Cheaper Than Cheap Tip Of The Week #6 : Wash And Reuse Plastic Baggies

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 30, 2008

“Cheaper Than Cheap” is a recurring tip series about frugality. The idea is to provide potentially helpful frugality tips that border on fanatical or fictitious to the point of becoming humorous. Love them or hate them, let’s hear what you think. Tip #5 was on Save Gas By Being Creative.

It really is as simple as the title suggests. Just wash and rinse your plastic sandwich and storage baggies. Spend the extra money and by Ziploc or other major brand baggies, and reuse them until they wear out. Baggies can be reused for multiple uses so that one box of bags can last a year or more. As a side benefit you are also savings resources and putting less trash in landfills.

For those that need a little more encouragement or step by step instructions you can read the how to guide at eHow. There are also some more unique solution like the Bag-E-Wash which allows you to wash baggies in the dishwasher. You can even hang the baggies on the line as seen in the picture. A similar tactic I like to use is to skip baggies all together and pack stuff in reusable Pyrex or plastic containers rather than baggies.

Depending on the amount of bags that you use, you can easily save $20 a year.

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» Filed Under Frugality, Money Savers

The Happy Rock Is Looking To Expand And Bring On Another Writer

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 29, 2008

The Happy Rock is looking to expand and bring in a part time writer/blogger. Click here, to read more about the oppurtunity. I would love to find a reader who is in the trenches of debt reduction to augment the article base here at The Happy Rock. The further I am removed from being in debt, the harder it is for me to write fresh content on the whole process. Getting people out of debt is one of the main goals of the site and I think letting readers get a first hand view at someone walking their way out(with coaching) will be a great way to teach, learn, and motivate about debt reduction.

This decision will also free some extra time for me to focus on some different areas of the site and a few other opportunities I have in the pipeline.

If you don’t have blogging experience, but love writing and personal finance, don’t hesitate to contact me to find out more information. I am looking forward to meeting any interested persons.

» Filed Under Bloggers, Misc.

Debt Reduction Is About Changing Your Behavior Not Switching Money Around

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 28, 2008

Tom : I just paid off a nice chunk of my debt.
Mark : Really.
Tom : Yep, we paid off one of our credit cards!
Mark : That’s great, how did you find the money?
Tom : I used a balance transfer for a new credit card that my wife signed up for.
Mark : So you didn’t actually reduce your debt at all?
Tom : Well, I guess technically you’re right

I hear these types of conversations all the time. Let me be clear, moving debt from one account to another isn’t debt reduction. Buying a new car with a home equity line of credit still means that you have $25,000 more in debt. Paying off credit cards with another credit card or a home equity line isn’t debt reduction. The even scarier part is that you may have just done more potential harm than good.

Why…unless you change the behavior that got you into the debt in the first place there is a good chance that the empty card will fill up again and you will still have the extra balance that you transfered to your other account. Now instead of a Honda coming to repossess the car when you realize you can’t afford the payment, they will come after your house.

Switching money around usually hides the real problems. Sure, transferring money to a 0% credit can help, but only if you are focused on the real goals of debt reduction :

Debt reduction is about undoing financial messes; it is not about exacerbating them.
Debt Reduction is about changing your relationship with money and giving ourselves a positive financial outlook.
Debt reduction is about changing our bad behavior and replacing them with helpful ones.

» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Psychology of Debt

A Rolls Royce And Million Dollar House : Having Financial Vision

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 27, 2008

I know that title probably doesn’t encompass your financial dreams, but take a second to think about your idea of financial success? A nice car, comfortable life, paid for house, retire at 50? We all usually have either vague notions or uber-grandiose ideas about our financial future. It is rare that I talk to any who has given thought to envisioning the desired outcome of all their financial planning and debt reduction. Have you?

I am not talking about random daydreaming, but rather devoting serious mental energy to picturing and defining a vision for your financial future. Your financial vision should be something that inspires you. A vision that adds meaning to all of the hard work. A vision that energizes you when you are having weak or undisciplined financial moments. A vision that serves as a checkpoint for all your financial decisions.

Still not sure if you care? Picture two women in seperate cars setting out on a road trip from New York City. One woman is going to make decisions when ever she comes an intersection or highway sign. The other dreams of seeing The Grand Canyon. The second car has a clear vision and creates an itinerary and directions that will get her there in about four days while stopping at a few other sites she has been eager to see.

Where do you think the first car will end up? Michigan? Brooklyn? Florida? Will she see anything of the really interesting places that she has always wanted? Most likely she will only visit exotic places likes Credit Card Debt and Stress on her way to nowhere in particular.

Which car are you? Do you know were you are going?

» Filed Under Chasing Dreams, Financial Succes, Living with Purpose

Slashing The Budget – What Can Go?

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 25, 2008

Slashing the budget is one of the first tasks people usually tackle after they decide they want to get out out of debt. It is often a frustrating task, because of the stress of the debt and the lack of perspective on what is a need versus what is a want.

Let’s start by reiterating that getting out of debt is a marathon. It is not one decisions that gets you there, but a long series of decisions that continually build on one another that move you towards your goals. You need to make decisions that not only save you money, but also keep you running the race. If you totally deprive yourself to the point that you want to give up, you won’t every get out of debt.

With that said, the more you slash from the budget the faster you will be able to experience the benefits of getting out of debt. The faster you can sell the car that you are upside down in, or cancel the cable, or stop eating out 5 times a week, or depart with the junk you have been accumulating on credit cards the faster you can destroy your debt and start chasing your real financial dreams.

So how do you decide what is a need versus a want? A great place to start is by sorting through your bills and receipt and writing down all your monthly expenses and your gross monthly income. From there it is a lot easier to see the percentage of you income that guys to your house or car. Some items will immediately begin to jump out as unnecessary. Others you will need some nurturing to follow through on. Others may require you to build up some more financial discipline and perspective before you can execute. You can ask yourself questions like “what am I trying to accomplish by spending this money”. Questions like this help to make intentional decisions about money which is probably something that was missing up until that point. Intentionality is a major key to your financial journey.

It would be interesting if readers shared the things that they were willing to cut in order to help encourage other readers who are struggling with the same decisions.

» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Spending

Frugal Tool Chest Tip #2: The Dynamics Of Finding The Item You Want Cheaper

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 23, 2008

The Frugal Tool Chest is a recurring series covering practical tips and tools that will arm you to save even more money on your online purchases. Frugal Chest Tip #1 covered using Price Protectr to save money by getting post purchase refunds on price drops.

This tip will walk you through some of the tips and tricks to find an item that you have decided to buy at the cheapest price. The article will use my most recent online purchase as a case study: La Crosse BC-900 Battery Charger.

A few weeks ago I was reading The Simple Dollar’s rechargeable battery analysis when he enlightened me to the fact that I was ruining my rechargeable batteries. I have been using NIHM rechargeables for almost two years, but I was seeing the actual life of the battery slowly shorten after each recharge. After a little more reading I realized that I was using a junky free charger that was charging the batteries to quickly. The cheaper the equipment the faster they will break down. For chargers, the faster they recharge the shorter the life span of the batteries and the less charge they will hold. Batteries are usually meant to take 7 or 8 hours to charge depending on the setting.

Here is a list of features that made me at least willing to pay $70 on Amazon:

Comes with 4 AA and AAA batteries
Heat sensor to prevent overheating
Multiple charge currents
Drain charge mode which fully drains the battery before recharging
Capacity Test Mode
Most recommended charger on the market
C and D battery adapters*

So now that I had knew which charger I wanted and had a base price of $69.95 with free shipping, I could start looking for a better deal. The first stop was a search on eBay. I could see that I could get one for about $51 if no one else was bidding, but only one was going off a day. I did bid on one, but it went for 6 dollars over my asking price. I decided to look elsewhere.

My next stop is usually Google Product Search. The nice thing about a google product search is that they gather prices from a wide variety of smaller online stores and display seller ratings to help you make informed decisions. There were a few cheaper prices there, but they weren’t from sellers that had quality histories. This is often the case. The lower the price, the lower the quality seller and I wasn’t willing to risk it.

Then I happened to stumble upon Thomas Distributing ads in two places at about the same time. One was in the sponsored link section under my eBay search and the other was in the sponsored link section of a BC-900 google search. They were offering the charger for $38.97 with about $8.00 shipping. Sounds great, but can I trust the seller offering something that far below retail?

The next step is to google for “Reseller rating Thomas Distributing” which quickly brings you to ResellerRatings.com store rating section. To my surprise Thomas Distributing has a wonderful rating with lots of glowing reviews. Considering Amazon has a 5.1 rating and Thomas has a 9.7 I was ready to buy. You can use the “Store Finder” search on reseller ratings to research most of the stores that are worth buying from on the net.

The final step was to see if I could dig for a “Thomas Distributing coupon code”. Just by typing the simple google search a plethora of 5% coupons could be found. I was able to do a little more digging using some different word variations to dig up a 10% off credit / coupon code for Thomas Distributing. The code is GCNE10.

That brought the total down to $42.88, a savings of 39% from the listed price on Amazon. A great deal and a strong sense of satisfaction. I am not sure why it feels like you are cheating the system, but it does provide an overactive sense of accomplishment when you finalize a great deal. The charger arrived yesterday with no problems!

*Note : I misunderstood what the C and D adapters were. I thought they were adapters that let you charge C and D batteries in this charger. They are not; the BC-900 only charges AA and AAA. The adapters let you use AA batteries in C and D battery slots. I am not sure how well this will work, but it is worth a try.

» Filed Under Frugal Tool Chest, Frugality, Money Savers

Save Money At The Library – How To Return And Renew Your Books On Time

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 21, 2008

This tip comes from a reader, beth, on the library isn’t free post. Since most libraries are free to use if the books and other materials are returned on time, the way to save money is to make sure the books are returned on time. A lot of libraries have online access now to renew and view your account, but often like my system they don’t remind you of checked out books until a week or two after they were do. I suspect this may be because a portion of their income is from late fees, but I can be responsible for myself if it helps them keep the service free.

Now this is were Library Elf comes in handy. As described on the site :

Elf is a web-based and email tool for library users to keep track of their library borrowings. Elf is like a personal assistant, whose task is to help with keeping track of what one has on loan from the library.

Library Elf is able to hook into most library systems to access you account in realtime.

This account is checked everyday and email notices are sent when items are coming due, overdue or when holds are ready for pickup. As well, get up-to-date realtime information by browser.

You can also ‘merge’ multiple library accounts into one Library Elf account so that you can track the whole family or multiple library systems in one spot. Obviously, the biggest benefit is the configurable email options regarding books that are about to be due. I currently have it setup to remind me three days before the books are due and everyday after they are late. You still need to go to your libraries site or location to return or renew, but this is a huge help.

Here is the list of library systems that are supported. Check to see if your library is supported and never pay a late fee again.

*Source – Library elf About Page

» Filed Under Money Savers

Step Towards Financial Simplicity – NJM Bank Account Closed

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 20, 2008

I mentioned a few weeks that I wanted to further simplify my financial system and closing extra accounts is a big part of that. Well…I closed my NJM Bank Checking account. I have been putting this off for about a year, because the prospect of having to pay the occasional ATM fee made me cringe. Yes, I can be that cheap. The $8.00 a month ATM fee reimbursement was the sole reason I kept the account around. The ironic part is that the extra interest I will earn by having the money in ING will more than cover the extra ATM fees that we incur during the year.

The account was our first foray into the online banking world and I was happy to sign up 4 years ago, but things changes. They also gave me $25 for opening both a savings and a checking account and the interest on the checking account was 1-2%, which was pretty good 4 years ago. Since then we have moved our banking to ING Electric Orange and are very pleased.

So why not just keep the account around to avoid the occasional $3.00 ATM fee at the boardwalk? Simplicity! This may sound crazy, but having an extra account hanging around that still charges service fees if you don’t feed it a direct deposit and not having all of my money in easy to use baskets adds a level of complexity. I know this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if you have a 100 of these types of situations in your life you end up wasting hours and days thinking about things that aren’t worth your time. Even if you aren’t directly thinking about these things, these ‘open loops’ add a small amount of stress and use mental space. It is really hard to imagine that removing these types of ‘little’ tasks can have a profound effect on your life, but it does.

I am speaking from experience. As I continue to prune and simplify, each year the level of stress and in my life drops despite adding more and more important tasks. If you can’ imagine it, I understand. Looking back I can’t say that I thought it would have made a difference…it sounded silly. I was willing to give it a try though, and my life, wife, and children are reaping the benefits of simple systems that free time and energy for the things that truly matter in my life.

Give it a try. I suspect there are more than a few ‘open loops’ that pop right into your head. Just the fact that they are so easily accessible means they are taking energy from things that you would rather be thinking about like spouse, children, your business, leisure, and helping others.

» Filed Under Chasing Dreams, Personal Finance Systems, Productivity(Financial)

Your Debt Makes Decisions For You

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 16, 2008

The thing about debt is that our financial systems are setup to make it as easy as possible to spend money you don’t have. Your mailbox is littered with credit applications, and if you sign up at a store they give 15% and you are approved in about 3 minutes. At a car dealership all you have to do is sign a few papers. Even a mortgage is easy, although you have to sign a lot more papers. Thousands of dollars can transfer hands in a few minutes, and you are usually left with a depreciating asset and the obligation to pay back the money they gave plus whatever fees and interest they decide to charge you.

The ironic thing is that we often think we are buying stuff that we think will make our lives easier and more free, when in reality we just gave control of a portion of our earnings to someone else.The fact that you gave someone else control of some of your money means that they have a say in what job you work, how much you will save, and how much you will spend.

Now you can’t quit your higher paying dead end job that you hate to take a lower paying job doing exactly what you dreamed about all your life. Can you save $500 a month for some goal that you have always dreamed off? There is a good chance that Wells Fargo, Chase, Amex, or Honda will let you know that there are a lot of things that you can’t do now.

For those that trying to get out of debt or those that think I am overlooking the benefits of debt, do this calculation. Total up your monthly debt payments: mortgage, student loans, car payments, credit cards, everything. Now divide that total by the amount you take home after taxes and you will see what percentage off your own money you aren’t in control of.

Scary, depressing? It was to me. After getting rid of $70,000 of debt, we just have a small mortgage left. It represents about 10% of our take home pay, which means I am in total control of 90% my money. The encouraging part is that you can do something about it! It might take a while, but it is worth it.

» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Psychology of Debt, Spending

Cheaper Than Cheap Tip Of The Week #5 : Save Money On Gas The Creative Way

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 15, 2008

“Cheaper Than Cheap” is a recurring tip series about frugality. The idea is to provide potentially helpful frugality tips that border on fanaticaor fictitious to the point of being humorous. Love them or hate them, let’s hear what you think. Tip #4 was on Earn Free Money By Reusing Bags At Grocery Stores.

This tip is all about getting creative. Consider the picture. This car’s single owner a got serious about cutting down her car’s weight. You could also consider removing extra weight from the trunk, removing extra seats, and even the extra cds and chapsticks you don’t use. Less weight equals higher gas mileage.

Filling your tires with nitrogen is creative, but the jury is out whether it makes fiscal sense. I head to Costco, and they put nitrogen in your tires for rotation and new purchases.

The final tip is to be creative with how you time and plan your travel. Traveling at non peak traffic hours saves gas, but that isn’t very creative. I am talking more about planning ahead and stopping at the grocery store and the bank at the same time rather than making two trips. You could even consider timing you trips with neighbors, so that you can pick a few small things up for each other and avoid the quick trips for one or two things.

I’ll give one final example of how I was creative. The Happy Rockette usually travels home(1.5 hours away) every other Thursday and this particular Thursday we had planned a surprise birthday party. I was going to leave for work early and drive up separately and surprise her. Instead, I left for work as usual and stowed myself in the trunk of the Murano. Presto $20 in gas saved, cramped legs, but boy was my wife surprised!

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