3 Non-budgeting tips that save you money

 

Budgeting is a tough undertaking. Here are three tips that only vaguely have something to do with money but will help you save or pay off debt more effectively, whether you are updating your budget as much as you should be or not.

1. Organize your electronic documents: As more and more of our life is going electronic, it's becoming more and more important to have well organized documents in your computer. That electronic files take up less space in your home than physical files doesn't mean they are any less significant or any less important to sort in a way that makes sense. Taking an hour to organize your computer folders can really help make it easier to find things. If you set up budget ledgers or save documents to one place, it will be a lot easier to go back and find them, or keep using them later. Each person will organize files differently, but I find that I want to create a subfolder if I have more than a dozen or so documents in a file, whether it be by location, vendor, account, or by time period.

2. Set recurring calendar events: If you have a smart phone and you haven't already, start looking at your Google Calendar, Outlook calendar, or any other online calendar attached to your e-mail client. Most major e-mail providers do offer this service, and it can be indispensable. Even if you don't have a smart phone, you can still use these calendars, and they can prove very useful. That's especially true for things that happen monthly, like (ahem) bills. Setting a reminder to pay your bills for the fourth Sunday of every month, or every other Friday (on your payday) can give you that friendly reminder that can save you money on late fees. If you can train yourself to do it this way, you may find that you don't need the event reminder anymore. Still, it's better to start off having it and not needing it than the other way around, right?

 

3. Shop with a menu in mind: I have tried shopping with lists and with menus. I have discovered that menus make my life easier. Simply put, take breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Sunday through Saturday, and figure out what you're going to make. Once that is complete, you simply have to figure out what ingredients you're going to need. This helps me not only ensure I have all my ingredients, but it also limits the choices I'm forced to make during the week. I find that, too frequently, when I have to choose what I'm eating for dinner the day of, it adds stress to my day and I resort to take-out. Not only is that expensive, but it's also frequently unhealthy. A bonus: I am much less likely to waste when I'm planning a menu. If I know one recipe calls for potatoes, I may include another recipe with potatoes on another day, and make sure I have those ingredients too.

What tips do you have? Care to add additional detail or offer a different point of view? I'm all ears!

3 Ways to Save Money On Gifts During the Holidays

I know that to some this may sound like an impossible feat. Beyond the challenge of gift giving, there are countless other opportunities to spend money, like in bringing a dish for a holiday party, or giving money to a charity of your choice. It seems like a time of year when money just burns through my pocket.

These last few years, I've tried to become more careful with where I spend money and how.

1. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" - Oliver Platt.
If you are a regular reader then you have heard me bang on this drum a few times. The point is that just because you like a gift doesn't mean the gift receiver is going to like it, and studies back up the concept that the gift receiver cares a lot less about the cost of the gift than the gift giver. That even goes for a gift costing hundreds of bucks. If you're short on affordable gift ideas, take a look at our 53 Easy-on-the-Wallet Gifts. The most important thing is to set a price point that is within your reach. In the end, you can come up with a thoughtful gift at any dollar figure.

2. Start a Holiday Club Savings Account.
OK, this one won't actually help you this year. But if you start it now, by next year, gifts and other expenses will be taken care of and there will be no need to whip out a credit card. If you have charitable donations you regularly give over the holidays, make sure you factor that in to your budget somehow... Your Holiday Club could be a good place!

3. Offer Skills
We all bring something to the table in our skillset. If a friend or family member is in need of help moving, with yard work, gardening, or pet-sitting, this is a way to give a gift that is based on spending your time rather than your money. Times are hard, and for many of us, we have more time than money. Looking for something tangible to give? A thoughtfully picked out (or hand crafted) card could be a great pick. If you're not the creative type but still want a personal touch, try websites like Shutterfly. You can even design a gift certificate if you have a computer and a printer.

What have you found to be great ways to save money on gifts? Please share them, I'd love to get more tips!

Why brand loyalty may be costing you money...

Very Loyal to the Apple Brand

As of writing this, I am going through a difficult but very necessary transition from one name brand to another, and I'm not talking about batteries or clothes. I like to think of myself as pretty un-attached to materials, and an enlightened marketer who realizes that half of the cost of an item is often because of its brand, not its quality, and while in this society, some companies stake their brand on high quality, high customer service, good value, and a good social message (ahem, UMassFive), when these things are lacking, I see no reason to be loyal.

Contrary to my optimistic view of myself, I am not impervious to marketing, or brand loyalty, and even though the physical goods I buy often (but surely not always) avoid being blindly loyal decisions, that is not the case with my search engine.

Like many, I use Google. Sometimes I forget that to Google is to search, not the other way around. I also really don't like Internet Explorer, which puts me in another majority. However, my company uses Internet Explorer as its default browser. My habit is to automatically switch straight from Bing to Google as default search. This last week, with a broken laptop, sitting on a temporary computer while waiting for my replacement, I didn't really bother. This allowed me to see Bing in a new light.

The result? I discovered that Bing has reward points. How do you gain them? By searching. How can you redeem them? On gift cards to Groupon, Amazon, and Tango, a card which apparently links to virtually any other merchant you could imagine. You can even cash in your points for donations to a cause you care about, like Boys and Girls Clubs of America, or Teach for America. And, of course, XBox Live points to get games, music, and videos.

To me, this was a total game changer. Someone at Bing had the brilliant idea to put a portion of their proceeds back into the hands of those who used their search engine. And, even though I'm more used to Google's layout, Bing's search results are actually pretty good, and a lot of the features I like in Google's search, like being able to easily convert units or see a snapshot of the weather, and find the result at the top without going to another search page, are also available. In this case, what does Google search actually do for me? What additional value do they provide for me? What additional value do they provide for society?

Absolutely nothing.

And yet I still find myself typing Google and Googling something to find my information, because I LOVE Google. I have an Android phone. I still find myself telling people to Google when I mean search. And every time I do a Google search rather than a Bing search, I'm costing myself what amounts to maybe half a penny. Not a lot, but with the amount I search, it sure adds up!

Search engines may not matter to you. You may use Ask, or Yahoo!, or any other search engine I haven't named. My point is not to get everyone to switch to Bing overnight (although it is worthwhile to know where the value is). Even for those who do switch to Bing after reading this, there is another lesson to be gained: Think about the brands you may otherwise subconsciously purchase, and ask yourself what the value is for you. Whether it's pasta sauce, nail polish, or ibuprofen, it could be worth taking a second look, and making that uncomfortable but useful transition to a new and strange brand that either saves you money, stands for something you want to support, has great customer service, or, maybe, a little of all of the above.

Canning Your Food is Fun and Easy!

These days everyone is talking about frugality. What could be thriftier than canning your own food? Not only that, you can make it the way you like, without added preservatives, corn syrup, or things with unpronounceable names. Best of all, you can savor the bounty of local food long after the first freeze hits this fall.

Besides canning, you can dry, freeze, pickle, cure, smoke, ferment or place foods in cold storage. When choosing a method for food preservation, safety is a primary concern, with taste being a close second. It’s not too intimidating to throw something into the freezer, the root cellar or the refrigerator with some vinegar. We can be pretty sure that calamity will not follow. You’ve probably made tomato sauce and frozen it, or stored onions in a cool, dark place. It’s canning that’s kind of scary, and therefore the method with the most rules.

While canning does have a lot of rules, it’s also fairly simple—that is, it’s simple if you follow the rules. The most important thing to know is that the bacteria responsible for botulism thrives in the absence of air in moist, low-acid environments. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to increase the acidity of low-acid foods, to kill any bacteria with heat, and to provide an airtight seal so nothing ominous can enter the product after you’ve sealed it. That's it.

Most fruits are acidic enough to can using a hot water bath canner, while most vegetables need to be processed with a pressure canner and some added vinegar or lemon juice to raise their acidity. Tomatoes are a borderline acid item, while green beans are low acid. If you don’t like your tomato sauce with added lemon juice or vinegar, you should probably try freezing instead. However, a bit of lemon never hurt a green bean.

Using the best, freshest produce makes the best preserve. Follow recipes from a reliable source, and you are assured a good product. Don’t omit the lemon juice, change the amount of salt, or try to cut down the heating time. Kosher salt and pickling salt are both good choices. Table salt contains anti-caking additives and iodine that can cause pickles to darken. Salt substitutes can turn bitter and give preserved foods an unpleasant flavor.

Some signs your preserved food has spoiled:

• The food, jar or lid has mold on it, or food has leaked out.
• The food looks slimy, shriveled, spongy or cloudy.
• You can see bubbles or bulging of the lid.
• The jar’s contents “shoot” out when the lid is opened.
• The food has an “off” odor.

Here are some additional resources for you if you decide to give canning a whirl this year.

1. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a terrific website and offers a free, self-paced online course from the University of Georgia. http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
2. Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda Amendt
3. Quick Pickles by Schlesinger, Willoughby and George
4. The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard

A version of this article entitled “Preserving the Bounty of the Season” written by Peg Toscanini was first published in the River Valley Market Newsletter, Summer 2009.

Smart Used Car Shopping

When my wife told me it was finally time to get her a new car last year, as most people do, I cringed at the thought of the whole car buying process and having another car payment.  She knew she wanted an SUV but wasn’t sure what make or model. That was some sigh of relief because the process of narrowing your decisions can be endless!

Once you have decided on a type of transportation you should do your homework. Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.org) offers a great website that gives you information about different vehicles with an unbiased opinion – it’s simply their facts and findings. We read dozens of reviews before she decided on a particular model and also test drove one to be sure it rode to our liking. We started our search on the web because there are some great sites available that allow you to view inventory, prices, and other vehicle information like Auto Trader (and you don’t have to deal with the annoying salesman until it’s truly necessary!) UMassFive also offers an online inventory listing of our preferred dealers on our website here. When you are shopping for a vehicle you should consider:

• The number of previous owners
• Whether the car has been involved in an accident
• Any previous mechanical problems
• The maintenance history of the car

After we viewed several vehicles in our area that we were interested in we decided to take a trip to see it in person and test drive it – after all there is only so much you can see in a picture.  After road-testing the vehicle if you are interested in pursuing it further you should do a walk-around in-side and out of the vehicle to make note of any imperfections, dings, or scratches. Ideally the vehicle should be in good shape, but sometimes minor flaws are inevitable – but that can be used to your advantage when negotiating the price!

You should have the vehicle inspected by your mechanic to ensure the vehicle is in proper operating condition and that there is nothing wrong present. Any reputable dealer will be more than willing to allow this. (if they don’t that’s a red flag and I wouldn’t buy the vehicle just because of that alone.) I had a similar experience after the purchase when the car salesman asked if I wanted to have the car inspected at their facility. While this seemed like a convenience, it’s was my last chance to see if something was wrong. For that reason, I actually opted out of that offer and took it to my normal inspection station. If for nothing else you have the peace of mind that someone without an interest in the car is looking at it. Getting a vehicle history report to see if it was in an accident, stolen, recalled, etc. is a good idea too. You can get them free and easy at Car Fax – www.carfax.com. The dealership I purchased my vehicle from actually did this for me and printed it out. – a good sign they have nothing to hide about the vehicle.

When it comes time to financing the vehicle do your best to negotiate the rate and term – as most dealers use several financial institutions to fund their vehicle sales. If you have decent to good credit, there is even more of a case for you to negotiate and leverage your positive credit.

At the end of the day you need to be prepared and do your homework. The process can take longer than you want, especially actually finding the one you want – but if you follow these steps  you will be on a better path that you should be happier with and your wallet may thank you too! To read more about used card buying, visit our online Resource Center at umassfive.coop.