How I Will Be Rich

Archive for the ‘Frugality’ Category

I’m back. I was sick for a couple days, I rested and took a lot of medicine and then I went to Las Vegas for New Years. It’s kind of a tradition to do New Years in Vegas for us. I think this is the last year that we are going to do it. Everything is getting too expensive. They raise the prices on everything. The buffets are $30 per person, the rooms cost over a $100 per night, the drinks are more expensive and it gets more and more crowded every single year. It is definitely losing its appeal. I’ve adopted a more frugal lifestyle and spending that much on New Years just does not fit in anymore.

I do have some tips that I can offer up.

Lower Your Room Prices
If you’ve booked your room quite a bit in advance (like we did), you can usually call a day or two before you leave and ask if the rates have lowered at all. We booked our room about three months in advance. Two days before we left, we called the hotel and asked if any of the rates have changed. Sure enough, we got our room costs down by over $50 per night. This is the second year in a row that this has happened. It may not always work like this but it certainly doesn’t hurt to try.

Get The Player’s Club Cards
Even if you don’t gamble, it’s still a good idea to sign up for the various player’s club cards at the various casinos. The card itself almost always comes with a book or a sheet of coupons. We signed up for a card at the Tropicana and received a two-for-one coupon at the buffet. A couple years ago we stayed at the Stratosphere and received free passes to go up in to the tower. It’s worth it to sign up for a card. I just give them a junk e-mail address that I hardly ever check and decline to give them my phone number.

Free Drinks in Las Vegas
If you are like me and like to have a drink now and then, you can’t beat the drink prices in Vegas. I like to go to the penny machines, put a dollar in and barely touch the machine until a server comes around. They comp me a free drink for gambling and I cash out and walk away. It’s the Vegas way…

Take Advantage of the Free Shows
Vegas has so many things to do that don’t cost any money. It’s fun to just walk up and down the strip and see what you can see. The Bellagio has the water show (See the end of Ocean’s 11). The Mirage has an “active” volcano out front. Treasure Island has a pirate show. The hotels themselves are just cool to see anyway. The Venetian re-creates the Venice Canal inside, Caesar’s Palace has Roman statues that move and talk, MGM grand has a large lion habitat, and the Mirage has white tigers. There are some very cool things to see and do, absolutely free, in Vegas.

If you’re ever in Vegas, follow some of those tips. My only other piece of advice is to stay the heck away for New Years. It’s too crowded and too expensive.

It’s that time of year again…
It’s the time of year when you go crazy because you’ve got to figure out what to get everyone that you know for the holidays. It’s the time of year when your bank account gets close to empty and you have to start whipping out those credit cards to make sure that everyone you know gets at least a gift card from you. It’s holiday season and, despite my frugal ways, I avoided the malls like a plague on Black Friday. To tell you the truth, I’ve barely even started my Christmas shopping this year.

This year is going to be different.
This year, I’m not going to let my self drop in to the negative trying to find everyone I know a Christmas present. This year I’m setting a budget. I recommend this for everyone. Figure out a number that you can afford to spend and stick with it. In fact, try to stay below it. Get creative with your gift ideas.

An inexpensive alternative.
I recently posted about gifting to instill frugal values. Some of the ideas were a little pricey. If you have a hard time staying within your budget, I have an idea that will show that you thought about them and care about them. It really doesn’t even require that you spend much money on them either. My mom makes the best banana bread. Every year she gives all of her employees a homemade banana bread. Everyone loves it. No one sits around and thinks about how cheap she is because she doesn’t go out a spend a bunch of money on everyone. Everyone enjoys their treat and compliments her on how great she is.

Bake something nice for them.
Baking is a great way to show some one that you appreciate them and that you thought about them for the holidays. It’s inexpensive as well. You can make gifts for several people with one set of ingredients. Cookies, banana bread, homemade pies, cupcakes, brownies and fudge all make excellent and tasty gifts.

When you are getting close to your budget limit and you still have a few people left on your list, consider this as an inexpensive but well appreciated gift.

Photo Credit: aprilandrandy

The holidays are here and everyone is in rush mode to come up with the perfect gifts for their loved ones. You, being the frugal minded person that you are, want to promote a frugal lifestyle. One way to do this is to give gifts that promote frugality. I’m talking about gifts that will ultimately save the recipient some cash. I’ve come up with a list of fifteen gifts that would be great to give to instill some frugal habits in your loved ones.

If you click on the picture, it will shoot you over to Amazon.

	A Water Pitcher How much bottled water do people go through? I don’t know the statistical answer but I know it’s a lot. People pay about a buck a bottle to basically get purified tap water. I’ve got a better idea… Get one of these little jugs fill it with tap water everyday and eliminate the bottles. You can save the recipient of this gift so much money over the long run.
A Good Water Bottle So you just gifted a sweet pitcher that’s going to save hundreds of dollars on bottled water. But what if they are on the go? Water bottles really come in handy then, right? Yes they do. So get them a good one that they can fill up from their cool pitcher and take with them wherever they go.
	Rechargeable Batteries & Charger Who can’t use batteries? The answer is nobody. Everyone needs to use batteries. Set someone up with batteries that they can use over and over again. You’ll save them quite a bit of money on having to buy batteries again and again.
Smart Power Strip These things are pretty cool. This will keep your electronics from consuming any energy while they are turned off plus it will shut off any peripherals that are hooked up to your tv or computer when it is turned off. You’ll save the recipient tons of money on electricity. You’ll start to see a theme going here in a second…
	Sensor Plug Here’s another little device that will save some money. Plug your lamps or various other things you’d only use while in the room in to this guy and the motion detector will shut it off when no one is around.
Green Plug This plug will reduce energy usage and waste. Plug in your large appliances, like your refrigerator, in to it and save some money.
	Energy Efficient Light Bulbs These will save your loved one money in a couple ways. They will cut energy consumption down by 75%, saving money on their electricity bill. They will also save them money on replacing bulbs because they last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.
Programmable Thermostat This may not be the best choice for a friend but it may make a good gift idea for your own household. Program it to only run when you are around and shut off when it hits your optimum temperature. It’s a great way to cut down on electricity costs.
	Quicken What better way to get a loved one to focus on their money then by getting a program that shows them where all their money goes. Help them set it up and teach them about budgeting and watching where all their money goes.
Crank Light This is a cool little gadget. It’s a flashlight that never needs batteries. Just crank it and turn it on. The recipient can keep it in their car and they never have to worry about buying new batteries.
	Tire Gauge If you read my post from yesterday, I talked about ways to save money on gas. One way to do this is to keep your tires inflated to the optimum level. Give this to someone who is concerned with rising gas prices and teach them to keep air in their tires to save some bucks.
ScanGauge This was another one that I recommended yesterday. Install this in your car and you’ll be able to better keep an eye on how your car is consuming gas. It actually tells you how many MPGs you are getting in real time. If you are always keeping an eye on your consumption, you’re sure to save some money.
	Food Saver Keep food fresh for longer. You can use this to store your leftovers and have good fresh food for weeks. This will help save some money on eating out all the time or constantly having to go to the grocery store. You won’t need to throw away as much food.
A Good Old Fashion Piggy Bank This one is great for younger kids that you’d like to introduce to the concept of saving money. Get them a piggy bank so that they can start stashing away coins now. This piggy bank isn’t cool enough? Check out some over at The Digerati Life.

Personal Finance Books

I can’t go without recommending some personal finance books. Books make a great gift. They are especially great if they teach the recipient how to save money and make money. It’s like a gift that keeps on giving.

So get out there and spread the good word of frugality. Happy holiday shopping.

-M

I drive a truck. It’s actually a pretty big truck. They aren’t quite known for getting great gas mileage and with my V8 engine, I certainly know that I’m not. It would probably be much more economical for me to drive a smaller car that gets much better gas mileage but due to my job and the hobbies that I enjoy, I drive a truck. Because I don’t quite drive the most gas economical vehicle, I have to find other ways to make up for it.

Drive With Gas Economy in Mind.
The best way to suck up gas quickly is to drive with a lead foot. If you follow the speed limit, and make an effort to go easy on the gas from a stop, you will really notice the difference. I installed a little device in my truck called a ScanGauge. Using this, I can see, in real time, my truck’s actual gas consumption. Since installing this, my gas mileage per tank has increased dramatically. I was able to notice the problem areas when driving. The most gas is consumed when coming from a start. If you accelerate too quickly, you’ll eat gas quick. Take it easy from a stop. If you cruise down the freeway at 80 mph, your gas mileage will be significantly lower than if you were to cruise between 55 and 65. (By the way, that is not an affiliate link. I am just a fan of the device)

Keep Air in Your Tires.
You will be amazed at how something so simple as keeping your tires at the proper pressure will improve your gas mileage. A couple months ago I was driving out to the desert. It’s about 100 miles each way from my house. When I got there, I got my truck stuck in the sand and had to air down the tires to get out of the sand. I hadn’t realized that my tire pressure was probably about 10 PSI or so under the recommended level on the drive out. When I aired my tires back up, I filled them to the proper PSI. According to my ScanGauge, I enjoyed a whole 1 mpg increase on the drive home. That’s pretty substantial over a long period of time. Ever since that trip, I check my tire pressure on a weekly basis.

Don’t Top Off Your Tank.
When you’re filling up and the pump clicks, indicating that you’re full, stop pumping. There’s really no point in squeezing the pump a couple more times to get a few extra drips. You are just spending a few extra bucks and you are not getting any added miles. The gas expands on warm days and will just seep out.

Buy The Lowest Grade Octane That Your Car Can Take.
If your car’s manual says 87 Octane, there is no added benefit to purchasing a higher grade. Your vehicle was designed to run at its optimum level using the recommended octane. Purchasing a higher octane is a waste of money and, most likely, your car wasn’t even designed to run it. (The same goes for the octane booster additives. There is no point to boost the octane beyond what is recommended for your vehicle to run.)

Cheapest Isn’t Always The Best.
I got the idea for this post while I was driving home from my girlfriend’s house last night. I passed an Arco and a 7-11 that were right next to each other. Arco was selling 87 Octane for $3.19/gallon and the 7-11 (Which sells Citgo Gas) was $3.31/gallon. It’s kind of funny how two gas stations that are right next to each other are so far apart in price. The thing that may surprise a lot of people is that if I actually needed to stop for gas, I probably would have stopped at 7-11. I usually get Cheveron. They aren’t really known for being the cheapest either. I know there’s been rumors that Arco (or BP) waters down their gas or somehow thins it out but in actuality, that’s not really the case. You will most likely go just as far on a tank of gas no matter which station you filled up at. The real difference is in the additives that the gas company puts in their gas. Cheveron, and the slightly pricier gas stations, are known for additives that will reduce wear and tear on the engine. These additives can decrease the accumulation of buildup in vital engine parts and prolong the life of your vehicle. I am much more concerned with making sure I won’t have to replace my truck any time in the near future than I am about spending an extra $3.00 on my tank of gas.

Keep some of these tips in mind when you’re out on the road, you pass a gas station and you can’t believe that gas prices are pushing $3.50 a gallon. You can’t keep the prices from going up, but you can save some money if you pay attention to your car and your driving habits.

-M

Photo Credit: daviddesign

Photo By glindsay65

I’m back and I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. It’s not often that I get a four day weekend so I took that opportunity to get out of town for a few days. I spent my time camping in the desert and we had a blast. Unfortunately, my blog isn’t to the point where I have guest posters just lining up so my blog just basically shut down for a few days. When I opened Google feedreader this morning I had over 200 posts waiting for me. That was a little overwhelming. Luckily, about half of them were posts wishing the readers a happy thanksgiving so I managed to sift quickly. When I checked my Feedburner stats after the long weekend, I was surprised to learn that my subscribers had jumped significantly. I have no idea what or who I have to thank for that but, as of right now, I’m on track to meet my goals for this month.

I’m sure a lot of people already know this but today has been dubbed “Cyber Monday.” It’s kind of the equivalent of Black Friday but the online version. Today is a day to go to all of the online retailers and get huge discounts on products online. I guess the reason behind this is that everyone is going back to work after the Thanksgiving holiday, sitting down at their desks and are still kind of in that Christmas shopping mood. To tell you the truth, today is the day I plan on doing all of my Christmas shopping. I’ve been doing it online for years now. It beats going to the stores and fighting off soccer moms to get my hands on that tickle me elmo or that last copy of Guitar Hero 3. If the online stores are going to start offering sales on a particular day, that’s the route I’m going take. You get all the discounts of Black Friday with out all of the traffic, crowds and tug-of-war matches for that last item in stock.

I was going to take a whole bunch of time and hunt around the internet for all of the sites that were offering deals for Cyber Monday but before I got to doing that, I found a couple of blogs that have already listed some great places that are offering deals. As you’d probably expect, you can find all sorts of great deals at Amazon but other than that check out these blogs.

Generation X Finance has a list of 11 sites that are currently offering discounts through the end of the day today along with the coupon codes that may be required.

Simply Thrifty has a list of 10 places where you can find deals and coupons for Cyber Monday deals.

Apparently there is also a CyberMonday.Com that lists just tons of places to find deals.

As you can see, there really is no point in me listing all the deals you can find for this Cyber Monday when there are already resources out there that are going to be much more thorough than I can be. Check these sites out and get your Holiday shopping done early and at a discount (without ever leaving your home or office).

-M