I disclose my income and expenses each month on this blog. There are many bloggers who disclose their online income,alternative income or passive income but there aren’t many that dispose their total income. LuLuGal at HowISaveMoney.net is disclosing her income and finances for this month at least but I don’t know of any bloggers besides myself that regularly disclose their income. There are also quite a few bloggers who disclose their net worth monthly. Disclosing your income is apparently more taboo than disclosing your net worth. I’m sure there have to be a few bloggers that disclose their income. If you know of any please leave a comment and let me know.
Frugality Got My Bike Stolen
Sometimes my frugal nature costs me. I’ve been needing to get a lock for my bike for a couple of months. Whenever I was in a store that sold bike locks I’d check the prices but I always thought I could get a better price. I figured my bike was safe enough where it was and I’d get a lock when I started riding my bike more often in the spring. That proved to be false because yesterday my bike was stolen. I was keeping it by my back door which is a storage area for the apartments in my building. This area is locked and can only be accessed by residents of my apartment building so I didn’t think I had to worry about my bike being stolen from there. I suspect it was probably my neighbor or one of their visitors that took my bike but I have no way of knowing. Sometimes people leave the outside door unlocked so it could have been anybody. The bike was free and not worth much. It was an old, junky, 10 speed and I didn’t think anybody would want to steal it which was another reason I delayed getting a lock. Although the bike was free it will cost me money to replace it if I decide to do so. Trying to save a couple bucks on a bike lock cost me a bike.
Do Reward Cards Actually Reward You?
There are many different reward cards and most pay between 1% to 5% back. These cards could still be costing you money though. This is because people generally spend more when paying with credit cards than paying with cash. The most often quoted percentages I see are from 12-18% but I couldn’t find the actual study these figures are based on. It does make sense to me though that people in general probably spend more when using credit cards and the percentage is probably higher than what they would receive back from a reward card.
That being said just because it is true for people in general doesn’t mean it is true for you. When using your reward card you just need to be sure that you aren’t spending more than you would otherwise. I occasionally spend money with my credit card that I know I wouldn’t have spent otherwise because I didn’t have any cash with me. This doesn’t mean I’m spending more money overall though because otherwise I probably would have just made the purchase later and if I didn’t have a credit card I would be carrying more cash with me to spend. I keep my spending quite low overall and don’t feel that using credit cards increases my spending. If I make an excessive purchase using my credit card it will probably be offset by reduced spending somewhere else. I’m confident that my reward cards actually reward me. If you’re using reward cards you should make sure the same is true for you.
Keeping Hobbies Inexpensive
What you do with your spare time has a big impact on where your discretionary income goes. That is why it is good to have inexpensive hobbies. If you are a spender though even inexpensive hobbies might be expensive. It is wise to look at how much you spend on your hobbies and determine if you can do them cheaper without significantly impacting your enjoyment of them.
For example three of my favorite hobbies are running,long-distance backpacking,and blogging. These hobbies can be done on the cheap but many people spend a lot of money on them. My only running expenses are around $30 for a good pair of running shoes and perhaps one or two race entries a year. This makes it an inexpensive hobby for me. If you buy $100 running shoes,all kinds of special running clothing, and enter a 5k every weekend then it is going to be an expensive hobby. I don’t think the extra money spent results in much,if any, extra enjoyment though.
Long-distance backpacking takes more money but I don’t do it as often so it is still possible to do it inexpensively. I acquired most of my equipment little-by-little as I found good deals. When I went on my first long-distance backpacking trip(270 miles) I had about $300 worth of backpacking gear and supplies which is what some people spend on just one piece of gear. Most of my gear worked fine and I was appropriately equipped for the hike. There are lots of sources of information on the internet detailing how to get equipped cheaply. I especially like ” Cheap Gear – How to Dirt Bag and Deal Shop Like a Professional”.
Blogging is even better than an inexpensive hobby-it actually makes me money. My costs for this blog are roughly $21 a year for the hosting and domain name. By shopping around and getting a great deal on hosting I don’t have to make much money to be profitable. When I started this blog I wanted to keep the advertising to a minimum and I’ve been able to do that since my operating costs are so low. I do occasionally wonder how much money I could make if I fully monetized this blog but for now I’m keeping it as is.
These are just a few examples. There are plenty of other hobbies out there that can be done inexpensively or can actually make you money. You just need to plan your spending and do it wisely.
Increase the Gas Tax
This doesn’t have much chance of happening but it should. The federal gas tax has been at 18.4 cents since 1993 when the price of gas was about $1 a gallon. Now that gas is over $3 a gallon the gas tax is a much smaller percentage of the price. The gas tax needs to be raised to help improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure.
That isn’t why I think the gas tax should be increased though. I think it should be increased to help change people’s gas consumption habits. Many people complain about the high cost of gas now but not that many make changes to deal with high gas prices. If gas prices go back down most people will return to their old habits and sales of gas-guzzlers will rise once again. An increase in the gas tax might help people to adopt or continue with gas-saving practices. The price of gas in the United States has long been extremely low compared to the price in Europe. The United States uses over 5 times as much gas and diesel per capita compared to Europe. Higher gas taxes would reduce consumption and help lead to greener alternatives such as walking,bicycling, and use of public transportation. I don’t expect there to be a significant increase in the gas tax any time soon but it needs to happen eventually.