Dollar Frugal

How to Be Frugal With a Destructive Child

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:57:48 +0000

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24761036@N00

DS is now almost 12. Every day, I find some toy that he’s taken apart, broken, or hidden away because it has a problem. This is extremely frustrating since I know how much toys cost and how nice the things are that he has. Here is what I’ve done that is age-appropriate for him:

1. Let him know that his behavior will have consequences. As he’s gotten older and realizes that he’s not getting new toys as much, he’s slowed down his destructive behavior. I prep him for this by telling him that if he destroys this toy, we’re not getting him a replacement or another toy similar to that toy again.

2. Make him play with the things that he’s broken. Santa Claus got him a chess board for Christmas, that he promptly shattered into two pieces within the first 24 hours. We’re still playing with the same board, six months later.

3. Make him buy new with his own hard-earned money. This will reinforce that he’s responsible for his own actions.

4. Don’t give him too many new things at once. If he gets a ton of toys or games for a holiday, he won’t value them as much. Ration them out over weeks or months.

5. Make him keep things “picked up.” This makes it harder for him to make messes that just happen to encourage breakage.

6. If he already has tons of toys, ask for college fund contributions from family members vice more toys. This is much more valuable than broken toys.

What do you do to show your kids the value of their things?

Cheap Lesson

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:16:53 +0000

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chromatic

We’re still muddling through the new puppy and housebreaking. We find out after adopting him that he’s the hardest breed to housebreak - a scent hound. Ugh.

In trying to get DS to help out and learn a little responsibility, we have him clean up at least one mess every day. He avoids it as long as possible, but eventually does it.

Yesterday, he decided while I wasn’t looking to use a full roll of paper towels to clean up one small dog puddle. He was doing it just to be annoying and make me angry.

So I told him to go upstairs in his bedroom and get his money.

We went to the store and he bought a roll of paper towels with his own money. He understood right away and used four paper towels (vs. 100) to clean up the next mess.

What have you done to teach your kids or what did you parents do to teach you frugality?

Travel Money into DRIPs?

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:00:35 +0000

I’ve been thinking for a long time about how to best invest my money.

I saw an article somewhere about investing in DRIPs. I think this best suits my break-in, so here’s my plan:

1. Take all my per diem that I make on trips and save the crap out of it. This means that I will keep careful notes on what I spend each day on travel and try to prepare a little better so that I don’t have to just go hungry. I’m looking forward to lots of cut fruits and vegetables.

2. Find big companies that I trust and see others using. This is important. Because I’m cheap, it might be kind of hard to know what normal people use. I might have to do some market research (market research=bugging my friends, who are “normal”).

3. Buy from the companies’ websites.

Do you see any problems with this???

Renovations

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:00:44 +0000

I work in a community that all of us fund: the taxpayer community. Therefore, I am grateful for my paycheck and would like to consider myself a good steward of the money that I am provided. I am always appalled by the amounts that my coworkers spend on renovations to their homes.

I don’t have facts or figures, but from personal opinion, I would guess that the average worker in my career field moves about every 4-5 years. Most people try to purchase and sell their homes each time they move.

These people also make renovations to homes that they purchase. They invest huge amounts of money that they often to not recoup just to renovate their homes and have nice places to live.

I don’t have a problem with people wanting nice places to live. Bottom line, though: you aren’t going to get your money out of it.

We made the mistake once. Just once. We had some pipe problems and it was possible that it was a root problem, but not probable. So, we went through our yard and eliminated some wonderful matured trees. It cost us a total of about $7k (to remove two large trees – I think it was outrageous). This amount was never recouped in the selling price of the home

Although our problem was with a tree, this could have happened with any type of renovation. Luckily, DH has been paying special attention to the problem. I wanted new tile in the kitchen. He said no, since we were going to just sell the home in 3 years. I wanted to fix the garage stairs. Why, he asked. It’s not worth the work or money. The home’s value does not change.

What do you think about costly renovations?

Payday!!!

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:00:27 +0000

I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank goodness it’s MONDAY (TGIM)!!! Have a great week and tell your favorite payday story in the comments below.

Maxed Out 401(k)!!!

admin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:00:04 +0000

It’s already June and I’m a little late in the game. I need to catch up on my 401k contributions, so I’ve continued to raise my contributions each month. In April, it was 30%. In May, it went up to 35%. I just put it up for June to 45%. That should be plenty; I might even be able to turn it off or down in December. Here’s how I got to the point where I could max out my 401k within about 7 months:

Got into a car accident. I got into a car accident and the insurance company totaled out the car. This paid off a horrible loan that I was in.
Paid off all my credit card debt. This took around 8 months to a year. I was about $4k in debt.
Paid off my student loan debt. This took an additional 4-5 months.
Started saving cash for a down payment. This took about a year.
Bought a house and paid it off. This took another 15 months.
Sold house and bought another house. This took about 7 months.
Paid off second house. 2.5 years.

All in all, the whole process took 8 years and 2 months. I know that I’m missing some months (16, to be exact) up above, but this is how it all worked out. There may have been some months in between payoffs and beginnings.

How have you paid off your debts to get to the point you are at today? What order did you go in?

WML Carnival - June 13, 2009

admin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:00:25 +0000

carnival of wealth, money and life - June 13, 2009

Welcome to the June 13, 2009 edition of carnival of wealth, money and life.

Jack Schmidt presents 7 Keys to Financial Survival posted at SectorMatic Money Journal, saying, “Personal Finance - Everything for the Big Spender on a Budget.

CreditCardAssist.com presents Credit Cards- One Size Does Not Fit All posted at Credit Card Assist.

apply4-credit presents Moving to a New Card - Here’s What to Do With The Old One posted at Apply4-Credit.

Leave Debt Behind presents What is the Envelope Budget Method posted at Leave Debt Behind.

Ben presents Stock Dividends 101 posted at Money Smart Life.

Matthew Paulson presents How to Develop a Plan to Repay your Credit Card Debt posted at American Consumer News.

Debt Freedom Fighter presents Increase Your Savings with 5 Simple Tips posted at Discover Debt Freedom!.

Savings Toolbox presents Are you Saving For a Job Loss or Job Change? posted at Savings Toolbox.

Tushar Mathur presents Long Term Investing posted at Everything Finance, saying, “Investing has its own language and understanding it can make it easier to be a confident investor. Two common terms you hear when people talk about investing are “bid” and “ask.” Here’s an explanation of what they mean.”

Ace presents Internet Marketing for Beginners: Marketing On EBay posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Bobby Leong presents Social Media Online Video Growth posted at Internet Marketing Solutions.

Cal Hardesty presents Three Proven Steps To Starting Your Online Business posted at Mlminertia…Learn The Right Moves.

Cal Hardesty presents Are You A Victim of N.B.T. Syndrome? Here’s How To Find Out, And What To Do… posted at Mlminertia…Learn The Right Moves, saying, “It’s about 9:49 PM Tuesday 4-7-2009 and I’m outside saying goodbye to friends we’ve been hangin’ with the last couple of hours, when I’m interrupted by yet ANOTHER “NBT” email that pops into my in-box…”

Britannica Blog presents NY Times: “Buy American” Is a Terrible Idea posted at Britannica Blog, saying, ““It’s not surprising that Democrats in Congress could not resist adding a “Buy American” provision to the fiscal stimulus bill earlier this year. It might seem sensible (or at least politically useful) to ensure that taxpayer dollars would be used exclusively to support American jobs.”

Joel Gray presents 5 Tips To Help You Reach Your Weight Loss Goals posted at Health Tips 101.

Ace presents Internet Marketing for Beginners: Marketing On EBay Part II posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Alvina Lopez presents 100 Useful Research Tools for Amateur Economists posted at Rated Colleges.

Vicky presents Why the Rich Get Richer posted at Medan Kota.

Deposit Accounts presents Don’t Forget to Plan for Windfall Money posted at Deposit Accounts.

stephen todd presents Trading Stocks With A System posted at Buy Stocks.

Joel Gray presents 5 More Tips To Help You Reach Your Weight Loss Goals posted at Health Tips 101.

Sarah Scrafford presents 100 Excellent Language Lessons on You Tube posted at Associate Degree Blog.

Money Saving Advice presents Payment Premium Insurance (PPI) to be axed by the big banks posted at Money Saving Tips, Consumer Finance, Expert, Advice and Help | Talk Money Blog, saying, “The Financial services Authority (FSA) has fined banks and lenders for the mis-selling of Payment Premium Insurance (PPI) and for failing to treat their customers fairly. Payment Premium Insurance cover (PPI) is sold to borrowers to cover them against the risk that they may not be able to pay their monthly payment on a credit card balance, mortgage or personal loan; due top ill health, accident or redundancy.”

Andre Nilsen presents How to Build an Online Community with Your Offline Customers posted at www.qualitynetworkers.com, saying, “Let”

Ace presents Adding A Profitable Online Solution To Your Offline Business: Your Website posted at Internet Marketing Ace.

Finance Tips 101 presents Credit Repair Companies: Buyer Beware posted at Finance Tips 101.

life

deborah davis presents The Challenge of Keeping Your Store Hand-Held Products Secure posted at Anti theft security systems.

Super Saver presents We’ve Achieved Zero Debt posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “We paid off our mortgage and became 100% debt free.”

Shamelle presents How To Re-focus When You Lose Focus posted at Enhance Life.

Nui Loa presents Our Five Favorite Kids’ CDs for Grownups posted at Boston Children’s Music.

Catherine VanWetter presents To the Heart of the Matter - Regaining Balance in an Unbalanced Life posted at To The Heart of the Matter, saying, “We live in what is considered a psuedo attention deficient disorder society. What does that mean? The key is to learn to retrain our autonomic nervous system so that we can slow ourselves down to rest, and get ourselves going again to do the tasks at hand. It’s a delicate dance of balance.”

Scientific Living presents The Key to Personality Development Is Remembering Death posted at Scientific Living.

money

Nancy Miller presents 25 Simple Tricks to painlessly cut $100 /mo from Your Spending posted at Online University Lowdown.

Sam presents New !! How Retirement Plans Work, IRA Roth 401k 301b SIMPLE SEP Pension posted at Surfer Sam and Friends, saying, “Thanks for including my article. Here’s an excerpt… How Retirement Plans Work IRA, Roth, 401k, 301b, SIMPLE, SEP and Pension A retirement plan is the best way to save for retirement. There are tax advantages with a retirement plan. The money your retirement plan earns is tax-free, so that interest, dividends and capital gains are untaxed, year after year. You can watch your investment earnings compound more and more quickly. Because of the tax benefit, your retirement money will accumulates faster than your other savings. Yes, some of the rules are complex, but we can point you in the right direction. The biggest financial mistake you can make is to ignore retirement planning. The earlier you start a retirement plan, the quicker you reach your goal. Financial advisors generally agree on the best retirement strategy for most people. You should contribute to your employer’s plan only as much money as the employer will match. Then you should put the rest of your annual contribution into your individual Roth IRA retirement account. If you can contribute more than the Roth annual limit, the balance should go into your employer’s retirement plan, which has a higher limit. If you are a highly-paid employee, or if you self-employed, another strategy may work better for you. * 1. The Scope of Retirement Plans * 2. The Basic Rules of All Tax-Sheltered Retirement Plans * 3. The Four Tax Benefits of a Retirement Plan * 4. How Your Retirement Withdrawals are Taxed * 5. How Your Individual IRA and Roth Retirement Plans Work * 6. How Your Employer’s 401(k) Retirement Plans Work * 7. How Your Non-Profit Employer’s 403(b) Retirement Plans Work * 8. How Your Small Employer’s SIMPLE Retirement Plans Work * 9. How SEP Retirement Plans Work for Self-Employed People * 10. How SEP-IRA Retirement Plans Work for Self-Employed People * 11. How SEP-Keogh Retirement Plans Work for Self-Employed People”

jim presents 2009 Federal Income Tax Brackets (Projected) posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Randy Cantrell presents Magic Beans, Silver Bullets & The Minor League vs. The Major League posted at Bula! Life Is Good..

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Swoopo - Legitimate Auction Deals or a Scam? posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Swoopo is an online auction site with deals that appear to be too good to be true.”

Investing School presents TradeKing vs Scottrade - Online Stock Trading Comparison posted at Investing School, saying, “Many people ask me whether Scottrade or TradeKing is better. Here’s a comparison for you.”

Ray presents Ally Bank Savings Account Review posted at Money Blue Book.

The Dough Roller presents 0% APR Balance Transfer for 12 Months posted at The Dough Roller, saying, “While balance transfer offers are fast disappearing, here is on of the last remaining 12-month 0% APR balance transfer deals left.”

FitJerk presents Fit Jerk Talks SEO Techniques, Internet Marketing & Laws To Run A Business Online posted at FlawlessFitness, saying, “Why isn’t your website getting any traffic? Why isn’t your online business making money? And why does your Google ranking SUCK? The 4 secrets to online success revealed…”

Jim DeSantis presents Don’t Be A Sucker! Avoid These Debt Consolidation Scams! posted at Emotions and Credit at On Line Tribune, saying, “The web communications revolution has provided many unprecedented opportunities for commerce and, unfortunately, quite a few opportunities for swindlers to prey on the gullible. This is just as true for debt consolidation and scams to fix your credit score as for anything else. Here are some debt consolidation scams to stay away from.”

Steve Faber presents Which are the Cheapest Cars to Insure for Teenagers posted at Cheap Car Insurance, saying, “How to cut back on one of your largest expenses outside of housing and food.”

Praveen presents How to Generate Referrals posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Get referrals by rewarding BOTH the referrer and the new lead/customer with free service, products, or exclusive reports.”

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Doc Mockery posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

deborah davis presents Thing You Should Know About the Modern Ways to Keep Your Store Safe posted at Anti theft security systems.

SpendOnLife.com presents How Good and Bad Information Impacts Your Credit Score Rating, and for How Long posted at SpendOnLife, saying, “A discussion of what negatively effects your credit score and for how long.”

Investing School presents A Great Inflation Indicator posted at Investing School, saying, “Here’s a seldom talked about but great inflation indicator. Check out the video.”

Stock Trading Brokers presents Zecco Zirens | Educational Trading Videos posted at Stock Trading Brokers, saying, “Zecco Zirens consists of attractive ladies teaching investing basics. Check them out here.”

Four Pillars presents Save Money With Zero Percent Balance Transfers posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Zero percent balance credit cards can save you interest and money.”

ABC presents Safe withdrawal rate for retirement funds - 4% rule posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “How much can you withdraw from your portfolio in retirement? The 4% safe withdrawal rule explained.”

nissim ziv presents How to make money selling on eBay posted at eBay Business Guide, saying, “These days more and more people are looking for an additional source of income. EBay has given these people an option to earn and to start an eBay business. Working for countless hours and still the desires remain unfulfilled, this is what attracts people to learn how to make money on eBay auctions. Having precise knowledge about auction sites and a little planning can make you earn money on eBay.”

DebtLite presents 64 Thought Provoking Quotes on the Meaning of Money posted at School Loans.

Robert Fenn presents Cell Phone Number Trace | Reverse Phone Lookup | Unknown Number Search | ReversePhoneDetective.com posted at Reverse Phone Number Search by Robert Fenn, saying, “We’ve all received phone calls from numbers we didn’t recognize. Sometimes you may miss calls, and you want to speak to the person again. Sometimes you may want to figure out how to make sure they never call you again.”

Bill Hazelton presents Guide to Marketing and Advertising Your New Website posted at Bill Hazelton.

wealth

Gavin R. Putland presents From the subprime to the terrigenous: Recession begins at home posted at LVRG Blog, saying, “The Great Recession was not entirely Made In USA.”

Dividends4Life presents Five Stocks With A Low Dividend Payout Ratio posted at Dividends Value, saying, “The main focus of dividend investing is finding and buying dividend stocks that will will likely continue to raise their dividends in the future. In making this determination there are many factors to consider. One of the more important metrics to consider is the Dividend Payout Ratio.”

Tyler Tervooren presents My Journey to Become a Green Investor - Part 4: The Final Decision posted at Frugally Green, saying, “This is the final installment of my journey to become a green investor. After copious research, I have finally selected the best fit for me, explain my decision making process and reflect on the month of research done to allow myself the peace of mind in selecting an investment that I won’t need to fret about.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of wealth, money and life using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of wealth, money and life, blog carnival.

How To Pay Off A Car

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:00:36 +0000

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/buhny/23128562/

With the current recession, if you have a car loan, it would probably be nice to hae it all paid off, right? I haven’t had a car payment for years, but here’s how I would attack a car loan:

1. Isolate the amount owed and the interest rate. Figure out exactly how much you owe and how much interest you’re paying to be owing that amount. Call around and see if you can beat the interest rate at your local credit union. Call the current car loan company and see if they’ll lower your interest.

2. Pay your minimum monthly payment and then some. If you have two car loans, pay the extra on the one with the higher interest. If you have one, get as many extra dollars as you can per month to pay down the car loan.

3. As you pay the balance down, keep trying to lower your interest rate. Call the company every other month and see what they can do for you. They might just help you out as your balance goes down.

4. After you pay off the car, don’t ever take out an auto loan again. Save up cash to purchase your next vehicle, or get the longest use possible out of your current vehicle before you get another. As the guys on Car Talk always say, it’s always cheaper to fix your current car than to purchase a new car. When you do pick out a car, pick a quality car…look at consumer reports for cars that are the most reliable and break down the least.

What are some tips that you have?

Concerts, Books and Clothes

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:00:18 +0000

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaynekaye

When I nuked my blog, I also nuked my blogroll. I’m working on rebuilding it, so I’m finding myself reading many PF-related blogs. While I love getting new perspectives, sometimes I’m a little dismayed by what some people may consider frugality.

One blog I went to, for example, had outlayed how the guy had spent Saturday at the mall. He had purchased some books and some clothes. Later, another post outlined his concert ticket purchase.

Maybe I’m being nitpicky. Maybe this person has already reached financial independence. But I get tired of my friends and acquaintances telling me how they’ve been frugal with something and then telling me about a blasphemously horrible money decision they’ve made.

I know that not everyone can make good financial decisions all the time, but I’m also interested in why people aren’t willing to make their situations better.

What do you think? Is everyone capable of being frugal, or only just a few of us?

Bad Photo + Wednesday Linkings - June 10, 2009

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:00:08 +0000

I was a little put off by a photo in the New York Times today. Here is the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/world/middleeast/04saudi.html?scp=1&sq=obama%20abdullah&st=cse

Can you guess why I didn’t like this picture?

We are in the midst of a financial crisis, and the picture at the top of this article is a little offensive to me. I understand that it is the same as a king-king gift, but it still bothers me.

Without further ado, here are the links for the week:

Progress Update Delayed One Week @ Dividends Value

Carnival Hosts @ How I Save Money

June Goals @ Saving For Home

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!