Frugality

Save Money by Buying Gift Cards Online

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You can get some serious discount by buying gift cards online.  There are several sites where you can buy gift cards at discounts around 15-20% off.  They will also buy gift cards from you for about 70% of the face value. It is a much better deal for you as a buyer than a seller.  Some of the most popular sites include PlasticJungle.com, GiftCardsAgain.com, SwapaGift.com and CardAvenue.com.  You can also find gift cards on eBay  and Craigslist.

One example of the deals available is a $100 AMC gift card for $85. This is nice 15% discount which would lower my usual ticket price from $5 to $4.25. I recently saw them being offered for 25% off at $75 but didn’t buy one quick enough and I can’t find them at that price anymore. Even a 15% discount is a good deal since this is for purchases I’ll make anyway.

When using gift cards you do have to be aware that many gift cards have expiration dates or dormancy fees. Some states restrict the fees gift card issuers charge but it is best to use a gift card promptly. I only buy gift cards that I know I’ll use upon receipt. Despite these drawbacks using discounted gift cards is well worth the effort. With a little shopping around you should be able to save 15-20% on your purchases by using discounted gift cards.

How Much Should You Save for Retirement?

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The standard used to be 10-15% of your income should be saved for retirement. That still might be a reasonable standard if you start early enough, your investments perform well, and you’re confident that Social Security will provide a healthy boost to your retirement income.  There isn’t really a one size fits all standard on how much you should save for retirement. Many different factors come in to play such as how early you start saving, how much you plan on spending in retirement, what returns you’ll get on your investment, how long you’ll be retired, and so on.  Since I didn’t start saving until age 39 and don’t have much confidence that I’ll receive a full benefit from Social Security I need to save more than 10-15% of my income.

I made approximately $12,000 last year and invested $4,000 in my Roth IRA.  That is a savings percentage of 33% of my income.  That isn’t bad but I still need to increase my income or savings percentage or both if I want to retire.  I’d like to retire before I’m 50.  I’ll be 41 this month which only gives me nine years to save enough money.  That makes my goal a longshot but I have some ideas how to make it more probable that I’ll share in another post.  My total invested in my IRA will most likely be smaller this year but my savings percentage will likely be about the same.

I see some people that save much larger percentages of their income.  These are usually people with much larger incomes than me.  I’ve developed another way of measuring percentage of income saved that levels the playing field somewhat between large and modest incomes.  I look at what percentage of income above the federal poverty level was saved for retirement.  The federal poverty level for 2008 for one person is $10,400.  My income was $12,000 and I saved $4,000 so my savings percentage was over 100% of my income above the federal poverty level.  I don’t think there are a lot of people matching that although I’m sure there are some.

In summary how much you should save depends on your circumstances.  In my opinion you should save at least 20% of your income and if you want to retire early you should save much more than that.

The Cost of Free Tickets

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I received a couple of free tickets to see the Kansas City Chiefs preseason game last night.  This was because some friends that live out of state have season tickets. The preseason games are included in the season ticket package.  They decided that it wasn’t worth the expense of travel to see a preseason game and since preseason tickets are almost worthless I was able to score them for free.

There was a $22 charge for parking which I thought was awfully high.  It was split between me and my friend so that was $11 each.  It had been a long time since I’d been to a professional sports event.  I had forgotten how expensive concessions were.  It was $7.25 for a beer.  It may have been a preseason game but they were definitely charging regular season prices.  I opted to not have any concessions since I couldn’t justify paying such a high markup.  My total cost to attend was only $12 but if I would have had any concessions that total would have risen quickly.  Even when you receive somethng for free you have to consider the costs involved.

That being said I’m glad I went.  I’m a life long Chiefs fan but have never seen them play at Arrowhead.  I actually prefer to watch games on TV in the comfort of my own home.  It is nice to have had the stadium experience at least once just so I know what it is like.  And the Chiefs won which is something they probably won’t be doing a lot of this season.  Overall it was a good deal.

Five Free Frugal Resources

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When you’re trying to be frugal getting something for free is a big help. Here are some great free resources that won’t cost you a dime.

  1. The Public Library- You can get books free here and also music and movies. My local library charges a dollar for movies but the books are still a good deal.
  2. 1-800-Free-411- I just recently found about this.  I just avoided using directory assistance before but now take advantage of this free deal. You just have to listen to a short advertisement before you get your information.
  3. Mint,GnuCash,PearBudget,etc.- There is lots of free money management software out there. I use PearBudget right now since my finances are pretty simple. I’m thinking of upgrading to more detailed software though.
  4. Hulu.com,ABC.com,CBS.com,etc.- These are sites where you can legally watch TV shows and movies at your own convenience online. With these sites you really don’t need cable.
  5. BBC.co.uk/languages- At this site you can take language lessons online for free. There are many other free language learning sites out there.  I haven’t tried these yet but learning a foreign language is on my list of things to do someday.

Those are just a few of the free frugal resources available. There are lots of things you can do for free.

I Won’t Be Living In A Van

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At least not in the near future.  When I stated that I was going to be moving into a van this fall I had every intention of doing so and was looking forward to the prospect.  However, things have changed since then. My relationship with my GF has grown more serious and I’m spend almost every night at her house.  If I moved into a van I’d still be spending almost every night at her house.  That would end up being an unfair situation since I’d basically be living at her house but not sharing any of the living expenses.  Therefore when my lease is up I will be moving in with my GF. I’ll be contributing towards our living expenses an amount roughly equal to my current living expense. I’ll probably do a separate post about that.

I hope this isn’t too much of a disappointment to those who were looking forward to my posts about living in a van but moving in with my GF is the fair and practical thing to do.  Of course it also represents a step forward in our relationship and a further commitment to each other.

My new plan is to live in a car or van for a short time this fall as a sort of experiment.  I’ll post details and pics when this plan is finalized.