Since November my truck has been going into the shop for issues. Last month the drive shaft fell out when I was returning from the grocery store. It took six people to push it out of traffic and the next day I was given the estimate of $5,000 for repairs. There is no way for me to wrangle this as I have been paying off and getting rid of the creditcards. (Besides they just get me into trouble anyway.) So for the past five weeks I have been using the bus. $1.60 each way/$3.50 for a day pass.

After three days of missing the bus by minutes and having to wait in the cold for 45 or more for the next I started walking part of the way. And that’s when I started finding money.

My grandmother-who recently passed away at 95- was into dumpster diving and reusing before it became popular. Many times growing up I would go out with her and her shopping cart and we would pick up whatever caught her eye. If there was a bead or a button on the sidewalk (or a screw, nail or bolt for that matter) she would find it and take it. ‘Why not? You can always use it.” And she did.

Much to my husband’s annoyace any walk with me involves me scanning the ground for items. Over the years I have found buttons, coins and random broken jewelry. Well in the past five weeks just by walking the 2 mile bus route ten times I have found $19 in pennies, 15 buttons, 3 $2 winning scratch off tickets and a small pile of broken jewelry that I dropped off at the local Cash for Gold store for $50. Four of the buttons have been used on my winter coat.

So I have spent $80 on the bus (Truck gas would have been $150) and have found $71.

The moral? Most people don’t pay attention to what is on the ground. and while a penny can be a pain to deal with they do add up.

- Submitted by Elizabeth

Lesson Learned:
While I did not grow up in a family that was as frugal as to dumpster dive and such, I definitely appreciate the value behind “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. What I love about this story is there are multiple positive representations of frugal living. Using public transportation instead of gas saved the writer $70 in gas costs, and on top of that she found an additional $71 in good on her walk. She actually made money by doing these things. While that won’t always be the case because the walk treasures will eventually die down (though never completely stop), it’s still a good example of how much is wasted by general consumers that frugal folks can benefit from.

I tell you what, I’ll be paying more attention when I take walks at work from now on

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Ideally, some of the following suggestions will prove so enjoyable that they’ll become part of your regular entertainment rotation. If so, you can set aside some of your monthly fun budget and pay cash for next year’s holiday…

…Learn a new skill
Entertain your winter brain by picking up a new hobby, craft or ability. Some will save you money, and some might even earn you money. The Internet is bristling with ways to learn things as varied as toilet repair and search-engine optimization.

I was so excited to read an article from Edmunds.com where they are doing a “Debt Free Car Project”. Essentially they are doing an experiment to show us that you can by a nice, reliable car for about #3,500, whereas most people avoid buying cars like these because they think they are beaters. I’m so inspired by this post, I intend to do the same experiment when I get the extra cash to buy my dad a new vehicle.

As we researched other Buy Here Pay Here transactions, we saw that buyers were making down payments in the $3,000 range to acquire cars that would not require reconstruction or constant repair. Based on that, we decided to pay no more than $3,500 for our used car, including taxes and fees. And we wanted a car with no more than 165,000 miles on it.

If someone told you that he’d bought a used car for less than $3,500, how would you picture it? You’d probably visualize a beater with mismatched doors and torn seats, riding on wheels that were missing hubcaps. Such is the stigma attached to cars in this price range. And it’s this stereotype that leads many people to purchase cars that they may not be able to afford.

Health on a Budget posted some tips on saving money on vision care products.

Use Online Coupons
Take advantage of monthly coupons from reputable online retailers of eyewear, such as Coastal.com, ACLens.com, and VisionDirect.com. Typically, online coupons will save you 15% to 20% on your purchase, including free shipping. It pays to shop around online as prices between sites can vary widely.

People often ask me “How to make a Budget”. Well Need to Speak Out recently posted some ideas on how to do just that.

Due to my extremely limited income, and thus, extremely tight monthly budget (of $725 cash, plus food stamps, per month, for me and three children – two of which are twin babies) and the fact that I’m still surviving somehow, and even able to plan ahead and accommodate things like holidays, birthdays, back-to-school expenses, and the like, I’ve had several friends and family members ask me how my budget works.

The answer is very precisely.

Alternatively, Live, Real, Now posts about how to maximize your income and reduce your expenses.

The answer lies in getting tough with yourself, carrying out a review of your current spending patterns and working out a sensible budget. Essentially you need to both maximise income and reduce expenditure – both sides of the coin. There are plenty of ways to do this when you start thinking, so be creative and start thinking outside the box.

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My wife and I almost bought a house we couldn’t afford, but something told us it was a bad idea. Fortunately our intuition was spot on because the next week I had lost my job. We had already purchased some furniture for this new house and had nowhere to put it so we decided to place it into storage until we were able to purchase a house, instead of finding a way to sell it. We paid $60/month for the storage unit to house the furniture and other things we likely weren’t going to use.

It took us 10 months to realize what an unnecessary money drain this was because we could be using this money for the rental AND selling the goods to pay down debt. It was a $600 lesson we had to learn, but thankfully learned it before years went by!

- Submitted by Matt

Lesson Learned:
Storage units are good for short-term storage. I used one when I first moved home after leaving my ex-husband until I could get things situated. I used one again when I bought my house in order to help with the moving process.

But never are storage units good for long-term storage. These could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted away given enough time.

Storing things you don’t need, whether it’s in a storage unit or your own home basement/attic, is like letting cash sit in the dust (not to mention the drain of paying to store items). We all need more “white space” in our lives (for those of you familiar with web terms). By this I mean empty space to just exist, whether it’s time or physical space in our homes. I guarantee you most of the people reading this, myself included, have plenty of items in their home that they just don’t need and don’t get used. Why not put it to use in paying off debt? I have a coffee pot in my basement I plan to sell at a yard sale because I don’t drink coffee. Why not use the coffee pot to pay off debt?

Amount Flushed Down the Money Drain: $600

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I made a lot of mistakes in my financial past that have lead me to the stability I have in the financial present and the goals I’ve set for myself in my financial future.  I learned from my mistakes, and we all have to make mistakes in order to move forward.  There’s usually an event that just sorta *pops* and makes things click for us to make that financial turn-around, and that’s what happened for me.

I started by actually tracking my finances in Microsoft Money, which just so happens to still be my financial tracker of choice.  I continued by reducing expenses where I could, starting with getting rid of the $80/month Schwans Food Delivery I had and ending up with changing my cable and cellphone plans to cheaper variations or promotional rates.  I did a plethora of things that I will touch on in another post later on.

As I progressed in pulling myself out of my financial stupor, I also realized how judgmental I had become about how other people waste their money.  It’s kinda like how (and I do this as well now) when you start eating healthier you start to take notice of how awful other people eat.

I’m not afraid to admit it, I’m a judgmental a**.

But watching other people making mistakes has only helped keep me focused on my own goals, which is entirely a good thing.  I learn what NOT to do so that I can keep making progress on what I want for myself.  That’s another motivation behind my creation of The Money Drain, allowing people to learn from each other on our fails and successes.

People are creatures of habit, and I’ve been saying that if you want sh** to change then you have to change sh**, whether it’s money or health.  It really sucks having to change things, but when you develop new and better habits, it truly makes things a lot easier in the long run.

An example of something I see all too frequently, and I’m sure you can acknowledge this scenario: A couple are regularly behind on their rent, but are always ordering chinese take-out or have purchased a new decoration-only sword to hang up in their apartment.  The mentality here is wanting to buy the newest gadget without fully budgeting out what their expenses are for that month.  Once the money is all gone and they realize they still have bills to pay, things start to dwindle down.

Some wires got crossed in this method of thinking, because really and truly the first thing we need to worry about is making sure we have a place to live, so mortgage/rent first.  After that some sort of transportation to get to our jobs and then the utilities we need to function comfortably such as electricity.

After the necessities are in place, do we focus on what we want next?  No.  Next we start paying off our debts and credit cards.  Because they will only get bigger if we don’t make them go away.

Once debt is gone, we would focus on our retirement and savings, but I know some people will then focus on seeing what is left over for the next iphone or digital camera.  Still, at least the essentials and debts are paid.

The down-low is, you need to reprogram your brain to prioritize in an order of importance, whatever that may be for you, before you start spending money frivolously on stuff that ultimately doesn’t matter in the long run.  Once the habits are formed, things will fall into place mindlessly and before you know it you’re living below your means and in the black rather than staying in the red all the time.

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We found some workers averaged bonuses as much as ten times higher than workers at other federal agencies…

…DataUniverse.com estimates the databank covers about 70% of federal workers, but Department of Defense, White House, Congress, CIA, FBI, and some other agencies are excluded.

Forbes.com lists 10 really neat financial innovations.

Even consumers who don’t consider themselves money-savvy may be seduced by the eye-catching simplicity, undeniable usefulness, or fun gamification elements of these innovations. Plus, you stand to save money, better your financial profile, and make your life easier without ever having to learn how to balance a checkbook (thank goodness).

Liverealnow.net posts about their discovery and development of their first real side hustle.

We’ve been doing this for 3 1/2 years, holding one class per month. In the first two and a half years, we taught about 80 people what they needed to know to legally carry a gun. Last year, it exploded. By March, we had made more money than we made in all of 2009. The rest of the year rocked just as hard. We turned ourselves into one of the top 10 training organizations by volume, among a field of 200 competing agencies.

CreditCardForum.com posts how to build up your credit without a credit card.

1. CD Loans
Do you have some money held in a CD at a bank? You might be able to “borrow” the money and help your credit in the process.

In short, you are borrowing money from yourself. The bank uses your CD as collateral and loans you the money. Typically the rates are low since you are essentially assuming all the risk – i.e. borrowing $2k from a $2k CD.

Not every bank and credit union offers these, so you may have to hunt around. When you find one that does, make sure they actually report your loan to the credit bureaus (otherwise it will be pointless for building credit).

Creditratings.com posts 12 steps to recover your credit in 2012.

1. Pay down your credit cards
Even though paying down loans like a student loan or a car loan can help improve your financial situation, paying down high credit card balances will have the greatest impact on your credit score. Give your credit score a boost by keeping your credit card charges at no more than 30 percent of your available credit limits. If you open a new line of credit, try to keep that usage down below 10 percent.

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Dershowitz has already spent almost $60,000 in fees – and the fight isn’t over yet. That’s why he’s enlisting kind souls and fellow pet lovers to help, asking for donations to further his cause…

…So far, Dershowitz has collected $410 of the $20,000 he’s asking for.

Lesson Learned:
Let me preface this commentary by stating that I am a HUGE dog lover, pittbulls inparticular. I completely sympathize with feeling like pets are your children, because my pittbull is definitely my fur-child. I’ve known people that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for the sake of their pets health. A cat, I would not spend that much on. My dog, however, I would probably spend a pretty penny on if he needed surgery or something.

But there has to be a line drawn on fiscal responsibility and love for your pet.

Part of me feels like this story is just a big news ploy, and most likely it is. But if the court costs are legit, then there are also some priority issues going on between these two people. The bigger problem lies in the fact that the guy has already been given legal custody of the dog, and the girlfriend is filing motions to prevent the case from going through, so in my mind more of the fault lies with her. But as far as the money is concerned, there comes a time (or dollar amount) when you have to pick and choose your battles. I would not think to ruin my future, retirement, or empty my savings for a pet.

Amount Flushed Down the Money Drain: $60,000

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FedEx wanted $87 to overnight a friggin purse to NY, so I went down the street to the post office and it cost me $25 to be delivered by 3 tomorrow via USPS.

- Posted by: Kathleen

Lesson Learned:
I don’t shop around for all things. I do look up coupon codes anytime I shop online, or use services like Googles Shopping compare services, but I don’t actively shop around for cheaper prices on most things. However, if I was spending an outrageous amount of money on shipping like this woman, I most certainly would see if I could get things delivered cheaper somewhere else. I think it’s important to acknowledge that we have other resources available and that sometimes those cheaper resources may be companies or businesses that are struggling right now anyway and could use our business.

So the next time you are out shopping or in need of using a service, try to support struggling businesses (if they are ethical), and use your liberty to shop around for the best price.

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Dana Sinkler and Alex Dzieduszycki were working for star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten at his four-star restaurant, Lafayette, in New York when they decided to strike out on their own and start a catering business. They were looking to create a signature dish to serve at the bar, since it’s the place people first visit at a party. But they wanted something different from the elaborate crudité platters that were popular at the time. So in 1990, they experimented with frying different vegetable roots in the kitchen of Sinkler’s tiny apartment and struck gold.

The vegetable chips were a hit, and soon the pair brought Terra Chips into stores. In 1995, a private equity group bought 51 percent of the company, and in 1998 Hain Celestial bought Terra Chips as part of an $80 million bundle deal that included three other companies. At the time, Dzieduszycki says, Terra Chips had $23 million in annual sales.

Resource Alert! Mechanical Turk is a new amazon.com initiative that lets people sell services or pick up odd jobs/services to make money on the side. The Simple Dollar gives a detailed timeline of an hours worth of Mechanical Turk work where he made $19.13/hour.

Resource Alert! Lifehacker posts a review on a new website that helps you find and keep track of the job you want.

[View All Resource Alerts]

Fox News did a video segment on what some college students view as the American Dream. Now before I mention this video, I do want to note that I am not a fan of Fox News at all, and do not consider it a valid news source. I do not know the validity of these answers, but thought it interesting to share anyway as it’s something to consider when teaching our children about money. It also appears to be a blast against the Occupy Movement, which is a movement I support, so take it for what you will.

Free Money Finance posts some real life stories of how people are making money on the side.

By day, Chris Hardy works at Guitar Center repairing musical band instruments. He first heard about Fiverr from the Clark Howard show which featured Fiverr as a great tool to earn extra cash and immediately began thinking what his talents were. As music has been an integral part of his life, he decided to use his musical talent and couple it with his voice over impressions to sell songs for 5 dollars. Chris uses the money he earns from Fiverr to supplement his wife’s college expenses like books.

“I just cleared the $4,000 mark and I started in September 2010. It seems like a constant stream of money is going into my PayPal account.

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But it wasn’t a continuous flow of funds. After two years, I was down to a few thousand bucks. And then a few hundred. And then it was gone. Now, four years on, it’s more than gone. I have a credit card with a $7,000 balance, and I had to borrow money from my dad to pay my taxes (I’ve never told him point blank that the money is gone, but when I call him up to borrow $100, he must know)….

I probably think about the money at least once a week, more when I’m stressed. Sometimes I regret not making a big change in my life; sometimes I regret not getting that nosejob (I still think about it); and sometimes I regret spending thousands of dollars on clothes before I’d come into my sense of style (now impeccable, I’d say, but which does not include gaspump leggings and ruffly collars).

Lesson Learned:
This is a sad story. I read stories like these and though I have had sad feelings about the fact that I do not have an inheritance of any kind from any grandparents or my parents, I am actually very grateful that I’ve been given the challenge of not having anything given to me, but instead working hard to get what I have.

I often think about what I would do if I ever was given a lump of money, whether in a contest or lottery or something like that. I imagine most people fancy the thought. But the idea of spending it on frivolities never once crosses my mind.

Personally, debt payment would be #1, followed by a nice emergency savings. Only after those two would I be willing to sink money into a purchase, and that purchase would be a newer used truck for my father since his 82 F-150 needs significant work done on it.

Debt repayment, savings, investment, those should be top priorities for lump sums received from inheritance or by some other means. Making purchases of wants is very unfulfilling and set a precedence that will be hard for you to break out of. It’s not only detrimental to your financial situation, but also your integrity as well as it sets a bad example to those around you.

Amount Flushed Down the Money Drain: $66,000

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So in lieu of this, I’ve decided to only accept guest posts from other financial bloggers. I will no longer be accepting guest posts that will be linking to companies/businesses. I want to support the personal finance blogger community, and in doing so I am hoping they will support me in return. Even if your business runs a blog, it is still a business and I will not be accepting guest posts from businesses trying to get free advertisement.

So while I appreciate the offers, I’ll be abiding by this new rule for future guests posts.

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