frugal underground

Kids sure are learning quickly these days. Between the internet and cable TV, youngsters tend to pick up a lot of stuff that in our days, we wouldn’t even begin to know about until later in life. Some of the info they manage to glean can be pretty interesting (for instance, my three-year-old already knows several Spanish words thanks to Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer), if not downright useful.

That said, I’m also amazed at how much kids can teach their parents in turn just by being themselves. I’m a work-at-home mom myself, and I’ve had the pleasure of being able to observe my sons, ages 6 and 3, at close range while they are unaware of it. I must say that the monetary lessons I’ve learned from them are just as valuable as any of the personal finance tips that I’ve come across in blogs and magazines. Let me share with you some of them:

• The best things in life are free. It’s cliché, I know. But the more I think about it, the more I’ve realized that this maxim is nowhere near as evidently practiced than in the lives of innocent kids.

  Whenever it rains, my boys are always asking me to allow them to run around in the rain and while I’m usually hesitant about it, the shrieks of pleasure I hear when I finally cave in overrides whatever concerns I have about their catching colds or slipping on the ground. Not that I still wouldn’t love having a pool in the house, but for the kids at least, a good frolic in the pouring rain will do the trick as well.

• Cheap can also be good. I can’t exactly remember at what stage in my life it was when I started to think that the good stuff always came with a hefty price tag but since then, that has always been my mindset; and this is true for many adults as well. For kids however, what is good is whatever brings them enjoyment.

  I’ve all too often made the mistake of buying toys for my kids which we could barely afford just for the satisfaction of knowing we gave the “best” to them. Well, I’ve also been disappointed many times when my gifts were met with enthusiasm that wasn’t any different from the other “unbranded” toys they received. Now I’m not saying that we should just forgo of the more expensive things in life even if we have the means to afford them and just think cheap, affordable, discounts, sales, etc. But then again, with an economic recession on our hands, it never hurts to adopt the kids’ way of thinking once in a while, and settle for less than best.

• Don’t count out the nickels and dimes. My husband and I often talk to the kids about plans of buying a new car, but we were always careful to emphasize that this would be something that would happen in the future yet as we have not saved enough for it. As soon as the goal of “saving up for the new car” firmed up in their minds however, they became quite enthusiastic about the plan (not even about the car, but more so about the saving part), putting in whatever small bills and change they manage to wangle from their grandparents or earn from doing odd “jobs” in the house, into their coin banks. We’re still nowhere near owning that dream car, but perhaps if we show even half of the zest that the young ones are doing with their nickels and dimes, we could probably get there much faster.
• Money shouldn’t be too complicated. With kids, a simple “we don’t have money for that” is taken as is. Of course, oftentimes a parent’s “no” is met with whines or tantrums or sulking for older kids, but after sometime, young children can readily come to terms with the fact that they can’t get what they want and just move on to other endeavors. Not so with adults. Every so often (or is it too often?), a “we don’t have money for that” is converted to “let’s just charge it to the credit card” – an ill-advised move considering the skyrocketing credit card interest rates these days. Why not simplify things and just let a no be a no, as kids do.

We’ve often heard about letting kid be kids, but why not let adults be kids for a change – that is, when it comes to dealing with personal finance. If only we could somehow acquire a bit of children’s resiliency in money matters, life could be so much simpler and perhaps, less stressful.

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If you’ve decided that you’re interested in attending a Trendwest presentation, you can sign up online to go. (You can also get an attending friend to refer you, or sign up for one of their drawings—in my area, there are almost always car giveaways in the mall sponsored by Trendwest.)

Here are some tips for attending the presentation.

• Negotiate on your incentive. We didn’t really know you could do this, but the last time we were invited, Daniel told the scheduler that we just weren’t interested in the standard “vacation package” they were offering. (We have heard horror stories about the vacation from friends… suffice it to say, you’re NOT staying at a Trendwest resort…)

  Then Daniel asked if they were offering any gift certificates to local businesses instead (we’d been offered that on a previous visit). Turns out, they were willing to give us a $50 gift certificate to Home Depot, and $20 at Tony Roma’s. Of course, no guarantees, but you’ll never know if you don’t ask, and you could get something significantly more useful than their initial offer.

• Do your homework. Ask yourself the questions about Trendwest’s value to you personally. Have a good idea before you go in about what you actually spend on lodging yearly. This will give you the information you need to evaluate the offer that will be made to you.
• Be prepared for high-pressure tactics. Though every sales person is different, in my experience, Trendwest sales associates play hardball. They won’t hesitate to constantly put down your values if they get in the way of a sale. They have suggested financing a Trendwest purchase by rolling it into our mortgage. They told my husband he deserved a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. They tell you that you only get one chance at the deal (clearly not true since we’ve been four times, each time at their invitation). They will do everything they can to make you decide right then and there, and not give you a chance to think it through. This is why it’s so important to come prepared.
• Consider alternative options. Take a look at what Trendwest points are going for on eBay. In general, it’s about half the price per point, compared to what they offer at the presentations. If you buy via eBay, you miss out on some of the perks that go with points sold directly from Trendwest. If you bring it up, your salesperson will certainly tell you what you’ll miss. Typically, these perks are things like Bonus Time and classes. Be cautious, though… they don’t usually react well to bringing up the eBay alternative. We’ve been told it’s not safe, despite the fact that the sellers are reputable and provide mountains of documentation, which suggests more about the salesperson’s fear than anything else.

  The point is, though, that you should know how the market values Trendwest points. You’ll have to decide first if Trendwest makes sense for your family, and then whether the perks are worth the extra money. Due diligence is key.

• Bring a list of contacts who won’t mind being called by Trendwest. As you’re getting ready to leave (you think!), a salesperson will give you a sheet of paper and ask you to fill it with the names and contact info for people you know. Usually they will offer a modest incentive (like an entry in a drawing) if you provide ten names or more. The attitude I’ve felt here is clearly, “You are a waste of my time but I may forgive you if you provide me with leads.” I find this extremely irritating, but this is the point at which you can get your friends invited if they want to partake of the attendance incentives. Be aware, though, that typically only couples with $35k+ incomes will actually be invited.

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It amuses me when companies don’t really think through their promotions. I received an email today from a stock photography company trying to encourage new orders with the following deal:

Spend $100+ in a single order and get a $10 Amazon voucher
Spend $500+ in a single order and get a $25 Amazon voucher
Spend $1000+ in a single order and get a $50 Amazon voucher

One would think that if you get $10 for spending $100, that you’d get at least a hundred for spending a thousand. Presumably they’d be trying to push you from the low end to the high end.

Worse, this promotion is actually targeted at new customers, who are going to be likelier to stay at the low end anyway, without further incentive. Sure, any deal is better than no deal, but most of us who care about bargains are going to opt for the best deal.

Have you seen other silly promotions? Leave a comment and share the amusement.

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Some research says it can.

I just read an interesting article on the topic called “C’mon, get happy. Seriously, it pays.” According to the article,

“[researchers] found that those with a song in their hearts are more likely to, among other things:

• Get a job interview
• Be employed
• Perform well at work
• Get higher evaluations from bosses
• Make more money
• Have jobs with more autonomy, meaning and variety
• Avoid job burnout

Sounds like quite the deal, huh? And the important take-away from this info is that the research suggest that some people are successful because they’re happy, rather than happy because they’re successful (which seems like the order what most of us would expect).

They also found that how often you’re happy matters more than how happy you are when you’re happiest. (It’s more a question of your general disposition.)

Of course, happiness isn’t everything—other qualities (like talent, perserverance, etc.) can make you successful even if you’re a sourpuss. But I’d suggest that happier people can also get by with less, so aside from doing better at work, they also can save more money.

What would make you a happier person? Can you do it right now? Or do you even go for this idea?

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