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Sunday Roundup: Ice Fishing

Ice Fishing in Portland, Maine — Image by Captain Kimo via Flickr

Update: Something wonky’s happening with this post. If you’re seeing it in your reader again, just ignore it.

Twenty years ago, my grandparents were living in Arizona. They went to see Grumpy Old Men in the theater and, during an ice-fishing scene, they overheard the people next to them talking about how impossible it was. You can’t walk on the ice, let alone drive there! Naturally, my grandparents corrected them.

For the uninitiated, in the land of 10,000 frozen lakes, ice fishing is an actual pastime. The ice on a lake can reach 36 inches, which is more than enough to drive on by 24 inches. Ice-fishing aficionados will drill a hole through that frozen mess, drop a line through the hole and find dinner. Last night, I went ice fishing for the first time in at least 10 years, probably 15. On the lake we were on, they actually plow roads across the ice. It sounds cold, but we were in a 20-foot fish house with a generator, a couch, and a TV. The neatest thing was the underwater radar thingy that turns ice-fishing into a video game.

30 Day Project Update

This month, I am trying to establish the Slow Carb Diet as a habit. At the end of the month, I’ll see what the results were and decide if it’s worth continuing. For those who don’t know, the Slow Carb Diet involves cutting out potatoes, rice, flour, sugar, and dairy in all their forms. My meals consist of 40% proteins, 30% vegetables, and 30% legumes(beans or lentils). There is no calorie counting, just some specific rules, accompanied by a timed supplement regimen and some timed exercises to manipulate my metabolism. The supplements are NOT effedrin-based diet pills, or, in fact, uppers of any kind. There is also a weekly cheat day, to cut the impulse to cheat and to avoid letting my body go into famine mode.

I’m measuring two metrics, my weight and the total inches of my waist , hips, biceps, and thighs. Between the two, I should have an accurate assessment of my progress.

Weight: I have lost 29 pounds since January 2nd! That’s 4 pounds since last week. 13 more to meet my goal for February.

Total Inches: I have lost 15 inches in the same time frame, down 1 since last week.

Best Posts

Thinkgeek has a new high-protein, low-carb snack. Did you know that toasted ants taste like bacon? I’m far more tempted than I should be.

On the off chance that somebody has missed the memo over the years, tax protesting–the art of ignoring your taxes because you don’t like them–will not end well for you.

I’ve been fighting an urge to get a Kindle. Over the last few weeks, the itch has been getting harder to ignore. Money Crashers has a list of resources for free ebooks, making the itch that much worse.

That’s two posts on spending money. Here’s one to balance that with making money. Do you know the best time to post an eBay auction?

LRN Timewarp

This is where I review the posts I wrote a year ago. Did you miss them then?

Have you ever participated in a financial binge & purge? Budgeting and planning can help you avoid the purge, but you’ll have to forgo most of the binges.

Everybody gets caught by life’s ups and downs occasionally. When that happens, how can you fix the damage to your budget and finances?

Finally, I explained my plan for shopping quickly.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked and Guest Posts I’ve Rolled

Brown Bagging Your Way to Savings was included in the Festival of Frugality.

Debt Burnout was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader. I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook. Facebook gets more use than Google. It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter. This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of. I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great week!

Sunday Roundup: Home Depot and Your Kids

Misc

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday, I took my girls to Home Depot. On the first Saturday of every month, Home Depot has a workshop for kids that gives kids a chance to make a small craft project with a parent. For free. This month was race cars. My girls look forward to it all month.

30 Day Project Update

This month, I am trying to do 100 perfect push-ups in a single set. I’m recording each session in a spreadsheet. As of this writing, I am up to 26 in a set, doing about 90 per twice-daily session. I’m expecting to do more tonight(Saturday) as I’m currently taking a 24 hour break to let my muscles heal a bit. By previous experience, I’m guessing I’ll hit 30-35 in the morning.

Weight Loss Update

I am on the Slow Carb Diet. At the end of the month, I’ll see what the results were and decide if it’s worth continuing. For those who don’t know, the Slow Carb Diet involves cutting out potatoes, rice, flour, sugar, and dairy in all their forms. My meals consist of 40% proteins, 30% vegetables, and 30% legumes(beans or lentils). There is no calorie counting, just some specific rules, accompanied by a timed supplement regimen and some timed exercises to manipulate my metabolism. The supplements are NOT effedrin-based diet pills, or, in fact, uppers of any kind. There is also a weekly cheat day, to cut the impulse to cheat and to avoid letting my body go into famine mode.

I’m measuring two metrics, my weight and the total inches of my waist , hips, biceps, and thighs. Between the two, I should have an accurate assessment of my progress.

Weight: I have lost 35 pounds since January 2nd. That’s 2 pounds since last week, meaning I missed my February goal by 7 pounds. I added some cheese back into my diet, to see if it hurt. It did. Research showed that dairy inhibits the insulin response, make dairy a bad thing for a diet entirely out of proportion to its glycemic index.

Total Inches: I have lost 19.5 inches in the same time frame, down 2.5 inches since last week.

Best Posts

Lifehacker ran a post on simple ways to make money online. They may not all pay well, but the poorly-paid tasks are something you can do while watching TV.

Finally! A post explaining the exact connection between autism and vaccinations.

I’d love to see free-market healthcare given a chance, just once. We’d never go back.

Going to college, try some of these scholarships.

Most observant people realize that TSA is a joke. For those who didn’t realize that, TSA admitted it, too.

LRN Timewarp

This is where I review the posts I wrote a year ago. Did you miss them then?

This week last year, I wrote a post about doing 100 push-ups in a single set. Is it a coincidence that I’m trying again a year later?

Carnivals I’ve Rocked and Guest Posts I’ve Rolled

Money Problems – Day 3: What’s Coming In? was included in the Festival of Frugality.

5 Reasons Why I Splurge On Travel was included in the Totally Money Carnival.

Ignore Your Budget was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader. I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook. Facebook gets more use than Google. It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter. This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of. I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great week!

4 Ways We Keep Wasting Money

Finance

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

MSN Money has an article up on common ways money is wasted. Here is my spin.

We(as a species) tend to do a great job of wasting money. Between inertia and the emotional pain of cutting off something we have gotten used to–whether it be Netflix or a 3rd arm–it’s hard to kill wasted costs. As Robert Heinlein said, “Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.”

MSN listed 4 ways to make your money go bye-bye:

1. Credit cards

According to the article, in the US, the average rate of interest is 15% for a total nation-wide debt of $850 billion-with-a-B. That’s insane. I lucked out and quit using my cards before the CARD act forced all the issuers to send their rates to the moon. I’ve opted out of every agreement change since then, while I pay off the remaining balances. 15%! If you buy something for $1000 and pay it off in a year, that’s $1150. What could you do with an extra $150? It’s time to get out the torches and pitchforks and drop by Mr. Debt’s house.

2. Overdraft fees

I set up an overdraft protection account years ago, because it was a heckuva lot cheaper than bouncing checks. It came with a 25% interest rate and a $2 fee per use. A couple of months ago, they boosted the fee to $10 per use. Jerkface, you’re already cashing in on my interest, do you have to touch me like that at the beginning of the date, too? Thankfully, we haven’t used our overdraft protection since we went on our debt-killing crusade in April of 2009. Oh, Mr. Debt! You’re going to have a really bad day when I get to your house. There will be a smoothie à la Otis when I get there. Side note: If you’ve got a dark sense of humor, rent Otis. Not only will you love it, you’ll get the smoothie joke.

3. Unused memberships, gift cards and rebates

Gym memberships are the big example here. People buy a membership because they set some awesome New Year’s resolution, use it for 2 months, then spend 6 months telling themselves they’ll start using it again soon before they finally cancel. At $30 per month, that’s $180 that could have been spent sending me presents. If you must get a gym membership, wait until spring. That’s when people tell themselves they don’t need a membership because it’s so nice out, they can just exercise outside. When people tell themselves that, the gyms cut membership costs to lure people in to start their own 6 months of denial.

Take a look at your other recurring costs, too. Do you use the cable package you have, or could you be just as happy with the next one down? Do you need the donkeys-and-kneesocks-around-the-world channel? You’ve gotten your 10 CDs for a penny, can you tell Columbia House where to go with their $20 per CD commitment?

4. Airline fees

This one is easy. Forget the 3 hour lines, fees for showing up, Pervo-Scan™, and minimum-wage molestation agents masquerading as cops. Drive whenever possible. If it’s not possible, show up in a kilt, regimental-style(assuming you are a guy!). Don’t check a bag, just ship if overnight to your hotel. Most of the time, that’s cheaper than $50 per bag, anyway. Avoid the fees as much as possible.

What other ways have you wasted money?

Looking Back: 2012 in Review

Misc

Another year draws to a close while I still feel like it’s March…2002. How does that happen?

Here are the 10 most visited pages on this site over the past year:

Numbers 4 & 8 surprise me a bit, because they are carnival posts. There’s no meat there.

Number 10 is an unfinished series. I will finish that soon.

What else has happened this year?

My financial situation has changed pretty drastically.

My mother-in-law passed away in April, leaving my wife a house, a reasonably well-funded retirement account, and a moderate life insurance policy.
Two of my side hustles have grown to the point where I was close to looking at the end of my day job. One of them is still on the upswing, the other has contracted a bit.
I changed my day job. The new job is mostly a lateral move, but a bit of a backwards step in my career. I’m not managing a team any more and I’m not the senior developer. I have picked up more social media and advertising responsibilities, which is a direction I’ve wanted to go for a while. Combined with a pay raise and moving to an industry I care about, this is a good move.

These changes worked out well with the several years of debt elimination. Now, our credit cards are paid off each month and our mortgage is down to $24,000. The inherited house is almost ready for the renters to move in just one month from now, and we’re considering adding more properties to our financial plan. We did take out a car loan 6 weeks ago, but that was only to take advantage of a deal. We’ve paid off nearly half of the loan and should have the rest paid off in a couple of months.

What’s on tap for 2013?

I’m hoping to carve out more time for me. And my family. I’ve worked almost nonstop in 2012, now I’d like to explore some personal interests and develop some non-commercial hobbies. There are a few commercial projects currently in the works, and a few planned, but I’m going to try to keep those under control this year. My interest vary and don’t always stick for long, so there’s no real measure of success here, but if I can buy an atlatl and learn how to chuck a spear into a target or maybe brew a few batches of beer, I’ll be happy.

I’m also going to spend more time working on my health. Working 60 hour weeks with at least an hour of daily commute time killed most options for exercise. Now that I’m working from home, I’ve been walking a mile or more every day that’s been above 15 degrees. I’m going to restart the slow carb diet tomorrow. It won’t be as complicated this time, because I can eat out of my refrigerator instead of trying to pack a slow carb meal or find one at a restaurant for lunch. I’ll consider this a win if I can drop 60 pounds this year.

What about the blog?

I’ve considered selling this site. Time is always crunched, and I’m no longer paying off debt, but I still need the outlet. I’ll probably keep to the twice-a-week schedule and you can probably expect me to focus more on personal and business development instead of money.

Have a happy new year!

Dolly Parton’s Car Crash and the Importance of Insurance

Celebrities

Better Get to Livin' — Better Get to Livin’ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

America’s country sweetheart, Dolly Parton, was in a car accident recently. Although she was only a passenger in this minor fender-bender, she still suffered some injuries requiring a quick hospital visit and rest. The offending driver did not stop as he was supposed to and struck Parton’s vehicle. Parton surely has auto insurance, and hopefully the offending driver has coverage as well.

Auto Insurance 101

Every month, you pay a premium toward your coverage balance. Coverage varies by state, from hospital bills to repairing damaged street items, like guard rails. People with expensive cars pay higher premiums while inexpensive cars have lower amounts. Some buyers only purchase the bare minimum of coverage, called comprehensive. This coverage does not help in the Parton crash because it typically covers vehicle damage from objects, like flying rocks, rather than a collision situation.

How Much Does That Part Cost?

Repairing a vehicle after a car crash can lead to astronomical figures. A simple dent in the bumper may warrant an entire part replacement costing thousands of dollars. The offending driver in Parton’s accident is at fault. His insurance should cover Parton’s insurance deductible and any other expenses that arise. If he is not covered, she could technically sue him for damages, although there may not be many funds to pay out.

Those Medical Bills

Coupled with a car repair, Parton and her driver also went to the hospital. The offending driver uses his auto insurance to cover their medical bills. Any bills generated from the driver or passenger’s injuries goes directly to the offending driver’s insurance. If he is not properly covered with this policy feature, he must pay for the bills out-of-pocket. With medical bills costing thousand of dollars, he probably called his insurance agent right away to see if his policy has that coverage.

Luckily, Parton’s accident was not severe, but ongoing injuries can slowly siphon funds out of the offending driver’s account. If Parton has whiplash, for example, she may need multiple visits to a chiropractor or other specialty doctor. Each visit should be covered by the offending driver’s insurance. Because she has good insurance coverage does not mean that her policy should pay out. The party at-fault always pays for both car repairs and medical bills. With treatment that takes several weeks to a few months, the offending driver’s insurance rates will typically jump next policy year.

Someone Has To Pay For It

Depending on the insurance company, an accident on your record causes your premiums to rise. You are now considered a risk to the company. It is possible that you will cause another accident incurring more cost. Insurance companies must weigh their risky customers with their good drivers. Hopefully Parton recuperates quickly so the offending driver’s rates do not remain high for several years.

You may not think of auto insurance as a top priority, but the reality of Parton’s fender-bender shows everyone that accidents happen at any time. Even celebrities must cover their vehicles with good insurance to protect their assets.

Saturday Roundup – Dirty Beggar Edition

Misc

: Image by Chris Pirillo via Flickr

I have a favor to ask. Free Money Finance is running his annual March Money Madness blog contest. Please drop by and vote for me. Just comment with “Game 6: Bags”. Thank you!

Starting next week, my roundups will be happening on Sunday. I weigh in on Saturday, and that just makes me feel rushed on Saturday mornings.

Free Money Tip

INGDirect is having a sweet promotion. Open a checking account, use it three times in 45 days, and get $50 free. Free money is the best kind. I love my ING account and keep all of my savings there. If you don’t have an account there, yet, now is a great time to open one.

30 Day Project Update

I’m measuring two metrics, my weight and the total inches of my waist , hips, biceps, and thighs. Between the two, I should have an accurate assessment of my progress.

Weight: I have lost 20 pounds since January 2nd. That’s 3 pounds since last week.

Total Inches: I have lost 10 inches in the same time frame, down 1 since last week.

That is kind of a disappointing week, after losing 17 pounds in the two previous weeks. Still, it’s progress. Should I blame it on getting sloppy with the supplements and timed exercise, which aren’t(technically) necessary, the vagaries of losing weight, or the fact that I(gasp) had some feta cheese on a salad yesterday(Dairy is out, but I didn’t recognize it until it was too late and I was happy.)? I’ll go with B. Weight loss is never completely consistent.

Best Posts

If some puny little constellation can mess up our zodiac signs, what will a second sun do?

Everyday Tips and Thoughts ran a post on cell phone etiquette. I agree wholeheartedly with the bathroom talkers. I’m in there trying to concentrate, and you’re yammering to your bank, or your girlfriend? Expect me to flush every 2 minutes.

Important question: what caliber for land shark?

Do you juggle too much? Project Happily Ever After explains the difference between balls that bounce and balls that break.

Buy Like Buffet is giving away an iPad.

LRN Timewarp

This is where I review the posts I wrote one year ago.

I wrote a post about saving money on health care. It’s still a good post, but the HSA/FSA rules have changed. Now, you need a prescription to stock up on OTC meds at the end of the year to spend out your account.

When you buy something, do you ask yourself if you really need it? I wrote a post to help answer that question.

I also posted lesson 4 of my budget series. This is where I go over my “set aside” funds, the money for bills that are not regular or for set amounts.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked and Guest Posts I’ve Rolled

5 Things to Do in the New Year was included in Crystal’s rockin’ Totally Money Carnival. I’ll be hosting it in a couple of weeks.

Quit Smoking: My First Frugal Move…Ever was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader. I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook. Facebook gets more use than Google. It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter. This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of. I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great weekend!

Search Results for: slow-carb-diet-how-to-avoid-going-bat-crazy/contact-me/INGDirect/medical-costs-and-choices/subscribe-by-email/ignore-your-budget/4-ways-we-keep-wasting-money/3-things-you-need-to-know-about-homeowners-insurance/contact-me

30 Day Project Update

Best Posts

LRN Timewarp

Carnivals I’ve Rocked and Guest Posts I’ve Rolled

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

30 Day Project Update

Weight Loss Update

Best Posts

LRN Timewarp

Carnivals I’ve Rocked and Guest Posts I’ve Rolled

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

1. Credit cards

2. Overdraft fees

3. Unused memberships, gift cards and rebates

4. Airline fees

Free Money Tip

30 Day Project Update

Best Posts

LRN Timewarp

Carnivals I’ve Rocked and Guest Posts I’ve Rolled

Get More Out of Live Real, Now