Walk With Money » Lot

Paying for Packaging: It’s Time to Stop

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:20:10 +0000

Next time you take a walk through the grocery store, take a look at the packaging — especially on relatively expensive items. Any item with a lot of packaging always costs more than its counterpart without. Hamburger Helper offers a great example: not only does it come in a box, but there are packets within the box. Compare the price of a box or bag of pasta, with less packaging, and a few spices (which is not all that far off from what Hamburger Helper is). In such cases, we aren’t just paying for packaging — of course convenience is a key pricing factor — but the connection is still there.

Reducing the Packaging in Your Cart

One of the easiest strategies is to buy in bulk when possible. The packaging on small, convenience-sized containers of common staples — like oatmeal — adds up very quickly when you compare it to the packaging on one large container. Another option is to choose to buy from locations that don’t rely as heavily on packaging. For instance, at many farmer’s markets, you simply bring your own bags. Similarly, many food co-ops actually require you to bring in containers to purchase certain items, like grains. There are even a few grocery stores that offer you the same option. Investing in a few reusable bags and containers can help you get away from buying pre-packaged foods.

Lastly, cooking from scratch can be a key strategy in minimizing packaging. There’s far less packaging on “ingredients” (which …

Professional Home Inspection Service Checklist – Tips & What’s Included

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:20:12 +0000

If you are about to purchase your first home, there are several things you need to do. It does not matter if the home is brand new and has never been lived in; get the inspection anyway.

The first and most important thing you need to do is get pre-approved for a mortgage, unless you are fortunate enough to be paying in cash. By getting pre-approved for a mortgage BEFORE you start shopping for a home, you will know how much home you can afford and avoid wasting time looking at homes that are beyond your price range. There is nothing worse than finding the home you like, then applying for the mortgage only to be told you can’t afford the house.

The second is to find your perfect home. One piece of advice I can offer here is to look at as many homes as you need to to ensure you get the home that is perfect for you. You are probably making one of the largest purchases of your life so you want to get it right. If you don’t like your home after you purchase it, you can’t take it back and ask for a refund.

One you find that perfect home, the third and perhaps, the second most important thing to do behind getting a mortgage pre-approval is to get a home inspection. This is one expense in the homebuying process that you do not want to overlook.

A home inspection can help identify those problems that may be hiding deep behind the walls of your potential home. As a buyer, you may be too busy checking out how many bedrooms the home has, how many bathrooms the home has or how large a lot the home is. You may even be too busy thinking about the neighborhood or the school district. You probably aren’t looking at the little cracks in the wall or know that there is an electrical issue that could cause your home to burn down.

Spending a few hundred dollars on a home inspection can save you from making …

Review: Better Groceries for Less Cash

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:20:02 +0000

Every Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book or other book of interest.

Better Groceries for Less Cash by Randall Putala has a subtitle that pretty clearly describes what you’ll find inside the covers: 101 Tested and Proven Ways to Save on Food. While organized into chapters, this fairly short book’s main purpose is to simply relate a lot of methods for saving money on food purchases.

My wife and I already do a lot of things to reduce our grocery bill, from using grocery lists to making meal plans and clipping (some) coupons. Yet we still look for ways to trim our food costs even more, so this book was a welcome read.

While Better Groceries for Less Cash is organized into chapters, the focus of each chapter is simply to deliver a few specific tips on how to save money on some aspect of grocery shopping. So, rather than giving my usual chapter-by-chapter review, I picked out ten interesting tips to share and discuss.

Start your own cookbook The key to saving money on food preparation while still getting delicious meals is simply knowing how to cook. Randall suggests simply making up your own cookbook where you jot down notes on what works for you for every new thing you try. Just list the steps you take in a way that you can understand later. If it doesn’t quite work, note that and make a change to your steps (changing cooking time from seven minutes to eight, for example). Then try doubling the quantity (six eggs scrambled instead of three) and seeing how that works. It’s all about learning how to do it so you feel confident with raw foods.

Ignore lying signs Just because there’s a big sign advertising a great deal doesn’t mean that it’s really a great deal. Often, it’s the same old bad deal you’d get otherwise – they just put up a sign to make it look good. Stick to your list and ignore the “sales” you find inside the store unless you’re absolutely sure that they’re great buys.

Clip for products, not for brands If you need toothpaste, clip every toothpaste coupon you can find. Then, when you go to the store to buy the toothpaste, you can match the coupon to the toothpaste brand with the best price (possibly one on sale in the store). This often results in items that have an extremely low price, sometimes even free.

Ignore the picture …

When to Use a Credit Card Instead of a Debit Card

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:20:04 +0000

There are a lot of strong feelings out there against credit cards. Plenty of folks insist that if you use credit cards, EVER, you are on the road to financial ruin. No matter how disciplined you are. It is true that credit cards have long been connected to the idea of “easy money” and instant gratification. However, when used with discipline it is possible to use credit cards to your advantage. And, in some situations, it is better to use a credit card than to use a debit card.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Credit Card vs. Debit Card

First of all, it is important to understand the difference between a credit card and a debit card. A credit card represents a loan. You are borrowing money. There is no guarantee that you have the entire amount you are charging on your credit card in a bank account right at this moment. If you pay off a credit card balance each month, though, it is an interest free loan. It’s when you start spending money you don’t have, and carrying a balance, that fees and interest start to add up, putting you into financial trouble.

A debit card is connected to your bank account. When you use this type of plastic, it takes the money directly from your account. In theory, if you don’t have money in your account, the transaction won’t go through. What you can spend is based on what you currently have, rather than a loan. While you can overdraw your funds, some measure of overdraft protection is required in order for that scenario to take place. Without overdraft protection, when you don’t have the money in your bank account, the transaction is rejected. Once you go over your funds using a debit card, even with overdraft protection, a hefty fee is charged.

When Using a Credit Card is Better

A debit card is a convenient way to access cash you already have, and for that reason, many prefer to use the debit card. However, there are some situations in which you might consider putting the debit card away and using a credit card instead:

Online purchases: If you use a debit card or some sort of cash alternative with online purchases, you are taking a risk, since it may be more difficult to get your money back if the product isn’t what you thought it would be. With credit cards, disputing with merchants is easier. On top of that, the fraud protection that comes built in with credit cards can provide security that is better than that offered by most debit cards.
Purchases …

What Do You Really Have to Lose?

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:20:05 +0000

This post goes out to all of the readers who are about to graduate from college (and from high school, for that matter) and are wondering what comes next (hopefully, you already know and have a plan for it, but if you do, you’re in the minority).

A few days ago, a college student I know was talking about his upcoming graduation. His plans mostly revolved around getting a good paying job, but he also talked about how he might go back to school some day and study a particular branch of philosophy that he truly loved studying and reading about.

I asked him why he was choosing to put a good paying job over a path that he was deeply personally passioante about that might not necessarily earn a great deal in the near future. He pretty much exploded, offering up a rant about how the world revolves around money and the only way he would ever be able to chase the dreams he has is if he has lots of income.

I couldn’t disagree more. Let me explain why.

First, the need for money in the bank comes down to what you’re responsible for. If you’re fresh out of college with nothing to your name but a car, you really don’t have that much that you’re responsible for. You don’t have a house. You don’t have a partner. You don’t have children. You don’t have an established career to protect.

You just have you, your dreams, your skills, and your potential. Nothing else.

Second, you don’t actually have a lot of day-to-day financial need, either. It’s perfectly normal and acceptable for a new graduate to live in a small apartment or a room in a house. Why? The …

What Is Cash Flow And How To Improve It

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:20:05 +0000

I believe that cash flow is one of the most powerful concepts in personal finance. People tends to know how they feel about their personal finance — e.g., whether they are comfortable or are struggling. Unfortunately, not too many people truly understand cash flow and how important it is to your finances. When you understand the concept of cash flow and know how to improve it, you give yourself tremendous flexibility and open yourself to a lot of opportunities.

What is cash flow?

Cash flow is basically your income minus your expenses. If your income is about the same as your expenses, you’re living paycheck to paycheck. If your income is higher, you’re in a good shape. And if your income is lower, you’re accumulating debt. Very simple isn’t it?

And here is the beautiful part. Once you understand the basic components — income and expenses — you can begin to take concrete actions to improve your finances. And you can break down the problem even further by looking at reducing individual expenses and improving your income.

How to improve your cash flow

Reduce your expenses

The best and easiest way to improve your cash flow is by cutting your expenses; especially ones that are recurring month-to-month. The biggest bang for your buck is your mortgage, if you have one. Take a look at today’s best mortgage rates and see if it makes sense for you to refinance. Refinancing alone could free up several hundred dollars that you could use for other financial endeavors.

In general, expense reduction is easier if you are keeping a budget. If you don’t have one, you should start tracking your expenses and start a budget. The key to success in expense reduction is doing all the little things that add up and trying to take one small step at a time. Don’t try to reduce your expenses by 50% — it will never happen. Challenge yourself to cut $50 a month or a $100 a month. Once you accomplish that, go for another $50, and so forth.

To help you get started, here are some ideas on how to save money — actually, about a thousand ideas.

Increase your income

The …

Where Do You Want to Be In Five Years? How Do You Get There?

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:20:28 +0000

I’m going to share with you excerpts from seven different emails I’ve received from readers in the last few days.

Kenny:

I listened to your radio discussion with Vicki Robin and I was really intrigued by the whole five year plan. I have a big dream I’d love to accomplish (being a radio host) but I feel like it’s so far from my life that I’ll never get there. Any ideas?

Scott:

In five year[s] I would like to have built my own house but I don’t even know where to start.

Angela:

I would like to be a writer someday but I’m not a writer.

Monique:

You have the courage and ability to try such a thing. I do not. I might want to be making clothing in five years but I’ll still be working in this office.

Em:

All I ever wanted to do was play in the WNBA. Now I walk with a limp and people shy away from me. I would do anything to be back in the basketball world.

Raghu:

I keep telling myself I will move back to that town and really make a difference there but it is a lot easier to go home at night, take a nap, and watch a movie.

Sean:

Nothing makes me happier than playing the piano. Nothing makes me sadder, either, because I know nothing will ever come of it.

All of these people have a lot of things in common. They have a dream, one that they spend a lot of time thinking about. They’re nowhere near that dream in their day to day lives. They feel as though the gap between where they are now and where that dream is may simply be too much of a bridge for them to cross. So they’re walking in place through a life that has much less meaning for them than they would have ever liked.

I was there once, in a way. I know exactly how it feels to sense that everything you’ve dreamed about in your childhood and in your adult life slipping away from you. I know how hard it seems to fight for it when everything in your life seems to be flowing in a different direction. And I also know how good it feels when you find some success against the current and can feel yourself moving in the right direction towards that dream.

If you know what you truly, deeply want out of life, but you can’t see how you can get there from where you are now, here’s how to get started.

First, get your financial house in order. This is paramount. It is almost impossible to make powerful, positive life changes if you’re swimming in debt and your spending is out of control. Learn how to spend less than you earn. Pay down that debt as fast as you can. It seems difficult, but it actually …

How to Save Money During the Early Days of a Startup

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:20:08 +0000

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There’s a lot of commentary on how to start a business, how to court investors, and how to sell a business. One theme that consistently falls through the cracks, however, is what it takes to, and what it is like to start up and run your own company on the ground level. For many young entrepreneurs, the thought of using investor money to help build your dream sounds like just like that — a dream. And while generating funding and starting out with a size-able amount of seed money can help a business get off the ground quickly, there are down sides to bringing others on board with the business that invariably will become ‘your baby’. If you have just taken the plunge, or are about to, and for those thinking about bootstrapping (even for business people that are just trying to save), I’ve laid down some tips that I’ve learned by doing, as a young entrepreneur and investor.

P&L / Project Costing

Damon Duncan

This is very important. Upon starting your business, it should quickly become apparent that you have some customers that are more profitable then others. Ones that take less time and generate more profit. Conversely, there are the customers that take more time, and generate less profit for you. Breaking down each customer into its own profit & loss (P&L) statement helps you understand who they are and what characteristics they have in common. Once you’ve identified the characteristics of the ‘high profit’ customers, you can then go after them. It’s worth spending the time to analyze your clients in a cost-benefit way, so that you can scale your business’s operations and your profits.

Generate Financial Reports Monthly

University of Denver

“What you measure gets managed” Peter Drucker once quipped, and that is why its important to review your financial reports monthly (if not more often). Much like it is important to monitor the profit/loss of your customer base, it is important to see where the money is coming and going each month. Many companies start out with several types …

25 Ways to Save Money While Traveling

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:20:05 +0000

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Traveling involves a lot of trade-offs. Money is always a big issue after the decision is made to fly somewhere exotic or historical; can you afford to see all the sights and live comfortably? It’s never easy to balance what you want to do and what your disposable income allows for.

In order to stretch your money the furthest, you need to look for deals from the get-go. All it takes is a little research and creativity, and with the savings, you will be better equipped to experience your destination to the fullest.

Plane ticket costs

Most vacations involve flights, and this is where you should start saving money while traveling.

Travel during the low season

If you are averse to research …

Could You Own Less Than 100 Things?

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:20:06 +0000

Another topic I’ve been interested in is the 100 Thing Challenge started by Dave Bruno. If you read a lot of simplicity blogs you’ve probably already heard of it, but it’s a pretty simple idea: Live with only 100 personal possessions. You can always quibble about what is a “thing” – a pair of socks, or all your socks? Your nail clippers, or all toiletries? But you get the basic idea.

The goal of the 100 Thing Challenge is to break free from the confining habits of American-style consumerism. A lot people around the world feel “stuck in stuff.” They feel like their closets and garages are too full of things that don’t really make their lives much better. But how to get unstuck?

Reduce (get rid of some of your stuff)

Refuse …

Walk With Money » Lot

Paying for Packaging: It’s Time to Stop

Reducing the Packaging in Your Cart

Professional Home Inspection Service Checklist – Tips & What’s Included

Review: Better Groceries for Less Cash

When to Use a Credit Card Instead of a Debit Card

Credit Card vs. Debit Card

When Using a Credit Card is Better

What Do You Really Have to Lose?

What Is Cash Flow And How To Improve It

What is cash flow?

How to improve your cash flow

Reduce your expenses

Increase your income

Where Do You Want to Be In Five Years? How Do You Get There?

How to Save Money During the Early Days of a Startup

P&amp;L / Project Costing

Generate Financial Reports Monthly

25 Ways to Save Money While Traveling

Plane ticket costs

Travel during the low season

Could You Own Less Than 100 Things?

P&L / Project Costing