Money Reasons

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Keep Your Cool To Save Money

February 22nd, 2011

No tickets please

While driving in town, I saw a man in a minivan with his wife and 2 children waiting for a spot to park in a spot downtown where someone was leaving. He just sat there patiently waiting, but then the person leaving the spot pulled out oddly, then enabled someone else coming the other way to cut across 2 lanes of traffic and park there first.

The spot stealer was an elderly couple and I don’t think that they stole the spot on purpose. I really believe they were unaware of the person waiting, and through a fluke of timing and the odd way the person leaving left, they were able to steal the spot.

Now the man waiting for the spot was hot (as I would be too). So he took off and ran a newly turned red light by squealing his tires around the intersection that was only a few yards away.

Through his anger-invoked folly, he just happened to tear (with tires squealing) through the intersection turn as a police car happened to be in the opposite lane sitting 2 cars from the light! I saw the police car and thought “oh crap”, as did the offending driver as he quickly pulled over knowing he was busted before the police car got a chance to move.

I know why the man did it, and I would have done it too if I were as young as he was. When I turned my car down the street where the man got pulled over, I saw the police man writing the driver a ticket. I felt bad for him as I could tell he was just a normal guy that got raked over the coals by bad timing and bad luck that day.

I’m pretty sure the police officer gave the man 2 tickets, one for driving through a red light, and another for reckless driving. I’m sure it’s going to cost him well over $200 dollars. Hopefully what he learned from his bad day is to keep his cool, because it can be costly, both financially and physically, especially with 2 small children in the car.

The kicker is that I would have done the same thing if the same events happened to me five years ago.

Have you learned to control your emotions in such scenarios? I did, but it took me a long time to do so.

-MR

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18 comments »

Posted in Savings

Tags: anger anger fines avoiding driving tickets controlling your anger getting a ticket

The Importance of an Emergency Fund

February 9th, 2011

EmergencyFund

The Importance of an Emergency Fund

I believe in the saying that we should always plan for the worst and hope for the best, and when you relate this to your finances it means having an emergency fund. An emergency fund is exactly what it says on the tin, it’s a source of funds where you can go to seek help in the event of an emergency.

Always expect the unexpected

You should always expect the unexpected when it comes to day to day life, as we never know what could be just around the corner. You should think of a financial emergency as either a sudden loss of income, e.g. loosing your job or an unexpected expense that’s unavoidable e.g. a burst water pipe at home.

If you don’t have an emergency fund

If you don’t have an emergency fund in the event of a financial crisis, then you may have to borrow money. Borrowing more money in this type of situation will only worsen your financial state; this is why having an emergency fund is so important.

How much should I put aside?

Emergency funds are often a hot topic of debate, but I believe that you should keep around 3 months worth of your personal expenses in your fund; this will depend on your own financial situation and how you much feel you will be able to comfortably save. The more money you add to your emergency fund the better as you should prepare for the worst. If you follow this method then all minor problems should be covered.

Make your fund work for you

Before you start your emergency fund you should ensure that you will be saving your money in the right place. Make your fund work for you by adding all your money into a high interest savings account. In the US a LSA or Lifetime Savers Account is one of the best ways to save. If you are UK based like me (this is a guest post, MoneyReasons is from the US), then the UK equivalent is the ISA rates account. Do your research and choose the best savings account in your local area. Make sure that you keep your emergency fund in an account that you can access quickly, so that you can withdraw money in urgent situations.

Get into the saving habit

When you start your emergency fund, it’s important to get into a saving habit so that you get used to it on a weekly or monthly basis. It will be difficult to start saving, especially if your aim is to save around 3 months of personal expenses, but start small and you will soon get used to it.

Set up some automatic payments

The easiest way to get in to the saving habit is to set up small automatic payments. Once you have opened up your savings account, set up a transfer of funds at set intervals from your normal bank account. Treat the amount you transfer as just another expense and you will soon forget about it. Once you are comfortable with the amount you are transferring, increase the amount slightly, repeat this process until you are happy with the amount you are saving.

Set up an emergency fund, and don’t let yourself get caught out by your own financial situation.

Guest post written by Andreas @ moneysupermarket.com

14 comments »

Posted in Savings

Tags: Emergency Fund

How I Got A Deck Table And Chairs For 25 Percent of The Cost

May 18th, 2010

Last year, at the end of summer, I bought my wife bought a $200 or $250 table and chairs set for our deck for at total of $50.00

How did she do this?

Well, she bought the set at the end of the season, and it was the display model. We usually don’t buy such sets, but for the price it seemed like too good of a deal to pass up.

So what’s the catch?

A few of the non-critical screws were missing, and the plastic end feet for the table are missing. So for the time being, we used felt feet for the table. this won’t last long, but it will prevent our deck from getting too scratched up. Eventually I’ll buy some screws and plastic feet that will work with the table.

Both my wife and I enjoy getting bargains on the things we buy. An example would be the WII pokemon game that we bought my son for his birthday. He wanted this (at the time) expensive pokemon game, but I just didn’t have the heart to buy a $50.00 game that I knew he wouldn’t play for long. So instead, I fired up my old friend Mr. eBay and searched for the game. Surprisingly, all of the new games were still $50.00… So I found a slightly used one for $12.00. Which ironically would be about 25% of the in store price of $50.00

While I spent full price for for my son’s DS, I bought a slightly used on from my buddy at work for $50.00. You might be wondering why I bought a used nintendo DS for my daughter.?. Well, it’s electronic and I heard that the nintendo DSi was coming out soon at that time. Technology typically only have a lifespan of perhaps 4 or 5 years, before it becomes obsolute.

I find tha tI have a hard time paying a premiun price from what I think it’s worth. I’m usually the last to buy technology, because I know that the price repidly drops each year the purchase is prolonged! This is why we still have CRTs instead of flat screens.

The key is to look for bargains during off seasons times so that you can get the best deal, or buy the product slightly used!

-MR

4 comments »

Posted in Frugality, Savings

Tags: purchase savings

Saving By Paying Attention – Conclusion Part 4 of 4

April 5th, 2010

Thinking money matters through

The “Saving By Paying Attention” series has been about focusing and not making rash decisions.

Too often, smart people don’t take the time to weigh all options when making an important decisions.

By paying attention, I’ve been able to buy a lot of things for free, like routers for my computers, DVDs, etc. With rebates, you can save substantial amount of money too. There are some huge coupon savings out there if you know where to look.

Another great tool for buying things at a huge discount is the internet. Sometimes you can find some great deals on Ebay.com. I’ve been able to buy old CD/DVDs from ebay for a great price, not to mention the unique, one of a kind items that can be found. For instance, I’ve been able to buy a firefighter nightlight from my son when he was younger.

Another great site for good prices on products is www.woot.com, I’ve been able to buy merchandise that has been refurbished at great prices. Both of my kid’s mp3 players were bought online at www.woot.com!

I’ve recently learned of a site called: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/, but I haven’t researched it enough yet to feel comfortable recommending it. Still you might want to check it out, mainly they offer free software downloads.

Another great way save money is to go to blogger sites that are offering giveaways. Every so often, you’ll see a $100 dollar giveaway from the blogger sites!

I know people that use the radio contests to win money to. In fact, this is how one of my friends won a free house. Another friend continually calls the sites trying to win money and prizes. Often time she succeeds! It’s amazing the opportunities out there to either win money or prizes.

It you concentrate and think outside of the box, there are plenty of money saving or winning opportunities out there!

-MR

Previous Articles in this Series:

4 comments »

Posted in Costs, Savings

Tags: money attention Money thinking saving money

Saving Money By Staying Healthy

March 30th, 2010

No, I’m not writing about jogging 10 miles a day, nor am I writing about lifting weights either! What I’m talking about is avoiding getting sick via colds, flus and other germs…

First, a little background about me… The last 10 or so years, I’ve have been sick a lot! At first like any great parent, I blamed it on my kids (and when they were very young, I’m sure they had an impact). But now that they are older and don’t put hands in their mouths so much. So now, I think I’m primarily getting sick from work. So, I stopped putting my cube neighbors’ mice in my mouth (lol),

Here is what I now do:

I use my sleeve to open the doors if I don’t have a napkin or tissue.
I take a napkin (from fast food places) out of my car and use it to open the doors at work.
I always use purell after using someone keyboard, or after someone uses my keyboard.
I have have a special routine for going to the bathroom.

I know, you are thinking “a special routing for going to the bathroom?” As you well know, not everybody washes their hands after going to either “of the options” when they go to the bathroom (how that for PC?).

This might be pushing the envelope a bit, but I’m going to tell you about my “special routine” anyway!

I open the door to the bathroom by pushing it with my forearm if I’m wearing a long sleeve shirt. (sometimes I push the door open with my foot if I don’t have a long sleeve shirt on).
Next, I take my magic napkin out of my pocket, tear a long inch wide strip of it and open the bathroom stall door.
The typical activities are performed…
Use another long inch wide strip from my napkin to open the stall door.
Wash hands vigorously (as the signs that I see around demands that I do, surprisingly the sign is not in our bathrooms… I guess we are suppose to know…).
Leave the water running (only for a sec) as I reach for a paper towel and dry my hands
Then use the towel to turn the water off. (Yeah, I’m being picky, but it works for me)
Grab another towel and use the bottom half to dry my hands fully.
Then as I go to the door, I use the upper half of the towel to open the door.
After the door is open, I toss the towel in the trash can besides the door.
Don’t tell anyone, but I’m the one who put that trash can there… So far nobody has asked why, and tons of people now use it (I’m such a trend setter)…
Now I go back to my cube healthy! Hurray!!!

I know this isn’t as glamorous or as exciting as practically any of my previous personal finance posts. But believe it or not, this post has a lot of value… if you use it, you too will get sick much less often, saving you money! This technique could also help you advance more quickly in your career. If you are sick less, you are at work more and you are able to perform at a higher level vs. if you were sick all of the time.

The past few years, I’ve hardly been sick… I attribute my good fortune to what we jokingly call the “hand something“, but since my kids read this, I’ll leave the name to your imaginations… Just think of hand protection

Oh, I also use my napkins for getting water from the filtered water dispense at work, and the elevator buttons, and any surface that I can think of that other people touch frequently. If you use small strips of the napkin like I do, not many people will notice either…

What do you think? Am I over doing it? Do you use similar techniques?

Respectfully,

-MR

9 comments »

Posted in Ideas, Savings

Tags: germ preventer keeping healthy virus preventer