More On the Six Questions

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Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days.  It has been harder than I thought to keep up with my blogging while working during the week and commuting back home for the weekend.

I posted last week about the “Six Questions to Ask Before Spending Money“. This post will give more detail about the six questions.

1.  What is the problem?  The secret to this question is to make sure you’re objectively looking at what the problem is and not just focused on the solution.

2. Who needs it?  This question is asking whether you really need it or is it just that society says you need it.

3. What would change the need?  An example is that if you can get cell phone service cheaper than home phone service than your need for a home phone has changed.

4. How long will it last?  How long your need will last helps determine how you will fill the need.

5. What are the alternatives?  Consider your alternatives before settling on a particular solution.

6. What are the costs?  These are not just the upfront costs but also any ongoing costs.

Frugality Isn’t About Denial

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Many people have a warped view of what frugality is.  When I talk to my friend about saving money he just replies that he wants to enjoy his money now while he’s young not wait until he’s old and retired to enjoy it.  He thinks saving money now means a life of no fun until you retire and then you won’t have the energy to enjoy.  This is what I think many people who aren’t frugal think frugality is, and perhaps even some who are frugal think this way.

That isn’t how I think of it at all.  To me frugality is about making choices.  I have plenty of fun now and I expect to have plenty of fun when I retire which I plan on doing early.  It is possible to have fun and save money if you just make wise choices.  For instance I can pay $10 to see a movie at night, or $5 to see the first matinee on weekends, or $0 to rent a DVD from Redbox.  To me the fun value is the same, the only difference is in the price I paid.  Another example is that I enjoy a free book from the library just as much as one I buy at a bookstore.  For almost all kinds of fun you can have there is a frugal choice available.  When I’m spending my money on entertainment I look to get the most fun value for my dollar.  I’ve been going a little overboard on entertainment lately but I’ve still been able to save.  I don’t feel like I’m denying myself anything now, I’m just making wiser choices which will benefit me both now and later.

May Credit Score

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My credit score for May is 719 which is down from last month’s score of 737.  The 737 score in April was down from 781in March which was a large drop.  That drop was presumably from my putting $4,000 of student loan debt on a credit card with a low balance transfer rate.  I thought the 737 score fully reflected that but I guess not since my score went down again this month.  It should stabilize at this level.  This is still a decent credit score and shouldn’t affect me since I don’t plan to apply for any credit. The exception will be my federal student loans but those rates are fixed and my credit score has not impact on that.

Six Questions to Ask Before Spending Money

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These six questions are from the book “How to Survive Without a Salary” by Charles Long. The questions are part of the process of examining your needs before spending money.

  1. What’s the problem?
  2. Who needs it?
  3. What would change the need?
  4. How long will it last?
  5. What are the alternatives?
  6. What are the costs?

The questions are mostly self-explanatory but I’ll have another post Monday going into more depth about what the questions entail.

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.