The $27 hamburger

One of the smarter fellows I know was at one point pretty naive about money. At this period, he was having some financial trouble. He was scared to look at his bank statement, because he knew that the news was bad.

His friends went out to eat fast food a lot, but he was very conscientious about not spending a lot. He would usually just buy a single item from the fast food dollar menu, or a two dollar burger.

He asked me for some help looking over his finances. I pointed out that his bank account had gone negative. Every time he had bought something from the dollar menu, he was charged a $25 overdraft fee. I asked him if the $27 burger had been delicious. This isn't the only case where seemingly minor splurging can turn out to be very expensive. Any high interest debt (say, credit cards at 19% interest) that could have been paid down increases the cost of any splurging significantly.


Hamburger Original Price: $
Highest APR on any debt: %
If you wait five years to pay down this high interest debt, then I hope you enjoyed that hamburger. Note that I'm assuming 2% annual inflation, which actually fluctuates and has generally been lower than that.

Walking Games

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We try to walk places whenever we can around here. After all, it saves gas, reduces wear and tear on the car, and --at least in the long run--it means you spend less on doctors' bills.

We have also found that it is easier to get places on time when we walk. This seems counter-intuitive, but I think it is because walking forces you to plan. When I drive places, I often forget to think about how long it really takes to pack everyone in and out, not to mention driving through traffic. What I think is a five minute trip, might actually take 15. There is another advantage to walking as well. If you're five minutes late walking somewhere, you can always make up time by doubling your speed. Try this in a car, and you're likely to cause an accident, or get a ticket.

So, walking is wonderful! I love walking...

But, sometimes I hate it. Here is why: my four year-old is slow. He is a dawdler and a foot dragger. He likes to use up all of his energy weaving across the sidewalk and then wander into someone's yard to step on their decorative rocks or pick their dandelions. When we're running late getting his brother to school, this is a little frustrating.

Fortunately, we have found a solution which works well, at least sometimes. We play games. Here are a few of them:

Racing Cheetahs: My friend invented this, and my son won't actually play it unless she is running the game.   In this one, the kids are cheetahs, chasing after deer, giraffes, and other wildlife. The wildlife is played by obliging street lamps, signs, poles, and hydrants. The grown-up tells the kids about wildlife up ahead and sends them chasing after it.

Ping Pong Ball: I am the paddle, the kids are the ping pong balls. I give them a gentle whack on the back and send them flying, when they reach a busy driveway or intersection we "roll" across together.

Bow & Arrow: I am the bow. The kids are the arrows. I pull them back and send them flying at a pole, tree, or sign up ahead.

Whack It With a Stick: This one is my favorite. I have him find a stick (not too heavy) and whack things as I call them out. We stick stuff I'm sure he won't damage, like sturdy trees, poles, and garbage bins.

If you have a bad job, keep job hunting (but don't quit the job!)

In relation to my last post on making sure you always have some sort of job, even if it doesn't match your needs, I figured I ought to point out some of the pitfalls of working in a job that is beneath your abilities.

I have a friend who has a pretty bad job, and doesn't get enough hours to support himself. He has mostly quit job-hunting though, because at least he has a job. He's been stuck like this for quite some time. He did the right thing in taking the job, but then he forgot all about finding a better one!

Basically, if your job doesn't meet your needs and skills, you ought to be spending serious time job-hunting every week. As a corollary, if you are spending 80 hours a week at this pretty bad job, you aren't going to have the time or energy for real job hunting. Overtime at a bad job will just burn you out, and make you unable to get anything better. Cut back to a reasonable schedule any way you can, just to have the energy to find a better job.

I think you should only really quit the job if the only way of keeping the job is working lots of overtime for poor pay, since that means it's interfering with your search for the job you really need.

Get a job, any job

I've mentioned this before, but I figure people might be more likely to believe me if I find more people saying the same thing:

Why Hunting for a Great Job Will Hurt Your Career

Full-time job hunting can be a depressing, long-term experience. Even if you have to take a job far below your abilities (and perhaps way below your income requirements), you should always make sure you have some sort of job. Then you can spend your spare time looking for the perfect job.

• You'll avoid gaps in your resume.
• There may be quick promotion opportunities at the suboptimal job, if you perform well.
• There are better networking opportunities interacting with people at a bad job than sitting at home sending e-mails.
• When you take a job beneath your abilities, you really don't need to treat it like a long-term commitment. Don't feel guilty when a better job comes along.
• Not having even a bad job can easily lead to depression and feelings of worthlessness, which makes it even harder to get a job.
• It's possible to waste a lot of time on the Internet. Anyone trying to spend all day job hunting on the Internet is going to get bored and start visiting sites of lower and lower quality while surfing. At the end of the day, you'll have done 30 minutes of job hunting and 8 hours of web surfing. You might as well spend those 8 hours doing actual work instead - and getting paid.

Remember of course that being unemployed can also be a great time to get additional training - even an additional degree, if you have the means.

Lessons Learned, Money Saved

Here's a bit of money-saving inspiration from "The Simple Dollar:"

48 Things Frugality Has Taught Me (thanks to Cheap, Healthy, Good for the link)

This is a fun list. I especially like the items that go "_________ isn't nearly as scary as it sounds." It's so true. A lot of times we spend money to get out of things that really aren't that bad.

What have I learned from trying to save money? Here are a few things, in random order:

1. It's fun to create money strategies and then watch our progress.

2. You realize a lot of things are completely unnecessary after you've put off buying them for a while.

3. Some things cost more to upgrade than others. For example, we could rent a tiny house (here in the bay area), or we could stick with our apartment and stay at the Four Seasons twice a month for the same total cost.

4. I love beans.

5. Buying things isn't as much fun as doing things. See this post.

Unemployment and Faith

In this article from the August issue of the Ensign, A. Brent Hammond writes about how he and his wife got through unemployment. Things eventually worked out for them, and they managed to do a lot of good in the process.

Faith in the Face of Adversity

Fabulous Cabbage

Do you eat cabbage? We love the stuff. Raw, it's crunchy and a bit peppery. Boiled, it tastes buttery and smooth. And the great thing is, it's super cheap--30 cents a pound the last time I bought some!

Here are three of my favorite cabbage recipes:

Cabbage Patch Soup from allrecipes (pictured above). This recipe is easy and tasty. We use real bacon, double the cabbage, and leave out the peas.

Chicago Dog Salad from Rachael Ray. It sounds weird, but it's really yummy. We shred the cabbage ourselves; it's easy.

Jeanne's Vegetable-Beef Borscht from the Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook. Borscht is a traditional Russian stew. It is usually made with beets, which turn it bright red. I was excited to find this recipe which is as flavorful as the traditional recipe I use, but much simpler. Preparation still takes some time, but it's worth it! The recipe works best in a 5 quart slow cooker. You could go larger. My alterations and substitutions are in parentheses. Please forgive me if they annoy.

1 lb. beef roast, cooked and cubed (I used less, cut small, and browned but not cooked through)

half a head of cabbage, sliced thinly

3 medium potatoes, diced

4 carrots, sliced

1 large onion, diced

1 cup tomatoes, diced (I used a 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes)

1 cup corn

1 cup green beans
2 cups beef broth (I doubled this, 4 tsp beef broth concentrate)

2 cups tomato juice (I used 1 cup tomato sauce)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dill seed (really it's optional; for more authenticity add chopped fresh dill to each serving)

2 tsp salt (I used 1 tsp)

1/2 tsp pepper

water

(I also added a bit of honey after cooking to complete the flavor, maybe 1 tablespoon for the whole batch)

sour cream

1. Mix together all the ingredients except water and sour cream. Add water to fill slow cooker three-quarters full. (At this point the vegetables are piled way over the water line. They will cook down.)

2. Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours. (Or on high 2-3 hours, on low 4, if you're a little slow like me).

3. Top individual servings with sour cream.

Variation (which I highly recommend!): Add 1 cup diced cooked red beets during the last half hour of cooking. (I peeled a large beet, pierced it with a fork several times, cooked it in the microwave until tender, and then diced it.)

How Money Can Make You Happy

Money does not equal happiness. We know that.

However, it turns out, spending money in certain ways can actually make you happier. Think money spent on a family vacation, or saving up for something really special.

Here is a great article from the New York Times about Money and Happiness, with some great insights about the kind of spending that adds to our happiness. I particularly liked the description it gives of the"buzz" we get from buying things. We feel great, and then the we get used to whatever it is, and so we buy something else.

But Will It Make You Happy?

The Easy Way Out Through Debt Settlement?

If you believe the radio advertisements, if you have huge amounts of credit card debt, you can simply make it disappear by calling a debt settlement company. These companies claim to be able to cut your credit card debt by more than half.

If it sounds too good to be true though:

In the case of two debt settlement companies sued last year by New York State, the attorney general alleged that no more than 1 percent of customers gained the services promised by marketers. A Colorado investigation came to a similar conclusion.

The industry’s own figures show that clients typically fail to secure relief. In a survey of its members, the Association of Settlement Companies found that three years after enrolling, only 34 percent of customers had either completed programs or were still saving for settlements.

The New Poor - Peddling Relief, Firms Put Debtors in a Deeper Hole (New York Times)

Debt settlement firms have a simple strategy they offer to people. Stop paying money towards credit card bills, and instead send the money to the company. They'll take a huge cut of the money in fees, and after a few years, (if you haven't been sued by the credit card company for failing to pay!) they'll attempt to settle your debts with the credit card company with some of the money you've sent them. The only problem is that it apparently almost never works out.

There are much better ways to lower your credit card debts, by working with the credit card companies directly or with some of the reputable companies that partner with them. CreditCard.com has an article about the best steps to take when overwhelmed by credit card debt (and includes yet another warning not to use debt settlement firms) at Credit card debt negotiation in 3 (not) easy steps.

Priorities in the Congo

Nicholas Kristof has written an article about his experiences talking to some incredibly poor people in the Congo Republic.

In his article Moonshine or the Kids he makes a similar point to what I wrote a while ago in Priorities, where I describe a poor Armenian man who said his top priorities were his family and his health, but spent huge sums of money on liquor and cigarettes.

Kids and Food

A while back, I wrote about food waste and how much of my kids' food ends up on the floor. It's something I'm working on, and so I appreciated finding this post from WiseBread with ten good tips on how to keep calories out of the trash.

10 Ways to Cut Waste When Feeding Kids

Thanks to Cheap, Healthy, Good for the link.

Since We're Talking About Clothes...

J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly wrote a post this week about a little clothing experiment he did over the past year. How many of his clothes did he actually wear? Take a look, and think about your own closet.

The One-Year Wardrobe Project

Thanks to Cheap, Healthy, Good for pointing this one out.

Easy Way to Patch Little Boys' Jeans

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got sick of the pile of little boys' jeans on my sewing table. I was not feeling terribly ambitious, and so I came up with a lazy way to patch them. I like the results.

Here is what I did. I took the jeans that were especially worn out and I cut out the back pockets (so I had two layers of fabric, and one layer had raw edges). Then I found jeans of a similar wash, pinned the cut-out pockets over the holes in the knees and sewed around the outside edge on my sewing machine. It takes some careful arranging to get them on the machine so you can sew through the right layers, but it's do-able.

The bottom layer of the patch frays a little around the edges, which gives it a slightly distressed look without being sloppy.

Keeping Cars Running

Car problems can wipe out any budget, not to mention put lives at risk. I'd heard once that short trips were bad for cars, so we started trying to avoid short trips around town as much as we could. Biking and walking are more fun anyway. I finally found an article explaining why short trips are so bad. It also explains a bunch of other useful car care tips:

Best Ways to Keep Your Car Running

One of the byproducts of engine combustion is water. When an engine reaches its operating temperature that water turns to vapor and is expunged, either out the tailpipe or the crankcase ventilation system. On a short trip, however, that water stays inside your car's engine and exhaust. Unfortunately, water is one of only three ingredients necessary to make rust (you've already got the other two, oxygen and metal), and rust kills ... A further complication of condensation and water is that it dilutes your oil, which then does a poorer job of lubricating the engine. If you can't avoid taking lots of short trips, we recommend you change your oil frequently, such as every 2,000-3,000 miles.

Alterations to the Clothing Budget

Cutting back on the clothing budget can be really hard. Somehow it feels more personal than other things. But, it is often necessary, and it can make a huge difference in our overall spending. Here are a few strategies to help. Choose the ones that work for you.

1. Keep careful track of how much you spend on clothes each month. Sometimes just seeing the numbers will help you come back to reality.

2. Learn to be thrifty. Check out this article from the April Ensign. Jane McBride Choate gives great practical advice for getting everyone dressed while staying on budget.

3. Make some new rules. If you are too often finding items that are irresistible, maybe it's time to set some guidelines. The easiest rule to make this: if you don't have money left in the clothing budget you can't buy it, no matter how cute it is. You can add in some more creative rules, though. Use your imagination. My cousin-in-law used to keep herself in check by selecting one color every year. If an item wasn't available in that color, she couldn't buy it. My mom's strategy was to make me think about it for a while. If it's still irresistible tomorrow, you can always come back. Or try this: you can't buy anything new until you've worn everything in your closet at least twice!

4. Buy clothes that fit and flatter. Usually when I throw clothes out without wearing them much, it is because they never quite fit right or they emphasize my figure in awkward ways. It doesn't matter how trendy it is; only buy if it looks great on you.

5. Speaking of trends... If you don't love it, skip it.

6. Shop with cash. Somehow money is more real when you hold it in your hands. A few months ago, Jeremy and I gave each other a sorely needed clothing bonus-- in cash. It was great. I always knew how much money I had left, and I managed to make it last.

7. Learn to love the thrift store. With a little patience you can find some great stuff here (I promise). You may not find it this time, though... Thrift stores also offer a dose of perspective: You can see what things look like after they have been washed a few times. And you won't be overcome by the chic atmosphere. It's all about you and the clothes. Do they fit right? Do you enjoy wearing them? Okay.

8. Avoid marital tension. At our house, we do this by making clothing come out of our personal allowance. Electronics also come out of our allowance. I buy clothes; Jeremy buys computers. All is budgetary bliss.

9. Don't shop for recreation. (This bit of advice comes from my family finance professor, Alena Johnson ). If you have enough clothes, and you're bored, you can always make someone cookies.

p.s. I love cookies

10. Be you. Remember that old Mormonad? "Be you're own kind of beautiful." If not, here's a link. We really can't be everything. Enjoy the beauty and talents of others; be beautiful and talented yourself; but don't be the same.

New Website for Job Seekers

Our church has created a new website with a variety of resources to help those looking for work. It is free and open to everyone. Visit www.ldsjobs.org.

Home Ownership Checklist

We had one of those great talks during Ward Conference that made us feel guilty - the speaker strongly recommended buying a home over renting an apartment. This surprised us, since pricing in our area means that renting usually makes more sense financially. There are certainly other benefits to owning a home though, and I think it's a good goal for any family. At the blog "The Simple Dollar", there's an article up talking about four things to DO while preparing to buy a home.

Four Atypical Things to do Before You Consider Buying a House

The suggestions are great - and ought to help anyone to make sure they are prepared to buy a house, and know that they can afford the house they will buy.

Great Source for Recipes

I told you I'd get back to you about Cheap, Healthy, Good. The verdict? Great recipes. Useful tips like the top ten cheap & healthy foods. Recipes are simple and straightforward. Leans towards vegetarian, but there are recipes with meat as well. Plenty of blog-style fluffy entertainment (usually I just skip to the recipes). Check it out. The above picture is of Broccoli with Roasted Red Peppers.

That Unpaid Internship May be Illegal

Because of the current job market, many employers are hiring more unpaid interns than usual. A lot of these arrangements are actual illegal, according to this article:

Looking for Experience, Providing Free Labor

There are very specific legal requirements from the federal government. The article describes some of those that are commonly violated:

Among those criteria are that the internship should be similar to the training given in a vocational school or academic institution, that the intern does not displace regular paid workers and that the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s activities — in other words, it’s largely a benevolent contribution to the intern.

If your unpaid internship involves making copies and addressing envelopes in exchange for nothing but course credit (and perhaps the dangling carrot of a possible future position), there's a good chance it's illegal.

Labor

3 And there was a strict command throughout all the churches that there should be no persecutions among them, that there should be an equality among all men;
4 That they should let no pride nor haughtiness disturb their peace; that every man should esteem his neighbor as himself, laboring with their own hands for their support.

Mosiah 27:3-4