The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Link Choice Edition
A fellow blogger wrote to me asking me how I go about choosing the articles I include in my weekly roundup each week.
What I basically do is read a lot of blogs and news sites throughout the week (including ones that bloggers send to me) and bookmark articles that made me think. I save these in a folder marked “next week’s roundup.”
Then, when I go to assemble the roundup, I dig through that folder. There are usually 30 to 40 articles in there. What I usually do is read through that list and look for the ones that still make me react to them. If I don’t remember what the article was about by glancing at the headline, it’s not going to make it. If I remember the article but just shrug my shoulders, it’s not going to make it.
This usually trims it to ten or so. I then eliminate site duplicates – so I’m not linking to the same site twice in the same week, even if there are two great articles there – and just put up the rest, which usually ends up numbering between about five and about eight articles.
I usually save one or two articles a week for future roundups so that I can put together a set of interesting links for any weeks when I’m traveling or up to something else.
And now, here are the articles that made the cut over the past week.
How to Handle a Telephone Interview I don’t like telephone communication because I can’t see the face of the person I’m talking to, which gives a lot of cues as to what that person is thinking. Thus, these are pretty good tips (from my eyes). (@ freelance switch)
How to Simplify When You Love Your Stuff The key really is to make sure your stuff is in line with one of your core values in life and to make sure you have time to actually use or value that stuff. (@ zen habits)
Do You Know Your Daily Salary? Use it to Better Understand Your Money This is very similar in concept to a true hourly wage (your income per hour after you take out all of the expenses required to work there and receive that income, like taxes and clothing and travel and meals eaten out). For me, the true hourly wage was a real shocker and a great way to put my spending in a real context. (@ pt money)
Are CDs Obsolete? CDs should be evaluated as being roughly equal to savings bonds and savings accounts. If you can get a better interest rate elsewhere, don’t buy a CD. (@ my dollar plan)
What Should You Buy Used? What Should You Buy New? I agree more or less with this list, but I think each person should think seriously about whether or not an item they use could be purchased used at a much lower price. (@ get rich slowly)
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Link Choice Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.
Guest post: SPRING into couponing!
Yes, I liked this post when I saw it on Savvy Spending, which is one of several coupon and savings blogs in southeast Michigan. So I’m glad Meghan offered it to me as a guest article. It was originally posted on her blog May 12. I was in my local Meijer the other day, and [...]
Continue reading Guest post: SPRING into couponing! …
From Monroe on a Budget.
Modern Gal’s explanation of an emergency fund
Most people who follow personal finance blogs and writers know about the concept of an emergency fund. Whether you have put aside one week, three months or nine months of paychecks or household expenses, that’s the money your family has set aside to take care of emergency situations.
Modern Gal has a very good explanation of [...]
Continue reading Modern Gal’s explanation of an emergency fund …
From Monroe on a Budget.
Menus for food stamp budgets
I’ve linked to several blogs and recipe sites for really low-budget menus – check out the Grocery Shopping on a Budget sidebar for some of those links.
The Frugal Village forum members also have started a thread called Menus on food stamp budgets. The links include cookbooks designed around ingredients that are commonly part of the [...]
Continue reading Menus for food stamp budgets …
From Monroe on a Budget.
The Cutest Shower Gift Ever!
I have no clue what it is with me and baby stuff this week. Maybe it’s because my neighbor just had a baby and I am in total baby love right now!
Anyway, I was reading a few of my favorite blogs and came across this!
(Photo courtesy of Household 6 Diva)
This diaper cake is adorable! Not only would it make a wonderful centerpiece for a baby shower, but it is simple and easy to put together. I am thinking of making one myself for the next baby shower I attend.
You can find complete tutorial instructions over at Household 6 Diva by clicking HERE.
What are some of your favorite baby shower gifts?
Continue reading The Cutest Shower Gift Ever! …
From Econobusters.
Can You Actually Make Money Chasing Rates?
One common tactic I see on personal finance blogs is what I like to call “rate chasing.”
This tactic usually involves carefully watching the yield rates on savings accounts over at Bankrate.com (or a similar service), always signing up for one of the top accounts, and transferring their savings to that highest-yield bank.
For me, at least, I don’t find this tactic of much use at all. Here’s why.
The interest difference between a good bank’s interest rate and the top interest rate is pretty small. I took a look at Bankrate’s 50 newest additions to their database and sorted them by APY. The best rate found on that list was 1.40%; the median one (the one in the middle) was 0.95%. In other words, you’re gaining just 0.45% by choosing the top bank over a random bank.
That’s not much money. Let’s say you have $5,000 sitting around to play with in this fashion. The amount you’ll gain over the course of a year is $22.50 by rate hopping from the median bank above to the top bank above. And, in truth, it’s usually worse than that.
It takes time to locate the right offers. In order to keep up with these offers, you have to visit sites like Bankrate very regularly to find out what’s on top today. This is a small, continual drag on your time as you have to actually evaluate the top offers to make sure there’s not some sort of catch and to make sure that the rate was actually reported correctly to Bankrate.
It takes time to sign up for new accounts. If you do find a new offer, you have to sign up for that account. This can be an arduous process depending on their sign-up procedures, sometimes requiring mailing documents back and forth and waiting quite a while – another source of eating away at your valuable time.
The more accounts you have, the more identity risk concerns you have. While banks have amazingly strong security procedures, no security system is perfect. Each individual bank might have a 99.9% chance of keeping your personal data safe this year, but if you have fifty accounts out there, the chance of all of your accounts being safe this year drops to 95%. Identity theft is a real mess to clean up, so it’s worth your while to minimize the number of access points to your personal data.
Diminishing returns are in effect. Let’s say you’re at a bank offering 0.5% on your savings account. You can earn at least a little by hopping to an account earning 1.3%, right? That’s $80 extra per year on $10,000.
But once you’re in that 1.3% account, the benefit of the next leap is much smaller. You might dig for a while and find a 1.5% account, earning you $20 for the jump per year. The next time, you have to search a long while to get 1.6%, earning you $10 more.
My approach is simple. I usually encourage people to simply get an online savings account with a great customer service reputation and a reasonably competitive rate and just stick there without worrying about what other banks are doing with their rates.
Would I ever rate hop? Yes, in certain situations, I would rate hop. First, the interest rate competition in online banks would have to heat up. If you were seeing a top rate of 6% APY versus a median of 3%, then you’re talking about some significant interest. This is particularly true if you’re dealing with a large balance – say, $50,000 or more. 3% of $50,000 is $1,500 – that’s definitely worth your time.
But that doesn’t reflect the reality of the banking market and it also doesn’t reflect the day-to-day reality of most people. So, for now, I have to say that rate chasing is a pretty ineffective tactic for spinning more money out of your savings.
Continue reading Can You Actually Make Money Chasing Rates? …
From The Simple Dollar.
Free E-Book: Learn the States and Their Abbreviations
One of my new favorite blogs to read is Five J’s. She has put together an E-Book on learning the states and their postal abbreviations.
She is giving it away for free to everyone! Simply CLICK HERE to get yours!
Continue reading Free E-Book: Learn the States and Their Abbreviations …
From Econobusters.
Which Sunday paper do you get when there is more than one?
What Sunday paper should you get when there is more than one available in your neighborhood?
The most common advice given on national coupon and bargain blogs and sites is to buy the nearest major metro newspaper, as compared to the local / hometown newspaper.
Reason given: supposedly better coupons.
My advice is: you need to do that [...]
Continue reading Which Sunday paper do you get when there is more than one? …
From Monroe on a Budget.
Tax refund? Do one thing that will save you money
This was included in a post I made a few weeks ago, but it looks like the second wave of tax filing is starting up. Several financial journalists and bloggers got on the income tax beat this week with articles, columns and blogs.
If you expecting a tax refund, you will hear and read lots of [...]
Continue reading Tax refund? Do one thing that will save you money …
From Monroe on a Budget.
Tax refund? Do one thing that will save you money
This was included in a post I made a few weeks ago, but it looks like the second wave of tax filing is starting up. Several financial journalists and bloggers got on the income tax beat this week with articles, columns and blogs.
If you expecting a tax refund, you will hear and read lots of [...]
Continue reading Tax refund? Do one thing that will save you money …
From Monroe on a Budget.