years.

9) Boat Shoes

A pair of classic boat shoes, in brown, only get better with age. $60 for Sperry Topsiders from Amazon is a good a deal as any. Don’t be one of those guys that wears them with visible socks though. Either go barefoot or if you have sweaty feet, get some no-show socks.

10) Sneakers

Sneakers are where it’s at in the summer! While a pair of black Chucks are good for 3 seasons, mix it up with a pair of natural colored sneakers that work with any outfit. PF Flyers Center Lo in Natural are $30. Again, no socks!

The total for all these items will run about $400. While that’s a decent chunk of everyday dollars, keep in mind that all these items are classic and timeless pieces, meaning they won’t go out of style overnight. Think of them as an investment to keep your summer wardrobe functional and fashionable for years.

A reader recently asked me how she was supposed to justify a trip abroad, when she wants to be a good Ms. Everyday Dollar and pay off debt, before beginning to save and invest for a financially independent future. I told her, “There is no way to justify it!”

But how does a free trip to a destination of your choice, anywhere in the world, sound? Pretty kick-ass, I’d guess.

While I’ve been fortunate enough to travel around our world a bit – to places like Japan, India, Ghana, France, and Argentina – I’ve also just recently learned that I wasn’t taking advantage of credit card companies that offer huge sign-up bonuses in points and miles, which means free travel.

So these days I play the credit card churn game. I currently have (gasp) four credit cards open. Coming from a guy that had the same credit card for years on end, it’s different. But each of those four new credit cards has assisted me in paying for travel expenses.

While I could pay for travel out of pocket, why should I when I can get it for free? I think of a night in a posh hotel, paid for with sign-up bonuses, as a reward for being financially responsible and having a good credit score.

So readers, if you want to take advantage of your good credit card score too, here’s the strategy I recommended to get a completely free roundtrip ticket from, say, Chicago to Rome.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

First, apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to score 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points. You’ll need to spend $3,000 in 3 months to get those points. That stipulation is what we call the Minimum Spend Requirement (MSR).

While many people would have no problem spending $3,000 in 3 months, for frugal people like us it might be a problem. But don’t worry, Mr. Everyday Dollar is going to give you the solution!

Using Amazon Payments to Meet Minimum Spend Requirements

With Amazon Payments, you can send money to another person with your credit card, much like PayPal. But unlike PayPal, you can send up to $1,000 per month with zero fees.

So find a friend or family member, preferably trustworthy, and send them some random amount of money, like $853.42. (Be sure to select that the payment is for Goods/Services and not a Cash Advance). They’ll receive the money, transfer it to their bank account which takes a few days, and will then give you your $853.42 back. Boom! You just made a big dent in that $3,000 MSR.

Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card

Second, after you’ve completed the MSR for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, apply for the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer card to score 30,000 United MileagePlus miles. You’ll need to spend $1,000 in 3 months to get the bonus.

Book a Free Roundtrip Ticket

After meeting the MSR for both cards, you’ll find yourself with 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points from the Sapphire Preferred and 30,000 MileagePlus miles from the Explorer.

If we look to book a roundtrip award ticket on United, from Chicago to Rome, it will cost 60,000 MileagePlus miles as shown below.

You already have 30,000 miles in your United account, so you’ll need 30,000 more. The beauty of those 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points is that they can be transferred 1:1 to a handful of hotel and airline programs, United included:

You transfer 30,000 of your 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points into your United account, and bingo, you’ll have enough miles for that ticket (with enough left over for a hotel room, too). Bon voyage, enjoy free roundtrip airfare from Chicago to Rome!

A Note on Annual Fees

Both cards in this post have the first year annual fee waived, with subsequent years being $95. Part of my credit card churn strategy is to cancel cards before they renew, and because I’m periodically applying for and receiving new cards, I always have credit available to me.

Nonconformist. You could say that choosing to raise nine kids in a cramped 24-foot camper trailer, not having them attend any formal school, and traveling from one beach town to the next finding the perfect wave can be considered nonconformist. One family did just that, discussing their lives and upbringing in the fascinating 2008 documentary “Surfwise.” Check out the trailer:

The story about the Paskowitz family starts with Dorian, also known as “Doc.” He begins surfing at the age of 10 in the Gulf of Mexico and is considered part of the first generation of surfers in California. Accepted at San Diego State University, but having always wanted to live where surfing originated, he transfers to the University of Hawaii. After graduation, he chooses to become a doctor and heads off to medical school at Stanford University.

Then, as a Stanford-educated physician, he returns to the Aloha State and is appointed public health officer for Hawaii. Doc starts accumulating the material possessions of most successful men and women: a fancy apartment with a maid and a man to wash his shiny new car.

At this point, Doc tells us, “The only time in my life I was convinced I was living the wrong life was when I was fabulously successful.” By the age of 35, with two failed marriages under his belt, he has an epiphany that he is living his life as a fraud. Taking action, he rids himself of his possessions, buys a station wagon to live in, and dedicates himself to the sport of surfing.

Soon afterwards, as a result of his failure with women, he decides to increase his carnal knowledge by beginning a quest to conquer 100 women. He rates each of them, based on a scale he calls the “male deficit score,” according to how much more they know about sex than he does. After 25 or so conquests, he finds a high-scorer in a mestizo Mexican woman by the name of Juliette, who is living on Catalina Island in California. They begin living together in Doc’s car, soon marry, and their first child arrives nine months later.

Needing more room, Doc sets them up to wander the U.S. in a 24-foot camper, working part-time in medicine when they need money but choosing to focus on his family. Mostly, making a big one. For the next 10 years, Juliette is either pregnant or breast-feeding, with the end result of nine children, eight boys and a girl.

(source: surfwisefilm.com)

The philosophy that Doc instills into his children, and forces them to abide by, is: “Eat clean, live clean, surf clean.” There are some bizarre rules too. For example, because he notices on a trip to the zoo that apes do not eat the skin of an apple, he decides his family will stop eating the skin of apples too!

As the documentary progresses, I started to feel conflicted about Doc’s idealistic child rearing. The family’s life was rough and in my opinion, not always fair to the kids. They were supposed to be a better breed of human being: spiritual, from the earth, and of the earth. Did it work? I’d say so.

However, today none of the Paskowitz children holds down a conventional nine-to-five job, and some of them barely make a living at all.

When they left the 24-foot camper life behind, many of the Paskowitz children discovered their upbringing had done little to prepare them for the outside world. For jobs, traffic, living in a world ruled by the everyday dollar. Some of them had successful careers as professional surfers, or enjoyed success as musicians, but overall they found they lacked the skills to navigate personal and business relationships. They were easily taken advantage of by people who could see they were children in adult bodies.

(source: surfwisefilm.com)

The lack of formal schooling also proved to be a problem. I found one of the most disturbing parts of the movie when son Abraham wants to become a doctor like his father. At 18, he discovers it will take 10 years to make up for lost education, and by the time he would be ready for medical school he would already be 30 years old. Sadly, he gives up on those ambitions.

Another son, Salvador, finds financial success running a graphic design company and earning upwards of a million dollars a year. However, he never saves any money and when an opportunity comes along to write a film script, he simply ditches the graphic design overnight. The film script doesn’t work out, and today he has no money.

Navah, the one Paskowitz daughter, is the only one that admits she wanted a conventional upbringing. She currently lives a typical suburban mom lifestyle.

Surprisingly, none of her brothers would have had it any other way. They believe what they were given was priceless and unique, sharing the belief that Doc was simply ahead of his time.

Here’s what Mr. Everyday Dollar found most striking about Doc and his lifestyle:

• He’s an average guy, just like you and me. What he did, we can too!
• Although I disagree with him, he was honest enough to admit he didn’t care for formal schooling.
• He wasn’t fearful or anxious about leaving the money-driven rat race.
• He didn’t care at all about material possessions that clutter life and waste money.
• His philosophy included eating clean which is cheap and healthy.
• He preferred a simple life – with a lot of sex – plus a good dose of surfing. For Doc, it was back to primitive times.

Doc Paskowitz had the American Dream, the success and wealth, yet chose to lead a nomadic, off-the-grid life with his family. Is he selfish, narcissistic, and cruel for this experiment? Or should he be idolized?

I want to share with you, my wonderful readers, some insights into how our own life experiences have shaped the fear that all of us feel from time to time, the different levels of fear, and how we can combat fear and anxiety in our everyday lives. Let’s get started!

Our Life Experiences Cause Fear

Growing up, we can probably all relate to the fact our parents were not perfect in rearing us. They made mistakes – hopefully learning from them – told us they were sorry, and continued to provide the love and nurturing parents are required to perform.

However, some of us may have not had our needs met by our parents on a consistent basis. Now this wasn’t our fault, perhaps it was the result of a neglectful parent, or a single-parent household, even a parent dealing with mental illness.

Or there was a traumatic event like a divorce, a death in the family, or abuse. Regardless of the situational event, a child experiencing one or more of these things will tend to be overly fearful and anxiety-prone. I know that’s exactly what happened to me.

This causes a child to see the world as a dangerous, untrustworthy, and frightening place. Having this programmed into your brain at a young age will stay with a person their whole life. Even though as adults we may be responsible and competent people, a functioning part of society, everyday we live with needless fear and anxiety that paralyzes and controls us.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to know that these feelings that cause us to stay in a boring dead-end job (“it’s comfortable though”), to continue a relationship you’d be happier ending (“I can’t be alone, how will I find someone else?”), to not reach your full potential (“I’ll fail, I can’t do that, I don’t have the right skills”), are simply leftover from childhood?

The good news is when we realize that, and take a little bit of action to overcome our fear and anxiety, we can lead an exciting and adventurous life. The same life we wish for because we see other people living it!

The Realistic Levels of Fear

We know fear is a normal emotion. It’s a survival mechanism, a fight-or-flight response, that happens during an attack or other harmful event (e.g., like a snake-covered bear when you’re camping), that threatens our life on this planet.

There’s different levels of fear, from low to high:

• Level 1 – Making decisions, switching careers, asking for a raise, interviewing for a job, or giving a speech.
• Level 2 – Rejection, success, failure.
• Level 3 – Simply, “I can’t handle it.”

Here’s the thing, fear and anxiety will never go away. If we are growing, we should feel uncomfortable, and we should feel some fear. It’s when it paralyzes and controls us that we need to confront it head-on, as counter-intuitive as that seems. In the past I looked for ways around my fears, or ignored them, or avoided them, hoping my not dealing with them they would go away.

Then I made a life-changing decision to stop avoiding my fears that paralyzed and controlled me and to deal with them, with confidence, as a challenge to overcome. Fun, right?!

How To Respond To Fear

“I can’t handle it” is used for all sorts of situations in our lives. Have these thoughts ever crept into your mind?

I can’t handle making a mistake, so I’m not going to try something I haven’t done before.

I can’t handle more responsibility or being in the spotlight at work, so I’ll just stay in my current job.

I can’t handle the unpredictability of having kids, so I don’t want any.

I can’t handle people not liking me, so I’ll say yes to whatever people ask me to do.

You know what? Successful people handle fear with confidence, and they think whatever happens, they will handle it. That mindset has become a favorite mantra of Mr. Everyday Dollar, and I want to tell you about a fear of mine I thought I couldn’t handle.

I couldn’t handle talking in front of a large group of people, so I avoided giving speeches or presentations. Just recently I realized I couldn’t live my whole life carrying this fear on my shoulders, so I leapt into action.

I researched how to overcome a fear of public speaking and was lead to a professional organization called Toastmasters, that helps people develop public speaking and leadership skills. I found a local club near my home and started going to their bi-monthly meetings, ready to start giving my own speeches after a few weeks in.

However, my fear and anxiety of public speaking overcame me. I started making excuses for why I couldn’t give a speech: I was too busy to write one, there were too many other activities on meeting nights, oh, I’ll do it after I get back from Argentina. Months without giving a speech turned into a year.

Then I forced myself to sign up to give a speech, so there was no backing out. I wrote it, I practiced it endlessly, I had a sleepless night worrying about it. Mr. Everyday Dollar was a mess.

The day of my speech came and I showed up to the meeting, after convincing myself not to fake an illness. With heart racing and mouth dry, I waited until I was introduced. Delivering my speech with sweaty palms and plenty of nervous energy (manifesting itself into pacing), I pulled off the speech without a hitch. I felt awesome!

I had faced my fears and I had won. I handled it, even though I was convinced I couldn’t.

With an additional speech under my belt that I gave last week (on emergency funds), I now feel like an old pro up there. Sure, I still feel a little fear and anxiety delivering a speech, but overall it’s no big deal and I never thought that was possible. In fact, I like giving speeches now!

So readers, I want you to imagine how much you could accomplish at work and in your personal life if you believed whatever happens, I will handle it.

Has fear ever paralyzed and controlled you? Would it be different if you confronted your fear head-on? Have you?

If you lived your life without fear and anxiety, in your career and personal life, what would you being doing differently?

What Is Ting?

Ting is a cool cell phone provider that came into existence in 2012, backed by Tucows. Ting is what’s called an MVNO, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, which is  just a fancy way to say that a phone on Ting uses Sprint’s network, but Ting sets it’s own prices for users.

So what’s so cool about Ting, besides its name? Well, as a longtime user of Verizon and US Cellular, frankly Ting is a breath of fresh cellular air. Here’s some of the reasons that make Ting awesome:

• Great rates.
• No overage penalties, Ting will simply bump you up to the next “size”.
• Credits on light months! Ting will also bump you down and charge you for what “size” you used.
• Ability to share multiple devices on one plan, which is great for families.
• No contract. It’s all month-to-month, and super easy to cancel. Yes, that’s right, easy to cancel.
• Option to bring your own device from the approved list. (No iPhones though, yet.)
• A sexy, easy to comprehend graph of usage.
• A simple bill.

On a side note, I recently decided to switch to a smart phone, using Ting, from a dumb phone. Originally looking at getting service from Republic Wireless, who offers unlimited data, talk and text for $19/month, I chose Ting based on the fact Republic offers only one phone option, the Motorola Defy XT.

Ting Plans

The following is Ting’s current pricing plan:

You pick your Ting plan based on what size you think you’ll need, from XS to XXL, and Ting will bump you up or down depending on what you actually use during the month. I chose to pick XS across the board which forces Ting to bump me up sizes as I use minutes, messages and megabytes over the month.

How To Switch To Ting

Switching to Ting was a breeze. You have the option of buying a new phone from them, buying a used phone from them, or bringing your own Sprint device from the supported list. I chose to buy a used Samsung Galaxy SII from eBay for $150. If you choose to bring your own device, activating it with Ting involves a few steps on their easy-to-use website and some online instructions to program the phone for 4G and MMS.

Ting, Mr. Everyday Dollar Style

Here’s where the cool stuff happens!

Shown above is my usage half way through a billing month. Essentially, I will close out this month being in the “small” size for minutes, texts, and megabytes, with a total bill of $15 (that includes a flat $6 monthly device fee). You might be wondering how I only use a handful of voice minutes and text messages per month in this day and age. That’s where Google Voice comes in!

1. Google Voice

When I made the switch to Ting, I also ported my longtime phone number to Google Voice, for a one time $20 fee. That means when people call or text me it goes to Google Voice first.

Within Google Voice, I made a few key configurations. First, I set up my voicemail there with this configuration:

And this configuration:

When someone calls me and leaves a voicemail now, it shows up in my Gmail account where I can either play the message or read the automatic transcription to text, pretty cool.

Second, I set up text messages to forward to my Gmail account:

Now, when someone texts my phone I can easily respond within Gmail, and it looks just like a regular text message to the recipient.

Lastly, I forward calls to Google Chat:

By doing this, I can take advantage of Talkatone and AutoAP, covered next, which is why my minute and text usage can be minimzed.

2. Talkatone and AutoAP

Talkatone is an app available for iOS or Android which allows you to make free Google Voice calls and texts over Wifi. For me, this is powerful because I have access to Wifi at home and at work, which is where I spend the majority of my life (for now!).

To use Talkatone, you simply install it and enter your Google Voice account information. You are then able to make free calls and texts over Wifi! Taking this to the next level, I installed an app, available for Android only, called AutoAP. This app automatically enables Airplane Mode (turning off the cellular connection) when successfully connected to a Wifi network.

A typical day plays out like this:

• In the morning the phone is connected to the home’s Wifi connection, Talkatone is used to place free calls and texts.
• Heading to work, AutoAP notices the phone is out of range of Wifi and automatically disables Airplane mode. The phone is now using Ting’s service. Talkatone is used to place calls and texts (so that they originate from the Google Voice number), on Ting.
• In the office, AutoAP notices the phone is in range of Wifi and automatically turns on Airplane mode, Talkatone  is used to place free calls and texts.
• Leaving work, …you get it!

On a side note, another very popular VoIP app like Talkatone is GrooveIP. While I tested this app, I preferred Talkatone for better phone clarity and integrated texting.

3. Capping Usage

Ting has a great feature that allows you to set an alert or hard cap on usage. When these caps are exceeded, you can choose to notify yourself via email or text and even disable that service until the next billing cycle. You could potentially configure this to guarantee your monthly bill won’t exceed a certain cost!

Get $25 Off Ting Devices or Service!

I want to spread the awesomeness of Ting because I think it’s a great service. Therefore I am providing this referral link which will get you $25 off either Ting service or a device purchased from Ting. In full disclosure, I also get a credit to my account, which helps to run this blog.

Tell me, how do you save money on your phone service?

Are you one of the people that get a paper paycheck, even though your employer offers direct deposit? Or maybe you get bills sent to you in the mail requiring you to keep track of due dates, write a check out, dig through the junk drawer to find a stamp, and then drop the payment in the outgoing mail, even though you could be receiving paperless statements and automatic bill payment?

In the past, and we’re talking the 1990′s, most of us were wasting hours of our lives handling our personal finances, because there wasn’t a better option. But now that the internet has revolutionized our lives, we have the opportunity to unleash it on our finances, saving us time, saving us money and perhaps best of all, simplifying our lives.

The Three Reasons to Automate Your Finances

• You’re Wasting Your Time – transferring money between accounts, finding bills, paying bills, filing statements, and driving to the bank to deposit paychecks all steal precious time from our everyday lives. By freeing up more time, we can to focus on the big wins like our career, our education and skills, or a side business.
• You’re Wasting Your Money – not handling personal finances automatically and electronically, we open ourselves up to late payment penalties, fees, and other service charges.
• Simplify Your Life – less tasks to perform in our already busy lives lowers our stress and decreases clutter.

I want to share with you a system I developed that will assist you in automating your finances. I guarantee if you spend the upfront time setting this up now, you will get payback in time and money!

Bank Account

The most important component of this system, the bank account is where all the action comes from. Your income automatically ends up here and your expenses are automatically withdrawn from here. I like to recommend using a local bank or credit union for this account. If you’re not already, be sure to enroll for paperless electronic statements!

Paycheck

If your company offers it, which most do, have your paycheck direct deposited into your bank account. Request that you receive a paperless pay statement.

401(k)

A percentage of your paycheck should be automatically transferred to your retirement savings account, such as a 401(k). I recommend if your employer offers a matching contribution, do not leave money on the table and contribute up to the company match (at a minimum).

Emergency Fund 

No one likes to have an emergency fund, until you have an emergency! Establishing an emergency fund will help you when there’s a job loss, medical issue, or an unexpected home or car repair.

I recommend you put aside three to six months of your expenses. In order to build this account I like to recommend a separate bank account – either an online one like Capital One 360 or a completely separate account at your bank – so it’s not easy or tempting to dip into.

From your emergency fund account, configure a set amount of money to be withdrawn from your bank account until you have reached your target emergency fund amount. Configure this withdrawal to recur on the first of every month.

Brokerage Account

If you don’t have any short-term debt, are saving an adequate amount for retirement, and have an adequate emergency fund, then consider committing part of your income to a brokerage account. This money can be used to invest in additional retirement accounts like a traditional or Roth IRA. Or perhaps you want to invest in the stock market.

Transferring money to your brokerage account is easily automated. From within your brokerage account, have a certain amount of money withdrawn from your bank account via ACH and placed in your brokerage account. Configure this withdrawal to recur on the first of every month.

If you’re not already, be sure to enroll for paperless electronic statements!

Bills

The area where most of us can improve is bills. First, where you can, set up every bill to be automatically charged to your credit card. You should be able to set this up for most monthly services such as cell phones, cable subscriptions, and Netflix. By compressing multiple bills down into one credit card bill we’re simplifying our lives. And hopefully you’re earning credit card rewards too, which is nice.

For bills that cannot be paid for with a credit card, maybe things like mortgage/rent or utilities, set these up to automatically be withdrawn from your bank account via ACH.

At this point, all bills are being paid electronically. Be sure that you’ve requested paperless electronic statements for all your bills as well.

Cash

More and more of us only carry plastic and shun the places that only accept cash. While I generally like the convenience of plastic, at some point we need cash.

If you deploy my system for automating your personal finances, hitting up the ATM will be the only manual part.

I like to withdraw a set amount of cash per week, $100, in order to pay for things like eating out, groceries, and beers with the guys. I recommend this approach because it helps me regulate my spending. If I run out of my $100 before the end of the week, I’m know I’m eating rice and beans and drinking box wine until next week.

Welcome to new Mr. Everyday Dollar readers! I did a guest post on Mother’s Day gift ideas that is on the awesome men’s fashion site Style Girlfriend, run by my friend Megan.

For new visitors, Mr. Everyday Dollar is a website that publishes practical and useful articles for people striving to better their personal finances.

I seek to present exceptional noteworthy tips, tutorials, and resources that individuals or families can use to make decisions on how to obtain, budget, save, invest and spend money over time.

All articles are written by me from my home in the Midwestern United States, with a high emphasis on quality, comprehensiveness, and usefulness.

If you’re new to the site, here’s some things you might want to check out. On the right hand side of the site there’s three articles to get you started, which include Spending Less, Saving More and Investing:

An automatically generated list of the most popular Mr. Everyday Dollar articles is also on the right hand side, as shown below.

I aim to post one article per week. To subscribe to new content, it can best be done using the RSS feed or you can sign up to receive the article in your inbox with the form below.

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People think that having fancy kitchen equipment will make them better cooks. This is the same inaccurate thought pattern that made me think having a pair of Air Jordans growing up would make me a better basketball player (note: it didn’t).

The trend of kitchens stocked with gorgeous name-brand equipment – think $1,300 All-Clad Cookware Sets, eight-burner Viking ranges, and $16,000 Sub-Zero refrigerators – has skyrocketed.

This probably has something to do with the fact many famous TV chefs use the same equipment. But keep in mind they are getting that stuff for free from the manufacturers because it’s free advertising to make us, the consumer, think it’s a necessity. Additionally, those chefs want to use shiny, good-looking, brand new equipment for every show so they do.

As a consumer though, just like a pair of Air Jordans didn’t help me dunk from the free-throw line, a Vitamix won’t help us become a better cook.

With that said, some of the best cooks I know have the simplest and pared back kitchens. Take Deb from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite cooks, who churns out awesome food from a tiny 42-square foot kitchen containing a single counter and tiny stove.

If you’re willing to forego the assumption that a fancy kitchen filled with fancy gadgets will make you a better cook, I’d like to show you how spending about $425 on 19 items can adequately equip your kitchen for any task.

And while one can certainly buy the following items for less money, what made the list is high-quality items made from durable materials (no plastic, I hate plastic in the kitchen), therefore lasting you a lifetime! Any or all of these items would be great as a college graduation gift or for newlyweds, and they are certainly Mr. Everyday Dollar-approved.

1. Chef’s Knife - $26

The workhorse of the kitchen, this knife comes highly recommended from Cook’s Illustrated. The Victorinox is a perfect blend of balance, comfort, and value – putting to shame knives that cost 10 times as much.

2. Bread Knife - $26

Another top pick from Cook’s Illustrated, this reasonably-priced Victorinox knife is best used to slice tomatoes, homemade bread, and meats.

3. Paring Knife - $8

Rounding out the knives, this Victorinox paring knife is perfect for smaller jobs, like cutting fruits and vegetables.

4. Vegetable Peeler – $7

This old school stainless steel peeler makes easy work of carrots, asparagus, apples and potatoes and throws the peeled skins out of the way, not getting caught up in the arm. Fast, cheap and comfortable.

5. Turner – $10

Built from stainless steel, this sturdy and well-built turner can handle any turning duty in the kitchen. Because it is stainless steel, it will last a lifetime and it won’t accidentally be melted while cooking.

6. Spoon – $10

A big, hefty steel spoon, perfect for everything from ice cream to soups, spaghetti sauce and chili.

7. Pizza Wheel – $12

A precision instrument, this works great for homemade pizza but also becomes a multi-purpose tool to cut fresh herbs, breadsticks, pasta dough and bread dough.

8. Can Opener – $8

A well-built, US-made, quality can opener. Doesn’t get better than this.

9. Measuring Cups - $25

Completely solid (handles won’t detach from cups) 18/8 stainless steel measuring cups.

10. Measuring Spoons - $6

Steel measuring spoons that have a nice heft to them.

11. Cutting Board – $20

Knives will love this bamboo cutting board that is durable, easy to wash, has a groove to catch juices plus looks sleek.

12. 3 Mixing Bowls – $15

A few wide, shallow, glass mixing bowls. We save a bit of money by going with glass over stainless steel.

13. Boxed Grater - $9

A sturdy stainless steel grater makes quick work of cheese and vegetables.

14. 13 by 9 Baking Dish – $14

A staple dish for homemade lasagnas and the like.

15. 13 by 18 Baking Sheet - $12

Another workhorse of the kitchen, this natural aluminum baking sheet is used for everything from cookies to roasting vegetables.

16. 7-Cup Food Processor - $100

While pricey, a food processor is an essential part of the kitchen. Use it for things like kneading dough, shredding large blocks of cheese, and making smoothies, pesto, hummus and pizza sauce.

17. 10-Inch Skillet – $32

This 18/10 stainless steel skillet is needed for all the frying and sautéing jobs in the kitchen.

18. 2-Quart Saucepan – $36

A medium sized 18/10 stainless steel saucepan is perfect for rice, beans, rice and beans, sauces, and vegetables.

19. 6-Quart Stockpot – $46

A larger 18/10 stainless steel stockport is needed for boiling pasta, making soups and batches of chili.

These are the things we need to make a great kitchen! Some of you may think this list is missing things like a toaster, oven mitt, colander, popcorn popper and a tea kettle but the good news is that we don’t really need those things. By using what we already have we easily get by: bread can be toasted in the oven, a kitchen towel does the work of an oven mitt, a pot and lid is just as good as a colander, popcorn can be made in a saucepan, and water can be boiled in the same saucepan to make tea.

If you want to buy all these items at once, either for yourself, a college graduate or newlyweds, I’ve made it easy to do through the Amazon list Mr. Everyday Dollar’s Shockingly Simple Kitchen Essentials (free shipping too). Happy cooking!

Rich people have the luxury of using fancy and expensive accountants, tax advisors and tax lawyers to pay as little in taxes as possible. Generally, this is all done within the legality of the tax code and explains the reason why someone like Warren Buffet, with a net worth of $53.5 billion, pays less in taxes than his secretary.

These same rich people have cool things like tax havens at their disposal – countries like the Cayman Islands where taxes are collected at a lower rate or even not at all – to completely avoid taxes. Everyday people like us don’t have the problem of trying to avoid paying taxes on millions or billions of dollars.

However, there is a surprise in store for us if we are financially independent, or on the road to financial independence, and we’re relatively frugal with our everyday dollars.

After I submitted my tax return this year I got to thinking about how much tax an individual or family that is financially independent – generating all living expenses through dividends and capital gain harvesting  – would be on the hook for.

First, let’s check out what the 2013 tax rates are on ordinary taxable income.

2013 Tax Rates For Income

The median household income for the US, according to the latest available data from the Census Bureau, is $50,502. According to the tax rates above, this household would need to pay up to 25 percent of that $50,502 to the IRS.

However, this household’s average tax rate is closer to 12 percent. Remember, the first $8,925 of income is taxed at 10 percent, the next $8,925 to $36,250 is taxed at 15 percent, and finally the last $36,250 to $50,502 is taxed at 25 percent.

Therefore the median household will owe around $6,000 in taxes, leaving them with $44,500 everyday dollars.

The question is how can we, the non-rich, legally avoid paying that $6,000? Let’s first talk about dividends and capital gains.

Dividends

For readers of this blog who might not know what a dividend is, it’s a payment made to shareholders of a company that is paid from the company’s profits. Typically, it’s paid as cash and deposited directly into the shareholder’s brokerage account. Most US companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis.

For example, I own shares in Starbucks (SBUX). Here’s a chart over the last five years showing when they paid a dividend and how much it was per share:

From the chart we can see that Starbucks started paying a dividend in 2010, and over the last three years have increased it from 10 cents per share to 21 cents per share. As long as they keep doing better and making more money, they will keep raising the dividend.

Why would a company just give away their money to shareholders? Well, some successful companies run into a problem: they make more money than they know what to do with. If they can’t reasonably redeploy their cash into their business they choose to return some of it to the shareholders.

As we can see, over the course of 2012 Starbucks paid a total of 72 cents in dividends per share. Pretty cool, huh?

For the geeky investment readers: if you had bought Starbucks during the recession at say $10 – and it went even lower than that – the dividend yield on those shares would be a whopping 7.2 percent! An awesome return just for holding shares.

And that is the power of dividends. It isn’t the present dividends that matter, but those dividends to be paid in the future. This is how wealth is built.

The one downside to receiving dividends is when the shares are held in a taxable account; it’s considered income and the shareholder will owe taxes on that money, based on the current tax rates.

Capital Gains

For readers unfamiliar with capital gains, it’s a term used to describe an increase in the value of an asset, like a stock or a home, that gives it a higher worth than the purchase price. Simply put, it’s the money you make on an investment.

For example, let’s say you bought a share of Google (GOOG) in 2010 at $500 and then you sold it when it reached $750 in 2012.

You wouldn’t owe any taxes for holding your share of Google in 2010 or 2011 or even if you held it for 20 years. But when you sold it in 2012 for $750 you generated a capital gains event. The $250 difference you pocketed between where you bought the share and where you sold it needs to be claimed as a capital gain, and taxes apply to it.

There’s two types of capital gains, short term and long term. Short term capital gains is when an asset is held one year or less and long term capital gains is when an asset is held more than one year. Tax rates are typically higher on short term gains and lower on long term gains.

Now that we understand what dividends and capital gains are all about, let’s check out how they are taxed.

2013 Tax Rates for Dividends and Capital Gains

Back to the question at hand. How can we legally not pay any tax? It’s simple.

We choose to design our life so that we are a top performer in our careers and thereby make the most money we can. At the same time we condition ourselves to be frugal minimalists and live well below our means, yet comfortably. This allows us to be able to save and invest plenty of money so after working 15, 20, maybe 25 years, we have an investment portfolio large enough that we can call ourselves financially independent. We retire early.

For example, let’s assume we’ve done that and built a $750,000 portfolio. Through dividends and capital gains harvesting it throws off a nice 4 percent every year. That’s $30,000 a year – $2,500 a month – in everyday dollars we use to live our lives.

And if we look at the tax chart above, we can see that we’ll owe exactly $0 in taxes on it.

Our lifestyle design becomes our tax haven.

Offered without comment.