Frugality

Alternative Income: Paid Writing

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This is another way to earn some extra money.  There are a few ways to do this.  In the past I used PayPerPost and Blogitive to get paid for blog posts.  I didn’t do them on this blog and had a blog that I used primarily for paid posts.  The good thing about these programs is that you’re guaranteed to be paid a certain amount for your blog post.  The bad thing is that you’re usually writing about something you have no interest in and your readers don’t either.  A loss of readers could end up costing you more than you make.  These programs do require you to have a blog to participate.  I have made over $650 from PayPerPost but I gradually quit using the program last year.  Now that the blog I was using has lost its page rank there aren’t any opportunities available to me anymore so I won’t resume using the service.

Another program I use is Associated Content which you can use whether you have a blog or not.  They pay you a certain amount for each article you submit and then a little bit more depending on how many page views you have.  I haven’t used this service much but I plan to use it more this summer.  Since I’ll be working for free during the week I need to find a way to supplement my income.  I can submit articles based on my blog posts so it doesn’t have to take much time to write an article.  You can read my articles here.

Five Crazy Things I’ve Done to Save Money

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Frugal Dad wrote a post talking about the five craziest things he has done to save money.  Since I’m often accused of being too frugal I decided to come up with my own post. This was harder than I thought because most of the the things I do to save money that seem crazy to others don’t seem crazy to me. Here is what I came up with but I’m probably leaving something crazier off the list.

  1. Cut my own hair- This is one I share with Frugal Dad.  I know I’ve seen a few other PF bloggers mention it also.  When you buzz cut your hair it is hard to justify paying to have it cut.
  2. Turned off my hot water- Last year I turned off my hot water during the summer due to my gas company’s customer charge of $25 whether you use any gas or not.  This resulted in a bill of about $40 a month just for hot water. I just showered at the gym or took cold showers.  I saved about $160 by having my hot water off over four months. I got hot water again when I moved to a new apartment. I had to have gas then because it was getting cold outside and I needed the gas heat.
  3. Dumpster Diving- I haven’t actually crawled into the dumpster and pulled stuff out but I would for the right stuff.  My dumpster diving has consisted of pulling coupons for free meals and other valuable coupons out of the junk mail bin by the apartment mailboxes. I even managed to sell some of the coupons and make a little money.
  4. Spent $30 total for food in 1 month- Last May I decided to see how little I could spend on food. I wanted to spend even less than $30 on food but I didn’t have quite enough willpower. It helped that I work in a pizza restaurant and get a few free meals every week.
  5. Drive a Hoopty- I don’t really think this is crazy at all but some people do. I love my 94 Toyota Corolla.  My friend keeps asking me when I’m going to get a better car.  I don’t plan on replacing mine soon.  It looks ugly but runs fine. Also, it gets 30 mpg in town which is a great feature with the high cost of gas.

I’m sure I’ve left out some crazier stuff than I’ve listed.  What are some crazy things you’ve done to save money?

Making a Challenge Challenging

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There are various bloggers out there who have no spending challenges. The typical no spend challenge isn’t very challenging for me though. I don’t have any desire to buy most things that aren’t allowed in a no spend challenge. The only tangible items I’ve bought this year besides food are detergent, toilet paper, and books. These were all necessary and I didn’t spend much money on them. The books were bought used for school and I’ll sell them again when I’m done with them. Entertainment is where I’ve been spending way too much money and I need to challenge myself to spend much less there next month. This will be complicated because I just started dating someone and I put dates in the entertainment category. She doesn’t expect me to spend a lot of money on her but when you first start dating you don’t want to be too cheap. Also my best friend is coming back to town after being out of town for a month and a half. We will be spending some money while hanging out and catching up. My goal for the month is just to spend less than my average monthly entertainment expenditure. This shouldn’t be too hard since my entertainment spending has been very high this year due to a vacation and excessive gambling.

There is also a May Grocery Challenge at Give Me Back My Five Bucks that I’m going to participate in. My goal will be to spend $50 in groceries for the month. This is what I usually budget but I’ve been going way over the past couple months. I’ve also been eating out too much. To make this challenge more challenging I’m not going to eat out unless it is on a date or with family or friends. I will try to keep those occasions  reasonably limited. I won’t invite my friend or girlfriend out to eat just because I want to eat a meal out. These conditions should make this challenge challenging to keep.

The Fisherman and The Investment Banker

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When I was reading some books for my trip to Cancun I came across the following story. I had read it previously and it has been around for many years but I like it so I decided to share it for those of you who haven’t read it yet.

The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, only a little while.

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.” “But what then?”

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions.. Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

This story is an oversimplification but not far from the truth . My ideal life would be just about as simple as the Mexican Fisherman’s.