The older I get, the more I crave the sun. I’m a life-long Oregonian, and I love the place, but I’m beginning to understand why people move to Phoenix. Or Miami. Or San Bernardino. This morning’s four-mile run in the spitting rain was enough to break the spirit of even the strongest man! I console myself with the knowledge that spring will soon be here, and then I’ll be living in the best place on Earth. (And at least the afternoon was sunny…)
I also console myself by reading great articles about personal finance, articles like these:
First up, No Credit Needed describes how to create a zero-based budget. “Your goal is to create a scenario where total income minus total expenses will equal zero,” writes NCN, and then he lays out the entire process. If you’ve been looking for a way to get started with budgeting, check out this article.
Bob Sullivan at The Red Tape Chronicles has some advice on how to save money on credit card bills. He writes that these aren’t just for people who carry a balance, but for anybody who uses credit. These three tips (“keep a clean card”, “when you pay (and buy) matters”, and “use auto-pay”) are actually rather clever. The “clean card” tip is worth a full post at GRS sometime in the future.
Steph Davis at High Places — who usually writes about rock climbing and base jumping — has some advice on how to live simply. She writes: “I have always been determined to keep the overhead low. To me, money and debt directly relate to freedom.” (Steph Davis has an awesome blog by the way. I’m not into outdoor sports at all, but I love her philosophy and advice. There’s some great stuff here. Check out the B choice.)
Finally, there’s an interesting conversation in the Get Rich Slowly forums. Deja Broke writes: “It feel like every time I find a way to save some money on something, it ends up costing me more in the long run, either in cash or aggravation. I’m starting to think I should just go pay full price at the store and be done with it.” The cheapest price isn’t always the best price. It’s worth it to me to pay extra for good service and for quality.
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This article is about Spare Change
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I love Bob Sullivan, and I really enjoyed his book, “Gotcha Capitalism,” but I have to say I really hate auto pay.
I’m less hateful toward auto paying bills and using your credit card. But auto paying anything directly from my bank, with my actual money is a HUGE no no for me.
I’m sure there are a lot of people for whom it’s no big deal, because they have their many months of emergency funds stashed safely away and their checking accounts are never that close to the wire. But so many people are paycheck to paycheck, and currently I’m one of them.
1.) I don’t like the idea of paying my actual money until I’ve verified that the bill I’m paying with it is accurate. If I use auto pay for other bills using a credit card, I can have the bill paid and still get any issues fixed before my actual money is at stake.
2.) As I said, so many people are paycheck to paycheck, and so few jobs are certain at the moment. It would only take one auto payment to fail, or to go through at an inopportune time, to cause a real mess. In some cases it might be better to buy food with the money you have rather than pay more than the minimum on the credit card. If payroll screws up a check, or if you lose your job suddenly, having all those payments automated can kill you. Having them automated makes it very very easy not to pay attention to specific line items on a bill or even to forget that they’re happening.
I think it’s much much better to get into the habit of taking 15 minutes each week to log into each credit card account and make any necessary payments manually. It becomes a habit, and it’s a higher level of involvement than “set it and forget it,” because in a perfect storm that can be very dangerous.
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J.D. I’m with you. As each year passes, the more I realize how much I enjoy nice weather. Having spent my whole life up here in Michigan, the long, cold, and dreadfully snowy winters never get any easier.
But as much as I loathe the six months of winter, it’s about this time of year where you know spring is just around the corner. And there is nothing more exciting and uplifting than the anticipation of warmer weather and things turning green. I think it’s the thrill of knowing that change is always coming is what makes it all worthwhile.
Although I will admit, once the holidays are over you could ship me off to Phoenix or somewhere in Florida until March and I wouldn’t complain
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I don’t know, J.D, I’d trade a few months of rain for five straight months of 90-100 degree temperatures and high humidity we have here in the south. I’ve grown to actually dread May-September because of the heat. Then again, I don’t care much for snow and ice, either. Too bad I’m not independently wealthy so I could have two houses in a temperate climate all year long.
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I’m also noticing that I crave the sun more. I make it a point of sitting in the sun that comes through the window any time it peeks out (here in NE Ohio that can be a rare occurance in the winter). I also have a daylight broad spectrum bulb in my office light, that seems to help as well.
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J.D., we moved to Las Vegas from Portland and I think we regret it at least a little every day. While it’s nice to have the sun, it’s just like the rain; too much of a good thing is still too much. And ironically, we went back to visit in December, and it was that really nice odd sunny weekend you guys had. We can’t even chase the rain.
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Not San Bernardino! Nooooooooooo J.D.!
I couldn’t even read the rest of your post after reading that…
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and here i am in the deep warm sunny winter south, wishing i were back in seattle. haha: http://pistolette.blogspot.com/2009/02/morning-rain.html
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I really liked the Bob Sullivan piece. Thanks for the link.
Sorry about all the rain. I’m with Frugal Dad, the heat and humidity where I live (Virginia) can get nasty.
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Sorry about the rain over there..
Greeting from sunny Aruba!
Mike
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spring will soon be here
“And then it will be WARM and rainy!” I have to admit that I don’t mind paying the California premium even if fall is a little bit dull.
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JD – I’m not so sure that “clean card” bit is worthy of a full post. I guess it depends on what you’re going to say, but…
Sullivan writes that you should have two cards. You use one exclusively until it becomes obvious that you’re not going to be able to pay the bill in full that month; then you switch to the second.
Maybe I’m uptight, but my two cents is that the instant you realize you won’t be able to pay a credit card bill in full, you STOP USING CREDIT, “clean card” or not. Otherwise, you’re just turning a bad situation into an overly complicated, bad situation. And you *absolutely* need to stop charging things like lunches out.
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SAN BERNARDINO?!? NOOOOOoooooooooo! Try running 4 miles in 100 degree sun & smog! You’d be followed by vultures awaiting your doom!
Go to San Diego – America’s finest city
)
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Haha.
No offense to San Bernardinans, but to be perfectly clear: that last city was included as a joke. I’m not a fan. My wife and I refer to it as “the armpit of America”.
(Now watch: the San Bernardino loyalists will come out in force!)
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>>a zero-based budget
BAD! If zero-based, no savings!
The idea should always be: SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN.
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I am from San Bern, but live in Utah now. Here in Utah, everyone says Idaho is the armpit of America, I guess America must have two arms with corresponding pits
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@lost in hell…
If you read the post, you’ll see that “savings” is one of the categories…
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