Uncommon Cents

Welcome to your week late Link Payday! It’s been a horridly busy few weeks with the fumigation, the century ride, and life in general. Now that I’m having a weekend where I’m not ridiculously busy (just the typical really busy), I’m trying to get caught up here on Uncommon Cents and giving you highlights of some of the best personal finance blog posts of the last few weeks:

JD over at Get Rich Slowly shares a post by guest blogger Erica Douglass who shares the secret to Finding Time to Pursue Your Dreams. The big secret: turn off the TV! I’ve already done that, though; I have to find 750 more post TV hours to pursue my dreams here…

One of my favorite personal finance bloggers (actually, one of my favorites regardless of area of interest), Mrs. Micah discusses some of the benefits of Combining Kiva Lending and Birthday Presents and how it can be a way to give back to the community and the world. While Kiva is interest free lending, it can benefit those in developing nations big time and has very little in the way of default risk. I’m thinking about doing just this.

Frugal Dad spends some time doing dirty work for the rest of us when he puts his energy into Evaluating the Best Gas Credit Cards for Rebates. While I agree that the Discover Open Road is a great card (I have one), my personal choice, the Pentagon Federal Credit Union Platinum Visa isn’t mentioned–until it was commented on by another reader and myself, anyway!

My buddy Ron over at The Wisdom Journal gives us 17 Sneaky Savings Strategies. These c an help whether you’re trying to pay off debt, save for specific goals, or save for retirement. This is a fantastic post for all of us who are interested in trying to save.

Finally, Trent over at The Simple Dollar gets right to the heart of the matter of people living beyond their means (which is the primary cause of financial distress) when he says it right out loud and pulls no punches by telling us to Stop Trying to Impress Other People.

And that’s your Link Payday for October 12, 2008!

…I’d tell them to stop acquiring new debt. Right now.

I’d tell them that there were things they wanted to buy that they couldn’t afford–like $700 billion of bailout money and Medicare Part D (well, too late on that last one).

I’d tell them they need to figure out where their money’s coming from and where their money’s going and to figure out how to spend less–by making difficult decisions and sacrifices–and how to increase income–even if it means increasing taxes.

I’d tell them to get started on an emergency fund for rainy days–like the rain that’s coming down right now!

I’d tell them to figure out where their worst debts are and to put the majority of their money there; to consider snowballing their debts or to pay off the highest interest rates first, but to have a strategy of some type to effectively pay their debts, including refinancing them if necessary.

And I’d tell them this was not going to be easy; it was going to be difficult, it was going to take a long time, and everyone in their family would need to sacrifice, but in the end, it would be well worth it.

Funny how if the businesses and individuals who got this financial fiasco going in the first place had done their personal finance homework in the first place… there wouldn’t be a financial fiasco going on.

Well, sadly, no, not funny.

As regular readers know, I hate waste. Yet it appears that over time our society has been much more interested in replacement than repair, which lends itself directly to waste.

Bicycling taught me that this was a trend way back. In the 1970s it wasn’t all that hard to get all kinds of pins, bearings, fittings, and springs and rebuild derailleurs and hubs when they started having issues; starting in the 1980s, all of that went away and now it’s almost impossible to rebuild those parts and they simply get replaced, even if it’s just a small thing like a spring or a pin that needs replacement.

For low dollar items, we see replacement rather than repair on a very regular basis. For instance, a foldable chair at work recently broke; it cost about $8. I glued the back rest back on, but the glue to do so was about $3; unless I had another use for the glue, I had spent almost 40% of the cost of the chair on the repair. One of the tires on my bike has a small cut in it; its difficult to fix that, but paying $20 for a new tire isn’t all that much more than the $5 for the proper rubber cement to repair it when you consider how often I’ll need to reapply the fix.

Even more expensive items are often not worth fixing. A car that works perfectly fine but is about 10 years old can be declared a total loss from a somewhat minor accident, but once the cost of the repair exceeds the estimated cost of the vehicle, it makes more economic sense for the insurance company to say the vehicle’s done for. Computer models get upgraded so often that an issue with a computer may make replacing it a wiser move than fixing it. And when was the last time you took a television that wasn’t under warranty in for repair rather than just buying a new one?

Does it make economic sense to repair rather than replace? Unfortunately, for a lot of items, it doesn’t. That’s unfortunate because doing that results in much more waste, which can’t be the best thing. Still, it’s hard for me to argue with the numbers; when it costs 40% the price of the chair to glue a piece back on, it’s time to buy a new chair. It’s sad, but it appears that replacing has taken over repairing in most cases.

As you know by now, I’m a bicycle guy. Bicycling is not a ridiculously expensive sport, but there are equipment costs; parts wear out or need replacing frequently (chains, tires, tubes) and less frequently (chainrings, cassettes, bottom brackets, and headsets). Some last close to but not quite forever (seats and handlebars) but might be changed just because you want something newer; and every so often a new bike becomes just a “must have” expense. Sometimes it really is must have–like when your frame is toasted beyond repair–and sometimes it’s actually a want.

In any case, I was perusing the Web site of one of my favorite bicycle shopping sites to see an interesting offer:

Save 10% on any order over $50;
save 15% on any order over $100;
save 20% on any order over $200

The enticement is to get you to spend more, because the more you spend, the more you save.

Huh?

Let’s look at that:

“the more you spend, the more you save.”

No, the more you spend, the more you spend! This is not to say that 20% off your order isn’t a great deal; especially if you buy heavily discounted items, it can really make things worthwhile. The key here is this: don’t spend money just to spend money (or in this case, “save” money). If you are going to make a purchase, great, and if you add things to get additional discounting, that’s fine, provided you actually use the items. If I was thinking about buying, say, $50 worth of bicycle tubes (that would last me maybe two years), I’d take the 10% discount and call it a day; it doesn’t seem like a great choice to buy eight years worth of tubes to spend 10% less!

Be cautious with these; they can really help you spend less, but they can also get you to spend way more than you originally intended!

Reviewing the Costco coupon book that I received about a week ago, I found a few items I liked, but more that I’m not interested in. As usual, with the large quantities that Costco provides, non perishables are the best to buy. If you can finish consuming the perishables before they expire or go bad, then you’re doing great; however, if they aren’t consumed, you’ve got waste, and waste is the archenemy of frugality.

Costco, unfortunately, often has coupons that list discount amounts but not total prices, resulting in incomplete advertising. While I realize their pricing is different in different regions, this is the kind of thing that drives me crazy and requires me to do more research for comparison shopping than I’d like.

With those important points made, here’s what I consider the best of this month’s offering:

$8 off Huggies Diapers and Huggies Naturally Refreshing Baby Wipes
$2 off Bounty Roll Towels
$3 off Lysol Disenfectant Spray and/or Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner
$2 off Q-tips Cotton Swabs (I use these daily!)
$2 off Listerine Cool Mint Mouthwash (this too!)
$2 off Colgate Total + Whitening Toothpaste

Additionally, there’s a listing that’s not a coupon but great nonetheless: $100 off Xerox Phaser 6125N Network Ready Laser Printer for a total price of $249.99 via Costco.com!

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!

Welcome to your Link Payday for April 20, 2008, Hawai’i Geek Meet edition. I’m blogging from Magic Island this afternoon…

Kyle over at Rather-Be-Shopping hits a chord with this blogger who hates waste when he asks How Much Food Do You Throw Away? Yes, waste is the archenemy of frugality, and this blog believes that frugality is a great thing!

JLP over at All Financial Matters covers Morningstar’s Best and Worst 529 Plans. Given that we just covered these kinds of plans this morning, I thought that it would make a nice addition to this list.

Frugal Dad gives us a powerful does of reality when he discusses The Power of Contentment. Contentment can be a powerful ally when dealing with financial issues as well as health issues. I noticed not long ago that many personal finance bloggers also have weight issues–including myself–so realizing that sometimes we turn to excessive spending as well as excessive eating and how to combat those urges can make a huge difference.

One of my favorite bloggers, Mrs. Micah, departs from her usual manner by going on a Rant: We’re Going to Effing Stimulate the Economy, where she discusses Mr. Micah’s need for a new computer. Personally, I think that even if they have to spend some money that they would have liked to go elsewhere on it, given that he needs it to complete his dissertation, I think this is the best decision under the circumstances.

Finally, Lynnae at Being Frugal uses her daughter’s soccer experience as an example of The Importance of Tenacity. Staying on course is always difficult and sometimes children can give us a great example through their actions.

And that’s your Link Payday for April 20, 2008!

A tax is a fee imposed by the government on products, forms of income, or activities. In the United States we are very familiar with various taxes on products (such as a gasoline tax or tobacco tax), income (such as the federal income tax or state income tax–which is not in all states, Medicare tax, and Social Security tax), or activities (such as retail sales tax). Taxes fund public goods and services (think sewer services, trash pickup, and street lighting). In some cases taxes may also be used to try to discourage certain types of activity (such as cigarette smoking) and/or attempt to recoup public dollars spent dealing with that activity (such as Medicaid funds spent to deal with lung cancer).

One of the best ways to help your investments is to take advantage of tax advantages. IRAs and 401(k)s offer ways to build your portfolio tax free and/or reduce or eliminate taxes in the end. There are certain government bonds and money market accounts that are tax free as well. Taxes are also one of the reasons why passively managed portfolios and mutual funds tend to outperform actively managed ones–when stocks or bonds within the portfolio or fund are sold, they typically trigger a capital gain, which is subject to tax. I suspect we will see some of this when I assist my friend with her portfolio makeover in coming posts!

I am personally not opposed to the idea of paying taxes because I like having paved roads and trash pickup; I do, however, want my tax dollars to be used wisely–which is an entirely different issue that we won’t get into on this blog. What do you think about your taxes?

Another week, another trip to the 99 cent store. I’m not an addict, trust me–I had some things I need around the house, and to some extent in this tough financial month (birthdays, funerals, and taxes are doing a number on this month’s budget!) it allows me to spend a little money to at least feel like I haven’t totally deprived myself of spending.

This week:

$.99 gets youme:

refillable spray bottle
heat shrink tubing (useful for those bicycle cable ends that fray if not tended to)
greeting cards (a 99 cent store favorite, this week two for funerals)
earbuds (since my sister’s dog ate my earbuds a few weeks back, I’m avoiding buying new pricey ones until the dog is older and hopefully better behaved!)

Things I was hoping to find (but didn’t) this time around include a chamois (fake of course) for washing the truck and some Dove dark chocolate (which they sometimes have post Easter, Halloween, or Christmas–but no such luck this time). Hopefully next week!

What have you found recently in your 99 cent store?

Our local 99 cent store has become more like a $1.49 store; more and more items in there are at the higher price. Still, there’s no question there are at least some bargains to be had even at the higher price.

This week’s trip brought forward the following:

$.99 gets you:

bicycle tube patch kit (when you’ve had as many flats as I have recently, this is a necessity!)
socks
cellular phone carrying case
jeweler’s screwdriver set
Two AA batteries from Panasonic
children’s sunscreen SPF 30 (used by this adult!)

$1.49 gets you:

compact fluorescent light bulbs
plastic document protector
pine powered degreaser in spray bottle (I also reuse the spray bottle)
umbrella (I use one of these myself and it’s lasted me three months so far)

There are many other items that can be had at the store at bargain prices; not every one of them works great, and some may be a total waste of money. But that said, I think the local dollar store (or even those a penny less) is worth investigating to see if you can find some items for less that can do the job as well as a more expensive alternative.

What are your best finds at a 99 cent store?