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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:

  1. Slow Carb Diet: How to Avoid Going Bat-**** Crazy
  2. How to Live Happily Without a Budget
  3. Build a Bunker: How to make a vault without breaking the bank
  4. Carnival of Personal Finance #270, the Elvis is Dead Edition
  5.  100 Pushups in 22 Days
  6. Hacking a NookColor
  7. Mastermind – The Best Personality Type
  8. Festival of Frugality: The Peer Pressure Edition
  9. About LRN
  10. Make Extra Money

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!

 

 

Sunday Roundup: Ice Fishing

Misc

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!

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Sunday Roundup: Outta Town

Misc

Scrapbooking Cupcakes!
Image by clevercupcakes via Flickr

This weekend, my wife is off scrapbooking with my mother and sister-in-law.   Instead of hanging around the house trying to keep three kids entertained, I’m at my brother’s house, since his wife abandoned him with their kids, too.   I’ll let his kids keep mine entertained, and vice versa.  Woo!

30 Day Project 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 30 pounds since January 2nd!   That’s only 1 pounds since last week.  12 more to meet my goal for February.  The difference this week?  I’ve cut back on the supplements, to see if they actually make a difference.  It would appear they do.

Total Inches: I have lost 16 inches in the same time frame, down 1.5 since last week.

Best Posts

I totally got live this joke.

Are you a compulsive shopper?  Money Crashers has some tips to cut that down.

Before I got a smartphone, I relied on a PocketMod for almost everything a smartphone does.  Does that make me a geek?

$39Glasses is having a killer sale.  $15 off a $40 item is huge.

Tim Ferriss has a guide to slow-carb seasonings.   It’s worth reading if your food is boring you.

LRN Timewarp

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

This was Scam Week last year.  I had a post on debt scams and scams that target disaster victims.  As we roll into flooding season, it’s important to know how these scams work.

I also discussed my attempt to teach my son to savor delayed gratification.  It has been working.  He makes long-term(for an 11 year old) plans regularly.

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

Money Problems: Setting Goals was included in the Festival of Frugality.

Your Budget is Worthless was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Brown Bagging Your Way to Savings was included in the Carnival of Money Stories.

Debt Burnout was included in the Totally Money Carnival.

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!

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4 Ways We Keep Wasting Money

Finance

DENVER - NOVEMBER 22: A traveler undergoes an...
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?

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Sunday Roundup – Life’s Been Busy

Misc

inventables
Image by hahatango via Flickr

I’ve been skipping the Sunday roundups for the last month.    Over the last 4 weekends, I have put 2000 miles on my car, taking 4 trips–only one of which I consider optional and that was the only fun trip.    With the extra gas, and having to pay for my son’s vision therapy, we went over budget by more than $4,000.

Ouch.

It’s the first debt I’ve picked up in more than 2 years.  It’s leaving me twitchy and crabby.  I don’t like it much at all.

And, with all of the traveling, I have let the Sunday posts slip.

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 45 pounds since January 2nd.  I haven’t weighed in since my last Sunday update.  For the last week, I haven’t been terribly strict about being on the diet and I haven’t stressed about staying on it while traveling.

Total Inches: I have lost  27  inches in the same time frame.

Best Posts

Every home needs a secret tunnel.  Every time a house in my neighborhood goes up for sale, I try to convince my wife we should buy it and connect it to ours with tunnels.

Some day, when I’m a brazillionaire, if I hate my descendants, I’m going to set up my will to frustrate them all.

Haggling is a skill I need to work on.

The Monster Hunter Alpha early advanced reader copy is available.  The Monster Hunter books are fun, fast reads.

Bacon art makes me cultured and hungry.

Making strangers smile is a way to make your day memorable.

I always get a warm fuzzy feeling when I hear about people successfully chasing their dreams.

I need to find a use for some of the unique materials here.

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

Karate Guess So was the winner of last week’s Best of Money Carnival!  Woo!

Debt Options was included in the Festival of Frugality.

Budgeting Sucks was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

The Benefits of Ignorance was included in the Totally Money Blog Carnival.

New Debt was included in the Yakezie Carnival.

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!

 

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Sunday Roundup – Nook Failure

Misc

The manga section at Barnes & Noble at The Sho...
Image via Wikipedia

This week, I spent more than 2 hours, 20 emails, and 30 miles trying to convince UPS and Barnes & Noble to get me a Nook that I paid for 3 weeks ago.   Hopefully, I’ll have it early this week.  If not, I’m giving up.  The only other action I’m willing to take to get this resolved is to call my credit card company and file a chargeback.

Fun!

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 41 pounds since January 2nd.   That’s no progress since last week.   I’m still doing push-ups every day, so it’s not surprising that I’m flunking weight loss.

Total Inches: I have lost  22.5 inches in the same time frame, up half an inch since last week.

Best Posts

Five Cent Nickel had a post on tipping.  I always tip, but I don’t consider 15% to be a requirement.  If the service sucks, I tip just a few cents.  If the service is great, I easily and always clear 20%.  A friend tried telling me that servers expect 20% to be standard, but that’s nuts.  They aren’t the people who get to make that decision.

Money Crashers talked about traveling for free.  In anticipation of the Financial Blogger Conference in October, I opened a travel rewards card.  I’m hoping to make the trip for free.

I watched a TedTalk yesterday about teaching kids about electricity with homemade play-dough.   This is a project that will be happening.

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

Narrow Bridge Finance ran my post, Monsters, while I ran his, Living the High Life, for the Yakezie blog swap, answering the question “What motivates you financially?”

Negotiating Superstar was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

5 Ways to Change Your Spending Habits was included in the Totally Money Blog Carnival.

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!

 

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