Monthly Archives: February 2008

Weekly Roundup: Slimming Down Edition

Posted on by  at  2:53 pm
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With the weather returning to the 70′s this week, and my pants feeling tighter than ever, I’ve decided it’s about time to formulate a frugal workout regimen. Fortunately, I don’t have to go far for inspiration as several of my blogging friends have also written about their exercise plans. Those who haven’t written specifically about exercise have provided their own forms of inspiration to me over the last week and I wanted to acknowledge their work here. More on the frugal workout regimen later this week.

Trent shared his exercise philosphy as part of his Invest in Yourself: Exercise post. I guess Trent will have more time for investing in himself since he has decided to hang up the employee badge. Good for him – this has been Trent’s dream for a long time and we wish him the best!

J.D. showed off his shiny new (old) bike in Home-based Phyiscal Fitness. He also proved he looks less like a dork than I do on my bike by sharing a riding picture.

My gym membership is about to expire and I am not sure whether or not to renew. Frugal for Life shared some thoughts on the subject in Exercise Free or Gym Membership.

I’m leaning towards doing things from home and hunting down some used weights. Maybe I’ll just use some of that tax rebate check. Ciaran suggests using the money to get over a fear we have – does fear of becoming seriously overweight count?

Before I start shopping for gym equipment I’ll take Ron’s advice to avoid 8 Retail Ripoff Tactics. Exercise equipment sales people are notorious ripoff artists, but now I’m armed with Ron’s excellent “buyer beware” tips.

Of course I’ll need lots of inspiration to stay motivated. Any time I need to be inspired I head over to My Super Charged Life, which will be a little quiet this week because Jeff is heading to Puerto Vallarata. Tough life. At least we can vacation vicariously through him.

In deciding the best choices of things to eat I’m reminded of how difficult it has been to make smart choices with food. Cash Money Life wrote about The Choice of What is Right, and What is Easy. I had this title in mind during my biweekly grocery store visit this week – right (wholesome foods) vs. easy (pre-packaged and portable). If I want this wasteline to slim down I’ll have to choose “right” foods more often than not.

It’s a little embarrasing to admit, but I don’t exactly have a great workout wardrobe. Most of my workout clothes are cold weather gear, and my warm weather stuff from last year is now a little snug. Mommy Gets Paid had a great post on being Frugally Fashionable and I can apply some of her tips towards finding exercise clothes.

For some final inspiration, I need to get in better shape before my 10-year anniversary coming up with the “frugal wife.” The Writer’s Coin wrote about recently celebrating an important anniversary. They also have a wedding coming up in May – congratulations!

I’d like to wrap up this week’s roundup with a thanks to my subscribers. With your help I hit my goal of 100 subscribers in 60 days (107 to be exact). I hope you will tell all your “frugal” friends (and the not-so-frugal ones, too) about Frugal Dad. We’re just getting started!

The Maui Millionaires

Posted on by  at  11:05 am
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For my 5th selection in the 52 Books in 2008 series I picked up one that wasn’t even on my radar heading into the year, but caught my eye on the library shelf. At first glance it looked like one of those get rich quick books, but as I glanced through the first couple chapters in the library I thought there may be some nuggets I could take away. I’m glad I did.

The Maui Millionaires

themauimillionaires.jpgIt’s hard to imagine an event that goes for $30,000 per couple being sold out over a year in advance. That is the case with Maui Mastermind, a wealth retreat founded by authors David Finkel and Diane Kennedy. During this week-long retreat clients network and form “mastermind networks” to bounce off business ideas and to form partnerships. Of course, I don’t anticipate ever attending one of these events, so I thought the book might be the next best thing, as the authors have pitched the book as the “inside secrets” of this wealth retreat.

Instead of walking through the book chapter by chapter, or section by section, I’m going to take a different approach and present the five most thought-provoking ideas I found in the book. This book reads a little bit differently than other personal finance books. Sure, there are five steps laid out for the readers guaranteed to help you discover wealth, but around those specific steps are some noteworthy insights into what it takes to become financially independent. I also found the steps themselves to be full of sales pitches for the Maui course itself and references to other author materials.  It seemed like every other page’s footnote was pointing you to their website.  Not a big deal, but a bit distracting.  Now, for the five most important ideas I took from the book:

  1. “One of the greatest wealth skills you can ever develop is learning to get comfortable with the feeling of uncomfortable; learning to not be so afraid of feeling afraid. ” This is so true – to grow we must get out of our comfort zones and be willing to try new things.
  2. Where do our ideas about money and wealth-building come from?
    1. The parents who raised us
    2. Friends and family
    3. Teachers, coaches, and other adults of influence
    4. Cultural influence of media that we were exposed to growing up
    5. Societal influences
  3. Our opinions, beliefs and convictions about money are formed at a very young age. A great example provided by the authors was a child asking his parents for money.  The parents were ashamed that they couldn’t help, but responded with anger that the child would even ask.  The child remembers the pain associated with that experience and grows up with a fear of ever asking anyone for help again.
  4. The concept of  “timeline reframe.” Pretend you are watching a movie about your life and remember a particularly painful childhood experience.  What could the adult you tell the young you to help provide some comfort?  That’s the concept of timeline reframe – using the experience, wisdom and insights you’ve gained as an adult to heal wounds created when you were younger and didn’t have that toolset to deal with issues.
  5. Your Wealth Operating System (which is really just your collection of beliefs about wealth-building), typically mirrors that of the five people you spend the most time with. To upgrade your W.O.S you must surround yourself with successful people whose W.O.S. is in alignment with yours.

The Maui Millionaires is a great collection of wealth building advice, sprinkled around marketing for a website and a wealth-building retreat.  If you can ignore the marketing materials and pull out some of these great nuggets I think you will enjoy the book.  If you are the type that gets hung up on footnotes and subtle sales pitches this book probably isn’t for you.

Check out other book reviews in the 52 Books in 2008 Series.

Resisting Financial Peer Pressure

Posted on by  at  6:00 am
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Over the last few days I’ve been reflecting on my remaining debt and trying to inventory what that debt represents. If you are in debt, too, it can actually be a frustrating exercise. There were the somewhat justifiable portions of debt related to school expenses, illnesses, and family emergencies. However, I could barely account for 30% of the total debt from those types of expenditures. After surfing through old credit card statements and looking as far back as the online banking sites would allow it occurred to me most of the debt could be attributed to my failure to resist “financial peer pressure.”

Financial peer pressure comes in many forms, and from many sources:

  • “Keeping up with the Joneses.” This is the self-imposed pressure we feel to keep up with others. If the neighbor gets a new car ours suddenly doesn’t look as pretty. If our friends upgrade to a larger house we suddenly start to feel claustrophobic.
  • “Impress the in-laws.” Naturally, newly married guys have a tendency to want to impress their in-laws. We want to give the impression that their daughter has married into financial security and ease any doubts they may have about us as a provider for their little girl. I was guilty of this early on, particularly after my wife decided to stay home with our newborn in our second year of marriage. I suspected our family wondered if we could pull this off, but I was very reassuring, “Yeah…we’re doing great!” The reality was we were scraping by and failed to adjust our spending after dropping back to one income. The ensuing [tag]lifestyle debt[/tag]” accounts for a significant portion of our remaining balance.
  • “Impress strangers at a red light.” I mentioned this phenomenon back when discussing the financial hole people dig themselves by buying new cars. It’s hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars a month for the right to drive something “new,” when many times a used alternative would do just fine. Somewhere along the line we Americans decided a car was a reflection of our wealth, a sort of mobile status symbol.

Now that we have identified the source of financial peer pressure, what steps can you take to resist it?

  • Quit worrying what other people think about you. This might be the best advice for your financial future. Sam Walton didn’t care what people thought about him when he drove that old pickup truck to new Walmart store openings. Warren Buffet probably couldn’t care less what people think of his clothes, his shoes, or his accessories. I’m not suggesting we walk around looking like a complete slob, but if you want to get out from under [tag]financial peer pressure[/tag] a good first step is to stop wasting your time, money and energy on impressing other people.
  • Quit taking advice from broke people. Ever notice that the first ones to give you financial advice are the ones leveraged to their eyeballs in debt? They always have a hot stock tip for you, or tell you to get that second mortgage to pay for a cruise that you “so deserve.” If these people also happen to be close friends or family you may feel some added pressure to take their advice. It’s perfectly acceptable to thank them for their advice and then completely ignore it!
  • Don’t follow the crowd if the crowd isn’t headed in the direction you want to be moving. When I tell people that I will not have a car payment for the rest of my life they respond with, “What? Everyone has to have a car payment.” Oh really? Not if everyone saved their money and paid for a used car with cash. Accepting such societal norms are a sure-fire way to steer yourself into unnecessary debt.

Kids Budget Game Only Four Quarters

Posted on by  at  6:00 am
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Not long ago on a shopping trip with my daughter she said something very profound. After telling me 17 reasons why I should buy a new Disney DVD for her I stood my ground and told her we could not afford it this trip. She wasn’t giving up that easy, and continued to remind me that I had just been to the bank and “ought to have money from my work.”

That’s when it hit me – it was time for the talk. No, not that talk! It was time for the budget talk, the kids budget game, you know the “money doesn’t grow on trees” talk. This is the first of a series of [tag]money[/tag] talks you need to have with your kids to help them grow up to be millionaires.

When we got home I gathered up four quarters and gave them to my daughter. I told her that the four quarters represented Daddy’s paycheck, and I explained that she had to give me quarters to pay for ALL the expenses we had during the month.

  • 1st Quarter – Taxes. Before we could spend anything I asked for one quarter and explained that the government collected this one right out of Daddy’s paycheck for taxes. The inevitable question, “What are taxes?” came next. Taxes are money that the government collects on income to pay for schools, roads, libraries and other important things that help people (I decided to keep it light, and not mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful government spending).
  • 2nd Quarter – Housing. I gently plucked the second quarter from her palm as she frowned. With the second quarter we pay for our house, our power for lights and heat, cable, internet and telephone bills, and any other monthly expenses. At this point she looked down and half her money was gone. She wasn’t impressed with this exercise, but I could tell it was starting to sink in.
  • 3rd Quarter – Transportation. I took her next-to-last quarter and told her this paid for Mommy’s car, car insurance to help in case we have an accident, gas and regular maintenance like oil changes and new tires. She was ready to pocket that last quarter and was growing impatient. However, the most important part of this exercise was coming up next.
  • 4th Quarter – Savings, Spending, and Giving. This was our last quarter, and with this money we had to fit all our remaining goals into a [tag]budget[/tag]. First, we wanted to save some money for our future. Then we needed to give some of it away. *This is a good place to talk about the importance of giving. Giving doesn’t always have to be in monetary form. My daughter has attended a wonderful workshop called Project Linus where people get together and knit blankets for children who have experienced some form of hardship (death in the family, accident, etc.). This is an excellent opportunity for her to donate both her time, and her money, to a very worthy cause.

After saving and giving away a portion of that last quarter, we also need to budget for our spending. This last bit of money has to pay for our food, entertainment, cleaning supplies, paper products, and gifts for the entire month. The more we spend on gifts and entertainment, the less we have for food.

After wrapping up the lesson with this last quarter I could see a light bulb go off. By giving my daughter something tangible to represent our income she was able to understand that there are things you have to pay for (food, shelter, transportation), and things you can choose to spend money on (gifts and entertainment). All categories must be paid for with a finite supply of money. By reducing the discretionary categories we have more money to spend on those we value more (saving, giving, our home, etc.).

Since that conversation she has asked me a few follow up questions regarding taxes. I try to answer them the best way I know how, but I have to confess I’ve been paying them for 15 years and I still don’t fully understand them myself! Oh, don’t forget to give her the quarters back, cheapskate.

So You Want to Be a Blogger

Posted on by  at  6:00 am
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want to be a bloggerThe following is part of Frugal Dad’s weekly series, “So You Want to Be a Blogger?” which chronicles the development and optimization of a blog’s lifecycle.

To celebrate a couple upcoming statistical milestones (100 subscribers and 10,000 unique visitors) here at Frugal Dad I thought I would kick off the inaugural post for my “So You Want to Be a Blogger” series. I plan to post a weekly article over the next several weeks detailing my experience as a newbie in the [tag]blogging[/tag] community. Hopefully, some of my tips will help you along the way, but I imagine you’ll learn more from my mistakes (and there are plenty of them to learn from!).

I maintained a few blogs on Blogger.com over the last couple years, writing about my attempts to lose weight, about my family, etc. For some reason they always fizzled without attracting much interest, even from their author. Looking back I realized what was lacking – passion. I simply wasn’t passionate about the subject. I was passionate about trying to lose weight, but not enough to sit down in front of the computer every night and write a few hundred words about the experience. So before deciding to start Frugal Dad I reflected on what my real interests were, and which of those I felt I could sustain over the long term. In the end I settled on the broad topic of personal finance, and the frugality niche. Here’s how I came to that conclusion.

Frugal living is a popular concept, but not one that many people are actually practicing these days. When trying to narrow down a topic for your blog, consider what you have to offer to readers in that niche. Do you have some specific experience with the subject? Do you have a contrary belief that goes against the status quo? If you were a reader why would you choose your blog over someone else in the same niche? In my case I am the guy that still rolls coins, drives an old truck, buy clothes once or twice a year (from eBay when possible), clips coupons, and recently cut out expanded cable. Weird, huh? People out there buying the daily $4 lattes and the $2,200 plasma screen televisions sure think so! There are also a lot of people who think like I do and enjoy hearing someone else validate their ideas.

Forget keywords, meta tags and article marketing. Just be yourself – for the first 50 posts or so. Later on you can start to look at enhancing your articles to be more search engine friendly. Too many people make the mistake of focusing on traffic results up front, before they find their voice. Readers need to identify with you through your own natural words. Readers are not calculating your keyword density, they are reviewing your thoughts and deciding whether or not you are worth following.

Before you write your first article create a list of at least ten topics in your niche that you will cover over the next two weeks. If you can’t complete this exercise you should consider broadening your blog’s main idea, or switching gears altogether. Ten ideas should be a no-brainer. Ten things that tick you off, or make you happy, or make you laugh should be easy to draft if you are really passionate about your subject. I did this exercise two or three times before settling on the topic of frugal living.

Be prepared to write about peripheral interests related to your blog’s main idea. This post is a good example of writing on peripheral topics. If you look at my category listing you will see that I write primarily on the subject of frugal living. However, I also write about careers, personal productivity, debt reduction, etc. These are all topics that are indirectly related to frugality, and are directly related to the blog’s larger theme, personal finance. Admittedly, no matter how passionate you are about a specific topic, it can get boring writing about the same thing day in and day out. Your readers would probably agree.

Be prepared to throw in an article every three or four posts off the topic of your main subject. Don’t overdo it, else you may appear to be one of those “variety” bloggers who writes about what they had for dinner and how many times their kids used the potty that day. Few people are able to pull off a successful blog without some level of focus. Speaking of, I better get back to frugal living.

Ready to start your own blog?  I host my blogs with HostGator–a great host with awesome support!