My post 4 Ways to Flog the Inner Impulse Shopper is up in Free Money Finance’s March Money Madness tournament. Please take a moment to vote for me(Flog).
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Let me check….
A few days ago, I asked a coworker if she wanted to go out for lunch. She said she’d have to check her bank account before she decided.
What?
If you have to check your bank balance to know if you can afford something, you can’t afford it. It really is that simple.
Now, strict budgets aren’t for everyone, but everyone should know how much money they have available to spend. If you don’t know what you have to spare, you need to set up a budget.
Period.
After you’ve done that, you can ignore it, with the exception of knowing how much you have available to blow on groceries, entertainment, and other discretionary purchases.
If you don’t know where your money needs to go, how can you determine how much you can spend on the things you want?
Make Yourself Accountable
Everybody knows the reputation New Year’s resolutions get for being abandoned in under a month. Following through with your saving and budget goals can be difficult. There are thousands of strategies for keeping your resolutions, but I’ve found that the best goal-keeping mechanism is to make yourself accountable. There are several ways to accomplish this.
Make Firm Goals. If your goals are open to interpretation, it’s easy to interpret them in a way that lets you off the hook. Make the goals concrete and immune to interpretation, and that can’t happen. “Get up earlier” may mean five minutes, which is technically meeting the goal, but not really. “Get up at 5am” is clear and concrete.
Get a “Goal Buddy”. When I am out shopping, if I’m struck by the impulse to buy something I probably don’t need, I call my wife. She’s more than happy to encourage me to put the movie or game back on the shelf. I have a friend who will call me up if he’s thinking about buying a new gadget so I can talk him down. Friends don’t let friends mortgage their futures.
Go Public. As you may have noticed, I’m being as open as possible with my goals for the year. I have laid out clear goals and I provide fairly frequent updates through both this site and twitter. If I fail, I fail in front of an audience. That’s strong encouragement to succeed. Tell your family, friends and coworkers. Announce your goals on the internet. Make it as difficult as possible to fail gracefully.
Punish Yourself. I have a line item in my budget called “In the hole“. If I go over budget one month, the overage is entered as an expense the following month. This serves the double purpose of getting the budget back on track and forcing me to sacrifice something the next month to make that happen. Another option may be to write out a check to a charity you hate, and drop it in the mail if you miss your goal. Anything unpleasant can work as your punishment.
How do you keep your goals?
Choosing an eCommerce Platform to Sell Products Online
According to the U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2011 to 2016, a report conducted by global research and advisory firm Forrester, eCommerce sales in the United States topped $200 billion in 2011. This figure is set to rise by a staggering 62% by 2016, with the resulting $327 billion in annual eCommerce sales accounting for 9% of total retail sales. Spurred by innovative shopping models and online loyalty programs, the eCommerce sales channel is clearly benefiting from the increasing levels of comfort customers are feeling while shopping online. It’s not too late for companies of all sizes to reap the benefits of growth in this area. Assuming a product is ready to sell, the digital landscape boasts several eCommerce platforms and related services that will help companies to sell products online.
eCommerce Platforms: Several Flavors of Opportunity
eBay and Amazon: Ready Made eCommerce Platforms
Online retailers eBay and Amazon offer a quick and easy route for any business to start selling products online. The global reach of these sites means marketers gain immediate access to an audience of millions of potential customers. Despite increasing publicity in respect of the fees charged by the sites, particularly by eBay, a growing number of traders boast a turnover in excess of $1m. If nothing else, these platforms represent a practical opportunity for new companies to get started in online retail.
Shopify: Out-of-the-box Online Retail Stores
To date, over 20,000 business owners are using Shopify to realize the benefits of selling products online. This creative software allows businesses to use their own domain name, includes eCommerce hosting and an integrated shopping cart. It also boasts many online store designs customizable with over 100 ecommerce website templates. Payment for the service is made monthly with different plans available to suit businesses of varying sizes.
Facebook: Move Over Farmville
The phenomenal growth of social media has surprised most Internet users. With Facebook membership expected to exceed 900 million users by the end of 2012, a report from comScore, ‘The Power of Like, ‘ claims that customers are between 40 and 150 times more likely to consume branded content that is visible in their newsfeed than they are to visit a particular business page. Startups like 8th Bridge and Payvment are helping online retailers take advantage of this trend with the provision of innovative eCommerce solutions that encourage users to shop where they socialize.
Wordpress: It’s not just for Bloggers
While it’s true to say that WordPress was initially targeted at bloggers, it is now better described as a competent eCommerce and CMS platform. It’s a perfect option for those businesses who prefer to do things their way. Users can take advantage of free or premium eCommerce website templates and various WordPress plugins that will see their site turn from a basic blog site to a fully functional online retail store in minutes. Although all the potential eCommerce platforms discussed required that due diligence is given to marketing and optimization strategies, a business running its own online store should prioritize these aspects of success.
From Bricks to Clicks
The ‘clicks not bricks’ mentality is set to grow beyond the most idealistic of visions. Savvy business owners will give appropriate consideration to which eCommerce platforms will best suit their needs and that of their business. Many will come to the conclusion that the best solution is a combination of platforms.
This is a guest post.
More Debt
Even though we just paid off our credit cards in August and have started competing to pay off our mortgage, we opened a new debt account on Monday.
We’ve been shopping for a new(to us) car for a while. Simply put, we’ve outgrown our current vehicles.
As I said last week, these are our needs:
- We have 5 people in our family. My 13-year-old son is bordering on 6 feet tall and shows no sign of not growing.
- Every weekend, we have at least 1 extra kid, sometimes 2.
- We still have a giant(24 foot) boat that we won’t be selling until spring.
- My wife wants to lease a couple of ponies next summer, which will mean a horse trailer to haul them in.
We were looking for a GMC Acadia, which would meet our needs, but after talking to my brother–an Acadia owner–and the dealer, we decided it wouldn’t be the best fit. It would be marginal for towing the horses and the back row of the older models isn’t as roomy as the new one I sat in.
Saturday, we went to test drive an Acadia, which is where we had the conversation with the dealership. We ended up test-driving a Chevy Tahoe instead of the Acadia. With the options and mileage, it bluebooks for $27531, but they were using it as an online price leader and had it priced at $25000. Maybe I missed something, but the thing ran well, handled great, and the engine sounded good. As a way to get people on the lot, it worked.
Our plan was to put $5000 down, and see about trading in our Dodge Caliber and Ford F150. We brought the Caliber with us. Its bluebook value is $9,969. They offered us $5500, so we went home.
Sunday, we decided to sell the car and truck ourselves. We texted the salesman and offered $24,500. He accepted, we got a new truck that will fit our family and our needs.
With taxes, fees, and our down payment, we now have a car loan for $21564. Our plan is to sell the Caliber for $9500 and the F150 for $6800. That will leave $5354. We have a beneficiary IRA that has to be cashed out relatively soon, so we’re planning to do that early in January to push the tax burden to next year, which will end the loan.
Effectively, we’re paying about $300 in interest to give us a chance to move our assets around to take advantage of an SUV meeting our needs for $3000 under blue book. Yes, we could have waited until the assets were ready, but this truck wouldn’t have been there, so we jumped on it.
The Story of Sammy: Complete
This is the complete collection of the Story of Sammy. Sammy is a guy I met after my mother-in-law died in the spring of 2012. My wife and I decided to help him launch a….
Read the stories. It’s better that way.
Part 1, in which we meet Sammy, learn of his dreams and offer to help.
Part 2, in which Sammy jumps into business with both feet, teaching teenagers the value of work.
Part 3, in which Sammy shows us what crackheads and the homeless can accomplish if given the chance.
Part 3.5, in which…holy drama, Sammy!
Part 4, in which I am disappointed.
