Today I took my recycling along with me on my way to work. Also took two small bags of garbage that were left by my renter (he moved out yesterday). I don't know what he was doing, but he filled up by himself two big bins just full of bottles, and they could barely hold them all. Doing this and not paying for garbage pickup saves me $30 a month.

Anyway, thats not what "paid" me today (although it is a help in the finances). The smaller of the two garbage bags I took seemed extra heavy, and I couldn't understand how it could weigh so much. It was a tied up grocery bag, and it looked like there were papers inside. So, I thought... "Why don't I open the bag and put the papers in with the recycling?". (See, I am a good person sometimes) At the next light I untied the bag and pulled out a number of apartment guides he had been using. Then I noticed a zip-loc bag at the bottom. I picked it out and it was full of coins! No wonder the bag was heavy.

Apparently he kept the coins in case he travelled toll roads or went through tunnels (He was going through Baltimore). This bag had coins, and not that many pennies either! At work I took the coins out and counted. It came up to $8.73 I'm not going to get rich with them, but hey, it was certainly worth the trouble.

So you never know. Recycling can come up with furniture for the house (see my last post), or even coins of the realm.

Went out today and everything was wet - it rained last night. Didn't find many yard sales, and all I got was some kids clothes, a child's winter jacket, and beanie babies (50 cent each). I think I spent $5 on everything.

... HOWEVER ...

As I drove down a side street I never go to (I did this time because of a YS sign), I passed a dresser left out for garbage (or for someone to pick up?). I decided to stop even though it looked big and I might not be able to take it even if I decided to try. Usually the things I check are awful, and don't bother with them. Well this one looked salvageable, and I could just barely fit it in my hatchback. After I got it home, and checked it more thoroughly, I found it was mostly solid wood (some plywood - no fibre board), no breaks at all (really built well), no water damage, all the hardware is there except a few knobs (I have plenty available in a can). Only a few scrapes and wear on the top. It looks to be a $250 - $350 dresser when new (4' wide by 3' high). After cleaning, & staining, it looks nicer than what I use now. I should be able to polyurethane it this week, and I think it will look close to new.

So this isn't a yard sale find, but it was during my rounds, and well... it sure beats paying a few hundred for it new.

Well, this isn't really an analysis, but yesterday the electric bill came in. Now understand I live in the DC area, in a 4 bedroom house. This area is muggy, and can certainly get steamy. And this bill is for mid July to mid August, which should be the worst electric month of the year. And the bill was... $72. (Last month was about $54) I know most people here have bills over $150, often over $200 at this time of year. And I don't feel like I suffered with heat either.

As I mentioned in a prior post, I use only window ac units in bedrooms, and one downstairs. No central AC for me. When I leave for the day, if its not going to be extremely hot I will leave the AC off. If it is going to be hot, I leave the downstairs AC on. The upstairs can be cooled after I get home. I let it cool while I eat downstairs. By only cooling rooms as needed my electric bill is much less than other people with matching homes to mine. And I don't worry what I set the temperature at, I just put it at whatever I feel comfortable with.

I just thought if anyone read how I cool my house and wondered if it worked, this is my results for this year.

(I don't care if anyone has this phrase trademarked, I'm using it anyway!)

Just a quickie on some of my financial doings of late:

The Good:

Got another $5.5K in 0% BT funds for 19 months. Ok, it won't get me rich, but given I can get a 6% CD right now, that means I can make another $27 / mo. I think this puts me up close to $175/mo. free money on those things right now. The first one I did runs out next April, but this one runs out April 2008!

Last weekend's yard sales were another odd set. Mostly nothing, yet I came up with two train sets (my weakness) on the same day (I rarely find one all year). A small scale one for $3, and a big scale set for $15. Not fabulous deals, but not bad. That and a few toys for kids was it. Hey, its better than buying junk that you find out you didn't really want anyway.

The Bad:

I've gotten a few credit card offers this week, every one ranks as an "ugh". Each one offers some special thing like you can get rebates on purchases and free airline lounge availability. Of course there is a yearly fee on each card, so you have to do a lot of work to break even, and much more to make it come even close to a cash back card. Noooooooooooo thanks. Unless my job requires me to fly 20 times a year (ain't happening), these cards definitely aren't worth it to me.

Last weekend I went to the book store to use some store credits to buy a DVD set. The computer went haywire (I think) and said that the card I used had so much money on it, it paid for the set, and now had more on it then when I gave it to the cashier. I was honest and told the guy at the register that can't be right, and I would use another store credit to pay for it. He insisted that it said it was paid for and I shouldn't worry. ~shrug~ Well that was different anyway. (OK, this is good, but its sorta disconforting when the system can screw up that way. The next time might go against me.)

The Ugly:

And then I get a letter from the IRS saying I wasn't eligible for a "damaged spouse" portion of last year's IRS refund. The letter made no sense, as it only told me I wasn't eligible as I didn't withhold more taxes than I owed. Well they did take my refund (meaning I did pay more), so I don't know WTF they're talking about. I used the form exactly as they described, showing I should get about $200 back. The letter said I could appeal for up to 6 years. I dunno, but I am considering it. Maybe I really shouldn't get the money, but it would be nice if they sent along a real explanation as to why!

The above is my 2nd argument with the IRS. The first was maybe 20 years ago. They came back months after I filed and said I did not include earnings from so-&-so, so my taxes should have been $X more, and now I needed to $X more plus another % again. Turned out they were right, though I never got the paperwork from the employer, and had forgotten about it. However they couldn't be bothered to notice that meant I also under reported my withholdings. I had to write back to point out their mistake now. Finally they agreed and I sent in money, but only about 25% of what they were originally looking for. Gotta luv that superior IRS work. :P

I went into a store today and bought something (other than food, gas, and dental) for more than $10 for (I believe) the first time this year. Don't fret for me, it was only a new set of sheets for the bed, and with a 30% clearance, and a discount coupon as well. It still came to almost $40. I had no idea how expensive those things had become. Its not that I can't afford it, its just when you don't shop in a store for over half a year, it feels strange doing it again.

...when you have everything running smoothly? That is, once you have cut your wasteful expenses, maximized your earnings on savings, fine tuned other expenses, and so on. That seems to be the point I am at. I can only think of two things I can cut back on, the cell phone (I'm thinking of going to a pre-paid plan), and the car insurance (I really should comparison shop when its time to renew).

I'm not upset, but the past few weeks have been nothing special (OK, I did get a few great deals at yard sales), but I am running out of ideas for making things work better. I guess this is not such a bad thing, I'm saving money, and not having to worry about my finances.

Actually I have one idea, but it will need to wait until the end of the year. I hope to post it here in a few days.

You know 'em. The ones you see on TV, hear on radio, read in the paper. The "expert" on ... well whatever it is they're talking about. Sometimes they're an expert due to their life experiences, sometimes its due to education (quite often dubious, but let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt). Then there is the ones that for the life of me I think they pick off the street. The ones that like to hear themselves talk.

I can hear you thinking, "What got this rant started?" As well you should think that. So what was it? I tend to listen to "Marketplace" on NPR radio each evening (ok, usually 2-3 days each week). They often will have someone read a little one to two minute speech on their thoughts on the economy or sometimes just anything at all. Today they had a .... ehm ... "wonderful" commentary by some woman that thinks she knows how to save. What's her secret? Its to save money on the big ticket items and ignore everything else.

Her advice? You spend $4 on a latte every day? No problem. Brown bagging a lunch? Why bother? Giving your husband a haircut? Boy are you missing the big picture. Is someone telling you to save money this way? Roll your eyes (but only when they're not looking.)

She is the co-founder of some "group". If I start a group, can I be an expert too?

Lastly, I should say that when the time comes up, "Yes - Oh holy Yes" you should pay attention to the big ticket items. You certainly can get a big advantage when the big ticket items come up. But ignoring the rest is stupid, stupid, hello is anyone home? stupid.

Oh, and finally, if anyone from NPR is reading this, I just formed the "High Impact Saving" Group (tm). If you need an expert commentary, don't be shy to ask.

(Oops, almost forgot, here is the link:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2006/07/25/PM200607257.html)

PS: Perhaps I shouldn't.... aaaaaaaaah, I can't help myself..... but her group is the "business talent group". Just what exactly is their talent???? (bad blogger, baaaaad blogger)

Actually, as has been the pattern for the past month or more, the yard sales were sparse. But again, I did very well with what I did find.

I picked up some toy train items, and checked them online, I figure I can sell half and get what I paid, and keep the rest for myself So not a super deal, but it works for me.

The real deal came at the very last sale. I was almost back home, and saw a small sign, and wandered about, and found it about a mile from my house. It didn't look like much, just a lot of clothes. Well it turned out the clothese were for a man that had just died, and his measurements were exactly mine. Plus his son in law said he never saw a man with so much clothes, so there was a ton to look through. Most were new, and some with tags still on them. I ended up spending $20 for: a complete business suit, a large leather jacket, a large rain jacket (to put over suit), two other business slacks, and 5 casual business shirts. As I said, all like new (three still with tags on), probably totalled $200 - $300 in the stores for all of it.

No, I don't have any diamonds, nor am I in a position where someone thinks I should buy one (good luck there). If you read my other posts, you can guess my feelings on the things. For those of you that can't, here's a hint (they're hard rocks, thats *ALL* they are!)

So, if this isn't on my mind, or in my life, why bring it up? There is a fun and informative forum dialog about diamonds, and how stupid or smart it is for a man to buy one for a woman. Its at...

Isn't that the catch phrase from some SNL skit? (Obviously I'm not the most up to date in when it comes to the latest "in phrases").

Where was I? Oh yeah... this weekend I got my latest Money magazine. In it is a family that is given money guidance. Lemme tell ya, if you have read some of my previous posts on what I do to save money and think I'm crazy, well this family has got me beat. Its a family of 6, with the couple earning $92,000/year, and yet saving almost $47,000! They do things like: grind their own wheat and make bread, the husband (a surgical resident at the Mayo clinic in Minnesota) commutes to work on a scooter that gets 115 MPG (that puts my 40 MPG VW to shame), have two wood stoves, and buy virtually zero new. He's planning on converting a diesel car he bought to run on vegetable oil.

This family needs money help??? Actually they do give them some good advice. Anyway, after being amazed at how they save money, two things made me wonder just what was going on.

The yearly costs for "medical and dental expenses" is listed at $390. Read that again to make sure you got it right. That is for a year, and I think (though I might be wrong) that includes medical insurance costs! I'm in great shape, have a heavily subsidized insurance by my employer, and my coverage for me (and only me) costs almost $500 / year. I can only guess he gets free medical care where he works. If not... then I must have fallen into a time warp.

The second thing is that the guy doesn't invest his money, keeping it all in a bank account. Apparently he lost half of a mutual fund's value in the "crash". I'm assuming this means the 2000-2002 area. The only way you lost 50% was if you invested heavily (and recklessly if you ask me) in tech stocks, otherwise most funds lost at most 30% (which is still painful). (Oh, btw, I truly did invest zero in tech stocks back in the 90's. I had co-workers tell me what a great deal it was to invest in that junk, and I would just laugh and tell them to wait and see what a great "deal" investing in that would turn out to be. A few came back and told me that I sure was right about what was going to happen.)

All in all, an interesting read, especially if you are into learning how to be "super frugal".

Yep, I love my yard sales. Ok, that may be a lil strong, but I really don't like going to the mall, nor even to the walmart (my last visit there was a month ago). So my one time out and about each week window shopping (so to speak) is Saturday morning.

So what I have noticed? Well the last month has had fewer yard sales, about 50% of what I would see last year. I don't know why this is. However, the quality of the sales I do find is usually better. So I get the same as before, but with less effort - a big plus.

So what are some of my latest finds? Lesee...

A pair of Nike sneakers that I found online for $100, I picked up very nice for $2 (I am *not* a brand freak - but I have to admit they do feel nice)
A Department 56 building to use on my toy train displays (tag on box was $50 - I got for $5 and it looked like it was never out the box)
A golf shirt for $2 (ok, that don't sound like much but it was new with the tags still on it - and the suggested price on the tag was $92! And it is made with "Silk Cotton" - never heard of it, but it sure is smooth)
A set of sheets for a friend's bed ($3 - unopened)
Hand drill - 50 cents
A table fan - $1
A table lamp - $5 (ok, that don't sound great, but it had a brand new high quality shade on it (maybe $10 in a store?), plus it came with a working compact flourescent lamp inside.)
A box of a dozen unused shoe laces - 50 cents (again it doesn't sound that great, but my work shoes needed new laces, and this box had a set that matched mine - one less expense)

OK enough bragging for me

I don't normally discuss my expenses (I usually don't do anything thrilling), but today I think came out very well indeed, so I'll write it down.

I started the day with yard sales:
Edging for around the flower beds: $4 (should be enough to do the whole yard)
A sit on / ride on / holds garden tools rider: $3
New sneakers (Nike): $2
Old toy train track: $1 (I checked for this type online, it would sell for about $25)
Toy lawnmower that blows bubbles for a child I know: $0.50 (its like new)

Then I went and set up a CD at my credit union - 3 years at 6% (pretty good rate)

Took my renter to the airport after this, and he gave me $25 for the ride (I told him he didn't need to but he insisted).

Went to McDs afterward, and with coupons I received 2 weeks ago got a large drink and quarter pounder for $1 total.

Next went to book store and with store credits, buy 2 get one sale, and an additional 15% off coupon, got 3 seasons of TV series (regular price $130, I paid with my credit card $1.76)

Next went to see a movie, paid $0 (free movie coupon online courtesy Johnny Walker liquors)

After movie went to McDs, had more coupons like above, again paid only $1.

When I got home I had my quarterly dividend check in the mail (electric company - was only $23 - but still it was nice).

OK, I'm staying home from here on out today, I don't think I can improve my finances after all of this.

Afraid I was working too much the past week. Every night I got home too tired to blog. Also, not much was going on. Anywho...

I had my phone and internet service changed to the local cable TV supplier this week. Their promo rate, which lasts a year, is for the combination at a savings of $10/mo compared to what I had. And now I have cable internet, not dial up. So much faster speed, and costs less. Yep, I can live with that. LOL More money to go into savings, that works too.

More of my frugal throughts, ideas, and just plain goings on...

This week my mulberry tree out back has started producing way too many berries for me to get at. I now have a few quarts in the fridge, and I suspect I will have another gallon easily by the end of the weekend. And there is so much that just falls to the ground and goes to waste. Oh well, my cereal will have fresh fruit for some time. Cost - el zippo.

As I do research online for deals and offers, I find there is so much available for free, it truly is amazing. I thought this type of thing went away with the dot-com implosion. Of course now its not so dramatic as back then, but there is still good stuff available. Tonight I signed up for a free movie ticket. Don't know if it will be my choice of movie, but who cares, I go out so seldom any movie will be new to me.

Now that I have done two 0% credit card bank transfers I am getting more of these offers than I ever did. They must really like me! I know there are people out there that do so much more than I would consider, but this is easy money to earn, how can I pass it up? (FYI: the first two should earn me ~$900 by next May) I've got the monthly payments setup online, so as long as I don't get amnesia, I'm all set safe and secure.

My co-worker was telling me about going out to the movies over the weekend. As he went over his expenses I joked how I understand why I don't go out to movies, they are soooooo expensive. Then he laughed and said I am making him think about his retirement more, and that when he saw how much he was spending at the time, it made him think he could have used the money for retirement instead. Hmmmm, its a start. At least he is thinking about retirement, he will make better decisions in the future, I'm sure.

Oh, one last thing. I got an email, and Barnes & Noble is having a buy two, get one DVD sale for the coming month. Now I know their DVDs are too expensive, and this sale only puts the prices down to what other stores charge. But I have store credits to use (due to my ex-wifes profligate buying books and not reading them - so I returned them). So I have been waiting to use the credits at the best time. Well that time has arrived. This weekend I will be passing by a store, and I'll be making a list!

These ideas are things that work for me, and they bounce around in my head and I mean to write them down here from time to time. Sorry, there is no overriding theme to this post, I just wanted to write these ideas up while I thought about them.
I have seen on some newsgroups where people ask how to save on water. If you want to be really frugal with water, take a shower with a bucket in the tub. It can catch a fair amount of the water being used during a shower. You can use that to flush the toilet. Depending on what your water rates are, that can make a minor or major savings. Also, where I live the sewage is based on your water reading, so less water in is less dollars out for sewage as well.
Look into doing mystery shopping work. It is a little hard to get started, but once you do, it is nice extra money. I do it for one restaurant, but not too often, and only when I want to. Ignoring the free meal (which is the best part of doing this), I get $25 for doing one, but the amount of work it takes to type everything they want (usually 3 hours) means I am making barely above minimum wage. I guess the point is do it if you like to do it, not to make a living, because you can't.
Go to yard sales. Of course if you live out away from lots of people this may not be practical. But if you're like me, and there are dozens of sales within 10 miles every saturday, go to them if you have nothing special to do! Or if all you would do is go to the mall, go yard saling instead. This past month I have bought clothes for a tiny fraction of their cost (a few were even new with tags still on them!), toys for kids (including a few still unopened at about a 75% discount), a couple tools (including a bench grinder for $5), and of course other things. I have a co-worker that says he just can't use clothes someone else wore. Of course the guy (while nice) is worse off financially than me, and he won't ever be able to catch up with me with that attitude. Oh well, to each their own.
Don't feel bad about going super frugal for a time, if the time is right. I mean, I *know* I am doing some things to save money that I know others wouldn't do, and thats ok. And I won't do them forever. But I'm living alone for the moment, so I can do it now, but I understand things will change sometime in the future. Thats ok, because I will have saved money now, and invested it, and will be doing great later.
OK, another frugal idea. Do you work someplace where you have a ton of paper towels available to just dry your hands and throw away? Well, you can just take what you use to dry your hands back to your desk and put them in your work bag to take home(assuming you have one), and then use them at home for things like cleaning windows. I was doing that today, and I used up the stockpile I built up the past few weeks. Its better than paying for paper towels, and better for the envirnment too (less waste).

Hopefully some of these thoughts / ideas can help someone out there.

Hmmm, this weekend I did so-so on the yard sales. I picked up new work slacks for $1, a toy train set (my hobby) for $3, coaxial cable for free (looked like 25 feet), 6 old matchbox / hot wheel cars for $0.25 each, insulating foam in a can for $1.50, 2 lunch containers (to take lunch to work) for $0.50, and some other odds and ends. I think the total ended up about $12. All in all pretty good.

I ended up having to go back to the store (Staples) I got some software earlier in the week. The store charged $20 more than they were supposed to. After some looking about they realized there were two versions of the box with the software, and the one I got was for some reason bringing up the wrong price. No problem getting the money back, but one less trip would have been nice.

I returned my a book my ex-wife bought to the bookstore and used the store credit to get a DVD of a show by the BBC. While a lot of British TV is just plain weird, their documentaries are top notch. Its the 3rd documentary I got by them and I haven't been disappointed yet.

And I finished my latest toy train rebuild. I made a nice custom box car. Hey, it keeps me outta trouble!

I had some idle time today (always dangerous), and started thinking of what I was wearing yesterday, and then after adding up the cost, I expanded the thought, and went through most of my expenses for the day. I was mildly surprised at how well I had kept the costs down for the day. Perhaps this will encourage someone that it is possible to live very frugally.

With that introduction, here goes.
====================
What I was wearing:
====================
Shoes: Italian made dress shoes - $1 (yard sale)
Pants: Nice dress slacks - Free (thank you Free Cycle)
Belt: Nice leather one I have used for past year and still looks new - $1 (yard sale)
Shirt: Decent dress shirt $1 (Thirft Store)
Socks: Top of line dress socks - $0.50 (JC Penney)
Undies: Top of line (no more detail, sorry - lol) - $0.50 (JC Penney)
Glasses: Wal Mart - ($90 with insurance - but with flex spending account my after tax cost was about $65)
Beard Trim & haircut: Used home trimmer with hair attachments - Free
Skin moisturizer: Free (Thanks to Wal-Mart samples)

=========================================
And then other expenses during the day...
=========================================
Lunch: Drink ($0.17 for can from Aldis, Precooked meal I made from kit with added veggies & tuna ($0.75), navel orange ($0.25)) Total of $1.17
Gas to get to job: ~$3.50 (44 miles with my car getting 35 MPG)
Gym for mid-day workout (+ daily shower): $0.40 (rate is $8 for a month)

=======
Dinner:
=======
Salad (spinach, carrots, olives, mushrooms, dressing - $1),
drink (free - gift of a couple of cans of fruit drink from person I helped move over the weekend),
turkey sandwich (included free cheese from same person above - $0.50)

=======
Others
=======
Online Bill pay: Paid two bills - Saved $0.78 in postage.
Heating / cooling at home: $0 - spring time is nice, isn't it?
TV viewing: $0 (no cable - Watched DVDs I got for free via trade-in of unread books)
Trash: Dropped off trash & recycleables at county transfer station on way to work - Free - Saves $30/mo. fee of pickup company.

Note: JC Penney sends out a great coupon each Christmas for $10 off any purchase, so I get myself top of the line items for a little over $10, so thats how I can get them so cheap.

Whew, ok, there it is. I don't feel like I deprive myself. Some may say so, considering I don't have cable, but I really didn't watch much TV anyway, and I'm happier right now without it.

I have read off and on how expensive pets are. You know the stories, those that say they can cost almost as much as a child. Seriously, I just read this stuff and wonder what in the world are they doing.
Anywho, in the theme of this blog (that is - savings!), here are my thoughts on ways to save with pets (and btw, I have a dog and cat, so that is where my history lies).
And one more thing, these are my thoughts on the subject. Don't take this as gospel or an expert's opinion. Take what makes sense to you, and if you think its out of line, ignore it! YMMV

Remember they may be part of the family, but they are dogs or cats. They don't look at the world like we do. They have sympathy, feelings, and all that, but really, all they want is warmth, companionship, fun, food, and a nice place to curl up. Oh, and perhaps some excitement once in a while. (and maybe a nice mouse for your cat to play with?)
They don't need expensive toys. For dogs, find used tennis balls at yard sales or near tennis courts. Dogs love them. For other toys, look at yard sales or thrift shops for cheap, but solid stuffed animals. If there is a little something wrong with the toy (a small stain perhaps), you can get it for less than a dollar usually. And the dog will love it. Just amke sure the stuffed animal is solidly sewn together, so it will hold up to rough-housing.
For cats, just try strings. They usually like them. My cat will amuse himself with tie bands from loaves of bread. I would try to buy him a toy for a dollar or two, but he kept going back to the tie band. I finally gave up, and he will play with them for hours.
For food, you can supplement their food (dry or canned) with certain types of scraps from meals. Especially dogs, as in the wild they will eat most everything of an animal if they are hungry. Of course use common sense here.
Check with your city or county to see if they have discount veterinary service. This is usually once or twice a year, so be ready to go when its available. For me I got a rabies shot for my dog a month ago for $10. But it was available for only 2 hours, so it was then or else, and I got us packed up and in the car when we needed to go.
Buy food in bulk (within reason)(and with a coupon). There is a site you can get a free food coupon. Go to: http://www.purinaone.com/30day_landing.asp

Take a few minutes and play him/her. Its free, you will make them happy, and it should make you happy. And isn't that why you got a pet in the first place?

OK, these were just a few thoughts. I haven't tried to come up with the costs for my dog and cat, but thinking it over, I would estimate they cost me maybe $250 last year. And people keep saying how good mannered they are, so I don't think I have made a mistake in how I care for them.
Again, YMMV.

Everybody needs a hobby, right? Even me, the super frugal guy has hobbies. Of course I try to keep it as inexpensive as possible.

This is just some ideas for your hobbies, as always YMMV. For those curious, I am currently into toy trains.


Find ways to make the items you collect, instead of just going out and buying at current retail. As for me, I buy old toy trains that need love and repair on ebay, especially pre-war metal trains. I get the pride of building my train cars, and having a little more invested emotionally into those train cars.
Find a local organization to join. For me, I joined a local modular club. We set up at many non-profit events during the year. Now I get to go to all of these things, enjoy myself, and I can enter these events for free! Of course there is work involved, but so what, it beats paying for a ticket at the door.
Be sensible. I mean, really, who needs 100s of {fill in the blank}. Even for me, while I like trains, I try to keep the collection sane. And in doing so, I keep my expenses down.
Find something similar to what you like. I used to be into baseball cards big time. Thankfully I didn't drop too much money into them. Anyway, I found a lot of fun with sports pocket schedules. They're similar to cards, and the cost is minor compared to cards. For other hobbies, maybe there is an inexpensive substitute?


OK, those were just a few ideas, I'm sure there are more out there.

And now a lil bit of good news: I was reading various financial forums, and someone wrote about a good tax deduction I was probably able to take in 2003 and didn't. I need to pull out my paperwork and see if I would qualify. It looks like if I did I should be able to get a few hundred back. Well that would certainly be nice for a change!

OK, so its not a treasure hunt, but maybe, just maybe, the weather will be warm enough that yard sales will be starting tomorrow. After doing this for 4 years a big downside is that its become hard for me to get things that are truly useful. I have most everything (small) that I need. Its a waste to get the same things over again, so now I look for things like unique toys (toy trains anyone? ), tools, maybe a work shirt or belt.

Some weekends I get nothing, other times I hit the jackpot. One of the best from last year was when I found a lady selling her deceased husbands tools, filling a good portion of her basement. I spent maybe $100 and got power tools and lots of hand tools - retail would have been maybe $1000.

Thankfully I live in a decent suburb (not too dense but plenty dense enough) where I don’t have to travel far to get to yard sales to keep me amused for about 5 hours on a Saturday morning. Usually this can be done for me on less than a gallon of gas.

One thing to end this note on: if you have a child less than 5 years old, and you have yard sales available to you, you have gotta go. I see sooooooooo much of kids clothes and toys selling at pennies on the dollar. Not everywhere, but more than enough to never need to take kids to a retail store.

As always - YMMV.

Although I have had ideas that have saved money, one of the best (that is - highest impact) and easiest has been to work on my health.

You’ve probably heard that exercising is good for you, but you
haven’t really considered all the benefits (health and money wise) you can get from it.

Here is how I save with exercise. Of course my situation may be a little unique, your savings may not be nearly what mine are, and many people will not want to do everything I do, but still, this is just something to consider (read: your milage may vary).

My work place has a small gym that can be used at a rate of $8.00 / month. (Ok, I know this good rate isn’t available for everyone, so you’ll have to change the numbers to fit your situation.) I can use the shower at the gym and not shower at home. I can turn the water heater level down for days at a time (As I am by myself, I need only wash dishes once or twice a week.)

Here are my estimates in savings:

Fuel (natural gas for the water heater) $10/mo. (That was over a year ago, with higher prices today that might be $15 now.)
Water - This doesn’t save much, maybe $2.50 / mo. Still, it is a help.
Clothes - I have gotten my weight back down to where I can wear clothes that were good but I quickly out grew before I started in the gym. My clothing expenses last year were less than $100. Ok, this year my clothing expenses will probably go up, but not that much, maybe to $300? Still, for last year, if you say I was able to save about $360 for the year by using older (but still like new) clothes, that would be a savings of $30 / mo., although longer term this savings may be less. Also going to yard sales, smaller clothes are often sold as people gain weight, so losing weight gives you an
advantage in buying clothes really inexpensively that way.
Food - Once you lose some weight, and do those ab crunches, you feel full sooner than you used to. Its so hard to come up with a savings per month on the lower amount spent on food, but I will estimate a low $10 / mo. I think $2.50 less on food expenses a week is likely. Also this forces me to bring in my lunch every day. I would normally do this anyway, so no savings - it just enforces this to my mind to have my lunches ready each day.
Health - The past year my health expenses (other than insurance premiums) was one trip to the doctor ($15 co-pay) and a $20 co-pay for one prescription. Another one that is hard to estimate, but my health had to improve somewhat due to the exercise. If I guess one doctor visit and one prescription co-pay was avoided, I can estimate $3 / mo. savings.
One thing to note here - if you are doing any type of hard exercise (sports, weight lifting, or other intense exercise) there is always the chance of injury and a boat load of expenses that could follow.
This could mean the health savings are illusionary if you are not careful. So take that for what its worth.
Other savings - Not going out for expensive lunches with co-workers. This gives me an excuse to skip these outings if I desire, as I am now known for working out every day. I will do this occasionally, but can skip these. Savings of maybe 6 over a year, $20 per time, gives $10 / mo. on average.


OK, so what is the total:
Fuel: $15
Water: 2.50
Clothes $30
Food: $2.50
Health: $3
Other: $10
Cost: $8
Total benefits per month: ($55 savings + better health)

This is just food (or exercise in this case) for thought.

Normally I wouldn't care to write about the amount of groceries I spend each week. I don't really have a budget, instead I just observe what I am spending on, and make sure not to waste money (or at least not often).

Anyway, last week was a little different. I have found I usually spend about $25/week, and the past week was certainly very close, at $25.90 (Aldi's plus some loss leaders at another store). However, as I do mystery shop dining at a local restaurant from time to time, and did one this past week, my weekly expenses on food was a net of $0.90 due to my work on a shop this past week. They pay well ($25), but the work is hard (a few hours of typing). I thought it was cool to have a very inexpensive week.

This is just a little thought for the day.

One thing I haven't seen discussed often in the blogs is making the best of a bad situation. Usually it is on the lines of how to save, where/what to invest, how to get a better paying job, and so on. All excellent things to know or do. And some of them have helped me in the past year.

But what do you do when something bad happens? For me that happened a few years ago when I was laid off one day. Of course the first thing I did was apply for unemployment benefits. Next was start scouring the papers, employment centers, etc... looking for a job. But its not like you can be out trying to get a job every day 9 to 5. After a while there isn't that much you can do, but plug along and keep trying.

After a month or so I got to the point of asking "now what"? I looked at what I had available (extra time) and thought how could I make the best use of that. While different answers can come up for different people (classes, research, projects,...), I noticed my house needed a new roof. For the next four months I took my time and re-roofed my house by myself. Thankfully I had some money saved up for a rainy day, and while I would have liked to have kept the money in case something really bad happened, I looked at this as making an investment. Even if I needed to sell the house and move, I knew the ability to sell a house with a new roof would give a excellent return on the cost. It turned out to cost about $700 versus many thousands from various contracts. And by the next year I was able to get a new job (lower pay, but thankfully only a ~15% pay cut)

I guess this is just a little reminder to step back when you think something is bad and say "OK, now how can I make this work for me?"

That title question probably has a million different answers depending on the situation. I guess in this case what I am asking is, if you have a daily expense, and with not too much effort you can save 10%, wouldn't you do it?

For me that question comes up as I have been trying to car pool to work. Most people don't want to do it, or only if the amounts saved are really extreme. I now have someone I carpool with, but due to his schedule its only twice a week. And since he is half the way to work, the one day he drives I still have to go half way. So my savings are 10%, which is about 2/3 of a gallon of gas. Some people behave like its just not worth it, but I'm ok with it. Its not like I have to do it every day, and it is a saving.

I dunno, just a thought on my part. Saving 10% is worth it, isn't it? Right ... right?

This is just a quick thought, thinking ahead to summer. And by the way, this info is my take on things, your situation may vary.

For those of you owning a home, you know (or will some day) that one of the biggest costs you can have is getting a central a/c unit. The darn things are super expensive. Yet, what are you to do?

Years ago people did without a/c. In fact I grew up without it, though I lived in the mountains of PA, and it was always cool at night, so the most that would be needed to sleep at night might be a fan on occassion.

Well now I live near DC, and summer nights can be brutal, and certainly the days can be. So when I bought my house 8 years ago, and looked into a central a/c unit (yes, the system in this house was dead - that's why I got it so cheap!) the prices were more than I felt comfortable with. I had yet to build up any savings to handle a bad stretch, so I decided to do what everyone did where I grew up, look into a window a/c unit.

The cost of an a/c unit then was (I think) about $175. This could handle two rooms. I figured two of these could handle 2/3 of the house, and since there was only me and my wife, I didn't need more horsepower. Comparing this with the cost of a new central system ($3k to $5k) was a no brainer for me. And as I have come to understand, an even better decision than I realized.

I have co-workers that have new systems that have had them brake down within 3 years of installation, having to spend hundreds of dollars to fix. Then since they have a central system, they have to cool the whole house. Their bills, even with slightly higher SEER ratings on their central system (SEER is a rating for how efficient the unit is) have usually been 50% higher than my bills, and with houses my size or smaller.

One nice thing about my window units is I never worry about the cost of repair. I have yet have one break down on me, but if I do, I only need to go to the store and buy another, and they are cheaper and more efficient than they were 8 years ago!

The downsides have been few for me. Of course the window is now used by an AC unit, so you can't look out it. There is more noise from these units, though I don't feel its that bad. And to make them last longer and work better, I take them out each fall, open them and clean them out with a hose, put them back together and store them in the house.

And lastly I live by myself now (with a renter), and before with my wife. If you have a large family, this technique might not be as efficient for you.

I guess the moral of the story is to look at all the costs (a/c units - or anything else for that matter) when deciding on something expensive (or even cheap). I went the way that I was told wasn't the best, yet over that time I have saved thousands (unit costs + power bills).

Just a quick thought for tonight. If you don't think of things ahead of time, you may miss out on simple ways to save a few extra bucks.

What brought this to mind was a few months ago I had to replace two tires to have my car pass inspection. I tried to get a low price / decent quality tire. As I'm not Mr. Auto Fanatic, I'm not sure how I did, though I know I didn't do too bad. In any case, I remembered last time there was a tire disposal fee. I checked with my county disposal service before the tire change and found you could dump off tires for $1 each. So when the paperwork was being written up I paid attention for that, and saw they would charge $3/tire. I asked to have the tires left in my car, and then dropped them off at the dump myself for $1. Ok, not a large payoff ($4), but considering the cost (10 minutes of time & 3 extra miles of wear on car), I think it was a smart decision.

Moral of story: just think ahead to situations where you can save a few bucks easily.

Everyone out there has ideas on how to make your money work better for you. And I have to admit some of them are good ideas, a few of which I've taken to heart. One thing is rarely mentioned, and for me, I think thats a real shame. That is learning to do things for yourself.

If you are a home owner, you live in dread of having someone come in and give you an estimate on installing windows, doors, carpeting, roof (and the list goes on). Paying handymen to do basic work is the way to the poorhouse (provided you have the time to do the work yourself). You know, doing this type of work doesn't take a genius to do. Come'on think about it, do you recall the guys that you have had come in to do the work? Were they smarter than you?

Since I've owned my house I have replaced my whole roof for $700 (Corning brand shingles, it was hard work and it is a medium sized roof), replaced my 1960 era windows with double pane / low E / argon filled windows (about $2,000 for 11 large sized windows), and replaced the front door and storm door (less than $200 for the pair on sale at Lowes - but I then went and spent $100 on a top of the line door handle!). Oh, and when I bought the house I had a handyman resquare the walls in my kitchen (after I removed the original junk cabinets), and I went and installed top of the line kitchen cabnetry myself (from Home Depot - solid hickory - about $4,000, and that included the counter top).

I didn't grow up Mr. Handyman, I was just determined to be able to do things myself. I read books on the subjects, went to demonstrations at the hardware stores, started on smaller projects to get the hang of the various tools, and just did it. The work has not always been perfect, but usuaully people can't see the mistakes unless I point them out to them.
In each case the cost of paying someone to do the work would have been multiples of what it cost me to do it.

One last piece of advice on this. If you don't have much money, start small. When I replaced the windows I did them one or two at a time. I would custom order them, pay for them at pick up two weeks later, and install them on a weekend or a holiday. Then a month or two later, another two windows would be ordered, and so it went. I finished my house in 6 months using that technique. Same for the roof. I did that over a summer, doing it in small sections as I had the energy, and the sun wasn't beating down too bad. I wasn't into killing myself, so I did what I could (usually early in the morning), then quit for the day. There's no sin to have a roof half new and half old. As long as you are going to finish it soon, it will live.

OK, so why did I come up with the "High Impact Saving" for the blog? Well the easiest is to say I couldn't stand coming out with "Mr. XYZ's financial blog".

Anyhow, as I read commentaries (though not here in these blogs) I see people saying "I've cut to the bone, what more can I do?" I think if you're single (or even not), you need to come up with ideas that not only save you money, but save in other ways as well. Or can save you money in multiple areas.

So what do I do that falls into this category? Well one thing is recycling. I think this is something that helps the environment, and its just plain the right thing to do. But more than that, by doing it I have much less garbage, so little in fact I stopped my garbage pickup last fall. I take the very small trash with me once every two weeks to the local transfer station on my way to work, and save myself $30/month (remember, thats after taxes)

I have some more high impact ideas (some of which I use), I'll put them on here in coming days. But in any case, when you have run out of simple ideas to save, try to come up with something that does multiple purpose saving.