Andy Hough

Patience When Purchasing Can Pay Off

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I’m generally an impatient person. If I had done the marshmallow experiment as a kid I would not have waited for the second marshmallow. The idea of that study was that those who were able to wait for the second marshmallow by using self control and being able to delay gratification one would have better life outcomes.* Being impatient and not delaying moves or quitting jobs has cost me a lot of money. One area where I usually can be patient is when making purchases.

For example, I wanted a Kindle Fire when they first came out, but the price tag of $200 was more than I wanted to pay. I decided to wait since I didn’t really need a Kindle Fire and also because I knew that the price would come down over time. Consumer electronics of this type have steadily been coming down in price so waiting was a pretty safe bet. Since the Kindle Fire first premiered they have come out with a second generation of Kindle Fires, that allowed me to pick up a refurbished first generation model for only $90. Waiting allowed me to get my Fire for less than half of what it would have cost me if I had purchased it the moment I wanted it.

Of course, I could have saved even more if I hadn’t purchased the Fire at all. This is another way that waiting to make purchases can save you money. Sometimes, when you delay making a purchase you decide you don’t need the item at all. There is nothing wrong with an occasional splurge, but waiting to make the splurge can save you money.

* I also found this followup to the marshmallow experiment interesting. This study questions some of the conclusions of the marshmallow experiment. It might become the basis for a future post.

My First 10 Jobs

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I read a forum post the other day in which the original poster shared all of his jobs and then others continued the thread with lists of their jobs. I found the thread interesting and decided I would share all of my jobs on this blog. I’ve probably had about 100 jobs and I don’t think I can remember them all. I will start with my first 10 jobs and post the rest of my jobs in later posts. I will use a broad definition of job for this series of post. I’m trying to post the jobs chronologically but there is some overlap between jobs and I can’t always remember exactly when I had a particular job.

Job 1 – Mowing lawns, yard work, etc. My brother and I would mow lawns and occasionally do other yard work around our neighborhood. I think we got $8-$10 for a lawn and we had to split that so it wasn’t much money. The lawn mower and gas was provided free by our parents so at least our expenses were low.

Job 2- Trap Machine Loader. I worked for a local trap shooting range when they would have their big annual trap and skeet shooting tournament. I sat in a little bunker in front of the shooters and loaded clay targets on the trap shooting machine. The machine shot out the targets very quickly and I was always worried about getting my hand hit by the machine. That never happened, but as I think back it is surprising that they let me work there when I was 14 years old. That probably doesn’t happen now. I can’t remember what this job paid. I think it was a flat rate per day and it seemed like a lot of money to me at the time although I’m sure it wasn’t much.

Job 3 – Dishwasher. This was my first real job. It paid minimum wage. I got this job when I was 15 years old. Not because I wanted to, but because my mom made me get a job. She didn’t think a 15 year old should be sitting around the house all summer. I disagreed. I was fired after two weeks. My mother’s attempt to instill a work ethic in me did not work.

Job 4 – Cleaner/Janitor. I worked with my best friend cleaning buildings at a church camp during the summer and the first few weekends of fall. I worked two summers at this job. This job paid minimum wage. I got to work with my best friend and we worked unsupervised so I really liked this job.

Job 5 – Picker/Packer. I worked at a warehouse picking lawn mower parts from the shelves and then packing the order to be shipped. I think this job also paid minimum wage. I was going to work both this job and the cleaning job during the summer, but got laid off from this job right before summer started. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to making sooo much money. This company went out of business the next year so I guess they really couldn’t afford to keep me over the summer.

Job 6 – Amusement Park Worker. I worked this job the summer before I started college and the first few weekends after I started college. The pay was minimum wage or slightly above it. The job did come with the fringe benefit of free amusement park admission which I did like and I managed to get some roller coaster rides in on my days off. I worked in the carnival games department. The games weren’t rigged, they were just incredibly hard to win. The main drawback of this job was that there was a 45 minute loop of songs that played continuously and it was the same songs the entire time. I was really sick of every song in that loop by the time the job ended.

Job 7 – Mcdonalds. It was probably inevitable that I would work at Mcdonalds at some point. This was my first job after dropping out of college. I hated it and quit after one night. My mom was not happy.

Job 8 – Grocery Store stocker. I got this job a few days after quitting at McDs. I liked this job a lot better. I had my own section of the store that I was responsible for stocking the shelves and pricing the products. This was a long time ago when you actually had to put the prices on the product because most stores didn’t have bar code scanners. I also helped out bagging groceries and cleaning. This wasn’t a bad job, but once again the pay wasn’t much and I didn’t see how I would ever be able to save enough money to go back to college so I made a big change.

Job 9 – U.S. Army. I didn’t really want to join the Army, but I didn’t see any other way out of where I was at. The plan was to serve in the Army for a couple of years and then have the military pay for my college when I got out. This plan was a miserable failure. I never even made it to basic training. I was not physically or mentally equipped to handle the army. After two and a half months I was kicked out for failing to meet the physical standards.

Job 10 – Movie theater Concessions. After the army I returned to the grocery store job for a few months. When my mom moved to Kansas City, I quit the grocery store job and moved too. I worked a few shifts at the amusement park I had previously worked at, but they had already hired for all their full-time positions. It was a month or so before I got this job and I was somewhat depressed from my previous failures so I was very happy to get this job. It paid minimum wage which I think was $3.35 an hour at that time. It came with the fringe benefits of free popcorn and soda while working and free movies on my days off. I’ve always loved the movies so this was like a dream job for me. The theater was located in the mall and I lived within walking distance of the mall plus two other theaters located near the mall. I spent a lot time at the movies and the mall and really enjoyed that summer. I liked this job, but once again the pay was a problem. Even living at home and not having to pay rent I didn’t make enough to save money to pay for college.

That gets me to age 19 and I don’t think I’ve missed any jobs yet. Can you remember all of your jobs?

Cutting the Cost of Dying

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It can cost a lot of money to die nowadays. The average funeral cost in the United States ranges from $12-15,000. There are a few ways to cut that cost. It is possible to save thousand on funeral costs, perhaps even eliminating them completely if you look at different options for your final arrangements.

One way to cut your costs is to donate your body to science. If you qualify, you can donate your body through an organization such as BioGift. The donation process takes approximately four weeks to conclude. By this time, the family or next-of-kin will have received the cremated remains, and any requested certified copies of the death certificate. There is no charge for the cremation or death certificate. It is doubtful many people are donating their bodies to science just to save money. If you are considering a making a gift of your body anyway though the savings is an additional benefit.

Cremation is another way to significantly cut the cost of final arrangements. A direct cremation can easily be done for less than $1000. You have to be careful though. If you add services, a fancy casket, and a cremation niche than the cost could be as much as a traditional funeral. Even if you don’t need a casket you could be charged as much as $125 for an alternative container that is just a cardboard box.

If you decide to go with a traditional funeral you do not need to buy a casket from the funeral home. You can buy your own casket online or even at Costco. This can amount to a savings of thousands of dollars. The FTC requires funeral homes to accept third party caskets without charge.

The law requires funeral homes to give you written price lists for products and services. You should compare the prices of several funeral homes for the services and products that you want to find the best deal. You should also remember that you do not have to buy a package. You can buy just the services you want. The FTC has lots of tips on shopping for funeral services that can help save you money. Your final arrangements do not have to cost your loved ones a fortune.

Does Healthy Food Cost More?

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My first instinct is to say that it does cost more to eat healthy. The question isn’t as simple as it may seem though. You can look at the cost per calorie of different types of food and see that 100 calories from celery or broccoli is a lot more expensive than 100 calories from a candy bar or potato chips. It is easy to categorize candy bars or broccoli as healthy or unhealthy but many foods are harder to categorize.

Most people don’t eat exclusively healthy food or unhealthy food. You can’t just compare the food budget of a person who eats healthy food and a person who eats junk food and conclude which diet cost more. There are wide variations in the budgets of people who eat healthy or unhealthy. Some healthy food eaters may only eat organic produce from a botique farm while another healthy food eater might get most of their vegetables from a low cost supermarket. Some unhealthy eaters might eat mostly pasta and sandwiches while others eat mostly ready to eat convenience foods. One blogger insists that fresh food is cheaper than processed food and supports her argument by stating that her food budget is lower than her friends who buy processed food. A grocery list posted on her site though includes cereal, peanut butter, canned meat, mac and cheese, and cheese puffs. I would consider all of those to be processed foods rather than fresh food. It is clear that different people have different ideas of what is fresh or healthy food.

My food budget has been about $100-$125 for many years. This consist of both groceries and fast food and the food would mostly be considered unhealthy. This food budget is lower than what most people spend on healthy food. It is also lower than what most people spend on unhealthy food so you can’t really draw a conclusion from just my food expenditures. I think that it does cost a little more to eat healthy. That being said I believe that I could eat a healthy diet on a $100-$125 food budget with some careful planning.

Even if healthy food does cost a little more I doubt that is the reason people don’t eat healthy food. I think most people eat unhealthy food because they like it and it is what they are used to eating, not because it is cheaper. What do you think?

Working, Blogging and Other Stuff

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I don’t know how people who work full-time and still manage to get several quality blog posts up every week. My hat is off to those of you who do that. My job is physically easy and mentally easy yet I’m still exhausted at the end of the day and don’t want to do anything but rest when I get home. I don’t have the mental energy to do any research for a blog post or to even think too much. The best I can do is just dump what is on the top of my head like I’m doing now.

There is only one more week at the job. I’m looking forward to having free time again. I’m hoping to make good use of it. This current job is very boring but it is easy and pays well so I’m hoping I’ll get future assignments at this job. My employers are very laid back and let us listen to music or podcasts while we’re working. And I manage to sneak in a little blog reading on my cell phone as well. I really shouldn’t be complaining about this job.

One of the reasons I’m so tired at the end of the day might be because I am so out of shape. I do plan on hiking again once my job is complete. This time I’m going to hike in Missouri. This will keep my cost down. Also, it will allow me to easily come home for a couple days if I want a break. I’ll post more details about this hike once I’m actually hiking.

For those bloggers out there who work full-time and still manage to regularly blog, how do you do it? I’d love to hear any tips or suggestions.