Money Reasons

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Archive for March, 2010

A Frugal Lunch and Breakfast

March 25th, 2010

I’ve been frugal since my college days, but one of the few areas that I let lifestyle creep (or lifestyle inflation) expand is my meal costs for breakfast and lunch. There has been days that I’ve spent over $20 just on breakfast and lunch. My typical cost are between $7 and $16. More often than not though, my normal costs are around $12.

Since I started my Lunch Experiment, I’m more mindful of the cost of breakfast and lunch meals.

Today, I went back to my Lunch Experiment ways and only paid 60 cents for both my breakfast and lunch… How is this accomplished? See the table below:


Qty	Meal	Cost	Total Cost
1	Oatmeal (instant)	0.29	0.29
2	Eggs	0.08	0.16
1	Ramen Noodle package	0.15	0.15
			$0.60

So basically these frugal meals are cost 95% less than my regular non-frugal meals. I’ve been very happy with the return on my frugal meals!

For the most part the meal is healthy, both the oatmeal and eggs are great! With the Ramen Noodles?… I’d have to say no…

So, I’ve decided to go with this meal 2 or 3 times a week. This will reduce my lunch and breakfast costs, and I should not experience to much harm from the high salt intake (I put salt on my eggs, and the ramen seasoning is loaded with salt).

This is just one way that you can reduce your cost dramatically, as I have done…

Readers: What additional ways do you reduce your costs? I figure this is an easy way to save over $50 a week (at least $2,600 a year…) not bad!

-MR

10 comments »

Posted in Costs, Frugality

Tags: frugal breakfast frugal lunch

My Frugal Apartment

March 24th, 2010

A real Bachelor's pad

Back when I was in college, many times I had to live with 3 other roommates in small 2 story houses. We had great times, since 2 of the friends I grew up with, so we were like brothers already. My problem was that my friends were rowdy and had a lot of parties, both on the week days and ends.

My solution to this problem was to start searching for a new place to live. I looked around, and after looking at too many places that were asking too much, at least for what I could afford, I stumbled upon a super cheap apartment that was only $200! The area was a good area, so at first, I thought it was a typo. Turns out it wasn’t though, but the catch was that it was a bachelor’s pad. After seeing it I understood way… But I took it! I even gave it a nickname: “My Shoebox”, and so this is where I lived for the next 2 years.

This place “My Shoebox” was basically 1 small room “12 x 15” with a walk in closet “4 x 6” and 1 refrigerator, and 1 small bathroom with a tight shower. The building had a very classy old look about it. In the lobby, there was a very old style small elevator, and the heating was done by and old radiator? It was great! I was able to get my studying done, and I would finally have privacy for the first time ever!

Now, this might now sounds like such a great deal to most of you, to me it was fantastic! If you’re willing to settle for a little less space, you really can find some spectacular deals out there!

9 comments »

Posted in Frugality, lifestyle

Tags: frugal apartment

Why Business Owners Should Use Credit Cards

March 23rd, 2010

Today’s writing is from Mr Credit Card of www.askmrcreditcard.com. He is going to share his views on why it makes sense for businesses to use credit cards. BTW – please check out his best credit card offers if you are looking for a new credit card.

If you read the pf bloggesphere, you will realize that there are two school of thoughts regarding credit card usage. The first school of thought are from those that primarily use credit cards for earning rewards and cash rebates. Most of the time, they would pay their credit card bills in full. The other camp is totally anti-credit cards. Most have got burnt by misusing credit cards (ie having a credit card and getting into debt with it). Some have successful got rid of their credit card debt, while others are still in the process. For these folks, having a credit card in their wallet presents a temptation they sometimes find hard to resist.

Then, there are those in the middle – who have gotten into credit card debt and got out of it. Rather than blaming credit cards for their behavior, they acknowledge it was themselves who got their spending out of control.

While you may argue about this forever, I would like to suggest that if you own a business, it would be foolish for you not to have a credit card. That is because of the numerous benefits that you might be missing if you were not using them.

Cash Flow Management is very important – In it’s simplest terms, cash flow management is simply making sure you have enough money in the bank when you have bills due. How you manage your cash flow depends on how often you are paid, and when are you bills due. For a business, cash flow management is very important. The key objective is to get your cash from your customers as soon as possible and “stretch out” paying your bills for as long as you can.

Most businesses have lines of credit with their suppliers for exactly this reason. Well, credit cards give you a line of credit and by definition a credit extension for 30 days. If you pay your supplies by cash, check or debit card, you have to pay immediately.

Save Money with credit cards is real – While some may question the hassle of using credit cards to save money on a personal level, for businesses, the savings can be real. Earning 1% to 2% cash rebates on a cash back business credit card when your business charges say $10,000 a month on the card results in real substantial savings.

Similarly, a business owner that travels a lot would be a fool not to use an airline credit card to earn miles which he or she could use to get free airline tickets for his business travels.

Insurance and Warranties – Insurance and extended warranty features are other great benefits that would benefit anyone. Many credit cards have this feature where you can get extended warranty beyond the manufacturer’s own warranty if you use your credit card to pay for the item. This feature will come in very handy when you make large purchases like computers or servers for your office, or any office equipment. This can really add up to a significant savings because stores often charge for extended warranties.

Another feature businesses can save money on is the car rental collision damage insurance. For businesses who have salesperson traveling and renting cars, this feature alone will save them lots of money a year.

Expense tracking – Business credit card allows a business owner to set credit limits on how much employees can charge to their cards. Many also send quarterly statements to business owners to enable to et a better understanding of expenses breakdown.

Build Business Credit – We have all heard that building a good credit history will allow you to get lower rates for mortgages and auto loans. Having a good business credit history likewise will enable a business to get better rates (or even get) for business loans like working capital. Aside from opening a couple of business bank accounts, having some form of credit that reports to business credit bureaus like Experian Business and Dun & Bradstreet helps to get your business on the credit map! Having a business credit card is one of easiest ways to do this. It is vitally important to use a proper business credit card and not a consumer card because consumer cards do not report your timely payments to business credit bureaus.

Some Vendors Only Accept Credit Cards – Like it or not, some vendors only accept credit cards for payments. Part of the reason could simply be that they want the security and less creditor risk when using credit cards rather than risking a default by their customer. In cases like these a business has no choice but to use a credit card for payments.

Summary – Lots of personal finance bloggers are against credit cards because they have gotten into trouble in the past with it. However, when one owns a business, eventually, using a business credit card is almost a must simply because almost all businesses use them and they offer lots of benefits that businesses could take advantage of to save money.

Thanks Mr. Credit Card, for such a great guest post on the pros of credit card usage for business owners!

While the post by Mr. Credit Card is focused at business owner, for individuals, you must choose which practice works for you.

For me, I use credit cards for the great perks that are identified above. You must know yourself and do what works best for you though!

- MR

5 comments »

Posted in credit card

Tags: credit card advantages

Why Do Politicians Go Too Far Left or Too Far Right?

March 22nd, 2010

Where are the politicians for the middle classes? To me it seems like the Politicians are always too polar. Either they are liberal (Left) which is bad or they are too Conservative (Right) which is bad.

McCain wasn’t beat by Obama, McCain was beat my McCain and his bad debating style, choice for a vice president, and his policies that leaned too far to the right, these policies don’t represent the majority of the average American wants and needs… Why do I make this claim? Because I’m primarily a moderate (although I have to admit, I do like the blue dog democrats), but I drank the Obama kool-aid and voted for him.

Now I realize that “Change” doesn’t mean a positive change for us middle class folk. Now I understand that Change means that we aren’t going to be the great country we use to be, instead Change may mean we are no longer going to be a superpower in the world order. It means that America may now be on the descent in the world order.

The Democrats’ “Change” means going back to party policies that have failed in the past and forcing them on the American citizens. “Change” means destroying any business advantage that American might have had. Yes, Change isn’t always for the best, sometimes Change means “opps we messed up”.

And the Republican Party wasn’t beat by the democrats, they were beat again by their own choices that were to far to the right.

When the parties choose policies that are either too far left or right, they no longer represent the middle classes (or over 80% of Americans)! Yes, November should be a landslide for the Republican with them gaining control of the government… I just hope they don’t go too far to the right, as the democrats have gone too far to the left.

Am I being to pessimistic? Perhaps so, and I have to say, I’m sorry for going so political today, but I think that the government should represent the people and their opinions. If they don’t then how can we call our system a democracy? And this should be the way for both political parties!

5 comments »

Posted in Economy

Tags: lost democracy middle class politicians too far left too far right

MoneyReasons Weekly Cache 2010, Mar 21

March 21st, 2010

Weekly Cache – 2010, Mar 21

Random Thoughts:

This week I listed 8 top pf sites, and they are all Yakezie members. This won’t happen every week, but honestly, each of the members of the Yakezie group had something that I could have listed. The only reason I didn’t is because this post started feeling to much like the Yakezie carnival, and plus it’s really late and I need to sleep.

The Google ads on my home page is blue? WTH… the same ads works on other pages. I think when I copied text from word for a post, it somehow messed up the javascript that runs the google ads. This is a mystery that I’ll be working on for a while…

I finally met my Yakezie Challenge! I’m now below 200,000! My next goal is now to try to get on the first page at wisebread. This won’t be easy!

This past Saturday was great! It was really a family fun day, we did sooo much! Soccer, breakfast (McDonalds, the kids loved it), dinner out, Played in a playground, practiced soccer, went shopping. This is unusual for us, we usually don’t go out to eat that much, nor do we go shopping that much.

My Favorite Top 8 PF Blogger Posts For The Week:
Monevator – Earn more money by tackling your mental beliefs: Monevator writes about why we start to stall in making additional money after we get to a certain level. He explains how he busted through that barrier by mentally overcoming his challenges.

www.PlantingDollars.com – Fear of Success: Fighting the Anti-Success Leprachaun: Ryan talks about why we are afraid of success. Often we only complete 90% of a task, then we quit because of fears of finishing the task to completion. Another great post by Ryan!

sahmcfo.wordpress.com - Yakezie Link Love for my 5 Year Anniversary: I usually don’t link to another site that has a post of links, but this is sahmcfo’s 5 year wedding anniversary. Plus, it’s cool to see that ice bar from her wedding pictures! There are so many amazing pf blogger out there, and sahmcfo is one of them!

YoungAndThrifty.ca – Canadian 2010 Budget and What it Has to Do with Implants: I was amazed that Canada considers cosmetic surgery as a health expense that covered under the country’s healthcare. Thanks “YAT” for teaching me something I wasn’t aware of…

CoupleMoney.com – Accelerating Our Mortgage Payments to Save Money: Elle does an excellent job pointing out the merits of paying off her mortgage early to save money in the long run. This is what we did, and I think it’s great! By following what Elle is recommending will reduce your future expenses by a quarter, a third or even more depending on how large of a morgtage you took out. With my family, it reduced our living expenses by almost 1/3.

DeliverAwayDebt.com – Friday Frugal Tips – Review Edition: Great frugal tips to get ahead. Plus, I had to include a fellow ramen noodle buyer!

FreeFromBroke.com – Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) Are Awesome – 7 Reasons: Lists excellent reasons why a HSA is worth considering. Personally, I went this route a few years ago and it’s worked out fabulously for me. I have to admit though, the first year was a bit stressfull, but I’m glad I did it!

FinancialSamurai.com – “Capitalism: A Love Story” DVD Review & Giveaway: I list this particular post, because it provoked a big response from me. But really SAM keeps inproving his game. I’ve been reading his site for a while now, and it seems like he’s been hitting a lot of home runs these past few months. His articles are well thoughout and delivered! If you ever want to read a blog that will get you thinking… This is the one! I’d even go as far as to say that this is the “golden standard” for thought provoking articles!

For more great articles from the Yakezie group, please click on the following link “Yakezie Challenge Carnival 4 – The Growth Edition“, this weeks edition is hosted by Greg (The Lean Coach) at www.eliminatethemuda.com.

My Favorite Post from Money Reasons This Week:

Wealth Tip #5: Increasing Your Financial Savings Delta: this is really just a different way of saying increase your income and reduce your expenses. But sometime hearing it a different way helps other obtain a deeper understanding of the importance of the delta between savings/earning and spending… Plus, it reinforces the concept in our minds and helps us keep focuses. I also needed to create the list of ways to accomplish earning more and reducing expenses. Sometimes, it helps me think of new ways to accomplish my goals by doing this.

I’m even thinking of expanding my delta concept into a measurable percentage number. Because what’s improtant is being able to have a high delta for your lifestyle.

Closing Thoughts:

Healthcare is on the horizon today, this might have a big impact on the stock market (even though it’s not truly implemented on down the road a bit). It’s nice to see spring starting to wake up around my neck of the wood…

I’m thinking about taking one day a week to create pillar posts.

Peace!

-MR

Update: I figured out the problem with the blue rectangle. Some hidden characters were added to a post that I copied in from Word… I guess I’ll use that import from word feature in wordpress next time!!!