Blog Reboot: The Money Blog Revisited – A New Direction

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post named RE-BRANDING: Transitioning Your Blog When You’ve Come To A Different Place In Your Life, my blog is going through a period of change – mainly, because I myself am going through a period of change. SO the previous post addressed the whole issue of the blog going through a transitioning. Now is the time for the actual blog REBOOT.

 

Photo credit: changing lanes

THE CHANGE OF DIRECTION FROM SAVING TO EARNING

This is going to be the biggest change to the blog, as I have now shifted my focus in my real life from saving money to earning money. As you can see from the URL of this blog, my focus was savings. I began this blog in college/university and so the main focus back then was to save, save, save so that I could have as little a loan (student loan and family loan) as possible. But now that I’m out and in the work force, this is the time to start earning and to start paying back my loans.

So EARNING more has become extremely important to me in my real life, and you’ll therefore see me blogging about job applications and the like, because I’m dead set on finding a higher-paying job at the moment, and hence EARNING more. My mental focus shift from saving to earning will reflect now in this blog also. I will naturally still focus on saving, but you will definitely see a shift in weight towards blog posts about earning. That’s going to be the new order of business around here.

30 Easy Ways To Save Money - Day 3: Brown-Bagging Lunch

So over a year ago I started this blogging series called 30 Easy Ways To Save Money – Am I Doing All Of Them???, that tackled Dumb Little Man’s blog post 30 Easy Ways to Save Money (and No, you are not doing them all!) and the 30 different savings tips that were presented there. I’m a huge fan of serial posts, so I wanted to dedicate a blog post for each individual entry on the list. The time has come for no. 3 – or Day 3, as I happened to call it back then. I had it in my head that I wanted to do this over a 30 day period. Obviously, *ahem* it’s been a little longer than that ;) But anyways, I’ll go ahead and continue this blogging series, as I think they are immensely fun.

A few notes before we begin:

• The original and first post 30 Easy Ways To Save Money – Am I Doing All Of Them??? was written on April 21, 2009.
• The second post entitled 30 Easy Ways To Save Money - Day 2: Coffee was written, as far as I can see on my blogger dashboard, on April 22, 2009.

 

So the logic behind the Day 1 and Day 2 was pretty much there at the beginning :)

 

I’m however going to disappoint you people who are expecting a daily posting on this series, as I am not of yet, a daily blogger. Due to time constraints I currently only blog 1-2 times a week. This blog is, of yet, just for pleasure, not for pay, so I’m taking my time and taking it easy with all my postings. I’m thoroughly stressed out enough in my real life as it is, I don’t want my blog to contribute in any way to that as well. So don’t expect Speedy Gonzales when it comes to this blogging series. It’ll probably take a while :) But anyways, I’m happy. And I’m enjoying it. So that’s the most important part.

 

On we go.

 

This is Day 3 on my series “30 Easy Ways To Save Money – Am I Doing All Of Them??? based on Dumb Littles Man’s list of 30 different ways to save money.

 

• 3. “Brown bag lunch at least a few days a week: Lunch times are great opportunities to network and make connections that could improve your career growth. So unless there is a common eating area for brown baggers, you may choose to limit brown bagging lunch to three days each week. Find a balance between saving some money and making the connection. In my case, I take my lunch with me 2-3 times a week and eat out the rest of the time.”

Quoted from original post at: Dumb Little Man, Photo: brown bagging.

No one knows this, but I actually brown-bagged my lunch for a while at first when I began my new job. I eventually reverted, because of the very reason that was stated in the above. Lunch for us at my job was centered around the in-house cafeteria. A lot of socializing and networking and old-fashioned cameraderie would take place revolving around the in-house cafeteria, and for a young just-out-of-university newly hired employee who was ambitious and driven, this was unfortunately too good of an opportunity to pass up. BUT!!! I consiously have made this decision, so I am well aware of the fact, that I have to make up for it in another area of my life – so I only eat bread for dinner. My daily hot meal is eaten at lunch at the cafeteria, and when I get home in the evenings I eat bread with some meat slice or spread. That’s my dinner. So I’m completely aware of the fact that, if you have to choose one thing and make that a priority (for your career), then something else must go. Which I’m fine with.

 

So there you have it my thoughts in this particular saving tip. This wasn’t actually how I wanted this blog post to go, as I would rather have taken the specific saving tip to heart, and tried it out in my real life, so that I could save. However, on this particular post, I ‘ve had to put my foot down, and state that I’ve already done this, but that it however was not the right way for me to go in this particular stage in my life. I however have made compensations in another area of my life - to even out the fact.

 

So there you go, my Day 3 on this blogging series of mine. I look forward to the next time :) See you there.

December 2010 Goals

“It’s good to have your [financial] goals written down so you see them everyday and don’t lose focus on your ultimate objectives.”

I read this in a comments section, and my, doesn’t it ring true.

 

 

Keeping in that spirit, I’m listing my financial goals for December 2010 right here. I’m going to keep them small, so that I know that I can easily accomplish them. Because there’s nothing worse than setting unrealistic goals for yourself and then failing at them. There’s nothing more demotivating than that. I know, because being the overly ambitious soul that I sometimes can be I often have a tendency to fall into this trap of setting too high goals (that were unrealistic to begin with) and failing -and then blaming myself afterwards for it. Not a very good, motivating factor. So I’ll start small now and then build this one up.

 

December 2010 Financial Goals

• Pay $100 towards reducing my debt
• Put away $100 towards savings

 

That should do it for now. These amounts, by the way, have already taken into account the the Christmas-presents-factor in my budget for December ;) So no worries :)

Books, books, books

Being a student you can’t come around it – you’ll need books. And loads of them.

But college books are expensive. I mean really expensive. And being on a tight budget already, it’s really difficult.

So a few money saving tips in regards to books.

There are basically 4 options you have in regards to saving money on books:

• Buy new at student discount prices
• Buy used
• Borrow at library
• Borrow from a friend

Buy new at student discount prices I present this as the first option, but really, you should consider it as your last. Buying new books will always be the most expensive option. Below I present some alternatives. However on occasion you will probably for whatever reason need to buy your books brand new. In these cases always ask if there’s a student discount. Always. I mean it. Make this your mantra when buying new books.

Buy used If you really need to buy the book then consider buying it second hand. There are great options for doing so. You can buy it used at the bookstore, from a friend or (here’s my personal favorite) on the internet. Websites like Amazon or eBay are great for buying cheap second hand books.

Borrow at the library This is a classic. If you’re only going to use the book once (say for example on a specific term paper) then this is really a good idea. Just be careful about return fees! Keep a close watch on when your books are supposed to be returned. Because return fees are really just an unnecessary expense out of your pocket. Because they can always be avoided, you just gotta hand your books in on time. Then the service is free.

Borrow from a friend If your friend’s got a book you need and he’s not reading it at the time. Ask him, nicely. If it’s ok you borrow it. There can be variations on this as well, like book-swapping - he buys one book for the course, you buy another, and you swap regularly. Another alternative is that you split the expense of the book 50%-50%. That way you still save money by buying the book at half-price. There is only one warning that needs to be heeded here! That is, you have to make sure that the friend you’re swapping/sharing with doesn’t have the same day rhythm or study habits as you. In other words, if you’re a night person then find a day person to swap with. If you’re a day person find a night person to share books with. I’ll bet you, that chances are a 100%, that the two of you will never need the books at the same time.

Saving Challenge Day # 6

Saving Tip # 6: Comparing prices
To compare prices thoroughly both in the stores and online is a must. Why pay more for the same item if you can get it for half the price someplace else?

It takes a little more time. And a little more “legwork” (physically or digitally). But the monetary benefits are definitely worth it.

I had to use this tip today as I had to buy some materials related to my university. And it’s actually sometimes quite surprising how huge the difference in pricing sometimes can be. I experienced that first hand today.

And naturally, I can honestly say now at the end of the day, that I most certainly got a bargain for my purchases.

So this is what I’ve been doing today.

Saving Challenge Day # 4

Saving Tip # 4: Talk a little less, text a little more

I know, I know, believe me, I know. Making a quick phone call is often more tempting than writing a text message. For me, that's very often the case.

Making a phone call is more personable, it's faster and I can even walk on busy streets and climb stairs while I do it (which is not the case for texting, I often lose my balance, especially, if they're a particularly long case of stairs).

Yes, making a phone call and say, for instance, doing the dishes at the same time is absolutely heaven for the multi-tasker.

But hell for the bill payer.

I think that we all know that 1 minute of talking is more expensive than 1 minute of texting (4 times more in my case, with my specific phone company). So there's a lot to be saved here.

It's just always been convenience (or rather, inconvenience) that has nudged me in one particular direction.

So this is what I've been doing all day today.

And I'll tell you something that I've learnt... what I've noticed is that there's a real bonus in this tip, for all of us who dislike texting. I've realized that I'm using my phone less because I really do dislike text messaging and I'm beginning to think long and hard before I start a text-conversation with anyone whether the conversation is really important or just a way to pass the time.

So let's take a look at this for a second. You're saving money per minute and using your phone less. It's a win-win situation.

Saving Challenge Day # 3

Saving Tip # 3: Switching off appliances on standby
According to Big Green Switch 8 - 10% of a normal household's energy consumption is due solely to appliances that are on standby. While a study made by The University Of California estimates that the figure is anywhere between 6% - 26%.

By unplugging these appliances you can obviously save a noticable sum on your electricity bill every year. And without actually having to do much except plug them out once.

You can also use something like a timer or standby buster or the sort. This will help you out even further.

Another plus side is naturally that you are saving money while at the same time helping the environment.

So this is what I'm doing today.

Saving Challenge Day # 2

Saving Tip # 2: Staying at home
Now naturally don't stay at home if you have to go to work or attend a close friend's birthday party. But once in a while, if you're trying to save money, it's a good idea to stay within your own four walls. To resist the temptations of window shopping, coffee-on-the-go, and many other various pitfalls that you might be prone to once you step outside and into the city streets.

At home you don't spend any money and here you can get a lot of the things done you need to.

I needed to get some work done so I decided to stay at home today and tonight (on this Saturday evening) so that I could finish the work and on top of that save money too in the process.

This little tip turned out to be handy for me as it saved me money and increased my productivity.

So this is how I saved money today.

Saving and Spending

Ok, so one thing I'm going to be focusing on in the next few weeks is saving. In the purest, quintessential sense: not spending.

Spending is something I, unfortunately, like many other people enjoy doing. Not to the extreme, mind you. But still, spending will be always more fun to me than not spending.

So for the next weeks I've given myself a challenge. Because spending/saving is something that can be dealt with right now and on a day to day basis, I've decided to lay my focus there.

The challenge is a simple one, but hopefully it will be highly effective.

Everyday I will be thinking of a new way to save money. And most importantly I will be implementing it.

Each day I'll be posting the saving tip here on the blog.

My tips won't be new or groundbreaking eye-openers. You will probably have heard them all before. But the most important thing is in the doing. And sometimes, even if I know all these things, I forget to do them. And that's my weakness. And that's what this personal blog challenge is all about. To remind myself and to spark my creativity when it comes to thinking up ways to try and save money. To be aware of my spending/saving habits and last but not least to do something to save money.

If you've got any good saving tips of your own that you'd like to share then you're more than welcome to let me know. Thanks!