Category Archives for Saving Money & Frugal Living

Budgeting for Your Holiday? Don’t Forget Travel Insurance

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a guest post. Enjoy!

How about you all? Do you generally purchase travel insurance when you go on trips, purchase rental cars, book hotel rooms, or book plane tickets? Do you feel travel insurance is worth the cost?


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

• @ How I plan/save for vacations – 
• At the beginning of the article above, it is mentioned that accumulating the funds needed for the “perfect” vacation can be quite difficult. Indeed, I agree that this is definitely an accurate statement. 
• However, I feel that there is a solution for saving for vacations that makes the grim prospect a little easier. What’s the solution, you’re probably asking? It’s called automatic transfers.
• For many years before setting up my Purpose Focused Financial Plan, I wanted to save for vacations. However, when the end of each month came, it seemed like all of my money had been exhausted. In this way, I never made any progress saving for a vacation. 
• The best way I’ve found to remedy this procrastination and ineffective-saving habit was to set up an automatic transfer once per month (at the beginning of the month though) from my checking account to my life values and dreams savings account with a pre-determined amount. This pre-determined amount is specifically earmarked for enabling me to fulfill a vacation determined from my yearly financial review of my life values and dreams. 
• @ Whether or not travel insurance is needed? Is it a good idea at all?
• First off, I just want mention that I think the advice given in this article is pretty accurate for how to proceed ONCE you know for sure that travel insurance is right for you.
• However, I feel that determining WHETHER OR NOT travel insurance is right for you is an entirely different discussion. 
• In short, in my opinion, I don’t feel that travel insurance is worth the money one bit for most normal individuals and families. Here’s why….
• Similar to the way rental car insurance companies try to push rental car insurance policies because they are wildly profitable since claims rarely need to be made, most purchased travel insurance policies will never be touched. 
• And, when claims are filed, I’m willing to bet that it was completely unnecessary because the traveler was already covered in some form or fashion by either their own health insurance or credit card insurance policies (if credit cards were used for the purchase).
• So, yeah, it would be “ideal” to have travel insurance. But, in tough economic times especially, you have to think about what you REALLY NEED.   
• So, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I do feel that travel insurance has its certain place or niche in the “travel economy.” 
• I feel that travel insurance is a good thing to have whenever an employee is traveling on company business. 
• At many companies, the employer is actually liable for an employee’s well-being and health when they are “on the company clock.” And, having a relatively inexpensive travel insurance policy is, in my opinion, a wise idea in order for all parties to know how damages will be paid if any accidents or damage is done by the employee to rental cars, etc during a trip. 
• This ensures that there is not the tension between the employer and employee about deciding who is “liable.” Instead, the situation is already paid for, and the employer-employee relationship can continue on a little smoother.

***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-2597316650-hd.jpg

Are You REALLY Doing Everything You Can to Save for the Future?

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The following is a guest post.

Times are tough. But, are they really? Think about everything you know about the Great Depression of the 1930s. Try and recall the photographs of the era that were plastered in virtually every history book you’ve ever seen. Skin-and-bones unfortunates lined the block to get a bowl of soup. Barefoot families hopped the rails in hopes of finding a better life elsewhere. Back then, if your neighbor had a radio you could listen to through the walls on a quiet winter’s night, you were the luckiest guy on the block besides your neighbor.

Putting Today’s Recession Economy in to Perspective

Relative to the rest of history, and especially within the history of this country, that wasn’t very long ago. Yet today’s “tough times” are very different from those of the 1930’s. You might be facing foreclosure, but let me ask you something: how much do you have today that a struggling family didn’t have during the Great Depression? How much of that can you let go of, if times are really that tough?

For a majority of Americans, audacious adjustments in their standard of living are not being undertaken to better preserve a solid financial future. For example, how many families with sub-par income have expensive monthly mobile phone contracts? Loads! Even reducing down to prepaid phones is leaps and bounds compared to the sacrifices previous generations had to make when it came to limited communications. But, it could save families countless sums if they severely restricted or even eliminated their mobile phone usage.

What about food? Americans are notorious eaters, and little has changed in terms of what’s on our plate since the start of the Great Recession. It’s not so much what’s on the plate but how much is on it, that determines whether a family is effectively limiting themselves in order to squirrel away enough for the future. Nobody is suggesting families reduce themselves to the rations of the third world, but honestly, no one needs that second helping in this country, and smaller portions can easily equal to larger savings over time.

Conclusion

Families need to seriously stop and think about what they take for granted. We all want to be up-to-date on the latest technology, enjoy the best entertainment, and indulge in the comfort foods of choice. But, what’s the point if it impedes on the security of the future? There was once a time when tough times meant tough life. Maybe the reason we’ve yet to recover from this economic mess is that we’ve failed to live as tough as we ought to.

How about you all? Has your standard of living changed at all since the start of the recession in 2008-2009 (I know that mine hasn’t)? Do you feel you’re saving as much as you should be? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielvoyager/3893900302/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Festival of Frugality # 298 – Funny Graduate School Cartoons – September 20th, 2011 Edition

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1. Darwin presents Older Americans Are Going to Wreck Your Life – Here’s Why posted at Darwin’s Money, saying, “There are several surprising demographic and financial reasons why older Americans are set to wreck your life. Nobody’s talking about it, but the outcome is undeniable.”

I would give this article the top ranking merely for the picture at the top of this post (just kidding, but check it out anyway! haha). However, on a more serious note, this post brings up some VERY important issues about how the Baby Boomer’s and other aging individuals will affect the economy in the near future.

2. Mike Holman presents A practical way to estimate and budget for home maintenance costs posted at Money Smarts Blog, saying, “Traditional methods of calculating home maintenance costs can be misleading. Here is a more accurate to handle house maintenance costs.”

The posts you read while surfing the blogosphere that make you think to yourself, “I need to perform this same analysis with my specific situation,” are true gems! Indeed, they are probably the reason that many of us read blogs in the first place. This article is one of these posts. Personally, I have been using the percentage method of calculating home maintenance costs for the past year and a half since I bought my condo. The method described in this post seems much better though, and it definitely warrants me to give it a try!

3. Evan presents Can You Tell One Scotch from Another? Price versus Preference posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, “Just because you pay 50% more for your cell phone service doesn’t mean it is better …just because you overpaid on an engagement ring doesn’t make it more valuable…and just because your bottle of scotch is 4 times the price doesn’t mean you’ll like it more!”

Personally, I’ve never been able to see how people discern a significant difference between a good $15 bottle of a wine and an expensive $80 bottle of wine. Heck, I’m happy just having a $2.77 (price just went down) bottle of Oak Leaf from Wal-Mart for every day drinking. So, this post really resounded with me! Give it a read!

And now, on to the best of the rest!

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***Leading photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/tulanesally/5198784680/sizes/l/in/photostream/

10 Effective Things You Can Do When America is in a Double-Dip Recession

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a guest post by Charles Chua from All About Living With Life. Enjoy!

According to Investopedia, a double-dip recession refers to a recession followed by a short-lived recovery, followed by another recession. The causes for a double-dip recession vary but often include a slowdown in the demand for goods and services because of layoffs and spending cutbacks from the previous downturn.

A double-dip (or even triple-dip) is a worst-case scenario. Fear that the economy will move back into a deeper and longer recession makes recovery even more difficult. A news item titled, “A recipe for economic disaster,” confirms that the stage is set not just for a double-dip recession but, worse yet, a depression and there are 10 signs the double-dip recession has begun.

What can you, as a normal citizen, do in such an adverse situation? I can think of the following ten ways to combat the worst-case scenario:

1. Hold tight to your job and be more productive: There will be more retrenchment as businesses contract. It is even more important for you to create extra value for what you can do. Show enthusiasm and work with your heart.

2. Start looking for a new source of income now: Is your spouse working? If not, can he or she contribute a new source of income? As jobs will be even harder to come by, rather than asking for help, just help yourself by starting a small business. As an example, if your spouse is good in pastry, he or she can start selling their delicious cookies, cakes, pies and muffins. The most important thing is to get started.

If you need some help coming up with ideas for a side-business, search around the Internet for a list of passive income ideas. In your search, keep in mind that with advances in communication technology that are available in today’s society such as online fax, Internet telephone, email, and teleconferencing, many jobs/businesses can even be run remotely from a home office.

3. Cut spending: Frugal living will be the key to hold out through this difficult period which is looming in the horizon.

4. Avoid getting into more debt: The wise move is to get rid of all debt and stay debt-free. Forget about what you want, just live with what you have and be happy.

5. Continue to learn and be more skillful: This is even more critical at this stage to update your skills and learn new things which are useful at your workplace. To be up-to-date is to be competent.

6. Stay positive: Do not allow the negative events to erode your positive mindset. Be sure of yourself, be confident, and most of all, be resilient. You will surely see the light at the end of the tunnel.

7. Stay healthy and fit: Stay calm, alert, and collected by staying fit and healthy. Exercise daily to cope with life’s adversities with energy and resolve.

8. Networking: Do not neglect to stay in touch with your circle of friends. You never know when you will need their help. On the other hand, do what you can when one of your friends is in distress.

9. Hold on to your investment in gold: You are lucky when part of your investment is in gold. Stocks and shares will suffer, but the real value of gold remains unaffected. In fact it gets better. You can count on your gold when it is necessary to turn it into hard cash.

10. Be alert to changes that are taking place around you: Stay in the know and react quickly before things get worse. Subscribe to Google Alerts on topics relevant to you and be notified as soon as it happens.

How about you all? What other effective behaviors do you try to focus on during tough economic times? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

• @ Labeling time periods as a recession, a depression, etc – 
• This is a very interesting post Charles! Thanks for sharing! 
• Personally, I find it incredibly entertaining how utterly useless economists are in their ability to predict depressions and recessions.
• I once read that the top economists in the world can only accurately announce when a recession starts ONCE IT HAS ALREADY STARTED! Talk about ridiculous! 
• Additionally, I feel that all too often, people let the fact that the media has labeled the current time period as a “recession” influence their decisions too much. This is especially true when it comes to buying and selling of investments.
• @ Starting a small business for a second source of income –
• While I do agree that a family finding a second source of income is beneficial during tough economic times, I do not feel that a small business is the best way to do this. 
• Why do I feel this way? Simple. It’s a well-known fact that a large majority (I think I’ve heard 90%) of small business fail during their first year of operation. As such, the odds are not in someone’s favor to succeed in making short-term profits in a small business, particularly if the person is already hurting for money in a recession. 
• Instead, a more sure way of getting crucial additional income in a recession is to simply take up a side/part-time job. 
• However, it might also be prudent to start thinking of creating your side business, but to make it a more long-term goal.
• @ Several other ideas I had for effective things you can do in a double-dip recession – Aside from the ideas listed above, I could think of several other important things I try to do during tough economic times.
• Regarding investments, first and most importantly, it’s crucial to not give in to all of the “hype” and panic sweeping around the market. During the 2008-2009 market downturn/recession, I saw all too many individuals sell a majority of their stock holdings very near the market bottom. And, what do you know?! I talk to them recently, and they have since bought back in to the market. These people are doing EXACTLY the opposite of what you should be doing to create long term wealth in that they are selling at the bottom and buying at the top. 
• So, the bottom line is that during a double-dip recession, be sure to keep an eye out for buying opportunities when the market is low and maintain your appropriate target asset allocation through periodic rebalancing.
• During a double-dip recession, it’s also important (as Charles mentioned) to continue learning new skills. To this advice, I will add that it is good to start learning additional skills that can be directly related to increasing your company’s bottom line. Since jobs these days are very specialized, in order to do this, you may have to reach out to different departments than the one you work in and be willing to work after-hours. 
• For example, let’s say that your normal job is working on the manufacturing floor facilitating the release of product. In this case, you could reach out to the supply or sales department of your company and see if you could help out in some way helping them break in to new sales markets. At the very least, your company will be impressed with the initiative you’ve shown, even if they don’t allow you to help out in multiple areas. If you’re going to do this, always be sure to get prior-approval from your boss before approaching another department.
• While this process of reaching out to new areas may be slightly painful, I believe it will pay off in the long run. 
• @ Investing in gold – 
• While gold is probably a good investment to have going in to a recession, prices of this commodity/asset will increase during a recession due to increased demand because of the security it provides. 
• Therefore, it’s important to not give in to the “gold buying hype” during a recession because this will most likely only cause you to lose money in the long term.

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/aturkus/139818702/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Couponology – Online Coupon Screening Resource

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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If you’ve stopped by my blog before, you probably have picked up that I am a very frugal (maybe even cheap!) person. I enjoy saving money and am fairly effective at doing so.

However, one thing that I desperately fail at in life is taking advantage of coupons (both online or in newspaper/print resources) for my major and minor purchases. I think part of this failure stems from having convinced myself that I don’t need to use coupons since I already save a sufficient amount of money. After all, if I am shopping at Wal-Mart and buy most all of my groceries from the Great Value generic brand family, why would I ever need coupons to save additional money? Furthermore, I get slightly discouraged by how the coupons in newspapers seem to exist only to get me to spend more money buying things that I don’t need.


Other reasons for why I fail to use coupons are because 1) I think that the coupons for things I actually need to buy will not be available or 2) finding these targeted coupons will take far too much time. Because of these reasons, I am always on the lookout for new, improved resources that will make coupons for products I need more accessible and easier to use. Recently, I’ve been exposed to a new online coupon website/resource that meets these qualifications. The website is called Couponology.com.

Upon checking out their site, I found that Couponology offers the following features for screening through the overwhelming thousands of coupons available on the Internet to enable you to find ones that you actually need.

• Coupons by Store: This is exactly what it sounds like, with stores listed alphabetically. You’ll find coupon codes for many of the stores you probably shop at, including Staples, Eastbay, and Home Depot. You will also find Bath and Body Works coupon codes on the site. 
• Truthfully, I was quite impressed by the sheer number of stores they have listed for coupons in their directory (~500). 
• They also have a feature that enables coupon shoppers to request that additional stores be added.

• Coupons by Category: Sorting coupons by different categories proves useful when a shopper, for example, knows that he or she wants to buy a grill or some other type of home/garden hardware. However, he or she doesn’t care what store it is from (just wants the best deal available). 
• Categories include Professional Services, Entertainment, Apparel & Accessories, Sporting Goods, Food & Groceries, Travel & Tourism, and all points in between.

• Best Online Coupons: From the looks of this sorting feature, it appears to be a listing of the most “valuable” coupons on the site. However, what determines most “valuable” is by nature, quite arbitrary. 
• So, caution should be taken to shop around the site and compare prices on other products before buying directly from this menu.

• Most Popular: This coupon screening feature displays the most frequently-used deals on the Couponology.com site. 
• Before buying a product using this feature, make sure that the item is something you previously determined that you need. If you don’t consider this, it can be easy to get caught up in buying something frivolous simply because it is on sale. 
• However, if you are out to have some pre-planned shopping fun, this feature may be for you! 

• Free Shipping Codes: Even though shipping rates have become quite competitive in recent years, paying for shipping and handling can slowly eat in to money saved up by consumers for online purchases. As such, this feature allows you to view the various free shipping deals in the different categories in which you are considering purchasing products. After all, who doesn’t like free shipping?! 

• Printable Coupons: This section of the site includes coupons you can print off and bring in to use in stores. I saw printable coupons for stores like Whole Foods, Sears, and Zales.
• While printing off a coupon and subsequently going shopping at a physical store can be both easier and more familiar to many shoppers, caution should be taken because often, the best coupon deals apply only to purchases bought online.
• Thus, it’s always a good idea to consider your online options before going to a physical store.

• Search Coupons: In addition to the screening options discussed above, Couponology also allows shoppers to search for specific items that have deals associated with them. 
• In my mind, this is the most useful feature of Couponology, since going forward, I will most likely only use coupons to save money on larger, pre-planned purchases. 
• For example, recently, I’ve been in the market to buy a new bicycle helmet. If I type in “bike helmet” in the search field, about 40 relevant bike helmet deals from multiple vendors come up that I can read through. Doing this saves me both time and money. Definitely a good combo!

How about you all? Do you use any online coupon resources to save money on purchases? If so, which ones? Have you used Couponology before? 


In your opinion, do you feel that the money you save using coupons is worth the time and effort?


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Note: I received monetary compensation for this review of Couponology.com. However, the feedback expressed represents my honest opinion of the service.

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/24218656@N03/4589929510/sizes/m/in/photostream/

The Problem with Home Insurance Fraud and How it Affects You

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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Hello everyone! Jacob here with you! I’ve finally emerged from the depths of PhD qualification exam preparation land (just took the test today!) and am ready to put more time in to my blog! I apologize for being a little elusive lately, but hey, life happens! 


To get us started back on the right track, the following is today’s guest post. Enjoy!  

How about you all? How often do you feel that home insurance fraud occurs? Have you ever known any one in your community that has tried to get away with this type of fraud? What impact do you feel this type of behavior has on the rest of us? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

• @ Home insurance fraud being the most common type of insurance fraud – 
• I can definitely imagine that homeowner’s (or real estate in general) insurance fraud is one of the most common forms of insurance fraud out there.
• Why’s this, you might be asking? In my opinion, I think that the answer lies in that home insurance is a fairly broadly defined coverage, meaning that you define an approximate value of the goods in your house and get a policy to cover those in the case of a fire, tornado, etc. Because there is a significant amount of wiggle room in what’s included, this, in my opinion, motivates people to feel they can “game” the system easier.
• @ The consequences of home insurance fraud –
• As mentioned in this article, I think it’s important to point out that home insurance fraud doesn’t just negatively affect the person partaking in the activity if they get caught. 
• In fact, when the insurance companies have to pay out more money than their complex mathematical algorithms plan, all of the honest insurance policy carriers simply have to pay more to compensate for the monetary loss. 
• So, I guess what I am getting at here is that it actually benefits us all to watch out for fraud and strongly discourage this behavior. I know I don’t want to pay any more than I have to for my homeowner’s insurance policy! 
• @ What motivates people to want to partake in home insurance fraud?
• In writing the comments above, I became interested in thinking about what exactly motivates people to partake in home insurance fraud. Is it greed? Is it desperation for money?
• While I think that the answer may lie in a mix of the two motivations mentioned above, I really am amazed at how many people think they can get away with insurance fraud, even though the insurance companies undoubtedly have entire departments dedicated to seeking out fraudulent claims.
• However, enough people must be getting away with this fraud in some shape or form in order for people to continue doing it!

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/23905174@N00/2524306151/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Tips on Saving Money for Winter – Yes, I Know It’s Summer at the Moment…

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a guest post. Enjoy!

Winter can be a pretty pricey time for households, especially with Christmas – traditionally the most expensive day of the year – coming in the very middle of the season. So, there’s really no better time to look at ways you can save money, starting by looking at your home and the places where you’re leaking cash from your budget each and every month.

One of the best ways to save money on your home could, conversely, be to spend a little bit more in some key areas. If you’ve got some money stored away or are earning more than your spending, now is an excellent time to look into how insulating your home or getting boiler insurance could end up saving you cash in the long term. Here’s a guide to how this works, with a few other top tips thrown in for good measure.

Batten Down the Hatches

If any of your windows are cracked or your doors are damaged, now is the time to do something about it. Over time the problems are only going to get worse, while also reducing the efficiency of your home. So, consider replacing cracked windows and investing in a new door if you’ve got a noticeable draught.

Get Boiler Insurance

With recent winters bringing the harshest weather on record, it’s no surprise that many home emergency companies also reported record numbers of boiler breakdowns and burst pipes. With this in mind, it’s worth considering how boiler cover could end up saving you money in the event of a breakdown or heating issue. Many also come with a complementary annual service – and as 12-monthy check-up is highly recommended by experts in terms of keeping your home a safe and efficient.

Insulate Your Home

Although the outlay can run into four figures if you go all-out and insulate your loft, cavity walls, pipes, and water tanks, you’ll more than recoup this in the money you save on your heating bills over the coming years.

Keep Your Garden in Check

If you fail to protect your yard’s plants and grass before winter, you’ll have to spend time and effort getting it back to the way you want when spring swings round again. So, move your delicate plants indoors – ideally to a conservatory or heated shed – in containers and cover plants that are staying in the ground with sheeting. If you’ve got a fish pond, put a tennis ball in the water – you can pull this out if the water freezes over to ensure your fish have access to oxygenated water.

How about you all? What preventative (or strategic) measures do you take to save yourself some money during winter time? Have you tried any of the ones listed here? If so, how did they work out for you?


Share your experiences by commenting below!

***Photo courtesy of http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=save%20money%20winter

How Much Is Bad Credit Costing You?

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

There are many reasons why people end up over their heads with more debt than they can afford to repay. Some graduate from college with the knowledge that the credit card debt they racked up during their carefree college years will be around to haunt them for the rest of their life! Some borrow money for large purchases during times when they can easily afford to repay their debts – only to have a major change in their income a few months later.

Whatever the reason – having too much debt and falling behind on your payments can cause you to pay extra on utilities and car insurance, and can make it difficult to rent an apartment or borrow more money in the future.

How Much is Credit Card Debt Costing You?

One of the most expensive forms of credit people generally have is credit card debt. The higher your interest rate, the more the debt will cost you. For example, if you have a $5,000 credit card balance, your minimum payment will be about $200 a month. If your credit card charges 18% APR, (and you never made another purchase on the card) it would take you over 11 years to pay it off and pay over $2,800 in interest. The $5,000 you charged on your card is actually costing you $7,800 – and this is if you never make a late payment.

That’s the literal cost of excessive, high interest debt – but what else do you pay more for when you have bad debts?

Utility Accounts Cost More When You’re in Debt

If you have a history of making your payments late or have a low credit score, utility companies – particularly the electric company, may require that you pay a deposit before you can turn service on in your name.

Car Insurance Premiums Are Higher When You’re in Debt

Your car insurance premium takes your credit score into consideration, too. For some reason, car insurance companies decided that if you have excessive debt and a low credit score, you’re at risk for more accidents and therefore need to be charged more money for car insurance.

You May Find it Difficult to Rent an Apartment

Many landlords run credit checks before renting apartments. If you have excessive debt that has caused your credit score to drop, you could face problems finding a place to live. If a landlord or rental company does allow you to rent despite excessive debt and a low credit score, they may charge you a higher security deposit or even a higher monthly rent.

Avoid Becoming a Victim of Debt

Having access to credit is necessary for most of us – it is necessary when you want to rent a car, book travel or hotel rooms, or buy anything online or over the phone. Using credit cards and other forms of credit irresponsibly will not only cost you more in interest payments for the debt itself – but causes you to pay more money in other areas of your life, as well. If you establish good personal finance habits, you will save a lot of money, which you would have given to the banks otherwise.

How about you all? Do you know of any additional indirect effects of being in debt and/or having bad credit?


Also, another thing that I’m curious about is to get the readers’ input on whether or not you think that 1) large amounts of consumer (credit card) debt, 2) fiscal responsibility in one’s personal finances, and/or 3) bad credit should be considered in someone’s application for employment?


Share your experiences by commenting below!

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/myloonyland/430367107/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Are You Balancing Frugal Living With Fun?

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a guest post I wrote 3 months ago for Money Talks Coaching Blog as part of the 7th Yakezie Personal Finance Network blog “swap,” a monthly event where participants of the Yakezie group pair off and exchange posts on a common topic. 


The topic for this particular month was “balancing frugality with fun.” You can check out the original copy of this post over at Money Talks Coaching by clicking here. Also, be sure to read Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching’s swapped post on my site at the following link – Balancing Frugality With Fun


So, let’s see. Frugal fun. At first glance, this phrase might seem like an oxymoron. After all, is the purpose of having money not to spend it doing things that we enjoy? Why does one even need to be frugal?

In my opinion, balancing frugality with fun is important because all of us (unless we are super-wealthy) need to save a certain amount of money in order to live comfortably and indeed have fun (there’s that word again!) during our retirement years.

Listed below are several of the techniques that I employ to both 1) be frugal and 2) have fun living at the same time. Enjoy!

Know Your Budget

Automate Your Savings

As I mentioned in the previous section, I don’t feel that budgets, in the general sense, work for most people. What I mean by this is that let’s say you make $5000 per month in your job. Your budget can tell you that your target is to save $2000 of this for your emergency fund. However, if you merely leave the money in your account with the intention of deducting it at the end of the month, you will likely find that you have spent this money earmarked for your savings.

Because of this, the method I promote is the idea of automating your savings each month. This can be done by setting up recurring, scheduled money transfers from your checking to savings account 1-2 days after you get paid. By doing this, you trick your brain in to thinking that you don’t have access to those funds anymore.

And, with the money you have left in your account after your required automatic transfer, you can spend as you need to on entertainment or regular monthly expenses.

Balancing Frugality With Awesome Vacations

At times, it may seem impossible to live frugally and still somehow have enough money saved up to go on the type of vacation that will leave you with lasting memories for many years.

However, the way that I balance frugality with vacations is to 1) decide how much I can afford to save each month for a future vacation, 2) use this monthly savings target to calculate realistically, when I will be able to take the vacation, and 3) set up an automatic monthly transfer (at the beginning of the month) to a savings account set up specifically for the purpose of vacation savings.

In this way, I ensure that I go on the vacations I want and be frugal at the same time.

Live and Save According To Your Purpose-Focused Financial Plan

Basically, by implementing my Purpose Focused Financial Plan (and most importantly, automating it), I ensure that I accomplish things each month that are fun and provide value to me at a deep level. And, having fun with these things that really matter helps me to resist the need to spend money on frivolous, often more costly, “fun” activities.

For example, my automated Purpose Focused Financial Plan dictates that I save/spend money each month for doing at least one cycling or running race (which I really enjoy and fulfills my life value of healthy living) and for a future vacation the Grand Canyon (one of my life dreams).

Make Saving Money a Fun Hobby

How about you all? How do you balance frugal living with fun? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

***Photo courtesy of http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2783/4473975639_2753cee7fc.jpg

The Office Of Tomorrow

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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This post was selected as the No. 1 editor’s pick in the 323rd Carnival of Personal Finance at Sustainable Personal Finance. Be sure to stop by and read all of the CoPF articles!

The following is a guest post from Joe Lewis. Enjoy!

The office has changed considerably over the last 30 years. Gone are typewriters, printed memos, and ash trays (Note from Jacob: Thanks goodness on the no ash trays!). In their place are PCs, email systems, and smoking bans! The truth is, offices are evolving at a dramatic rate, and with a new generation of workers growing up with social networks, fast Internet connection, and touch screen phones, the winds of change look set to whip up another technological storm.

So, what will the office of tomorrow look like? Will technology be powered by different energy sources? Will we still have desks? Will we even need desks? Will we all be replaced by robots that eventually develop human emotions and take over the world? Maybe not, but this article hopes to answer some of these questions fully, by taking a sneak-peak at the office of tomorrow….

Social Networking Will Replace Email

Many of today’s businesses rely heavily on email to regularly communicate and collaborate with clients and colleagues. In comparison, popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace are generally viewed as a leisurely pursuit and not for work.

Many of today’s workers are continuously minimizing their Facebook profiles the second management pass their computer screens to hide dodgy holiday and weekend pictures of themselves looking completely inebriated…You know the ones I’m talking about….

But, things look set to change. Social media is slowly moving in to the work sector with many companies choosing either Twitter or Facebook to recruit new business opportunities or advertise internal job vacancies. The new cyber generation of workers now entering the employment market, naturally communicate using social media platforms, and there’s a huge possibility that the office of tomorrow will choose quick, prompt Twitter feeds to contact clients and colleagues.

In reality, email is not really reflecting how today’s cyber generation communicate with each other, how we work in our jobs, and how we exist in today’s modern world. Social networking technology is becoming increasingly popular in society, and it may also allow people to share information with each other virtually and more successfully.

In the future, workers would no longer need to rely on emails to obtain data. In the office of tomorrow, they’ll just log on to their work network and share information and join relevant discussions colleagues in their team are taking part in.

Wave Your Hands In The Air!

For those of you who are familiar with sci-fi blockbuster, Minority Report, you’ll remember people manipulating data on large transparent display screens without a keyboard. The future of ambient interfaces using touch and gesticulation programs may not be as far-fetched as it sounds and could ultimately symbolize a snap shot of where social interaction is going…

Microsoft has already started the ball rolling with their innovative Kinect gestural system, which is already creating a lot of publicity. What makes this kind of technology so fascinating is the fact that it’s down to simple primitive hand gestures. There’s also something very ironic about going back to basics in order to move forward. However, the downside to this would be if you were to suddenly stretch or swat a fly and find that you’ve accidently deleted all your companies files.

Will Our Offices Need Electricity?

Unless you work in a Dickensian office full of candles and quill pens, you’ll notice that many companies in the world rely heavily on electricity. From laptop, PCs and iPhones, to TVs, lighting and heating, companies spend a lot of money on gas and electricity. But, will this be the way forever?

Presently, 75% of the UK’s energy is created consuming gas and oil resulting in carbon dioxide emissions. In 2050 there is a high possibility that we will have to create more energy than we currently make but with the restriction of releasing fewer greenhouse gases. One eco-friendly solution could be to use hydrogen as a renewable energy source. Recently, breakthrough research has been successful in creating a new method for storing hydrogen.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Scientists have currently been working on hydrogen fuel cells to replace fossil fuels responsible for global warming and pollution. “The first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen and pollution-free energy,” professed former US president George W. Bush in 2003 when he declared a US$1.2-billion hydrogen-fuel awareness project to grow commercial fuel-cell automobiles by 2018.

Solar Energy?

Terrestrial solar energy is also predicted to be huge. But, sunlight is not regularly available on the Earth’s surface. With this in mind, one idea is to gather solar energy 24 hours per day in the cosmos, and convey it as microwave beams to receivers on our planet. This could be used to power future office computers and electrical devices including lighting.

Final Thoughts

No one knows for certain what the office of tomorrow will look like. We could be using renewable energy solutions that never run out, using our hands to manipulate data on large transparent display screens, or even surfing the web at a computer in an office on the moon! We just don’t know for sure.

But, by keeping a close eye on technology and studying the way offices have evolved over the years, we get a clearer understanding of what a future office environment will look like. But, don’t forget part of the ambiguity is also very exciting – we’ll know the answers when we’re living it, and like many office workers, I cannot wait!

How about you all? What do you think offices of the future will look like? Will we all be working from home?! Will we need to type anymore on computers or simply talk and gesture to them?


What renewable energy option do you see as the most promising? What do you think is needed for renewable energy sources to be used mainstream?


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

• @ Social networking replacing email – 
• Very cool thought here Joe! With how integral email is to the workforce these days, it’s hard to even imagine being without it! 
• I think that society is still quite a long ways off from completely getting rid of email. However, I think it will eventually be replaced by something more real time. 
• Personally, I believe the replacement won’t necessarily be a “social” network like Facebook or Twitter, but will be more of a virtual conference room, where members of a work team are always logged in and can share information with everyone in real time.
• I feel like people do prefer to have some separation from their work and private lives, so Facebook and Twitter can remain in those spaces.
• @ The question of “How connected is TOO connected?”
• With all of the Smart Phones, iPads, iPhones, and laptops, etc. we already have in today’s society coupled with the introduction of the virtual conference room mentioned above, a question I pose to the readers is: how connected is too connected? At what point do we say “no” to a tool because being constantly in contact may not be the best thing for us?
• @ Using solar energy as a renewable energy source –
• Several years ago, I attended a seminar in college about renewable energy sources. 
• Solar energy was mentioned as a very promising renewable energy option. However, as Joe mentions above, the primary issue is being able to store the energy as it comes in until it needs to be dispensed. I don’t think the technology is quite far enough along in development to efficiently facilitate this process.
• However, one promising fact that was mentioned in the seminar was this – if you covered a land mass the size of western Oklahoma entirely with solar panels, the panels would absorb enough energy from the sun in only one day to power the US energy needs for one year. Quite impressive!
• @ What’s needed in order for renewable energy sources to become used in mainstream society –
• There’s nothing I would rather see more than the entire world using renewable, clean energy. Who wouldn’t!?
• However, as a financial blogger, I have to be realistic about what it will take to make this a reality. 
• In order for any renewable energy technology to be widely adopted, I believe that one of two things must happen – either 1) the government enforces their use by law, or 2) it becomes cheaper or the same price to use the renewable energy compared to the current option.
• Thus far, renewable energy has not been very successful at being implemented because neither of these two requirements have been met. Renewable energy technology is still very expensive, with the use of such technology almost always having some varying degree of negative impact on a person’s personal finances. In addition, governments have only tried to give “tax breaks” (not law) to people for using renewable technology. However, a lot of these incentives have been discontinued or severely limited.

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/rintakumpu/2396304044/sizes/l/in/photostream/