Let’s start this week’s reading with Wise Bread’s 51 Unusual Money-Saving Tips from Readers. The key word here is “unusual” as some of these tips boarder on the dishonest (claiming the paint you bought is the wrong color so you can buy it back at a markdown) to the illegal (keeping cups from fast food places so on next visit it’s just a refill), to the downright bizarre (go get what the supermarket is throwing out each night, good food they hear. Yea, right.)
Fiscal Geek wrote about Sinking Funds: taking Budgeting to the Next Level. An interesting way to view how you budget and prepare for certain expenses. When my wife and I bought our cars, I put them down on our balance sheet so the ‘current value’ is calculated from the date. I set it up so the cars would zero out after 5 years and beyond that the spreadsheet automatically is calculating funds to buy the next car. I just never realized that was the name for such a concept.
On Consumerism Commentary, Flexo gets out his red Sharpie to offer A Report Card for Financial Rules of Thumb. In the end, one size does not fit all, 10% not the magic percent to save from your income and 80% of your pre-retirement income can be too much or too little. In all Flexo looks at 5 different rules, and invites his readers to add their own to the list. Nice analysis.
Something about lists that draws me in every time. B Simple’s Signs you may need to simplify your personal finances is a pretty comprehensive list to keep your financial life simple. I must say, I follow most of what the list suggests, automating bill payments, combining accounts so you don’t have similar assets all over the place, etc, but it took me decades of learning to get there. Hoping some younger readers will take this advive now and save years of unneeded effort.
One day this week, I came across a few recurring questions, namely, Should I Invest While Still In Debt, How much do we need to retire, and When to pay off your mortgage. All good questions to ponder no matter what stage of life you’re in.
There are a number of topics that always seem to be of interest to those interested in personal finance. De-cluttering, organizing, time management are all among these related topics. Along these lines I offer Dragos Roua’s 33 Ways To Get And Keep Yourself Motivated. This list comes with a brief paragraph expanding on each item, but I have the feeling a full blown eBook may be born from this, and I’m looking forward to reading it.
Looking forward to another great week of reading.
Joe
Hey, Joe
Thanks for the link love, honored to be in such a select company :-). About that eBook, I didn’t have any intention yet, I’m still watching my first eBook performing and learning a lot from it, but what can I say, looks like a great idea.
Have a great week 🙂
Appreciate the support. Thanks for including my post in this week’s financial blog roundup. Also glad to hear you have simplified your finances and hope this post will help others begin to simplify.
A lot of good stuff here… thanks for the love.
There are many ways to save the money, but it is more important the way to get and earn the money. Saving is easier but it will not get you rich if you don’t earn the real cash.