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January 27, 2011, at 6:00 am If you're new to BFS, please subscribe to my RSS feed. It shows me a vote of support and keeps me motivated to keep your attention. If you have any questions or comments for me, please contact me and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for visiting! The following is a guest post from Deidre Lin – an author, artist and advocate of Healthy Living and owner of TransFormX – a blog/website focusing on Living Healthy for body, mind and spirit. For a complete Dynamic Safety Plan go to www.transformx.com.
I love my job working with victims of natural disasters and have worked in the insurance industry for over a decade. After a natural disaster many of the common infrastructure systems that we take for granted are no longer viable or functioning. Usually governments take pro-active measures to ensure that the lives and property of the people in the area are safe but sometimes there can be an atmosphere of lawlessness or a greater possibility of being in an unsafe situation.
Being in this situation many times has prompted me to enact many safety measures that I use to this day whether I am working or not. Some may say that I have a touch of paranoia or are being overly cautious. Unfortunately we live in a society that is unpredictable and I have found that it is best to be prepared so that you can easily remove yourself from a situation quickly and easily if needed; or better yet, know what to look out for to avoid being placed in an unsafe situation.
Here are 5 suggestions towards implementing your own Dynamic Safety plan:
1. Keep your cell phone charged at all times. This seems obvious but with all the other things we have to do during our busy days sometimes we don’t charge our phones until the battery is almost dead. If a situation happened you may need that cell phone charged!
2. If you are going to an unfamiliar city have your GPS or map available. Call ahead to the person you are visiting (or hotel) and find out the best routes to take and the routes NOT to take. Many times the information you need most is where NOT to go!
3. Establish a code text message or call code – something that means: “I’m in trouble and need help NOW!” In the event of an emergency, text or place a quick call and leave the code on voice mail.
You may be thinking “yea but I have ‘OnStar’ “. It’s true that ‘OnStar’ can assist in many instances. But what if a situation happens and you are not in or by your vehicle to press the button? A code you could quickly text would come in handy.
This is a good one to teach your kids if they are of an age to carry cell phones. Obviously it would only be used in an emergency and the definition of emergency should be firmly established.
4. Tell someone where you are going. This seems like common sense but many people go about their day and are not aware of how situations could impact their lives. This is especially important for elderly people or kids. If you have an elderly person in your life, have them check in each day so that you are aware of their schedule. If they go to the store and were gone too long and got sick, or something of that nature, you would be able to know where to start looking if need be.
5. When arriving and parking somewhere, take notice of your surroundings and be vigilant. Walk confidently with your head up and even stride. If you carry a purse make sure it’s closed and carry it securely rather than dangling it.
Obviously, there are many more things you could do and plans you could enact, self-defense courses and the like. These are 5 simple things that are easy to implement without disrupting your entire routine and could keep you safe without you even knowing otherwise.
Above all, go with your gut feeling because 9 times out of 10 if something doesn’t seem right, it isn’t. These simple safety precautions are common sense but all of the things we pack into our days, we get busy and just plain forget until something arises. If you get used to being prepared chances are better that you will remain calm and focused in the unlikely event something does happen.
Crystal’s Comments: I took self-defense classes right before college and a few of these were mentioned (paying attention to your environment was a big one). I also remember the leader of thr group mentioning to use your keys as weapons unless they want the car – then throw them as far away from you as possible and run in the opposite direction. Can you think of any other tips to improve your general safety?
January 6, 2011, at 6:00 am
The following is a guest post from Barbara Friedberg, MBA, MS, editor-in-chief of Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance.com – where she writes to educate, inspire, and motivate for wealth in money and life. Learn about personal finance from a real life Portfolio Manager!
The best holiday budgeting sometimes goes by the wayside. If you find yourself in worse financial shape than you planned this holiday season (despite cheap internet deals and sales), here are some creative solutions to get back on track, and help the environment at the same time.
Who would have thought that you might be able to make some money off of your stuff, without selling it? Reading Stranger, You Can Drive My Car in the December 13th Bloomberg BusinessWeek, prompted this article.
Adjust your thinking and profit.
According the Barrett Sheridan, the opportunities to rent out your stuff are plentiful. Consider making some dough off of your driveway, a room in your house, your tools, your car, an ice cream maker, and more. After moving from Florida to Boston a young couple realized their car was just sitting and running up storage expenses. RelayRides came to their rescue and offered a structure for them to rent the car out! Now, their occasionally used car brings in revenue above its maintenance expenses. And, so far, no problems with the renters!
In New York (of course), Snap-Goods allows you to rent almost anything from an iPad for $20 to a home pickling kit for $4. Zilok and Share Some Sugar are “rent anything” organizations as well!
Is This For You?
Our home sits on a medium sized lot and on occasion I need shrub trimmers, branch cutters, a power washer, and other tools. I’ve bought the shrub trimmers, after borrowing from my neighbor enough to make it uncomfortable. The branch cutter is also mine, but it’s old and doesn’t work too well. After investigating power washers at Lowes, the $150 plus price tag deterred me. I bought some cleaning solution and tried to clean the patio with my own hose. Result? Not too great! Then I broke down and hired someone to power wash the patio and house. She did an adequate job, but unfortunately water stained some of the windows which were just cleaned (for $100)!
But, enough about me.
Are you interested in the opportunity to either rent out your own stuff like car, tools, bedroom, or rent from others? If you live in a major city, I expect the options are fairly good with these new companies. You could make some extra cash from infrequently used items as well as help the environment by encouraging maximum use of available resources.
The idea of renting tools from someone in the area is ideal. I’ve often considered the waste out here in suburbia. You have a large subdivision replete with homes and yards; and each home is filled with occasionally used tools and appliances. How efficient would it be to minimize the consumption and maximize the use of these items?
Regarding home and room sharing, I am a bit queasier. For whatever reason, I don’t like the idea of strangers in my home, either when I’m here or on vacation. In fact, I could do without some visits from family members J. But others swear by vacation home swapping. It certainly is a low cost option for travel!
Finally, for those of you living in the smaller cities and towns, consider this list of ways to make more cash.
Write in with your experiences in bartering or renting out your stuff. How would you feel about a renter in your home?
September 7, 2010, at 6:00 am
I know a ton of you have probably already used Craigslist to sell random items you no longer use (if not, here are some tips for selling on Craigslist), but not as many people know how to sell a car on Craigslist.
My husband wanted a new car about two years ago and found his current Toyota Prius. We were going to trade in his Hyundai Sonata as part of the deal, but they would only offer $2000 for a car that was worth at least $4000. The idea of selling it myself was intimidating, but $2000 is one heck of a motivator. I quickly learned how to sell a car on Craigslist.
This is how to sell a car on Craigslist based on our own personal experience:
1. Look up the value of the vehicle.
I used Kelley Blue Book but many people prefer Edmunds. I saw that KBB thought the Sonata was worth $4300 in fair shape or $5500 in excellent condition, so I decided to aim for $4500 due to a few major dents and the fact that his car was in a major accident early in its life.
2. Find the title and gather the appropriate documentation.
We couldn’t easily sell a car on Craigslist without the title, so I made sure we had it in hand along with the other required documentation before we even listed the Sonata online. In Texas, we had to print out a Texas Certificate of Title (Form 130-U), a Bill of Sale, and found the Motor Vehicle Transfer Notification form online.
3. Clean the car.
The most important step of how to sell a car on Craigslist is pictures. You will need pretty pictures for the ad and you want prospective buyers to test drive the car in its best shape. Although having the car detailed for $50-$100 would definitely fit the bill, my husband simply took it through a very thorough car wash, vacuumed the inside as well as he could in 30 minutes, and then we wiped down all visible surfaces with pre-moistened wipes. Our total cost was about $15.
4. Take pictures for the ad.
As I said, the pictures are the most important part of selling a car online. We took a picture from the front, the back, the side view that had the dent, and one of the interior. Remember to always include the problem areas since full disclosure actually helps to sell a car on Craigslist. Also remember to take the digital pictures at low-medium resolution since Craigslist has a capacity limit.
5. Create the Craigslist post early Saturday morning or very late Friday night.
People do their major buying on the weekends and you are only supposed to list a new Craigslist post every 3 days, so Tuesdays and Fridays or Saturdays are the best days to target. Remember to include the year, make, model, and condition in the title of the ad. Also set the price at least 10% more than you are willing to take since everybody will want to haggle no matter what price you put.
Our post was titled “2003 Hyundai Sonata – Good Condition – One Non-Smoker Owner $5500″. We were willing to accept $4300, but past Craigslist experience had taught me to aim high and haggle to a fair price.
Our post included the year, make, and model again as well as the complete history of the car (including the accident) and the 4 pictures. I included my first name and cell phone number. I only gave the VIN to interested callers and emailers since I didn’t want absolutely everyone to be able to track our specific car to our address.
6. Make sure to schedule your prospective buyers.
We had 8 interested callers within 3 hours of posting the car for sale and scheduled the visits 1-2 hours apart.
7. Go on test drives.
Make sure to check for a driver’s license before letting someone test drive your car. Don’t get into the car if you have any bad feelings at all, but we only met really nice people. The second group actually bought the car, so we were able to call and cancel the other 6 appointments. We ended up getting $4800! I was so proud.
8. Sign over the title.
We signed over the title, filled out the Texas Title App together, and filled out the Bill of Sale. We used our scanner to copy everything and gave the originals to the buyers. I also reminded them that they only had 20 days to register the Sonata and we even kept the license plates (I found out later that we may not have needed to do that, but we wanted to be on the safe side). We filled out and submitted the Motor Vehicle Transfer Notification form online so we wouldn’t be held liable for any further problems.
9. Call your insurance company to cancel your policy on the sold car.
We called within 5 minutes of the sale and received a refund for the prorated amount we paid in advance for the Sonata’s coverage.
10. Deposit your cash.
That was the best part. 
I spent one Friday evening getting everything ready and one Saturday morning listing our car. Half a weekend of work for $4800 seemed really good to me! And now I know how to sell a car on Craigslist for the future as well!
Did you already know how to sell a car on Craigslist? How did it work out for you?
August 19, 2010, at 6:00 am
The following is a guest post from David Hamilton (aka FPT Guy), owner and author of Financial Planning Tips – where you can find sensible information on personal finance for the average Joe or Jane.
We all could use a little improvement in terms of our financial health right? Maybe some of us more than others. But wherever you are in terms of your finances, it doesn’t really matter – just that fact that you want to get better and know that you can improve puts you ahead of many people.
I happen to have solid money habits from being part of a family that has managed its money quite well. I feel I’ve been successful in terms of my personal finances: never had a problem saving my money, buying the things I wanted, going on vacations and I’ve never been in credit card debt except for once – which was planned to help me with an expensive move out to New York City.
I’ve always understood the importance of cash flow and increasing it whenever possible via promotions or switching jobs to make more. My money personality is that of an earner and a saver. But because I’ve been successful, it doesn’t mean that I don’t need to improve.
So where to start in improving your financial health? If you’d like – get out your pen and paper and follow each category and assess how you are doing – what your strengths are, and where you think you can improve your financial health, and what you need to do to change it. As we go along, I am going to break down where it is that I’m strong and where I need to improve my financial health.
Your Mindset around Money
Money doesn’t grow on trees? Easy to come by or hard? Do you think you even deserve to have money? Is it the root of all evil? Anything that you say is “true” about money, is actually just your belief about it, which in turn creates your habits. Write down what you believe about money and notice how that’s what you make happen in terms of it. I “believe” that belief is the main driver behind all financial habits and the difference between making things easy or difficult.
Here are my basic beliefs around money, and I’ve noted which I think are “resourceful” or “not resourceful”:
“I am intuitive and great with managing my money.” (Resourceful)
“I am great at using my credit card and never carrying a balance.” (Resourceful)
“It’s fun to look at my accounts and see all that money in them. I feel safe and secure with there.” (Resourceful)
“I spend my money wisely, and by only what I want and need, not what others tell me to.” (Resourceful)
“Owe as little debt as possible.” (Resourceful overall, but not resourceful in terms of assets like a home – which I’ve never owned)
“I suck at investing in the stock market and real estate, it’s not for me.” (Not resourceful)
“Hard work = money.” (Resourceful to a certain extent and gets results, but that’s in terms of trading time for money rather than thinking like an entrepreneur. I’m shifting my mindset about working less but making more).
As I take a look here, it’s easy to see why I’ve gotten little results in terms of investing, and why I’m not making as much as I could be in terms of money. If you believe that mindset controls fuels your habits, it can be a very powerful place to make changes. So what were your beliefs?
Cash Flow
Are you focused on cash flow and increasing it? It’s very important to realize that if you are at all skilled at what you do, you are probably more valuable than you think. It shocks me how often people undervalue themselves and their talent – I did the same for years. Perhaps you can start an internet business on the side to rake in some more cash, or even get your kids involved in it. Not only will that help out the family, but teach them money making skills as well. I do believe now that the best way to make money is to start your own business, but that does require quite a shift in thinking from the employee to the owner.
Budgeting & Expense Tracking
Do you have a monthly budget? Are you tracking expenses at all? To be honest, I wasn’t doing this until I became an entrepreneur, but then again I didn’t that I had to and was always ok. Even then I could have probably been more diligent with my budgeting, but hey, at least I’m doing it now. Even if you are good with intuitively managing your money like I am, I actually recommend this and am very glad I started doing it.
Credit Card Usage
Do you pay off your balances every month, or are you a “balance carrier” or perhaps deep in credit card debt? This can be a tricky one. If you carry balances it may be time to reform your ways and use your credit card as “electronic money” rather than credit – where you spend on your card to gain rewards and other perks, but always pay off your balances in full. If you are deep in debt, it goes without saying that you need to get yourself on the path of settling credit card debt for good.
I actually attribute a lot of my financial success to this habit, because credit card interest and late fees are just money down the drain – and I haven’t ever carried balances – except for my move to New York City when I was 25 years old. But as soon as I landed and I was done with moving expenses I devised a plan to balance transfer everything to 0% APR cards and had it paid off in 9 months.
Over the years I’ve had a near perfect credit score due to this practice, and to be honest it isn’t all that hard if you don’t stray from it.
Savings
Are you paying yourself every month? Always stash cash in your savings account – an often quoted standard is 10% – and only withdraw from your checking. This can be money saved up for vacations or special items your want to buy or projects you want done. But weigh those carefully – do you really need them? Depending on how adept you are at saving, a portion of this money can be used for investing or going to your children’s college funds.
Retirement Accounts
How much are you contributing to 401ks and IRAs? Think about contributing as much as you can to these accounts. Why? Because the restrictions & penalties should make you think twice about ever withdrawing from your accounts until retirement and that’s more money saved that will compound when invested properly. Of course special cases do apply for withdrawals – but in general the money has to be put back. Of course Roth accounts are even more flexible with these rules. But I discourage withdrawal from these accounts at all until retirement age. Another strong point of mine has been my consistency in contributing to these to their maximum
Investing
This is the number one area that I need to improve on, especially now that I work for myself. No more 401K or matching for me, so I need to be a more active investor in the stock market. Taking time to learn how to actually evaluate companies and funds is something that I’ve been dreading for years. But know that I need to do it, and to learn how to decipher what companies, funds and sector will be the best investments for my portfolio and personality type.
Recap for me:
Strengths – earning, saving, budgeting, using credit cards to my advantage.
Areas to improve – active stock market investing, taking on “good debt” in the future like a house or condo.
Now it’s your turn. Feel free to comment here about any section that interests you, let’s hear from you about your money habits – what you’re good at and what you’d like to improve.
Note from Crystal: We’re perfect and need to make zero changes…
HAHAHAHAHA!!! That’s funny!
Seriously, I think we are good at prioritizing our spending, but we need to work on scaling back a few of our budget categories. For example, we go over our restaurant and fast food budget a little bit most months but we shrug it off since we are doing well overall. We need to stop shrugging.
July 13, 2010, at 6:00 am
And the trick is…CLEAN THEM. Yeah, I was shocked too, lol.
After reading this post on Yahoo, I realized that we are way behind on appliance maintenance. Here’s their list of appliances and how they need to be cleaned occasionally:
Dishwasher: Take out the racks. Check the corners and the rubber lining around the door for cracks and food residue. Clean out both with a sponge and plastic-bristled brush (don’t use metal as it can damage the machine). Consult the owner’s manual and remove the spray arms and wash them with soap and water. If you’ve got a filter basket at the base of your dishwasher, carefully remove the filter itself and give it a rinse as well. Slide your hand in the filter hole and check for debris. Put the pieces back together and run the machine empty with a bit of detergent.
Refrigerator: The coils underneath the machine tend to get clogged with dust, which can make it hard for the compressor fan to circulate fresh air. To make sure they’re all clear, unplug the machine, get down on the floor, and pull out the vent plate that covers the coils. Then use a vacuum hose to clean the coils. It’s also good to wipe down the door gasket as with a warm damp cloth to make sure there’s no sticky build-up there, which can cause the gasket to tear (and inhibit your fridge’s ability to refrigerate).
Air conditioner: Similar to refrigerators, air conditioner coils need to be cleaned every once in a while—now, a.ka. the beginning of the season, is a particularly good time to do this. Remove the filter cover and run a vacuum brush over the coils. While you’re at it, pull out the filter and clean or replace it, depending on what kind of model you have.
Vacuum: This is one of the most oft-neglected household gadgets. Filters and bags need to be swapped out at least annually. If you have a bagless model, wipe out the canister with a sponge. Test it’s suction power: try to vacuum up a bit of sand, and see if your vac sucks up the majority of it (if so, it’s in good shape—if not, take it to a local repair shop to see if it’s just a question of changing out a part. If you’ve got motor issues, it’s probably more cost effective to buy a new vacuum).
Ceiling fan: If you notice the blades on yours are wobbling, you’re in for trouble—this wears out the motor a lot faster. Dust off the tops of the blades and tighten the screws to make sure everything is locked into place.
Stove and oven: Gas stoves in particular need to be kept clean to ensure burners and igniters will keep on for years. A warm cloth and a bit of dish soap is all you need to get them spic and span. Mr. Fleshman from Fleshman Appliance Repair tells The New York Times that the self-cleaning feature should be avoided, since the super-high-temperature can be hard on your oven’s wiring and electrical components. Instead, after you’ve used your oven, wait until it’s cool enough to touch but still warm, and wipe it down with a moist cloth. Fleshman also says not to worry about stains, “always tell my customers, if people are looking in your oven and complaining about it being dirty, you shouldn’t have those people in your home.”
Here’s how we stack up after living in our house for 3 years:
Dishwasher: I’ve never done anything with it except add soap and Jet Dry (which seems to be useless).
Refrigerator: I’ve been meaning to do this since last year. We have two dogs and the sheddy Mr. Pug stays in the kitchen at night (he snores too loud to come upstairs)…I’m surprised our fridge hasn’t died yet.
Air conditioner: My husband’s grandfather occasionally checks our A/C since he used to work in that field. I should pay attention to what he’s checking…
Vacuum: We change the bags pretty often but I hadn’t thought of the filter for a while. I know we changed it about two years ago, but since we got wood laminate floors downstairs, we barely use the thing. Yes, I know I only said “downstairs”, but just don’t go upstairs, okay?
Ceiling fan: I only dust the blades every year or so, but none of our fans are wobbly.
Stove and oven: We have an electric oven/stove combo and our housekeeper cleans the outside every two weeks. I don’t see any problems on the inside…
How do you add up? Anybody have any ideas on motivating me to take care of the things on the list that I obviously need to get to? I hope that by the time this post pops up in 3 weeks that I have some better news about the refrigerator at least…
June 28, 2010, at 6:00 am
The following is a guest post from Funny about Money.
My printer, an HP Photosmart 2610, has been out of black ink for the past month. I’m only just getting around to trotting to the office supply store to buy a new inkjet cartridge. I’m doing so solely because a client asked me to sign a contract sent in PDF format, which will print only in black.
But I haven’t stopped using the printer. Assuredly not.
If you have a printer that uses separate cartridges for black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, you can extend the life of your black cartridge—and delay buying a new one when the black ink does run out—with a very simple strategy. Never print in black unless you have to.
The only documents I print in black are those that will go out of the house. And, thanks to e-mail, those are precious few. Snail-mail statements to clients and miscellaneous other correspondence get printed in black or dark gray. Anything else is run out of the printer in blue. I use the lighter color of blue that MS Word calls indigo. This is readable, and it’s perfectly fine for something that’s just going to get dropped in a file folder or used as notes and discarded. Most of your printouts come under these headings.
Otherwise, I try to avoid printing things altogether. Instead, I store documents electronically. Paycheck statements and banking documents, for example, can be downloaded as PDFs. Any Word document can also be saved as (or, in older versions, printed as) a PDF.
Given the way inkjet printers work, I suspect (but can’t prove) that the pale indigo shade lays down less ink on the paper than the printer would spray out to produce the darker blues. So I theorize that printing in a lighter color conserves ink. If that hypothesis is correct, then printing formal letters and business correspondence in 80% gray type would extend the life of your black cartridge and be readable—even classy-looking, with a smartly designed letterhead. For example, my letterhead prints in black, but the body type is all 80% gray. The effect is very highly acceptable.
Using indigo blue for casual printing and black or dark gray for business documents can double the time between cartridge purchases or refills, depending on your printer use patterns.
Related articles at Funny about Money:
How to Buy Your Next Car in Cash
DIY Veterinary: The Dog-proof Hot Spot Bandage
A Couple of Small Household Hints
Crystal’s Questions:
Do you have any frugal printer tips? How about any other frugal tips for around the house?
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DISCLAIMER I am not a professional or a financial advisor. BFS posts are informational opinions only. Please make your own financial decisions based on personal research or see a financial advisor.
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