mgroves

Posts Tagged ‘money’

Does anyone use cash or write checks anymore? I know that some do, but it’s soooo last century to do so.

I’ve been using debit cards almost exclusively for every purchase I make since around 2003 (my first real job). Essentially I’m writing electronic checks with a debit card, so let me show you how I “balance my checkbook”, and how handy it is to do so.

1. Make a purchase. I always make sure to get a receipt. This is the key. Keep your receipts, and make sure anyone else who uses your account keeps their receipts (your wife). When you get home, put the receipts on your desk (or someplace you won’t forget about them).

2. Enter your receipts into your check balancing program. I use a custom Microsoft Access database because it’s perfect for this type of activity. Put in the amount, date, descrition, etc. More about the Access database in a later post.

3. Visit your bank’s website. Match any cleared transactions in the bank to the transactions in your database, and vice versa. Enter correcting entries if necessary, or call the bank or establishment to dispute duplicates, incorrect amounts, etc.

4. Check the current balance of your database and the current balance on the web site. Do they match? Done. If not, go back to step 3.

So, great. You have “balanced your checkbook”. But here’s a bonus for you: if you are using your debit card for most or all of your purchases, you now have an Access database which contains detailed information about every penny you’ve spent! You can run reports, get information to itemize your taxes, estimate a budget, etc.

I will upload an Access file that you can use in a future post and give you instructions on how to use it. I’ve been using it for years, and it’s been incredibly valuable for me.

This is the Weekend Update for the weekend of March 21st through March 23rd (Easter weekend).

Missed the last Weekend Update? Check out the Weekend Update archives.

Happy Easter, everyone!

My wisdom teeth remain removed.

While I’m not immobile, I have spent a lot of this weekend applying ice to my face. I’ve spent a lot of time watching TV and playing video games, including the Lost: Via Domus game that Jonny lent me. I played the first “episode” of the game, and if every episode is this short, the game can’t be more than 8 hours long tops.

Ali has taken good care of me, keeping me on schedule for medications and feeding me well. I think she will make a fine mother. Speaking of which, you should check out our son’s website at MatthewKGroves.com for updates and the latest news and pictures. I’ve set up a Twitter feed and Flickr tag set so that I’m able to keep everyone updated just using my phone.

Has anyone seen these LaCie external network hard drives? I’m wondering if I can’t hook it up to my network, save DivX/XviD/etc files to it, and then watch them on my Xbox 360 via USB.

I watched Red Dawn, which Jonny recommended. It is a terrible, terrible movie with a ridiculous premise. Basically, imagine if John Hughes and John Wayne collaborated on a war movie. The premise is that the US is invaded (by communists) and a group of high-schoolers turn into guerilla freedom fighters. I can’t think of many movies where the U.S. is invaded on such a scale, and after watching this movie it’s easy to see why. I liked Free Enterprise better.

The Groves house switched to WOW Cable for our internet and TV this week in order to use a discount through OSU and the already lower WOW prices to save around 30% on our cable. The internet seems a little screwy, as we have to refresh 1 or more times it seems like every time to get a page to load. Probably something with the ARP cache or router or DNS or something, but I haven’t figured it out yet, but I think I’ve had this problem in the past so it’s just a matter of time. If you are interested in switching to WOW, let me know and I can get us both $25 for referring you.

In addition to the money we saved on cable, I also learned that my wisdom teeth bill can be stretched at 0% interest over 18 months instead of 12. Along with the cable, this frees up about $57 a month in our budget (give or take), which is very nice.

Well, I’m about to go on the Central Ohio easter tour, so I’m putting this Weekend Update up a little early. Eat a bunch of chocolates for me.

I’ve been reading The Simple Dollar for a good while now for excellent tips and advice on personal finance and money matters.

I thought I’d list some tips of my own on how to save a few pennies here and there.

Of course, what works for me may not work for you. It all depends on your circumstances. Some of these tips might seem off the wall or more trouble than they are worth, but I’ve found them useful and valuable. They aren’t going to make me a millionaire, but little things add up, you know?

Also, as you will read in some of these tips, I am far from perfect myself. I make choices everyday to spend more money than I need to.

So, with that all in mind, here are some tips to painlessly pinch pennies:

1. Buy used. This has always been a topic of debate among me and my coworkers. Buying used always seem preferable to me, whether it’s a car or a DVD. Some things you shouldn’t buy used, and you should make that judgement call yourself. But if you are going to buy used, take advantage of thrift stores, eBay, video stores, refurbished electronics etc. whenever you can.
2. Order water instead of soda. Some casual dining and fast food places can charge upwards of $2 for a soda. That can be nearly 25% or more of your total bill! Personally, I have a hard time with this one, because I really love soda. I could probably save around $8-$10 a week by drinking soda at the office instead of during lunch. As with all these tips, if you want a soda, buy the soda! Don’t kill yourself over a couple of bucks. These are supposed to be painless tips.
3. Make your own laundry detergent. I started doing this back in July, and I haven’t regretted it. I bought a box of washing soda that isn’t half used yet along with a bulk package of Ivory soap that I’ve only used 3 bars of. At around 1 bottle every 2-3 weeks, I paid off the ingredients with savings long ago. The only investment is time, which I’ve gotten down to about 20 minutes. If you have a big container, you can make this several gallons at a time, reducing the total time you spend.
4. Buy and install a programmable thermostat. This one really is a no-brainer. If you can install it yourself, even better. I’ve estimated the savings at around $5-$10 a month since I installed it. I imagine the savings will disappear when my wife moves to full-time homemaker, but if your house is empty most of the day, there’s no sense in wasting money heating/cooling it during that time, and there’s no sense coming home to a freezing house either.
5. Buy holiday-related items right after the holiday. If you wait until a day or two after Christmas, you can get wrapping paper on the super-cheap. The same goes for Easter candy, Halloween costumes, Valentine’s day cards, etc. When my wife & I moved into our house, we got a grocery cart full of Christmas decorations for $20.
6. Use ING Direct, or another high-yield bank account. I think your money should work for you. If it’s sitting in a traditional bank account right now, it’s probably not getting you much. A high-yield bank account can get you anywhere from 3-5% interest, and it’s still FDIC insured. Using ING Direct for part of last year got me around $20 in free money for my pitiful balances, which doesn’t even include the high-yield CDs that I had. Having a high-yield account leads right into the next point…
7. When you are buying a big-ticket item, if a no-interest payment option is available, take it. Even if you have the money right now, use the payment plan. Every month you don’t have to pay the full amount is a month that you can earn interest on that money. I also use this strategy when paying bills. I don’t pay them a second before they are due. Don’t get reckless though: late fees will destroy this strategy. Two things to keep in mind: 1. Just because it’s interest-free doesn’t automatically mean you can afford it in the first place. 2. You can’t always count on a no-interest loan, so you should still keep money in savings!
8. Use Speedy Rewards to buy your gas. If you have Speedways where you live, get a Speedy Rewards card. You can usually save about $0.03 per gallon on gas. If you shop at Kroger and/or Giant Eagle, they also have killer gas savings plans if you use their cards. And these aren’t “fake” savings. My corner Speedway’s prices are identical to gas station next to it, but as a Speedy Rewards member, I get an extra 3 cents off by doing nothing but being loyal to Speedway.
9. Speaking of gas, buy the lowest octane gas you can unless you are sure you need a higher octane gas. Engines that require higher octane gas are the exception. Check out the High Octane FAQ and Premium Gas Myths from the Car Talk guys (Tom and Ray Magliozzi).
10. Look for discounts through your company. This one may not always be possible, but a lot of businesses offer discounts for employees of other local businesses. Through OSU, I can get discounts for Sherwin Williams, cable TV/internet, cars, cell phone service, and even local restaurants. If you are a student, you can also get similar bargains. Newsletters and advertisements will usually let you know about these, but it also can’t hurt to just ask. The worst they can do is say “no”.
11. Deduct those donations. Do you itemize your taxes? If so, make sure to get a receipt when you clean out your closet and donate clothes to the local thrift store. You’d be surprised how much you can deduct from your taxes for something you do already. You’ll have to make a list of your donations. Use a free program like H&R Block’s Deduction Pro software to make it easier.

None of these tips will enable you to roll around in piles of money, but none of them require a lot of effort either. If you can save some money without significantly changing your behavior and lifestyle, why not do it?

How would you like to design your own credit card? Put your favorite JPG of Rick Astley on it!

Or maybe you just want the broccoli dog?

Well, probably you can’t do that, because there are a lot of restrictions, especially on copyrighted material (and take it from me, that’s not a road to go down).

But you can upload a picture of yourself, or your house, or your dog, or whatever. Actually, what you can also do, and what I have done, is play with the card designer.

The card is called PAYjr Visa Buxx, and it may be the worst possible name for a credit card ever. It’s geared towards parents who want to give their kids a credit card (for whatever reason), and kids who want cool stuff on their credit card. But as far as I know, there’s no reason why adults can’t use the thing.

This one is my favorite, I think. I call it “Hungarian porn star” or “Captain Kirkish”.

I think this card would totally creep people out. If not, just breathe heavily while signing the receipt and silently staring at the cashier. Always works for me!

This next card works well at the hospital, unless you are paying for Lupus-related expenses.

So go buy a PAYjr Visa Buxx card as a gift for you niece or something already! Put a picture of a pony on it–girls like ponies.

Have you got roughly $18,824 just sitting around the house with nothing to do because the toy store is sold out of dominoes? Me neither.

But this guy/group/company does. Watch 10,000 British pound coins topple as dominoes. Even if the video is just pieced together with good editing, it still had to take an ungodly amount of time to do. Dominoes are hard enough to set up, and they’re made for this sort of thing.

After watching the video, I think the money could be well spent refinishing those terrible looking hardwood floors.