Money Hacks

Create a will. I know you’re young, and I know you’re not going to die any time soon, but create a will anyhow.  “The importance of an up-to-date will cannot be overstated,” writes David Chilton in The Wealthy Barber.

Wills give clear legal instructions regarding your intentions. Verbally expressing your wishes isn’t enough. A will is crucial even for those with modest assets.

The largest package isn’t always the most cost-effective. Stores know that consumers want to buy in bulk, and so they mix it up: sometimes the bulk item is cheaper, sometimes it’s more expensive. The only way you can be sure is to take a calculator.

Our grocery store posts unit pricing for most items, which makes comparisons easy.  Be aware that many manufacturers are decreasing packaging sizing but are not decreasing product pricing. The best way to get the best deal is to compare unit pricing.

A hometown vacation is a great option for frugal folks. 

Set a budget. Just as you’d use a normal vacation budget, set one for your stay-at-home getaway. Whether you opt to take the frugal approach or allow yourself to splurge as if you were traveling out of town, create a spending plan and stick to it. 

Grab a guidebook. Tourist guides contain great info about cheap eats, cool spots, and local history. You’ll find guidebooks at local book stores. Or if you’re a member of AAA, pick one up at the local office. (Better yet, borrow one from the public library!)

Research suggests senior citizens, people in crisis (e.g., coping with a death or debt), college students, small business owners, minorities, and immigrants are especially at risk of being victimized. Avoid making big-ticket purchases during times of duress.

This point cannot be emphasized enough.

Salespeople will often attempt to create artificial stress because they know it makes you more likely to buy. That guy who knocks on your door offering to sell you the last frozen chicken in his truck at a discount? He’s creating artificial pressure to get you to buy.

Pay yourself first. To pay yourself first means simply this: Before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set aside a portion of your income to save.  Start now, even if it is a small amount. 

Establishing this important practice and turning it into a monthly routine is an important first step to establishing an emergency fund for the unexpected.  The pay yourself first ritual can also be used to set money aside for something outside of your regular budget like a vacation, home upgrade, or a nice evening out.

When I pay myself first, I place the money in an online high-yield savings account.

We live in a consumer culture. We’re constantly bombarded by advertising, advertising that is cleverly designed to get us to buy the latest Thneed (or Zizzer-Zoof Seeds). It’s easy to become swept away by desire. We’re manipulated into desire by marketing.

It’s not something to feel guilty about, but it is something to strive to overcome.

Unfortunately disasters can happen at anytime. Earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, and fire can cause havoc to anyone. It is important to keep all of your important financial and personal paperwork in one place for it to be portable (electronically or hard copy) at a moment’s notice. Having some cash on hand might come in handy if you need to leave town quickly or ATM’s or charge cards are not working.

There are three important sources I utilize for cheap furniture: friends, garage sales, and Craigslist.

In my circle of friends, we often offer each other perfectly good sofas or desks or chairs for free or for very little money. Family members, too, sometimes have furniture they’re seeking to get rid of.

Garage sales almost always have furniture of some sort. You can find cheap stuff, but you can also find good deals on quality furniture. At our own garage sales, we’ve sold a perfectly good loveseat, a nice dining room set, and some quality easy chairs. We asked a little more for this quality furniture than we would for other stuff, but the prices were still bargains.

Craigslist is the ultimate frugality resource. Scanning the current listings for furniture in Portland, I can spot a pair of end tables for $5, a $20 easy chair, and a $45 faux leather loveseat. You can’t always find quality furniture at these prices, but you can certainly find furniture that is functional.

Gasoline prices change frequently, and might vary by as much as twenty percent within only a few blocks. Though it doesn’t make sense to drive a mile or two out of your way to find the best deal, it’s silly not to take advantage if you can find lower prices two streets over.

GasBuddy allows motorists to share information about low-priced fuel with others, as well as target the lowest priced stations to save money while filling up at the pumps!

Most of my friends are having children. For some couples, the new financial realities are shocking. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance offers a financial calculator to answer the question: Can one of you afford to quit? This tool is for more than just new parents, though. What if one of you wants to start a new business? Go back to school? Simply retire?
 

Before deciding to live on only one income — to take care of children, go back to school or even start a business — a two-income family must consider a number of questions.  First, can you afford to quit?  Besides the reduction of income, you could face a new set of expenses and have to re-examine your saving goals and priorities.  This worksheet will help you develop a snapshot of your cash flow before and after these adjustments.

 
This calculator does not presume to tell you what you should do; it’s merely a handy web-based sandbox tool for playing with numbers.