Think Your Way to Wealth

If you're new to "Think Your Way To Wealth", get free updates on debt reduction, saving money, and building wealth by subscribing to the RSS feed or via Email . Thanks for visiting!

In the spirit of April Fool’s Day , here is a list, David Letterman style, of the top ten ways to aggravate your spouse or significant other with your frugality. Warning: You may incur bodily injury if you actually try to implement some of these.

10. Serve the same meal everyday for dinner until your spouse complains.  Serve something different the next day, then go back to the same meal you were serving every day.

9. Shut off the hot water heater while your spouse is in the middle of a long shower.

8. Tell your spouse that lights will no longer be allowed to be turned on after it gets dark outside, and provide them with a flashlight powered with rechargeable batteries to get around the house.

7. Hide your spouse’s car around the block, and tell him or her you sold it to avoid high gas prices. Present them with a bicycle.

6. Follow your spouse around the house, turning off lights before they even leave the room they are in. Do the same thing when they turn on water, etc.

5. Hide all of your spouse’s clothes except for two outfits.  When they ask where everything is, say you donated it  all to Goodwill so the two of you could try “living simply”.

4. Tell your spouse that since the allowance system you implemented worked so well, you would like to eliminate it and that you should both try bartering for anything you need.

3. Get up in the middle of the night and shut off the heat or air conditioning.

2. Tell your meat-loving spouse that your household is “going vegetarian” to combat rising food prices.

1. Suggest that all showering from now on be done together to conserve water.

Filed under: Frugality by RC - 10 Comments →

Its been a rough week for the Think Your Way To Wealth blog.  Since last Monday, the site has been down as many as 4 to 8 hours per day, due to problems my web host, Dreamhost is having.  Things seem to be getting back to normal as of today, so hopefully they have things under control.  If you have tried to visit during the week, I apologize if the site was not available.  Hopefully the coming week will be better!

I did actually participate in 3 carnivals this week, since I submitted to them early in the week before I had major problems. 

 Million Dollar Journey hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance #145-Baby Education Edition and selected my post “11 Ways to Market Yourself at Work to Increase Your Salary” as an editor’s pick. Great job with the carnival.

My Dollar Plan hosted the Festival of Frugality #118-The ABC Edition, and included my post “Your Health and Money-Save Money by Living Healthier”. Very nice job with the festival.

Antishay Ventenne hosted the Money Hacks Carnival #5-Haute Couture Edition and included my post “Mistakes I Have Made with Money that You Should Avoid”.  She did an excellent job with the carnival including lots of “fashion” related images.

Good reading from around the Personal Finance Blogosphere:

Ana at Debt Free Revolution gives an update on teaching her teenage son about budgeting- Teen on a Budget-Milk Update. I wish someone had taught me about budgeting at an early age, although I am not sure if i would have listened either.

Money Blue Book has a post describing How to Cheaply Repair Auto Window Glass With Used Junkyard Parts. I am a big fan of doing as much auto repair work as I can myself, so I found this very interesting and informative. I have never visited a junkyard to find parts, but i will in the future if the need arises.

Bripblap talks about starting a Go to Hell Fund, after an emergency fund, college savings for your kids, and retirement savings. This fund will allow you to walk away  after being fired, or walk away by your own choice from an unrewarding job situation. Several commentators has interesting names for this kind of fund as well!

Filed under: Roundups by RC - 1 Comment →

At Home

1. Insulate your hot water heater, & keep it on the lowest temperature you can get by with.  Also, if you leave for the weekend, turn it on the vacation setting.
2. If you don’t have a programmable thermostat for your A/C or heating, try to keep it off as much as possible. Open your windows in the spring and fall.
3. Get rid of your land line, and go with VOIP, or use your cell phone.
4. Examine your cable subscription, and try to cut any unnecessary packages, channels, etc. Better yet, get rid of your cable or satellite TV.
5. Only wash full loads in your washing machine. Consider using a clothesline to dry. If you use your dryer, set the time for the minimum you think it will take to dry.  If you run your dryer for 10 to 15 minutes longer than you need to, the wasted energy (and cost) will add up over the course of a year.
6. Consider making your own laundry detergent.
7. Plan out your meals weekly, incorporating leftovers to save time and money. Or, batch cook for the whole week on the weekend.

Car

1. Change your own oil.
2. Do your own car maintenance up to a point you feel comfortable. At a minimum, learn to do the things a Quick- Lube place will charge you 3x as much for, such as replacing windshield wipers or your air filter, which are quite simple.
3. Keep up with vehicle’s regular maintenance schedule. Your car will last longer, and you will avoid turning minor things into larger, more expensive problems.
4. Take public transportation, ride a bike, or walk.

Shopping/Spending

1. Use coupons, shop the sale ads, and buy generics for grocery items. By combining all three, you can get the most for your $.
2. Sign up for rewards cards/customer appreciation cards at every place you shop.
3. Sign up for Upromise, Ebates , and Fatcash. Make money when you spend money.
4. Plan ahead for birthdays, anniversaries, and especially Christmas gifts.
5. Search the Internet for deals, sales, and coupons.

Work

1. Bring your lunch to work.
2. Consider carpooling or taking public transportation.
3. While its good to be sociable, don’t feel like you have to go out every week for drinks or other social events with your co-workers.
4. Market yourself at work.

Entertainment

1. Use the library.
2. Take advantage of free events in your town or city.
3. Plan a picnic.
4. For your next vacation, go camping.
5. Cancel your gym membership and start exercising at home or outside (Biking, walking, running, etc.).

Create Cash or Increase Your Income

1.  Hold a garage sale.
2. Sell items your no longer use on Ebay or Craigslist.
3. Work overtime at your job if available. Ask if it is available and volunteer to work overtime.
4. Moonlight/Get a part-time job.
5. Turn a hobby into an income producing skill.

Filed under: Frugality, Saving Money by RC - 3 Comments →

One of the things that people struggling to get out of debt and start wealth building have problems with is the use of credit cards. Frequently, credit cards are the reason people start getting into debt problems, and they can certainly exacerbate the situation.

You hear the same story over and over, someone will either work to pay off credit card debt, or take out a home-equity or 401k loan, only to start charging things again and building the balances on their high-interest credit cards again. Certainly, one can take measures to prevent this, by cutting up your cards, freezing them in a block of ice, etc. Part of the reason a lot of people, and I include myself in the number, fall back into their bad habits with credit card usage is a lack of an honest assessment of their ability to manage credit card usage in a responsible manner.

To make matters worse, there are certain benefits to credit card usage that many people find enticing. Cash back rewards cards or zero balance transfers give us the promise of “free” or “fast” money, with little or no effort on the part of the consumer.  But they are not without risks, especially for people who have had credit card problems in the past.  Part of the reason I am now digging myself out of appx. $10k in credit card debt is because, I believe, that I am in a “high risk” category. I have always had a problem with running up credit card bills for what I considered important stuff or “emergencies”. I am sure you can probably guess, most of these things were neither really important or real emergencies.

 However, I have always paid my credit card bills on time, and eventually in full, only to run them back up again.  I think that because I always paid my bills I felt like I was managing my credit cards, when in reality they were managing me. It has only been the last 6 months or so, when I came to the realization that I would never build real wealth by continuing along the same path, that I realized I even had a problem.  For me, it will probably be a long time before I will use credit cards on a regular basis again or get back into the “rewards” game.  I do feel like I would be responsible now, as I am not 100% credit card free anyway, but I don’t really fully trust myself.  I do still use them on occasion, but mostly for online purchases where I do not want to use my debit card, or for gas. I try to pay these off even more frequently than monthly. But I also have now built up an emergency fund to take care of real emergencies and no longer will rely on a credit card to bail myself out.

When you realize that your lack of discipline with credit cards is what likely got you into financial trouble in the first place, and don’t blame it on circumstances or bad luck, you then need to make a decision on whether you should really be using them at all.  Certainly, by stopping credit card usage for a length of time, one can begin to make strides on the road to becoming “debt free”.

By examining and determining your credit card usage “risk” potential, you can probably determine if you really should be jumping back into the world of credit card usage, balance transfers, or cash back rewards. Certainly, while many people are more than capable of using a credit card wisely and within reason, and can make money off of them, for others, frequently, the “rewards” are not worth the risk.

Filed under: Debt Reduction, General by RC - 1 Comment →

We have a winner in the 1st book giveaway for a copy of “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.  The winner is Sharon B. -You will be receiving an email shortly, to request your mailing address so I can mail you the book. Thanks to all those that participated; I will be giving away more personal finance books in the near future so stay tuned!

I participated in 2 carnivals this week.

Lynnae hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance #144-St. Patrick’s Day Edition and included my post “How to Spend Your Tax Refund or Economic Stimulus Rebate Wisely”.  Great carnival with an Irish theme and Irish quotes throughout.

Paid Twice hosted the Festival of Frugality #117- From Theory to Practice and included my post “10 Ways to Save Money on Gas While Driving-Drive More Efficiently”. Great job with the festival as well.

Be sure to visit these carnivals to read all of the posts.

Other reading I enjoyed this week:

NCN at the No Credit Needed Blog had  5 Ways to Teach Young Children about Money, Counting, and Making Change. I have 2 small children (one celebrated his 4th birthday today!), so I will try some of these suggestions out on him.

Paidtwice has a though provoking take on the cash vs. plastic in her post How a Small Transaction before Plastic Seems Absurd? I also struggle with cash burning a hole in my pocket, but I also feel funny putting very small amounts on my debit card.

Filed under: Roundups by RC - No Comments →

Even though I am only 34 years old (I know, that is ancient to some but young to others), I feel like I’ve made more than my share of money “mistakes” over the last 10 to 15 years.  For whatever reason, I have done many of the things that you always read that you should not do. Here are a few of the highlights (read: low-lights!)

Taking a 401k Loan- About 7 or 8 years ago, I took a 401k loan . Well, 3 months later, I changed jobs, and of course did not have the money to pay the loan back, so I ended up paying a 10% penalty and taxes on the loan proceeds.

Cashing in a 401k- A couple of years ago, after my wife stopped working to become a SAHM, we decided to go ahead and cash her 401k in, as it was not a lot of money. We really didn’t need it at the time, but we did it anyway, and once again paid the 10% penalty as well as taxes on the proceeds.

Taking out a loan for our wedding-  My wife and I, who will hit our 5 year anniversary in a couple of weeks, were both previously married.  We did not really expect her or my parents to pay for much of the wedding, so we decided to take out a bank loan to pay off some debts and pay for the wedding.  Although it joyous occasion, and wasn’t extravagant, we paid for the wedding for the next 30 months.

Financing both of our cars for 60 months-  Even though I though I was being thrifty by purchasing our current cars used, one 2 years old and one 3 years old, I financed both of them for 60 months each.  While one will be paid off in a few months and the other next year, it was a terrible idea. I do plan on keeping the cars for as long as possible, but I am currently paying 2 car notes, and have so for the last 4 years.  The day I no longer have a car note will be a happy one indeed.

Paying the minimum on my credit cards- Up until about 3 or 4 months ago, I did this regularly for the previous 5 or so years.  Obviously, I never made any real progress on paying down my debt because of this.  It has only been in the past few months that I have begun to make real progress on paying them down.

Not investing in a 401k at my first job- Even though it was a part-time job while I was in school, my company offered a 401k plan. I could have easily invested a small amount on a regular basis, but, being financially unsavvy, I did not even think about it until I graduated college and started my first full-time job.

Filed under: Investing, Saving Money by RC - 3 Comments →

 Best Buy announced yesterday that it was offering a $50 Best Buy Gift card of each HD-DVD player, manufactured by Toshiba, which was purchased before February 23, 2008.  Toshiba recently announced they  would no longer produce HD-DVD players, and movie studios will no longer produce movies in the HD-DVD format. Sony’s Blu-ray will now be the standard for High Definition dvd’s. 

From  Bestbuy.com: 

Most qualifying customers will automatically receive their complimentary gift card by mail in the coming weeks. If you qualify and haven’t received yours by May 1, 2008, please call us at 1-888-BEST-BUY to verify your eligibility (have your receipt handy, if possible).

Filed under: Spending Money by RC - No Comments →

We all like to learn new ways to save money, but the truth is that if you develop a frugal mindset, you will find yourself applying frugality in your everyday life and it will become a habit in everything you do. Below are some general principles of frugality that you can apply to many things you do, things you own, or purchases you make on a regular basis. 

1.) Take care of your things- Whether its your car, shoes, clothes, health, whatever;- taking care of things makes them last longer.  If you respect yourself and your things, realize that by taking care of them you will get more value out of them and they will last longer.

2.) Always try to fix things- Don’t be afraid to try to fix things when they are broken. Usually, at worst you will either need to replace it or get it fixed, which you would have done anyway.  More than likely, you will surprise yourself with the results.

3.) Don’t waste anything- Be mindful of wasting things, it is costing you money. Don’t waste electricity, food, gas, time, or anything else, especially money.

4.) Watch your pennies and your dollars will follow- This is an age old piece of advice, which still holds true today. If you examine even the smallest of your purchases, you will continue to do the same with your larger ones as well and you will find yourself making the right decisions with the larger ones.

5.) Always keep your eyes open for a good (or better) deal- Don’t be afraid to try a new, cheaper alternative to something just because you are used to a certain product or service.  Frequently, you will find that you are just as happy, if not happier, with a cheaper alternative.

Filed under: Frugality by RC - 4 Comments →

Whether you realize it or not,  everyday at your job is an opportunity to “market” yourself to your colleagues, superiors, clients and others. Frequently, and I know I do this myself, we can get in a rut working in the same office environment day in and day out, and it is hard to stay or even sometimes get motivated to “stand out”. But by understanding that the way you present and handle yourself in the workplace is what defines the type of worker people see you as and taking little steps to present yourself as a serious, confident, and capable worker and leader, you will increase your opportunities in the future for promotion and a higher salary. 

Don’t be a clock puncher- Even if you don’t pay attention to when people come to work and when they leave, rest assured someone, probably one of your superiors, does.  Arriving at work 5 or 10 minutes late everyday and leaving 5 or 10 minutes early tells those around you that you don’t take your job all that seriously. By coming in just a few minutes early, and not running for the door at 4:55 p.m., but staying 10 or 15 minutes later, you will become someone who cares about getting work done and not ready to “fly out the door” when 5:00 p.m. comes.

Take responsibility-don’t play the “blame game”- If you make a mistake with something, own up to it, be honest, and move on.  Everyone makes mistakes. Be honest when you “screw up”, and learn from the experience.

Don’t be a “yes man”- Don’t be afraid to speak your mind or give your opinion when you are asked by others.  You will be respected for your honesty.

Don’t rock the boat, either.- On the other end of the spectrum, however, you also do not want to be known as a complainer or a pessimist, always disagreeing with others and the way the may be donig things.  There is a differnece between constructive criticism and plain old criticism.

Network relentlessly-Even if you are a shy person, it is to your benefit to meet and talk with as many people as possible within your company and professional field.  You never know when an opportunity for yourself or your company is going to present itself just because you decided to be friendly with someone and talk with them. Make it a habit yo seek out new people and develop relationships with them.

Be a self starter- Don’t waste time thinking how you are going to start a project, just go ahead and
 start it.  If you waste too much time pontificating different approaches or thinking about something instead of actually doing it, you will set yourself up for trouble.  Start a task right away, and seek feedback on your approach or results.

Use your strengths, but work on improving your weaknesses.-  Are you not so good at managing people but proficient technically?  Then shine with your technical ability, while working to improve your management skills.

Keep a list of your accomplishments, accolades, etc.- Be ready when review time comes, and don’t be
afraid to toot your own horn.  Your boss may have forgotten how well you completed that project back in February,
as he probably has other things on his mind while he is doing your performance review. (possibly even his own review with his boss).

Delegate to Others- Just because you can do something yourself doesn’t mean you always should.  A good leader knows what to delegate, when to delegate, and who to delegate tasks to.

Assist others, within reasonable limits, whenever possible. Don’t let your work suffer as a result, however. No when to say “no”.

Dress for Sucess- This doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but dressing nice and keeping your appearance clean and neat helps you promote a professional image.  

Filed under: Career, General by RC - 3 Comments →

In celebration of the one month anniversary of the site, Think Your Way To Wealth, I will be giving away a gently used copy (in the spirit of frugality after all)  of “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. 

 To enter, subscribe to my RSS feed to get the secret entry word.  Email the word to me at:

 rc {at} thinkyourwaytowealth.com 

 The contest will end Saturday, March 23rd at midnight.  I will take all of the entries and use a random number generator to pick the winner. If you are the winner, I will contact  you via email to get your mailing address, so you must use a valid email address. Only readers in the  U.S. are eligible. I am the final judge on any disputes, etc. relating to the contest.

Carnivals I participated in this last week:

The Quest for Four Pillars included my post “A Simple Lesson in Wealth Building from the Forbes Billionaire List”  in the Canival of Personal Finance # 143-Oh Canada Edition.

My Dollar Plan selected my post “Vending Machine Economics: The Convenience Factor” as an editor’s pick in the Money Hacks Carnival #3: What is a Hack?

Thanks to both and a great job with the carnivals.

Filed under: Giveaways, Roundups by RC - 2 Comments →