Search Results for “three-alternatives-to-a-budget/budget-lesson-part-5/debt-burnout/subscribe-by-email/budget-lesson-part-2/573/budget-lesson-part-3/budget4/a-budget-isnt-enough/slow-carb-diet-how-to-avoid-going-bat-crazy/INGDirect” — Page 14

Watching My Debt

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I’m so excited. Yesterday, I transferred the final payment for my personal line of credit. This LOC was originally my overdraft protection LOC that had worked it’s way up to $6000 at 21%. Today, it is non-existent.

We started to pay down debt on April 15th, 2009. Since that time, we have paid off $22, 370.70 of our debt. That isn’t $22,370.00 in payments, that is a $22k reduction in our total debt! By my calculations, we have made approximately $28,000 in payments to get that reduction. Next week, we cross the line for 25% of debt eliminated. This is a good day.

Over the last 14 months, we’ve settled into much more responsible spending and saving habits. It no longer feels like we’re sacrificing our lifestyle. We’ve built up a useful emergency fund and set aside money for some things that we know are coming, like braces for my son. In 6 weeks, we are taking our first debt-less vacation.

Now, we start on the long slog to the end. We have 3 debts left to pay: Our last car loan(ever!), one credit card which was an accumulation of pretending we were making progress on our debt by combining many debts onto one card, and finally, our mortgage. The car will be paid by the end of the year. When summer childcare expenses are over, we’ll be making triple payments until it is gone. After that, we have a long, slow couple of years paying off the credit card.

It hasn’t always been easy, but right now, it feels good to look at the progress we’ve made.

Update: This post has been included in the Carnival of Debt Reduction.

Sunday Roundup

Misc

I know I haven’t been doing the Sunday roundups very regularly. Do you miss them? Would you like to see something else here? When I do post them, I use it as a place to post some updates about my life that aren’t necessarily finance-related, and I post some links worth visiting.

Please let me know, I love feedback.

In the meantime….

Here are some great Yakezie sites to check out.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked

Vacation, Shmaycation, Staycation? was included in the Canadian Finance Carnival.

The Unfrugal Meal was included in the Yakezie Carnival and the Totally Money Carnival.

Annoying Your Wife: 5 Ways to Succeed was included in the Carnival of Financial Planning.

Money Problems, Day 11 was included in the Best of Money Carnival.

Is that the best you can do? was included in the Totally Money Carnival, by a different host.

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!

3 Habits Every Soon-to-be-Successful Debtor Needs to Cultivate

Finance

Getting out of debt is primarily a matter of changing your habits. We’ve all heard people swear by skipping your morning cup of coffee to get rich, but that’s just a small habit. Much more important are the big habits, the lifestyle habits. Here are 5 habits to cultivate for financial success.

Frugality

“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship”– Benjamin Franklin

As Chris Farrel wrote in “The New Frugality“, being frugal is not about being cheap, but finding the best value for your money. When my wife and I had our second baby, we couldn’t justify spending $170 on a breast pump, so we bought the $30 model. It was quite a bit slower than the expensive model, and was only a “single action”, but for $140 of savings, it seemed worth the trade. Six weeks later, it burned out so we bought a new one, still afraid to justify $170 on quality. This thing took at least 45 minutes to do its job. When it burned out 6 weeks later, we decided to go with the high-end model. This beauty had dual pumps, “baby-mouth simulation” and it was fast. The time was cut from a minimum of 45 minutes to a maximum of 15. That’s 3 hours of life reclaimed each day fro $140. Six months of breastfeeding for each of two kids means my wife regained 45 days of her life in exchange for that small amount of money. At the rate of 6 weeks per burnout, we would have gone through 8 cheap pumps, costing $240. The high-end unit was still going strong when we weaned baby #3. Buying quality saved us both time and money. I wish we would have gone with the good one from the start. Sometimes, the expensive option is also the cheap option.

Maturity

Image via Wikipedia

“Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.” -Joshua Loth Liebman

Being a mature, rational adult is hard. It means accepting delayed gratification over the more enjoyable instant variety. We save for retirement instead of charging a vacation. It takes a lot of restraint to put off buying the latest toys, clothes, gadgets, cars or whatever else is currently turning your crank until you actually have the money to actually afford it. It means planning your future instead of looking like a surprised bunny caught in a spotlight every time your property taxes come due. (Who knew that the year changed every year? Do they really expect annual payments annually? Geez! There’s so much to learn!) It means thinking about your purchases and buying what you actually need, actually want, and will actually use instead of resorting to retail therapy whenever you feel like a sad panda. The only benefit to mature, rational management of your finances is that, given time, you will have the security of knowing that, no matter what happens, you will be okay. That’s a huge benefit.

Pleasure

[ad name=”inlineleft”]

“Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.” – Thomas Jefferson

If it hurts, you won’t do it. You have to learn to take pleasure from from things that won’t make you broke and you have to learn not to hate putting off the things you can’t afford. Take pleasure in the little things. Enjoy the time with your family. Presence means so much more than presents. So many people never learn how to enjoy themselves. Take the time to experience life and enjoy doing it.

Update: This post has been included in the Carnival of Debt Reduction.

Avoiding Financial Traps & Saving Money on Big-Ticket Purchases

Finance

This is a guest post written by Jason Larkins. He writes at WorkSaveLive – a blog he started to help people change the way they think about their finances, careers, and lives.

Who doesn’t like to buy stuff?

Okay…I’m sure there are a few of you out there that take pride in never buying a new “toy,” but I know personally that I LOVE stuff!

Not to the point that I make dumb financial decisions that jeopardizes my family’s financial well-being, but I do have that natural American desire to have nice things and to be able to do fun stuff!

If you’re in the market to buy a Big-Ticket item (i.e. a new car, TV, or other technology gadget), what are some of the things you should be thinking through as you contemplate making the purchase?

The first mistake people make is buying on impulse. The massive majority of Americans don’t even have a thought process when it comes to buying toys, so that’s why I decided to dedicate a post on a few things you should ponder.

3 Financial Traps You Should Avoid

1. Avoid spending extra for add-ons, or features, that you’re never going to use.

It is easy to get an appliance or technology gadget that has a ton of amazing features on it – but why pay for them if you won’t use them?

Consider buying the item that may be a step below what you’re looking at.

I know that I personally love the thought of having an Ipad 2, but am I really going to utilize it to it’s full capabilities?

Probably not!

It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have one, but it does mean I can look at the older Ipad and save some money. Or, I can avoid the purchase altogether if I don’t think it’s going to be worth the money.

2. Be cautious with offers such as “no money down,” “90 days same as cash,” or “12 months interest free.”

Nearly 88% of the “90 days same as cash” offers are actually converted to payments because the purchaser couldn’t pay off the bill before the offer was up.

3. Don’t buy it just because it’s the cheapest.

Always be sure to do research prior to your purchase – check consumer reviews and product reviews. Saving money may not be worth it if the product breaks down quickly or doesn’t have the functionality that you’re looking for.

3 Strategies to Save Money

1. Prepare for large purchases and pay cash for them.

If you can’t pay cash for the item, then there is a good chance that you can’t afford it.

Determine how much money you will need to spend on a particular item and save up for it! This is going to help you in a couple of ways:

It will help you avoid buying on impulse.
If it takes awhile to save up for the item, then this will give you valuable time to really determine if it’s something you WANT badly enough to pay that kind of cash for it.
It will allow you to ask for a DEAL. Every retailer pays a fee to run a debit/credit card. If you’re paying in cash the worst you can do is to ask for that 2-3% discount the store would be saving!

2. Buy at the end of the month, or at the end of the year!

Consumers rarely think of this, but it’s important for you to know that every store (and store manager) has monthly/yearly sales to report.

If they’re wanting to close out the month/year strong, they’re much more inclined to offer you a deal on whatever you’re buying!

3. Avoid the extended warranty!

Insurance (in general terms) is the act of transferring risk – the more people that pool money together to help mitigate risk (buy insurance), then the lower the cost of the insurance becomes.

The reason to avoid the extended warranties is because the cost you’re paying to cover your item also includes: commissions paid to the retail store, overhead for the insurance company (wages for employees, building costs, utilities, etc), and some profit for the insurance company as well.

Sure, you may be in the miniscule percentage of buyers that has their item break down on them, but the reality is that it’s unlikely.

If it was likely for your item to break down, then the insurance wouldn’t be available because it wouldn’t be a profitable endeavor for the insurance company (and they’d be out of business).

Whenever you’re buying something that has a large price tag, you should develop a process that you think through before buying it!

Always pay in cash, get a deal, and make sure you actually need everything you’re paying for.

Avoid Getting Ripped Off On Ebay

Finance

My son, at 10 years old, is a deal-finder. His first question when he finds something he wants is “How much?”, followed closely by “Can I find it cheaper?” I haven’t–and won’t–introduced him to Craigslist, but he knows to check Amazon and eBay for deals. We’ve been working together to make sure he understands everything he is looking at on eBay, and what he needs to check before he even thinks about asking if he can get it.

The first thing I have him check is the price. This is a fast check, and if it doesn’t pass this test, the rest of the checks do not matter. If the price isn’t very competitive, we move on. There are always risks involved with buying online, so I want him to mitigate those risks as much as possible. Pricing can also be easily scanned after you search for an item.

The next thing to check is the shipping cost. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen “Low starting price, no reserve!” in the description only to find a $40 shipping and handling fee on a 2 ounce item. The price is the price + shipping.

Next, we look at the seller’s feedback. The feedback rating has a couple of pieces to examine. First, what is the raw score? If it’s under 100, it needs to be examined closer. Is it all buyer feedback? Has the seller sold many items? Is everything from the last few weeks? People just getting into selling sometimes get in over their heads. Other people are pumping up their ratings until they have a lot of items waiting to ship, then disappear with the money. Second, what is the percent positive? Under 95% will never get a sale from me. For ratings between 95% and 97%, I will examine the history. Do they respond to negative feedback? Are the ratings legit? Did they get negative feedback because a buyer was stupid or unrealistic? Did they misjudge their time and sell more items than they could ship in a reasonable time? If that’s the case, did they make good on the auctions? How many items are they selling at this second?

[ad name=”inlineright”] After that, we look at the payment options. If the seller only accepts money orders or Western Union, we move on. Those are scam auctions. Sellers, if you’ve been burned and are scared to get burned again, I’m sorry, but if you only accept the scam payment options, I will consider you a scammer and move on.

Finally, we look at the description. If it doesn’t come with everything needed to use the item(missing power cord, etc.), I want to know. If it doesn’t explicitly state the item is in working condition, the seller will get asked about the condition before we buy. We also look closely to make sure it’s not a “report” or even just a picture of the item.

Following all of those steps, it’s hard to get ripped off. On the rare occasion that the legitimate sellers I’ve dealt with decide to suddenly turn into ripoff-artists, I’ve turned on the Supreme-Ninja Google-Fu, combined with some skip-tracing talent, and convinced them that it’s easier to refund my money than explain to their boss why they’ve been posting on the “Mopeds & Latex” fetish sites while at work. Asking Mommy to pretty-please pass a message about fraud seems to be a working tactic, too. It’s amazing how many people forget that the lines between internet and real life are blurring more, every day.

If sending them a message on every forum they use and every blog they own under several email addresses doesn’t work and getting the real-life people they deal with to pass messages also doesn’t work, I’ll call Paypal and my credit card company to dispute the charges. I only use a credit card online. I never do a checking account transfer through Paypal. I like to have all of the possible options available to me.

My kids are being raised to avoid scams wherever possible. Hopefully, I can teach them to balance the line between skeptical and cynical better than I do.

Keep Your Friends Out of Debt

Finance

: Image via Wikipedia

If you’re like me, you get a bit evangelical about getting out of debt. I try to convert spendthrifts and irritate my fellow debtors. I’m probably pretty annoying at times. What I’ve learned–or at least pretend to have learned–is the direct approach rarely works. Hitting someone over the head with a brick won’t convince them of anything, even if it’s a very frugal brick. Try it sometime. You may convince them to buy a bigger brick to return the favor, but you won’t convince them to save money.

What can you do? Your friends want to spend money they don’t have and worse, they want you to come with to spend money you either don’t have or don’t want to spend on bad music and overpriced beer. Suggest less expensive activities.

If your friends want to catch a movie, suggest a matinee or hitting redbox for a night in. It may even be worth investing in a projector and screen if movie night becomes a habit. My couch is certainly more comfortable than the theater seats and my soda is cheaper.

When you are invited to dinner, suggest a potluck or have a barbecue. It’s almost always cheaper to eat in, and cooking together can be a wonderful social activity. If that’s not practical, use coupons. Restaurant.com has some amazing deals, but don’t use them without an coupon. Their default price is a $25 gift certificate for $10. With a coupon (currently DAD), you can get that same certificate for $3. That usually means a minimum tab of $35 and mandatory tip of 18%, but it’s still a good savings. Your $35 meal will cost $19.30 when all is said and done.

[ad name=”inlineleft”]Don’t compete for the coolest gadgets. “I just got an iPod for $300″ should be countered with a receipt for a $20 mp3 player, not an ad for an iPad. Race to zero, not zeros.

Don’t be ashamed of your frugality. “I they are laughing you don’t need ’em, cuz they’re not good friends.” My habits aren’t secret. If I say something isn’t in the budget, my friends know I won’t be doing it. It’s not up for debate.

Above all, I try to be proactive. I try to suggest cheaper alternatives before the expensive options are on the table. Having a beer on my deck and watching a movie in my living room is so much cheaper than drinks at a club before a concert.

Update: This post has been included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Search Results for: three-alternatives-to-a-budget/budget-lesson-part-5/debt-burnout/subscribe-by-email/budget-lesson-part-2/573/budget-lesson-part-3/budget4/a-budget-isnt-enough/slow-carb-diet-how-to-avoid-going-bat-crazy/INGDirect

Here are some great Yakezie sites to check out.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

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

Frugality

Maturity

Image via Wikipedia

Pleasure

[ad name=”inlineleft”]

3 Financial Traps You Should Avoid

3 Strategies to Save Money