I received a link today to an article I enjoyed covering the idea of timing your regular purchases to coincide with the most likely savings.  From the article:

Thanks to online coupons, price-comparison search engines and reward memberships, savvy shoppers can pay less than full price on any day that ends in “y.” But depending on what you’re planning to buy, some days of the week may yield better bargains than others.

Covering a variety of purchases from airline tickets to entertainment, groceries and even when to gas up your car, these tips rank high on my list of good common sense items to incorporate into your routines.  Give it a look see and perhaps grade how well you are currently doing and where you might pick up a tip or two to improve.

Link: http://www.smartmoney.com/dealoftheday/index.cfm?story=20070702

I have the pleasure of knowing many people who are more than willing to help others at the drop of the hat, and every time I stop and recognize what a selfless act they are doing, it encourages me to the same.  Whether it is a simple gift or taking the time to help out with kids (like inviting my kids over when my wife and I are busy juggling plenty of tasks), my family is blessed by the help of neighbors all the time.  More than once I have called upon a friend with greater talents than I in household tasks such as wood working or planning out a project above and beyond my knowledge.  Though I feel obligated to return the favor or compensate them in some fashion, my request is usually shunned.

So when people call upon me to share my talents, I jump at the opportunity whenever I possibly can.  Often it is photography or computer support that I am called on for, but it need not be limited to those things.  Don’t wait to be asked either; typically people will not think to ask out of fear or reluctance to seek help.

Recently my second son started playing football in a pee wee league, which is both challenging and rewarding for him and us.  It is a huge time commitment to just get him to practices and games, so I can hardly fathom the time investment the coaches of his team are making – for no compensation.  Feeling the need to participate at some level, I broke out my new digital video camera and started shooting footage of games.  I edited and shared a highlight reel of the first game online for all the parents.  My reward was the overwhelming thanks all shared back to me at the enjoyment of having such videos.  Now I am getting the support and help of others in making these videos available and the best they can be.  I find it wonderful that my attempt at offering something good has helped bring us together and to do something special for our kids and for each other.  It all pays back in the end.

I have heard them called the “Golden Hours” and I like the connotation that brings; those hours are the best you will have in the day for getting things done.  There are many reasons the early hours of the day can be so productive.  First, once you have shaken the cobwebs out of your head, and especially when you have become “used” to waking up early again, the first part of the day is your most alert.  Second, there are few distractions during this time; most people are up and going yet so you can get focus on important tasks and get them done.  Another reason is there is likely nothing worth watching on TV or otherwise to waste this time with, so your temptation to sit around and do nothing – like at night – is far less.

The list of good reasons good go on, but the point is that this time can be your’s to grab and make good use of if you so choose.  It really does not matter how you want to use this time, just make good use of it!  Educate yourself on new skills.  Start and stick with a good workout routine; exercise in the morning is the most effective time to do it.  Improve your writing skills on a blog!  Whatever it is you have been wanting to do, use the early hours to do it.

So, how early should you be shooting for?  That of course is entirely up to you, what you want to accomplish, and what your sleep schedule can accommodate.  You may of course need to curb some wasted time at night and get to bed earlier, but that night time is typically just that, wasted.  I shoot for 5 am on most days, which means I try to get to bed around 10 pm to get 7 hours of sleep.  With kids in the house that doesn’t always happen, but that is my goal.  Some of you can’t function on 7 hours of sleep and need an hour or two more, so adjust accordingly.  Even if you are getting up a little later or going to bed a bit earlier, try it out and see what the golden hours can do for you.

This is what inspired me to buy my Miata several years ago.  When we had our third child, along with the fact of needing to lug around a wheelchair, our family sedan just wasn’t going to cut it.  To purchase the Dodge Grand Caravan that would meet our needs, we sold my motorcycle and truck to avoid most of a car loan.  We joke that it was quite a blow to my manliness right there.  As a concession, a year later I purchased a used Miata.

I liked the Miata because it was small, reliable, and most of all, the most inexpensive way to get into a convertible.  I call it my motorcycle on four wheels, which makes my wife much happier about my safety, (putting a stop to the “murdercycle” references.)

There is just something so relaxing about my short drive to and from work about being in the open air, wind blowing and the sun in my face.  Stress ebbs away and my muscles relax.  I highly recommend it.

Worse than the filling up process is being short on gas when you are in a hurry to get somewhere, and having to take the time to fill up.  How many times have you begged that low gas light to not come on as you speed off to a meeting or something similar?  Your precisely timed errands get fouled up when you have to take 10 or 15 minutes to stop off and fill up in the middle of them.  Though this may not seem like a crisis, there are times when it really can throw a wrench in your tight schedule, whether planned or because you are late.

Even worse, running out of gas can really mess up your day.

Make it a habit to keep your tank full.  Fill up when you are at a third or half tank.  Don’t let it slip down to a quarter tank or less before you are pressed to make time and stop off to fill up.  When you procrastinate filling up, it always seems to be at the most inconvenient time you need to do so.  For some reason, this inconvenient time is when there are the longest lines at the pump as well, blame it on Murphy.

By keeping your tank above a half tank, you may be visiting the gas station a little more often, but you enjoy enough benefits to make it worthwhile.  First, you are rarely if ever presented with that stress inducing situation where you simply don’t have time to fill up but have not choice.  Second, in the case of an actual emergency, dealing with a low gas tank is not going to be an issue.  Third, with todays quickly changing gas prices they are usually headed up.  By filling your tank frequently you are typically getting the best priced gas ahead of the trend.  Finally, if you have teenage drivers you can put your mind at ease on at least one thing – they are not going to be stranded by running out of gas.  You may have to lay some rules on their participating on filling that tank, but at least this is one less thing to worry about when they are out on the town.

Keeping your tank full need not be a major task.  Figure out your regular weekly routine, how much gas you use on a regular basis, and schedule in gas stops at your favorite and likely lowest priced station.  Whether this is once a week or more often, scheduling in a time when lines are low and paying at the pump with a credit or debit card can make this a quick stop.

Take a look at what you have on your ring (or rings for that matter) and see if you have keys that just don’t get used on a regular basis.  If you find one or several, move them to another ring you keep in an easily accessible place for use when necessary.  Some people like the rings with multiple attachments so you can put on the keys you will be needing for a given day or time of the week.

Do you have a bunch of trinkets on your ring as well?  They can be fun, but limit the number of them to your favorites so as to minimize the wad of toys getting in the way of your keys.  Having a small flashlight can be handy for those dark times of unlocking your car, but do you really need that pink hand, braid of beads and who knows what else?

Of course, we each have our own preferences, so keep your personality on that ring as you please; just see how you can simplify things and clear out the dead weight.  Once you have your set of keys trimmed down, your pocket and purse space will thank you!

When we are stuck in our own thoughts, our face often becomes devoid of emotion, or at least we think it does.  There are few people that actually look emotionless in this state, and even fewer that look happy.  Let your face completely relax sometime, and then take a look in the mirror.  Usually our “at rest” face looks tired, disappointed or even mad.  It takes effort for most of us to smile, and therefore this is a conscious act we have to make.

Have you ever gone through a day making a conscious effort to continuously smile?  Perhaps you have, and I have done this before as well.  I love the responses I get when someone realizes I am looking at them and offering up a smile; it usually takes them by surprised.  This is especially true when walking in a busy city street or something similar.  Sure, some people may wonder what you are up to, but for the most part they will smile back and perhaps have a little brighter day for having had your interaction.

There are also many philosophies suggesting that if you act happy, you will be happy.  At least making a conscious effort to put on a happy face will steer you in the right direction.  Give it a try.  You and those around you will likely be pleased with the results.

Credit card debt, and debt in general for that matter is at an all time high. As a society we are consuming more than we can sustain with our incomes, and therefore relying on debt to fund our appetites. Perhaps the government is partially at fault, giving us a perfect example of massive deficit spending, but what we are doing cannot be sustained. Eventually you will reach limits beyond what you can sustain, and you will have to pay up in the end.

No matter whether you make a little or a lot, living within your means and trying to live with a frugal attitude is sage advice. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live life and indulge periodically, but be sure that your indulgence doesn’t become your regular way of life. It all comes down to finding a good balance in your life, and your attitude towards saving is at the root of it.

When researching this topic, I came across this humorous story on getting rich:

A young man asked an old rich man how he made his money.

The old guy fingered his worsted wool vest and said,

“Well, son, it was 1932. The depth of the Great Depression. I was down to my last nickel.

I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of the day, I sold the apple for ten cents.

The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing them and sold them at 5:00 pm for 20 cents. I continued this system for a month, by the end of which I’d accumulated a fortune of $1.37.

Then my wife’s father died and left us two million dollars.”

Some people happen upon wealth, and others earn it in various ways. For most of us, saving for the future comes in small things we do every day. There are thousands of financial advice sites on the ‘net, but one I read and recommend is Get Rich Slowly where the advice centers on the little things we can do each day to curb our overspending and save for the future. However you do it, shape your attitudes and habits. In the end, good financial habits can relieve mental (and actual) burdens that debt brings along with it, and help plan for a secure future.

• Three or more computers in the household: 26 percent
• Two in the household: 20 percent
• One in the household: 36 percent
• No personal computer: 18 percent

Source: TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence via kansascity.com

The real stat I was looking for but couldn’t find right off was the average length of time people own a computer prior to replacing it.  Some people want (and can afford) the latest and greatest of electronics and tend to get a new computer every other year or so.  Others hold on to that old machine forever and milk it until it finally dies or just can’t run the software they need.

Whatever category you fall in, or if you are somewhere in between, it’s fairly likely that you would like your computer to run faster than it does.  Hey, who doesn’t want that program to open a little quicker or that music not to skip when you have ten different things going at once.  There are plenty of things you can do to increase the performance of your computer, from cleaning up the programs installed to cleaning the registry or defragmenting the hard drive.  Above all of these, likely just adding some additional RAM (Random Access Memory) to your computer will make the biggest difference.

The cost of the average home PC has dropped over the years to the point that for even a few hundred dollars you can get a decent new computer.  That said, to get in the low price range computer manufacturers have to cut as many corners as possible, one of the first of which is to only install the bare minimum of RAM that your machine can run on.  When you call in to order your computer, that is one of the first things they will try to upsell you on – which of course you skipped in the interest of saving a few bucks.

The reason RAM is so significant to performance is pretty basic.  Whether you are running Windows or Mac, the operating systems loads whatever you are working on into the working memory.  When you hit the limit of your physical RAM installed, the operating system then starts using “virtual memory” which is really just a fancy word for storing additional information in temporary files on your hard drive.  RAM is much faster performance-wise than your hard drive, so when you are working with virtual memory you take a performance hit.  It’s not a bad thing for this to happen, other than your computer slows down significantly when you get to this point.

The average Windows based computer ships with 256 MB of RAM these days, which truly is just enough to run the basics of Windows XP, much less the programs you want to run.  Call it “program bloat” or whatever you want, but this is just the facts.  So, even in the process of just starting up your computer, you are maxing out your installed RAM and having to rely on virtual memory.

I have done this simple upgrade time and again for various friends and clients, and the performance increase is significant.  Windows loads on average in half of the time or better.  Even more than this, programs open faster, you can switch faster between applications, and simple tasks like printing and loading internet pages are significantly faster.  This is all because the programs are able to run completely (or close to) in physical memory.

Depending on your computer set up, you may have limits to how much RAM and in what configuration you can upgrade to.  Do not fear, at worst you can take your computer into a local computer shop and have them do it for you.  You may pay $50-75 to have them do the job for you, but if you are less than technically inclined, this may be worth it.  If you feel even a little bit brave though, it is not difficult at all.  Once you open the computer, it is simply a matter of making you are static free before touching the RAM (hold one hand against the computer frame) and then clicking the RAM in place.  To purchase the correct RAM for your machine, simply take the model number and brand of your machine to your local CompUSA or similar and they can look up what you should purchase.

You can see a performance boost with 512MB or better, but I recommend if you are making an upgrade, go to at least 1 GB.  This may require that you remove the current RAM and install 2 individual “sticks” of memory to get to your desired size.   Again, don’t fear the tech side of this too much, just lean on the tech in the store to get you the right purchase.  Also, RAM often goes on sale, so watch for the best price on what you need to buy before making the purchase.

If you use a computer often, this simple upgrade will increase your productivity and quite frankly your quality of life.  No more will you have to get frustrated and curse the screen as you wait on the next task to get completed.

I have found that my most productive times in my life are when I have a clear plan of what I am going to accomplish, and I stick to the plan.  I served as a religious missionary for a couple of years, and part of our daily life was to plan three weeks ahead what we would be doing.  Of course our plan would continually change, but we had goals and itemized tasks we were going to accomplish during that time frame.  Each weekend we would look ahead to the coming week and make adjustments to the plan.  Then, each night the following day was planned out to enough detail that we knew what we would be doing every half hour of the day.

Of course, life as a missionary had some pretty defined goals and limited scope of tasks, but the life lessons learned there have stuck with me.  I am not perfect at it now, in fact I often find myself just coasting through a day and kicking myself at the end of it for not having made the most of my time.  At times like this, I look back at my better attempts at planning out my day and come back to those basics.

You can choose how detailed you want to be, whether you want to simply go off of a task list for the day or go so far as to plan things out by time.  I definitely suggest the more detailed route as you will likely get more done than you would off of a more loose approach.  If you use a day book, that is a great place to make your notes; if not make a simple list of hours in the day that you can note next to it what you will be doing during that time.  Each night before you get into your “going to bed” routine, sit down for five minutes and plan out your next day.

You will likely have some set appointments or things that have to take place at specific times; write those in first.  Then look at the available times in between and write down specific tasks you can do during those slots.  Once your day is as full as you would like it to be, you are done.  The next day, simply follow the plan.

Try this out for a week and see how you do.  You will likely be amazed at how much more you get accomplished and energized you feel for having done so much.