Monthly Archives: June 2009

Car Maintenance Tips: Help Your Odometer Reach 300,000 Miles

Posted on by  at  6:00 am
27

The July 1, 2009 edition of Bottom Line Personal, one of my favorite publications, included an excellent column on car maintenance tips. Columnist Eric Peters, author of Automotive Atrocities! The Cars We Love to Hate, shares his tips for maintaining cars and extending their useful life. As the owner of a 19 year-old vehicle, I appreciated the tips, and wondered if my vehicle would be in better shape had I read this several years ago when I first started driving it.

Five Maintenance Tips For Getting To 300,000 Miles

1. Keep your battery charged. This is especially important if you don’t drive your car that often. If you plan to let a vehicle sit for more than a couple weeks, you should invest in a “trickle charger,” or battery tender, which plugs into a regular household outlet and keeps your battery fully charged, automatically. I have a battery tender for my lawn tractor battery for winter months, and it guarantees a strong start in the spring.

2. Keep at least half a tank of gas in the car. Plenty of reasons not to let your car run on fumes, but one I had never considered before reading this article is that an empty gas tank is more prone to rust.  The rust can leach into your fuel and clog filters and fuel lines downstream. Rust could also eventually eat through your gas tank leaving a hole.  At today’s gas prices, who can afford for that to happen!

3. Don’t forget the tires. When you fill up your gas tank, or every couple weeks, whichever happens more frequently, be sure to check your tire pressure. If you drive an older vehicle like me you’ll need to pick up a tire gauge. Look at the label inside the door, or in your owner’s manual, to find the correct tire pressure for your specific model. Low tire pressure causes things like uneven wear on your tires and decreased gas mileage.

4. Change the oil. There is some debate in the frugal car owner world on whether or not you should change your oil as often as prescribed by car manufacturers (and those express oil-changing facilities). I’m no expert, but I think you should stay pretty close to the suggested schedule, only deviating a month or two, or a couple hundred miles. Peters agrees with me. Besides, a $30 oil change is much cheaper than a new engine, and if you are ultra frugal, you can even change your own oil!

5. Be kind to your clutch, and your brakes. If you drive a car with a manual transmission you know at some point you will likely have to replace the clutch. But you can extend the life of your clutch, and your brakes, by not riding either one for long periods of time, and by using your accelerator (or not using your accelerator) to coast a bit as traffic ebbs and flows.

Automobiles are becoming more and more expensive these days. In fact, next to buying a home, it is probably the largest single purchase most people will make in a lifetime. Use the steps above to increase the chances your vehicle will last well beyond your car loan, guaranteeing you many years of debt-free driving.

If You Could Only Take Three Things From Your Home, What Would They Be?

Posted on by  at  6:00 am
24

You have probably been asked some variation of this question before, but I still find it interesting to hear the different responses. Over time I have found things I used to think highly of are now much less relevant in my life, and are not things I would risk life and limb to save.  Actually, it’s worth noting that none of this is really worth risking life and limb to save. In a sudden emergency such as a fire, getting yourself and your family out is a top priority. A life is the only thing on this list that cannot be replaced.

Here’s the scenario: You just found out your house will be demolished by fire, a storm, a flood, or some other catastrophic event in the next few minutes. You have just enough time to rescue three things from your home (not counting your family and your pets) and flee. What three things would you round up to take with you?  Here’s my list:

  • A “bug out bag.” Every family should have a bug out bag, preferably one for each person old enough to carry it out of the house without slowing them down. My go bag includes survival gear items such as fire starter materials, a first aid kit, weather radio, survival knife (with can opener attachment), my emergency credit card, some cash, a roll of quarters, two flashlights, batteries, travel kit (soap, shampoo, travel toothbrush and toothpaste), copy of the SAS Survival Handbook, a couple back up prescriptions, and a change of clothes. Other family members also have a change of clothes packed, in addition to one other category of survival needs.  For instance, another spouse may carry water, and an older child may carry non-perishable food such as dried goods or MREs (meal, ready-to-eat). Be sure to rotate foods and prescriptions so the ones in your kit don’t expire.
  • Our fire-proof lock box. This box contains things like insurance policy forms, deeds and titles, copies of birth certificates, social security cards, a list of bank account numbers and contact info, a copy of our will, etc.
  • Pictures. Young people probably won’t understand this, but we actually have boxes of 4×6 pictures taken by family members and passed down. These are memories that can never be recreated, and pictures that are not stored digitally like practically all pictures are these days. If given enough time I would grab these items on the way out, but only after our go bag and fire-proof lock box were safely retrieved.

A decade ago I might have opted to save things like my computer, my camera, some game system I really loved, or some other material item. However, I now recognize all those things could be replaced by insurance money, or future earnings. They are just things. I’d rather focus my energy, and precious time, on rescuing things that could help us survive, and documents that cannot be easily recreated.

Your turn…which three items would you save from your home?

Why Everybody Needs A Side Hustle

Posted on by  at  6:00 am
36

After “side hustling” for the last couple years I now find it difficult to remember a time when I wasn’t mowing lawns, building websites, or writing articles. Though we got by on my my salary, we knew it would take forever to pay down debts and meet our savings goals without adding to our income. I had also recently gone through the process of surviving a layoff at my previous employer, but the experience left me feeling less secure by any form of employment.

Break The Living Paycheck To Paycheck Cycle

Less than a year ago I shared a statistic that nearly half of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck. After the labor market’s free fall since January of this year, I suspect that number is even higher today. Relying on a single source of income has simply become too risky for many families, forcing non-working spouses into the workforce, or forcing a working spouse to take on a part time job.

A side hustle is a sort of part time job, but it typically involves you building something around your current trade. Perhaps you write software for a living and can build websites on the side. If you work in construction, perhaps you could build privacy fences or decks for homeowners in the evenings and on the weekends. The idea is to find something you are already good at and cultivate a little side business around that hustle.

Chances are you can make much more money working a side hustle than working at a part time job for someone else, particularly in a retail environment. The real beauty of a side hustle is that over time it will start to generate a second source of cash flow for your family. No longer will you be absolutely dependent on your full-time job for paying the mortgage, keeping the lights on, and putting food on the table.

But How Much Can I Really Make Working Nights and Weekends?

The answer depends on the hustle you decide to take up, how passionate you are about your idea, and how hard you work to promote it. I’ve seen some people work really hard for six months and then flame out because they were only making  a “few hundred dollars a month.”  They made the mistake of comparing a side hustle to their full-time job.

Think about how many expenses you could cover with just a “few hundred dollars” of extra income each month from a side hustle if you should lose your full time job. It might make the difference in keeping your car to help you find another job, or the difference in keeping power on at your house, or food on the table for your family. It might help you cover the costs of COBRA insurance, other utilities, and maybe even supplement your severance pay to make it last longer.

The point is that by earning income in addition to your regular earnings you are, over time, making a potential layoff less and less of a major financial event. Coupled with a solid emergency fund, you would have little reason to fear losing your job, except that this is a particularly hard time to find another one.

Dedicate Side Hustle Earnings To A Specific Cause

To stay motivated, try dedicating your side hustle earnings, or at least a major portion of it, to a particular cause in your family financial plan. Perhaps you could use all of the earnings to help speed up your debt snowball (this is how we use side hustle earnings). Once you are debt free use the extra income to build savings, and then save for a major purchase such as a down payment on a home, or a new(er) car.

Over the last couple years of working two jobs I have found this strategy helps keep me motivated when I want to throw in the towel. If I simply lumped all the earnings in with my regular income it might get lost in the shuffle, and I might simply be tempted to raise our style of living to match my total income. However, we have made a point to continue to live on my current earnings from my full time job while whittling away debt with side hustle money.

Do you currently have a side hustle, or an idea for starting one?

Father’s Day Message: It’s Time To “Man Up”

Posted on by  at  11:05 am
17

I first heard the expression “man up” from my high school football coach. When we got tired, and started complaining about the heat, or hurting, or needing a break, he simply replied, “You better man up!” As a teenage boy I got the message, and played through exhaustion and injuries, even the one that ultimately derailed my plans to attempt to play football at the next level.

Today I’m a 31 year-old husband and father of two. Fourteen years removed from those experiences on the football practice field, I still find reasons to tell myself to “man up.” I see lots of examples of dads not acting like men when it comes to providing for their children, financially and emotionally.

For those who need an example of what it means to “man up” and take care of your family, I’ll share the following trailer from one of my favorite movies, Cinderella Man. Jim Braddock knew a thing or two about taking care of his family – playing through pain, swallowing his pride, sacrificing everything for this family, and fighting for what he believed in. We don’t have enough modern day Jim Braddocks walking around, but fortunately, we have great films like this to remind us what they used to look like.

Cinderella Man Trailer

I have a lot of respect for men who provide financial support for their children even when things don’t work out between them and their spouse. I have zero respect for fathers who don’t. To me, there is no higher calling than being a parent, and that means that after you have children you put their needs above your own. You sacrifice the spoils of single life and “man up” to take care of your family.

Unfortunately, I see plenty of examples of males (they aren’t men), who put their needs ahead of those of their family. They might be there for their family physically, but emotionally they are bankrupt. These are the types of guys so busy boosting their egos in the corporate world that they forget to boost their kid’s confidence by showering them with attention at home.

I’m not talking about the guy who works 60 hours a week because he has to, or the guy deployed around the world to serve his country, I’m talking about the guy that works long hours because he wants to. You know the type – he finds reasons to work late and volunteer for travel to avoid the “noise” at home. To him I say, it’s time to “man up.”

Finally, there is the guy who still lives the single life, partying with friends and buying all kinds of big-boy toys for himself while the basic needs of his family are not met.  I’ve seen guys like this drooling over cars, or boats, or computers, or paintball supplies while there kids are standing in the background with holes in their shoes and clothes that don’t fit. I just can’t understand that thinking, because I would give everything for my wife and kids. That is the essence of being a real man. That is what it means to be a “frugal dad.”

On this, the longest day of the year, there is no excuse not to reconnect with your kids. Go enjoy a few quiet moments with them outside, teaching them to appreciate the nature that surrounds us. Take the kids for a walk around the block, or at the park.  Give them a call if you are separated. Whatever your circumstances, “man up” and be a great dad!

How Many Nights A Week Do You Eat Out?

Posted on by  at  9:15 am
38

As my family finished off meatloaf sandwiches last night for dinner I told them I was proud of us for not eating out. Besides, is there anything better than leftover meatloaf between two pieces of good bread and a cold glass of tea? I digress.

sulphurmountainrestaurant
Sulphur Mountain Restaurant courtesy of ahisgett

A couple years ago we ate out every Friday night, and then again on Saturday nights. We also grabbed something out a couple times during the week. We still enjoy the occasional meal out as a break from coming, but now we attempt to make it more of a treat than a routine. For instance, if the kids have a school function and we know we’ll be out anyway, we’ll plan a dinner out to celebrate something (we recently did this to celebrate paying off our family vehicle).

Of course, just because you eat out it doesn’t mean you have to break the bank to do it. When we do eat out, or pick something up to bring home, we like to split meals, skip drinks (order water only), pass on dessert, order a lunch portion for dinner, etc. There are plenty of strategies for surviving a meal out at a restaurant.

These days we’ve scaled back to an average of one meal out per week as a family. Recently, we splurged for a nice steak dinner at a local steakhouse. After dinner I used the opportunity for a teachable lesson for the kids. I told them that our small steak, baked potato and salad cost over $10.00 per adult. That same meal could have easily cost less than $5.00 at home, with Dad grilling steaks on the grill, Mom making her famous loaded baked potatoes, and my kids helping with salads.

Sometimes Mom, Dad, and even the kids, just need a break. So enjoy the occasional meal out. Set aside some of your budget to pay cash for the meal – using plastic guarantees heartburn later on.  Remember to budget enough for a good tip for excellent service (we’re frugal, but we aren’t cheapskates!).

How often does your family eat out? Have you scaled back because of the economy, or simply because you are trying to spend less money?