Uncommon Cents

If you are wondering where the incredible Kyle of Rather-Be-Shopping and his regular feature is today, he’s taking a few days off to enjoy the July 4th holiday and do stuff with his family. He’ll be back next week!

I’m continuing to work on reducing my gasoline use. As you may recall, my goal–5% less gasoline use from my baseline of 10.5 gallons per week–means keeping my consumption at or below 9.98 gallons from Sunday through Saturday. Given the 24.8 miles per gallon that I calculated during my “baseline week”, I estimate that I need to drive 247.7 miles per less each week in order to meet that goal.

This past week my total mileage was 225.7, well (8.9%) below the 247.7 mile goal. My per gallon mileage appeared a bit worse, at 24.27 miles per gallon, so I estimate my total gas used for this week as 9.3 gallons, meaning for the second time in five weeks I’ve been able to meet my goal.

Averaging out the five weeks, I’ve driven 245.1 miles per week, using approximately 9.91 gallons of gas for a calculated 24.74 miles per gallon; that means that while I’ve met my goal only 40% of the weeks I’ve monitored it, my average for all of the weeks is meeting my 5% target.

It’s clear that the only way for me to make even this small dent in my gasoline use is to drive less. All of the other tips–keeping tires inflated properly, not idling for large periods of time, maximizing right turns, finding the most efficient routes, and driving the speed limit–were things I was already doing. So I’m down to the most drastic, but most efficient tactic: just drive less.

We’ll continue to monitor this and see if I can figure out any other ways to get my gasoline use down!

No one, including me, is immune to temptation.

I have wanted a GPS for some time. Recently I learned of this offer via a blog post at Frugal Shopping With Julie. No, I didn’t need a third Discover card (I have a regular one I’ve used forever and a day and the Discover Open Road for 5% back on gas), but I figured one more wouldn’t hurt, so I applied and got the card.

In order to qualify for the GPS offer, I actually had to use the card! This doesn’t surprise me, but I had to read the fine print to figure that out; of course, at the same time I noticed the 0% balance transfer offers (with 3% fee, so much for 0%) and 0% interest on purchases for a few months.

All of this while I’m trying to figure out what to buy to activate the GPS promotion. What to buy with the card?

The best answer: something I would normally be charging anyway, like groceries at the store this week.

The answer running through my head: something I really want, like a Cradlepoint router or an Apple Airport Extreme or a Nikon D40. Something I don’t have the money to pay for right away.

Stop. Breathe. Think.

Buying stuff that I can’t yet pay for with offers like, “0% interest for the next year!” is exactly the kind of thing that got me into financial straits years ago. The way to stay out of those kinds of straits is to avoid going down that same trap. I’ve been fooled once; I’m not going to be fooled again.

That doesn’t mean I am not tempted. The difference between now and then, however, is I can manage that temptation without giving in to it.

In the meantime, I got some organic peanut butter and crackers at the store the other night, and used that new Discover card then. I’m hoping that I get a new GPS in the mail soon, but what I definitely won’t get is into debt, zero percent or not.

I received a note from the State Tax Collector in the mail.

“Uh oh.”

The letter stated in a rather straightforward matter that I had miscaclulated and underpaid on my taxes. I immediately got out my photocopy of my 2007 taxes and discovered that yes, indeed, I had made an error. I had taken the amount I owed from a column one too far to the left while looking it up in the tax table, meaning I underpaid my taxes by $83.

Moreover, I owed a bit of interest and a penalty due to the underpayment. A statement would be forthcoming (it came about a week later), so my total owed was approximately $100.

A $17 lesson.

Next time I work on my own taxes–and I have a hard time seeing myself not working on my own taxes, even when they are a bit more complicated–I need to triple check them. That’s the lesson–we learn through mistakes, and the difference between a beginner and a master is 10,000 mistakes. There’s one of them.

The silver lining is that I can charge the amount owed online, which will get me a little back (1.25%) and let me get a little more time to come up with the cash. And hopefully, I’ve learned my lesson.

Let’s face it: twenty years ago, not many Americans had mobile phones; today, it’s hard to find many without them. In 2008, the mobile phone is close to a necessity, the same way that a landline is close to a necessity–it’s not food, water, or clothing, but it’s hard to communicate in this day and age still without a phone (you could probably get by with just email and instant messaging, but it would require being tied to a computer a lot).

Today I ordered a new Samsung Upstage phone with a $30 a month Sprint SERO plan which I learned about through Five Cent Nickel; my current Samsung A920 and $50 a month Sprint (non-SERO) plan contract expires in less than a month, so I’ll be looking at switching over. For $30 a month, I get 500 “Anytime Minutes” (I rarely go over 100 minutes a month because after talking on the phone at work all day, I dislike talking on the phone), unlimited night/weekend minutes (after 7 pm), unlimited text messaging, and unlimited high speed data.

For mobile phones, it’s quite a deal. Considering I use the data heavily, I really need Sprint (despite the fact that I am chronically unhappy with their anemic customer service) because they offer a low price unlimited data plan that operates over a fast network.

Or do I?

I question the term “need” that I just used there. I survived well over half my life without a mobile phone–not one I owned, but mobile phones being used by any except the very wealthy, meaning no one I knew personally even had a mobile phone. Even after they started becoming commonplace, I didn’t get one for myself until about five years ago.

Has it become a need? It’s certainly not in the need category of food, water, shelter, or clothing; it’s also not a need quite like electricity or gasoline. Communication by phone is still a type of necessity, but is mobile communication by phone a necessity? It’s a convenience, for sure, and in most (but not all) ways it can replace your landline (notice how many people are going without landlines these days?).

It’s more of a need, however, than an iPod or a new bike or even a more expensive phone. It fits into the category of need more than want. Even then, however, I consider how I can handle this situation in as frugal a manner as possible. While I don’t think I actually “need” a mobile phone with fast Internet access, I think that it would make me have to change my lifestyle substantially to keep that $30 a month in my pocket, and that the $30 is a worthwhile–although not totally necessary–expense. When you consider if something is a want, a need, or just a way to maintain your lifestyle in a way you find financially worthwhile, you can research ways to make any of the above into a frugal proposition and maximize wise use of your dollars.

Welcome to your belated Link Payday for June 23, 2008 (since the fabulous Kyle of Rather-Be-Shopping.com returned and wrote his usual Friday post for us–which fell on the 20th–we delayed this payday a few days). Here’s some of the better posts I’ve read in my RSS reader the last couple of weeks.

The always entertaining JD of Get Rich Slowly discusses Why it Pays to Ignore Financial News. This article puts pretty succinctly one of the key tenets of long term investing: daily stock market fluctuations aren’t meaningful to your holdings over the long term–unless you act on them. Pay more attention to the things in your life that give you joy rather than your retirement account.

Can I Get Rich on a Salary asks how to Teach Yourself to Invest In Stocks? by covering MarketWatch’s daily money tips and offers a few suggestions of their own. I wholeheartedly suggest that people learn about investing in stocks, bonds, and funds; if you have the tolerance and taste for stocks, I suggest checking this piece out.

All Financial Matters asks the question that I wish everyone in this country–particularly those in Washington–would ask: What’s the Solution to Our Energy Needs? Gang, ethanol is not the answer (at least not corn based ethanol), but a combination of other types of alternative energy including (yes, I say this as an environmentalist) nuclear is. Let’s all work seriously to do whatever we need to do to get this resolved and get our country off of its dependence on foreign oil.

I’ve Paid For This Twice Already asks How Do You Decide When “The Time Comes”? In this case they are considering if it’s the time to replace their car. This is definitely worth looking at for making financial decisions with regards to some of the things we use every day, like computers.

Finally, Trent over at The Simple Dollar discusses Addiction and Personal Finance. As a professional in human services, I have to say that addiction can be a huge threat to your finances–if not your family, your relationships, your freedom, and your life.

And that’s your Link Payday for June 23, 2008!

Okay, I admit it (again): I’m an Apple, Inc. fan. I own stock in the company. I’ve used their products since 1982. I’m currently typing this on a MacBook, and a month and a half ago I was writing these posts on an iBook. I spend a lot of my driving time listening to my iPod touch. My bike ride this morning was spent listening to MacBreak Weekly. I’m a fan.

That said, I don’t have an iPhone, and part of the reason why is cost. So, when the new iPhone came out to Steve Jobs saying that one of the issues was affordability, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the price of the new 3G (third generation wireless network, for the non-Geek among you–for the very non-Geek, it basically means that the data connection for the phone is much faster than it was before) had a lower price–substantially lower. At least in the United States, the 8 gigabyte iPhone 3G will sell for $199 and the 16 gigabyte iPhone 3G will sell for $299–$200 less than the previous models. That’s $200 less, right?

No.

The phone in the U.S. is only available with a two year AT&T contract, and the terms on the new contract is considerably more than on the old phones. The data charge for consumers is $10 per month more, and the SMS (text messaging) plans are extra too (formerly 200 SMS messages were included; now it’s $5 a month for 200, or, as you would guess, more dollars for more messages). Even if you decide to do without SMS, you’re still ending up with $10 more per month minimum, $240 more over the life of the contract.

So in the end, you pay $40 more over two years for the newer phones than the older ones.

Now, granted, the increased speed of the 3G and the additional AGPS functionality may make up for that $40 for many consumers, but shame on Apple–the phone really isn’t more affordable in the end, and to say to isn’t being as honest as you can be with your customers.

It was a bit over a year ago that my blogging buddy Donna got my interest in bon dance reignited. One of the things that Donna said when we were at one of the dances–which can be thought of not just as a religious experience or a cultural dance, but a festival with food concessions and bazaar/craft sale booths–was that it was a “cheap night out.” She’s right!

For those of you who don’t know what a bon dance is, think Karate Kid II. Given the large Japanese and Okinawan population in Hawai’i, the bon dance has become an important cultural event in the island state. The summer is bon dance season, and throughout the islands during the months of June, July, and August, there are events virtually every weekend. It can make a fun event for those who wish to know more about the religious aspects of the bon dance, to experience more about Japanese and Okinawan culture, or to hang out at a fun family event. It tends to be a weekend night event, so it’s held at a time when many would be going out on fancy dinners or movies.

Photo courtesy of the fabulous Donna of Champuru.net and DancingFools.org

The bon dance can be an extremely frugal event. For the festivals on island, parking has always been free (although it is sometimes difficult to find); there’s never been a charge to attend; the food quality varies, but it’s certainly less than buying food at a movie theater and you’re more than welcome to bring your own cooler. If you choose to buy a towel, donate money to the temple, or buy crafts or plants or whatever they have to sell, that’s totally up to you. The temple mostly wants you to come out and have fun!

And regarding the actual frugal numbers… this past week I went to the first bon dance of the season with my buddies in the Dancing Fools bon dance posse. Besides the cost of driving there, I spent a total of $5 on dinner for the night and not another cent. I was fortunate in that one of the posse passed out some delicious mochi that night. This was not atypical; I’ve often spent zero aside from the cost of transportation, and $5 is well below the price of your typical movie ticket!

I realize that this exact event may not be happening in your neck of the woods, but it’s quite possible there would be other events that are similar in origin somewhere near you. Perhaps an event run by a church or synagogue or an association for a certain ethnic group? Or maybe amateur theater or museum openings? There might be great, low cost, family friendly outings near you. Let us hear about them!

Welcome to your link payday for June 5, 2008. This week was a great pay week for me because I actually got paid three times (and I’m hoping for a fourth, though likely in vain): once from this blog, once from my part time job, and once from my full time job. The fourth would be my still MIA stimulus payment!

Anyway, some of the better posts of the last few weeks that I’ve read in the blogosphere:

JD over at Get Rich Slowly covers (and advises against) a practice that kills your tax advantages and might indicate you’re in serious financial trouble when he says Don’t Raid Your 401(k) to Make Mortgage Payments.

Mrs. Micah tickles my funny bone when she discusses The Lingerie ROI. Suffice it to say I won’t be investing in Victoria’s Secret anytime soon (I honestly don’t even know if they’re publicly traded!).

Do others judge the frugal? I’m sure there is a lot of that going on; in this intriguing post, SavingAdvice.com discusses The Benefits of Savings Habits that Make You Look Poor. I have a different problem–the benefits of looking old! I really don’t qualify for that senior discount at Jack in the Box (but I’ll take it if they give it)!

Sqawkfox runs a five part series on ways to kick start your job hunt; I particularly like part one on How to Choose a New Career, which addresses something that’s been on my mind a lot recently–pondering your passion.

While it has a rather long title, it has some great points–Trent over at The Simple Dollar discusses Money Magazine’s ‘7 Investments You Need Now’, Portfolio Theory, and My Own Plans for the Future. This discusses some very basic theory on portfolios and covers one of the books I really like, Paul Farrell’s The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing.

And there’s your link payday for June 5, 2008!

During my recent ten day work stretch I noticed that the drain for my shower was becoming more and more clogged as the days went on. When I finally had a day off, I was able to unclog it in less than ten minutes without using an additive (think Liquid-Plumr). I realized at that point that many people who face similar situations may resort to these less-than-ideal additives (they’re toxic and it’s possible they’ll damage your pipes) or given up and called a plumber at their very high prices. So, given that, I thought I’d give a quick synopsis of my do it yourself drain unclogging efforts (remember, however, that as much as I’ve done things like this, I am not a professional handyman or plumber, so take all of this with a grain of salt):

Simple Prevention: Use a strainer of some kind over your drains! This is a very simple, incredibly low cost way to prevent lots and lots of clogs. A strainer can keep the vast majority of foreign matter from ever entering your drain. This alone is an investment that will pay for itself many, many times over.

A Plunger (and Maybe an Auger) are Your Friends: The good old fashioned plumber’s helper, the plunger, is your first line of attack when you have some kind of clog of your drain or toilet. These are ridiculously inexpensive (we even have them in the local 99 cent store) and can handle lots and lots of clogs. Using them is, of course, very self-explanatory: try to make a tight seal around the drain and plunge away.

Less well known is the toilet auger. This device looks a bit complicated, and is a bit bulky to store considering you won’t need it (hopefully!) very often. However, it is really easy to operate and a huge help if you have something stuck in the toilet that a plunger won’t push through. It’s essentially a rather short plumber’s snake with a handle at the end of it which you use to turn. Putting one of these into a toilet is a little unnerving but once it’s in there, a few turns will typically remove whatever is blocking your toilet up. You can find these between $10 and $20 pretty easily, but you will need to go to a hardware store.

Drain King: King Unclogger: This is my secret weapon for clogs (although I don’t think it’s usable in a toilet). It’s an inexpensive little piece of rubber and metal that attaches onto the end of a garden hose and is then placed in the drain that requires unclogging. Once the Drain King is inserted, the water is turned on, the rubber section expands to fill the drain pipe and forces a large amount of water pressure down the drain, which clears the material clogging the drain. I have never had this one fail. I learned about this tool from my late father, and it was one of the best handyman tips I ever got. The last time I got a Drain King (when I couldn’t find the one I already had), it was about $12.

So, there are my tips for dealing with clogged drains. Hopefully, careful use of these tips can prevent a clog from occurring or at least prevent a huge plumbing bill the next time you have a stuck drain!

I am far from a stylish guy, but I needed to try a different kind of look recently, so I decided to combine my one Ralph Lauren long sleeved button down dress shirt ($24.95 from Ross a few years ago) with a pair of khaki pleated pants and boat shoes. I ended up in two different Ross stores before I settled on a pair of shoes for $30 and one of our local discount stores where I found a pair of Ralph Lauren khakis for just $16.75 less 20%. The whole outfit, then, ended up being under $70.

Of course, one of the nice things about clothes is that they aren’t (usually!) a one time deal. I’ll wear these again and again and again (and given my history, it’ll likely be years before I give up on any of the pieces of the ensemble).

My lady friend said she liked the look better than my usual black pants and black high top athletic shoes, so points were won there. Minus points, however, when a pen ended up staining the khakis in the wash; there’s a plus for going with black.

Could I have spent less? Quite possibly. I didn’t check the thrift stores to see what they had available. While I’m not a snob, I don’t think I’d go with used shoes. Used pants, I think would be fine with. All in all, though, I was quite happy with myself for putting together a nice looking outfit (by my lady friend’s standards–I’m pleased with a t shirt and loud shorts, thank you very much!) for less than the regular price of the shirt alone by looking around.