Over the years I’ve tried to compile a few last minute gift ideas. Oddly enough, I nearly waited until the very last minute to run this post, as we find ourselves on the final shopping weekend before Christmas. However, it’s not too late to add some frugal gifts to finalize your Christmas shopping this weekend.

Black & Decker Energy Saver Series Power Monitor. Here is one we don’t have, but it is on our Christmas list this year.  I’ve become a bit obsessive about ways to cut our utility bills (yes, I admit it, I have a problem!).  It hurts opening those huge energy bills in the extreme summer and winter.  This gadget allows you to see the effect of each electrical appliance as they cycle on and off, and using info from your electric bill, you can estimate how much those appliances are costing you to operate.

Amazon Gift Card.  Amazon.com used to be the one-stop shop for buying books online. In fact, it still is.  But Amazon now offers so much more!  I have bought everything from packs of diapers to household appliances from Amazon, and I’m sure an Amazon gift certificate would go a long way towards pleasing someone on your list.  They offer several options for procrastinators like print from home or email delivery, so no waiting on a gift card via snail mail–perfect for last minute gifts.

Netflix Membership.  Plans start at $4.99 a month, and are a wonderful last-minute gift idea for the movie buff in your life.  Simply select the plan, length of time you would like to gift and you’re all set.

Programmable Thermostat.  Our utilities were out of control before switching to a programmable thermostat.  We managed to shave nearly 20% off our utility expenses by allowing the night temperature to float up in the summer, and drop lower in the winter.  Just before the alarm clocks go off each morning, the thermostat returns the inside temperature to a comfortable for the morning routine.  A 5-1-1 or 5-2 model even allows you to set a different schedule for sleeping in a bit on the weekend (unless you have small kids).  With utility costs continuing to rise, it won’t take long for this one to pay for itself.

The Total Money Makeover. This one remains in my top two favorite personal finance books.  Oddly enough, I heard the audio book first while commuting after accepting a new job in a new town.  I was hooked, or “gazelle intense,” as author Dave Ramsey likes to say!  I credit Dave, and this book, with helping turn around our financial lives.

The book is not overly complicated, is inspirational, and is written in a tone you’d expect from Dave Ramsey. It would make a great gift, and I recommend a copy for yourself if you have never read it.

Your Money or Your Life. I already mentioned The Total Money Makeover, but this book is my other favorite money book. It is the book that got me interested in the idea of personal finance to begin with, and it introduced the concept of financial independence.  Written in the 1990s, the information is timeless and thought-provoking.  When I read this book I finally made the connection between work, earnings, and life energy.  I realized that trading my precious life energy to pay for additional stuff was simply not worth it–that I could enjoy a more simple way of like and work less for it.

TiVo Series2 80-Hour Dual Tuner DVR. We’ve had our TiVo for a couple years now, and I have to tell you it is one of the best purchases we have ever made (this was a present to ourselves).  For a while we were renting a DVR from our cable company, and the digital service that went along with it. Then, I discovered TiVo.

I like the TiVo interface much more than the one that came with the cable box, and I like the fact that I own the machine outright. If I move, I can take it with me. If I want another one for the living room, I can buy one. No extra rental fees from the cable provider.

We have really cut back on television viewing, but enjoy the efficiency of watching a program on TiVo.  Fast forwarding through commercials cuts way down on television viewing time.  I also like the ability to log into my TiVo box from work, or on the road, and select a program to record via a web interface.

Programmable 5.5 qt. Crock Pot.  We stay pretty busy around the frugal household these days.  A couple times a week we have after school activities and sports practices on the same night!  Not much time for meal preparation on those days.  And that is where our crock pot comes in handy.

Our favorite meal is a large pork roast rubbed with garlic salt and cooked slow all day in a crock pot and about a 1/2 cup – 1 cup of water.  We have enough meat to slice for homemade barbecue sandwiches for days–delicious!

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine Subscription. For one dollar a month (assuming a $12 annual subscription) you can get some of the best reporting on investments, taxes, insurance, paying for college, planning for retirement, home ownership, major purchases such as cars and computers and other personal finance topics. Over the years I have also subscribed to Money, Smart Money, and a host of other finance magazines, but Kiplinger’s remains my favorite.

529 College Savings Plan Contribution. You could just skip presents altogether and make a contribution to a child’s 529 college savings account. It could be for a niece or nephew, a younger sibling, or maybe even an unrelated child whose family could use a little boost. This is truly the gift that will continue to give for years to come.

Presto 22-inch Jumbo Electric Griddle.  I mentioned that we stay busy and have little time cooking most weeknights. To further complicate matters, we are experiencing more cold, rainy weather than we are used to.  This makes grilling outdoors tough. Our solution? An indoor griddle.

The griddle was given with the idea we could use it to make pancakes and breakfast foods, but we found it to be excellent for cooking slices of chicken, pork, and thin steaks indoors. As fattier meats cook the grease runs down into a drip container making meats a little healthier.  Cleanup is a snap thanks to a non-stick surface.

Money Mammals. We were lucky enough to receive a copy of Money Mammals from the creator, and my kids really enjoyed it.  In my review I posted here at Frugal Dad, I called Money Mammals the Little Einsteins for personal finance education for children.  It remains a unique product, and would make a great gift for little ones on your Christmas list.

Cash. If all else fails, give cash.  Cash is the universal gift. It can be spent anywhere that accepts money!  No worries over expiration dates, stores going bust and gift cards becoming invalid.  And one of the best things about cash is the recipient doesn’t have to spend it at all.  Maybe they can use it to add to their debt snowball, or get a jump start on an emergency fund.

Over the last couple years I have written many posts extolling the virtues of paying for things with cash. Shopping with cash causes transactional pain - that little twinge you feel when Uncle Benjamin leaves your wallet to be replaced by a few George Washingtons in change. That hurts.

When you swipe plastic, especially plastic representing money that doesn’t belong to you (credit cards), it hurts much less. This is why spending with credit cards is so dangerous. But spending cash can be dangerous, too, for an entirely different reason.

We are a couple months into saving for a Disney vacation in the upcoming year. While we are determined to cash flow the entire trip we also want it to be memorable for our kids. Neither child has been to Disney, and none of us have been on vacation for a couple years. You can probably see where this is headed.

Just because we plan to use cash, there are still plenty of opportunities to be separated from our money, and fast, especially at Disney World! It’s a trap many others have fallen into with big expenditures. The fact you are paying with cash doesn’t necessarily mean it makes sense, financially.

Cash does not equal affordability. I used credit cards for much of my twenties, racking up debt while away at school and again after returning home. I recognized that I could not afford many of the things I charged, but justified their purchase for a variety of reasons. It was school tuition, books, baby expenses, medical expenses, new clothes, and much-needed vacation, etc. Since I was charging these items and not paying off the full balances each month the financial sins were rather obvious each time the credit card bills arrived, and I was greeted with an even higher balance than the month before.

Since we stopped using credit cards a couple years ago, choosing instead to live on a cash basis, I have found that measuring affordability is a little more difficult to do. After all, just having the cash in hand doesn’t guarantee smart spending decisions. There are always opportunity costs associated with spending.

By not spending $100 on a new pair of shoes, or a new tool, or whatever strikes your fancy, you’ll have $100 to do something else such as save and invest that money. That investment will likely grow your original $100 over time, so the money you are giving up in growth represents the opportunity cost of spending that $100 on a new cordless drill today.

In our case, the cash saved for our Disney vacation could be used to pay down our remaining debt, or build our emergency fund, or to invest for retirement. We are giving up plenty of opportunity to spend that money on vacation, but it is a sacrifice we are willing to make for a memorable family vacation. Saving and paying cash does not make the trip any cheaper, but at least we won’t be dragging credit card debt back with us from Orlando.

It’s a good idea to keep a little cash in your home for emergencies. How much you decide to keep is up to you, but I would suggest keeping enough cash on hand to pay for a week of groceries, and maybe a night or two in a hotel. Because this money will not be earning interest, and is subject to being stolen by a burglar, I don’t suggest keeping a huge stash in your home. In addition to a small amount hidden at home, I also stash cash in our online savings account (my ING Direct review) to put a little distance between me and some of our savings. Think of cash stored in one of the best online banks as an offsite backup disaster recovery plan.

When you’ve settled on an amount you should think about secret hiding places to stash the cash. We’ve all seen those spy movies where the guy removes the tile from the back splash behind his stove and pulls out a cache of bills, passports and ammo. Well, the following ideas may not be worthy of James Bond, but they will improve the chances of your money surviving a break in.

Seven Secret Hiding Places for Your Cash

1. In the freezer wrapped in aluminum foil. Save a little styrofoam from the next pack of meat you buy and cut it down to the size of a couple large steaks. Put your cash in a Ziploc bag, stick it between two pieces of the used meat tray and wrap it in aluminum foil. Take a piece of masking tape and write “Scraps – 05/22/2005.” Robbers are not likely to look through the pack, and if they pull back the foil they’ll only see the familiar styrofoam tray and stop.

2. Sandwiched between the cardboard backing of a hard-to-reach picture frame. Most thieves pull back pictures from the wall to see if money is taped to the back, but they aren’t likely to take the time to look behind the glass, the cardboard backing and the picture itself. Use a pen knife to split the cardboard backing into two halves and sandwich the cash in between.

3. Under a piano, entertainment center or anything weighing a couple hundred pounds or more. If you have a hand truck around the house it’s pretty easy to just lift up the corner of a piano and slide an envelope under it. However, a burglar probably won’t be able to lift something this heavy, and would spend his time digging through the drawers or inside of the furniture rather than trying to lift it.

4. Inside a used can of soup. The next time you have soup, open the bottom of the can to empty the contents and the leave the top in tact. Rinse the can thoroughly, then use it to cover your stash of cash hidden inside your pantry. Stack a few cans of soup on top just to make it less convenient for someone to pick it up out of curiosity.

5. Buried in the “soil” of a fake plant. If you have a fake plant, or small tree, in your home, wrap your cash in a Ziploc bag and nest it inside the “soil” of the plant.

6. In hollowed out pages of a book on your book shelf. Using a pen knife or box cutter, carve out a few pages of your least favorite title. Hide your cash inside the book and return it to the book shelf.

7. Inside a kid’s toy hidden in their closet. Kid’s rooms are notoriously messy, and kids are not known for having large sums of money. Take apart an old plastic toy they no longer play with and hide your stash of cash in there. Return the toy to the bottom of the pile of toys in your kids closet, or toy chest, and it should be safe.

It’s important to remember that any cash saved at home could be lost in a fire or natural disaster. The ultimate hiding place is a fireproof safe bolted to the floor, and even that isn’t fool-proof. The ideal spot for storing large amounts of cash is an online savings account, far away from your house and any potential danger. But for the small amounts you stash at home, take the time to put it out of sight.

Also, remember to tell a spouse or close friend about the money in case you are not able to get to it (you die, or become injured or ill and cannot communicate). Keep enough cash on hand to cover you a few days in a major emergency, but not so much that you’d be completely wiped out if it all disappeared.

My wife and I used to make a small withdrawal of cash each pay day to fill a few envelopes for our envelope budget system.  Over time, we’ve become less disciplined (or worried) about the day-to-day spending categories, deciding instead to take more of a “big picture” approach to managing our finances.  The downside to this was that we rarely had any cash to carry on us, and we relied heavily on debit cards.

Why Carry Cash?

There are times when you just need to have a little cash on your person.  Here’s a few recent examples when I was glad to have some cash in my wallet:

• Tips
• Kids’ lunch money
• Office contributions for flowers, meals, etc. for coworkers
• Vending machines (I know I shouldn’t get anything from them, but sometimes you’re working late and you must as a last resort)
• Some gas stations give you a discount for paying in cash

How Much Cash to Carry?

Naturally, there is a fearful side to everyone that keeps them from opting to carry cash. But seriously, the chances of getting mugged are pretty slim. And if it does happen to you and you lose a hundred bucks, but get away without injury, consider yourself lucky.  Besides, I’d almost give $100 not to have to contact five credit card companies to report my card lost, dispute credit card charges, and spend countless hours dealing with their customer no-service people.

I think it is prudent to keep between $100-$200 on your person. This would be enough to handle an emergency cab fare out in the middle of nowhere, or similar small-to-medium sized emergency.  If you do have to use your cash for an emergency, replenish your wallet from your emergency fund and build it back up again.

I just looked in my wallet and I have exactly $67, so I guess it’s time to beef up the back pocket a bit.  Actually, any other time I’d be feeling pretty rich to have over $50 in there.  Most of the time the only thing occupying the lining of my wallet is a business card or two, and some receipts (explaining where my cash went).

How much cash do you carry, as a general rule?  Or do you prefer to only use debit or credit cards?

In today’s society where nearly all forms of payment have been converted to plastic, it is hard to convince people to carry cash. Mostly citing security concerns or convenience issues, people just aren’t into carrying cash these days. However, there are still several good reasons to carry cash, and occasions when only cash will do. For these scenarios, just how much cash should we have on hand?

Walking Around Money ($20)

I try to keep at least twenty dollars on my person at all times. Twenty dollars is enough to cover tips, or small purchases from a vendor who does not accept credit cards. A small amount of cash may also be needed for gas or food purchases in a pinch should your debit or credit cards decide to not work. After my “soggy hotdog” experience, I’ve made it a point to try and leave an extra $20 bill tucked away in the back of my wallet.

Travel Money ($250)

For regional travel, a couple hundred dollars seems like a prudent amount of cash to keep handy. While traveling there will be more opportunities to engage in cash-only transactions, such as cab fares, tips for hotel staff, and picking up the latest copy of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance from a magaine stand. I like to separate my travel “walking around money” from my total travel cash by leaving $100 or so tucked away in my suitcase, or similar hiding place and replenish as needed. In the event my wallet (along with debt/credit cards) is lost or stolen, I am not completely without money for meals, gas, etc.

Cash Kept at Home ($500)

Along with a fully-funded emergency fund, and a smaller local emergency fund, it also makes sense to keep some cash around the house. Home safes and lock boxes are fairly inexpensive and can provide security for your cash and other valuables that you don’t want to leave in a safe deposit box. In the event of a disaster (natural, or otherwise) it would be good to have a few hundred dollars in cash at your disposal. You never know when access to your money at the bank could become inaccessible, or roads impassible, so keep a small amount handy in the event of a large scale emergency.

photo by stopnlook