Supper Planning Anyone?

I've been watching the family budget and looking for additional ways to save. A few ideas have popped in my head that I'll pursue however one really stood out. I enjoy cooking on occasion and I wondered if there were ways to link my passion for saving money with my enjoyment of cooking.

Quick numbers: If the average family meal runs around $20.00 the cost to feed the family runs over $1800.00 per month! A large number for sure. Is $20.00 the correct amount to use per meal, I'm not sure just yet. Dropping the average cost to $10.00 per meal would slice the cost in half and may save $900.00 per month. Is it possible? Will the family rebel? Or can we make a deal and share the savings with a pay for performance approach?

Debt Stacking

If you are making monthly payments on several different credit cards I can help you prioritize your efforts in seven simple steps:

1) Collect all of the monthly statements you can track down.
2) Organize the statements by placing them in separate piles based on the card issuer.
3) Organize each pile in descending order based on the month. (The current month should be on top.)
4) Paperclip or rubber band each individual stack.
5) Place the stacks in a single descending order pile based on the of the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of each individual stack. (Highest APR on should be top.)
6) You have just created your debt stack. If you pay more than the minimum monthly payment on your credit cards you should stop doing so. That's right, reduce the monthly payment on each card to the minimum and then apply the difference to the payment made to the card that is on top of your debt stack. If you are currently only making the minimum payments on all of your bills then you should focus all of the extra money you can afford to spend on the card that is on top of your debt stack.
7) Once the card that is on top is paid off apply the payment you were making to the card to the next one in your debt stack.

This approach will help your prioritize your payments and accelerate the payoff of your debts.

Netflix Upgrade

A short while ago we shared our decision to join Netflix. We started with the $4.99 plan however, we have now decided to upgrade to the $8.99 plan. The Unlimited Instant Watching is fantastic. Now we can stream movies and watch them on our schedule. No more running to the video store or return trips.

Netfix offers over 12,000 choices instantly to your TV and you can instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV in as little as 30 seconds. You can watch as much as you want since watching instantly is included in your membership. You can still get all your DVDs by mail however now you'll also get movies & TV episodes streamed instantly to your TV.

If you are a movie buff, Netflix is the way to go.

Missing Money, Found

Based on an article I saw online, I searched a site called MissingMoney.com to see if I was one of those lucky folks due some "missing" cash. This site does not charge to re-unite folks and their missing money so I had nothing to loose.

Based on some of the comments about the site on the article I had low expectations. Many of the comments indicated the site did not work or the site was down. I gave it a shot like many folks that day and also found the site unresponsive.

However before crossing the site off completely I tried the site again a few days later. It was up and running and within just a few clicks I was searching the country for my share of the missing cash pie.

To my surprise I found two small amounts that were actually due to my family! Simply amazing!! Based upon further research I learned that the site crashed due to the number of hits it received that day from the article.

Per MissingMoney.com "The states have implemented active outreach programs designed to reunite unclaimed property owners with their lost or forgotten assets. To enhance the states' outreach efforts, MissingMoney.com, a national database, was established in November 1999 and is the only database endorsed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA). MissingMoney.com enables owners to perform comprehensive searches for lost assets required by law to be turned over to the states."

We recommend you take a few seconds and use the site to search for your missing money, you may find a nice surprise!

Annual Escrow Statement

We received an exciting item in the mail yesterday. Our annual escrow statement indicated our account had an overage. Included with the escrow statement was a check for $1,465.46! Talk about an unexpected and nice surprise!

Even better, to avoid incurring a overage going forward, the mortgage company is reducing our house payment by $97.56 per month starting in May. Now that's a huge amount to add to our snowflake account.

Encouraged by this sudden reduction on our house payment we have challenged ourselves to reduce our homeowners insurance costs by at least 10%, and to give serious thought to refinancing our home.

Homeowners Insurance, an Annual Review

While visiting with some friends last weekend one of our discussions centered around the cost of homeowners insurance. My friend has a significantly lower annual premium compared to ours premium so I decided to begin reviewing my policy and shopping to compare my rate.

In my research I found a website that caught my attention because it is to the point and the author seems very knowledgeable.

http://www.castlerockagency.com/how-much-should-i-insure-my-home-for.html

If you're like us, you probably rushed around to insure the property as part of the financing closing process and you may not have looked at your policy or the premium since then. We think that is a mistake and that we should review our policy as part of an annual review process.

We'll keep you posted on our findings and hopefully our savings!

Hard Times: Part Two - CEO to Pizza Delivery

In a prior article, Hard Times: Part One, we wrote about a story found on Yahoo.com about a Florida man who lost his CEO job and now delivers pizza. Here's a follow up article:

The man apparently used his house as equity when he tried to establish a hedge fund. Once the market soured he lost his business and in a domino effect he also lost his house. It sounds like the man did not have enough money saved to start a business nor did he properly plan for the business.

We also found it interesting that the man indicated on job interviews before his business collapsed he "probably" came across as a jerk because he wanted to see if the "firm was worthy" of him. What's interesting about this is that we believe every person being interviewed should also be interviewing the potential employer to ensure the job and the company are an appropriate fit. However in this case it sounds like the man was arrogant in prior job interviews so we wonder about this management style as well as his personality.

So what happened? ABC news ran a story about the man and shortly thereafter the station received emails and calls from people wanting to offer the man a job. A follow up story indicated that some of the offers were not much better than pizza delivery however some were executive positions with executive salaries. Amazing!

We knew something was clearly wrong with the story when we read it on Yahoo.com and wondered why he could not find a job that uses his skills and experience. It appears that the man did have another motive in mind: He used the power of the news, the press, and websites like ours, to market to thousands, perhaps millions, of potential opportunities. He bypassed other job candidates, and the interview process completely, with a compelling story and apparent humility.

So poor planning and past arrogance a side, mass marketing yielded him fantastic results. Sounds like the man was using some of his skills and experience after all!

Hard Times: Part One

Recently I came across an interesting article on Yahoo.com that shows a Florida man that went from "CEO to Delivering Pizza." The article states that at one point he made around $750,000 per year and now he's making $7.29 per hour.

Something is clearly wrong with this story. Why he can't find a job that uses some of his skills and experience? Seriously, your telling me a man with an MBA from UCLA can not land a management or consulting job? The economy in Florida is bad but it's not that bad.

It just doesn't add up. Has he given up? Is there another motive? I plan to follow this story to better understand it. I also plan to use the story as motivation to drive awareness for planning.

Life has challenges and we must face them head on to reach our goals and dreams. We can not let hard times keep us down and we must plan for these hard times. Plan to work and work the plan to be successful!

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12582289&ch=4226720&src=news

Pay Yourself First

Our regular readers know we have a goal of reading 52 books in 52 weeks. The idea behind the goal is to identify ideas and implement them, or build upon them, in our Solid Planning approach to achieving our 2009 goals.

One item that clearly stands out in the books we have read so far is "pay yourself first".

This tip is huge if it is used properly in your planning process. If you have ever wondered what this really means please read on.....

Our approach to "pay yourself first" is to set up a separate savings account, we recommend ING Direct because the account can be linked to your existing accounts and the interest rate paid on the account is very attractive.

This separate account should have rules assigned to it such as "not to be touched in case of an emergency". Another rule we suggest is to "establish a target balance". The target balance allows us to set a definite end, or goal, that we can measure against and plan to achieve.

Now that the account is set up the pay yourself first approach can be implemented. You should determine an amount you can regularly pay to reach the target balance. This amount is a commitment, and you should carefully decide the figure you can realistically afford to pay every month. This payment should be treated just like a bill, a very important bill. Think of it like this, the payment of this bill impacts your future and it should receive respect as such. Due to the importance of this bill it should be the the first bill you pay each and every month.

If you use electronic banking or can set up automatic transfers we recommend you use one of these features. If you pay your bills by writing checks then you may need to create an invoice as a reminder.

It's that simple, you can now pay yourself first and you will have the security of knowing that you have an account as a safety net for emergencies.

Solid Planning votes for Netflix

If you haven't visited your neighborhood Blockbuster lately you may be surprised to hear that late fees have returned. (Flash to the commercial with the individual running to return a video on time!)

We don't recall the fee to rent a movie lately however, we do know the price at Blockbuster has shocked us in the past. Since our lives are quire busy we've decided to go with Netflix which has several plans ranging from $4.99 to $16.99 per month as well as 100,000 titles available on DVD. Better yet there are no due dates or late fees - ever! (We're going for the $4.99 plan)

Per the Netflix website, you can get DVDs by mail and instantly watch movies (some new releases) & TV episodes (including current season) streamed from Netflix to your TV via a Netflix ready device or online on your PC or Mac.

Nextflix also offers a two week free trail. What are you waiting for?

Xbox Red Ring Warranty Survival Trick

We have two Xboxes of which both have experienced the Red Ring of Death, error E74. I assumed both units were out of warranty so I called Xbox support to complain about the poor quality of their product. (800) 469-9269. I had the Phone Agent check the status of both warranties and by some streak of luck one of our Xbox Consoles had one day left on the warranty.

Here's the best part, amazingly, the service agent mentioned we could purchase a service contract for one year at a cost of $29.95 on the console that has only one day left. As a result, we now have another year of enjoyment from this poor quality product.

You know the product will break so the $29.95 is an excellent investment. Take advantage of this service contact to save on costly repairs. We recommend you share this article with all of your Xbox contacts!

Greeting Card Savings

We're amazed at the cost of greeting cards. Sure they contain pictures and a nice pre-written sentiments yet are they worth the $2.00 to $5.00 price? We searched for options.

Our search lead us to a software package called PrintMaster which contains images, templates, and sentiments which you can use to create your own greeting cards. Rather that complaining about manufactured hoildays, give in and create your own cards.

To further dress up your greeting card projects you can purchase card stock to print them on.

We purchased PrintMaster on Amazon.com for $29.99 which was the best price we could find online. Do you purchase greeting cards or print them yourself? If you print them what package do you use?

Your Savings Account?

Have you ever thought about what the term "Savings Account" implies?

Per Dictionary.com saving is defined as follows:
–adjective
1. tending or serving to save; rescuing; preserving.
2. compensating; redeeming: a saving sense of humor.
3. thrifty; economical: a saving housekeeper.
4. making a reservation: a saving clause.
–noun
5. a reduction or lessening of expenditure or outlay: a saving of 10 percent.
6. something that is saved.
7. savings, sums of money saved by economy and laid away.
8. Law. a reservation or exception.
–preposition
9. except: Nothing remains saving these ruins.
10. with all due respect to or for: saving your presence.
–conjunction
11. except; save.

We believe in today's economy that individuals should think of the term "Savings" in their Savings Account as an adjective. Particularly we stress the first definition: Tending or serving to save; rescuing; preserving.

If you agree with our thoughts we have one question for you. "Have you established an account to rescue and or preserve you and your family if an unexpected event happens"?

You should begin building your Savings now!

FREE Debt Reduction Spreadsheet

If you are like us and you enjoy entering payments on amortization schedules to see how quickly you can pay off debt you'll love this article.

We had an excel expert to design a worksheet to assist in determining a course of action in regards to paying off credit cards. The worksheet allows users to enter data and run scenarios to determine the best options for the user. The spreadsheet variables include: Card balances, interest rates, current payment amounts (not minimum payment), minimum payments, card fees, introductory rates, introductory rate expiration dates, and extra payment amounts.

So what's the catch you ask? We're only giving away the spreadsheet to the first 20 individuals who subscribe to our site. In addition, we're also offering a money back guarantee!

(Just kidding on the money back guarantee, the spreadsheet is free.) Enjoy!

Planning 101

We believe setting goals without creating plans to accomplish them is similar to wishful thinking. Wishful thinking may make you feel good however it produces no fruitful outcome. For real results you need to create a plan, which is really a series of steps to perform. Creating a plan to reach your goals isn’t as daunting as you might think. To assist you we’ve listed an approach to creating a plan below:

1) Document your goals in writing. The process of collecting your thoughts and documenting them allows you to clarify your goals. The more specific your goals are the easier it is to create steps to achieve them.

2) After reviewing your goals, think about the steps can you take today, tomorrow, in the future, to make them a reality. Write down these steps and assign a date to them that you would like to see the step accomplished.

3) Review your documented goals and steps every morning and every evening. This reminds you of the importance of your goals and keeps them fresh in your mind. If you think of additional steps during your review write them down and assign them a date as well.

4) Perform the steps. Completing the steps you have written down is your plan to achieving your goals. Ask yourself, “What can I do today that will take me a step closer to my achieving goal?”

5) Share your goals and steps with others. Sharing your goals allows you to internalize them. It also allows people to help you achieve your goals as well as support and encourage you along the way.

6) Don’t give up! Your goals will not be achieved in one day. Goals are achieved by completing steps over a period of time. By completing each step along your plan you become closer and closer to achieving your goals.

Save $10 a Week by Packing Your Drink

We've all done it, we pull up to the menu and choose an inexpensive lunch while thinking about our budget. We order a sandwich or two for $2 and we think were doing well. Then comes the catch. "Would you like to add a beverage to your meal?"

If you say yes you just doubled your bill. Many individuals agree to a drink without even thinking about it. How is it possible that a drink, one that primarily consists of water, sweetener, and loads of ice, can cost as much as the main course of your meal? It doesn't. Drinks are a way that restaurants generate a significant portion of their profit. They present meals as inexpensive and then they take an inexpensive product that costs about $.10 and charge you a markup of 2000%. It's similar to a bait and switch technique.

If you must eat out on a regular basis, we suggest you load up a good quality cooler with your favorite beverage, ice, and tote it along with you as you go about your travels. This super easy trick can save you $10 a week or more and it allows you to enjoy your favorite beverage regardless of the drink selection of the restaurant.

Fire Your Bank

Fed up with the banking system? Fire your bank and join a Credit Union! Most often you will find better deals on loans, checking accounts, savings accounts, and service.

How is this possible you ask? Credit unions are not-for-profit financial institutions. They are organizations which are owned and controlled by their members for their members.

Are they safe? Credit Unions are insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF). The NCUSIF was established in 1970 to insure credit union member's deposits up to $100,000. This was the amount the FDIC had in place before some shady practices caused the financial crisis.

Credit unions have been rated number 1 in financial institution's customer satisfaction for 10 years according to the American Banker Newspaper's satisfaction survey. So next time you receive poor service from your bank remember that the primary mission of a credit union is to provide service to its members.

Not a Rounding Error, it's a Strategy

Want to accelerate your principal payments on your mortgage without squeezing your budget? An easy and painless approach is to round up your payment to the nearest whole dollar and add an additional ten to twenty dollars to your monthly payment amount. Here's an example:

A $200,000 loan at 6.5% APR for 15 years has a regular payment of $1,742.21 for 180 months. The interest portion of the payments over the life of the loan total $113,599.22.

Rounding the payment up by $0.79 plus adding an additional $10.00 per month changes the regular payment to $1,753.00 for 179 months. That's the acceleration of an entire month's payment! In addition, the interest portion of the payments now total $112,274.32. Which means you are saving $1,324.33 in interest.

Want to accelerate even more? Add an additional $10.00 for an extra $20.79 per month in principal. The regular payment is now $1,763.00 for 177 months. That's the acceleration of three months of payments. In addition, the interest portion of the payments will total $111,075.47. Which means you are now saving $2,523.18 in interest.

What's Your Contingency Plan?

In prior articles we have focused on ways to save money, manage risk, reduce taxes, and maximize investments. However we missed a very important subject, Contingency Planning.

With the economy in trouble and layoffs becoming common place, individuals need to ask themselves what should, or what will, you do if your income and benefits are suddenly impacted? If you receive dreaded news, do you have a plan in place to adjust your expenses? Do you know how long can you maintain your lifestyle? Have you evaluated your expenses and listed out the things that can be or should be immediately reduced or cut? Do you know what options are available to you?

Our answers to many of these questions is NO. Therefore, we will be building our contingency plan over the next few weeks. Articles focused on building our contingency will be placed in a new category called "Contingency Planning."

It's our belief that contingency planning will allow us to sleep better at night because we have faced our fears and made a plan to manage them.

Do you have a contingency plan?

Programmable Savings

A programmable thermostat can reduce your energy costs by automatically turning down heating or cooling systems at night and while you're away. It has been reported that using a programmable thermostat to adjust the temperature by 10° to 15° for 8 hours can save you between 5% to 15% a year on your energy costs. The energy savings are dependent on the climate you live in, how well your home is insulated, and the programming and settings you enter into the thermostat.

A word of caution: Programmable thermostats can be complicated to use so you should review the programming settings and assess the difficulty of the thermostat before you make the purchase. An improperly set thermostat can actually increase your energy costs.

If you have misplaced the instructions to a programmable thermostat you may be able to find them online simply by entering the manufacturer's name and the model number.