FrugalRetirementPlan.com

The importance of an emergency fund - car repairs

2010-02-23T19:30:00.004-06:00

Yesterday the check engine light went off on my 2001 Honda Civic when I pulled out of my driveway in the morning to go to work. I knew this wasn't good at all, so I took it to Advanced Auto (love them) to give me a code reading on what was wrong and what the light error meant. They told me it was a torque converter error, which was in the transmission and recommended I take it to a Honda Dealer. So today I took it in and come to find out that in order to replace my torque convertor and flush my transmission fluid it would cost $1450. Then on top of that I have a SRS error, which is relating to my airbag and seatbelt malfunctioning. That would cost another $325. So all totally they quoted me $1800 for my repair. This is yet another reason why I hate cars. Either they depreciate like a vaccum or consume you in repair expenses.

With all that said it continues to remind me how glad I am to have an emergency fund and the importance to everyone else as well. You never know when sneaky expenses like this will catch you by suprise and how you don't want to put this expense on a credit card, but be able to pay it off right away. You should have no less than three months living expenses in your money market account that is easily accessible for laysoff or emergencies like this.

Update on the car repair: I got a quote from an independent certified transmission repair shop and they quoted me $625 for a torque convertor. Another reason to shop around even when it comes to car repairs.

Frugal Retirement Plan

FrugalRetirementPlan.com - featured on U.S. News & World Report

2010-02-22T10:19:00.002-06:00

Last year I was interviewed by US News & World Report's Kimberly Palmer. Her interview was on retiring early and also featured one of my counterpart bloggers at Early Retirement Extreme. Her writing is really refreshing to folks like me who sometimes wonder...why am I going through the process of being frugal and earning extra income on the side? With other people featured on her column its a reminder of how blessed we are and that's what most Americans consider essential is not so in third world countries. In myself I'm trying to divorce myself from the cultural thinking of, "I need this to be like the Jones". Instead, people who do think like that will also be in debt up to their eyeballs like the Jones.

Last night I watched the TV show "Undercover Boss". The CEO of 7-11 was undercover driving a delivery truck with a guy who I think was from Russia. The guy was so happy and yet working as a delivery guy. He said he came to America with $50 in his pocket. He said I'm so happy, because America has provided me everything. We live in such a great country! Most people in America don't realize how blessed they are and yet so many people are so sad.

To me this speaks to the core of our cultures motto. "More is better and makes me feel good." However, I want a life that is totally opposite of that. One that loves less, loves time with my family, and most importantly one that serves Christ.

Consequently, if you begin to change the premise of your thinking that focuses less on the cultures motto, then you just might be able to retire early.

Frugal Retirement Plan

Teaching kids about money and an allowance

2010-02-21T14:08:00.004-06:00

Each week my wife and I have a standard list of chores that needs to be done in our house by our oldest son who is five. Those chores are his weekly responsibilities. With those responsibilities comes an allowance, but the allowance doesn't always come every week. My wife and I are firm believers in that after certain chores are done that a wage isn't expected, but appreciated if one follows. It is helping him to teach him to contribute to the family's daily chores, to save for toys or activities, and also help mom and dad. He has learned so much by saving for things he wants and that things aren't just given to him. We also recently started couponing and in order to help us out we've solicited his help to cut them out. Every coupon he cuts out we put his initials on the back then give him a portion of the savings. We really don't keep tabs on how much of his we use, but during the weeks he helps us out we general give out a little more allowance.

About two months ago he saved up $25 for a buzz lightyear lego, and the expression on his face when he came home was priceless. He really proved to himself that he saved up for it and earned it. It was all his. Now he is start to save up for another buzz lightyear lego, and already has $11.

Here are a few things that I think giving a child an allowance and having chores teaches them:

Responsibility
Things aren't given to you just because...
Save up for things you want
You need to pull your weight in the family
Everyone relies on each other
Your being an example to your brothers and sisters
Gives them an opportunity to tithe a portion of their earnings to the church
Allows them to be proud of what they bought and take care of it

Frugal Retirement Plan

Frugal Retirement Plan - joke of the day

2010-02-19T15:14:00.000-06:00

Who says money can't bring you happiness? It can buy you a jet ski. Have you ever seen anyone frown while riding a jet ski?

How the great depression changed people?

2010-02-19T09:45:00.001-06:00

The following comments are my observations of my grandparents life and various conversations with them.

- Never leave food on your plate
- Don't trust banks
- In times of plenty SAVE!
- Don't take out debt - if you have to then pay it off quickly.
- Reuse old products and fix up broken ones
- Make your own cleaning products
- Don't go out to eat but a couple times a year
- Sit at the kitchen table for every meal with your entire family
- Pay with cash for everything. Buying stuff with a credit card is for the poor. They will always be a slave to their master.
- Find satisfaction in simplicity. With more things comes more reposibility. Who wants that?
- First serve God, then your family, then your nation
- Willing to do whatever it takes to protect God, their family, and this great country and the freedom we all enjoy!

I personally believe like Tom Brokaw wrote in his book, "The Greatest Generation" that they are indeed great. If more people would only live and think like the Great Depression generation then we'd be so much better off. People would have more in their savings, they wouldn't have so much debt, they wouldn't turn their backs on God, they would truely enjoy family, and they wouldn't be so stressed. Most likely we wouldn't have seen the financial collapse of 2008 if we were living like them.

What are your thoughts?

FrugalRetirementPlan

How to prepare for a layoff?

2010-02-18T11:13:00.000-06:00

With the economy in shambles and people losing jobs left and right it has people wondering...what do I do if I lose my job? Here is a plan of attack I have in case this ever happens.Maybe some of these tips will help you be prepared.

1) Have 3-6 months of income saved in a money market account
2) Bank as much vacation with my current employer (right now we can bank 2 1/2 months)
3) Build up years of service with your employer so you can build up the possibility of a severance
4) Reduce expenses now and have a list of "possible" expenses that could be removed in case of a layoff
5) Look at starting to build other income streams to supplement your income while you have work and get through a job loss period
6) Continual remember and be thankful that the Lord has you in your place of current employment. Its His devine will that you are working now and His will for your life could change quickly. I constantly remind myself of how blessed I am with my job and the opportunities it provides me both financially and spiritually.
7) Be praying for your current job and the direction the Lord has for your life and where He wants to use you.
8) Reduce clutter and clean up your house-if you own your house. If you lose your job, then there might be a possibility that you might need to move. Be prepared to quickly sell your house or rent it out. Do everything you can to be prepared now.
9) Payoff debt quickly while you have a job.If you have a job now then do everything you can to payoff debt so you don't have as much residual expenses.

Hope none of you ever experience a layoff, but it never hurts to be prepared. Abviously don't worry about tomorrow for today has enough worries in itself and who of us can add a day to our life by worrying? Does not the Lord take care of the birds of the air? How much more will He take care of you?

Frugal Retirement Plan

If you live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one else.

2010-02-17T15:45:00.000-06:00

For the new year my wife and I have been reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, and this phrase has been continually going over in my head."If you live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one.else." Really has my wife and I thinking and talking. What does that mean for us? How can we pay off debt like a gazelle? We only have my wife's student loan and our home loan. Even with this little debt it still has me thinking we could totally be debt free.and in a few years. I am already seriously considering getting rid of my cell phone which costs us about $60/month. When I think about it that is a lot of money over the course of the year and for what? To stay connected? Text with people? If anything I want to simplify my life. It frustrates me when I'm at a restaurant and I see one of the parents looking on their cell phone instead of talking with their family. No wonder why people are having a hard time communicating with their kids and/or spouse.I want to get back to the way things were when my grandparents were living through the depression. I'd bet a years wage that no one from that generation thinks a cell phone is an essential! I might just get a track phone...that's a lot cheaper.

Some other ideas that came to mind are to sell more things on craigslist, develop a garden plan for utilizing our garden more for fresh vegtables, invest in a deep freeze to store things that are on sale and garden products. Lots of possibilities. Its been fun reading through this book together and BOTH have the same passion for no longer being a slave to anyone.

Are you willing to do what it takes to later live like no one else?

Frugal Retirement Plan

What to give up for lent to save you time and money?

2010-02-16T16:03:00.000-06:00

Well, for Lent my wife and I have committed to giving up somethings we enjoy or that would be a sacrifice. For me I committed to giving up XBOX360 and beer. Xbox is completely not essential for me and is a huge time waist. Especially with having three kids now I could and should be doing more productive things to help the family. Beer is completely a non-essential and is something I merely like to do with friends.
This year over lent in order to capitalize on my removal of XBOX and beer I'm going to list out some things I'm going to replace in my life with. For instance, reading my bible, meeting with an accountability partner, sell things on craigstlist, do the dishes every night, etc. Lately I've been reading the total money make over and his motto of "If you live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one else." I want that to be my life motto and what a better time to put that into action than lent? I'll start posting some "Lent Goals" to get me motivated, so my family and I can live like no one else.

Frugal Retirement Plan

What is extreme early retirement?

2009-05-12T23:27:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite bloggers Jacob at http://www.earlyretirementextreme.com/ has got it right. At 34 years of age he has finally been able to rip free from the life of cubicle walls and TPS reports and retired financially independent. So what is extremely early retirement. To me the definition is having the ability to pick up one day a say...I quit. No longer will I be a HAVE to go to work, but I could quit my job on a whim. To many people are tied to their residual debts of a car payment, house payment, boat payment, vacation home payment, cable bills, doctor bills, student loans. Like Dave Ramsey talks about people need to think of a total new way of thinking. No more debt and no more residual debts tied to your income. One of the first steps to early retirement is removing residual debts and expenses. If these obstacles are removed from your financial picture then it frees your income to start working for you. Last year I drew out how the rich's cash flow went into income generating assets to pay expenses and/or debts and into other income generating assets. Once the process of cash flow management is started then it will only compound or "snowball" with time.

Once your debts are paid off and your expenses are reduced then you can refocus even more on growing your income generating assets. Imagine this for example. Say 100% of your income was direct deposited into an income paying annuity. The annuity would then distribute $$'s to pay your monthly expenses and generate interest and gain principal value. (I want everyone to know that I'm not advocating annuities, but using it as an example). Who wouldn't want this scenario of income generation? Then you wouldn't have to stare at your cube wall or answer to eight different bosses for why your TSP report didn't have a cover sheet on it.

For those of you who don't know what I'm referring to watch this video!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/12638/office-space-peters-interview

Managing your money flow with direct deposit

2009-05-10T06:35:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how our family money flows out of my paycheck. Currently we have it so that a portion of my weekly paycheck funnels into:
1) a money market fund to pay our mortgage on a monthly basis
2) a portion goes into my 401k and 401k ROTH
3) a portion goes to save for the new baby coming
4) the rest goes to our checking account to pay for bills, tithe, regular expenses, and weekly cash usage.

I would like to setup my paycheck to funnel completely into money market accounts to be designated for their usage and withdrawn from the MM fund once a month. This way our money can work for us and not for the bank. Plus any excess won't get spent, but accrew interest and compound.

Like I described in one of my previous posts we'd eventually get to the point where a portion of our income would direct deposit towards an annuity type investment. Then bills would eventually be paid not from the money market, but an annuity type investment. Here are my initial money flow ideas:
1) Income -> MM Mortgage -> Mortgage
2) Income -> MM Bills -> Bills
3) Income -> MM Tithe -> Tithe
4) Income -> MM Expenses -> Expenses
5) Income -> 401k and ROTH 401k
6) Income -> Tax liens
7) Income -> Annuity

I know this appears like a lot of different disbursements, but really we all need to have or money work for us. This way we'll be able to reach retirement early, and have more options for income or "extra circular activities".

Here is a link to my cash flow diagrams from last year that describes what I want to get to and how the rich think.

Dollar cost averaging into stocks during a recession

2009-05-09T06:27:00.001-05:00

What a blessing that we have gone through this bear market! What did you say? A bear market a blessing? Absolutely! This morning I watched an excellent video this morning by CNN Money featuring Warren Buffet (http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2009/05/07/news.buffett.050709.cnnmoney). In a nutshell he basically said that this bear market is an excellent time to buy. For an investor we should be hoping for many ups and downs, because during the dips it allows us to buy more shares at a lower price. If the market we're to remain on a constant flat line over an extended period of time then we'd have zero to a small gain (depending on dividends).

Take myself for example...on Monday the dow was at about 8100. I said to myself, "I bet for the year in my 401k that I'm close to even or ahead % wise for the year to date." Remind you that on Jan 1 the DOW was at 8776 and down 4.41% for the year. Even despite this fact I checked my year to date 401k and I was up 0.73% for the year. My asset allocation isn't anything extrodinary either with 10% bonds index, 45% S&P index, 15% small cap index, 15% international index, 5% company stock, and 10% value index. Even though stocks were down for the year I managed to eack out a gain. Think about if the bottom to the trough had been deeper and the market on Monday would have been at 8100? The gains would have been even more! But a lot of investors are emotional during the bottom and don't trust dollar cost averaging. They say...this time its different. The market is never going to recover from this.

Point is this..."During a recession or depression continue to dollar cost average and you'll be a lot better off then the average emotional investor."

Great financial advice websites and books

2009-05-07T22:00:00.001-05:00

From time to time I post a list of websites that I feel are helpful in saving money and helping you get closer to retirement quicker. Here are a few suggestions:

http://www.earlyretirementextreme.com
http://www.early-retirement.com
http://www.diehards.org
http://www.bankrate.com
http://www.slickdeals.net
http://www.getrichslowly.org
http://www.allfinancialmatters.com
http://www.emigrantdirect.com
http://www.savingadvice.com

Along with them some books I'd recommend checking out are:

Work less,Live more: A guide to sem-retirement
The millionaire in you by Michael Labouff
The boglehead guide to investing

These are just a few books and websites that might help you get to retirement faster and save more on a daily basis. Good luck and remember to "owe no man nothing."

Tips for retirement or semi-retirement income

2009-05-06T20:27:00.002-05:00

During a tough economy and when both bonds and equities are depressed it takes some creative ideas for generating income. No one that is in retirement wants to pull money out of an asset class that is depressed. A rule I live by for retirement assets is have three buckets.

1) Money market - 1 year of cash reserves
2) Bonds - 5 to 7 years of cash invested in bonds
3) Equities - everything else

Based on this bucket allocation you then draw from a certain asset class during different markets. Here are the three possible scenarios for which asset class you should draw.

Market scenarios and withdrawls:
1) Equities are up, bonds are down - take disbursements from equities and use any excess replenish bonds or MM fund.
2) Equities are up, bonds are up - take disbursements from equities and use any excess to replenish MM fund.
3) Equities are down, bonds are down - take disbursements from your MM fund.

Based on this bucket asset allocation you'll theoretically be able to weather a six to eight year bear market in equities. However, if you are looking for some additional income sources in retirement or want to supplement your semi-retirement here are a few ideas.

Retirement income:
* Start investing in county tax liens - tax liens not only help you diversify your asset allocation but also earn 12 - 24% interest (I'll write in the near future about getting started in investing in tax liens).
* Start a blog - do you have a skill that you feel could make you money based on the knowledge you have about a particular subject matter?
* Start a home based gardening program and sell fresh organic produce to the locals - if you have a fairly big backyard utilize it and make money with things people want. Then advertise your produce on craigslist and people will be begging your for more!
* Start a lawn mowing service in your neighborhood - in your neighborhood it should be easy over the summer to pick up two to three lawn mowing gigs that could pay 20-40 per lawn per week. This could easily supplement your income with $200+/month.
* Start a business short term staffing service - this way you can offer up a short term service that might be needed a small companies in your area. The income seen from this could be extremely varying from 0 to $1000+ per month

These are just a few ideas that retirees or soon to be retirees can tap instead of their depressed assets. What ideas do you have for generating other streams of income?

How to grow sweet corn in a raised garden

2009-05-05T21:39:00.002-05:00

This year my family decided to raise a couple of rows of sweet corn in our 8x6 foot raised garden. Our top soil in eastern Nebraska isn't very thick and after about 6" of top soil it turns to a hard clay soil that isn't very good for drainage. The first year our garden completely flooded due to lots of rain and poor drainage. Then in 2008 I built a raised garden with instructions I found on the internet. The results were semi mixed last year, but poor results were due to late planting and poor shading.

Here are a few keys to successfully growing sweet corn in a raised garden:

1) Plant seeds 6" apart - this way by having them closer together each row can provide shade and wind protection

2) Plant rows 1ft apart - typically it is recommended to plant them 30-36 inches a part, but usually in a raised garden you don't have that much room and the close rows provide weather element protection

3) Plant as close to May 1st as possible - this way you have the greatest amount of time for your corn to root during cooler time and earlier in the spring. This way your corn can properly establish a root base too.

4) Plant your seed 2" below the surface - this depth is the ideal depth for your corn to not be too deep to emerge quickly and not to shallow to properly establish a good root base.

5) Plant your sweet corn when the morning forecasts for the 10-14 outlook calls for 45degree plus LOWS - besides regular water ground temp has the second greatest impact on production of good sweet corn.

Hopefully, during this growing season your sweet corn production will be plentiful and by around the fourth of July you'll be enjoying some juicy sweet corn.

Here are a few pics of my raised garden and sweet corn starting to emerge.

Why you should persue semi-retirement?

2009-04-21T22:35:00.004-05:00

Do you ever feel like your days drag on forever at work? You don't get any fulfillment out of work and the work you do? Or do you feel scared about what the economy holds ahead for you and your job? Is your job secure? These are a lot of the questions that I feel like I have answered in my life and want to get out of the drag of daily life.

I recently came upon this website through a friend called "The art of nonconformity" by Chris Guillebeau. I can total relate to a lot of the things he writes about and the reasons that he writes. Its seems like a lot of other people in the country are struggling with the same questions in their own lives and asking themselves - "Do all real jobs suck?" For myself it pushes me more to consider the possibility of semi-retirement and how I can get there, so I can get out of the daily grind of life. Can any of you relate to this video?

How not to get engaged...

2009-04-21T22:14:00.004-05:00

From time to time I write about things that aren't finances related. Lately I've been frequenting the funny website http://www.failblog.org/ and find some of these things hilarious. Here is a funny little video of how not to get engaged. Plus it isn't the most frugal way of doing it. :)

Another one of my all time favorites is this anchorman reporting on a rapist that is on the loose and an artists sketch of that person.
http://failblog.org/2008/01/30/rapist-search/

Selling Grain based on a Roach Ag Marketing Plan

2009-04-19T11:08:00.004-05:00

In early 2008 I started watching IPTV Market to Market. Around June/July 2008 John Roach appeared on Market to Market and I clearly remember him saying that people will regret not selling grain at these prices. People will look back and say...what was I thinking? Why didn't I sell more? At the time corn was about $7.90/bushel and beans were $16.00/bushel. Then the financial crisis hit and world demand for grains plummeted. In October 2008 I signed up for Roach Ag's marketing plan and have really enjoyed it ever since. Their premise is selling grain on about four differnt sell signals during the March to June each year. You sell 25% of your grain on each sell signal. Sell 25% cash grain you plan on not storing during each sell signal and buy 25% puts on each sell signal. By the time the end of June comes around you'll have 100% of your crop marketed either with puts or cash sales. This year we had a strong and extended sell signal that I started turning on 2009 bean sales, because historically the prices were a lot higher then normal. Here is a screen shot of my grain sales and put options.

In addition, Roach Ag currently has a 10 day sell signal in beans, and here is a brief snapshot of what that looks like. Its my believe that we may have hit the 2009 high in beans on April 16th. We'll see.

Frugal Cheeseburger Macaroni Recipe

2009-04-04T14:03:00.007-05:00

I have to admit. I love hamburger helper cheeseburger macaroni! The only thing better than cheeseburger macaroni is cheeseburger macaroni with corn kernels in it!!! I know hamburger helper isn't the healthiest thing for me, but I give in every once in a while. One frugal tip I have for making more hamburger helper out of a $1.50 box is this.

1. Buy a box of Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni - $1.50 (today I was amazed at how few macaroni elbows you now get in a package! Must be the economy)

2. Buy a extra box of macaroni elbows - $0.88

3. Buy 2/3 pound of hamburger - about $1.75

4. Buy one 8 ounce can of whole kernel corn - $0.55

5. Buy some cheese to add in - about 3 slices of cheese - $0.35

What I usually do is add about 1/4 of the box of extra macaroni elbows, the whole 8 ounce can of corn, and three slices of cheese. Once I've added this extra stuff I usually add about 1/4 extra cup of water and 1/4 extra cup of milk. I did this with our meal today and out of a normal box you get about 3 meals for an average adult. By modifying the recipe like I did you can get 6 - 8 meals by only adding a few of the extra ingredients at a fraction of the cost. Will definitely make the recipe go a little further and feed a bigger family. Here is a picture of how mine turned out today. Enjoy!

2005 Ford Escape For Sale on Craigslist

2009-04-04T13:53:00.003-05:00

Today my family and I listed our 2005 Ford Escape with 55,500 miles on it. I'm listed additional pictures on my blog so that prospective buyers can see more details of the car and see the details of the car. This is the first time I've listed anything this big on Craigslist, but we'll see what luck I have! Thanks for visiting and if you need any more pictures, then let me know.

2009 Corn and Bean Farming Operations

2009-04-03T16:45:00.006-05:00

Last year I had the pleasure of farming 520 acres of farm ground in Northwest Iowa and all the things that come with it. I didn't blog about it in 2008, but as much of it became in my life last year I think I will start blogging more about my marketing strategies, and ways to make additional income by farming in 2009. Some of the highlights I will talk about in 2009 include:

Marketing my grain by following John Roach and Sue Martin ag commentary

Seasonal trends and where corn and bean markets are pointing to

Strategies for selling your grain to elevators and coops

Planting results from planting Pioneer corn and beans, and non-GMO beans

Application of fertilizer and money saving strategies that will enrich your soil long term

Using farming profits for investin in other assets for retirement

I hope to gain more readers in 2009 that are interested in marketing their grain, increase their yields, and help the average farmer plan for retirement and be able to retire early. Regardless, I will continue to provide quality frugal retirement planning for all my readers!

How to fix a piriformis problem from a marathon runner

2009-04-02T06:51:00.006-05:00

Well not everyday will I be blogging about finances and retirement but about things that are relavent in my life that I think other marathon runners might be experiencing. First let me give you a background of my problem. I started avidly running marathons in 2005 and ran four marathons between then and 2007. After running my fourth marathon in 2007 I started experiencing some stiffness in my right leg around my hip area. So I went and saw my chiropractor and massage therapist. They recommended some stretches and using a tennis ball to loosen up the piriformis and IT band. That worked for a while, but then after the first week of 2008 I started feeling increased pain and the stretches and tennis ball weren't helping. Over the course of last year I tried chiropractic, massage therapy, ART (Active Release Technique) Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, and again massage therapy. None really gave me lasting long term relief.

The last thing I've just tried was I went to a foot doctor and described my problems. He was able to do some tests with some sensors he inserted in my shoe that would show compression from my foot hitting the ground. It also showed the pace apart my feet were hitting the ground and whether my heal or toes were hitting the ground first. I even got to run about 25 yards with the sensors in my shoes! All in all I come to find out that one of my legs is about a 1/2 inch shorter then the other. So right now the foot doctor has me wearing a boot at night, because my foot and piriformis were experiencing some tenderness in the morning from my foot relaxing. In addition, and probably most importantly I will need to wear insoles in my shoes. The left one will be neutral, but the right one will 3/8 to 1/2 inch higher than the left. Hopefully this will reduce the tension in my piriformis and releave my siatic nerve. I'll keep everyone posted in the comings weeks

Semi-retirement for people in their 30's and 40's

2009-04-01T20:04:00.004-05:00

Lately, as I've been rereading "Semi-retirement: Live More, Work Less" by Bob Clyatt, it occurred to me that my wife and I could reasonably get to semi retirement by age 42. Currently we save between 10 - 15% (plus employer match) of my income. We are going to have our third child here in November, so theoretically if I continue to save about 15% of my income for the next ten years, my wife returns to work in five years, and we save 100% of her income for retirement we could have about a half a million saved in our retirement accounts in 10 years. Then by age 42 both my wife and I could easily work part time (20 hours per week), and save 15% of our income for full retirement. For me this would be ideal, because as our kids grow up it would leave me more time to spend with them and possible be their coaches in some of their extra curricular activities. Plus have 20 more hours a week of free time would allow my wife and I to freely explore other alternatives of income, which could lead itself to possibly leaving our regular part time job for something we enjoy more. Basically, a semi-retirement scenario would free us up to see more of each other, our kids, and our family and friends. Now its just a matter of setting this into a tangible goal that will be achievable and hopefully one day realized.

Tips to survive getting laid off

2009-02-26T07:08:00.003-06:00

As the economy is continuing to spiral downward it is more important then ever to keep on top of your job and continue to put your best foot forward. No one wants to get laid off during these uncertain times, but here are a few tips for getting by.

1) Have three months of cash saved in a money market account
2) Accumulate as much vacation as you can at your current employer
3) Have your resume ready and polished at all times
4) Network - continue to keep in contact with old co-workers or friends. Who knows maybe your next job will come from keeping in contact with them?
5) Start another job at home while you already have a job. As one of the themes of having multiple streams of income if you have other ways of making money then when you get laid off this additional income will help you preserve cash between jobs. Some examples would be selling stuff on ebay or craigslist, cleaning service, computer repair, artistic contractor, flip houses, or selling baked goods. Either way any income will be a blessing.
6) Cut expenses! Even prior to getting laid off you should do everything you can to reduce the amount of money that goes out from your family's checkbook each week. This way if you are laid off then your cash will last longer if you residual expenses are reduced.

I'd love to hear from my other readers out there on other things they have done to survive a lay off. Good luck and remember to keep working for the glory of God at your current workplace!

Free Download of the Oregon Trail

2009-01-28T21:22:00.005-06:00

Man...do I love the game "Oregon Trail"!! I remember I use to play Oregon Trail all the time as a kid and during recess in 6th grade. I remember we had the option of going outside or playing Oregon Trail. Is there any doubt what I chose? Anyhow, for all of your frugal gamers out there here is the files you need to run Oregon Trail.

Unzip all the files
Run the Applewin.exe <--(download here)
Insert Otrail_1.bin in disk 1
Insert Otrail_2.bin in disk 1 (when asked in the middle of the game)
Power on applewin emulator

Then enjoy the game! Here are a few screenshots from my return adventure.

Frugal Tips to Survive a Great Depression or Recession

2009-01-24T06:28:00.004-06:00

A lot of people are scared of what is in store for our country. With that said a lot of people think we are going to go into a hard recession or even a depression. Some of this I don't understand, because 1) our country and government are doing so much more for our economy than what was done between 1929 and 1932. The Fed is actively working to keep money liquid and the exact opposite was true back then. Hoover and his Fed Chief didn't do anything, because they felt the free market would work it through and it was a natural cycle. 2) People are scared that unemployment is at 7.2%, but in 1932 it was 25%!!! A quarter of all people were out of work and we're scared now? We could be a lot worse off...think of how people felt in 1932? 3) People are still spending money, eating out, and aren't really changing their spending habits (yet). I equate this downtrend in terms of innings and in August 08 I was saying we were in about the 3rd inning, and now I feel like we are in the 7th inning stretch. I think by July - August 2009 we should be hitting a bottom and slowly make our way out of this recession. Regardless, here are a few frugal tips that will help you get out of this recession / depression.

Stop eating out
Pay off your debt - owe no man nothing!
Increase your emergency fund savings - have closer to 6 months saved
Bank as many hours of vacation as possible - this will help ease the financial burden of getting laid off and prevent you from having to dig into your emergency fund or touch your retirement accounts
Cut monthly expenses - look at all your bills, especially phone, insurance, internet, tv, and clothes
Shop at goodwill, salvation army, or other thrift stores - what a great way to buy used stuff at extreme discounts? Let down your pride if you think you are better than that
Pay for EVERYTHING in cash - paying with cash makes expenses seem more real
Share tools with neighbors or barter services - this was common practice in the 1930's due out of necessity. The thing was that neighbors never in the 1930's never expected repayment. They just did it out of the kindness of their heart

Here are a few helpful links that have other great tips for surviving a deep recession: