Category Archives for Saving Money & Frugal Living

5 Habits That Will Definitely Waste Your Money

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Catherine Alford. Cat is a freelance personal finance writer who blogs at www.BudgetBlonde.com. 

We all have habits, both good and bad, but some of them waste a lot more money than others. I’m sure some bad money-habits that immediately come to mind are a smoking habit or a bad drinking habit, for example, but those are kind of obvious.

My challenge to you is to think on a smaller scale. What about all those tiny, seemingly innocuous habits that can add up over the course of the year?

You might not even notice you’re doing them or realize how much they cost you over time, but here are 5 examples below that I’ve been guilty of in the past and perhaps you are too?

Never Packing a Lunch

As someone who is not a morning person, I completely respect and understand that it’s hard to squeeze in packing a lunch with your hectic morning routine.

This is a costly habit, though, because buying lunch every day really adds up. Even if you manage to get your lunch for $5, which is pretty rare unless you have an amazing food truck that stops by your work, you’ll still spend $100 a month on food. I can think of about a million other things that I’d rather use $100 for.

For some people, it’s really worth the convenience but for others it’s definitely not worth a budget bust. If you love to leave your office in the middle of the day, remember that you can drive to a park and eat your sandwich or run an errand and still get the same effect.

Giving into Cravings

Even though I am 8 months pregnant right now, I still haven’t given into every single craving I’ve had. I’ve noticed that just like anything else, you can get past them.

I admit some of my cravings have been pretty serious and have almost brought me to tears, like the time I really wanted a cheeseburger and nothing anyone could say could get me past it. Other times they aren’t as bad, and I can typically think about something else or keep busy and it passes. This has contributed to having a pretty healthy pregnancy with minimal weight gain (despite carrying twins) and it’s also helped me to stay within my budget.

So, if I can do it, I know you can do it! I know that a pile of fries sounds amazing right now, but if you can just get past the craving and think about something else, I promise they do go away.

Letting Your Car Run Low on Gas

When you let your car get really low on gas, you turn it into somewhat of an emergency situation. Instead of being able to stop at the station near your house that always has the cheapest gas, you have to pull over quickly at the next exit and find the closest one. If you have this habit and do this enough times, you can definitely waste some serious cash.

While one or two cents on the gallon doesn’t seem like a lot, it does add up over the course of the year. Essentially, when you leave out the ability to plan your day and have to rush around, you lose the option of shopping around for the best price. This is true in many other situations from groceries to appliances to clothing. Don’t wait until something breaks or is on its last leg before checking out prices.

Forgetting Your Shopper Card

There are some stores that will allow the cashiers to swipe their shopper’s card for you, but when that happens you miss out on possible gas mileage points that could be applied to your own life! I’ve done this so many times, and it really is frustrating to miss out on the points. It’s like free money that the grocery stores are giving you, so make sure that you at least have a small version on your keychain that you can use in a pinch!

Forgetting Your Grocery List at Home

I do this all the time. More specifically, I leave my grocery list in the car a lot. You think you’ll remember everything you need at the store, but you won’t. Inevitably there will be some important ingredient that you missed. Furthermore, you’ll notice other great deals and then Doritos will be on sale and soon enough your entire cart looks like a junk food store. Or maybe that’s just me?

This is one of the worst money-wasting habits since people frequent the grocery store so much. Like I said, I’m guilty of it and am trying to be better about it!

Luckily, each and every one of these five habits are quite easy to break. All it takes is a little bit of organization and being more self aware, and all of us can save some more money this year!

How about you all? Are you guilty of any of the above habits? What do you do to try to break them?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/7214600922/sizes/l/

Are You Living a Complete “Service-Plan Lifestyle?” – A Reminder From My Recent Best Buy Geek Squad Laptop Repair Experience

Since purchasing my new Toshiba laptop in December 2013, it has had intermittent problems with randomly freezing up and rebooting itself. This is quite annoying when you are trying to put together a PhD dissertation because you have to save your document every 2nd sentence!

Anyhow, after getting through my dissertation proposal in mid February, I decided to take my computer in for repair. I first went to the campus’ computer repair store, and they said that they could not repair Toshiba brand there (not sure why…). Anyhow, they recommended that I take it to Best Buy to have their Geek Squad fix it since they do service Toshiba’s.

So, the next day I ventured off to the local Best Buy in an effort to get my laptop fixed…

Best Buy’s Business Practices

I have to give them credit – Best Buy is an amazing example of American capitalism in action, and I have absolutely no problem with this. 

Have you ever been in a Best Buy? If so, you’ll find out that there’s a reason they beat out Circuit City in becoming pretty much the only nationwide, standalone, “big box” electronics retailer.

Let’s take a moment to admire Best Buy’s business model:

• Upon entering the store, you are greeted by a person in a yellow shirt whose job is to make direct contact with everyone who comes in the store. Making contact like this has been statistically shown to decrease store theft. Good for business!
• Next, go to one of the various departments in the store. What happens? Well, if you go to the computer section, I am often approached by a customer representative who asks if I need help. If I say I am “just looking,” they often quickly proceed to ask (read..pitch) what type of Internet service I have at home in an effort to sell me an upgrade to a service plan where they no doubt get a commission. Genius!
• Have you ever purchased a computer or other device from Best Buy? The device itself is just the tip of the iceberg. Where they also make a ton of money are the “up-sells” / add-on products. For example, when I purchased a computer there, I was pitched the following add-ons – 1) a service plan, 2) a warranty / protection plan, 3) MS Office software, and 4) an external hard drive. These additions are always very profitable, but not always completely necessary.
• The checkout line at Best Buy is also a gem. Even though I have never seen a long line at the store, the line “corral” area snakes around several times with shelves full of last-minute impulse buy items to tempt customers. Again, genius!

Well, when I visited the Geek Squad area of Best Buy, I soon realized another realm where they are very profitable….tech repair

“You Don’t Want to Buy a Service Plan? I’m Not Sure If We Can Proceed With The Repair. Let Me Ask My Manager” – Best Buy Geek Squad Agent

Much to my surprise, upon entering the Geek Squad area of the local Best Buy, they seemed to be surprisingly ill-prepared to handle getting people through quickly, particularly because entering each customer’s data in to the computer system takes so long. In the end, it took me a total of 1 hr to simply drop off my laptop for repair.

When it was finally my turn in line, I approached the Geek Squad Agent and described the situation. He was a very nice guy that seemed to be fairly new to the job.

In my mind, I had envisioned paying some type of by-the-job or hourly repair fee to fix the computer. However, the Agent then proceeded to tell me that they would be happy to help me and that the best way to proceed would be for me to purchase a 1 year Geek Squad Tech Support Plan for the bargain deal of $199.99.

Being a personal finance blogger, I am well-aware that these broad tech support plans are generally a better deal for the store selling them than for the end customer, since the services they offer are often not utilized and/or necessary.

Therefore, I declined the offer to purchase a “plan,” and stated that I simply wanted them to fix this one specific issue of the computer restarting itself unexpected. 

This idea seemed quite foreign to the Geek Squad Agent, and he insisted that most people simply purchase the protection/service plan. In fact, he had to go ask his manager whether or not they could even check in the computer without the service plan purchased. He stated some seemingly good reasons for why they recommend the plan. Indeed, they were quite enticing, since it would offer data backup, virus removal, and many other services that might be needed over the coming year.

In the end, the Agent finally agreed that they could check the computer in for a “diagnostic” check for $69.99, and then they would contact me once they are figured out what the problem was and determine if I wanted to pay more money to fix it.

Three days later, without any advanced warning that they had figured out what the problem was, I received an email notification saying that my laptop was ready to be picked up. Since they had not called me to discuss how to proceed on the repair post diagnosis, I was a little uncertain about what to expect…

“This Service Was A One-Time Thing. If You Bring it Back In and Need More Work, You’ll Have To Purchase a Service Plan for $200.” – Best Buy Geek Squad Agent When I Picked Up My Laptop

Having gained some experience with Best Buy’s Geek Squad from several days earlier, I made sure to make an Advanced Reservation Appointment to pick up my laptop on their website (this puts you in a quicker line once you get to store). Again, there were quite a few people waiting in line at Geek Squad, but I got to bypass most of the waiting around since I had my Reservation.

When an Agent brought out my laptop to check out and explain what was the issue, he said that I had some type of viral infection, and that they had removed the problem. I was quite surprised that they did not charge me for this work, but just charged for the $70 diagnostic portion.

However, I was not too impressed at the lack of detail the Agent seemed to be offering about how I could prevent this from happening in the future, beyond suggesting additional Geek Squad Service Plans and Virus Protection Packages that would cost even more money. 

When I looked online for reviews of Geek Squad’s repairs, I did find one intriguing article on Consumerist that shares several confessions of an ex-Geek Squad worker. He or she states that there is a definite push towards selling Best Buy’s packages vs. repairing the device itself.

(Side note: In doing some research in my locale, I discovered that there are cheaper places to get my laptop repaired in the future, and at these places, they don’t seem to operate on the “plan” system, but rather, charge by the hour or by a certain type of job.)

A Good Reminder – Do You Have Too Many “Plans” In Your Life?

It is common knowledge among those with expertise in marketing that an automatic/advance-paid subscription or service plan is one of the best things you can do for your business.

Not surprising, almost every consumer service these days offers some form of “plan” that you can sign up for, and your bank account or credit card is automatically debited each month; no thought involved for you.

While plans are great for business and they facilitate the delivery of many needed services, we as consumers and individuals have to be vigilant about whether we are accumulating too many of these plans.

For example, what recurring service plans do you have currently have in your life? Since it can be very easy in today’s society to accumulate these plans, can you possibly identify one or multiple plans that you really don’t need?

Below are a few examples….

• Netflix?
• Gym membership?
• Cable TV package including too many extra movie channels?
• Smart phone?
• Yogo studio membership?
• Rewards credit card annual fee?
• Magazine subscription?
• A sports club you no longer participate in?
• Monthly cleaning services for your house?
• Professional society that you no longer participate in?
• Extended warranty plans?
• Landline phone service that you don’t use since you have a cell phone?
• And the list could go on and on….

The point I am trying to make here is that you should QUESTION whether or not these advance- or subscription- paid plans are worthwhile / ones that you will be able to fully utilize prior to opening up the wallet. And more importantly, don’t feel pressured in to buying these extra features at a store, since often, the store workers make a lot of money by pushing these products.

How about you all? Do you currently have subscriptions/recurring plans that you could do without? If so, which ones? Have you ever felt pressured in to buying a plan at a store when you didn’t originally want it?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/osde-info/5720808237/sizes/l/

How To Make Your Own Wine For $1 Per Bottle In 1 Week

Being a big fan of wine, I have naturally touched on the subject multiple times throughout the 4+ year history of MPFJ.

First, we investigated the long term financial ramifications of choosing to drink cheaper vs. more expensive wine, seeing that you could save upwards of $42,924 over your lifetime by drinking $3 per bottle wine instead of $10 per bottle wine. Next, we explored whether screw-cap wine or real cork-bottled wine tasted better, and saw that not only do screw-cap wines generally cost less, but they are scientifically a better form of bottle closure. Finally, we discussed if wine can really make you live longer and saw that there was more consensus on the benefits for men vs. women.

Today, I wanted to continue the discussion of wine-related topics by sharing how I’ve discovered I can make my OWN WINE at home for about $1 per bottle! Being someone interested in personal finances/frugal living/saving money and also bioscience (wine is a product of fermentation after all!), this is fun topic for me.

Step 1 – Set Your Expectations

The first step in getting started making your own quick, cheap $1-per-bottle wine is to accept that the product you’ll be making likely will not have the same taste as a $10 bottle from the store. Instead, the goal here is to brew up something that is “drinkable,” has between 10-18% alcohol content like normal wine, to have some fun learning about the winemaking process, and enjoying the fact that you concocted a homemade product for a cheap price!

If you want to make your own home-made wine that is of higher quality (and does taste like wine you’d buy from the store – this is what my fiance does in our condo, and it comes out quite nicely!), you’ll need a more complete/official wine making kit and about 2-3 months of processing time vs. the 1 week that we’re talking about here. If you’re interested in getting more professional about the wine making process, I’d recommend shopping at an online provider such as EC Kraus (where my fiance gets her supplies), or doing a Google search for “home wine making” in your local area for a store close by.

Step 2 – Gather The RIGHT Supplies You’ll Need

Let’s walk through each item you’ll need one-by-one to make your own wine in 1 gallon increments:

Juice – Total Cost Per Gallon of Wine = $3.00

At the core of the home wine-making process is the fruit juice/sugar source that feeds the yeasts’ fermentation metabolic system.

In order to create 1 gallon of homemade wine, you’ll need 2 frozen cans of juice concentrate from the grocery store. So far, I’ve made wine with the following juice types with various levels of success, and as such, I’ve added my experiences corresponding with each:

• Red grape juice – This has by far been the most successful fruit juice I’ve tried thus far. It provides a nice level of sugar source for the yeast to chew on, is pretty cheap, easy to find at the store, and most importantly, the red grape juice hides a lot of the off-flavors that can commonly be produced by creating a cheap wine.
• Apple juice – Apple juice worked pretty well as a wine base. However, once all of the sugar was gone from the juice, the resulting wine tasted a little “funky.”
• White grape juice – White grape juice is fermented very quickly by the yeast, often in only about 3 days. However, I’ve found that the resulting product has some off-flavors that are normally settled out by a combination of fining agents and several months of time during the normal wine making process.
• Pineapple juice – Much to my surprise, pineapple juice works pretty dang well as a wine base. It ferments very aggressively, producing a nice amount of alcohol content. Further, there aren’t that many off flavors produced.
• Fruit punch and limemade – The last two that I’ve tried are fruit punch and limemade juice concentrates. With both, the fermentation seems to stop at around 5% alcohol content. I’m guessing this is due to an unfavorable environment being provided by these juices. However, since the alcohol content is lower, I’ve found that these wines are nice for mixing with the off-flavor varieties mentioned above in order to create a more palatable product so the wine doesn’t go to waste.

1 Gallon Jug With Cap – Total Cost Per Gallon of Wine = Free

Having selected your fruit juice concentrate, the next task is to find a container to put it in. For this, you can simply use an empty milk jug. Or, if you’re feeling really fancy, you can buy a $0.50 1 gal water jug from the store.

Yeast  – Total Cost Per Gallon of Wine = $0.50

Of course, fruit juice cannot be turned in to wine without our favorite microbe – yeast.

When I first started my winemaking journey, I simply used bread yeast purchased from the grocery store. However, I could not seem to avoid the distinct resulting “bread” smell/taste that it would produce. And, after finding out that wine yeast was about the same price, I switched away from bread yeast and have not looked back!

The type of wine yeast I use right now is a Lalvin brand strain called EC-118. I use this yeast because it seems to be the most “robust” and versatile strain that they have. I purchased a 10 pack of this yeast on Amazon for around $5.00, which equates to about $0.50 per gallon since 1 yeast packet is needed for each gallon of wine made. 

Sugar  – Total Cost Per Gallon of Wine = $0.50

Unfortunately, the sugar that exists in store-bought juice concentrate is not quite enough to make wine-level alcohol content. Therefore, you need to supplement the 2 cans of fruit juice concentrate in each gallon of wine with about 2-3 cups of regular table sugar.

A 10-pound bag of normal white sugar can be purchased from the store for $5.00. According to an online sugar converter, 2 cups of sugar weights approximately 1 pound, so this 10 pound bag of sugar will last quite a while!

Water  – Total Cost Per Gallon of Wine = Negligible since tap-water is fine (no need to worry about contamination, etc). 

Miscellaneous Supplies to Make the Process Easier  – Total Cost Per Gallon of Wine = Negligible since likely already have in kitchen.

In my experience, there are a couple simple household items that make the wine making process a whole lot easier!

• The first item is a turkey-baster, or something similar, which can be used to suck out small quantities of the wine from the container during fermentation to taste the product and see how it is progressing.
• The second item is a funnel. This makes it a lot easier to dump in the juice concentrate, water, and sugar in to the small hole on the 1 gallon container.
• The third set of items is a rubber band and seran wrap. Since the fermentation progresses pretty aggressively once it has started in earnest, it usually results in some spillage of bubbles out the top of the jug. By placing a rubber band and seran wrap over the partially open cap, it prevent this from getting all over the place.
• The fourth item is a cookie sheet and aluminum foil. This prevents the spillage from getting your counters or table all messy.
• The fifth item is a vessel to store the completed wine in once fermentation is complete.

Total cost per 1 gal of wine = $4.00.

• 1 gal of wine = 3.78 liters. Assuming you lose a little bit of the wine during the process, you yield 3 liters of wine. 1 bottle of wine = 0.75 L, so you yield 4 bottles of wine, or a cost per bottle of $1.

Step 3 – Putting the Ingredients Together

Having gathered the required ingredients, now comes the easy part – actually making the wine. Once you get the hang of this, you can often start a new batch of wine in less than 5 minutes!

1. To get started, thaw out the frozen juice concentrate completely.
2. Fill up the 1 gal jug with tepid (not hot or else you will anger the yeast!) water about 1/3 of the way full.
3. Add the yeast, invert multiple times to mix.
4. Add the 2 cups of sugar using the funnel.
5. Add the 2 containers of thawed juice concentrate.
6. Invert jug multiple times to mix well, making note that the sugar has completely dissolved and is no longer stuck to the bottom.
7. Cap the jug. However, immediately pop open one side of the cap so that the CO2 pressure from the fermentation can properly vent (and so your wine vessel doesn’t explode!).
8. Cover the cap of the jug in seran wrap, and then secure the seran wrap in place with the rubber band.
9. Place the vessel on top of the alumninum foil-covered cookie sheet to keep your area clean.

Step 4 – Sit Back and Watch Science Turn Juice in to Wine!

Having combined the ingredients, now all you have to do is sit back and watch the fermentation happen.

You should expect the yeast to take 12-24 hours to acclimate to their new environment. After that, you should see aggressive bubbles coming up through the juice for the next ~3-7 days.

After the bubbling has ended, simply pour out the wine in to another vessel, leaving behind the yeast sediment in the original fermenter to clean up and throw away.

Personally, I like to refrigerate the wine that I make in this fashion. However, that part is up to you. Now you can enjoy your product with friends, or by yourself! 

How about you all? Have you ever made your own wine or beer? How did the process turn out? Were you able to do it cheaper or more expensive than wine bought at the store?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/uncalno/8538709738/sizes/l/

A Personal Example of Building and Using a Home Maintenance Savings Fund

Almost four years ago when I first purchased my condo coming in to graduate school, I discussed the various ways that I adjusted my monthly zero-based budget to take on the task of home ownership.

One of these ways was to set up an automatic monthly transfer from my checking to savings account for a set amount that would help me accumulate 1% of my home’s total market value over a 1 year time period. The idea for having this money on hand was to be able to pay for periodic maintenance that needed to be done on my property (without dipping in to an emergency fund or a credit card), since I no longer would have a landlord to call to take care of these items as they pop up. Thus began my home maintenance savings account. 

Why was 1% chosen as my target savings value? Since this was my first experience of home ownership, I took this recommended value from one of my favorite personal finance books, Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson. This value seemed appropriate since my condo was in pretty good shape when I purchased it. Of course, this value may need to be amended for your specific circumstances.

Slowly, Automatically Building a Home Maintenance Savings Fund

Having set up the automatic monthly transfer for my home maintenance fund, it took essentially no thought and no effort on my part to accumulate the money over the 1 year build-up period. The money was simply withdrawn automatically and immediately after I would get paid.

Before I knew it, a year had passed, and it was time to cancel the monthly recurring transfer since my maintenance fund was completed. On top of that, I had added several extra hundred Dollars for safe measure. Of course, if any maintenance expenditure were to arise, I would need to replenish the withdrawn fund from the account to keep the 1% home value target.

Electrical Problems

Having built up my home maintenance fund, I then waited for the first time I would need to tap in to it. And wait I did – for almost 3.5 years in fact!

From August 2010 – January 2013, I luckily did not have one significant maintenance problem that couldn’t be fixed with a little do-it-yourself caulking around the shower and kitchen sink piping.

However, that all changed last month when the electricity for an entire circuit breaker portion of our condo went out. At first, I just thought that the fuse in the circuit breaker had blown, and so I drove around town and after visiting 4 electrical supply stores, I procured a suitable replacement. However, that did not correct the problem.

Since I am by no means a qualified electrician, I decided it was time to call in a reputable professional. The way the billing is set up for the service we called was that it was $90 for the first 15 minutes, and then around $90 for each additional 30 minutes thereafter. Clearly, the most expensive part is simply getting them to show up for a visit.

After checking out the problem, the electrician found that the issue was rooted in the fact that our condo has aluminum wiring instead of the standard copper used nowadays, since our condo was built during a time when there was a copper shortage. Anyhow, he fixed what he thought was the problem, and everything seemed to be all right.

• Total cost for first visit = $188. 

However, 2 hours after the electrician left, the electricity in the same area of the condo went out again because of a separate issue caused by the aluminum wiring causing an outlet in the guest bedroom to melt the plastic. Thus, we had to get the electrician back to the house a couple days later.

• Total cost for second visit = $128.

Water Heater Problems (When It Rains, It Pours – Literally)

At almost the same time this electricity issue reared its ugly face, I had started to notice that the hot water would run out much quicker than it usually does while taking a shower. I figured this was simply a result of the water heater being old and there being record low temperatures in Virginia where I live in January.

After coming back in to town from a trip home to see my parents, I noticed that the problem still hadn’t corrected itself, despite being warmer outside. Thus, I finally decided to go out on my back porch and check the closet where the water heater is housed. Since the weather has been pretty terrible lately, my fiance and I had not been out on the porch for a couple weeks probably.

Much to my surprise, copious amounts of water were overflowing from the water heater and spilling out over the balcony to the patio below.

What this meant was that the water heater was continuously making hot water because it was leaking (never stopped because it could not fill itself up completely). Talk about a waste of resources/money/the environment!!!

Anyhow, we called up a plumber to assess the issue, and they quickly identified that the water heater had burst and needed to be replaced. They said that it was likely the original from when the condo was built 30+ years ago, so it definitely had some life to it!

Because the unit needed to be special ordered, he would have to come back the next day and install it.

• Total cost for 3rd visit = $90.
• Total cost for installed new water heater on 4th visit = $1090.

Total Repair Cost and Lessons Learned

So, altogether, the home maintenance repairs had costed me a total of $1,500, almost exactly the 1% of the purchase price of my condo, $105,000, plus the extra few hundred Dollars I had thrown in for safe measure. Pretty coincidental how that was exactly the amount of my home maintenance fund, eh!?

Overall, I feel pretty satisfied with how the repairs went. Furthermore, I feel fairly lucky that the damage caused by the melted plastic/aluminum wiring or the flood of dripping water did not cause anymore damage than to just the equipment described here. If my water heater had been in a more interior part of my house or in a finished basement, the water damage culminating from the 2 weeks it had been overflowing could have been extensive.

To this end, one lesson I learned through all of this is the importance of periodically (maybe 1x every 2 weeks) checking/visually surveying your house, specifically your heavy appliances such as furnace, water heater, A/C unit, etc for signs of malfunction. This is especially true for places (like my outdoor patio closet) where you don’t see on a typical day-to-day basis. 

How about you all? Do you have a home maintenance savings fund? If so, how much do you typically keep in it and why?

Share your experiences by commenting below!

***Photo courtesy of http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7277/7624022844_b08d0eaf71_o.jpg

The High Cost of Comparison

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Catherine Alford. Cat is a freelance personal finance writer who blogs at www.BudgetBlonde.com. 

Comparison is a natural part of everyday life.

We automatically compare prices on produce at the grocery store, clothes in the mall, and yes, even the way we raise our kids and interact with our families.

Comparison can be healthy in many ways. For example, you might compare yourself to a more established colleague or a writer you admire, trying to find ways to improve yourself or better your surroundings.

Comparison can be used as a personal gauge as well. I like to compare where I am now to where I was a few years ago. The comparison shows me how much I’ve grown, developed, and matured.

Yet, there’s a darker side to comparison, too.

There’s the mom who seems to always have it together who makes you feel like you’re not doing well enough. There’s the husband who constantly takes his wife out on dates, when it seems yours just wants to relax and watch the game. Then, there’s the skinny celebrities, the wealthy next-door neighbor with the new BMW, and your co-worker who got the promotion you’ve always wanted.

The types of comparisons listed above can be a danger not only to your relationships but your finances as well. They can cause undue strain on your life and unrealistic expectations.

Let’s take a look:

Dangers to Relationships

Comparing your relationship to other ones is a natural part of life. However, it’s when the negative thoughts creep in that it can deeply affect the way you go through life: “They always seem so in love.” “He regularly buys her flowers just because.” “I wish my husband did that.” “I wish my wife always had dinner ready like his wife.”

Raise your hand if any of these thoughts have run through your mind before, especially when you’re out to dinner with friends or checking your Facebook newsfeed.

Even though comparison is a pretty natural part of life, the way to get around the negative impact is to remember people are always going to put their best foot forward. I’m hardly going to post a status update that says, “My husband and I just had the worst fight ever!”

The world doesn’t need to know that. Yet, I will post about a great dinner he made or another happy part of my day. It’s just how it goes. I don’t think people purposefully try to portray their lives in a perfect way; they just don’t share private details with the public.

Dangers to Finances

You’ve heard of “The Joneses” and how everyone is trying to keep up with them. The thing is, no one would be worried about The Joneses if they didn’t spend so much time comparing themselves to them.

I was very fortunate growing up, but my dad always taught me to never be boastful or showcase our vacations or belongings. He told me many times that there were people far wealthier than we were out there, and acting like I was better than anyone simply because we were upper middle class was rude.

I didn’t truly understand what he meant until I studied abroad one summer in Europe. I took a side trip to Paris, and I was walking down the street when I saw a limo pull up to a hotel. A bellman rushed out and pulled out Louis Vuitton bag after Louis Vuitton bag from the trunk. There must have been 20 pieces of luggage, all extraordinarily expensive.

Standing there with my little backpack as a college student, my dad’s words jumped into my mind. It was only because of his training and instruction that I didn’t stand there envious of the family in the limo. I just acknowledged via a detached comparison that they were extremely wealthy, and I was not. It was a world I’d never seen before and will never be a part of. It was an excellent reminder that sometimes, you simply can’t measure up to others in some ways so comparison is futile.

Still, there are people who try to attain this level of wealth through gathering possessions that very wealthy people own, whether they can afford it or not. This includes the young 25 year old who buys a $1,000 La Perla swimsuit instead of a $30 Target one. It includes the young couple who are buying a first home but insist on the 3,000 square foot house on the lake that they “deserve.”

Comparisons, especially negative comparisons, lead people to live well beyond their means every single day. Whether it’s something small like buying a designer dress that your friend has or something big like booking an expensive vacation to try to one up your wealthy coworker, comparison can drive your finances into the ground.

I know it’s hard to resist comparing yourself to others, since it’s a natural part about being human. However, next time you find yourself wishing your life resembled someone else’s, take a little bit of time to think logically about the situation and acknowledge what’s great about you just being you.

How about you all? What comparisons do you yourself or you see others making that might be negatively affecting them?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/laruth/345492908/sizes/o/

Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box – A Review of Cloud Storage Options

This is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Jeff. Jeff writes about sustainable living and finances at his website, Sustainable Life Blog. Jeff really enjoys traveling with his wife as much as he can, to wherever he can.

Over the last 5 years, there has been this huge buzz in computing about the “cloud”.

Everyone talks about leveraging the resources of the cloud, storing your data in the cloud, but what exactly do they mean when they talk about the cloud, and how can you use it to help you?

Well, the cloud is simply online data storage. It works exactly like the hard drive on your computer, except you can access your data from any computer with an internet connection. The service is pretty handy because it allows you to access (or share) pictures, documents and other stuff over any internet connected device. I keep trying to use it as much as possible, but old habits (mainly MS office) die hard. I’m starting to get everything into the cloud though, and it’s making life easier for me.

There are a lot of different cloud services out there, but the main 3 are Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box.

I’ve used each of them for different purposes and each has some advantages and disadvantages, so we’ll go over everything and let you decide what one (if any) of these services meets your needs. The most popular (and one I’ve been using the longest) is Dropbox, so we will start there.

Dropbox

The one that I’ve been using for the longest is Dropbox.

There are two versions of the service, a free and paid version.

Free Version

• The free version comes with 2gb storage space, and you can expand that up to 18 gb for free by referring friends to the service.
• I’ve been using the free version for the entire time, and while I’ve deleted stuff out of there that I no longer use, I’ve never gone above 70% utilization of space. The free version has suited me just fine so far.

Pro Version

• However, if you plan on needing more space than that, there’s a pro version of Dropbox that costs 9.99/mo (Or $99/yr) and gives you 100gb of space – nearly 50x what a free account does.
• This would be valuable if you’re interested in putting ALL your data in Dropbox as a backup, but that’s not how I’ve been using it thus far. I just use it for a few files that I need access to frequently.

The best part about Dropbox is that you can get to it from everywhere. They have great apps for andriod (and iphone, but I havent used that one) as well as desktop apps for mac & pc, and a web interface. They make it super easy to upload and download files from their server.

Below are the Dropbox app links:

Dropbox app: iphone , Droid.

Google Drive

The next one on our list is Google Drive.

• Google Drive has a free version that will give you 15gb for free (though this is combined with your Gmail and Google photos),
• And they have tiered pricing for paid plans, allowing from 100gb (4.99/mo) to 16 tb (799.99/mo).
  • This is half the price per month compared to Dropbox for the same amount of space! 
• Personally, I think that 15gb will be fine for 99% of the population, but you’ll need to decide that for yourself.

Google Drive is more than just a file storage/upload area though. There are apps built into Google Drive, that will help you make documents and spreadsheets, forms and surveys and even do drawings, all of which can then be saved in your Google Drive and shared (if need be).

(From Jacob:) However, one disadvantage that presents itself with Google Drive is that to my knowledge, you cannot open your Google Drive folders on your desktop using MS Office applications. Instead, you can only edit directly from the Google Drive website. 

In addition to creating documents with Drive, you can also share them with people. They can have view permissions or edit permissions, allowing you to collaborate on things with others. My wife and I use this a lot when we were wedding planning to do the guest list, favors, vendors and more.

Just like Dropbox, Drive is with you anywhere you go, and you can access and edit from a computer or your phone with the Google Drive apps, which can accessed by clicking the links below.

Drive App: iphone , android.

Box

The last alternative we will discuss is Box.

• With Box, you can get 10 gb of file storage in their cloud for free, with a maximum file upload size of 250mb.
• If you need more than that, you can move to a personal paid plan with Box, which will get you 100 gb storage online, and a 5 gb upload limit, for $10 per month.

With Box, you can share folders for others to edit and collaborate on the documents inside, or even assign tasks (perhaps to yourself). Personally, I haven’t put this app much through the ringer as much as I have Drive and Dropbox, but from what I can tell box is a pretty solid option if you’re looking to store files online. However, there are some complaints about the small (250mb) file upload limit.

Below are the links to the apps if needed:

Box App: Android, iphone

Conclusion

There are 3 pretty good apps here, and because of the document creation, I think that Google Drive is the most robust, although maybe not suited for folks who like to edit documents inside MS Office applications. Even though Dropbox has the lowest amount of storage space, it’s the one that I’ve been using most (and will continue to use). I’ve never bumped up against my limit, but then again I’m not a heavy user.

If you think you’ll be a heavy user, consider looking at one of the options with a larger amount of storage space. As always, evaluate your needs before choosing, but with any of these three, you cant go wrong.

How about you all? Do you use any cloud storage services? If so, which one?

What features do you specifically look for in cloud storage services?

***Photos courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeybones/6779772214/sizes/o/, http://img.talkandroid.com/uploads/2012/12/Dropbox-Logo.png, http://www.ozom.cl/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Google_Drive_Logo-1000×288.jpg, http://www.techtuple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Box-Android-Apps-on-Google-Play.png

The Worst Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Shondell of Call Me What You Want, Even Cheap. She blogs about her recent car loan and mortgage pay off and a whole bunch more. Check out her blog right here.

Valentine’s Day is for giving your sweetheart beautiful gifts in order to win her heart or to show how much you care.

A gift given on this day should be such that it touches your significant others heart and makes her think fondly of it until the next V-Day. Sadly, some men are not the greatest at giving gifts and may need some assistance on what not to buy their partner.

Here are some of the worst Valentine’s Day gift ideas:

• Lingerie: Giving lingerie in the early days of dating is like extending a direct invitation to you know what….. It would probably be a great idea if you are already a couple and deeply in love, but a woman you just started dating may find it insulting. Depending on her personality, she might just ignore it and never call you again, which would be quite sad if you really liked her.

• Chocolates: If your partner is not a chocolate lover, and or if she’s on a diet, then chocolates are a definite no, no. So ignore the commercials about chocolates being great Valentine’s Day gifts, it will only work if she really likes chocolates, so be sure to know this before you decide to buy any.

• Fifty Shades of Grey, the novel: There may be a lot of buzz on the internet about the erotic novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” and it may have become a bestseller, but that doesn’t mean women like to see themselves in the same role as the masochistic Anastasia Steele. Giving the novel as a gift on Valentine’s Day is like making an open invitation to her to play the role of Anastasia with you as the sadistic Christian Grey. No thinking woman would appreciate this gift.

• Diamond ring: Unless your sweetheart is already married to you, giving a diamond ring to her is a bad idea. If she is deeply in love with you, she might think it’s as a proposal and if it is not, then it would be very awkward for the both of you. If she is not in love with you or has no intention of getting hitched with you, then it might simply drive her away. With that one diamond ring you could hurt her feelings or cause her to end the relationship.

• Plastic roses: A bouquet of roses is fine for Valentine’s Day. But never make the mistake of giving plastic roses. Sure, they look beautiful, but they may send a negative message. She might think that you have a cold and insensitive heart and toss it in the trash. It also sends a message that you are extremely cheap, so if you don’t want her to view you as being cheap, get the real ones!

• Deodorant: This one is obvious, and although your intentions may be in the right place, it just sends the wrong message. Imagine getting deodorant from anyone you know. Maybe if it was packaged with body wash, soap, and perfume it wouldn’t be as bad, but let’s be honest if someone gave me deodorant, I would definitely be offended.

• Tools: Have you ever gotten a gift that your significant other wanted for themselves, and instead of just buying it for themselves, they purchased it for you, knowing full well that they will be enjoying it and not you? This happened to someone I know. She got an electric saw! I laughed when she told me, and said he might as well have not gotten you anything. Don’t get me wrong, a gift is a gift, and we should all be grateful, but if your wife/girlfriend has never used a hammer, chances are she won’t enjoy a tool.

• A Gym Membership: This one could go either way, but to avoid an argument, I would not recommend this as a gift. The first thing that may go through your partners head is “Is he trying to tell me I need to lose weight?” Especially if there was never a conversation about joining a gym, and then all of sudden BAM! A gym membership.

How about  you all? What’s the worst Valentine’s Day gift you’ve gotten?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo by Justin Lucarelli

Are Holidays A Total Waste of Money?

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Catherine Alford. Cat is a freelance personal finance writer who blogs at www.BudgetBlonde.com. 

I should probably admit upfront that I have a bit of a sore spot when it comes to holidays.

I used to love them so much growing up. I enjoyed Christmas as a kid, and my dad always made us girls feel special on Valentine’s Day, etc.

After my family endured Hurricane Katrina in 2005, I remember sitting there numbly that first Christmas after the storm. I got in my car after my last exam and started to head “home” in the opposite direction from the house I grew up in. It was a really devastating moment for me. For so long, the house I grew up in was what Christmas was to me. Driving somewhere else, after everything we had been through, was too much for me. All I wanted was to go back to a few months before when everything was right with the world and our house wasn’t damaged by flood waters. I cried the whole way to our rental house in another city. It was awful. I don’t even remember what happened on Christmas Day; it was all a blur.

I also remember the first time we celebrated Thanksgiving after the storm. The Thanksgiving directly after Katrina, my family went on vacation. I just don’t think my parents could bear the idea of dealing with such a big holiday after so much devastation. However, I remember the one after that, my dad went and bought a new dining room table (because all we had at that point were just really basic stand ins) and we had a proper Thanksgiving feast. It was really sweet and really memorable. So, I guess I can’t say all holidays are bad. It’s just they aren’t all they are cracked up to be.

At the same time, when my husband and I moved out of the country, we spent countless holidays away from our families. We made new traditions and new friends, but there was always this nagging feeling that we should be somewhere else, doing something else.

All of these experiences over the past 8 years have made me a little bit grumpy about holidays in general. I just don’t understand them and wish they didn’t exist. Perhaps this will all change when I have kids, as I’m going to try to make things as positive as possible for them. However until then, let’s look at some facts:

1.     Holidays Are Expensive

We can’t just have a normal holiday in the States.

We are pushed and pressured to buy extensive decorations, new wreaths, cards, and anything else this consumer driven economy can throw at us. Even in the middle of a recession, stores were still pushing people to buy, buy, and buy some more. Plane tickets and hotel prices always go up just so people can make a buck, and everyone is sad the month afterwards because they spent much more than they anticipated.

 2.     Holidays Are Stressful

Everyone takes pictures of themselves on holidays and portrays their absolute best selves on social media. But what those pictures don’t show is how stressed your mom got when she burned the turkey, how you had to yell at your kids to clean up the house because you had company coming over in five minutes, and how many dishes you had to wash after the fact. Plus, there’s that unspoken pressure too.

Maybe your wife has high expectations for Valentine’s Day and maybe you feel like you should plan something or book a reservation at a nice restaurant lest you fail as a husband. All of these expectations, pressures, and stress make holidays something to dread, not something to look forward to. I guess it really depends on the type of family and the type of relationship you have, but on the whole I feel like people expect a little too much out of these “special days.”

 3.     You’re Always Going to Hurt Someone’s Feelings

The worst part about any holiday is that you’re always going to hurt someone’s feelings.

Someone, somewhere whether it’s your best friend or your great-grandmother is going to wish you would have done something differently. You can literally drive and fly all over the country going to 5 different Thanksgiving dinners and someone will be mad that you weren’t there at a certain moment. It’s really hard to establish your own traditions and try to decide which family member’s house you’re going to go to.

If holidays didn’t exist, you could just invite your parents and your siblings over any old time without worrying that you’re neglecting one half of the family just because you weren’t there on this very specific pre-planned day.

Ultimately, there are many things in this world that are a total waste of money, but to me, national holidays rank pretty high on that list. With a whole slew of them coming up, including the ever so popular Valentine’s Day and then Mother’s Day, remember to keep it simple, take it easy, and to try to do your best. I personally asked if I could order a few pairs of pink socks for Valentine’s Day to put in my hospital bag. If that’s not a perfect way to spend such a big, commercialized day, then I don’t know what is.

How about you all? How do you feel about the holidays? Do you think I need to lighten up a bit when it comes to them?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/7027602839/sizes/l/

Three New Places to Discover Gratitude in 2014

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Sally. Sally is the blogger behind TinyApartmentDesign.com, a blog about design, living well, and simple, tiny spaces. Enjoy! 

I can’t help but feel that the Gratitude movement was hijacked by some of the sillier forces in our culture- you know, the Eat, Pray, Love’s of the modern era. But, gratitude is incredibly important, and a powerful way to start the new year, no matter what your intentions are for the year.

At its very core, gratitude is about acknowledgment.

It doesn’t mean you need to sugarcoat everything, but simply acknowledge what’s there and recognize that more often than not, there are positive aspects to everything around you. It can illuminate a situation and open up new paths of action for you.

Politics

Here’s one thing we all like to complain about.

You can regularly catch me saying that I won’t participate in that “charade” or that the political parties are both so meaningless that identifying oneself as either/or of the main parties is to admit total ignorance of the politics really being played in this country.

Pause.

Now if I had uttered that same idea in say, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, I wouldn’t get very far. But here I can suggest whatever I like about the government (NSA wiretapping aside), I can go to my local city hall and demand access to the city’s purchases, payments and decisions for the last 15 years, I can write a treatise on why the latest bill in Congress is total bunk and live to tell the tale!

Why am I grateful for this?

Because it’s the foundation of our society. Sure, we think government doesn’t play a role in our everyday lives, but just visit a country with less guaranteed freedoms and see how quickly it starts to affect your life. Does this affect your finances? Absolutely! You can petition for lower permitting fees, capital gains tax rates and just about everything else. If the government declared it, you can appeal it.

Your Lifestyle

When I hit the big 30, I finally opened up my eyes about my lifestyle.

I’m grateful every day that I can still play the sports I love and work out and all, but my sleep patterns and eating habits were all over the place. I wanted to show more gratitude toward my body. With so many healthy eating options, places to learn more about how our bodies work (and thrive), it is easy to be grateful about the tremendous impact we can have on our lives by just making little changes in our lifestyle. In the long run, this will save you so much more than money towards healthcare, it will save you heartache, stress and your life.

Your Biggest Problems

I prefer to attack my problems via blogging so that I can figure out how to fix them. My “big” problems used to be my debt and my insecurity. Well, I’ve paid off my debt and I am pretty confident in life, although I continue to work on it.

Now I think of my big problems as still not achieving my desired amount of income, and not going after the businesses I want to own and operate. But really, I am grateful for these “problems”, because they are just the next challenges, the ways that I will learn more about running a business, presenting my skills, going after what I want…in fact, these big problems tend to sound pretty fun when I think of them like that!

Just Three Things a Day

The gratitude habit is easy to start. You’ve seen the statistic over and over again: just find three things each day to be grateful for and it will change your focus from the negative to the positive. I’m not telling you to start wearing free-flowing pants and drink kombucha, just try this gratitude thing for a week. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at where it takes you in 2014, in your health, your finances and life.

How about you all? Have you tried a gratitude experiment before? Was it worth the effort?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1426735

How To Better Your Finances With Just 30 Minutes A Day

The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Catherine Alford. Cat is a freelance personal finance writer who blogs at www.BudgetBlonde.com. 

I know it’s hard to find time in the day to do anything. I always sit at my computer writing and bewildered that it somehow got to be 1 AM in the morning.

So, I get it – You don’t have thirty extra minutes. No one does. But, when it comes to finances and staying on track, thirty minutes a day can make all the difference.

Here’s how:

1.    Track Expenses – Total Time Commitment – 10 Minutes

Tracking what you spend is an enlightening and sometimes cringe-worthy process. When you are just getting started in the budgeting process, it’s hard to see how much money is wasted on small purchases or even on big purchases like a grocery run where you have no idea how you spent so much in one trip.

I like to track my expenses as I go with a phone app. I just basically plug purchases in as they happen and my husband does the same. It makes it really easy for us to stay on track together.

Of course, if you don’t have time for that during the day, writing down what you spend at night is really important. The reason you have to do it every day is because it’s too hard to remember spending patterns from an entire week.

You might think that you remember your coffee purchase at the gas station, but how many times have you thought there was cash in your wallet only to find out it’s not there? I’ve done that so many times myself, and tracking expenses has made things a ton easier. Plus you can avoid that moment of panic where you wonder if somehow someone stole cash out of your wallet!

2.    Family Meeting With Your Other Half – 10 Minutes

If you are tracking expenses and know where you money is going, that’s awesome. You’re already doing better than the vast majority of Americans. However, no matter how well you are doing with your personal finances, your other half also needs to be on board as well.

There’s nothing more annoying than being ultra organized with your cash envelopes and suddenly realizing something is missing. Quite often, it’s usually your other half who was trying to be helpful by using the envelopes or using a certain card that you requested, but they’re just not on the same page.

I’m not saying that any of us have to be the ultra controlling boss-lady or boss-man of the family finances because that’s no fun. I wouldn’t want someone telling me how to spend every penny. I’m just saying that 10 minutes a day of some good communication and keeping on track with your other half can do amazing things for your level of organization and your finances.

 3.    Account Checks – 10 Minutes

I don’t know if this is overkill or not (it probably is!) but I check all of my accounts every day.

This includes credit cards that I don’t use anymore, current credit cards, and all my checking accounts. It’s important to me that things add up and are in line every day. The reason is that if you know your purchases or when bill are due, all of that is fresh in your mind from the day and you can ensure your accounts match what you thought you spent.

This can be a big help in preventing identity theft. I’m always really saddened to hear about people who have to deal with that and don’t find out about it until too late. They might get notices that they ignore or all of a sudden find out that their credit card is maxed out. When something like that happens, it takes so much work and heartache to undo it. By checking accounts every day and being on track with your spouse, you can rest easy at night knowing that everything is running as it should.

These three tasks together will take 30 minutes a day. You can do them all at once or spread them out throughout the day, like I do with logging my spending. Seeing as many people watch a TV show or two every night, which can easily take an hour or more, I think it’s a small sacrifice to cut out one show and take a big step forward in making sure all of your finances are on track.

The best thing about all of this is when you are hyper aware of your spending patterns and goals, you are more likely to resist impulse buys and other extras. Slowly, over time, you’ll develop awesome habits that will truly benefit you and your family.

How about you all? What are some other ways to keep your finances in check for just a few minutes a day? Is anyone else trying to stay on track this year?

Share your experiences by commenting below! 

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/paxson_woelber/5434555706/sizes/l/