No Spend Week--Day 4 Update

Another LONG day of meetings. Unfortunately, no breakfast/snack items were provided and during the break while everyone ran to the local deli to grab a snack, I stayed in the meeting room and drank (free) water. Lunch was paid for by the client, and I had a late dinner at home. I thought today would be the end of the challenge because my friend called to tell me her mom was having surgery at the university hospital so I hopped on a bus after the meeting and rode from Kent to the University of Washington. Fortunately, my prepaid transit card had just enough to get me from my meeting (which I carpooled to) to the University hospital to the ferry and back home. Now I have about $1 left on my transit card until I can spend money and recharge it.
What I wanted to buy: a mid morning snack/breakfast since I forgot to bring something with me, something from the University Bookstore (they have such cool office supplies there and I love office supplies) and some Indian food on the way home. But I held onto my money and didn't buy anything...wow four days and I haven't spent ANY money :)

No Spend Week--Day 3 Update

Today (yesterday if you are looking at the date) I spent $0.
I had a morning breakfast meeting with a client who (yeah) bought me breakfast. I was then able to be home for lunch, went to another meeting, and got back in time to eat dinner at home.
What I wanted to buy: a haircut (I usually get my hair cut at the end of each month but since this is a no spend week, I will have to put this off until next week), a watermelon (the first of the season...it was only 39 cents a pound but I can't spend so no watermelon this week :( ), and makeup (I am scraping the bottom of my powder and eyeliner but these items too will need to wait). Eating at home is definitely cheaper than eating out and, since this is a no spend week, I need to plan for each day. If I won't be home, I need to bring food and/or a beverage with me or else I will be out of luck (and hungry)...fortunately, food has been included in nearly every meeting I have had this week.

No Spend Week--Day 2 Update

Money spent today: $0.
Today I had another full day of conference classes. A friend bought me my morning hot chocolate on the way to class and again, there was plenty of food all day at the conference. A late evening meeting right after the conference left me with no time to go anywhere or do anything that would require money.
What I wanted to spend: actually nothing today because I didn't have time to do anything but work although my friends at the conference all went to the student store (the conference was at a university) and bought cute pens. I didn't because #1 I didn't bring any money with me which kept me from buying, #2 I seriously didn't need to buy a pen (they were giving them away--not as cute mind you--by the handfuls at the conference), and #3 this is a no spend week and I didn't want to mess that up.
On a down note, a month or so ago we paid around $1000 to fix something important in hubby's car (like the engine) and today hubby took the car to the shop because it was making a weird noise when you turn the wheel and he got an estimate to fix the problem--for about $1400 :(

No Spend Week--Day 1 Update

Money spent today: $0
For this entire week, I am going to attempt to spend no money at all. Today was the first of a two day training. Fortunately my ride to the class bought me a hot chocolate today which was really nice of her, then there were all kinds of snacks, beverages, lunch, dessert, and more snacks at the class so I ended up not needing to spend anything at all.
What I wanted to spend: $20 to register for college (will do this next week), $5 for a Baskin Robbins Blast (we like to stop by for a treat after meetings but I said it was getting late so we zipped right past the place--and saved us each $5), $10 for a battery for my cell phone which seems to be holding a charge for shorter and shorter periods of time (will buy this next week as well).
Seems odd to be out all day and not spend ANY money!

The Finances of Goal Achievement (And My Goal List)

Last week, when I turned 43, I made up a list of 43 goals I wanted to achieve during my 43rd year of life. Previously I had tried various lists of goals--100 goals in 1001 day (boring), 400 goals in 400 days (too many!)--so this year, I figured I would focus on 43 difficult yet achievable goals. Yesterday I achieved one of the goals on my list--to walk a marathon--and today...well, let's just say that my feet have never hurt this bad in my life. For one thing, I am not as young as I used to be, and for another, I probably should have practiced more before I attempted this goal (since previously the longest I had ever walked was 13 miles). Oh well, live and learn. I did, however, achieve my goal of walking 26 miles. And it only took me eight hours (I am not a fast walker). The financial part: With so many expenses this month--a very expensive car repair, getting the house ready to sell--I was nearly flat broke and actually had no idea how I was going to achieve this goal. Fortunately, as what usually happens when you focus on a goal and put it out to the universe, the money part of it just kind of fell into place. I had registered for the marathon on a whim nearly six months ago so the entry fee was already paid. Since it was my birthday last week, a friend had given me a $50 Visa gift card which we used for gas, I was able to find a really nice hotel on Hotwire for $60 (this was a $150/night hotel and I am really picky about my surroundings so I simply don't do crappy hotels), and, also for my birthday, I got a couple of Starbucks gift cards from other friends so all of our meals for the overnight trip and throughout the day while I was walking was provided for free via Starbucks. Plus another friend met us when we got into town and took us out to dinner so we had a great meal at no charge to us. Financially the trip cost me a total of $60 which was a lot less than I thought it would. For a look at my other upcoming goals, here's what I will achieve during the next year: Note: green=completed, blue=not completed, red=impossible to complete, purple=situation changed enough to make this mute

1. Walk a marathon just to see if I can do it (completed 4/24/2010)


2. Go to Tillicum Village since I have never been there before and it is so close to my home (completed 8/2/2010)


3. Visit my sister in law in Atlanta since we haven't been there in years (completed 10/1/2010)


4. Go to Connecticut where hubby will compete in the WPT Tournament, let's hope he makes it to the final table (completed 10/23/2010)


5. Go on a cruise since we haven't been on one in quite a while (completed 10/22/2010)


6. Go to Japan and visit a very old woman I have been corresponding with for over 20 years


7. Go to the Philippines for a month or two


8. Sing on Wowowee because this is my favorite Filipino TV show (not completed, the show was cancelled on 7/31/2010)


9. Dance with Ellen (yep, Ellen from the Ellen Show...I have no idea how to accomplish this one)


10. Go kayaking because while I have canoed often I have never tried kayaking (completed 7/7/2010)


11. Bike from Canada to Mexico because it would be a huge accomplishment


12. Go to Vancouver BC and Victoria BC because I haven't been to either of these places in years (Victoria BC completed 8/20/2010)


13. Renew my passport because it will expire at the end of the year (completed 8/6/2010)


14. Go to Las Vegas for a mini family reunion


15. Finish my college degree. I don't need one but have always wanted one


16. Get a scholarship for college because I don't have a lot of money to pay for goal #15


17. Go parasailing. We always watch people do this but never had the guts to try it ourselves


18. Go to Chicago and maybe be in the Oprah audience. I have to go to Chicago next month anyway and I love Oprah, plus this will be her final year on TV. (go to Chicago completed 5/28/2010)


19. Watch the Makah Tribal Journey and volunteer to help out (completed...kind of 7/16/2010)


20. Get a grant for my non profit because non profits can always use more money (completed 1/25/2011)


21. Go to an I Can Do It or Dave Ramsey event; I've always wanted to attend both of these inspirational events (completed 10/2/2010 in Atlanta Dave Ramsey show)


22. Go to the Fremont or Seattle Gay Pride Parade because both look like interesting events (completed 6/27/2010 Seattle Pride Parade)


23. Become a certified yoga instructor because it would be a useful skill


24. Go to a Bastyr event because I love everything about this university (completed 1/26/2011)


25. Be fluent in Japanese so I can communicate better with my friend in Japan


26. Be fluent in Spanish because my past and future tense verbs are practically non existent and I need to speak Spanish nearly every day


27. Visit Stehekin because it sounds like an interesting place to visit


28. Get a complete physical because I haven't been to the doctor in ages (completed 7/29/2010)


29. Get an iTouch because everyone raves about these (completed 6/2010)


30. Do a total health month--no junk food, no caffeine, exercise daily, etc. (completed 7/31/2010)


31. Be totally debt free (debt free at 43 is my mantra!) (completed 2/11/2011)


32. Write a book because I have always wanted to


33. Do dermabrasion because it is cheaper than a face lift


34. Do laser treatment (ditto)


35. Go to Europe because we always go to Asia but never to Europe


36. Go to New Orleans because I have never been there


37. Earn a Volksmarch Award (I love Volksmarching!) (received award pictured above 4/24/2010)


38. Be a size 6 (this blogger butt has to go!)


39. Have six month's worth of expenses in my emergency fund (if I am debt free this will be much easier to do) (completed 2/10/2011)


40. Develop a portable business so we can travel more (began traveling 2/11/2011; have some income from portable business but need to develop further)


41. Have 20k hits a day on one of my webs/blogs


42. Sell one of my businesses so I will have more time to travel (main business closed on 12/31/2010)


43. Have a beautiful home (either do some renovation work in our current house or renovate the new place) (sold home and began traveling 2/11/2011)

How Far Can You Get on $10?

This is how far... Today I took my $10 and headed out (on foot so there was no transportation expense) to see how much I could buy. Here's what I got:

• Birthday card for a friend in Japan $0.54
• Overseas stamp for said birthday card $0.98
• My favorite Trail mix $1
• One pound of pasta $1
• One can of pasta sauce $1
• Box of Special K Cereal $2
• One banana $0.26
• One candy bar $0.34
• Five hours of ice skating $2.50

For a grand total of $9.62. The remaining change will go into my change jar.

I needed to get the card because my friend's birthday is next week (so technically I am late doing this because it will take at least a week to get to her). And the stamp is important to actually get the card to Japan. While I was at the Dollar Store getting the card, I picked up the pasta and sauce so that I can make a pasta bake tonight for dinner. I also get my trail mix from the Dollar Store because it is both cheap and has all of the stuff I like in it (dates, soy nuts, etc) and since I will do the marathon this weekend, the trail mix is necessary as this is what I usually eat when I am walking. Hubby asked me to pick up dessert for him so he gets cereal, something he actually likes to have for dessert in the evenings. The cereal was on sale with an in-store coupon. The candy bar was also on sale with an in-store coupon and even though I rarely ever buy candy, it looked good (and like a cheap treat because at the time I was craving a Starbucks which would have taken nearly half of my $10). I was also hungry this morning and the banana looked good (and cheap as well; I looked at the strawberries but one pound was $2.50 so bananas were a better value). Finally, I was looking at our local newspaper online this morning to find out what was happening in the community and saw that every Wednesday at the local ice skating rink, you can pay for skate rental and skate for free. For FIVE hours from noon to 5pm. Wow. While I only skated for about 45 minutes--I didn't want to get blisters because of the marathon--I still think that is an exceptional value. The rink was full of parents of kids who got out of school early today and had the same idea.

So this challenge shows that you can actually get pretty far on $10 in an average American city. I would have liked to buy a pound of frozen vegetables to add to the pasta but I didn't have the extra dollar to do so. It made me think about people who really only have $10 to buy food for themselves and/or their family and how they would have to make choices between the kind of food they buy whereas many people just toss whatever they want in their cart without needing to make hard choices. I also thought about the lady over at Less Is Enough who did a $1 a day for food for a month challenge. When you are just starting off on a challenge you have to make choices but as she showed during her project, you can use your money to buy more than enough for one meal, thus having leftovers (which we will definitely have with the pasta) so some of this money from today's project will actually feed us lunch for the next couple of days.

Overall this was an excellent lesson in stretching my money AND in making choices that would give me the best bang for my buck.

Inspired for a Challenge (Or Two or Three)

I find inspiration in all kinds of things. The news, some blogs, and a comment are my sources of inspiration for some challenges I will hold myself to in the coming weeks.

• I was perusing CNN and came across this interesting challenge, How Far Can You Get on $10? Well I aim to find out. Tomorrow I don't have much work (only one short meeting), so I will take my $10 bill and see how far I can stretch it and how many interesting things I can do.
• A personal goal is to walk a marathon and it just so happens that a walking marathon is coming up this Saturday in Vancouver, WA. This should be quite the challenge and it is on my goal list (note the '400 Goals in 400 Days' that I posted about a while back has been downsized to 43 goals that I intend to achieve this year starting last Saturday which was my 43rd birthday..more on this in a later post) so I am hauling my carcass down to Vancouver and will hopefully complete an entire 26 mile walk in one day!
• I received a comment from Young Mogul who pointed out that my no spend week some months ago was really not much of a challenge because I stayed home most of the time and of course, unless you are a dedicated online shopper, you really can get by without spending money if you stay home because there is both no temptation and no place to spend your money. Of course she was right. So...my challenge for the last week of the month (April 25-May 1) is to do a no spend week. This should be a lot more challenging because I have out of town meetings/training sessions four out of seven days that week. And of course the very first place our car pool group stops on the way to these meetings is Starbucks, and of course I have a Starbucks addiction...and so you can imagine how challenging this may be.
• Then I came across some other interesting challenges: a $40 weekly spending/entertainment plan, a one week on $20 challenge, and a post by Betsy at Married With Luggage about a number of people who have challenged themselves to live with just 100 things. The month of May looks like it may encompass all of these things--we should have an offer on our house soon (so says our realtor) which would mean next month will pose a number of challenges: we need to downsize our stuff considerably to fit it into our new place (the 100 thing challenge or thereabouts), and I also intend to keep my spending to between the $20 and $40 per week because I told our lender we would have hubby's credit card paid off before the house closes which means every single penny I can round up will go to that debt.

So stay tuned...this should be an interesting month and a half...

10 Free Ways to Improve Your Health

Good health can be practically free if you take the time (and the self control) to do these simple, free things:

1. Drink only water. Water is one of the few free things you can get in a restaurant. You can carry a water bottle around with you and not look uncool. Generally anywhere you go you can ask for free water (or a free water bottle fill up).


2. Walk. People really don't walk much anymore even though it is a great (free!) way to exercise. Try walking to do your errands this week, even if it means driving downtown and parking in a central location then walking to the bank/post office/library/etc.


3. Go to the park. Parks (city parks anyway) are also still free. Go to the park, get some sunshine, breathe deeply, walk, watch the birds, and basically chill out from your stressful day.


4. Test your blood pressure. There are many places--malls, grocery stores, fire departments--where you can get your blood pressure checked for free. Most places have the little machine you stick your arm in, hit the button, and get a read out. At our local fire department, you can walk in and ask to have your blood pressure checked for free.


5. Meditate. People are generally stressed out these days. Find a quiet place (even if it is the broom closet at your office) to take ten minutes, close your eyes, breathe in and out, and clear your mind. It will put you in your happy place.


6. Check out some books on health, nutrition, and fitness from the library. Free education, especially when it is paired with a useful topic such as health, is a win-win proposition.


7. Hug someone, or better yet, trade massages. Human touch is good for your health.


8. Exercise with the (free) things in your environment. If you don't have hand weights, lift cans of soup. If you don't have a Stairmaster, go up and down the stairs in your area's tallest building. You can make a jump rope out of an...um...rope. Play tag with the kids. Do some sit ups and push ups.


9. Choose nutritious food. If you go to a party, choose the vegie tray instead of the more unhealthy offerings. If you are at a morning meeting, choose the fruit instead of the calorie laden donuts. If you are cooking at home, bring out the vegies from the back of the fridge and the whole grains from the back of the cupboard and create something nutritious for dinner. You are paying for food anyway (or in some cases, receiving it for free at events) so choose what to eat based on what food is most nutritious.


10. Sleep. Besides being stressed, most people don't get enough sleep. Turn off the TV early and get an extra hour of sleep. Take a rejuvenating mid day nap.

More House Info--Some Useful, Some...Not So Much

First, for the not so useful tidbits:

• We have had a half dozen showings of our house and hope to have an offer soon. The $8000 tax credit will expire at the end of the month and our realtor is practically positive it will sell by then. Yeah!
• However, if we don't get an offer by the beginning of next week, I'm going to go find a St Joseph and plant him in the front yard!
• Our house has never been so clean. When you have the possibility of people popping in on very short notice, you have to keep the place spotless. No dirty socks on the floor, no dirty dishes in the sink. It's kinda nice actually.

And now the useful stuff:

• I came across this article, 12 Hidden Costs of Home Ownership, which provided a good reminder of some of the costs associated with buying a new house, some of which I forgot and will no doubt be paying in the near future.
• eBay and Craigslist are my friend. The plan is that we will be selling our home then buying a new place, all of which should be completed within the next couple of months. That means we need to reduce all of our stuff that currently fits into a big house to an amount that will comfortably fit into a small condo. Needless to say, I have been eBaying and Craiglisting religiously over the past couple of weeks. A big garage sale (or two or three) is also in the works.
• We have taken a look at the PODS system and may consider this as an option to transition us through the move. I'm still a little fuzzy about how all of this works because the last time we moved, we kept our older house as a rental so we simply moved into our new house at our leisure then rented the old house after we were completely moved. This time around it looks like our house sale will close before out new condo sale will close so we will have a week or so during which we need to be out of our current house but not yet moved into our new place. In addition, I plan to do major work on the new place (painting, flooring, new appliances and cabinets, etc) which may take a few weeks to complete. A friend of mine had good luck with renting a "POD". She simply packed up all of her stuff into the POD which was delivered to her home, had the company move it to her new city, then store it for the few months until her new house was finished, then they drop the POD off at her new place and she unpacked it. Simple.

20 Safety Items That Are Worth Their Weight in Gold

If you are a consumer (I think most all of us are) then you have probably had lots of practice justifying your purchases. Everything from I NEED X to I don't NEED X but it would be really useful for Y so I really should buy it. In my pre-cash-only days, I could justify a Coach purse and matching sunglasses if I needed to! While I am much more careful with my money these days, there are a number of items, mostly related to safety and well being, that are definitely worth the cash it costs to buy them. These items include:

1. Child safety seats and booster seats. Many, if not all, states require these and when you look at the minimal cost versus the life it could save, there really is no question about the value of these important items.


2. Smoke detectors. Again, these items can and do save lives. Each home, and each bedroom within the home, should have smoke detectors. It's a small price to pay for a life.


3. Flashlights. Whether these are used to find your way to the bathroom at night and prevent tripping or necessary to illuminate your way during a power outage, having flashlights with fresh batteries on hand are, again, a cheap price to pay for safety and security.


4. Glasses. We can't all be born with perfect vision. Glasses can improve not only your sight but lessen headaches caused by vision problems and make you safer on the road. Obviously, a good use of your money.


5. A phone of some sort (landline or cell). Years ago, not everyone had a phone. Sometimes you had to walk down to the phone booth, other times you needed to use the neighbor's phone, but these days, having a phone is nearly as necessary as having water and food. Phones can keep you in contact with friends and loved ones, allow you to call 911 for help, and help you reach out to vital services if necessary.


6. Medication. There are critical medications that some people need in order to live. There are also critical medications that some people often stretch due to the cost (ie: they take their pills every other day instead of every day) because they can't afford their prescriptions. While I am a huge advocate of doing what you can to alleviate the need for medications (like exercising and eating nutritious food), I am also a huge advocate of taking medications, exactly as prescribed, even if it means spending a bit more money, if it means it will help save your life.


7. A gun safe. Many people choose to keep firearms in their home. I am one of these people. I am also an evangelist for safety and feel that if you can afford a firearm, you also need to have the cash to purchase a gun safe to store it in. Trigger locks are mostly a joke, and "hiding" a gun in a closet is plain irresponsible. Spend the money it takes to buy a good gun safe and this way everyone in your home will be safer.


8. Safety tie-downs. When you have things that are taller than they are wide, you have an item that could easily tip over during and earthquake or be pulled over by an inquisitive child. Save yourself the replacement cost (not to mention damage to people and pets) by purchasing inexpensive tie-downs that will keep your flat panel TVs upright, your bookcases stationary, and your hot water tank immobile.


9. Sports safety equipment. Do the math...a bicycle helmet costs around $15. A motorcycle helmet costs around $100. A traumatic brain injury from falling off a bicycle or crashing on a motorcycle without a helmet costs upwards of a million dollars. Yikes. These figures also pertain to football pads and helmets, life jackets, mouth guards, and other items meant to improve safety for athletes.


10. Insurance. Another math equation. Life insurance costs about $30 a month. Life without you could cost your family millions. House insurance costs about $50 per month. The cost to your home and property in the event of a fire can be in the hundreds of thousands if you don't have this important insurance coverage. Health insurance, while expensive at maybe $200-$700 per month, can actually save you hundreds of thousands of dollars should you have a medical emergency.


11. Cab fare or a designated driver. The cost for a safe ride home after a night of partying is between $20 to $40. The cost for a first time DUI is about $5000 (provided you didn't kill anyone in which case you need to factor in prison time and restitution...).


12. A safe car. Hubby is a fan of 'classic' cars. Classic means old. Old cars don't have things like air bags, seat belts, etc. The cost a of newer (this doesn't mean brand new), safe car is something that can be worth your family's life and you can't put a price on your life or the life of a loved one.


13. A GPS device. This one is debatable. If you only travel in areas that you are very familiar with, this may not be needed but if you regularly drive to places that you are unfamiliar with (ie: realtors, pizza delivery drivers, etc) a GPS device that will get you safely to your destination may be a very worthwhile purchase.


14. Items that impact your long term health. Things such as stop smoking products can significantly lengthen your lifespan while at the same time, significantly shrink your expense line item for cigarettes; this is a very good investment. Suntan lotion as opposed to getting sunburned is another inexpensive item that will pay you back later in life.


15. Kid costs...as in, the cost of preventing an unwanted pregnancy. Condoms? About $5 a package. Cost to raise a child until adulthood, about $221,000. Birth control is another inexpensive option that will save you a couple hundred thousand dollars over the price of having a kid. Of course this isn't to say that people shouldn't have babies, but using an inexpensive method to prevent pregnancy until a family is ready to have a child can significantly impact your financial life.


16. Illuminated clothing. Some people may debate this, but more than once a week, I drive down the street and see someone who could become an accident fatality/hospitalization statistic simply because they are walking down a dimly lit street at dusk or at night, almost always wearing black clothing, and drivers simply cannot see them until they are practically on top of them. Really dangerous. If you do walk or bike, an inexpensive investment in clothing or bands that are neon green or made of reflective material can save you (and the driver of the car) lots of money and heartache.


17. Nutritious food. When it comes down to buying food, some families think they can only afford the inexpensive stuff (ie: processed food instead of fresh fruit and vegetables). The savings when making this decision is immediate but the long term consequences can be very expensive (ie: diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure). It is much more cost effective to spend a bit more on good, healthy food. Your body will thank you.


18. Assistive devices. As we age, there are a number of things that we become less and less able to do. Things like hearing well, twisting around to look as you are backing down the street, bending over to pick things up...you get the idea. Assistive devices such as hearing aids, more mirrors or even a back up camera, or grippy picker-upper-devices that will help grandma pick up dropped items instead of running the risk of toppling over on her head are worth the price to purchase simply for safety's sake.


19. Baby safety devices. Babies can get into all kinds of trouble in a home that looks perfectly safe to adults. To save the cost of running to the hospital or calling an ambulance, a number of devices have been created to make your home safer for your babies and small children such as window guards, electrical outlet covers, safety latches and locks, safety gates, and door knobs covers and door locks. These are simple, inexpensive fixes that will improve a child's safety in your home and possibly save you money and anguish in the long run.


20. Education. Education has been called one of the best investments you can make in yourself. Paying for things such as CPR classes at the community center, taking some self defense classes at the local college, volunteering with the local ambulance crew and learning valuable life saving skills are all excellent ways to spend your time and money.

Often times when we see something we want, we justify the purchase based on how they will make others perceive us ("wow that girl is hot because she has a nice sports car", "hey check out that guy with a Rolex, he must be important"). When you take control of your spending habits and your money, you will find another way to justify your purchases and that is by determining how much of a positive, indeed life saving impact, the item may have on you and your family.

A Few Notes About Your Credit Report

As you know from previous posts, we are in the middle of a home sale and possible home purchase. In the interest of being ahead of the game, we went to our local lender today to get pre-qualified for a home loan so that when we submit an offer on a new home, the pre-qual letter will be part of the package. For those of you who have done this a time or two, you will know that lending (not just for houses but for most anything these days) revolves around your credit report. Here's some things we learned today:

• First of all, I should have checked our credit reports prior to going in for a loan. You can do this at no charge once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com. I do this annually but it has been about a year since I checked our reports. There were some surprises on the report that I should have known about.
• I had an "outstanding debt" of $1 for a credit card I cancelled two years ago. I am not sure how I can pay the bill in full and not get any more bills from the company and still owe $1 but I will call the credit company tomorrow and get this straightened out.
• The hubby's sister put him on her credit card as an authorized user because a couple of her kids live in our area and sometimes she needs to get cash to them and she is wise enough not to put THEM on her card because they aren't the most financially responsible people in the world. We didn't know that even though hubby was just added as a user on this account, and isn't the account holder, the credit card and its ensuing information shows up on his credit report. Good thing she is responsible with her credit. We will, however, be getting hubby's name off of that account.
• The report shows that about three years ago, I was late on my house payment ten months in a row (!). Because of the way I was getting paid at the time, I was paying a week late for this time period. Bad move on my part. ALWAYS pay your debts on time because it will show up on your credit report if you are sloppy or late with your payments.
• Fortunately the local bank we use does manual underwriting so we are able to explain these situations and have the information taken into account when they decide on whether to give us a loan or not.
• If you are self employed (like I am) it is soooo important to keep good records and file your taxes honestly. Some years ago when we got the loan for our current home, all I had to do was tell the lender that I was self employed--no stringent paper trail, very little documentation--and we got the loan. They have tightened up their requirements quite a bit since then. Fortunately, I report honestly and don't try to under report my income (which would lead the bank to think that I wouldn't be able to afford the home loan).

That's all, nothing major was found that will preclude us from getting a mortgage on a new place, but it just reemphasized the fact that when our lives are impacted by credit reports (whether we choose to use credit or not) it is a good idea to keep your credit as pristine as possible.

p.s. When the banker asked why I had paid off all of my credit cards and closed the accounts, I said "have you heard of Dave Ramsey?" She just smiled and said yes :)

The Cash You Need

Cash is important. Some people think that if they at least have a credit card with some semblance of available credit on it, they have money that they can use. Not true. Nothing beats having actual cash on hand to use in situations where other forms of currency just won't work. Here's the cash you need:

• Cash in your wallet. I always keep $100 in my wallet for use in an emergency. And emergencies do come up--everything from restaurants that don't take debit cards (which you find out after you have already chowed down on your meal) to cash for a cab if you get stranded in a bad part of town to bail money (which is a whole other story).


• Cash at home. Some people have exactly zero cash at home, thinking that in an emergency, they can always use their debit card. There are times, however, when a debit card won't work. Like when you have a power outage and need to evacuate and don't have any gas in your car and the gas station down the street is only accepting cash. Like when you are heading out of town early in the morning and all of the ATMs in your neighborhood are down due to a computer problem. You get the idea. I keep $500 to $1000 securely stashed at home just in case.


• Cash in your emergency fund. Everyone needs an emergency fund. Credit cards, unlike what many people think, are not good fall backs in case of emergency as people learned when they went to use their credit cards about mid recession and found that their available credit went from like $1000 to $0 overnight because of a change in their card issuer's policy. Your best bet? Have a minimum of $1000 in your bank which is set aside for true emergencies only. Eventually you will want to build your emergency fund up to be able to cover six to eight months of living expenses.


• Cash in your retirement fund. If you want to look forward to your golden years instead of worry about them at night because you have absolutely nothing saved for retirement, be sure to start funding your 401k/403b/Roth IRA/etc. on a regular basis. With cash in your retirement account, you will have yet another source of emergency cash at your disposal (well not really at your disposal due to the huge penalties and fees that are levied if you do withdraw from these accounts if you are not of retirement age but still...it is another source of cash security).


• Cash alternatives. There are a number of things you can have on hand that can be used as cash alternatives if you are in dire straits. Things that can be easily sold/bartered/eBayed/Craigslisted/garage saled/etc in order to generate some fast cash include gold, firearms, electronic gadgets, name brand items, tools. etc.


• Cash in coin form. Many people overlook coins because, after all, what can you do with a few dimes? It is a good idea, however, to always carry some quarters with you in case of emergency (you need to hop a bus to get across town, you need to make a phone call, etc). I also keep a coin jar where I drop all of my coins each time I clean out my purse and use the money in the jar for various purposes: to wash big blankets at the laundromat, to give to the grandkids when they come to visit (they like to roll the coins then buy a treat with their rolled coins), to use at the car wash, etc.

The security of having cash on hand cannot be over estimated. You never know when having some cash at your immediate disposal can save your life, or maybe just make it a bit safer or more comfortable.

21 Reasons Why We are Selling Our House

This morning the sale ad for our house hit the internet and within an hour we had a realtor who wanted to bring his clients over to check out our home. That was fast!
Fortunately, hubby is warming up to the idea of selling our home and aside from a few (hourly) wisecracks about ending up homeless, he seems to see some of the possibilities that will result from the sale of our house. As I was trying to encourage myself to go through with actually selling this house that I love, I came up with a list of why it is a good idea to sell now:

1. The people who buy our house will get an $8000 tax credit which is one of the many reasons that so many people are out and about looking at homes this month (the credit ends April 30th).
2. If we find a place we like and sign a contract on it by the end of the month, we will get a tax credit as well.
3. No more yard work. We aren't yard and garden people and we have a big yard. Obviously this creates a problem. I am either resenting the extra money I spend to have someone else do the yard work or doing it myself and resenting the time spent doing yard work when I would rather be doing something else.
4. We will be debt free. With the proceeds from the sale of the house, we will be able to pay off our remaining debts and become totally debt free. Yipeee!
5. We will have money left after paying off our debts that will allow us to travel, put a big down payment on a smaller house, or both.
6. Our house it too big. We literally don't use half of the house (the formal living room, one of the bathrooms, the guest bedroom, the bonus room) and it just seems so wasteful to take up so much space on the planet and not actually use it.
7. We will have an excellent reason to downsize/minimize all of the junk we have collected over the course of 20+ years. The average person does not need so much stuff to live a happy life and I aim to prove it (with a couple of the biggest garage sales our neighborhood has ever seen!).
8. We will be able to afford higher quality decor/carpet/tile/etc. which we are planning to put in our new place because there will be less space to decorate (ie: carpeting 2500 square feet is a HUGE expense as opposed to carpeting less than 1000 square feet).
9. It will be much cheaper to heat/air condition a small home than a larger home.
10. It will take MUCH less time to clean a smaller place.
11. We will also have the option travel for a year or two before settling down again, something we have always wanted to do.
12. We are preparing for getting older. I have seen way too many people hold on to farms/huge houses/houses with expensive upkeep way into their old age and it seems like nothing but a burden to them. Big houses and big land is great when you have a big family to help you out but after the kids have grown up and moved away (which ours have), you are left with only one or two people doing the work that you used to have a whole family doing. It is tiring and expensive and it keeps you from doing stuff you want to do like traveling or just hanging out at the library and reading on a quiet weekend because there is always so much work to be done.
13. We want super manageable payments (which means that we may even be able to make double payments on the mortgage and pay it off super fast). Now our payments are pretty big so it really curtails the things we can do. Vacations need to be planned way in advance and making double payments are out of the question. With a tiny mortgage and the corresponding tiny payments, we will easily be able to travel for an extended period of time while still paying the mortgage or stay home and hammer away at the mortgage until it is gone. Of course, when we buy a new place we will get a 15 year fixed rate mortgage which is what we have on our current house.
14. We are looking for a newer house which should need much fewer repairs. Our current house is 20+ years old so if we stay here, we are eventually looking at a new roof, new siding, and some other repairs (such as replacing our 20+ year old hot water tank, 20+ year old appliances, etc.) Those are expensive things!
15. We are looking to the future and the possibility of living on one income. Currently it takes two incomes to support our lifestyle. Hubby has his retirement and soon will receive social security as well. I have a business which provides us a good amount of money, however we want to minimize our bills to the point where we can easily pay our monthly bills on just hubby's income. A couple year sabbatical from my business/community/social responsibilities/etc is looking really nice right now.
16. We want lifestyle options. Literally ALL of the people we know have no lifestyle options to speak of. They (we) are like hamsters in a wheel when it comes to our lifestyle because, due to being typical Americans, we work, we buy stuff, we work more, we buy bigger stuff, we run up debt, we have big mortgage payments, we can't leave our jobs for fear of going bankrupt... So you end up with one lifestyle option (working and spending). Bummer. We want the option of working because we want to not because we have to, being able to take off at a moment's notice to go to Europe for a month, being able to set aside large chunks of time to work on big projects (for me, writing a book), spending time with the grand kids, etc.
17. I occasionally worry about natural disasters. In our area, it is not IF an earthquake will happen, but WHEN. If we put all of our money and soul into our house (which BTW doesn't have earthquake insurance) and a major earthquake hits, we really will be homeless. If we have a tiny home and a lot of money in savings and a lot of options for vagabonding around the world, such an event will have much less impact on us.
18. I am kind of looking forward to it being like when the hubby and I first met. We had absolutely nothing (me because I was a college student at the time and hubby because he had just been divorced and his wife got literally everything) but we were very happy when we made a cool thrift shop find, when we had to slide the ironing board out of the way to get to the washing machine, and when we had exactly four plates, four forks, and four cups in our entire tiny apartment. Don't get me wrong, we are very happy now, and we certainly aren't planning to live as minimally as we did years ago, but I think that by downsizing significantly we may just end up even happier if that is possible.
19. I'm looking forward to a wonderful new adventure. We have had the same house for over a decade. Same neighbors for over a decade. Same scenery for over a decade. I am looking forward to a whole new life!
20. I have no idea what the economy will do but I suspect it may tank even more in the upcoming months then take a decade to recover. I would rather not have a significant amount of money invested in real estate at this time.
21. I don't want to be normal. Normal is keeping up with the Joneses, working like a maniac, and being in debt. So you can see why I don't want to be normal. Selling our home at a point when most people would think we are crazy since "everyone" needs a nice house is maybe the first step in being abnormal. Hooray for us!

So that's it...the reasons that keep me moving forward with selling our home and getting out of debt when most everyone else will think we have lost our minds.

What to Do With Debt

When it comes to your debt, you have a lot of options. Here's some ways to deal with your debt:

• Pay it off, in full, as soon as possible. This can be done although many times people think it is such an overwhelming thing to do that they want to give up before they even give it a try. If you have debt, paying it off should be your first option. You made the debt, you should pay it off. Not only will this up your credit score, but the actual work of paying your debt off (which is usually quite a slog) will change your attitude about incurring debt in the future. If you feel like this would be impossible, check out Dave Ramsey who will give you hope that it is, in fact, quite possible, and probably at a quicker rate than you ever thought possible.
• File bankruptcy. This should be your absolute last option. There are some cases, like when a person is overwhelmed with medical debt due to a horrible accident which has left them unable to ever work again, where this may be their only option. But if, as in most cases, you spent like a maniac and are now faced with a massive pile of credit card debt, just pawning off your debt with a bankruptcy filing is both irresponsible AND it doesn't teach you the valuable lessons that will keep you from incurring future debt.
• Debt consolidation. I rather hate this option for a couple of reasons. First of all, there are a lot of debt consolidation companies that are just plain rip-offs. So not only are you in debt, you will soon find out that the debt consolidation company that was supposed to help you out, actually took advantage of your desperation, and took what little money you had left. Bummer. The second and third and fourth reasons why I hate this option is that one, if you do find a reputable company, they will set you up on a repayment plan that will take forever; two, you will be mingling small, short term debts with high interest large debts which doesn't make financial sense; and three, by turning over your responsibility for paying off the debts that you incurred, you don't get the full learning experience like you would get if you paid off your debts, in full, all by yourself.
• Challenging your debt. Another popular debt "rip off" encourages people with debt to "challenge the enforceability of their debts." This may make your debt go away but if it is indeed your debt, it is highly unethical and karma will get you eventually (IMHO). Obviously if you find debts on your credit report that definitely aren't yours, you should take every action to have them removed but if you incurred debt, using devious means to try to make the debt go away is not something I would recommend.
• Making a settlement. In some cases you may have such huge amounts of debt that it could literally take forever to pay it off yourself. You may have foreclosures, repossessions, big IRS debt, etc. and feel that you have no choice but to file for bankruptcy, however there is another option you may want to consider first and this is making a settlement offer. Generally this works, not when you are paying your bills up to date each month, but rather when you are way behind in your payments or haven't made payments towards the debt for quite a while. Simply call up the collection agency or whichever company holds your debt and ask to make a settlement. In some cases you can offer pennies on the dollar, and if accepted--be SURE to get it in writing before you send your check--you send the check for the full payment that you had negotiated and you will have paid the debt in full which will be reflected on your credit report.

Some things not to do:

• Never give a creditor access to your bank account. Pay them via check or money order but never give them electronic access to your account or they may, and often will, clean it out for you.
• Use debt to pay debt. Some people take out pay day loans or use a credit card in order to make payments on their debt. You will never get out of debt this way and your debt will multiply exponentially.
• Hide from your creditors. They will catch up with you eventually, even if they have to go to court and garnish your wages. Better to talk to them and work out a deal to pay the debt.
• Put your debt in other people's names. Aside from the usual identity theft issues (like prison), or using a friend/roommate/brother's info to incur debt (because like YOU can't get credit--here's your sign) which leads to arguments, lawsuits, and the occasional appearance on Judge Judy, or worse, putting your debt in your kids name which is the lowest of the low, you never want to use someone else's name to incur debt. This NEVER works out well.

The bottom line is that if you have debt, you should endeavour to get rid of it as soon, and as responsibly, as possible. If you are overwhelmed, listening to or watching Dave Ramsey on a regular basis will show you that being debt-free no matter where you are starting at is, in fact, quite possible.

Use Half. Save Money.

Do you realize how much stuff has a "suggested amount" that you should use which, in reality, is often way more than you actually need? This means you could be saving a whole lot of product, and thus money, and still get the needed benefit out of the stuff that you buy. Consider:

• Toothpaste. Commercials show that you need a huge glob of toothpaste on your brush in order to get your teeth clean. You don't. A little dab on your toothbrush will provide the same effect--getting your teeth clean.


• Shampoo. The bottle says to lather, rinse, and repeat. You only need to lather and rinse and you will still end up with clean hair.


• Laundry soap. The bottle with the measuring cap makes it look like you need a lot of detergent to get your laundry clean. In reality, detergents are much more concentrated than they used to be, washing machines are much more efficient at cleaning, and most people aren't working on farms like they did in decades past so your clothes aren't all that dirty to start with. Use half the amount of soap that is recommended and see if your clothes don't get just as clean, If you want to do a little test, put some towels that you just washed and dried back into the washer, set it on the wash cycle without the soap, and when it gets to the agitate cycle check out the water. If you see soap bubbles you will know that there is still soap in your clothing that you thought had been rinsed out. Use less soap, get less soap residue in your laundry (and save money too).


• Dryer sheets. I don't know where I picked up the habit but for as long as I can remember, when I open a new box of dryer sheets, I cut them all in half. Then for each load of laundry I throw in the dryer, I just toss in half a dryer sheet and still get the fresh smelling, anti-static-y results that I am after.


• Heat. If you usually have your heat on 24/7, consider running it only the few hours a day that you are actually at home and awake. Otherwise set the thermostat to 55, throw some extra blankets on the bed, and/or in the evening run a small space heater in your room before bed instead of heating the whole house, and enjoy lots of savings on your heating bills.


• Hand soap. The average pump on your hand soap will spit a huge glob out onto your hands. Just push the dispenser down half way, get a half serving of soap, scrub your hands vigorously for about thirty seconds, and you will end up with clean hands.


• Hot water. Keeping a huge tank of water hot 24/7 is a mostly American custom. In most countries, water is heated only when it is needed in order to save money. So, to save money on your hot water bill, do these things: set your thermostat to 120 degrees, put water saver shower heads on all of your showers, conserve water by using less of it, and put a timer on your hot water tank in order to turn in on only when you will need it (usually in the morning and evening).


• Denture adhesive. If you watch the commercials, you will see the announcer plaster a huge line of denture adhesive from one side of the denture plate to the other. Not only is this messy and causes a copious amount to "squish out" when you put the dentures in your mouth, it is a waste of good product. A better way to do this, from those in the know, is to put small dabs of the paste on each side and at the front-when you insert the dentures, this will squeeze out a bit and provide a good bond between your dentures and gums.


• Water for plants. Some people plant flowers, fruit trees, or vegetables, then proceed to water them deeply everyday. This is usually not necessary and can actually hurt the plants because it encourages shallow root growth instead of forcing the roots of the plants to grow deeper in search of water. Cut back to watering deeply every dew days and watch your water bill shrink (and your plants grow better).


• Band aids. This is getting down to the nitty gritty, but we have, on occasion, cut big band aids in half (length-wise of course) for use on little kids with little "boo boos".


• Paper towels. Another of the things I do automatically is to use half of a paper towel for almost all uses. I simply rip the paper towel in half length-wise and leave the other half hanging on the role for the next use (it doesn't look pretty but it does double the life of a roll of paper towels).


• Anti freeze. If you live in a mild climate, you may want to use half anti freeze and half water instead of full strength antifreeze.

These are just a few of the ways that you can use less of a product, save money, and still get the use out of the product that you need. From now on, when you are using a product, ask yourself how you could use less of said product and still meet your needs.

p.s. A couple of caveats: there are some products that you don't want to use less of in order to save money. These include prescription medicine (use as directed) and measured components in baking and cooking (unless you know it won't impact the edibility of the item you are creating).

The Downsizing Plan Has Begun...Excuse Me While I Have a Panic Attack

Quite a while ago I wrote about some downsizing plan ideas I had. For months the ideas never really went anywhere however since we came back from vacation a few weeks ago, I was more motivated than ever to a) downsize our living accommodations (our house is way too big for us and the payments are pretty big as well), b) pay off our debts, c) minimize our possessions, and d) travel the world.
The main problem with moving forward with this plan is that hubby hates change, doesn't want to be involved in change, and practically breaks out in hives when major change happens. Although he agrees in theory with my plan--he thinks our house is too big, would really like to be out of debt, and loves to travel--he just doesn't want to do the changes required to get from point a to point d.
While I was trying to move along slowly to reach these goals, I realized that slow change equals no change. Without some drastic changes we are going to be stuck in the same place, next year and the year after, that we are at now.
So this morning I called our favorite real estate agent, briefed hubby that we were going to sell the house, and this afternoon we formally listed our house for sale. Commence panic attack.

Hopefully this is how the plan will work:

• We sell the house at the full listing price (since we are not forced to sell, I told the realtor that we want our listing price and that we aren't interested in bargaining down the price because we have a target amount of money we want to make from the sale of the house).
• We use part of the proceeds of the sale to pay off our debts and become totally debt free.
• We are then left with about $40,000 to fund a couple of years of travel or use as a down payment on a much smaller house, or do both--travel for a year then buy a smaller house with a smaller down payment.

Among my concerns:

• How are we going to get rid of all of our stuff? I don't want to put everything in storage for a year or two so it looks like we are going to have the mother of all garage sales--or three--in order to purge ourselves of nearly everything we own. Did I mention hubby likes his possessions? He owns nearly 75 hoodie jackets and that is just the beginning of his clothes-horse tendencies. This part should get interesting in a month or so...
• Where are we going to go after our house sells? We have tentative plans to travel to Asia for three or four months after the house sells then spend a month or so with each of a half dozen family members who live in various places around the US. There will be some in between time right after the sale in which we may see if we can stay with a cousin for a month or two while we get ready to travel. Hubby's other problem is that he doesn't want to end up "homeless" and after the sale, he will technically be "homeless".
• How is hubby going to handle this? He has been very quiet today but not totally opposed to the plan--I think his disdain for change is being rivaled with his desire to be debt free and do some traveling. In fact my main impetus for this project is that hubby is now over 60 and I want to ensure that we have plenty of time to spend traveling before age and infirmity keeps us more home-bound, and, more importantly, that we are totally debt free because, knock on wood, should one of us die, I don't want the other of us to be saddled with debt.
• Am I doing the right thing? I am sure that as soon as people find out what we are doing they are going to think I have lost my damn mind. We are in an enviable position with having a nice house in a wonderful location, hubby is retired and I have a great business (which also will go on the sales block ASAP), we can still afford to travel and enjoy some of the finer things in life (because we are so frugal, which is what most people don't see) and so people will wonder why we want to give up all of that "security" and "status" to be as hubby says, homeless vagabonds (it didn't help much when I told him that there is a burgeoning vagabond industry, just read the blogs...). The older I get, however, I don't see having any item with a debt attached to it as "security". It is the dead weight of debt that, with one small misfortune like a job loss or illness, will sink us and literally make us homeless (and broke) and opposed to homeless (with a sizable amount of cash in savings).

I am crossing my fingers that all of this works out well however it is sooo stressful! Fortunately many people have gone before me and right now I am grabbing onto their blogs with both hands for inspiration and assurance that I, indeed, haven't lost my mind.

p.s. The blogs that have motivated such goals for me include Family on Bikes, Married with Luggage, Vagablogging, Female Nomad, and Man vs Debt.

p.s.s. Thanks for letting me vent!

Get Your Finances in Order...In Case You Die

Some people think I am rather blunt and reading that headline I am inclined to agree with them, but, and this is a big BUT, when you are talking about a topic people would rather ignore, like death, sometimes you have to shock people to get their attention.

Now that I have your attention...

Everyone is going to die. Hopefully for you, me, and everyone else, death will come later rather than sooner, however, everyday I get to review reports of people who have died--everyone from the elderly who die of natural causes to the teenagers who were full of life just prior to the car accident/drug overdose/freak unexpected medical incident that rapidly took their life. In most cases death is sad and traumatic for surviving loved ones, and it for this specific reason that it is extremely important for everyone, no matter how old or young you are, to get your financial house in order now, before it is too late.

I have seen more than enough cases of family members fighting like hyenas over an estate because there was no Will and only vaguely remembered promises made by the deceased loved one, more than enough cases of the primary wage earner thinking they would save money by not buying life insurance only to die unexpectedly and leave the family destitute, and more than enough cases of people who have waged more-than-long-enough battles with incurable diseases left on life support because there were no advanced medical directives.

The way to protect your family when you die, is to start with the basics. Here's nine things you need to get organized straight away so that if the worst should happen, your loved ones will be taken care of:

1. Have a Will which has been legally created, notarized, and is in compliance with state laws. We update our wills about every five years or so as things change (ie: the kids moved out, we buy or sell a business, we buy or sell a property, etc).


2. Have a Living Will to make your wishes known in the event that you are unable to do this (in my case, I made it very specific that if I am on life support, I want the plug PULLED as quickly as possible. I did this knowing that my hubby, loving as he is, would never even consider making such a decision).


3. Have a Medical Power of Attorney that will give someone you trust the ability to make medical decisions on your behalf in the event you are unable to.


4. Keep a list of financial information in a safe location that your attorney/executor/trusted friend or relative will be able to access in the event of your death. This list should include information on your investments, bank accounts, property, debts, etc. so that the people you left behind will be able to sort out your financial situation if you are not there to help them. Be sure to include with this list other important documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, property deeds, military DD214, etc.


5. Have life insurance. The amount you need depends on what kind of financial responsibilities you have. For example, if you are a single person with no dependants, you may only want enough insurance to cover your death expenses (funeral, burial, etc) and clear up your debts, whereas if you are the sole wage earner with a wife and five kids, you will need a significantly larger amount of insurance to cover the family's expenses for a number of years into the future.


6. Have information in writing in regards to what you want to happen to you after death. Do you want to be buried? Cremated? Do you want a wake? Last rites? What are your religious preferences? The most organized lady I know was an elderly neighbor who had everything planned, and paid for, before she died. She had already set up the funeral and burial and all that her friends and few remaining relatives had to do was show up to the memorial service.


7. Be debt free. One of the best ways to help your family after you die is to not leave them a pile of debt. It is hard enough dealing with creditors on a good day but when you are dealing with creditors and grieving at the same time it can be completely overwhelming. If you are debt free (hopefully including the house) that is one less problem you leave your loved ones.


8. Leave a letter to be delivered to your loved one(s) after your death. Your attorney can hold on to this for you or you can keep it in your safe deposit box. The letter should include what you would personally like to say to them as well as other private information you want to share such as internet passwords, information about your online accounts (what do you want to happen to your websites and FaceBook account?), and anything else you don't want to leave unsaid.


9. Get rid of stuff now (or securely hide it in a way that it will disappear when you die) that you don't want your family members to see after you die. Pictures of your new girlfriend? Not a good thing for a grieving wife to find. Evidence of other things you wouldn't be proud of sharing with the world? Do you really need to keep mementos?

Preparing for death is never easy or fun, but it can be such a better experience if you do this while you are still alive and healthy as opposed to leaving it to your grieving family members after you die.

The Very Best Place to Shop for Food Is...

Ethnic grocery stores in large cities.

I went downtown to Seattle today for an appointment and stopped by some of my favorite grocery stores in Chinatown on the way home. Note that ethnic grocery stores in tiny towns don't usually get the traffic and/or competition to have fresh food at low prices, however when you head to an ethnic section of a large city--Chinatown, Little India, etc--the huge amount of competition, the huge number of people who regularly shop at the stores, and the low rent areas that these places usually inhabit mean low prices, super fresh fruits, vegies, meat, and fish, and a lot of healthier food options because many cultures cook from scratch so you will see very few "processed" food products.

My bag was full today as I got back on the bus to head home. I had fresh shrimp ($2.99 lb), apples (49 cents/lb), beautiful strawberries ($1.19/lb), a huge bag of bean sprouts (49 cents!), cucumbers (39 cents each), bay leaves (89 cents for a good sized bag), fresh green beans (99 cents/lb), dried noodles for soup (89 cents)...you get the idea.

There are plenty of places to shop for food in downtown Seattle. Pikes Place Market is famous for having a wide selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, fish (that get thrown for the benefit of the tourists), and artisan cheese and breads (yum), but the exact same fruit and vegetables (without the touristy shops, beautiful displays, and glitzy signs) can be had for a fraction of the cost just by heading to a less trendy part of town where average people shops every day.

In these stores you will see some unusual things--people standing literally shoulder to shoulder at the meat counter (no lines here!), most people speaking a language that isn't English, perishables and other food products stacked in boxes like it just came off the truck (which it probably did, so there won't be any fancy displays and most signs will be in a language other than English however you will still be able to decipher the prices, fish being killed and gutted in front of you, and the pervasive smell of fish/durian/etc which can be a shock to people who have never ventured outside of the local Safeway, Stop N Shop, or Piggly Wiggly.

A few more things I noticed that is particularly common in immigrant communities: people shop for food every day (it is often their social outlet as well) which means they cook fresh food from scratch every day, they walk from shop to shop (which means they get exercise), they are frugal (many are first generation immigrants), and they are picky (they don't just take a bag of whatever is offered but rather inspect each item they pick up to ensure they are getting the best possible apply or zucchini).

The next time you are in a large city, head to the ethnic part of town and check out this wonderful way to shop cheap and healthy.

Link Roundup--Lists to Love

Here's some lists that will help get/keep your finances on track:

• 31 Days to Fix Your Finances
• 67 Ways NOT to Sell a Car
• 12 Steps to Debt Freedom
• 100 Things Every Young Entrepreneur Should Know
• 101 Keys to Prosperity
• 100 Thing Challenge (not exactly a list but if you do the challenge you will end up making a list)

10 Things That Granddad Taught Me About Money (That I Should Have Paid Attention To)

My granddad was a great guy. He always seemed to know a lot about a lot of things. He was a welder by trade but also a horse trainer, a farmer, a show promoter (everything from music concerts to rodeos and fairs), he ran a dance hall in the 40s, and he did any other job that he could pick up to make some money for the family (he lived through the Great Depression which probably shaped his outlook on money for the rest of his life).
He taught us plenty as we grew up but perhaps his most important lessons were about money (unfortunately we--his grandkids--grew up during the 70s and though we knew everything and were financial train wrecks...we should have paid attention to granddad). Here are his top ten lessons about money:

1. Pay cash for everything. Period. Of course this was before credit cards were readily available but he never took out bank credit for anything. If he wanted a truck or a house or a piece of land, he saved up for it and paid cash.
2. Save some money out of everything you earn. He never got a paycheck and went out spending like a wild man. In fact, he didn't spend much at all but that is another lesson. He always had a wallet full of cash and cash in a savings account at the bank (he opened savings accounts for us before we could even understand what a bank was).
3. Be frugal. He taught us this in a number of ways. Each Sunday he would take all of the grandkids to the grocery store, each with their own batch of coupons in hand, to do the grocery shopping. I think he was the original Coupon Queen, er, King. If something worked he never replaced it (which explains why their refrigerator dated from the mid 1940s--and grandma used this fridge into the 1990s--and their black and white TV was used until it died in the 1980s).
4. Don't talk about your money. I'm not sure about the origin of this but he never talked about money to anyone. He kept his finances to himself, would never dream of giving out his Social Security number, and would be the last one to show off as a "big spender".
5. Want less. He never had lots of material possessions other than the random stuff that is required on a farm. He wouldn't run out and buy the latest appliances, the newest TVs, or any other material goods unless they were necessary. He was supremely content with his home, his land, and his family.
6. If you do buy something, buy it used. Other than going to the store to buy food, I can't ever remember him going to the store to buy new things. He would trade, he would barter, and he would buy used, but he would never buy new. All of his trucks were second hand, his firearms were bought from people who were selling them instead of stores, and even his fishing gear was a hodgepodge of stuff found everywhere but at a store.
7. If you do buy something, buy an asset that will hold its value. He would buy/trade for guitars, knives, firearms, tractors, etc. but he would never buy junk stuff that many people would purchase for $10 then sell at the next yard sale for $1.
8. Have a skill. His theory was that if you were good at a skill (welding, plumbing, construction, etc) you would never go hungry because there would always be people who would need what you could do as opposed to just being a paper pusher who would be expendable.
9. Treat people right. While granddad was tight with is money, he did treat people right. He would take grandma out on a very rare occasion for a hamburger and milkshake. He would see a family in need come to his farm to purchase fruit or vegetables and either give them stuff for free or toss in a few extra pounds at no charge. As a result of this, he had many friends.
10. You can still have vices. Granddad wasn't a saint. He smoked like most men of his generation, he had a fifth of Jack Daniels under the seat of his truck (this was before DUIs were considered a bad thing), and he had a giant Hershey chocolate bar in the cupboard that he would eat one square at a time.

I think a lot of us could learn much about money from old timers if we only listened to them. Yes, there are many more options these days than there used to be--DRIPs, ARMs, Roth IRAs, etc--but common sense never goes out of style (although we seemed to have completely forgot this in the 90s). Living beyond your means, investing in things that don't make financial sense, and taking out loans from Payday Lenders are not things that made sense decades ago and they don't make sense today.

Could You Lower Your Food Bill to $1 Per Day?

Well I would like to try but I am sure the hubby would nix that idea rather quickly because he likes...um...food. Lots of good food. He is the kind that likes to cook with exotic spices, top quality meat, and interesting (read expensive) artisanal cheeses.
But, should you be interested in giving such a challenge a shot, here are some blogs to read first:

• I initially heard that such a thing as living on $1 a day for ALL of your food was possible when this lady did a month long challenge to prove that a person could actually survive on $1 a day for food. She made the national news, and her blog held everyone's attention as she recorded everything she bought, each meal she was able to create, and each challenge she faced as she worked to prove her point that such a feat was possible.
• Now there is this lady who was inspired by the previous blogger (and by her lack of money) to see if it would be possible to take the $1 a day challenge to the next level and eat on $1 a day for an entire year. It should be an interesting blog...and an interesting year for the blogger.
• And here is one more guy who also did a similar experiment.