Category Archives: Frugality

Frugal Activities

The Spendthrift Friend Who Thought She Was Frugal

by

Last week, I was talking to a friend on the phone about finances and I decided to pay her a compliment, telling her that I could tell that she really started cutting back on her spending and that she has a finer control over her finances.

In her past she has overdrawn her checking account so badly, that at one time she bounced around 10 check during one time interval.  The kicker was that she had overdrawn her check account before…  So if the bank charges $20 per each bounced check, that comes to $200 in banking fees.  Ouch!

During our conversation, she told me “Well, I’ve always been frugal”.  I couldn’t believe that statement!  She travels overseas every other year, always had leased newer large SUVs, every years goes skiing multiple times, and goes on out-of-state beach vacations at least twice a year.

The credit card balances were so high, that at her low point she actually cut up all of her credit cards except one.  The one card she took and froze it in a small chunk of ice and kept it in the freezer for emergencies.

And now my friend is saying that she is “Frugal“?  Doesn’t make sense huh!

That when I realized that the “Being Frugal” concept is the same as “Being Rich” concept in that it’s all relative!  Her family (especially her brother) spends a lot of money and even spends more than she does.  So while I think she spends way too much when she doesn’t have a strong enough income to support her spending, she see her brother’s level of spending and thinks that she is frugal.

What she doesn’t really take into account is that he’s a small business owner and probably has a positive cash flow.

So perhaps a better gauge of whether you are frugal or not would be your savings delta?  But even that number doesn’t really say if you are frugal or not.  You don’t have to be getting rich to be frugal.  At least this number would tell you if you have a positive cash flow or not.

In the end, frugality (much like being rich) is relative to your peer group.  This enables people who have a  spending problems to believe that they are living a frugal life, but when compared to the averages they aren’t.

Do you have any friends that believe they are being frugal but are in massive debt to the credit card companies?

Cheers,

MR

Saving Money By Legally Using Your Employer Resources

by

Saving money by using your employer’s resources is both smart and legal.

Today I thought I’d challenge myself to think about the ways to save money using employer’s resources.

Company Resources

First, it’s possible to save money by using your employer’s heating and cooling system.  Just enjoy the mostly perfect temperature at work and turn your heating/cooling system down or off at home either by manually doing so or via a time controlled thermostat.  Think about it, why heat or cool the house for the plants?  They’ll be okay, they told me so, at least as long as it doesn’t get too hot or cold.

We always have software installs or vendor visits and they often bring bagels and coffee, or coffee and donuts from places like Panera and Dunkin Donuts!  Occasionally, my company has client site visits!  After these visits they often have left over club sandwiches and other goodies!  Every now and then pizzas will show up in the break rooms.  Yep, it’s possible to save a lot on food for lunch if you want.

Next, use their electronic technology!  My employer gives their employees both laptops and cell phones so that we can be very responsive at a drop of a dime.   That said, most of the time, I use the laptop at home for my own use.  And as for the cell phone… why buy my own when I can use the one provided from work for free?  My son likes to play the games on it, so he benefits too.

Why buy a beverage while at work?  My employer provides coffee, hot chocolate, cappuccino, tea and filtered water.   I use those single serving packets of Lipton white tea or crystal light when I want to add a little flavor to the filtered water.  It beats buying pop (soda) or a latte, at least from a cost perspective!  I even know one guy that fills up a big water container before he leaves for the day.

Lesser Ways to Save Money

  • Use their electricity for listening to music and other uses.
  • Some peers use the electricity at work to charger their electronic device batteries.  It’s very clever of them, plug it in and since you’re there anyway, you can watch it and unplug it at the proper time.  No more overcharging!
  • Need computer works?  Go to the smartest technician and plead for help!  This can save you hundreds of dollars!
  • Take their toilet paper when they aren’t looking (not really, but I thought I would add this as a joke, ha ha).
  • I know one guy that uses company paper to prints personal stuff to the printer.  Like materials for the kid teams that he coaches.  I don’t do this because this greatly frowned upon.  It’s kind of funny that the least expensive thing is what is frowned upon the most…
  • We have a shower in the downstairs men’s room and I know that of some joggers in the company use it in the morning after they’ve had their run.  Why shower at home in the morning when you can run in the morning and they get a free shower at work.  If you have a lot of members in your family, this could be very convenient!  Plus, no more cold showers.
  • We don’t have a company gym, but if you do have one… why buy a gym membership?

Of course people also use company folders, paper, notebooks, pens, pencils, paperclips and even batteries for personal use, but I didn’t include these since this type of using company resources isn’t legal.

What ways do you save money by using your employer’s resources, or do you feel guilty doing so?

-MR

Please subscribe to my RSS feed so you can check out new articles when they become available.  You will help this blog grow by doing so!  Thanks!

 

 

 

The Mercedes Driving Coupon Clipper

by

Last weekend, I took my family to “Steak & Shake” Restaurant.   We had a coupon from one of those ever popular entertainment books.  I was proud of myself for remembering to use it, at least until I noticed the “Mercedes Driving Coupon Clipper“!  Over the past few years, we decided to keep our entertainment books in the car, that way if we forget to take the coupon out of the book, or forget about the coupon entirely, it’s just a matter of having someone run to the car to bring the book in.

Back to my story…  So we finished our meals and I went up to pay bill with a $2 dollars off a second meal when 1 meal of $5.00 or greater was purchased.  Since there was four of us, the coupon was nice but not earth shattering as my bill still came to over 21 dollars.  Of course I used my trusty Citi Diamond Preferred rewards card as usual, so the amount off the bill was a little more than the $2 but again nothing to write home about.

However, I was patting myself on the back with my coupon ninja skills, when I noticed that the family in front of me was taking a really long time!

 

Mercedes Driving Coupon Clipper

As I stood there in line, I noticed that the mom, dad and teenage son were an very handsome family.  I supposed that the son played sports since he was a few inches taller than I was.  The mom was attractive in a classy kind of way with cloths that looked expensive, but one never knows these days…

But the dad (the one paying the bill) caught my attention the most.  While he wasn’t dress poorly, he wasn’t dressed as nicely as the mom and son.   He was soft spoken and patiently waited for the cashier to get her manager because of the complex grouping of coupons that he had.  Once the manager came over, the man proceeded to explain how the coupons worked and the discounts that each entitles.  I was impressed that he know with such exact detail what each coupon was worth and the expiration date on each.

While I don’t remember the exact amount that he paid, I do remember it was close to but less than 10 dollars (9 something), and that I was impressed.  As the family left, I was subconsciously confused, but I didn’t know exactly why.

 

The Parking Lot

It didn’t hit me until I got to the parking lot, at that point I realize that the family were probably very well off!  Of course it helped that as we got to our car, I noticed that man and his family driving off in a high end Mercedes Benz!

My wife asked my what I was chuckling about as I got in the car.  That’s when I told her that this was the first time that I’ve even seen a Mercedes Driving Coupon Clipper!

Later after getting home and letting what I saw spin passively in my head somewhere deep in my subconscious, my thought came to my active thoughts!  The man was both rich and frugal because it was a game for him!

I should have noticed that he was enjoying the game that he was playing as he explained each coupon to the manager as if he were trading a valuable baseball card with another collector!

After a seemingly long 5 minute transaction with the manager, how the entire family seemed happy as they left the restaurant instead of being flustered as the typical customer (including myself) would have been!

I don’t know if I would have figured it out had I not seen the Mercedes that they drove off in.

Perhaps this is a more common occurrence than I realized.  It would also explain why Warren Buffett isn’t to proud to use coupons.  Even though it’s obvious that he doesn’t need to…

Readers have you ever seen or heard of a story like I experienced?  This should make us all realize that money is money, and if we can get something for less we shouldn’t be shy about saving a buck to two extra off of a purchase!  After all, if the very wealthy are looking for good deals, why should we do the same?

Needless to say, I was very impressed with the Mercedes driving coupon clipper…

 

-MR

Did you like this Article?  Then please subscribe to my RSS feed so you can check out new articles when they become available.  You will help this blog grow by doing so.  Thanks!

Save Money With GFI Replacement Tips

by

Today, I’m going to go DIY on everybody and talk about GFI (GFCI) Replacement Tips!

This past weekend, our microwave died (or so we believed).  It started making funny noises a week ago, and finally Friday, it stopped working all together!

So our adventure began with a trip to Walmart to buy a new economical microwave model.  We brought it home and plugged it in, but the new microwave didn’t work either!

So we tried a different outlet, alas still no chirping on of a microwave with juice!

Next we tried a nite light in the first outlet, then the second outlet, then a third outlet, and finally the outlet in the bathroom.  Finally victory, the outlet in the bathroom worked!  At this point we realized that it was a GFI – Ground Fault Interrupter (or CFCI – Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlet problem.  You see, with a CFCI outlet it may have other outlets on the same circuit.  This way if one of the outlets has an issue, it will trip the CFI outlet so none of the outlets work on the circuit.

So after a quick and easy search, we found a GFCI outlet 2 outlets away from our problem one, and sure enough it was broke!  I determined this by pushing the “Test” button, but when it didn’t trip, it was obvious that I found the problem!

So I drove to the store and bought a replacement CFCI outlet.  I also saw an outlet tester, so I picked up one of these too (it was only $7.00).

To replacing the CFI outlet, I just googled “fault outlet” and found this video:

Following the video I came up with the following instructions/tips:

  • Always!  Always make sure the power to the outlet if off via the breaker box in the basement
  • Use an outlet tester to make sure no juice is going to the outlet
  • Please, please make sure the power is OFF!
  • The ground wires go to the green screw
  • The black wires go to the gold colored screws.
  • The white wires go to the silver colored screws.
  • Double check your work because mistakes are easy!
  • Don’t screw the outlet or cover screws in too hard!  It’s easy to strip the case since it just plastic!

I hope you don’t experience this type of problem, but if you do know that it’s fairly easy to replace!

-MR

Please subscribe to my RSS feed so you can check out new articles when they become available!

Thanks!