The Dollar Detour

Door-to-Door Salesman

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:10:00 +0000

Today I was reading a blog post from Trent over at The Simple Dollar about saying "No". It got me to thinking about all of the annoying door-to-door salesman that have been canvasing our neighborhood recently.

On one particular occasion about six weeks ago, we set out for a Saturday afternoon walk, and upon rounding the corner to our street we noticed a salesman at our next door neighbor's house. Rather than interact with them, we proceeded on past our house at the exact moment he was knocking at our door.

We circled the block and made another return approach, which was quickly foiled. A completely different salesman was about two houses away. We pulled the same maneuver and went around the block....AGAIN. Fortunately on our third approach we were able to swiftly fly in under the radar amidst the army of peddlers.

The worst I have seen was from my previous cable and internet service provider. I had switched providers about 6 months prior, and then one evening one of their representatives knocked at my door. They were "offering previous customers discounts to return". Funny, they didn't even ask why I was canceling six months earlier.

The part that chapped me was that one of this guy's shady maneuvers was to tell me that I had an outstanding balance of one hundred and some odd dollars (completely bogus), but they would gladly waive that if I would sign back up for their service. Not only do I think this is illegal (extortion), but I'm sure that he scared numerous people into switching back. I called the guy out on his BS and told him in one fashion or another to remove his posterior from my property.

These door-to-door salesman have become such a nuisance lately, that now when they knock on the door I don't even answer. They know we're home, but I don't really care. I don't want them to waste my time or their breath. This probably happens about twice per week.

I had thought about purchasing a "No Soliciting" sign, but after reading this post from J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly I learned that these are practically a big red target for salesman who are expecting someone who has trouble resisting a sales pitch.

The whole mission of a salesman is to create a need or want in your mind, and then try to convince you to act on that emotion. If you allow yourself to be inundated by these tactics, sooner or later it will begin to take it's desired effect on you.

Seriously, if I wanted a new vacuum, to switch my internet provider, a magazine subscription, or an overpriced candy bar, I would go out and buy it.

We Canned our Garbage Service Provider

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:20:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I received a letter from our current sanitation service provider, and they stated that they were not only increasing the cost of their lawn waste service, they now want you to pay for the additional service completely upfront for the year. They wanted $95 for the service, which runs from April through November. This works out to $11.86 per month, with a pick-up of once per week. This is in addition to the standard $19.90 per month they charge for regular residential service.

I decided to call the other provider for our area to see what their rates are. Their residential service runs $17.50 per month ($2.40 cheaper right off the bat). Then I asked about their lawn waste rates. They charge $10.50 per month, and it's billed with their regular bi-monthly billing schedule. On top of all this, they will give you the first two months of service free, just for switching!

Without hesitation, I signed up. They said they would bring me two of their garbage cans that afternoon and I would have my first pick-up this Friday. I then immediately contacted my current provider and canceled service. Since I had just started a new billing cycle (for which I just received the bill) the cancellation process was no hassle.

In under 15 minutes I managed to save $3.76 per month, as well as two months free service!

Anniversary Gold Coin

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:00:00 +0000

My wife and I have decided to institute a new tradition this year that will mark our first wedding anniversary, as well as every anniversary to follow. We came up with the idea to purchase a 1 oz. Gold Coin to commemorate each year of marriage.

We ended up going with the 1 oz. American Buffalo Celebration coin from the US Mint, which runs $1,118. We had actually thought of this idea more than a year ago, when gold was still under $700/ounce, so the cost of this has keepsake has gone up quite dramatically since then.

We think it will be a really neat memento that we will be able to share with our kids and grandkids. We don't currently have any gold or other precious metals in our portfolio, so this will also serve as a nice diversification to our other investments.

RedBox - DVD Rentals for $1

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:50:00 +0000

Last night my wife and I visited the new Hy-Vee grocery store that just opened in our area. The store was great, and we were very pleased. As we were checking out I was scanning the usual front-of-the-store setups and noticed this large, red, ATM looking device and it had a big sign on it exclaiming DVD rentals for $1.

Since we recently canceled our NetFlix, I thought this would be worth looking into. The device/service is called RedBox, and DVD rentals are indeed $1, for a 1-day rental. The device reminds me of a jukebox, where you can browse available titles, pick out which one(s) you want, checkout by swiping your debit or credit card, and it spits them out of a loading slot. When you're ready to return the dvd(s) you just insert them in the slot and it scans the barcodes, and that's all there is to it.

According to the gentlemen at the store, you can return your DVD's to any redbox. It also appeared that most of the new releases were available, and still only $1. While selection is somewhat limited, this is still a great and inexpensive way to catch a flick.

Economic Stimulus Calculator

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:35:00 +0000

The IRS website has posted an Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator where you can enter in information from your 2007 tax return and it will tell you what your expected payment will be.

I plugged in our information and it looks like we'll be receiving $1,200, which according to the FAQ section will begin shipping out in early May. Here is a nice schedule that shows payment dates by the last two digits of your SSN as well.

I don't necessarily agree with the rationalization behind the Stimulus Package, or how the funding was obtained, but I certainly won't be rejecting our check!

Premium Return Rider on Term Life Insurance Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:45:00 +0000

So I've been looking at getting a different term life insurance policy for myself, as well as getting one for my wife. Through this process, I have discovered that our current insurance provider, Farm Bureau, offers a policy with a "Premium Return Rider". Apparently this is something new that they have started in the last six months.

This concept intrigues me, and almost sounds too good to be true. Basically, once you own the policy for six years, there is a pro-rated portion of your paid premiums that would be returned to you if you were to cancel the policy. If you keep the policy for the entire term, all of your premiums will be returned to you.

When I looked at the quote I received, the Premium Return Rider was an additional $180 per year. I thought for sure that this would not be included as part of the pro-rated return, but it actually is. Not to mention, their rates without the rider are very competitive as well.

So for me, right now I'm 26, and I'm looking to go with a 30-year term policy. This means that at 56 (provided I'm still living ), I would get a refund for ALL of my premium payments, INCLUDING the annual premium for the rider.

To me this seems like a no-brainer. I don't plan on dieing before I turn 56, so why wouldn't I pay for the rider, which would effectively give me insurance coverage for thirty years FREE!

It looks like in order for the Premium Return Rider to be worth getting, you would want to hang onto your policy for nearly the entire term. I saw the schedule for what my pro-rated return would be for each year, 6 through 30, and it is set up like a reverse amortization schedule of sorts. Essentially the closer you get to the end of the term, you get a higher percentage of your premiums back.

Does anyone have any experience with these that they could share? I'm going to kick it around a while, but I'll be sure to let you know what I decide.

BTW--sorry for the lack of posts this week, I don't really have a good excuse, just been lazy I guess.

Dave Ramsey's Drive Free, Retire Rich

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:15:00 +0000

Dave Ramsey's website has a very intriguing video titled, Drive Free, Retire Rich. If you haven't seen this, I would recommend giving it a look.

The video explains how many Americans view their car payments as being a lifelong expense, and are often times in a perpetual cycle of getting a new vehicle once the payments on their previous one are complete. The video shows how you can break this habit, and in turn save yourself great amounts of money over the course of your life.

The concepts are very basic, but the examples are a good eye-opener for anyone with a car payment. For a behavior that is so common in today's society, it's beneficial to see the negative effect of having a car payment, and how being free of that payment opens up so many options for saving and building wealth.

Canned Venison

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:15:00 +0000

This fall I harvested a nice whitetail buck with my muzzleloader. I'm an avid outdoorsman, so having game meat has been a commonplace in our household for many years.

We normally cut up our own deer and then take the meat to a processor to be made into jerky, summer sausage, brats, or whatever else, but this year we decided to go ahead and can all of the deer meat. It took the better part of a morning just to get the meat de-boned and cubed, but we ended up with 27 quart jars of canned venison by early afternoon.

Here is the process we used for canning our deer:

Cube the meat into small pieces and add to a Quart jar
Add 1/4 cup water
Add a teaspoon of beef bullion granules
Add a teaspoon of minced garlic
Top off the jar with a chunk of bacon (or bacon end)
Cook in pressure cooker/canner at 15 psi for 90 minutes.

Canned deer might not sound that good, but it is actually quite tasty. The pressure-canning process makes the meat very tender, and the brine adds some nice flavor as well. One of our favorite meals is canned venison with noodles, over mashed potatoes. The meat also makes excellent sandwiches, either plain or with barbecue sauce.

The nicest part about using canned meat is how quickly you can prepare a meal. The canning process fully cooks the meat, so all you have to do is heat it up and it's ready to eat!

TrueCrypt and XCopy Backup Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:00:00 +0000

In yesterday's post, we discussed the importance of regularly backing up your computer. As mentioned, there are a number of free utilities and tools that you can use to perform a backup, but we have implemented our own process that utilizes TrueCrypt and XCopy.

To begin with, we have set up an encrypted volume on our external hard drive using TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt is an excellent, free product that allows you to set up a password protected area on any disk. You can set it up on an external hard drive, a USB flash drive, or just a folder on your local computer.

The encrypted volume is only accessible once you enter in the correct password, which you chose when you created the volume. Once you mount (open) the encrypted volume, it will behave just like another hard drive (you can assign it any available drive letter, like T:\).

TrueCrypt provides a safe, secure environment to hold all of your backup data. This way if someone were to steal your backup drive they would not be able to access any of the data on it (without knowing the password). After all, your backup will most likely contain all of your pictures, financial spreadsheets, and other personal data that you probably don't want anybody having access to.

Once you have your encrypted volume mounted, you should have a drive letter that you can target your backups to (for our example we will use T:\). At this point you could just copy any folders you want into that drive letter, or use a backup utility and have it point there.

As mentioned, we use a DOS batch script which copies our data using a command called XCopy. This is a simple DOS command that allows you to copy folders and files from one directory (source) to another (destination).

Here is the command I use:
xcopy /S /Y /M Source_Directory Destination_Directory

The /S parameter tells xcopy to copy all directories and subdirectories (this includes all files too). The /Y parameter tells xcopy to automatically overwrite existing files as necessary without asking.

The /M parameter tells xcopy to copy only files with the archive attribute set. This means that it will only backup those items that have been changed since the last time you ran your backup. The archive bit will keep track of which files you have changed, and the /M tells xcopy to only copy those files. This way you won't be copying those same 1000 pictures from your vacation in Cabo over and over every time; it will only grab the stuff that you need!

So an example command might look something like this:

xcopy /S /Y /M "C:\Documents and Settings\JoeUser\My Documents" "T:\BACKUP"

In this example you would be backing up Joe User's My Documents folder (and all subfolders and files) to a folder called BACKUP on the T:\ drive (which is our TrueCrypt volume). You can have multiple lines of xcopy commands that point to different directories as well.

This is a simple, yet easy way to manage a routine backup. One should also note that using the xcopy command is a very primitive methodology of backing up data, and is probably not recommended for someone who isn't very comfortable with command line tools. I use this method because it is the quickest and easiest way for me.

I hope you can find a backup strategy that fits your situation, and that you stick to it!

Implementing a Backup Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:55:00 +0000

My wife and I are in the trenches of the IT world everyday, so we are very in tune with data protection and backups. We've seen too many times where someone has lost all of their daughter's wedding pictures, or some other critically important piece of information. It's a very unfortunate situation, but one that can be prevented with some careful planning and a realistic backup strategy.

Since we seem to be progressing more toward a paperless environment, especially with digital pictures, bills, finances, etc., it is all the more important to protect that data and ensure that it won't be lost. This is why it is crucial that you regularly backup your computer.

How often you backup is completely up to you. Obviously the more often, the better, but it's very dependent upon how much you use your computer, and how important the data is to you.

We have a monthly Google Calendar reminder set for the 15th of each month that reminds us to back up our computer. This is also the day that coincides with our monthly ritual of Net Worth calculations, so it seemed like an ideal time to back up our data as well. If something were to completely destroy our computer, we're comfortable with losing up to thirty days worth of information.

My recommendation would be to purchase some sort of external storage device, like a USB flash drive or external hard drive, and dedicate that for your backups. This allows you to keep your backups isolated from everything else, and allows you mobility so you can easily store it in a fire safe or safety deposit box. CD's and DVD's are a very inexpensive way to back up your data, but most are not rated for more than a 5 or 10 year shelf life, plus it is a hassle to keep track of multiple copies, etc.

If you don't have very much data (less than 4 GB), the best option is to use a USB flash drive. This 4 GB flash drive is only $40, and it is a very portable and convenient way to store your backups. We personally use a LaCiE external hard drive, but we have quite a bit of data that we are backing up that requires the extra capacity. If you have a lot of music/pictures/movies that you can't live without, you will need an external hard drive.

Another good idea is to have more than one backup copy, preferably at different locations. We have our monthly back stored in the fire safe at home, and we also keep a half-yearly backup in a relative's basement who lives many miles away. This is probably overkill for most people, but we really want to make sure that a tornado or some other disaster isn't going to wipe out all of our data.

How you backup your computer is entirely up to you. There are a number of free tools and utilities that you can use to assist you with backing up your data. Both Windows & Macs have built-in backup utilities as well that can be utilized. Even if all you do is manually copy your files over from time to time, it's still better than nothing.

Since we are very experienced with technology, we utilize an MS-DOS batch file that backs up our data using the XCopy command, to a TrueCrypt encrypted filesystem stored on our external hard drive. This is a more advanced way of handling backups, but it is free and highly secure. I will go into more detail regarding this setup in tomorrow's post.

Fully Funded Emergency Fund

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:10:00 +0000

Today was a big day for us. We finally have $10,000 in our ING Savings Account, which was our target for a fully funded emergency fund.

By our calculations this should get us by comfortably for 4.5 months if we were both to lose our jobs today. There is definitely a peace of mind that goes along with having a stout emergency fund. It is almost a sigh of relief knowing that we have that cushion to fall back upon if we ever need it.

With the current APY of 3.4% that ING offers on their Orange Savings Account we should get about $28 per month of interest accumulating on this cash as well. This will help keep our emergency fund growing in check nicely with inflation.

Having an emergency fund is a critical component of a successful financial plan. It will help get you through tough times, but should only be used for true emergencies like these:

Major automobile repairs
Unexpected medical expenses
Loss of income (due to illness, injury, job loss, etc.)

The general rule of thumb for emergency funds is 3 to 6 months of living expenses. The variation highly depends on your living situation and family. We feel comfortable that our emergency fund should carry us through most unfortunate situations that we may encounter.

I am covered with disability insurance as well, but the waiting period is 90 days, so having this emergency fund is crucial to bridging that gap if something were to happen to me. An emergency fund is just one puzzle piece of an overall financial plan, but one that should not be overlooked.

Canceling Netflix

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:05:00 +0000

As you may remember from my previous post, I Want My MTV....Cancelled!, we had opted for a Netflix subscription ($9.62/month) to ease the transition after canceling Dish Network ($59.12/month).

We have now decided to go ahead and axe the Netflix subscription as well. We didn't really have anything in our queue anymore, so it didn't make sense to keep paying for it. We figured we can still go to Blockbuster and rent 2 new releases per month, and be equal with what our Netflix was costing us. We don't anticipate renting too often, so the savings should be mostly retained.

I'm glad that we have made the transition away from these fixed expenses. We have become quite the bookworms lately, and we really enjoy the quiet evenings when we can read for two or three hours.

Cooking at Home - Cajun Chicken Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:34:00 +0000

One very important aspect of frugal living is cooking meals at home. We try to cook meals that will also leave us with leftovers that we can eat for lunches the rest of the week.

One of my absolute favorite dishes that we make is Cajun Chicken Pasta. This dish is a spicy, creamy, pasta dish that has a variety of tasty ingredients. It's easy to make and the leftovers are just as delicious as the first go 'round.

Here it is:

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts – cut in to thin strips
5 Hot Polish Sausages – sliced
4 TS Cajun seasoning
2 TB Butter
2 Green Pepper
1 Sweet Red Pepper
1 Pk Fresh Mushrooms – sliced
1/2 Onion – diced
1.5 c Heavy Cream
1/4 TS Basil
1/4 TS Lemon Pepper
1/4 TS Salt
1/8 TS Garlic Powder
1/8 TS Black Pepper
1/8 TS Cayenne Pepper
8 oz Pasta – cooked & drained

Place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl or re-sealable plastic bag; toss or shake to coat. In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté chicken in butter until almost tender, about 5-7 minutes. Next add hot polish sausage to skillet, heat through. Add peppers, mushrooms and onions; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat. Add cream and seasonings; heat through. Add pasta and toss; heat through. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese (optional).

Yield: 4 Servings

The Juice Comparison

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:32:00 +0000

In our household orange juice is a morning staple that we always have with our breakfast. We each have a modest sized serving, usually somewhere in the 6 ounce range, with an average weekly total of somewhere around 64 ounces.

We have tried numerous different kinds and brands of orange juices, but we aren't too picky and don't mind any of the varieties that are out there. Due to our regular consumption of this item, we decided to see if there was any potential of savings in this arena.

For this comparison we have used two sources, both that can be purchased from our local SAM's Club discount warehouse. We chose to compare the savings of a premixed name brand juice to that of a generic frozen concentrate juice.

Here is the information on each item:

Tropicana Pure Premium - 128 oz - $5.66
This works out to $.04/ounce (5.66/128).

Member's Mark Frozen Orange Juice - 6 16 oz concentrates - $10.63
One 16 oz container easily makes a 64 oz pitcher, which works out to $.03/ounce (10.63/6/64).

Based on our consumption model, using frozen concentrate comes out to a savings of $0.64 per week, or $2.56 per month. This may not seem like much, but the savings could certainly be amplified if you have kids.

I know a lot of this seems like extreme frugality, but over the long haul these minor savings can really add up.

Keeping Organized - Monthly Bills

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:50:00 +0000

Not too long ago I remember having stacks of old electric bills, gas bills, phone bills, etc, from years gone by. It seemed silly to be keeping these around, but I didn't have a good way to manage my bills, and I didn't want to dispose of them immediately in case I needed to reference any of them.

One option would be to scan them into my computer, but I doubt that I would keep up with that task due to the regularity of receiving these. We decided to get an accordion style file folder, which conveniently enough had 12 pockets/dividers in it. We labeled them appropriately for each month, and filed all of our paper bills from the last year for their respective months.

Now when I get a new bill that starts out a month, I grab the stack of bills that currently fills that slot and shred them. Each month you cycle out last year's bills, and you always maintain one year's worth of bills, in case you ever need to go back and look at them.

This system is very elementary, but it's easy to maintain and it helps cut down on unnecessary paper clutter.

Splurge on Water Bottle

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:38:00 +0000

One very healthy habit I have is that I drink plenty of water each day. I would guess that on average I consume somewhere around 90-100 ounces per day. According this CNN article, it recommends that men should drink 3 liters (99 oz.) per day and women should drink 2.2 liters (72.6 oz.). I'm glad to see that I'm inline with the recommendations, but that is just by pure coincidence.

Early last week I noticed that my plastic water bottle was leaking (plastic had cracked), so I decided to start looking for a replacement. We checked the usual places, Target, ShopKo, grocery store, but I didn't find any that suited my fancy.

I knew that I wanted a 1 Liter (33 oz) model, since that is typically what I will drink at work in the morning, and then again in the afternoon, so this size was a requirement. I'm also a little picky about the lid, since I use it so regularly.

Disappointed, I decided to take my search online. I somehow stumbled onto SIGG's website, and learned about their all aluminum bottles. They had very good reviews and appeared to be very well built.

I opted for a Lifestyle Water Bottle, in Camouflage. I also got one of the black flip tops, and had it all shipped to my door for $23.56 (I managed to find a 30% discount code before ordering--Thank you google!).

My wife about crapped when she found out how much I spent on a water bottle. However, my last two water bottles cost around $8, and only lasted around one year, so as long as this makes it three years I'm doing alright. Based on the reviews I've read and the sturdy aluminum construction, this shouldn't be a problem.

For items like this that we use regularly everyday I don't mind spending a little extra for quality. Plus I've got this wicked sweet camo bottle to tote around now!

ING Direct Sign Up Bonus

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:30:00 +0000

If anyone would like a $25 sign up bonus for an ING Direct Orange Savings account, just email me and I will send you the referral link.

*** You can email me at gibdog AT hotmail DOT com

You have to have an opening deposit of at least $250, but you make 10% on your first $250 instantly!

The current APY on their Orange Savings account is 3.4%. I have been using ING for over a year now and have been very pleased with the account. The interface is very easy to navigate and the rates are competitive.

Keeping Organized - Bookmarks

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 15:10:00 +0000

If you're like me, you're constantly adding new bookmarks and favorites for various sites that you've found. I ran into the problem of having a set of bookmarks on my home computer, and a different set on my work computer, that were never in sync with each other.

I recently came about a browser plug-in called Foxmarks. This plug-in works with Firefox web browsers and allows you to synchronize your bookmarks between any number of machines.

This worked absolutely great for me. It didn't matter which machine I bookmarked a site from, it would always be in sync with my other machine(s). It also allows you to sign in to the main foxmarks website and access your bookmarks from any machine that doesn't have the plug-in installed on it.

I would also suggest creating folders for your bookmarks to help keep things organized. It's easy to accumulate a lot over time, so if you have some folder structures set up it makes it much easier to find what you're looking for.

Don't forget to bookmark The Dollar Detour!

Is Natural Water an Undervalued Commodity?

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:15:00 +0000

This weekend I was speaking with my father-in-law regarding the impending water issues in their natural resource district. Over the past couple years they have had to substantially reduce the amount of irrigated water they can utilize for their crops. New proposals are now aiming to shutdown irrigation wells that were drilled after 2001, which would effectively reduce the amount of irrigated acres in their district by 40%.

Water seems like an endless resource to many of us. We use it daily with little regard to conservation, myself included. And why should we? We've had unlimited access to water for little or no cost. But couldn't the same have been said at one time for many of Earth's other natural resources that we are squandering away (oil, gas, coal, timber)?

At what point will our natural water supply no longer be passed over as a mere given, and become a highly valuable resource? I think in many ways this transition has already begun.

Mark Twain said it best -- "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over." Fighting over water is already in progress, and will most likely continue for some time.

I think anyone can see the argument that water is a finite natural resource, that will certainly become more valuable as time passes. Rather than taking the doom and gloom stance on this issue, how could one position themselves now, today, to take advantage of this situation?

One of the thoughts that I have been pondering is whether investing in property with abundant natural water is a good long-term investment. However, there are a very limited number of acres that offer this commodity in a steady and unyielding supply. You could certainly acquire property along a river or reservoir, but you are still at the mercy of those upstream who can control the flow of your resource.

If one aims to be at the source, your small target of available properties just became increasingly less obtainable. If you look at a satellite image of your area, look at the number of streams and rivers nearby. Now follow those small tributaries back to their source. It doesn't take very long to realize that in a rather large sampling area there are only a limited number of acres that can produce water naturally, in the form of natural springs.

I believe owning property with natural springs is the safest way to ensure yourself the longest lasting supply of water. By definition, a natural spring is where the underlying aquifer meets the surface. Since the water table in areas of natural springs is so near the surface, you are essentially allowing yourself the nearest access to the underlying water. Even if the aquifer level drops and the springs stop flowing, you will still be closer to that water than any surrounding areas.

Natural water has many benefits that can be tapped (pun intended):

Irrigation
Hydropower electricity generation (using water wheels)
Usually accompanied by other natural resources, such as timber
Usually other underlying minerals like sand or gravel
Fish and wildlife opportunities

Water is our lifeblood, but we too often take it for granted. If one owns property that is abundant with these resources they are well positioned for a myriad of future opportunities.

Can't Buy Me Love

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:25:00 +0000

Why is it that flowers cost almost three times as much on Valentine's Day? Supply and demand, or just because they know they can stick it to you?

I tend to lean toward the latter, which is why we are doing V-Day on the cheap this year! I think Valentine's Day has become yet another commercialized holiday, where certain behaviors and expenditures are expected, and retailers are taking advantage of those "expectations".

MSNBC had this article which stated that the average consumer will spend $120 on Valentine's Day this year. What!?! Are you crazy? Hasn't everyone heard, "You can't buy love"?

I also don't agree that you should express your affection on this Hallmark Holiday just for the sake of the day itself. Love and affection is something that should be spread evenly throughout the year, and not necessarily via gifts, or other purchases.

For us, we plan to spend Valentine's Day at home this year. We are going to cook one of our favorite homemade meals, then watch a DVD from Netflix. After that we will probably just settle in and read for a while. Nothing expensive, nothing extravagant, but I'm sure we will thoroughly enjoy the evening.

Granted, we enjoy having a nice dinner out as much as the next couple, but there are certainly better days to go out where we would enjoy ourselves more without the crowds.

How do you plan to spend your Valentine's Day?

Fire Safe

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:15:00 +0000

How many of you own a fire safe? Or any kind of safe for that matter? A safety deposit box?

A few years ago I purchased a small Sentry Fire/Water Safe very similar to this one, although I don't remember mine being that expensive. This safe has worked well, but I'm finding that I don't have enough room in it anymore.

I've contemplated giving this one to my sister and purchasing a larger model. I looked into getting a safety deposit box, but the monthly fee seemed a little steep considering the limited amount of space you get.

The main limitation of my current safe is that it can't accommodate legal size documents. I have scanned all of my important documents and have them backed up, but I would still like to protect the originals in case of a fire or other natural disaster.

As it stands now this is what we currently keep in our safe:

High School Diplomas and College Degrees
Birth Certificates, Social Security Cards, Marriage Certificate
Vehicle Titles
Emergency Cash
Spare Keys
LaCie external firewire drive (complete backup of all computer data)
Miscellaneous valuables - coins, class rings, etc.

Ideally I would like to own one of these Liberty Safes, but right now I don't have anywhere to put one, nor could I justify the cost, but it's fun to dream. Another big disadvantage of my current safe is it's portability. I would much rather have something that is held securely in place and can't be carried away.

What do you do to protect your valuables and other items?

Excel Tip - SUMPRODUCT Function

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:15:00 +0000

Here was the challenge--from my Monthly Budget spreadsheet I wanted a formula that would go to my Checking Account spreadsheet and give me the average monthly cost for my electric bill over the course of the last year.

Seems simple enough, right? Add up the previous 12 months bills from the electric company and divide by twelve.

The tough part was having it match the multiple criteria among all those other transactions:

The date had to be between TODAY() and TODAY()-365 to give me my dynamic one year range
The "To" had to match the name of my local electric provider

This is where the SUMPRODUCT function came in to play. It allows you to perform calculations on multiple arrays and criteria. According to Excel the function "returns the sum of the products of corresponding ranges or arrays."

The syntax for SUMPRODUCT is =SUMPRODUCT(Array1,Array2,Array3). In my example I only needed one array.

Here is an example of how my formula laid out:

=(SUMPRODUCT(
('[Checking Account.xls]Transaction Log'$D$1:$D$2000="ABC Electric")
*
('[Checking Account.xls]Transaction Log'!$A$1:$A$2000>TODAY()-365)
*
('[Checking Account.xls]Transaction Log'!$F$1:$F$2000)
))/12

The first criteria stipulates that column D (the To field in my Checking Account spreadsheet) had to match "ABC Electric". The second criteria said that column A (the Date field) had to be greater than Today less 365 days (exactly one year ago). The third criteria points to column F, which is the Amount field from my Checking Account spreadsheet. Note that there is no operator on that criteria, like = or <>, since I just want it to return the value no matter what it is.

So Sumproduct matches the criteria and SUM's all the results, giving me my annual total. The /12 gives me the monthly average that my Electric bill has been over the course of the last year.

This gives us the most accurate budgetary figures possible based on the previous year's usage. We use the exact same formula to calculate a number of other budgetary figures, including all utilities, gasoline, food, and grocery items.

If you use Excel to track your finances, this is an excellent way to mine some valuable data from those spreadsheets. The best part about it is that every time you open your budget spreadsheet it will go out and update the calculations to give you the most accurate data to the day.

Just another reason I love Excel!

Stay Organized - Google Can Help

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:10:00 +0000

A large part of getting your life in order, both personally and financially, relies heavily upon getting and staying organized. Organization is a pillar of an efficient and smoothly operating lifestyle.

Having an up-to-date calendar is fundamental to staying organized. It's your one place to put anything that has a date and time associated with it. For us we have utilized Google to help us out. About a year ago we started using Google Calendar and have been using it ever since.

Google has put together a nice Tour that outlines a lot of the features and benefits of Google Calendar. If you haven't seen it before I highly recommend checking it out.

One of the main benefits of Google Calendar is the ability to create multiple calendars and share those calendars with others. For example, my wife and I each have our own personal calendars, but we also created a few other calendars to share information with family and friends.

Here are some ideas for different calendars you can create:

Birthdays & Anniversaries Calendar (we have one for each side of the family)
Family Calendar (could have all your family's events)
Home/Auto Maintenance Tasks (like to change your furnace filter every three months)
Bills (you could mark the dates that bills are due)

Google also has some very handy built-in calendars that you can subscribe to. US Holidays is probably the most popular, and it saves you having to mark all those dates on your individual calendar.

We also take advantage of Google Calendar's repeating events to remind us when it's time to obtain our credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com. We each run our report every 4 months, rotating which of the three credit bureaus we pull it from (since you can only obtain your free report from each bureau once per year). The calendar event reminds us when we need to run the report as well as which bureau to run it from.

As you can see there is a wealth of options using Google Calendar. The key is to find what works best for you and keep at it. Once you find the right combination of convenience and functionality, the information it provides is priceless.

LockNote

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:38:00 +0000

A few months ago I came across this nifty little utility called LockNote, made by Steganos. This is a free tool, and it encrypts and password protects plain text files.

I use Notepad for tons of things, so this tool was a good fit for me. This works good for keeping track of account numbers, serial numbers, passwords, or anything else you can think of.

It doesn't require any installation, so you can take your files with you anywhere you go. The files are protected with AES 256bit encryption technology.

If you've been trying to think of a good way to keep track of all those online banking usernames and passwords, this a good tool to use.

Enjoy!

The Spreadsheet Matrix

noreply@blogger.com (Wade) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:35:00 +0000

In yesterday's post I shared my unyielding passion for spreadsheets. Today I will reveal how I have implemented what I call The Spreadsheet Matrix.

The name makes it seem more complicated than it is, but it's actually quite simple. The hub of my "matrix" is a document called Financial Statement.xls. This is a customized version of Microsoft's Net Worth Calculator, that I referenced in my previous post about Excel Financial Templates.

The Financial Statement is my aggregator. It is the gateway into all the other spreadsheets. At it's core it's nothing more than a net worth calculator, which has a column for Assets, and one for Liabilities. The primary difference is that this document is dynamic. Each time it is opened it goes out to all the other spreadsheets and pulls current balance information.

We have a spreadsheet for every account we own--checking, savings, credit card(s), and retirement accounts. Within each of these spreadsheets we log every transaction, whether it be a debit/credit, deposit/withdrawal, or buy/sell. Every transaction gets logged. As I've said before, information is power, and having this information at your fingertips gives you the ability to look at your finances from any angle.

We also have amortization schedules for every loan we have (fortunately we only have our home mortgage now). The amortization schedule has all the information regarding the loan--the principal amount, interest rate, length of loan, as well as every payment you have ever made. With this information we have a running tally on what the outstanding principal (payoff) for our loan(s) are.

Each of these accounts are listed on our Financial Statement. We can click on any one of the accounts and be taken to that particular spreadsheet (by way of an Excel hyperlink). The value that is shown on our Financial Statement comes from a VLOOKUP function that looks up today's date in that spreadsheet and returns the corresponding balance.

We also have a section under Assets for Personal Property, that lists our vehicles, each of which is hyperlinked to Kelley Blue Book's website for that particular year, make, and model of that vehicle. Each month on the 15th we update the KBB value's of each of our vehicles by following the KBB links and getting an up-to-date valuation.

Also included under the Personal Property section is a link to our Personal Property Inventory spreadsheet. This gives us the running total of all our household personal property, which is conveniently itemized in the inventory spreadsheet.

This is an easy way to open one spreadsheet and see all of our account balances with a single glance. If we want more details in regards to a particular account, or if we need to log any transactions, we just click on the corresponding link and do what we need to do.