It’s that time of year: Kris and I spent most of the weekend working in the yard. We planted out the vegetable garden, but most of our time was spent pruning seemingly endless shrubbery. I’m not complaining — the end result is a lovely yard during the summer — but it’s daunting to realize that we’re barely a quarter of the way done. Thank goodness for quality tools.
Speaking of quality tools, that’s a good way to start of this collection of personal-finance links from around the web:
Popular Mechanics has compiled a list of 50 tools everyone should own (with tips!). Though I think 50 tools seems like a lot, I admit that I can’t find fault with any of these choices. I just used my pick to tear out an azalea this afternoon!
Elsewhere, CBS News has a story about how supermarkets lure you to buy more. We’ve covered these ploys many times before (such as in this list of 15 great grocery shopping tips), but it never hurts to review.
After Richard Barrington’s guest post here at Get Rich Slowly last week, I’ve been checking out his work over at MoneyRates. There’s some good info there, including his recent list of six retirement investment mistakes. Are you making any of these?
Finally, here’s my favorite blog post of the week. It’s been a while since I linked to something from Philip Brewer at Wise Bread, but he just wrote about trying to reverse-engineer the best time of your life. “Why should the best time of your life be some time in the past?” he writes. “With some clear thinking and some effort, you can recapture what was great then for today.” What he’s really talking about is Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s concept of flow. It’s a powerful thing. I should write more about it in the future.
This article is about Spare Change
50 tools for the yard!? wow. Might as well get a landscaper lol.
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@Aman
Hm. I can see how what I wrote might be confusing. These are just tools for the yard — they’re tools of all kinds!
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I just checked out your list of 50 tools that everyone should have and tuns out I already have most of them. What’s great about most of them, is that if you buy quality, they will last virtually forever! And even the electrical ones that won’t literally last forever, will last for decades with good care and light use.
The money you save by doing all the jobs around the house yourself will really add up over time. And you’ll probably get better quality work as well if you do it yourself!
I have to go now, there’s a few more tools I need to pick up at Home Depot to round out my collection!
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Yes, flow is a big part of it. But you can achieve flow state even when you’re doing something unimportant. (A really good session playing a video game puts you into flow state, for example.)
I think that real happiness results when you can combine daily activities that put you into flow state together with a sense that what you’re doing is not only fun and easy but also important.
Thanks for the kind words and the link!
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One place to build up your tool list is Estate Sales. Quality tools at a great price.
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I really enjoy your tips on home/yard maintenance, and would love to see more.
Doing things around the house is a big opportunity for savings, especially if you consider how much preventative maintenance can save you in the long run.
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I buy tools when I decide I need them but don’t already have them. This makes a ton more sense then going out and buying 50 things that I *must* own because they were listed in a magazine. I don’t own a rake. Why would I? I live in an apartment, and the landlord pays for the landscaping. When I buy my own house, I’ll get a rake then if I need one. The site doesn’t list “orbital sander”, but man, you try refinishing a boat without one.
So, in other words — the list is not useful.
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