#thisissavingmoney

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How to Indulge

This follows my posts on how to spend and follows a similar train of thought.

Sadly, we are not robots. We cannot put off splurging indefinitely. At some point, we will all want/need to spend money on something stupid/frivolous. It's a basic human emotion that it's hard to put everything aside for months and months with absolutely no tangible reward for your trouble.

This isn't unique to saving/budgeting; it's also very common with regards to dieting. In both cases you need to find your happy medium. You want to save/diet enough that you make progress, but not so much that you're discouraged and give up, or take it to unhealthy extremes. Now, I'm not criticizing people who have no choice and must live on beans and rice for months on end, this is more about voluntary, or semi voluntary extremes (e.g. starving yourself for a 3DS).

Avoid foods unless necessary for health. Interesting foods are so great, but unfortunately they don't last long (oranges being a possible exception and a great option for people buying in bulk!) If you're on an extremely limited diet, food's fine. However, you want to avoid the steak dinner. It is fantastic for one night (maybe two depending on your doggie bag), but it's good for one night, not beyond that.

Instead, choose something that you can enjoy day after day. Books, movies, music, and even certain toys all fit into this category. You probably want to choose an old favorite, because part of the idea is returning to it in the future. You don't want a dvd that you watch once, and it's okay, but you'll never watch it again. In addition, old favorites tend to be available cheap in a gently used condition. While I'm including most media in here, the exceptions would be certain video games and definitely video game systems. If you're getting a simcity - go for it. There's an unlimited number of things you can do with that and still be happy with it. It's a game that lasts. A bad video game might be Professor Layton (from what I understand). In Professor Layton, you solve puzzles, I imagine the replay value for that game would be quite low. (Also, most cookbooks would probably be a bad choice as they require additional payments on food.)

Another category I'd recommend is kitchen hardware, clothes, etc. These are things with a direct use, but are things you don't use constantly. You want something where the novelty doesn't wear off in a few days. If it stays in your drawer/cupboard/closet for 5 days out of the week, those 2 days when you use are going to be a real treat.

The goal here is to accept the fact that we're going to want to buy things to enjoy, even if they're not out larger goals. We can choose to splurge in a way to minimize future spending. We as a species need novelty; we have giant brains so we need something to use them on. This writer recommends choosing something that is lasting, not something that will be gone in a day. In addition choose something that will keep its novelty: this isn't something that you'll see everyday, it's something you'll only see from time to time. You want to keep it special as this will delay the next time you need to indulge.

[thisissavingmoney]

Saving Money? I Need Your Help!

So I've been running this blog for about a little over a week and I'm already scraping the bottom of my useful ideas. Therefore I turn to you, Gentle Reader. How have you saved money? How have you earned money? What tips and tricks do you have?

If you wish to contribute anonymously, you may log out of tumblr, hit the submit link, and go to town from there.

If you have questions, concerns, or just a post you really want to see, you can always ask for advice anonymously and one of my watchers may have ideas.

[thisissavingmoney]

Resume Building - Experience

One of the most important things when you apply to a job is your resume, unfortunately, it's one of those situations where you need experience to get a job and need a job to get experience, resulting in a vicious cycle. This can happen if it's your first job or your first job in a while.

However, there are ways to break that cycle. First thing I'd recommend is volunteering. Volunteering is just like a job except you don't get paid. This mean they'll take almost anyone who walks in the door. A particular good location might be a free trade or something like that: a retail shop that takes volunteers. I have a couple around my area, but I'm unaware of a better term for them - they sell free trade items from around the world, but often their staff is volunteer. This can get you retail experience for your next job and give you a contact. However, remember that you have to treat it as a job - get there five minutes early, don't be on your phone all the time, etc. They'll be a good contact.

Another good position that is open in the US now or soon is preparing taxes. (See: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Free-Tax-Return-Preparation-for-You-by-Volunteers for details). This will help you aid others to get every dollar out of their refund and they need it too. Another thing that looks really good on your resume as it's at least semi-skilled, volunteer work. Try to cater to what you're applying for: if you're trying to work with animal; volunteer with a shelter, if it's food services try a soup kitchen; and so on and so forth.

This is important even if you've just been out of work for a period of time. Employers want to know what you're doing in your freetime. In addition, it can help you a lot too. It's hard to not feel useful in society and volunteer work can give you a sense of purpose.

Classes can also be useful; in the same way. You're doing something, bettering yourself, and gain a reference. They'll cost a little more, but they don't take as much time, and may be better for someone in a low-paying job looking for something a little better.

[thisissavingmoney]

Make the Unpleasant Routine/Applications

One of the biggest hurdles to getting a job is applying. Sounds stupid, but it can be very disheartening to apply and apply and never hear back.

One thing I can recommend is make it a routine part of the day. Find a selection of places where you want to apply. Then make it a normal part of your day as much as doing the dishes. When you just do a chore every now and then it's a pain, but if you do it all the time it's never an issue.

Put your follow ups in this category too.

It also puts less emphasis on any individual application. This can be good for self-esteem. It's rough to never hear back when it was important to you, but if it's so commonplace that you're not emotional invested... it helps.

More on job hunting soon.

[thisissavingmoney]

Beware the Sales!

I think we've all been there.

We see it: The Double Secret Clearance Sale. It's there and it's beautiful. We go over and we see it... The Cake Pop Maker. We know we shouldn't but it's 80% of, 85% off with our coupon. That means it's only $5; it's a steal!

Don't do it.

You don't need a cake pop maker, it's not even something you really want. It doesn't matter how much money you're "saving" when you're buying something you wouldn't normally buy and has no use. This isn't saying "Never try anything new" it's saying "Don't buy something you know you'll never use again and don't need." This will often take the form of useless/single-purpose gadgets, a one use article of clothing, that sort of thing.

I advised in the previous post to think of savings instead of spending, but that was on things you were already buying. This is not. You want to save on what you buy, not buy what you save on.

Also be aware of expensive refills which I will cover in my next post.

[thisissavingmoney]

When to Spend

Okay, I touched on this in my books post, but I think this deserves its own post.

One of the biggest skills you can learn is know prices temporally, know when to spend, know when to save.

If you're desperately in need, it'll take a while to get this started, but once you do, you'll benefit almost immediately.

Shop your sales.

You can get really intense about this or handle it much more casually.

Track your prices, not just your overall bill.

If you want to get intense use excel or a graph for your more expensive and/or most common purchases, especially those that can sit in the cupboard for months. If you're going through a couple of 2L a week, you may never spend more than a few dollars on it, but it'll add up over time. The problem is that we get into a cycle where we get what we need then, not what we will need.

Take the time to establish what is the actual standard price for the item in question. Sometimes, there will be a "low price" that turns out to be there all the time and don't let it fool you. Find out when good sales happen and when they're just average.

When that good sale happens, stock up! If the store runs out, get a raincheck.

This doesn't mean you'll be eating nothing but chicken soup for the next month. What you need to do is get a little more food than average for that trip, and just tuck the extra soup into a corner and eat it at your normal rate of soup consumption. You'll be eating your cheap soup three weeks later when the same can is normal price.

It can be very hard to spend that extra money upfront, but it'll make a big difference in the not too distant future.

If you're having trouble getting started, just wait until one of your staple foods goes on super sale. If your soda costs $1.50, wait until it's $1 even. Still spend the $6 you'd spend normally for your 4 bottles of soda. This seems counter-intuitive, but you need to think in terms of how much you're saving, not how much you're spending. In terms of your soda budget for the month, you had $6 for each week, or about $24 total. If you luck out and get those 4 for $1 each, you spent $22; if you buy 6 the week they're on sale you're only spending $21 for the same month. You saved more money by knowing when to spend.

I hope this post makes sense. Please send me a note if you have any questions as I know this can be a difficult concept to grasp.

[thisissavingmoney]

Generic Over-the-Counter

Again, one that most people probably know about, but I'm going to mention it anyway.

Learn about generic over the counter medications.

If you ask for Aleve, you're going to get Aleve, not the generic naproxen which is the exact same medication. Some companies will even make generics themselves: if they're going to lose money on generics, it's better to lose it to yourself.

More importantly, it's medication. You're paying for that naproxen, not the taste. Generics contain the same compound and the same dose.

To start buying generics, look for the active ingredients on your favorite drugs and then see who else makes it. You can also talk to a pharmacist/tech on a slow day and they may be able to advice you.

A few simple medications where you can find the generics:

Aleve - naproxen Tylenol - acetaminophen (Note: Excedrin is essentially acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine) Advil - ibuprofen Imodium - loperamide 

If you have anymore that you have questions about, let me know and I'll see what I can do.