Tag Archives: gas savings

Frugally Fight Higher Gas Prices

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High gas prices

Fight back against gas prices!

Well, the oil companies are increasing oil prices again…

What are you doing to frugally fight higher gas prices?

Should we just say “There is nothing we can do” , and just be an innocent victim to the onslaught of the oil companies on our wallets and purses?

Last night while driving home, I noticed that my local gas station’s price per gallon has risen to $2.999 (which is effectively $3.00)!  Ouch!

I talked about one option in my article called: Carpooling to Save Money and Reduce Gas Prices, and this is a great way to for the consumers to lower gas prices to a great extend, at least if we all do so in mass.  One problem may exist though… China!  China is still growing like wildfire compared to the growth rate of the developed countries.  It’s not that they want oil prices to rise too, it’s just that their economy needs that resource to support their growth rate.

Another great option to consider is Telecommuting! In case you lived in a cave for the past 10 or so years, telecommuting is where you stay at home and connect to work (or do work) by connecting to work via a computer and internet connection (called a VPN – Virtual Private Network) to your place of employment.

Now granted not everybody can take advantage of the telecommuting option because of the type of work they perform, but you can talk to your boss if there isn’t a policy that your employer is using already!  Perhaps you can start a pilot program, working 1 day a week as a test to see if it work for you and your company.  In fact, the place that I work at takes an hybrid approach, where we work onsite a few days and have the option to work offsite for a few day.  It’s a great mix!  Even better would be to walk or ride a bike if possible to work and at anytime really…

My final suggestion would be to be aware of the expense of too many car trip taken during the day/week!  Running out 20 miles to this store and then later that store during a normal day can really adds up!  Know the mileage your car can achieve and calculate how much those trips cost (including the drive back home).  For instance,  I know that it cost me $15 to drive to my parents house and back (they are almost an hour away from my house)!

What I do is consolidate my non work trips into 1 per week (when possible, which is not always the case with kid sports and activities)!  What this means is during one drive, I do multiple things within that drive.  So instead of driving out for milk, then driving out to pick up driveway salt (snow, yuck)…  I’ll just make 1 trip instead of 2!

I know that we  all think of carpooling when we go to work, but perhaps it’s not a bad idea for a neighborhood carpool too?  Maybe a stay-at-home mom could do a similar action with other neighboring SAHMs?  There could even be other beneficial gains in doing such a carpooling activity such as social, safety and backup coverage in driving kids to sports!

Can you think of any other ways to combat the rising prices of gas?

–MR

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Frugal Idea: How I Take Money From My Kids!

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Taking Money from my kids

Taking Money from my kids

I’ve mentioned in the past how my kids get a weekly allowance based on their ages (son, age 9 = $9, daughter, age 6 = $6).  It’s been an inconvenience getting their allowance money to the bank.  It’s never been a fun task (unlike counting the money in their piggy banks!). 

So now I’ve decided just to take their money, and then transfer money from my personal bank to their UTMA brokerage accounts.  UTMA stand for (Uniform Transfers To Minors Act), and it’s a mechanism that will allow a minor to have an account in their name, but controlled by an adult.

 

I have a Schwab brokerage account, and two Schwab UTMA brokerage accounts (one for each child).  I also have my primary bank link to my brokerage account so I can do transfers between my bank and my Schwab account. 

Since starting my Lunch Experiment, I have reduce my spending by typically over $40 a week!  I no longer have to withdrawal as much money from my bank!!!  Now I take their allowance money, and then transfer the exact amount of allowance money out of my bank account to my Schwab account, then to their UTMA accounts (whew!). 

I know what you are thinking… This sounds like a hassle, and well if I did it weekly, it would be.  However, I only do this once every 3 to 4 months.  This makes the task very bearable!

Now for the green icing on the cake! :

  • I no longer drive to the my son and daughter’s banks to deposit their allowance money!!
  • I don’t withdrawal money out of my banks as much, since I just take their money.
  • This was a chore that use to take over an hour, but now only takes 5 minutes!
  • I’ve effectively reduced my carbon footprint, by cutting out the “out of the way” drive!
  • My kids get a better rate of return, since I invest their money in a diverisified portfolio of stocks.
  • I feel like I’ve created an opportunity for them to make more money this way… It’s a good feeling!

Little things like this add up, and in this case, in multiple way!  This is another win-win for us! 

Do you have any small but clever ideas that make your life better or enable you to save a little money, that you’d like to share?

 

 

 

 

UPDATE:  A reader asked me how difficult it was to setup the Schwab UTMA accounts for my kids, because they didn’t see any UTMA reference on the account types.  Well that’s because it’s called a “Custodial Account” at the Schwab website and semi-hidden under the category “College Savings”.   Below are the steps that I followed to get to the Custodial Account application:

  • Go to www.schwab.com (Open a browser and type that text in).
  • Click on “Open an Account” in the brownish? bar.
  • Next click the white tab that is labeled “See all Account types“
  • Next under College Saving (I’m not sure why the have it there…), on the right click “Custodial Accounts“
  • Under the “Apply Now” text, choose one of the 2 options.
  • I think it’s best to click the mail the application to you (This is a good way to do it!, after all what’s the rush?)
  • If you choose to “Download the Application“, then…
  • If you read the form, it states that this account doesn’t necessarily have to be used for educational purposes.
  • Fill out as much of the form as you feel comfortable with (I choose not to  fill out any of it, I printed it out in first, then filled it out for security reasons, but I a wee bit paranoid).
  • Mail it to the address that was on the screen.  And then wait a week or so…
  • Okay, so it was a bit more complex than I remember.  Once it up and attached correctly, it’s sweet!