Off to New Orleans!

Tomorrow morning I am off to New Orleans, LA for a 3 day (much needed) vacation. I am doing this on the cheap using miles and staying at my favorite hostel. I look forward to great food, awesome people, and good times.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Cheap & Easy Meals!

It has been a while since I have written about one of my largest expenses: food. I have been under a tight budget lately and have been experimenting with cheap meals. I actually do like to cook and love to try new things. Having a tight budget puts another spin on it.

Meals that are cheap and (reasonably) healthy:

• Spaghetti: This is the most popular option. I use Hunt's canned sauce, canned mushrooms, and the hamburger "meat log" from Kroger. Season meat with Worcestershire sauce while cooking. Cost: $4.76 + tax, 4 servings. $1.19 + tax per plate!
• Pork chops: I use the "breakfast" thin pork chops as they are leaner and thin. I season them as I like (all purpose Greek seasoning) and cook in the pan. I pair with either potatoes + veggie or 2 veggies (usually frozen). Cost: $5.65 + tax, 4 servings. $1.42 + tax per plate!
• Chicken Breasts: I buy the boneless, skinless breasts on sale at 1.99/lb. I season with Italian dressing and bake in the oven or grill. I pair with corn on the cob + veggie or 2 veggies (usually frozen). Cost: $3.99 + tax, serves 3. $1.33 + tax per plate!
• Tacos: I use the same meat as spaghetti. Buying separate is cheaper than the "kits" over the long term. Ingredients: ground beef, taco seasoning, flour tortillas, salsa, cheese, refried beans (canned). Cost: $5.52 + tax, serves 4. $1.38 + tax per plate! (some items are not used up so I pro rated them)

The above meals are easy to make from readily available ingredients. The major costs in all of the above are the meat. If you replace the meat with a beans/rice/pasta variation you can save more!

*All costs are based on my local Kroger prices. It includes my use of coupons, sales, and stockpiling thanks to the grocery game!

The $20 Challenge: I am going to do it!

I took this idea directly from this Get Rich Slowly guest post. I love the concept and am going to give it a try. At worst I stand to learn a good bit about various things and my maximum cost is $20.00!

For those not wanting to dig through the article here is the idea and rules:

• You and a friend (or partner/spouse/significant other) each take $20 to invest with the idea of making money. You can buy and resell things, invest the money, etc.
  
• Rule 1: You cannot add new money.
• Rule 2: You can reinvest earnings.
• Rule 3: It is ok to sell things you already have to increase the investment.
• Rule 4: The challenge is for 365 days.

That is it! I have a few ideas (buying at yard sales and selling, etc.) of what I want to do to see if I can come out on top. I have had some ideas for making money on the side floating in my head. This is my chance to try them cheaply!

I will post regular updates of my progress.

Coupons + Deals This Week

This is a weekly post of all the good deals that I have found online that are of note. They usually include free or deeply discounted items. A lot of them require coupons that are printable. Easy and free is the goal here!

This Week's Findings:

• WalMart: $1: 40 oz Heinz ketchup. I love ketchup! I also love cheap ketchup! No coupons needed just go stock up!
• WalMart: $0.19 Corn on the cob. This is as cheap as it gets folks! 19 cents an ear is a really good price!
• Arbys: FREE Jr. Chicken Sandwich with any purchase @ Coupon Cravings. Follow directions on the blog post to get the coupon.

Deals seem to be picking up! I am looking forward to more this week!

Weekly Blog Roundup

This is a series where I link to my favorite blog posts from the financial blogs that I follow and read directly. These are the articles I found particularly useful or good in some way. I hope you enjoy my choices and learn something too!

Week of 5/17/2010:

• Why you need a budget @ Bargaineering. Jim gets back to basics as he writes about why we all NEED a budget. Good read for those getting started in the journey to financial freedom.
  
• Reader Story: The $20 Challenge @ Get Rich Slowly. JD Posted a reader story which I found interesting and fun. I wrote about this on Friday and plan to do it myself!
  
• Five Simple Substitutions, One Big Change @ The Simple Dollar. Trent gives 5 easy things we can do to slash our budgets. I have done a couple of these myself!
  

These are my favorites for the last week. Feel free to comment and share some others that I may have missed or not even know about. Have a great week!

The $20 challenge!

I recently read about a game that anyone can do called the $20 challenge. The idea is simple: you take $20 and invest it in any way you wish in order to make money. Whatever you earn can be reinvested but you cannot add money. I like this idea as it gives me something to do and I can learn!

I have some ideas of what I would do with it to make money:

• Get some of my photos printed and try to sell them
• Buy something from a yard sale that I know I can sell for more online (such as eBay or craigslist)
• Loan it out on Prosper.com

The list goes on...

Anyone can do this as $20 should not be too hard to come by. If you eat out one less time in a month then you can get started. Give it a try! A good time frame is a year for tracking purposes.

5 FREE iPhone apps that make my financial life easier

I admit that I love my iPhone and own 2 Mac computers. I try to get the most bang for my buck out of technology. I work in the IT sector so I am constantly exposed too it and use everything to their full potential

Toady I am going to share with you a few iPhone applications that make managing my money easier. Here is what I use:

• Quicken Online - Cost: Free. I use quicken online to track all of my accounts. The service itself is free and so is the iPhone app. Great tool!
• Amortize - Cost: Free. This is a simple tool to calculate loan payments. You enter total loan amount, interest rate (annual), and number of years. It gives you the payment per month.
• XE Currency - Cost: Free. This is the best tool I have seen to do currency conversions. Very useful for converting prices back to dollars for overseas trip planning.
• Groupon - Cost: Free. This is an extension of groupon.com. It, among many other similar sites, save me a lot in "going out" costs. Having it on the phone makes it easy to scan for deals
• VehiCal - Cost: Free. Used for tracking mileage for business. I use this a lot for my side consulting business. It makes my tax reporting a lot easier!

I can justify the cost of my iPhone since I used it so much. It has made my life easier in many other ways than the above and I also think it is a really nice phone. Everyone has their own splurges and this is one of mine!

Useful and Free: dropbox.com!

Dropbox is an application where you can automatically synchronize your files between computers (any mix of Mac and PC), mobile phones, and the web. It is a free service that provides 2 GB of space. You have the option to pay if you need more space.

http://www.dropbox.com

I love how seamless and easy it is. I just drop the file in my dropbox folder and it syncs to all locations. It is a great way to backup important files automatically and you will always have your more current changes everywhere. It takes out a lot of legwork.

Never be without an important file again!

Coupons + Deals this week

This is a weekly post of all the good deals that I have found online that are of note. They usually include free or deeply discounted items. A lot of them require coupons that are printable. Easy and free is the goal here!

This Week's Findings:

• Free Kotex Sample Pack @ Coupon Cravings
  
• 2 FREE Suave deodorants from Dollar General @ Coupon Cravings
• Free Full Size bottle of Suave Shampoo @ Money Saving Methods
  

It has been a little better this week with the deals. Things look to be picking up for the summer. Bring on the freebies!

Weekly Blog Roundup

This is a series where I link to my favorite blog posts from the financial blogs that I follow and read directly. These are the articles I found particularly useful or good in some way. I hope you enjoy my choices and learn something too!

Week of 5/10/2010:

• Ask the Readers: Should I take out a loan to buy a car? @ Get Rich Slowly. A college student in a special situation asks for help. I commented on this one myself! Interesting read and especially the comments with varying points of view.
  
• A Money Rebuilding Year @ Bargaineering. This is a great guide for those just starting to button down and get your finances in order. Even I learned a couple of things!
  
• The Love and Hate of Work @ The Simple Dollar. Trent writes about a woman who had a long career and found happiness being a school lunch lady. Very interesting read and insightful.
  

These are my favorites for the last week. Feel free to comment and share some others that I may have missed or not even know about. Have a great week!

May 2010 Prosper Lending Update

It is the middle of the month again and it is time for my update on prosper.com lending. I had 1 more loan payoff and 2 have gone slightly late. One filed bankruptcy and I expect to get nothing further from it. I also had 1 more loan officially charged off by prosper that I have already written off.

I am no longer bidding on prosper loans unless they come from my lending group. I am drawing down my account for now. I "write off" all loans in collections as a loss.

Here are my stats as of today:

Outstanding Loans:

Late: 2 (< 30 days)
In Collections: 4 (written off)
Current: 39

Closed Loans:

Charged Off: 4
Paid Off: 15

Open Bids: 0

Total currently invested: $1,236.42 (Principal Value)
Cash in Account: $7.63 (includes open bids)

Total Principal: $1,244.05

HELOC Closing tomorrow!

Tomorrow I close on my home equity line of credit. I am getting it from a local credit union that pegs the rate at prime + 0.00%. The rate is currently at their minimum rate of 4%. This is being used to repay all the money I borrow form family to do my home remodel.

I am paying $0 in closing costs and will have access to the money next week. This is the final step in my house remodel process. I can now move on with my life!

6 Changes I have made to save money

Ever since my pay cut I have been digging deep to find ways to cut expenses. I find I am more on edge about money and worry about it more often now. Work is a little slow too which also concerns me a bit. I am also closing on my home equity line of credit Friday so hopefully that will get me some "closure" on that debt.

As a result I have made some changes to save money. They are:

• I formed a new habit of turns lights on and off religiously
• Programmed my thermostat to be as efficient as possible
• Cooking a lot more meals at home
• Using online deals for going out (Groupon, half off depot, etc)
• Utilizing the grocery game to save on food
• Searching more diligently for side computer repair work

I am running out of things I can change though. My budget is quite tight now and will be for some time. I am working very hard to find extra income so I can pay down my debts and remove the handcuffs of payments each month. I made my mistakes and now I have to pay for them.

It is not easy and I have been a bit down about it lately. I am forcing myself to push forward and keep up momentum. I am considering a vacation with a friend to do a cross country road trip. I need some time away from it all!

Coupons + Deals this week

This is a weekly post of all the good deals that I have found online that are of note. They usually include free or deeply discounted items. A lot of them require coupons that are printable. Easy and free is the goal here!

This Week's Findings:

• Walgreen's: Schick Hydro 3 or Hydro 5 Razor for $2.99. Requires Sunday paper. Use $5 off coupon from 5/9/2010 Smart Source Coupon insert. Good deal! @ Coupon Cravings
  
• 5/11/2010 ONLY: QuikTrip: FREE 32 oz fountain drink. No purchase required. Simply "Like" them on Facebook and print coupon. @ Coupon Cravings

It has been a thin week of deals. It seems that this time of year has companies in a lull as far as great deals are concerned. Hopefully more next week!

Weekly Blog Roundup

This is a series where I link to my favorite blog posts from the financial blogs that I follow and read directly. These are the articles I found particularly useful or good in some way. I hope you enjoy my choices and learn something too!

Week of 5/3/2010:

• How to Save Money Every Month @ Bargaineering. Jim writes about a few easy to do things that cut monthly bills. Everyone should do this!
  
• Three Things the Amish Taught Me About Money @ Get Rich Slowly. A guest poster writes about his experience with the Amish and the money lessons learned. Very interesting read!
  
• Remaking Your Path of Least Resistance @ The Simple Dollar. Trent writes about various strategies to help you focus on what needs to be done and break old habits. Good ideas!
  

These are my favorites for the last week. Feel free to comment and share some others that I may have missed or not even know about. Have a great week!

Remodel Finished: Now the work begins!

I am declaring that my home remodel is complete. The appraisal has been done. I am processing my new loan, and I have stopped spending 90% of every weekend working on my house. I am able to relax a bit and enjoy a little free time. Now the real work begins!

Since I have a finished house I can start to focus on a lot of other things on the list. My decoration is essentially nonexistent, I have a ton of basic household items on my "need" list, and I still need to fully unpack and organize things.

Here is a shortened version of what I need to do next:

• Move my unpacked boxes into the rooms in which they belong (or storage area)
• Unpack and sort the items in each box appropriately
• Get rid of stuff I no longer need
  
• Shop at thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets for needed furnishings
• Make my house a home!

I definitely have my work cut out for me. It also requires a good bit of money which I don't have at the moment. My plan is to get things little by little until I have all that I need. The most important part is to not get further into debt due to impatience!

Savings Strategy: Make payments to yourself!

Saving money up for a large purchase can be a difficult task. For some it is daunting to need to save up $5,000 or even $10,000 to purchase a car or other big ticket item. I find the best way is to "make payments to yourself". Let me explain.

Let's say your goal is to save up to buy a newer used car. Your current car is mechanically sound and will be for the next few years. The time to start is now. Pretend you are buying the car today and using a loan. Instead of borrowing money and paying back start today by putting the equivalent of the monthly payment in a savings account.

Assume your budget allows $300 per month for a "car payment." If you start putting $300 per month into savings you will have $10,800 in 3 years plus interest. Once you buy the car you want you can use this savings and have no payment! Instead of paying interest you earned it. Sounds much better right? Simply put whatever your budget allows in savings for the goal and you will get there quickly!

Making payments to yourself not only saves you hundreds in interest it also builds good habits. You can apply this strategy to any purchase such as a home down payment, large renovation project, starting a business, etc. Always be sure to have your emergency fund completely funded before saving for other goals. This prevents you from having to tap the savings for the goal in a time of need.

For those of us who are worried we will spend the money elsewhere the best bet is to have the savings account at a different bank than your main checking account. If you have to take extra steps to move the money you will think twice. I do this myself and it works very well!

Coupons + Deals this week

This week was fairly decent for deals. Better than the past 2 that is for sure.

Here is what I found:

• Facebook: Free Can of Libby's Veggies @ Coupon Cravings
• Target: Old El Paso Taco Seasoning for 0.03 each after printable coupon @ Coupon Cravings
• Facebook: Kraft Foods Summer Sample pack @ Coupon Cravings & Money Saving Methods

Hopefully next week will bring even more deals!

Weekly Blog Roundup

This is a series where I link to my favorite blog posts from the financial blogs that I follow and read directly. These are the articles I found particularly useful or good in some way. I hope you enjoy my choices and learn something too!

Week of 4/26/2010:

• How to Avoid Tipping Scams & Ripoffs @ Bargaineering. This is a good guide to make sure you don't get money stolen from you by nefarious restaurant staff. It is a bit technical for me but the ideas in it are solid.
  
• Reader Story: I'm Done With Debt @ Get Rich Slowly. A GRS reader shares his story of high consumer debt, bankruptcy, and recovery. Good read for those in money trouble.
  
• Dressed for Success, the Frugal Way @ The Simple Dollar. This article explains how to dress smart and not spend a small fortune doing so. I liked it as most of us never thought to go this route to dress "right".
  

These are my favorites for the last week. Feel free to comment and share some others that I may have missed or not even know about. Have a great week!

My Home Refinance: Changes of plans

So I got my appraisal in for my newly renovated house. It came it at well over what I paid for it but also MUCH lower than I was expecting. This has essentially scrapped my plans for refinance and now I have to take a different route.

Because I can only borrow 80% of the value of my home I am going with a home equity line of credit. This will give me enough to repay my family for the materials cost of my remodel. At this point I am happy to be able to pay them off!

As for my other plans, which included consolidation of my debts and faster repayment, I am stuck with my current set of monthly payments. Combined with my new home equity payment my budget just got a lot tighter. I am now making what small adjustments I can to help compensate.

All in all I am still going to be OK. This was a major blow to me mentally at first but now I am going to suck it up and move on. Nothing can really be done at this point unless I find a much higher paying job. I am now focusing hard on getting more side work and doing what I can to start to pay this down as quickly as possible. Sometimes the road of life makes unexpected turns that you don't necessarily like...