Frugality

My Cost for School Supplies- $0

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The best way to save money on school supplies is to not buy any. Other than books I haven’t needed to purchase anything for law school this semester. I’ve previously posted strategies for saving money on books and using these strategies I was able to get the two books I needed fairly cheap. These books have the added advantage of being great resources for studying for the bar and when I’m finished with them I should be able to sell them for close to my purchase price.

The only other thing I need for school is pen and paper and those are both things I get for free. When I have to print something to turn in I have to pay three cents a page but other than that I won’t be spending any money for school supplies. I’m sure many of you have other school supplies you must have but you should analyze whether you really need them before you make the purchase. This is a cost of education that can most likely be reduced. If I needed a loan I could find out more at studentloans.gov.

Another way that I have reduced my overall spending on schooling is by taking classes online. I won’t spend anything on the classes that I take online, since most of the material is available on the computer. The books that go with the course are mostly unnecessary because most of the information is available through the school‘s online portal. I don’t even need a pen and paper, as I can take notes on my computer while I watch lectures remotely. The fewer supplies I have to purchase before attending class, the more money I will save in the long run.

It is even possible for me to earn my entire degree online, which could help me to cut down on my expenses even further in the near future. In fact, online universities allow me to save on things like fuel and parking, since I don’t have to leave the house to attend class. If I choose to further my education after completing my current degree, I plan on doing it exclusively online because of the cost benefits. Master’s and doctorate programs are quickly becoming more abundant online, giving students who want to work full time while attending school the chance to do so.

Publicity: Good,Bad, and Possible Click Fraud

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Traffic to this blog has skyrocketed over the past couple days due to multiple plugs of some of my posts. First I had a post in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance which is being hosted at The Writer’s Coin. My post “Five Radical Ways for the U.S. Government to Raise Revenue” is the very first one listed which leads to a lot of traffic. The Carnival wasn’t as large as usual this week either which probably also led to more traffic for my post. Next, my post “Five Things You Should Get for Free” was featured on the MSN Smart Spending blog which resulted in a huge surge of traffic. With both of these combined I’m likely to receive about as much traffic in two days as I usually get in a month. My site seems to be handling ok though.

I’ve also received some negative publicity and negative comments. BA posted “The limits of frugality” which is in response to my “I’m Frugal So Why Am I Poor” (part 2), (part 3)series of posts that I wrote shortly after I began this blog. I’m glad to see someone is reading my old posts and I’m pleased to expose them to new readers since I didn’t have many readers when the post was first published. BA is critical of the results of my frugal efforts in the post. For the most part I agree with him. The series was meant to be a critique of the shortcoming of frugality efforts to that point in my life and determine what I needed to change. I don’t agree with his criticism of my future. I’m not sure if he understood that it wasn’t my plan to continue with the same behavior. Also, my definition of success is not the same as most people’s definition. The get married, have 2.5 kids, and work until you’re 65 life is not one I aspire to. I plan to work for myself, have a great relationship with my wonderful GF, and live a life of semi-retirement.

I wrote that series of posts almost two years ago so it is the future now. I like to think I’ve made great progress since then. I have almost two years of expenses saved. I’ll be graduating law school in May. I’ve been dating my GF since last April and I think we will be together for a very long time. I plan to go on a five month hike after I graduate. The difference between this trip and trips in the past is that even while hiking I’ll be making almost enough to cover my expenses. The hike should cause only a small decrease in my savings if it causes a decrease at all.

The other negative thing is that I think people might be fraudulently clicking on my ads. Even with the increased traffic the number of clicks on my ads is absurdly high. I’m wondering if one of my posts has angered someone and they’re trying to cause me to lose my Google account. I’ve removed my Google ads for now and I’ll put them back when my traffic is back to normal levels. Oh well, I guess you have to take the good with the bad.t

A Rather Dramatic First Day of Using Public Transportation

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Today was my first day of using the bus to get to school. I’ve used public transportation in other cities I’ve lived in but I haven’t used it very much here because I’ve always had a car. Now that I’m car free I need to take the bus. I have to take two buses each way to get to school and back. The bus ride to school went fine although I did misread the schedule and cause myself to have to wait an extra 10 minutes for the first bus. I had to wait less than 10 minutes to transfer to the second bus. I like the second bus because it has fewer stops making for a quicker trip. They are also equipped with GPS and there is a sign at the bus stop telling you how many minutes it will be until the next bus arrives. That is a great feature. You don’t have to wonder if the bus is late or on time, you know for sure when the bus will arrive.

The bus ride home didn’t go as smooth. I either have to catch a bus two minutes after my class ends or twenty minutes after my class ends. The bus stop isn’t close enough for me to have a realistic chance of catching the first bus. Catching a bus twenty minutes after class would be fine because that gives me plenty of time to get my stuff together, go to the bathroom or whatever, and still leisurely walk to the bus stop. The problem is this bus arrives at my transfer point about twenty five minutes before the bus I take home arrives. If I could catch the first bus I would just make it to the transfer point in time to catch my second bus. I’m probably not explaining that very clearly but the point is that I have a long wait to transfer buses on my route home. That is just something you have to deal with when you use public transportation.

The drama came on the ride home. A lady had a seizure and the bus driver had to call an ambulance. That obviously kept the bus from continuing on its route. We had to disembark and catch another bus. That would have been about another 10 minute wait. Luckily, I have the best GF in the world and she volunteered to come pick me up.

Overall riding the bus isn’t that bad. It will probably be less dramatic next time. I just need to consult the schedule before I go to minimize my waiting time.

Five Things You Should Get for Free

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This is just a list I came up with off the top of my head.  I’m sure not everyone will agree with them and there are some exceptional situations where you will have to pay for these items.

  1. Pens- I get free pens as promotional items all the time.  I don’t understand why people pay big bucks for fancy pens.  The only thing you need a pen to do is write and in my experience a free pen writes just as well as an expensive one.
  2. Matches- I don’t need these too often, which is good because it is harder to get free matches anymore.  They are still available at many bars and casinos though.
  3. Drinking Water- This isn’t completely free since you do pay something for the water coming out of your tap.  A glass of water would only cost a fraction of a penny though.  If you carry a reusable drinking container you should rarely if ever find yourself having to purchase bottled water.
  4. Music- It is free on the radio.  You can borrow cds from your local library if you feel the need to listen to a particular song.  If you need to own the music I see promotions for free MP3 downloads all the time.
  5. DVD Rentals- If you have a Redbox near you than you don’t need to rent DVDs.  Redbox comes out with a free code every Monday and that code is good once for every credit/debit card you have.  That allows you to get multiple free rentals.  A quick Google search will turn up even more free rentals.
  6. Stock Trades- Blogging Banks suggested getting free stock trades with Zecco.  I use them and haven’t had any problems so far.  I believe there are some other ways to get free stock trades as well.

Check out the comments for many more freebies.

Some Ways I'll Cut Expenses in 2009

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The big expense I’ll be cutting is transportation because I won’t have a car. I’ll still have some transportation expenses but I think I should be able to cut this expense by up to $1000. Another expense I’ll cut is my cell phone. When my contract expires at the end of June I am not going to renew it. This will save me $35 a month. The savings will be less if I decide to add a line to my GF’s cell plan. I most likely won’t though and will just use a public phone if I need to make a call away from home. I’m also enrolling in an HSA eligible health insurance plan. This will save me about $10 a month plus any tax savings from contributing to the HSA. The biggest way I plan to cut expenses is by hiking the Appalachian trail for five months. I intend to hike on $200 a month. I’ll still have some non-hiking expenses but this will greatly reduce my overall expenses. These aren’t all the ways I’ll cut expenses but it should be all the major ones. What are your plans for cutting expenses in 2009?