Tag: money

There are 6 entries that are tagged money. Now displaying reults 1 - 6.

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How To Afford Anything - Personal Finance Lessons From Ken Rockwell

Posted on January 23, 2008 by Him

If you're a camera buff, especially a Nikon camera buff, you've probably heard of Ken Rockwell. He provides reviews of camera stuff I want.

His style of writing is similar to personal finance type gurus - you take it or leave it, and you either love him or hate him. He has a strong opinion of things, and while they may not make the most sense, he doesn't give a damn about what anyone else thinks. He does tend to give the bottom line with his camera reviews, especially for those who can't stand sharpness tests or MTF charts.

When I was cruising his website the other day, I saw an article on how to afford anything. It reads like a years worth of personal finance blogger's posts stuck together; it is probably just as lengthy. Personally, I love it when I find personal finance articles in places I wouldn't expect to find them.

Here's the article in bullet points:

Don't:

Do:

My favorite line? "It takes the guts to be a cheapskate." Yep, sure does.

So what has all of this gotten him? How about every Nikon camera and lens from the last 10 or so years. Or a couple of (used) Mercedes. And a lot of smugness.

If there's something in his writing, it is passion. He's willing to focus his finances to get exactly what he wants in life. There's definitely a few lessons I can learn from him.

A Friend Comes Up To You And Asks...

Posted on January 09, 2008 by Him

emptywallet.jpg
photo: -Mandie-

"Hey, can I borrow $______?"

How much do you give without a second thought?

One dollar?

5 dollars?

10 dollars?

20 dollars?

Your answers are appreciated.

Most Financially Ethically Dubious Act?

Posted on October 06, 2006 by Him

Over at Get Rich Slowly there is a great debate over the ethics of frugality - with topics such as "free" wi-fi, or is is wrong to bring food into a movie theater.

For the record, I have only "borrowed" an unsecured wi-fi connection when my own was down, and I have brought in food to a movie theater, but more often than not I'll just skip eating for the two hours.

There are a lot of things that I have done to get money in my life that I'm not of proud of. My dad has a habit of leaving his wallet in another room when he was sleeping. When I was a kid, I would often take a few $20's from his wallet to...wait for it...buy my friends. Having $40 when you're 13 was like being like Donald Trump. My friends and I would usually end up spending the whole thing on arcade games. Now, I don't even remember a lot of those kids' names. My total lifetime "borrowed" from my dad - probably over $1,000.

Another not-too-proud thing I did for money was steal from my employee when I was a teenager. I worked at a fast food chain, and a manager and I became close friends. We came up with a pretty good way to "keep" a lot of money that was supposed to go into the cash drawer. Total money scammed: over $3,000. I used that money to buy my first car, insurance, and a pager.

I'm going to continue to reiterate this: I'm not proud of what I've done and I'm quite ashamed of things that I've done in my past. Currently, I try to atone for my past grievances by doing as much volunteer work as I possible and donating to charities. Those two acts in themselves will never replace that money that I took, but will shift me towards the positive in terms of moral balance.

What is the most ethically dubious thing you've ever done to either save a buck, or gain more money? Anonymous comments are accepted and even encouraged.

Create Your Own Wedding Monogram On A Budget

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Her

It's easy and inexpensive to brand your wedding with a classy wedding monogram. You can purchase a ready-made design for $50 at Bliss Wedding Market, or you can pocket the cash and design your own. If you're uninspired, you can check out their selection to get ideas. To make your own is really easy though.

Step 1 - Get Fonts
For a designer touch, you'll want better fonts than your computer came with. Google terms such as "script font" and "wedding font" to find free font download sites. When you find a font you like, download it. Usually you'll have to extract the font. You'll end up with a file name that has a .TTF extension. Now you have to install the font. Browse to My Computer/Local Disk/Windows/Fonts. Drag the file into the fonts folder. An installation screen will appear briefly, then your font is ready. You can install as many as you like.

Step 2 - Get Inspired
Browse through the monogram collection at Bliss, or look at other wedding sites for inspiration. Pick a few styles to experiment with, keeping in mind the limitations of your software and what shape your wedding initials are (wide? tall? long? short?). You might want to print out copies of your favorite monogram styles for reference.

Step 3 - Create!
A good, basic software program to use is Powerpoint. Set up a blank slide and add a text box with your initials in it. Experiment with fonts and sizes until you like how it looks. You can also add basic shapes (rectangles, circles, ovals, lines, etc) in Powerpoint. If you wedding has a theme, try adding a stylized graphic to the monogram (you can download tons of free graphics online too).

Step 4 - Brand Your Wedding
Once you have your monogram, incorporate it throughout your wedding to create an "expenisve" designer look. Some places to consider: Invitations and other stationary, save-the-date magnets, menus, place cards, paper napkins, balloons, painted on the aisle runner, added to your dessert plates with a sugar stencil, etc. If you are printing your own items at home, it's easy to copy and paste your monogram into most other software packages. If you're having your items professionally printed, you can submit the monogram on a CD.

I sat down the other day and created a selection of eighteen monograms for our own wedding. It took about 3 hours. Now we just have to choose which one we like best. We might use three: One (with the Chicago skyline at the top) for our save-the-dates, a second one (more formal) for the day of the reception, and a third (with our combined initials) for after the wedding. Doing it all myself was fun and easy, and saved us $150.

$125 Richer - Thanks Bankdeals!

Posted on May 16, 2006 by Her

Though it is a small hassle to open an extra checking account purely for the incentive offered, the Meadows Credit Union deal posted by Bankdeals today was just too good to pass up. I called the bank to confirm that there is no minimum balance required, and there mostly isn't. The eChecking account comes with a mandatory Member Savings Account, and each has a $5 minimum balance in order to stay open. So the total minimum balance required for the deal is $10 (This is for a 0% interest account. If you want to earn .65% interest, the minimum is $2500.). Even without the addition accrued interest, making $125 off of $10 is like earning 1250% interest! Now that's a great deal!

I started the account opening process today during lunch. The online application was quick and straightforward, and after that I had to fax in a signature form. Now I'm waiting for a customer service rep to phone me, which they say will happen within one business day. Not bad! After I speak with her I should receive some account information in the mail, and then I just have to set up a direct deposit and I'm all set. Easy breezy.

Call For All Relationship And Money Posts

Posted on April 26, 2006 by Him

Hear ye, hear ye, or something.

We want YOUR entries about how you handle relationships and money. We welcome all topics of personal finances, as long as it deals with how you and your spouse / girlfriend / boyfriend / friend with benefits / life partner / "person you made a pact with when you were 20 that if you weren't married you'd marry each other" handle money.

Example posts would be:
-Joint finances
-Dividing up the financial duties
-Who picks the stocks
-Fighting over money
-If you and your partner aren't on the same financial page

But what are you going to do with all of them? Please don't hurt them.
We'll be nice, we promise. We're actually doing to compile all of your posts into one ginormous post that will highlight money and relationships. We hope that this can serve as a resource to people who are looking for advice on how to deal with finances in their relationship.

What's the deadline?
Never. If you EVER have a post that talks about finances in your relationship, please submit it, and we'll include it in said monster post.

When will you post the list?
As soon as we generate a good response. I'd say when we reach ten posts or so.

How to I submit?
Good question! Please email a link to your entry to us at lovenotdebt@gmail.com with the subject line of "Money and Relationships Post"; alternatively you can go to our contact page and fill out the form, again with the subject line of "Money and Relationships Post." I've closed comments so that you EMAIL all entries to us.

Please, try and spread the word. We hope to hear from many of you!

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