Frugal – Page 3

Marketing Training Based on Testing and What Works

October 10, 2013 by Gail Gardner 3 Comments

Frugal is fine, but the best way to save money is to earn more…and that takes training. When you work for a company, corporation or the government, they train you. But if you’re a solopreneur, you’re on your own. Even if you already know what specific skills you need, how do you know whose information and training to trust?

Leading Marketing Training Programs

If you are a solopreneur, you are your own marketing department. So where do you get your training? Three top marketing resources immediately come to mind: HubSpot, MarketMotive and MECLABS (which includes MarketingSherpa and MarketingExperiments). These are all excellent sources because what they teach is based on actual results at real businesses. Here’s how MECLABS describes what they do:

“MECLABS is the world’s largest independent research lab focused exclusively on marketing and sales. Our scientists and analysts have conducted rigorous scientific tests across more than 10,000 pages.”

Results are what matters – and these all share specifically what gets results. MECLABS offers online digital marketing courses. MarketingSherpa publishes “Practical Case Studies, Research and Training for Marketers” while MarketingExperiments focuses on discovering “what really works in optimization” and offers both self-guided learning and formal training (live or online).

MarketMotive provides extensive training on skills with growing demand and few to meet them. They provide online internet marketing online certification courses. Analytics, Conversion Optimization and Mobile Marketing are the specialties that are most needed today.

HubSpot is best known for their inbound marketing software platform. Their advanced lead generation system is used in-house at businesses of all sizes to increase ROI. They publish extensive marketing case studies. Experts in inbound marketing, they publish separate Case Studies by business size: Small Business, Mid-Market and Enterprise. They have “proven success with over 10,000 companies across a variety of industries”.

They teach marketing skills as well as how to close more leads through the HubSpot Academy. Look for their Inbound Learning Webinars and Inbound Conference. HubSpot certified professionals are in high demand and can be found on their site.

Basic Marketing Training

All of the above are the highest quality, most in-depth training you can find. Some people might find them too advanced, though. Before you jump in the deep end you need some basic marketing skills. One unique way to get them is also a way to make money. If you join Empower Network you are paying for internet marketing training.

It is important to note that you do not have to buy every level. You can get the viral blogging system for $25 and the Inner Circle Audio training for $100. Note that these are recurring per month – but you could access them all the first month and then cancel once you get the basics if you don’t feel they are of continued benefit.

The first question I asked Brad Campbell when he told me his income was over $35,000 a month – and most of it was from Empower Network – was whether he learned what he was doing from their training. He told me that he was making more money from ALL of his marketing ventures because of what he had learned in that training. (But do note that he got ALL their training including the advanced levels.)

What is unusual about this training is that you can become an affiliate and sell it, but is is structured like an MLM (multi-level marketing). I am no fan of MLMs generally because 99% of the people that get involved in them lose money. But at $35,000 a month, Brad isn’t even in the top 50 earners, so clearly this one does pay IF you are willing to really do the work.

That is the key question about any kind of marketing training. Are you willing to learn and then actually apply what you learned? If making a lot of money – or at least making your business successful – would make you happy, I encourage you to check out these resources. Remember that you can also use the skills learned to offer your services or qualify for a position at a company. All of them have a ton of information online so even if you never spend a penny with them you will learn from the best.

A career as a solopreneur? Not completely “solo”.

Filed Under: Frugal Tagged With: marketing training, solopreneurs, training

Why to NOT change insurance companies

July 3, 2013 by David Leonhardt 6 Comments

One of the standard tenets of living frugally – almost like a secret handshake – is to always shop around, to always seek a better deal and to never be afraid to switch suppliers for a cheaper source. But sometimes loyalty pays. This report is from my most recent experience.

Bigfoot paid a visit to our backyard.

It’s true. He left his footprint right in back of our house. Right where the upper corner of our air conditioning unit used to be.

OK, so it wasn’t quite Bigfoot’s footprint, at least not so as we could make out any toes or anything. But what else could have crushed such a deep dent into the top of our air conditioner?

Most likely ice falling from the roof. It was, after all, the craziest winter I can recall. Three times the Heavens opened up and dumped snow in quantities greater than all the entire previous winter. And three times a deep, deep thaw followed the incredible snowfalls. And three times the thaw ended in flash freezing. That is a recipe for ice build-ups on roofs, and apparently there have never been as many eavestroughings destroyed across the region as there were this winter. So chances are that ice, not Bigfoot, is the true culprit.

But this is not just some eavestroughing that can be replaced with a few dollars, a ladder and a prayer (for those of us afraid of heights). This is a $4000 air conditioner. And me with my pockets empty, still trying to pay down the solar power system.

The guys who installed the air conditioner told me that it would probably not be covered by most insurance policies. But now that I think of it, these are the same guys who installed the unit under an exposed section of roof, when they could have installed it three feet away, where there would be no risk.

We called our insurance broker

It turned out that maybe we are covered and maybe we are not. In over 20 years, our broker had never come across a similar claim. What a time to suddenly discover that we are cruising the road less traveled, blazing a trail through the insurance claim wilderness.

If the claim is accepted, there would be a $1000 deductible and our insurance would increase by 15 percent per year. That increase would be reduced by ten percent (to just a five percent increase) after three years. So maybe worth making the claim? Maybe not?

But wait – and here comes the good part – we’ve been with the same insurer for over a decade and never made a claim. Because of that loyalty, we qualify as “Achievers” and the deductible is waived. And no increase in premiums for us either. Yay!

In this case, it paid nicely that we stuck with the same insurance company for the long haul. And, yes, it turns out they would accept a claim for a bizarre ice attack on our air conditioner.

Or maybe they still think it’s Bigfoot that attacked. Can anybody prove that it wasn’t?

Filed Under: Frugal

Duct tape – a frugal parent’s best friend

June 11, 2013 by David Leonhardt 3 Comments

You have probably heard over and over that duct tape is the magic solution for all problems. It might even prevent World War III. Here is one fine example of how it can save a parent some money.

Five years ago, I bought my girls a Springfree® trampoline. What is awesome about these, pretty much as the name implies, is that there is no spring on which to catch one’s foot. In fact the whole thing is pretty sleek. Despite the seemingly hefty $900 price (I see they cost a bit more now), this is the best recreational investment I have made for the kids, for several reasons:

After five years, the cost is already down below $200 per year.
I set it up in early May and take it down in early November, so it lasts much longer than a swimming pool (here in Canada).
The girls use it almost every day that is not rainy when we are around the house, sometimes for as much as an hour a day between them.
The girls sometimes stay much longer than an hour on it together – not just jumping, but hanging out (which saved me the time, energy, money and swollen thumbs of building a tree house).
Sometimes they use the trampoline to practice dance moves they cannot yet do on the living room carpet, so it does improve their dancing.
When they have friends over, it is a natural attraction.
It’s an activity I can do with my girls, and I often do.
I occasionally use it myself, by myself, just to get my blood flowing in the middle of the day (not often enough, I must confess).

So what does this have to do with duct tape?

Cracks in the Springfree rods

Look carefully at the trampoline. You see how the net is kept up by curved white poles? And the trampoline mat is also kept up by curved white poles? 98 of them, in fact.

Well, those poles are not actually curved. They are straight. But they are in a state of flex, so they curve, which means they are under a lot of pressure. Tension.

This spring, as I was taking the trampoline out of hibernation, I discovered cracks in a couple of the poles holding up the net. What was amazing was that these rods, under great pressure and with a crack in their outside curves, were not snapping. Nevertheless, I was worried. So I called Springfree for advice.

They told me (as I had guessed) that the plastic is just a sleeve. Inside was a fiberglass rod that did the actual work. The plastic sleeve’s sole role is to protect the fiberglass from the deteriorating effects of solar radiation.

The problem is that the plastic sleeves themselves will crack as a result of solar radiation.

Their suggestion was to buy new sleeves, for a price of $60. That was for the whole packet; you can’t buy them one by one. If I just let it sit, sooner or later the fiberglass rods inside would deteriorate – and that would be much more expensive to replace.

Then I noticed that it was not just the upright rods holding up the net that were cracked…

This was a little unsettling, since these are the supports for the mat we jump on. And almost every one was cracked. In multiple places. Yikes!

But remembering that it is the plastic sleeves that are cracked, not the load-bearing fiberglass rods, I set to work with my duct tape.

I have no idea if the $60 would cover both the upper rod sleeves and the lower ones, but I suspect that the replacement cost for all of them would have been more in the $150 range. Never mind, duct tape is cheaper either way, and it does the job.

Duct tape covers the cracks, so that no sunlight can sneak in and harm the load-bearing fiberglass rods.
Duct tape holds together the plastic, so that small cracks don’t become larger.
Duct tape covers the area between cracks where new cracks are most likely to appear.

I used about half a roll in total and spent about an hour applying it. Better even than saving the money, is the time I saved. It took me about an hour to set up the trampoline five years ago. This time it would take me about that amount of time to disassemble it, and again that amount of time to reassemble it. So two hours plus an unestimatable amount of time and possible damage and/or pain of changing each sleeve. But duct tape helped me avoid that for now…and maybe for another five years.

The result? Ta da!

Pretty stylish, right?

Filed Under: Frugal Tagged With: duct tape, Fitness, kids, plastic, recreation, sports equipment, trampoline

Does good debt exist?

May 23, 2013 by David Leonhardt 2 Comments

A frugal person tries to define good debt and bad debt. When does it make sense to get a personal loan?

You know me; I’m a frugal person and I hate debt of all kinds. I hate it even more now that I have too much of it, than I used to hate it when I avoided it like the plague.

But some debt does make sense, so sometimes a loan makes sense. Here are a few times that even I don’t mind going into debt…

Buy a home. Let’s face it, if you wait until you can pay for your house outright, you will never own a home. You will always rent from someone else and pay down someone else’s mortgage. There are very few frugal purists who will argue against this point. And since house prices historically climb at a somewhat predictable , if uneven rate, a mortgage is generally a good investment. Sometimes it’s an incredibly good investment.

But even on mortgages, look what Big Cajun Man says…

“Yup, you might have to get a Mortgage, but don’t get comfortable with it, treat it like you would a Cockroach or an Uninvited Guest (fill in your most unfavorite person here), want to get rid of it, as soon as possible.”

Buy a car. Cars are pretty expensive, so it is hard to save up enough to buy a car outright. But unlike a house, it is possible for many people. And unlike a house, a car depreciates in value.

I actually bought my first car outright. I simply waited until I had saved up for the vehicle, based on a simple premise: spend only what you have earned.

Nevertheless, most people will need to spread a car purchase out over several years, so unless you are very patient, you will want to finance the purchase. Which is what I have done with all further car purchases. But, I have bought used cars each time, rather than incurring debt at top dollar for a depreciating asset.

Watch this video on why you should not borrow to buy a new vehicle:

Pay for education. Taking out a loan to pay for college or university is generally considered to be worthwhile, for two reasons. First, at that point in a person’s life, large amounts of money are rarely saved up. Second, it is the degree that will help you to earn the money to pay for the education – until you get the education, it is very hard to earn enough money to pay for the education.

Michael James says…

” Borrowing to go to school gives you an education and a debt. The education part is good and the debt part is bad. When people say that this is a good debt, they mean that you’re better off with both the education and the debt than you are with neither. But by itself the debt is still bad.”

Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There are some opportunities that come along once in a lifetime. For me, it was when both my mom and my uncle were in Hungary at the same time, and I had the chance to bring one of my daughters with me and make it somewhat of a family event. The stars would not align so perfectly ever again, and there was no way on relatively short notice to save up the money for the trip.

If you need to borrow for these kinds of opportunities, be careful. If you want to borrow for other types of expenses…don’t.

People borrow for vacations and for entertainment and for leisure. These things are not necessary, and if the debt remains for five years at a 20-percent interest rate, the actual cost is double the sticker price. In other words, if you go into long-term debt to buy something that is 25-percent off, you are NOT being a crafty shopper. You are being a sucker.

People borrow for food and clothing; these are both necessities, of course, but instead of downsizing their taste, they upsize their debt. Bad idea.

Debt sucks. The only reason to take on debt is if the alternative would be worse. But understand that as soon as you take on debt, you are essentially saying, “OK, I’ll pay through the nose for that.” If it’s worth paying through the nose, then the debt is worth it.

Filed Under: Frugal

Laundry costs and how to save money

May 8, 2013 by David Leonhardt 4 Comments

Here’s a great idea for people who want to save three of the most important things around:

Time
Money
Environment

First a tactic. Then a strategy.

I did a quick calculation, which might be accurate or way off (I won’t embarrass myself by trying to reconstruct the calculations and start a debate over just exactly how inaccurate they are). Suffice to say that your costs and mine could vary greatly, depending on whether you wear thick flannels or tiny tank tops. Whether you wash in hot, warm or cold water. Whether you have a top-loading or a front-loading washing machine. Whether you are on a well or whether you pay for city water.

If a person is in the habit of tossing their PJs in the wash each morning, they could save close to $100 per year just by wearing them three nights. $100 per person. So a family of five could save almost $500 a year.

Factor in the cost of water and detergent, perhaps even hot water, and some fabric softener. There is the extra wear and tear on the PJ fabric and also on your machines to consider, too.

But it’s not just money. Consider also how much time you spend doing each load of laundry – time you would save. All the sorting, all the loading, all the transferring, all the folding and all the putting away. If you live in a vertical home, there is also a lot of up-and-down stairs. And all that extra detergent that you would no longer be flushing into the environment. And if you live in a city, how much less water will need to be sanitized.

Why can you save all this money, time and pollution? Because you wear your PJs only seven or eight hours a day (usually). If you wear them three nights in a row, that’s 21-24 hours. Not bad.

Does this always work? No. Some people sweat a lot at night. Some nights you might sweat, and not others. If you sweat a lot, it might not be so wise to keep wearing the same PJs. If you don’t sweat at all, you might even be able to wear them four or five nights in a row.

Save on all your laundry

Which brings us to the strategy. This is not about PJs. This is about when you need to do laundry. All too often North Americans (and I assume other people in developed countries) think that you have to wash clothes after each time you wear them.

But that makes no sense. Clothes need to be washed when they are dirty. And when is that?

When they start to smell. That’s right, put them to the smell test. If they smell like sweat, put them in the laundry. If they don’t smell like sweat, they are ready to be worn again. There is no magical period to wear something. Sometimes you sweat more than other times. That is the way things work. Sometimes you will need to wash a piece of clothing after just a few hours. Other times, after several days.

The other time you need to wash clothing is if you dirty them from the outside – you spill something on them or they rub against something and get dirty.

Imagine how much time you would save if you had 50 fewer loads of laundry to do each year. Or 60. Or even just 30.

If your clothes don’t fail the smell test or the dirt test, there is no reason they should not go back in the closet. They are still clean. Wear them again, and save time, money and the environment.

Frugal tip: Save even more by drying them outside. No fabric softener will ever make your clothes smell as fresh as gool ‘ol fresh air.

Filed Under: Frugal Tagged With: laundry, pajamas, pyjamas, save money, wash

The frugal shopper’s guide to protein

March 12, 2013 by David Leonhardt Leave a Comment

Protein is one of the most important nutrients in our diet. It is the one responsible for growth and bodily repair. It is also one of the most expensive nutrients, which is why the protein part of your meal (the meat) costs the most.

But wait! Not all protein is as expensive as your filet mignon.

So I set out to put together a short study of the various sources of protein readily available and their cost, as much for my own use as for blogging here. The goal is to find out how I can get a complete serving of protein for under a dollar.

I used the assumption that a complete serving is 20 grams, although you might want more right after a workout…and also you should have some between meals, because 60 grams of protein per day is pretty low.

Before reporting the results of my study, I must offer two big caveats:

First, I am strictly reporting on the cost of various sources of protein. I am not judging the value of the sources, some of which might have a lot more fat or sodium than others, or a lot more other important nutrients than others.
Second, prices vary. They vary from store to store. They vary over time. They vary from brand to brand or even from package size to package size. I attempted to report pricing based on the most common package size available at regular grocery stores. Specialty stores might sell for more, discount stores for less – and, of course, you can always get your protein for less by watching for sales, couponing and all the other sorts of things that a frugal-minded shopper will do.

One last thing before reporting the results, because I really need to get this off my chest…

Yes, trying to convert back and forth between grams and kilograms and ounces and pounds and cups and… Aaauurgghhh!

Well, now that that’s over with, here are the results:

Copy this code to publish this table on your site:

So you can see that there are several fairly frugal alternatives to steak. For instance, making a milk shake or a smoothie with protein powder allows you to control both the taste and the levels of other nutrients. I often add some protein powder to “milk shakes” (mostly fruit, some milk and just a little ice cream) as a snack for my kids.

Peanut butter is also quite inexpensive, although pretty high in fat. Peanut butter on a whole grain bread gives a nice between-meals level of protein.

Do you enjoy mixed nuts? Very healthy, great for protein, but not great for fat if you eat too much of them. Make sure you have plenty of peanuts and dry soy beams in the mix – a great frugal way to add protein, and the soy beans will dilute the overall fat content.

Turkey and canned tuna are still the cheapest meat sources of protein. Both make great sandwiches or great salad toppings.

Chick peas and lentils are both also quite cheap and very healthy. Both go well in pretty much any salad or soup, and most meat dishes. The only problem with them is that to get enough protein form them alone, you would have to eat an awful lot. However, they are not complete sources of protein, so they would need rice or bread or some other grain with them, anyway.

Rounding out the under-a-dollar sources of protein are eggs, milk and chicken. Most people drink milk anyway for the vitamin D and the calcium, but it can also be a great source of between-meals protein. Chicken is very similar to turkey, but usually pricier (although often on sale – hint, hint). And eggs are packed with other nutrients, too, and if you don’t mind it turning out more like scrambled eggs, you can usually squeeze more veggies into an omelet than eggs.

As for the rest of the protein sources, some of them are also very healthy in many ways, but they will cost more. So if you are committed to frugal, there is only one thing you can do about these – watch for coupons and specials.

Filed Under: Frugal Tagged With: food, nutrition, protein, shopping

Quirky ways to save money on your car

March 4, 2013 by David Leonhardt Leave a Comment

I am sure you have heard all the “usual” ways to save money on your car. Lets’ breeze through them quickly to refresh your memory…

Shop around before buying.
Buy a smaller car.
Check insurance costs before deciding what to buy.
Shop around for insurance.
Pay cash rather than a car loan.
Drive slowly to conserve gas.
Keep your car well-maintained.
Keep the trunk empty to save gas.
Keep tires inflated.
Don’t idle.
Car pool.
Combine errands.

Did I miss any? Probably a few. All great advice, of course. But these “usual” ways to save money on your vehicle are fairly > yawn < boring. How about some fresh, quirky, exciting ways to save big bucks on your vehicle or with your vehicle?

Let’s start with something tame. Turn the air conditioning on at high speeds. Why? Because the wind drag gets more as your speed gets higher. And wind drag can really eat up fuel. So on the highway, keep the windows closed and the air conditioning on.

But in the city, roll down the windows and turn off the air conditioning. Why? Air conditioning does use up energy, and lowered windows do not use up energy at low speeds.

So you can save money at high speeds one way, and save money at low speeds another way.

OK, ready for something just a little more quirky?

Don’t buy a red car. Yes, police officers are racist when it comes to cars – even if they don’t think they are. Research has shown that police are more likely to give a speeding ticket to the driver of a red car than to drivers of other cars going the same speed. No – wait! It turns out police like red cars; they hate grey cars. It’s all psychological of course – all except the ticket you have to pay.

Walk. Or bike. Or skateboard. OK, that’s not too quirky, but keep in mind that if you walk most places or take the bus and you own a car, you should drive it at least once a week. That keeps all the moving parts under the hood well-lubricated. Sometimes when you don’t drive a car for a few weeks, things stick. Sometimes very badly. Sometimes costing a lot.

But wait! A car is a costly beast to maintain. If you typically don’t drive it more than once every two weeks, maybe you could save money by joining a car-sharing program or even just renting a vehicle when you want to travel outside of your usual haunts.

Here is one that is a little off the wall and surely not one that we can recommend. Call in sick more often. Every time you stay home instead of driving to work, you save on gas, wear-and-tear and mileage on your vehicle. If you call in sick an extra five times a year, you could save a few hundred dollars. A job is supposed to earn you money, but in fact you lose money by going in to work when you could stay home with the Activated Recessive Influenza (or whatever disease you invent).

OK, last one. Live in your car. This is, of course, pretty extreme. But what about just temporarily, using your car as a hotel? Friends of mine actually did this. They travelled to Costa Rica and instead of having to search for a place to stay each night, they rented an SUV that could accommodate them at night. They paid less for the car rental than they would have paid for a combined smaller car rental and accommodations, plus they spent more time enjoying the countryside and less time arranging accommodations.

All it takes to save money on your car is some discipline and the willpower to be quirky. Do you have what it takes?

Filed Under: Frugal Tagged With: car, expenses, Frugal, savings, thrifty

The Festival of Frugality gets Happy!

December 4, 2012 by David Leonhardt 5 Comments

Welcome to the 365th Festival of Frugality here on The Happy Guy’s “self-help happiness” blog. If this was a daily festival, it would be one year old. Since time is relative, please feel free to celebrate as you wish. After all, this is a “Festival” and they do call these blog “carnivals”.

If you have a post you would like to see in a future edition of this carnival, please submit it.

Featured Posts

Here are a few I would like to draw attention to. It’s one of the fringe benefits of shuffling the host gets for through all these blog posts. A few that I feel really capture the spirit of frugality…

Ray presents 6 Examples of When Not to be Frugal posted at Squirrelers. Celebrating the idea of frugality and saving money is something for which I can get on board. However, there are actually some times when it might not be such a good idea to be frugal. From the post… “Did you see above, where I talked about plucking coins off the ground at the drive thru window, where people dropped them? The drive thru isn’t exactly indicative of optimal nutrition”

Glen Craig presents 7 Ways to Be Frugal Right Now posted at Free From Broke . Being frugal is a pretty easy way to help you reduce your expenses. This helps you stretch your dollar and save more. See 7 ways you can be frugal right now.

Frugal Family: How I Sacrifice “Stuff” to Give My Kids Everything They Need posted at Frugal Rules. For anyone who is a parent, they will know that certain lifestyles are not possible after you become a parent. You also see that many of those things you have before parenthood are just things that can easily be lived without. Many times you do not recognize the sacrifices and your children are better off for it.

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey presents Best Ways to Save Money During the Holiday Season posted at My Personal Finance Journey. While there are things that have to be paid for no matter what and whose price is largely outside our control (mostly plane tickets and gas), there are still plenty of ways to save this holiday season. This post illustrates a few tips on how to save a little money during the holiday gift giving season.

Strictly Frugal

Amanda L Grossman presents Waste Not Want Not: Uses for Old T-Shirts posted at Frugal Confessions. My husband has a thing for t-shirts. Just like my beloved scrapbooks, he looks past the armpit holes, faded colors, and crackling insignias and instead sees

Jester presents Frugal Family Christmas Activities posted at The Ultimate Juggle. Enjoy a glimpse into our frugal family Christmas activities. These activities is why Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

Jason presents Saving Money on Your Home Security System posted at Work Save Live. Lately I’ve been considering investing in a home security system for my home, and I’ve been researching some of my options for doing it. I want to be secure, but I also want to feel like I got a good deal.

Martin presents The Obligatory Save Money During Christmas Personal Finance Article posted at Studenomics. Martin presents The Obligatory Save Money During Christmas Personal Finance Article posted at Studenomics.

Sustainable PF presents 4 Tips for Teaching Your Child to Live More Sustainably posted at Sustainable Personal Finance. One day, a couple of years ago, as my son and I headed home from whatever appointment we had, we saw someone toss a can out the window.

Mr. Money presents 5 Tips for a Successful Homemade Christmas posted at Smart on Money. One way to reduce your costs during the holiday season is to go for a homemade Christmas. Not only can you save money, but you can also produce unique gifts that are personal for the recipient. Here are some tips for making your homemade Christmas a little more successful:

Steve presents Holiday Savings Tips by Top Personal Finance Bloggers posted at Grocery Alerts. The Holidays are sneaking up on us and I wanted to find out from some of the top Personal Finance Bloggers, their best tips for saving around the holidays.

Wayne presents Eat healthily and live well for less posted at Young Family Finance. Unless you’ve got a supersonic metabolism, chances are you are going to spend some portion of your life watching your waistline. Everyone wants to look good and feel fit, but with bad foods often tasting so good and being readily available keeping svelte is never easy.

Crystal presents Continuing a Free but AWESOME Christmas Tradition! posted at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff. Have you ever remembered something super cool and can’t believe you ever forgot about it? That happened to me last week. I really love my Christmas card tree!

Jay presents How to Buy a Classic Car on a Budget posted at Daily Fuel Economy Tip. Top tips if you are looking to buy a classic car.

Hank presents How To Switch On To Energy Savings posted at Money Q&A. Lets face it. Times are hard for everyone. That is an absolute and undisputed fact as the world recession continues to bite despite reports that the financial tide is slowly turning.

Tushar presents Get the Most Back posted at Start Investing Money. Benjamin Franklin once said that there are only two things in life that are certain- death and taxes. To many people, the thought of paying their taxes at the end of the year is a mind-numbing, heartbreaking prospect.

Maria presents How to Save Money for Care Home Fees posted at The Money Principle. We do eventually get old and we do get to a situation where we need care. This article offers some ideas about how to save for the care home fees.

Jon the Saver presents 10 Tips for Home Made Meals and a Fatter Wallet posted at Free Money Wisdom. Here are ten tips to make more meals at home and reduce your food bill each month and free up the money for other things in your life!

PITR presents Don’t be drastic on the plastic this Christmas time posted at Passive Income To Retire. With the possible exception of your summer holiday, chances are that Christmas is your most expensive time of the year.

Young presents How Much House Do You Really Need? posted at Young And Thrifty. As a fairly lazy dude who isn’t a big fun of seeing his Saturdays spent doing housecleaning (and yes ladies, I am a modern man and do my fair share), all I could see in a large house was endless dusting and vacuuming.

Pauline presents Spinach and leek pizza, make your man and kids eat greens! posted at Reach Financial Independence. A delicious frugal recipe at $2 per serving, all the family will want to eat greens!

FMF presents Gym Memberships are Good Deals — If You Use Them! posted at Free Money Finance. If you actually use a membership, it can save you a great deal over a per use payment structure.

ENTERTAINMENT BREAK

This is getting to be a long festival, so let’s take a break for some upbeat entertainment, which my singing daughter has kindly agreed to provide…

Budgeting

Matt presents 3 Excellent Behaviors you need to Stay on your Budget posted at Budget SNOB. If you don’t want your budget plans to go out the window follow these three behaviors.

PPlan presents Maximizing Your Experiences without Breaking the Bank posted at Provident Plan. It has been nearly two years since my wife and I were struggling to make ends meet.

Corey presents How I Would Have Retired Early posted at Steadfast Finances. Retiring early may be difficult to do, but it is certainly possible. Find out how many have accomplished this feat in record time.

SBB presents Why Your Budget Should be Flexible posted at Simple Budget Blog. Find out why budgeting is a fluid thing. Keeping to strict of goals or limitations can be a bad thing. Here’s why.

Tahnya Kristina presents How to Celebrate Your Financial Successes posted at ReadyForZero Blog. Have you thought about what you’ll do with your extra income when you become debt-free? This post talks about the possibilities so, when that day comes, you can celebrate your success while also preserving your long-term goals.

Amy presents PLanning a Budget as a Couple posted at Money Mishaps. Set up a simple budget to reduce the stress in your relationship.

MR presents Debt Free, Now What? posted at Money Reasons. This is my financial progress since I’ve become debt free. I also share the wealth accumulation strategies that I am currently using!

Glen presents Financial Considerations When Deciding How Many Kids to Have posted at Parenting Family Money . It’s safe to say most couple like kids. But before you add to your family you need to consider your finances. There are many expenses that come with a child.

Financials

Katie presents When and How to Start IRA Withdrawls posted at IRA Basics. How withdrawing from your IRA can affect you. How not to let inflation eat away at our hard earned savings.

John presents Are Banks Making You Sign Away Your Rights? posted at Wallet Blog. Big banks include mandatory arbitration clauses in checking account agreements and the statistics speak for themselves. It’s obvious that making consumers sign away their rights is a costly and legally-dubious practice toward consumers.

Daniel presents Beating Out Inflation posted at Make Money Make Cents.

Credit, Loans and Debt

Bob presents Myths About Debt Settlement posted at Dwindling Debt. Learn the truth about debt settlement.

KT presents Quick Pay Day Loans – What do you think? posted at Personal Finance Journey. Want a chance to comment on Pay Day Loans? Personal Finance Journey asks for opinions from readers, industry experts and users to comment and share their opinion.

Ryan presents Should You Consider Credit Card Consolidation? posted at Early Retirement Investments. Read my take on whether you should consider credit card consolidation.

Eddie presents What is a Short Term Loan? posted at Finance Fox. A short term loan was originally designed to lend a small amount of cash to consumers with the collateral being a check.

Miranda presents Down Payment Assistance posted at Wallet Hub. For some borrowers, saving for the required down payment on a home can be difficult. However, there are programs out there that allow you to receive down payment assistance.

Neal Frankle presents Auto Loan Refinance Made Easy posted at Wealth Pilgrim. It you have a car loan you might be able to save big bucks by completing an auto loan refinance. This is also one way to pay off your car loan early. Of course, before you take action it’s very important to confirm that it’s worth your time and that you will get the very lowest interest rate possible. Here are 4 easy steps you can take to accomplish this.

Carrie presents Christmas Shopping Debt Traps: No Interest Offers, Store Credit Cards, and Impulse Buys posted at PT Money Personal Finance. The temptation to accumulate more debt at Christmastime is great, but if you’re careful with how you approach the season, you’ll see there are traps you can avoid.

Liana presents Do Prepaid Cards Build Credit? posted at Card Hub. An increasingly popular question among consumers is “Do Prepaid Cards Build Credit?” It’s important to know the facts on this if you plan to build and maintain good credit by using plastic.

Jeremy presents Personal Loans Aren’t Always Bad Debt posted at Modest Money. On other finance blogs I often hear people talk about personal loans as some evil thing that should be avoided at all costs. While there are definitely times when you should be avoiding borrowing money, you should not discount the potential to manage your finances with a personal loan.

ANOTHER ENTERTAINMENT BREAK

Hey. It’s time for some more party entertainment. Bring on the (way too hyperactive?) dancers…

Investing

A Blinkin presents Freakin’ Menus posted at Funancials. Have you ever looked at a menu and become paralyzed? In the same way, have you ever contemplated investing, but didn’t because of the overwhelming options?

IMB presents Important Investing Principles posted at Investing Money. Learn about several important investing principles that can help you compete with experienced investors.

Luke presents Why you should dump your savings accounts for savings bonds posted at Learn Bonds. A number of factors have to come together to make replacing your online savings account with a TreasuryDirect account, not only a good financial decision, but a practical one.

Passive Income Earner presents Dividend Income – November 2012 posted at The Passive Income Earner. I have been readjusting my RESP investments since I dumped all my mutual funds. I wrote a few posts over RESP and most recently I have shared my RESP strategy. The recent market drops are also providing me with an opportunity to take some profits and add to others that’s how I rebalance my stocks. Usually one sector will stay up while others are down.

Dividend Growth Investor presents Buy and Hold means Buy and Monitor posted at Dividend Growth Investor. Experienced dividend investors have learned, mostly through practice, that successful dividend investing is focused on continuous analysis of new or existing investments. Some of the greatest dividend growth stocks today, could become the pariahs on Wall Street within a few short years, if it runs into financial trouble. As a result, serious dividend investors should keep a close tab on their portfolios of income securities.

Shopping

JP presents Yakezie Carnival:The End of Black Friday Edition posted at My Family Finances. For years, Black Friday has brought the crazy out in people. I mean standing out in the middle of the night in arctic temperatures brand of crazy. At the end of the ice-cold, wait-till-midnight-to-shop hysteria is an expensive piece of electronic equipment discounted by $100.

Tushar presents 10 Must-Have Mobile Apps for Holiday Shopping posted at Finance TUBE. Today I will be taking about 10 Must-Have Mobile Apps for Holiday Shopping. A recent survey show that 82 perfect of online shoppers will use shopping apps to save on Holiday gifts this year. They are trying to right to find right apps can be a challenge.

Kate presents Gift Card Deals for Restaurants, iTunes and Shopping Read more:http://www.mydollarplan.com/gift-card-deals/#ixzz2DoX825q5 posted at My Dollar Plan. There are some great deals to be had on gift cards this holiday season. We have a list that will help you save on some great Christmas presents!

Glen presents Add Smart Credit Card Use to Your Holiday Shopping Plan posted at Credit Card Smarts. We tend to spend a lot during the holidays. Why not maximize those purcahses with some smart credit card use? See why you should use your card.

Other

Lance presents 2013 Standard Mileage Rates Announced by IRS posted at Money Life and More. The IRS has released the new standard mileage rates for 2013 that many companies use to reimburse you for business miles driven on your personal vehicles.

Jack presents Debt Collection Practices: Wage Garnishment posted at Money Saving Ethics. Learn more about wage garnishment.

Corey presents Average Tuition Increase Rates: Why High Projections are WRONG posted at 20s Finances. Statistics show tuition increased 4-7eac year in the past 10 years. While that is high, find out why it won’t continue at this rate.

Danielle presents Alternative Options in the Mortgage Market posted at Saving Without A Budget. Learn about other avenues to homeownership.

David presents What is a ghostwriter? at A Ghostwriters Blog. What is a ghostwriter? Can you afford one…or can you afford not to use one?

Don presents Are You Pretending To Be Rich? posted at MoneySmartGuides. You might be -pretending to be rich- if you do the following things that I write about in this article!

SFB presents The Lengths We Go To For Free Money: The $10 Survey posted at Simple Finance Blog. We’ve all seen the offers to take surveys for money but when one online survey took far too long, I questioned my motivations for the free money.

Sam presents The Do’s and Don’ts of Starting a Small Business posted at The New Business Blog. Start your plan for the best way to start a small business.

Jake Thompson presents Bank on Yourself posted at Becoming Your Own Bank. Why does bank on yourself sound too good to be true?

Daisy presents Spending Money Isn’t Bad posted at Add Vodka. Spending money gets a bad rap. Read why I don’t think spending money is a bad thing.

Ashley presents I Don’t Just Want a Nest Egg… I Want Nest Chickens posted at Money Talks Coaching. My husband grew up on his grandpa’s farm. From this experience we have several grandpa-isms in our house. One of them is I don’t count my eggs…

Suba presents My Daughter’s Fortune Gives Me Peace of Mind posted at Broke Professionals. A fortune cookie from a local Chinese restaurant had me praying for financial security for my children.

Emily presents How to Be an Exemplary Boomerang Kid posted at Evolving Personal Finance. Young adults moving back in with their parents should follow these suggestions to maintain a good relationship and meet their goals.

Invest It Wisely presents Consider All Your Options Before Relocating posted at Invest It Wisely. There are many factors involved with relocating to a new city that should be considered if you hope to avoid the negative impact of debt, isolation and depression.

Daniel presents How an Internship Abroad Helped Shape My Career Path posted at Sweating the Big Stuff. Most internships don’t have a profound effect on the future, but mine helped propel me to choose my future career and the way I think.

Kyle presents The Top 5 Things To Protect a Company’s Staff posted at The Penny Hoarder. In the wake of natural disasters that seem have hit the United States over the last few years, it is important for companies of all sizes to look at ways that they can protect their staff, as well as ensure continuity of their businesses. Here are the top five ways that every business can protect their staff.

Mike presents The Power of Becoming Aggressive and No Longer Waiting Around posted at The Financial Blogger. Why you need to become more bold to reach your goals.

GRAND FINALE

No party is complete without a marching band…

Filed Under: Frugal Tagged With: blog carnival, personal finance

A Walk in the Woods – saving money and getting fit

November 27, 2012 by David Leonhardt 3 Comments

One thing about being a parent is the incredible array of expensive things children can ask to do, such as theme parks, go-carts, movies, glow-in-the-dark mini golf, etc. But there are still plenty of old-fashioned freebies that don’t cost an entry fee plus a round of four-dollar drinks, such as the traditional walk in the wood.

If your child is like my 11-year-old… “Let’s go!”

If your child is like my 9-year old, you might be tempted to give up before starting. After all, what is the fun of walking in the woods to a rendition of “This is boring. Why did we have to go? I told you I didn’t want to. You’re evil.”

However, there are several strategies I have used to make the boring walk in the woods fun enough that my 9-year-old ends up having the most fun of any of us.

Play “follow the leader”. Start walking backwards. Don’t say anything, just do it. Your kids will ask what you are doing. Just tell them to do the same. “It’s fun, why don’t you try it?” Then switch to sideways. “Can you do this?” Then leap like a frog. Skip. Spin. Before long, the kids are leading and you’ll have to follow.
Count the leaves. You can tell how many types of trees there are by the different leaves on the trees, or on the ground in the fall (I wrote this before the snow covered up the ground here yesterday). The more they can identify, the better. If there are some they like, but can’t identify, bring them home to look it up. Make it a contest, collecting one of each type of leaf and seeing which child collects the most different leaves.
In the fall, count the colors. You will surely start off with just yellow, brown, green and maybe red. But some of those reds are almost pink. And some are brownish. Challenge them to discover how many colors they can find.
Tell ghost stories. What? You think you need a campfire for that? OK, then tell them stories about when you were their age. Kids love to hear about how their parents were when they were young, at least until the teenage years.
Sing. Ask each child in turn to lead the group in song. Current hits, old classics, sing-along songs. Whatever they like. Advanced tip: compose a song together, about walking through the forest.
If there are birds around, bring some seeds. We occasionally “walk” in the local bird sanctuary where there are a fair number of chickadees. I put “walk” in quotation marks because what we usually do most of is stand around with outstretched arms and open hands with seeds in them. But apart from the minor cost of the seeds, it is a free activity, in the fresh air with some exercise and interaction with animals. It doesn’t get much better than that.

So there are ways to make even a “boring” walk in the woods an exciting adventure that costs much less than a theme park or a movie.

Filed Under: Frugal Tagged With: nature, walking, woods