The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Single Weekend Edition
A weird sequence of events has caused me to find myself all alone over the coming weekend. My wife is visiting her sister, while my two children are visiting their grandparents. This leaves me with two full days without any real responsibilities.
Of course, me being me, I already have a long list of stuff to do – things that simply require some focused hours and are difficult to do when the family is around. Five years ago, I would have been headed to the golf course or to Prairie Meadows. Times change, I guess.
Lessons for you and me from Warren Buffett’s annual letter Warren Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders often has a lot of interesting personal finance thoughts in it that go far beyond mere investing. (@ pop economics)
The High Cost of Clutter Every time you buy something new and bring it home, you’re adding to the clutter of your home. It’s one more thing to stuff on a shelf. It’s one more thing to dust. It’s one more thing to maintain. It’s one more thing to take up space. Those are costs, both in terms of money and time. (@ get rich slowly)
6 Ways To Keep The Fire In You Burning This can be a challenge for anyone at times, no matter how much they love what they’re doing. (@ pick the brain)
My Valuable Downgrade “Upon completion of the final draft of my latest novel three years ago, I sent out an e-mail to my family and closest friends. Subject heading: “What Has Mark Been Doing for the Last Six Years?” The message field was empty.” Something about that opening really struck me. (@ soul shelter)
Save Money! Get a College Degree In Three Years If I had not been blessed enough to get scholarships to cover my tuition, room, and board, this is likely the college path I would have chosen. Whether I would have been successful at it is another story. (@ free money finance)
When Your Friends Become Social Sellers and Multi-Level Marketers Quite honestly, I view such a thing as directly cashing in on a friendship, far worse than asking me for a favor. I’d far rather spend an afternoon helping a friend patch up his roof than spend two hours at a Lia Sophia party. (@ consumerism commentary)
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Single Weekend Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.
The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Free Teleclass Edition
I’m hosting a free teleclass with Vicki Robin (author of Your Money or Your Life) this evening starting at 5 PM Pacific / 6 PM Mountain / 7 PM Central / 8 PM Pacific and running for roughly 90 minutes.. During it, I’m going to give a short presentation (mostly geared toward people who have never read The Simple Dollar), followed by a long question and answer session.
If you’d like to participate, here’s the URL for signing up. You’ll be able to dial in with any phone when it begins.
Keeping Yourself Motivated Motivation can often be a key challenge for success in anything you want to try in life. For me, I find that lots of small victories and successes as I move forward help a lot. And I do mean small – I felt a huge success recently with my piano practice when I was able to play “The First Noel” three times in a row and do a right hand thumb tuck correctly. (@ freelance switch)
How Much Stuff Does One Man Need? Our problem isn’t my stuff, it’s the kids’ stuff. Thanks to the fact that they’re the first grandchild/niece/nephew for a lot of their relatives, they’ve got a small mountain of things. We slowly make stuff “disappear” from this mountain (the things they don’t play with) and take it to Goodwill, but it’s still too much. (@ get rich slowly)
The Eight Year Escape Plan This is an interesting interview with a person who worked at a full-time job for eight years, but spent her spare time building a side business that eventually became her full time work. (@ the art of nonconformity)
Do You Track Your Achievements? Over the past few years, I’ve basically stumbled onto this exact routine. It’s really a great way to keep track of all of the stuff you’ve accomplished, and looking back on it really helps you to feel like you’re a very productive person, particularly at the times when you’re not so productive. (@ dumb little man)
The New ABCs of Success: Always Be Creating Creating new things is really the foundation of modern success. More and more, creative thought is an essential piece of successful work. (@ pick the brain)
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Free Teleclass Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.
The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Hierarchy of Pants Edition
My four year old son has a giant aversion to denim, for some reason that we can’t determine. In fact, he has a very strict hierarchy of desires when it comes to picking out his pants in the morning.
Sweatpants are at the top of the hierarchy – they’re the most desired item – followed by dress pants/khakis, then corduroy, then denim brings up the rear, far back.
Since he’s four, we often indulge his sweatpants preference. Unless there’s some sort of special event, he’s often dressed in them. Of course, that makes things easy for us – you can practically buy kids’ sweatpants in bulk for a pittance.
Children are so quirky. That’s why I love them.
What Marriage Has Taught Me About Money I like the inherent disagreement about what marriage is in this post. I look at marriage as kind of like a sports team for life. You’re both striving to win and that requires cooperation, but success also relies on individual play as well. (@ get rich slowly)
Writing Another Long Email? Read This. Turning your long, informative emails into a blog is a really, really good idea. In fact, it’s why I started doing the Reader Mailbags and I’ve started doing it with some of my own personal emails on other topics. (@ brett kelly)
Life After Bankruptcy: What’s Next? This paints a pretty rosy picture of post-bankruptcy life, which is a contradiction to many of the things I’ve heard from readers about it. Even this rosy picture, though, sounds fairly difficult. (@ wise bread)
Are Your Working Hours Jeopardizing Your Productivity? I work when I’m most alert – and I can usually crank out a lot in that timeframe. When I’m not feeling it, I do something else entirely, because that’s more likely to make me productive during my next peak time. (@ freelance switch)
the perils of justifying yourself Justifying poor behavior usually leads to a situation that isn’t as good as you might otherwise have. Take poor spending decisions, for example. (@ white hot truth)
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Hierarchy of Pants Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.
Headline roundup on credit card changes
Here’s a few more weekend headlines on the credit card law changes that take effect Monday:
- MonroeNews – Credit card confusion and Key terms of new card law
- CNN – Banks nervously await new credit card law
- Michelle Singletary / The Color of Money – Beware of loopholes in new credit card law
Continue reading Headline roundup on credit card changes …
From Monroe on a Budget.
The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Headset Edition
For the last year and a half, I’ve used Skype for my business phone – through book edits and interviews and so on, it was used daily (if not more often). During that time, I’d been making calls using my computer’s speakers (for the audio) and my webcam (for the microphone).
Of course, this has a big drawback – namely, echo. It’s usually not bad at all provided that I sit in one particular spot and don’t move from that spot. However, if I move to even scratch my elbow or something like that, the echo can become overwhelming on the call.
After trying several different mic and speaker positions, I finally spent the money to buy a USB headset to handle the calls – and it’s made an enormous difference. Echo-free calling is much, much better.
Sometimes it’s worth it to spend $30 to fix a problem like that.
The Anatomy of a Sucker Some excellent musings on why people fall for scams. At the end, though, I disagree – he says “not all cons are illegal,” while I’d say “most cons are legal.” (@ pop economics)
Personal Branding: For Moguls, Morons or Megalomaniacs? Personal branding means that when people see your name, they think of something – preferably something that’s positive. What do people think of when they think of your name? (@ awake @ the wheel)
7 Financial Moves to Make in Your 20s I’m glad to see that there are a lot of things called “financial moves” that involve building interpersonal relationships on this list. (@ money ning)
Four Small Things You Can Do To Be An Exceptional Communicator More and more, I believe communication skills are the key to success in whatever you want to do in life. (@ dumb little man)
Keeping children’s toys from overwhelming a room This is a familiar problem at our house. Our key is toy rotation – limit the toys in the room, but keep some more of them in a tub elsewhere. Then, once in a while, rotate the toys, bringing some out of storage and putting most of the ones already out away. This keeps the toys fresh for the kids – meaning less need for new ones – plus it reduces the clutter in the room. (@ unclutterer)
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Headset Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.
The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Resolution Updates Edition
I thought I’d update you on my progress with my 2010 resolutions.
Resolution #1: Lose 40 pounds I lost three pounds in January, so I’m more or less on pace with this one. My biggest challenge here is the weather, which makes it very difficult to just get outside and take a long walk, something I love to do every day when the weather is nice.
Resolution #2: Pay cash for a replacement for my truck I have an adequate amount of cash ready to go. I’m just merely waiting for the right replacement vehicle to come along. Oh, and I’ve had additional truck troubles in the last month, so I have even more incentive to switch.
Resolution #3: Learn to play the piano After testing out two piano teachers, I’ve been taking weekly hour-long lessons from a teacher for the past three weeks. I’ve also been practicing a lot at home. So far, I can read most simple sheet music if I go slowly and I can play a few simple songs at a reasonable tempo.
Resolution #4: Reduce my entertainment and hobby spending by 50% This is going really well so far, as I spent just a few dollars on entertainment in January. If the rest of the year goes anywhere near this well, this one will be easy to do.
So, to put it simply, #2, #3, and #4 are very much on pace, and #1 arguably is. I’m pretty happy with that.
Here are some personal finance posts to enjoy.
Star Trek and The Time Well Spent Continuum In the last Reader Mailbag, I argued that MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Star Trek Online could be potentially good ways to reduce your entertainment spending. This article actually makes the opposite argument. (@ debt free adventure)
The Hypocrite Test: Should Rich People Pay More? As with many such fundamental political issues, I think there are valid arguments on both sides of the coin and that some reasonable compromises can be reached. The only problem is that people don’t sit down at the table and rationally discuss such issues today – instead, they resort to arguing, insulting, and “straw man” representations of the opposition. I have little interest in that, whether it’s Keith Olbermann or Glenn Beck – I wish they’d both shut up. Whatever happened to the Lincoln-Douglas debates? Such thoughtful coverage of the issues of the day went away with the advent of fifteen second news blips. (@ awake @ the wheel)
Does Renting Make Sense? J.D. pulls out the P/R ratio to take a look at whether renting is more worthwhile financially than buying. The problem, though, is that it doesn’t really take into account individual financial situations. (@ get rich slowly)
How is disorganization and clutter affecting your job performance? In my own case, I notice a serious downturn in productivity when my office gets disorganized and messy. I’m far better off just stopping for a bit to get things in better order than I am just charging ahead. (@ unclutterer)
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Resolution Updates Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.
The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Comment Bug Edition
Earlier this week, I found an issue with the software I was using to manage comments for The Simple Dollar. I deleted a single character in a single line of code, breathed in deep, refreshed the page…
… and 7,000 (!) comments appeared in the moderation queue.
The bug was a simple one. Ordinarily, comments that need to be moderated are assigned a particular number in the database – let’s say it’s a 1. If I approve the comment, the number becomes 0. If I don’t approve it, the comment gets the number 99 and effectively vanishes.
The bug essentially revolved around the fact that some comments for moderation were being assigned the number -1 instead of the number 1. In a code edit, a – sign had been stuck into the code in front of a 1, effectively turning it into a -1. Thus, when I would view the comments that need moderated, I would only see the ones with a 1 and not see the ones with a -1. I’m not sure what percentage of comments this was affecting, but I’d estimate around 25% of them.
Anyway, I’ve got a lot of comments to deal with. I’m going to go through these in batches because it would take several days of nothing but comment moderation to deal with that many comments.
Here are some personal finance articles of interest. This past week, I spent a lot of time reading some lesser-known personal finance blogs and I’ve chose to highlight some of them this week.
Recipe for Survival: 23 Ways Restaurants Save Money This article summarizes very clearly why I don’t like eating out unless we’re eating out someplace quite nice. I simply have much more confidence in the food I cook at home. (@ coupon sherpa)
I don’t want to retire I think the biggest problem for many of us when it comes to talking about retirement savings is that we simply don’t want to “retire,” because often the word “retire” comes with a sense of being old and idle and incapable, whether that’s actually true or not. We don’t want to think about being the generic definition of a retiree. (@ a gai shan life)
When Pigs Fly: How I Fought My Parking Ticket and Beat City Hall A very humorous story about fighting a parking ticket with some good advice to boot, this article mostly made me wonder whether or not it was really worth the time. I think it’s more about the principle of the thing. (@ len penzo)
10 Frugal Ways to get Fit this Winter My frugal way of staying fit during the winter has been EA Active. (@ squawk fox)
Also, I’ve had several articles of mine appear on OPEN Forum, and I’ll be linking to them over the next few weeks. These articles usually focus on small business issues. Here are three recent ones.
Efficient Billing: A Big Key to Solving Cash Flow Problems Being organized when you’re running a small business is key, particularly when it comes to efficiently billing your customers. Here’s some advice on how to do that.
Six Steps to Audit-Proofing Your Small Business The most effective way to audit-proof yourself? Keep a paper trail of every dime going in and out of your business. Here are some effective ways to do just that.
Two Key Numbers You Need to Know to Manage Your Small Business These two key numbers come back to two key elements of a successful small business: cash in hand and effective billing. It’s all about the cash flow, after all.
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Comment Bug Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.
The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Bugs Edition
Lately, I’ve been working with a coder to help me with some back-end issues with The Simple Dollar, as there have been a few bugs floating around in the software I use to update the site, the most onerous of which is that some small fraction of comments seem to disappear before I ever get to see them in the moderation queue. He’s also implementing a few features, such as automated text elements in posts (like the “shelter” bit in the Trimming the Average Budget series, which I couldn’t figure out how to change for about a week).
Anyway, over the next month, you might occasionally see some minor bugs pop up here and there on the site. Don’t sweat it – I’m almost always aware of the bug and it’s usually there in an attempt to make something work better or faster or more conveniently (for me and for you). If you do see something that’s really interfering with reading the site, please email me directly about it.
In the Absence of “Yes” How can we handle situations where the key decision that makes up success or failure is completely outside our control? We all face these situations – in essence, a job application is that very thing. I really like the advice here, and it’s left me thinking for days (I also left a long comment there). (@ soul shelter)
Five Ways to Get Started Making Money Online This basically outlines the five ways to make long term, sustainable money online. However, these methods are a time sink up front if you want to really build any degree of lasting success with them. (@ dumb little man)
Help a Reader: How to Stay Motivated For me, using the numbers alone is a poor way to stay motivated. If I had just looked at the balance of our credit card bills and tried to use them as a motivator, I would have failed. Instead, look for personal, tangible goals – things you really want, not a bank account balance – and specify them as clearly as possible. (@ free money finance)
Saving With Purpose: Short Term Goals Whenever people plan for the future, short term goals are often completely overlooked – and they often result in debt. (@ frugal dad)
Career Fairs … are neither. I agree completely with this take on career fairs. They’re usually an extremely poor way for people to find out what they want to do with their life or to get their foot in the door with anything. (@ seth godin)
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Bugs Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.
Christian PF’s Ways to cut your debt
Bob at Christian PF has put together a very good roundup of tips and links on ways to cut your debt.
Now here is a very important point: If you are dealing with a downsized budget, as many Michigan families have been doing, it will be difficult to work on debt repayment plan while keeping your standard of living the same. The available money only goes so far.
In order to free up cash to pay off debt — or at least not pile on more debt during an unemployment / furlough / pay cut situation — you can expect to add money-saving and frugal living tactics into the mix.
You will find it a lot easier to get through economically lean times when you don’t have debt payments eating up the cash flow every month.
So if you are in that situation, you will want to read up on what the debt payment bloggers and experts have to say about the math and logistics, and also read up on what the frugal living bloggers and experts have to say about cutting household expenses.
Continue reading Christian PF’s Ways to cut your debt …
From Monroe on a Budget.
The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Stomach Bug Edition
For the last few days, my entire family has been suffering from a vicious stomach bug. I was the first to get it – and the first to seemingly recover from it. After that, my daughter got it, then my wife got it, then my son got it, almost in domino-like order. It’s been several days of misery around here as everyone recovers from it (and helps others to get through it).
So, if I’m slow to answer emails or anything just now, that’s why.
On with some interesting articles I read during the past week.
When It’s Time to Destroy Debt, Start With a Goal Specifying a goal is the core of virtually anything you want to achieve with your money, your career, or your life. It all starts with a goal, and then a plan assembled on top of that goal. (@ wise bread)
What is your free time worth to you? I think the wisest statement here is this: “Focus on defining the experiences you value most, and how to get more of those experiences, and wise money/time choices will flow from that approach.” What really matters the most to you? Put that on top of everything else. Go from there. (@ unclutterer)
The Value of an Elite College Guess who had more career success on average: people who got into Harvard, or people who applied to Harvard but didn’t get accepted? It’s all about ambition. (@ free money finance)
How to Optimize Your Computer If you have a Windows-based computer, here’s how to replicate Best Buy’s “optimization” services for free. (@ bargaineering)
How YouTube Can Boost Your Grades I use YouTube as my first stop whenever I’m learning something new of any kind. There’s a nearly infinite abundance of useful information on there that’s easy to just watch, absorb, follow, and execute. (@ hack college)
Continue reading The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Stomach Bug Edition …
From The Simple Dollar.