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The carnivals are up: Personal Finance, Debt Reduction, and Capitalists
I’ve only had time to read the Carnival of Personal Finance so far, but these are my top three picks:
I know I’ve said it before, but I’m worried about the housing market in the US, and consequently the economy. For all the reasons I outlined before (people borrowing beyond their means, the tougher new bankruptcy law, and the increase of minimum payments on credit cards), I’m nervous. I’m not the only one. Here are some interesting articles…
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I’ve posted before on the benefits of meal planning and I hope that you’ve found the value in it. Here’s a simple, quick tool to help the process along: a list of your family’s favorite meals. Yeah, it’s kind of obvious and I felt silly for not coming up with it earlier, but a comprehensive list of favorites can really take the pressure off.
You don’t have to agonize over what to make, where to find a good new recipe (and where to find the time to find it!), and what to do with the leftovers when the family isn’t wild about it. Sure, it’s fun to try new things from time to time, but most families would rather stick with maybe fifteen or twenty “tried-and-true” favorites than constantly be trying “experiments.”
It’s super easy to implement this tip. Just take a piece of notebook paper (or a blank file in your word processor) and start writing down the family’s most requested meals. If you are stuck, go ask your spouse and the kids. My husband was more than glad to register his vote for “normal things” (his words) like spaghetti and tuna sandwiches.
Then just put the list somewhere you can see it when you’re meal planning and also easily add to it. For me, that’s right here. I figure if I try one new dinner meal in a week and pull the rest from the list, that will keep the family happy and still let me experiment. My list is still evolving, and will be for some time, but hopefully you can use this advice to save time as well as money.
Obviously, one way to keep costs down when you’re dieting is to avoid buying special dieting foods. They’re almost always priced higher, and sometimes the convenience might be worth it to you, but with a little consideration, you can get better quality, lower cost food that will help you in your dieting adventure. This (somewhat long) post will talk a little bit about how.
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Nicole over at The Budgeting Babe has a great post full of Halloween Ideas. The post is a list of possible costumes, with descriptions and instructions, and she cleverly has a section for singles and a section for couples. Many of them are hilarious. I think my favorite was “A One Night Stand” for the punny-ness of it.
I haven’t done a heck of a lot of dress up, but the last two years, I worked at a library over Halloween. In 2003, we dressed up as librarians… you know, buns, sensible shoes, end-of-the-nose-glasses. I bought reading glasses at Wal-Mart, shoes, tweed skirt, and hideous frilly blouse at a thrift store, and a friend gave me her eyeglasses chain. Grand total was less than $10.
Last year, we decided to go to the other extreme, and went punk/goth. I borrowed a black mini-skirt, bought fishnet tights, borrowed a wig, had the shoes and shirt already. Oh, and I bought some black makeup. (I wore my “I’m blogging this.” shirt because most people who don’t know what blogging is seem to think it’s subversive.)
As a kid, I dressed up as a gift a couple of times. Basically, you just take a decent sized box (maybe 1/2 to 3/4 the height of the kid), cut the bottom out, cut a hole in the top for the head, in opposite sides for the arms, and then wrap the box in wrapping paper, working around the holes, of course. The kid wears coordinated tights or sweatpants (probably depending on the size of the box and gender of the kid) and wha-la. A costume for a couple bucks.
Most experts/studies/advice-givers agree that methodically keeping track of the things you eat greatly increases your chances of dieting success. Familydoctor.org sums up the reason nicely: “Awareness is an important part of making lasting changes for healthy living. Keeping a journal is a good way to become aware of what you eat, what you do, how you feel and any patterns you may have.” Or in less-nice terms, seeing the horrendous amount of food I eat makes me understand why I can’t lose the weight. For most people, just knowing you’ll have to write it down makes the “just a little taste” seem less appealing. I know it works that way for me.
So, knowing that you should be writing down everything you eat if you want to meet your dieting goals, what are you going to do? Here’s my advice.
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It seems like every week a new study is released, finally revealing the “secret of dieting.” Perhaps this is because we’re obsessed with minutia, like Ramit says. Probably it’s because eating extra tomatoes (or whatever the current “secret” is) sounds easier than eating less food and exercising more. Everybody loves a quick fix. The only problem is, the quick fix doesn’t usually do any long term good.
If you’re serious about losing weight and/or becoming healthier, you probably know what you need to do. The trouble starts when you have to actually do it. Most of us don’t find enough motivation within ourselves to stick to a challenging, sometimes overwhelming, lifestyle change. And dieting gets expensive. It doesn’t have to be, of course, if you eat less food and get exercise outdoors, but usually we end up paying for special “diet” food, exercise facilities, and perhaps folks who will motivate us. I’m going to talk about several ways you can bring the costs down.
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Kind of a quiet week for the carnival, but I think you’ll enjoy reading the submissions.
At the forefront of at least a few minds is the new bankruptcy law that goes into effect today. Jim is cautiously optimistic about the law, as he reports in his post “Bankruptcy Law (S.256) In Effect“. He also references a previous post on the same topic that looks at some of the reasoning behind the law.
nickle’s post “Bankruptcy Deadline Looming” provides excellent coverage of the new law, describing the differences and what their likely effects will be. Lots of good numbers and commentary here.
Since spending less money is at the heart of debt reduction, I’m glad to see some good posts dedicated to that topic. Jeffrey questions “Savings Assumptions” and looks at an instance where he assumed he was saving money, when he was actually spending more than necessary. I know I’ve done the same thing!
Dawn addresses the essentials of “Climbing out of Debt“. She was inspired by a NYT article and has distilled the process into clear steps. FMF summarizes some interesting reader comments in “Comments: Spend Less than You Earn” and links to some excellent articles as well.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the carnival! Next week’s carnival will be hosted by Dawn at Frugal for Life. Read the submission guidelines and view the schedule.
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Recently I discussed how brand buy-in can cost money. Last night, the cost of pattern-matching was driven home to one of my friends in a painful—and expensive—way. Let me explain.
Around here, many of the intersections have left turn lanes on two or four of the connecting streets. Typically, the left turn arrows turn green first (on both opposing sides) and then the main lights for the straight lanes turn green. Sometimes, if only one left turn lane is occupied, the left turn arrow and the straight lane signals change at the same time. It’s very predictable and you get used to it. I take it into account when the distance to a point is the same regardless of whether I turn or go straight (that’s how it is to my house from some directions).
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One of my friends recently discovered the joys of using a Flexible Spending Account, and suggested I write a post on it. The topic of tax-free medical accounts, which includes both FSAs and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), is a huge one, and definitely beyond the scope of a single post (and my knowledge!); instead of telling you everything there is to know, I’m going to give you a decent overview and provide you with pointers to the material that will address your specific situation.
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If you’re self-employed (i.e. you fill out a Schedule C at tax time), the IRS has good news for you: IRS Increases Mileage Rate Until Dec. 31, 2005
The business miles deduction rate was recently raised from 40.5 cents a mile to 48.5 cents a mile. The IRS says “This is about fairness for taxpayers,” since gas prices are truly costing businesses more money.
The increase is only for the months of September through December (it won’t retroactively cover the first eight months of the year) but it’s still a relief to those who claim business miles.
This may benefit you even if you’re not self-employed; for one, if you drive for your employer and are reimbursed for mileage, you can reasonably expect that rate to track the IRS’s increase. If this is you, delawareonline’s article, “Cashing in on IRS mileage rate hike” might help you out.
Another way this could benefit you is if you claim for medical miles or moving miles. That rate has gone up from 15 cents/mile to 22 cents/mile. Of course, you’ll still have to evaluate whether it will be worth more than the standard deduction to you (when combined with any other deductions you’re eligible to claim), but it’s definitely worth looking into.
It’s that glorious time of the week again… yes, Monday, but more specifically, the day when my three favorite carnivals appear. Enjoy some good reading!
Carnival of Personal Finance #17
And speaking of the Carnival of Debt Reduction, I’m hosting next week, so read the guidelines and email your submissions to me at bookchiq+cdr@gmail.com by Sunday at 5 p.m. MDT.
I’ll start by pointing out that buying something you don’t need or can’t afford is not a bargain, however cheap it may be. However, if you’ve budgeted for a computer, you’ll probably get more for your money at RetroBox.
RetroBox is in the business of corporate upgrades. Essentially, most companies have a policy of upgrading their computers every couple of years. RetroBox buys the “old” computers and resells them.
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Okay, I know that bringing this up now is only going to emphasize how behind the times I (apparently) am, but I’m really interested in the Ten Dollar Project. I guess I’m just a sucker for these challenges, because I’ve also been monitoring $5000 Challenge with interest since I heard about it (again, late). I’m seriously thinking of participating in the Ten Dollar Project, though. I just need a brilliant idea… oh, yeah, and a whole lot of time, since what’s lacking in money usually gets made up (and then some) in sweat equity.
I had to laugh at Neville’s water selling scheme, though, because I have frequently done the same thing, except without the money; my church sometimes gives soda and water away for free in traffic (I love running out in traffic!).
Anyway, if you have a brilliant (or harebrained, it’s all good) $10 idea, by all means, leave a comment. My expertise is in web development, but $10 won’t cover a domain name and a hosting account. I might just host from one of my other accounts if I decide in the end that a website is the way to go with this. What do you think?
Starting today, I’m going to bring you regular “frugal profiles”—basically a chance to meet a frugal person and find out what makes them frugal. You can expect to find tips and tricks as well as generally interesting information. If you have any particular questions you’d like me to ask, or areas you’d like to know more about, send me an email.
This week, I interviewed Becca. She’s a smart saver who lives in my area, and she’s got some good advice. Hope you enjoy it!
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