Monthly Archives: July 2011

5 Romantic and Frugal Vacation Ideas

Posted on by  at  5:00 am
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The following guest post is by Nolan Hoffman. Nolan is the lead writer for onlinebanks.com and also blogs about his financial ups and downs at debtkid.com.

Some vacations are no brainers. Rome, a cruise, Las Vegas… all romantic as they get. And, expensive.

Other vacations are as cheap as you want to make them. And if your idea of romance is pitching a tent in a public park ten miles from town, then go for it, you can cover both bases.

But if both objectives drive your vacation planning, then be prepared to invest a little research time, creative thought and personal paradigm busting. They’re out there, but they’re not always obvious.

Here are five ideas that, depending on your budget and tastes, may allow you to check off both boxes. But remember, cost is relative, and romance is in the eye of the beholder and your partner. If digging clams in the rain isn’t her thing, the best ocean view on the planet won’t get you out of the romantic doghouse if that’s the lead attraction.

The Stay-cation

There’s nothing cheaper than staying at home. And, without a plan, nothing less romantic. The key to a successful stay-cation – one in which you actually set aside the real world and engage in fun and relaxation activities that are outside of your normal choices – is the degree to which you are willing to get outside your little comfortable box and try new things, especially when it’s just on the other side of town.

Plan each day of your stay-cation. Go to museums. Dig up attractions. Visit something historical in your area. Shop in unusual places. Eat out. Get massages and facials. Breakfast in bed. Go on a hike. Rent some movies, bring in theater popcorn. Send the kids away and hide the phone.

The best rule: no work, no household chores, nothing normal. And, the more you add your personal frosting of things romantic to the setting and activities, the more it’ll seem like you’re in Maui for a second honeymoon. Make a commitment that this is special time.

If you can fill each day or your stay-cation with something unexpected and deliciously self-serving for the two you, romance will naturally ensue. And you’ll save a bundle on gas, air, hotels and, if you pick some little out-of-the-way places, even food.

Consider a Last Minute Cruise

One of the few benefits of these tough times is the desperation of businesses who sell fun. Cruise ships are setting sail half-empty lately, which means the lines are offering last minute deals for as little as 25 cents on the dollar.

Yes, you can grab a Mexican or Carribean cruise for week on a great ship for as low as $300 to $400. Of course you have to get there, but overall a cruise has never been this affordable if you can manage to do it with a last-minute booking through an online source.

And of course, the romance onboard is as warm and fuzzy as it ever was.

The Thematic Vacation

Assuming you can leverage the times to snare some cheap travel and lodging, consider building your trip around a theme.

Go to Disneyland or one of the other major amusement parks with resorts. Rent a small camper/trailer and stay in their mobile park for a fraction of the cost of their hotel, or one nearby.

Drive to the next big town and go discount shopping. Hit all the factory outlets, eat and chain restaurants, pretend you’re on a reality show.

Visit relatives. Lodging is free, the food pretty good, and only you know the price of your pride or patience in this equation. As for romance, hold hand in the car and have some sizzling “quiet time” in the guest bedroom. They’ll never know.

Consider Camping

Seriously. Tents, sleeping bags, a cooler and a bag of sandwiches from Subway and you’re good to go. Drive far, drive near, bring marshmallows, hiking shoes and stuff to build a fire.

The romance part, that’s up to you. But it’s quiet out here, and nobody will know you.

Go Online

With the exception of gas, virtually every element of a trip you can think of is available online at a steep discount. From the occasional airfare to rental cars, hotels, meals and attractions, if you begin your planning early and are willing to dig through the search engines for deals, you’ll be surprised how far you can go on how little.

The romance part… well, like any aspect of romance, this is composed of choices you make and what you make of the moments that ensue from them. When you composite a vacation full of online discounts, the romance resides in the adventure and the unexpected, and the compensation thought that, if you get there and the place isn’t what you expect, at least you have each other.

How to Hone Your DIY Skills

Posted on by  at  3:14 pm
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Frugality and a “do-it-yourself” attitude go hand in hand. Over the last few years, I’ve tried to improve my own DIY skills for a variety of reasons – so that I can keep things in working order longer, repair rather than replace, and come up with homemade solutions to avoid a costly off-the-shelf alternative.

Unfortunately, I’ve run into quite a few problems that I have little experience with (remember that clogged air conditioner drain line?). When that happens, I turn to a variety of resources in the hopes someone else has had a similar problem and has shared a solution.

The Internet offers a wealth of information on DIY subjects, as does many offline publications that have been around for years. And of course there is the old-fashioned, but often most effective approach of simply asking a friend or neighbor for some help.

5 Valuable Resources to Build DIY Skills

1. YouTube. It’s amazing the types of how-to videos you can find on YouTube. In the last couple months alone, I’ve watched videos on installing laminate floor, changing your own oil, and repairing a garbage disposal. For me, this is a huge benefit of having online videos. I am the type of person who can read about repairs, look at diagrams, and follow instructions well enough, but being able to actually watch someone repair or install something makes it so much easier to translate to my real-world problem.

2. DIY Magazines (and their Websites). My grandfather subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine for as long as I can remember. He used to save feature articles like this one, 100 Skills Every Man Should Know, in a folder in his file cabinet and refer back to them often.

These days, Popular Mechanics, and other publications in the DIY genre maintain informative websites with these types of articles just a click away.

3. Repair manuals. In terms of automotive repair guides, you can’t go wrong with a Haynes Repair Manual. I have one for each model of vehicle we own. I’ve found these repair guides to be the most handy tools when working on vehicles – especially older ones (for example, here’s the repair manual for my old 1991 Chevy G10 Van). Chilton also makes a good repair manual, but I’m partial to Haynes because it’s the manual my grandfather always turned to when he had trouble with that old van.

There are plenty of good household repair guides, too. Reader’s Digest has long put out an excellent book on household repairs, the Fix-It-Yourself Manual: How to Repair, Clean and Maintain Anything and Everything In and Around Your Home.

4. Repairmen. It seems obvious that a repairman would be an excellent resource for fixing things, but the problem is you have to pay them for their expertise. Often times you can learn from them simply by watching them make repairs.

Now, after talking with a few friends in the business, few people like to be hovered over while they make a repair. But as a homeowner, I believe you have a right to watch someone perform a repair on your property. Assuming you are up-front about your intention to learn something, and stay out of the way, most people won’t have a problem with it.

We recently had trouble with our refrigerator not cooling and I had to call someone from a local appliance repair shop. The individual walked me through several troubleshooting methods I could try on my own next time, as well explaining the importance of maintaining our refrigerator (keeping the coils clean, checking door seals, keeping it adequately stocked for more efficient cooling, etc.). His visit was well worth the knowledge I gained, but I would have missed out on it had I simply sat in the next room watching television.

5. Community/Technical colleges. Growing up, I didn’t have many opportunities to work on cars, so I’m not much of a “car guy.” I know enough to perform simple maintenance, but large repairs are still intimidating to me (even armed with my Haynes Repair Manual).

I’ve decided to look into attending an automotive repair course offered by a local technical college. Most of the attendees will ultimately be looking to add to their credits towards becoming a certified mechanic. I’ll be the guy looking to make basic repairs in his driveway to avoid a huge repair bill.

Of course, no matter how much DIY knowledge we hope to learn over time, we could never account for every scenario. Knowing when to swallow your pride and call in a professional is also a valuable skill. For this, I’ve found services like Angie’s List to be invaluable because I’m able to read through others’ experiences with a particular contractor or service professional. If I am able to find someone with several positive reviews, chances are I’ll also have a good experience if I hire them.

How are your adding to your own DIY skills? Any resources you’d like to share with fellow readers?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Frugal: Battling My Anti-Frugal Personality

Posted on by  at  12:04 pm
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The following post may read as sort of an admission. In a way, it is. A couple weeks ago we took a short family vacation, and for once, I had some time to slow down and do some thinking. Naturally, I thought a lot about my past, specifically where we have come from, financially. After all, it was just a couple years ago that we were skipping vacations to get out of debt.

I acknowledged to myself during one early morning sunrise viewing that even though I had persevered through those tough couple years, in many ways, I am the same person, with many of the same tendencies (good and bad) as I was in my spendthrift days.

The aforementioned brilliant sunrise that inspired my reflective mood, and ultimately, this post

Sure, I had successfully managed to suppress that side of my personality, but it was still there, waiting to rise up like a dormant virus looking for a weakened immune system.

After getting out of debt, my immediate mission was clear – building emergency savings. However, over time I’ve given into more frivolous spending than I care to admit. We have not accumulated new debt, but the opportunity cost of higher spending has been a slower savings rate the first half of this year than I would like.

Living Frugal is a Way of Life, Not a Short-term Diet Plan

All this brought me to a realization – I need more frugal outlets, more ways to spend my time that don’t cost a lot of money (or in fact, save money). On the surface, I enjoy frugal activities as much as the next person. The problem is, I don’t make them a regular part of my daily routine.

For instance,

  • I’ll get on a reading “kick,” check out a small pile of books from the library, and never finish them.
  • I’ll build a coupon binder and start collecting the weekly coupon booklets, but never use them.
  • I planted a square foot garden this year, but have neglected it.

It’s not that I necessarily dislike doing any of these frugal activities (well, I do admit, I don’t enjoy organizing the coupons – there, I said it!), it’s just that I can’t seem to find a groove and engage in these types of things day in and day out.

Instead, I often resort to watching mindless television, or browsing Amazon.com for “deals” on things I don’t really need, or wanting just to grab lunch out rather than brown-bagging it.

It’s almost as if I have two personalities – frugal and anti-frugal. Remember the old cartoons with the angel on one side and the devil on the other, tempting someone to do something wrong? That’s me. Only the devil is holding a credit card instead of a pitchfork!

So, I’ve decided that some people are just born frugal, while others have to acquire a taste for it. Much like some people are “born leaders,” but others develop leadership skills over the years.

Our upbringing, and a variety of external factors mold us into who we are today. I’ve had great role models, but they spanned the frugal scale. It seems I inherited much of the good, and some of the bad.

New Beginnings: Finding Contentment in Frugal Hobbies

Certain frugal activities just seem to come easy to certain people. Quite often, the common thread running through these naturally-frugal folks is contentment – they are just plain happy with what they have.

That isn’t to say the less frugal are necessarily ungrateful, but we often struggle to find balance between being content with what we have while giving into the temptations for newer shiny toys.

I plan to start adding in new frugal activities that I find enjoyable, and making them part of my routine. For instance, I need to get back to walking 10,000 steps a day, for the many health benefits, and because I generally like being outside. Other than a good pair of shoes, I need no fancy equipment to walk.

I’d like to start reading again, but maybe I’ll try a new genre and avoid the heavy, non-fiction material I’ve tried to work through in the past. Anyone read a good book lately?

My coupon strategy has to adapt, too. I’ll still look through the paper for coupons, and will use them when available for something I already planned to buy, but I won’t plan our entire meals around only items for which I have a coupon. That often requires us to eat things we don’t particularly like, or aren’t the healthiest choice.

Now, I have to run – time to clean up that garden!

Save Money On Homebrewing

Posted on by  at  1:29 pm
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The following guest post is from Billy Broas. Bill is a beer blogger at BillyBrew.com and lives in Denver, Colorado. In 2006, he had a “beer epiphany” when he tried a craft beer and was blown away by its flavor and complexity. Once he learned how to brew his own, there was no looking back.

Home beer making is undergoing a surge in popularity. I believe a combination of factors, including a rising interest in craft beer, more DIY attitudes, and the locavore movement, account for the upwards trend.

I’ve been homebrewing for 6 years, making everything from standard pale ales to beers with ingredients like chocolate, tea, and lime. Throughout this brewing journey, I’ve discovered a few ways to save money that I hope can help out other brewers or potential brewers.

I’ll say upfront that I never advocate getting into homebrewing just for the cost savings. You do it for the creativity, the love of good beer, and because it’s a ton of fun. Think of it more like golf. You do it for the enjoyment and thrill of achievement. That doesn’t mean I don’t try to save money, however.

Here are some of the best ways to save money on homebrewing:

1. Go all-grain

Almost all brewers start out brewing with malt extract, a syrupy substance that is easy to use and requires very little equipment. A step up from that is all-grain brewing, the way the pros do it. Whether or not all-grain saves you money depends on the brewer you talk to.

It will be cheaper for you to brew each batch because grains are cheaper than malt extract. Where those savings get erased, however, is when you start to geek out with equipment.

There are some all-grain systems that look like they were built by NASA. They are automated, pump-driven, and very expensive. It is difficult to pay back the cost of these systems.

On the other end of the spectrum you have the MacGyver systems, pieced together from old pots and coolers and requiring lots of manual labor. Don’t be fooled by these ragtag set-ups though, these brewers often make the best beer. They also pay back the cost of their equipment much quicker than the NASA brewers.

It’s also worth checking out the brew-in-a-bag (BIAB) technique, a newer method of all-grain brewing popularized by Australian homebrewers. The cost of entry into BIAB is dirt cheap as all you need is a pot and a large bag.

2. Buy ingredients in bulk

This is the Sam’s Club method of brewing, and mainly applies to buying grains and hops. Go to the homebrew store and you’ll pay around $1.60/lb for malted barley. You can save on that by buying malt in bulk, and can easily get your cost down to $0.70/lb.

Most homebrew stores will sell you grain in bulk. Here’s a directory to help you find a local shop. Prices can vary dramatically between stores, so shop around if you have that luxury. Another great place it look is a local brewery or brewpub. Go down there, order a pint, and ask if they will add an extra grain sack to their order.

As an example of the cost savings, if you brew 5 gallon all-grain batches that average 5% alcohol (riiiight) and brew once per month, you could save approximately $100/year by buying grain in bulk.

Hops can be bought in bulk as well. Buy them retail and you’ll pay in the range of $1.50-$3.00 per ounce. A place like Hops Direct will let you buy them by the pound for around $0.60 per ounce. Hop-head brewers who are fond of pale ales and IPAs will see some big savings here. You could easily keep another $75-$150/year in your pocket by buying hops in bulk.

You could even take things a step further and grow hops yourself. Growing wheat or barley is much more difficult, but there are the adventurous homebrewers who do it.

3. Reuse your yeast

Yeast isn’t cheap. Current prices are about $8 for a vial of liquid yeast from one of the main suppliers. Take a tip from the pros and reuse your yeast.

By reusing, you can turn one pack into dozens. If you brew once per month, you could save another $96/year on yeast alone.

From one yeast vial I typically get 4 fresh containers after harvesting. Each one of those containers can be used for another batch of beer, where the yeast can be harvested into four more containers. You can see how it adds up – you could easily have a fridge jammed packed with yeast!

If you need help with this technique, I have an instructional video on yeast washing.

4. Focus on less expensive beer styles

If you’re a hop-head like me, sometimes it’s good to take a hop detox. Hoppy beers like IPAs are hugely popular with homebrewers, but they can be expensive to brew. Buying hops in bulk is one option to save money, but you could also explore the many fantastic minimally-hopped beer styles.

Try a brown ale, porter, or German hefeweizen. The first two highlight the malt, while the last highlights the yeast. Here are some of my favorites from those styles:

  • Brown ales: Avery Ellie’s Brown, Surly Bender, Sierra Nevada Tumbler
  • Porters: Samuel Smith’s Taddy Porter, Dechutes Black Butte, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
  • German Hefeweizens: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, Ayinger Brauweiss, Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse

I’m convinced that someday we’ll see a malt-head revolution. Maybe you’ll help lead it?

5. Embrace DIY

If you’re the handy type, you can save a ton of money by building equipment yourself. While you don’t need to know how to weld to homebrew, it’s a huge asset. Not so good with tools? I’m sure you have a beer drinking friend who is. Catch my drift?

Here are a few project you can do yourself to save some money:

  • Mash tun
  • Brew stand
  • Kegerator
  • Kettle accessories (valves, sight glasses, etc)
  • Hop filter

Besides saving some dough, there’s something really rewarding about making something that makes beer.

6. Brew smaller batches

The typical size batch of homebrew is 5 gallons, or about 50 12 oz. bottles. Sometimes that is just too much. I’ve made a few batches that didn’t turn out so hot and was stuck with 2 cases of crappy beer.

There’s no law that says you need to make 5 gallon batches, so try brewing 1-3 gallon batches. You’ll save money and if the beer stinks, you’re not stuck with a lot of it. This advice is especially useful for those “test batches” of some crazy beer idea you had at the bar.

7. Brew lower alcohol beers

There is a big cost difference in brewing a 12% abv barleywine and a 4% abv English brown ale. I usually brew on the lower end of the abv scale to save money and because I don’t want that much super strong beer. Try brewing session beers, a term used to describe beers that are lower in alcohol and are more quaffable. My favorite choices are the British ales like milds and bitters.

Homebrewing is a fun hobby I encourage all beer fans to give it a shot. Sure you could spend a fortune on it if you want to, but the cost of entry is low and anyone can make great beer without breaking the bank. Cheers!

It’s Time to Build Cash and Get Out of Debt

Posted on by  at  4:29 pm
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Last week’s disappointing jobs report has underscored what many of us already knew – we are still not out of the woods. What we are now experiencing is turning out to be one of the longest recessions since the Great Depression.

The current economic and political climate, as well as the projections for the near future, have convinced me of one thing – there has never been a better time to get out of debt and build an emergency reserve of cash. That’s right, the day of debt reckoning has arrived.

Yes, I do say that to alarm you. I think people need to be alarmed. Some people need to take off their rose-colored glasses, remove their political hats, ignore their favorite celebrities, and look at the stark reality we face. Our country is bankrupt. We are at war. We are tearing ourselves apart along the lines of Left vs. Right, and they have both been wrong.

I don’t know what might happen in the next year or two. None of us do. However, I do know this – those who have freed themselves of the burden of debt, built an emergency fund, and made adequate preparations for a worst-case scenario, are those likeliest to succeed – even thrive – in the coming years.

This is where I differ from others in the personal finance realm. I think the number one priority for anyone, particularly those with a family with people depending on them, is to build a six-month emergency fund of liquid cash to cover basic household expenses (food, rent/mortgage, utilities, transportation). I don’t care how much debt you have. I don’t care how much interest you are paying. You have to start building a cash reserve…now.

Why a six month emergency fund? The average unemployed person in America has been looking for work for 39.7 weeks, so we really aren’t even covering that full period of average unemployment, but it’s a start.

Most disability insurance policies have a six-month waiting period. If you get sick, or are injured, and cannot work, it will likely be six months before your disability coverage kicks in.

Why not nine months, or a year? If you are still deep in debt, you must start paying down that balance. Six months of savings is a good point to make the switch from savings to debt repayment. Once completely debt free, I think everyone should have a full 12-month emergency fund.

The Four Pillars of Paying Off Debt

1. Pick a plan, any plan. There are plenty of “get out of debt” plans floating around out there. A couple of my favorites are the debt snowball, made popular by Dave Ramsey, and the Debt Tsunami, which advocates giving an even higher priority to emotions elicited by a particular debt, and using that emotion to prioritize a repayment plan.

Both plans largely ignore interest rates, unless everything else is equal, as a determining factor in which debt should repaid first. I generally agree with this approach, as the emotional “win” from paying off a low-balance debt quickly is more valuable than paying a little more interest on a larger balance.

However, I don’t think completely ignoring interest rates is the perfect solution either. After all, paying down a large credit card debt at 19% interest while making the last nine minimum loan payments on a 3.99% car loan with a smaller balance seems to make a lot of sense, from purely a financial perspective.

On the other hand, paying off that small car loan balance in three months, and freeing up another $400 a month that used to go towards car payments, may provide a quicker win in your own plan. Do what works for you.

2. Keep it simple. Whatever plan you choose, my best advice is to keep it simple. The more elaborate the plan, the less likely you are to stick with it. That’s just human nature.

Ask anyone who has tried (and failed) elaborate diets how successful they were month after month. Chances are, somewhere along the way, they slipped. Not that slipping is necessarily bad – we will all do it, but if we have a simple plan to begin with, it makes it that much easier to get restarted.

3. Stop spending. This one is probably the most obvious, but it also the most difficult. People who spend more than they earn on non-essential items are often trying to fill an emotional void. That was certainly my case. I bought stuff because it made me feel good, because I was bored, and because I was trying to keep up with others who made much more money than I did.

Of course, others are swiping their credit cards because they have no cash, for a variety of reasons – some quite legitimate. This prolonged recession (when will we finally admit this is a depression?) has left many, many people unemployed and under-employed. In fact, a record 44.7 million people are now receiving food stamps.

That means a lot of families out there are having to decide between swiping the credit card, or going without food, gasoline in their cars or paying an electric bill. Chances are, many of these families have already cut most frivolous spending from their budgets. If not, or if you find yourself in debt, but not to the point of having to ask for assistance, I plead with you to radically change your spending habits and start working to pay down debt (after establishing a minimum 6-month emergency fund).

4. Increase your income. Earlier, I mentioned #3 was by far the hardest step. However, in today’s climate increasing your income is a very close second. Many families have been hit by layoffs, with one or both spouses losing their jobs. Self-employed people have seen work dry up, particularly those involved in residential construction and similar industries.

I think we are living through a monumental shift, a turning point. For the last 50-60 years many families made their living by working at a factory, or for a city, or a utility or similar, large institution. They were offered pensions and health benefits after reaching retirement. Their jobs were relatively stable, as was their income.

However, things are changing. Many manufacturing jobs have left, and will likely never return (at least not in our working lifetimes). Politics have made public-funded pensions and benefits an endangered species, and likely a thing of the past. No longer can one count of getting a college degree, finding a job and working there for 30 years until retirement.

New generations will have to be much more adaptable, much more creative in their ability to earn a living. They will have to create a variety of income streams by cultivating a combination of their personal and professional talents and interests.

  • White-collar professionals may find themselves building privacy fences and decks on the weekends (or going full-time with a popular blog).
  • Teachers may host tutoring workshops after school to earn extra cash.
  • Policemen may start landscaping companies to supplement their income.
  • Nurses may offer to watch an elderly person in poor health to relieve caregivers.

The possibilities are endless, and in reality, we already see many examples of these types of things happening. The difference is that in the past we looked at people with two careers (or a side hustle) as a bit odd – like they were workaholics or people lacking the ability to pick a career path and stick with it.

Going forward, this will be the norm. And those not looking to diversify their income will be the hardest hit every time there is a downturn.

Get creative. Coordinate a block yard sale with neighbors and split the advertising costs. Build a blog about whatever it is that interests you and write about it. Engage with others online in your area of expertise or fields of interest. Ask your current boss if there are any overtime opportunities. Put in applications for part-time work.

Use every single extra dime you can scrape up to put towards that 6-month emergency fund, and then towards your debt repayment plan.

I’ve never been more convinced that this is the time to get out of debt. And if I’m wrong, and things suddenly turn around and the economy booms, you’ll still be better off without debt and a solid emergency fund.

You will be able to seize opportunities others can’t. You will free up income to make investments others will miss (yes, I’m still bitter about being in debt back in 2008 and missing the many opportunities during the “recovery”).

The bottom line is this…you have to start today.

Ignore the television tonight, sit down with a pad and pen and list your debts. Figure out how long it will take to save six months of basic expenses. List things you can sell to make that happen even faster. Brainstorm ideas for increasing your primary income, and for creating new income streams. Now’s the time.