Because of some lifestyle changes, we have been forced to rethink the way we spend money. Here are some things that we have done that have paid off. We've become pretty fanatical about saving money.
1. We changed out all of our incandescent light bulbs in the house to florescent bulbs. Apparently, the savings is supposed to be dramatic. The main reason I wanted to make the change is because they say you'll be able to rely on the bulb for about 8-10 years before you have to change them out. That alone is great!
2. We recently read a book by "America's Cheapest Family", in which they suggested that you set a montly grocery budget and go shopping once a month. This has saved us so much money. We start off by planning our meals for the month, and then we buy everything in one trip. If we find something that is a terrific deal, then we try to load up on it so that we're not forced to buy something at regular price because we're out. This requires a lot of planning, but it saves us so much money in the long run!
3. Patience! Over the past year, we've gotten so many things for free, or deeply discounted, simply because we don't buy at the first impulse. Earlier in life, that was the thing that got us into trouble. Over the past year, we had earmarked several things that we wanted and by being patient, we got them for free. For example, we wanted to get lounge chairs for our new patio in the backyard. In looking for these, we noticed that even the cheapest ones were about $40-50 per chair. Well, we were not about to spend $80-100 on a set of chairs, so we waited to see how much they would go on sale at the end of the season. The answer was that they didn't go on sale very much. I believe the discount was about 10-25%, which was not significant enough for us to make the purchase. So we didn't buy them. A few months later, my parents, who knew that we were looking told me that they had gone to a garage sale across the street and in searching for various items, were told that they could have 2 lounge chairs and an umbrella as a throw in. My dad asked if I wanted the chairs, which were brand new, with the tags still on them, and I accepted.
Using this philosophy, we each got Blackberry phones for free, a grill for $200 less than normal sale retail, an office chair for free, a comforter set for $35 - This one I'm especially proud of, because when we were looking, everyone was saying that you couldn't find a good set for less than $80. I actually found a nice one that I was interested in for $49 and was about to make the purchase but they were out of stock. In looking for some other items, I found a similar one for $35. I could have bought 2 of them for the price that I was told was the drop dead bottom price. My advice here would be to make a list of things you'd like and then hold out until you can get them for bargin basement prices or even better, for free!
4. I learned this one from reading one of Donald Trump's books. Buy store brands of products instead of name brand products. In most cases, they are exactly the same. The difference is that the store is able to buy their own products at a much lower cost than the store brands, so they can achieve the same markup by retailing the store brand at a much lower price. Some things you don't want to cut corners on, but no matter the brand, asprin is asprin, regardless of who's name is on the bottle.
5. Lastly, you have to pay yourself first. If all you're ever doing is paying down debt, then you will lose your resolve and fall deeper into debt. If you take your pay and allocate a certain amount to yourself everyday, ideally to establish a savings build, then you will be more motivated to get out of debt. I believe that the recommended starting point is to try to pay yourself $10 a day. That turns into $300 a month on average. If you can't do $10, then start with a more modest amount, but whatever you start with, stick to it. You'll be surprised how quickly it can add up. Plus, should you run into an emergency, this money will help you avoid running yourself deeper into debt.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Pizza Pizza
Everyone has a favorite pizza place. Pretty much, if you decide that your favorite is Domino's, Papa Johns, or Pizza Hut, then you haven't tried real pizza.
The best that I ever had was the Jason Ward special at Jaco's. When I was little, we always ordered the party tray, which was kind of odd, because we never had parties. It was so good though! We would eat it for days. The pizza had the best cheese and spices. I miss that ever since I moved, because there are barely any places here that have good pizza. I remember that my sister loved Buzzy's. I never tried that, but heard that it was really good. When I went to Bona's, there was S&G pizza, near campus. We nicknamed them Sloppy and Greasy pizza because their food was probably the most unhealthy you could consume, but who cares when you're in college, right?
The funniest thing from my years in college is my obsession with animal crackers. I used to buy those big bags from Walmart. They were ridiculously inexpensive. Full disclosure, I am one of the biggest germ-a-phobes that I know. When I was in college, for some reason, I was obsessed with the ratio of elephants to cats. The elephants are, by far, the best animal cracker because they are much bigger than any other. The cat by comparison is like half the size. If you look at the cat, you'll notice how obnoxious it is with that stupid curled tail. So I decided that one day I was going to open up a bag and count the disparity between L.E.Phants and Fat Cats. To do this, I opened the bag and dumped them all over the floor and sorted them into carefully separated piles. Once finished, I would eat as many as I could fit into my mouth. The mere thought of this digusts me. In my own home, I would not eat anything off the floor. But off the decades old rug in my dorm room, it was perfectly fine. Ugh! What was I thinking? I suppose what you don't know doesn't hurt you.
The best that I ever had was the Jason Ward special at Jaco's. When I was little, we always ordered the party tray, which was kind of odd, because we never had parties. It was so good though! We would eat it for days. The pizza had the best cheese and spices. I miss that ever since I moved, because there are barely any places here that have good pizza. I remember that my sister loved Buzzy's. I never tried that, but heard that it was really good. When I went to Bona's, there was S&G pizza, near campus. We nicknamed them Sloppy and Greasy pizza because their food was probably the most unhealthy you could consume, but who cares when you're in college, right?
The funniest thing from my years in college is my obsession with animal crackers. I used to buy those big bags from Walmart. They were ridiculously inexpensive. Full disclosure, I am one of the biggest germ-a-phobes that I know. When I was in college, for some reason, I was obsessed with the ratio of elephants to cats. The elephants are, by far, the best animal cracker because they are much bigger than any other. The cat by comparison is like half the size. If you look at the cat, you'll notice how obnoxious it is with that stupid curled tail. So I decided that one day I was going to open up a bag and count the disparity between L.E.Phants and Fat Cats. To do this, I opened the bag and dumped them all over the floor and sorted them into carefully separated piles. Once finished, I would eat as many as I could fit into my mouth. The mere thought of this digusts me. In my own home, I would not eat anything off the floor. But off the decades old rug in my dorm room, it was perfectly fine. Ugh! What was I thinking? I suppose what you don't know doesn't hurt you.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Car Accident
Today, I was driving home and I saw a teenager, probably 16 or 17 run into the back of a middle aged guy's SUV. The teen's hood looked like an accordian and the Guy was letting the Explitives fly! It didn't look like there was too much damage to the Guy's car. To make matter's worse, as the guy was screaming for the kid's insurance information, I heard a meek voice say that it was his dad's car. Uh boy!
Well, the insurance companies will sort all of this out and then they'll be good to go.
Several years ago, I was driving to St. Bonaventure and got into a car accident and I wasn't as fortunate. I was dating a girl who was pretty needy and I decided to drive down after work one night to go see her. The drive was about 2 hours. I left work at about 10:30. I was about 30 minutes outside of campus, when the snow started to pick up. I came around a bend in the road and my car fishtailed and then rolled backward into a ditch. I was wedged in and could not get out. The worst part about the accident was that the snow was picking up and there weren't any houses or cars for as far as the eye could see. I was in the middle of nowhere. Blair Witch looked populated compared to where I crashed.
After knocking on a farm house door with no answer, a car happened down the road. In retrospect, it probably was a good thing that no one answered the door at the farm house, because I'm pretty sure they were backwoods kind of people and were not going to take kindly to someone knocking on their door after midnight.
The car drove past me. At this point, I'm thinking that I could be on this road for a long time. It's important to note that this was before the time of cell phones. Suddenly, another car was coming towards me, slowly. This car stopped and offerred me a ride. Funny thing was that it was the same car that passed me earlier, but they saw my car in the ditch and realized that I wasn't a weirdo. They gave me a ride to campus, but as we pulled in to the parking lot, they revealed that they were both drunk. Which is worse? On one hand, I could be stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no help apparent, or I could be in a car, on snowy roads, with 2 drunks. Thankfully, I made it to campus safe and sound. I ended up living in my girl friend's dorm room for the next week while my car was being worked on. I basically had no money at this point, so it was basically a patch job. My radiator was cracked and the car was completely undrivable. Eventually, the car was fixed and I was able to drive back home, but it was a harrowing experience.
As a funny epilogue, I lost my front license plate in the shuffle and couldn't find it. Months later, after the snow had melted, I was driving down the same road and saw my license plate sitting on top of the ditch on the side of the road.
Well, the insurance companies will sort all of this out and then they'll be good to go.
Several years ago, I was driving to St. Bonaventure and got into a car accident and I wasn't as fortunate. I was dating a girl who was pretty needy and I decided to drive down after work one night to go see her. The drive was about 2 hours. I left work at about 10:30. I was about 30 minutes outside of campus, when the snow started to pick up. I came around a bend in the road and my car fishtailed and then rolled backward into a ditch. I was wedged in and could not get out. The worst part about the accident was that the snow was picking up and there weren't any houses or cars for as far as the eye could see. I was in the middle of nowhere. Blair Witch looked populated compared to where I crashed.
After knocking on a farm house door with no answer, a car happened down the road. In retrospect, it probably was a good thing that no one answered the door at the farm house, because I'm pretty sure they were backwoods kind of people and were not going to take kindly to someone knocking on their door after midnight.
The car drove past me. At this point, I'm thinking that I could be on this road for a long time. It's important to note that this was before the time of cell phones. Suddenly, another car was coming towards me, slowly. This car stopped and offerred me a ride. Funny thing was that it was the same car that passed me earlier, but they saw my car in the ditch and realized that I wasn't a weirdo. They gave me a ride to campus, but as we pulled in to the parking lot, they revealed that they were both drunk. Which is worse? On one hand, I could be stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no help apparent, or I could be in a car, on snowy roads, with 2 drunks. Thankfully, I made it to campus safe and sound. I ended up living in my girl friend's dorm room for the next week while my car was being worked on. I basically had no money at this point, so it was basically a patch job. My radiator was cracked and the car was completely undrivable. Eventually, the car was fixed and I was able to drive back home, but it was a harrowing experience.
As a funny epilogue, I lost my front license plate in the shuffle and couldn't find it. Months later, after the snow had melted, I was driving down the same road and saw my license plate sitting on top of the ditch on the side of the road.
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