Ralph's Personal Finance Blog

What should I do about high lawn care expenses?

(Ralph) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:25:51 PST

We have our lawn mowed for $32 per week, and a good lawn service for about $500 per year, so obviously that is not good for someone with debt to pay off. The problem is that both service providers do an excellent job. I think at a minimum I will ask the lawn mowing guy to go back...

How do you stay focused on saving money?

(Ralph) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:40:54 PST

As in most things, I tend to run hot and cold - I'll go whole hog on an effort only to burn out and ignore it for months at a time. One thing I MUST do better this year is to keep up with the mail and related financial commitments. But my situation is so depressing that can be difficult.

I...

Cell phone rant!

(Ralph) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 05:01:51 PST

Man, these things are a budget killer! So I wonder what people gave up for this new toy? I know, I'm very late to the party, they have been de rigeur for YEARS now, but it still makes me mad to pay for them for the family. Of course them all getting new phones right at Christmas...

I love this blogging software!

(Ralph) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:48:31 PST

It is just so intuitive and easy to use, which unfortunately is not all that common with software these days. I like how new entries scroll past but you only get one at a time so no single entry-happy person dominates. And then the commenting system with email notifications is so...

So who's your financial guru? Dave Ramsey? Jeff Yeager?

(Ralph) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:31:27 PST

I just finished a little book by Jeff Yeager that I got from the new books section of the library. It was entertaining and very easy to read. I didn't glean a lot of new stuff from it, but I did thoroughly enjoy it. My main thought was "hey, this guy is a cheapskate just like me,...

I'm apparently a "seasonal" financial blogger - how about you?

(Ralph) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:20:16 PST

So I joined last December and flamed out by May! And it looks like I'm not alone! A few of my favorite bloggers here have also fallen off the wagon.

But now I'm back for the usual reason, Christmas is always a financial disaster for me! I managed to hold the line on the old...

Financial Denial and Hopelessness

(Ralph) — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:52:47 PST

I have a feeling that "financial denial" is a major cog in the credit industry's machinery. Back in the day, people didn't have this tool to get them in financial trouble, they just had to suck it up and stop spending, to balance their budget in real time! I know I have always hated...

My current financial state...

(Ralph) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:33:21 PST

Screwed! Well, not totally, yet, but I sure feel like it. I am realizing that I can't use my 401k for the kids' college costs because withdrawals go against my income, so I would qualify for no financial aid at all if I do that. And I can't borrow the whole thing, especially for...

Dined out today with TOO much guilt

(Ralph) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:25:01 PST

It was a convenient time to have the family together, and it was combined with a required trip. The best thing was I felt like I got good value, largely since it was lunch and not dinner, so that goes a long way toward making it OK. But what felt the best is that it sort of fits...

Gas and electric bills better this month

(Ralph) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:48:47 PST

I think I've been able to make a difference by more frequently keeping lights and computers off. And I'm ashamed to say that somehow the setback thermostat had gotten put on HOLD, so once I remedied that and went back to 60 degrees at night, I think that made a pretty significant...

Not exactly a zero spend day

(Ralph) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:08:02 PST

In the interest of logging my expenses, today on a quiet Sunday I spent:
$20 for the daughter to go to a banquet - ok, she very seldom spends money so she is well entitled. BUT, while I was waiting for her, I checked out a used book store and spent $17.08. I think they were good...

Free one month trial of Quickenonline is pretty nice

(Ralph) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:31:09 PST

It does have some limitations, but if you want to do a quick snapshot of your spending, it works very well. My Credit Union keeps three months worth of online data, so it downloaded that pretty easily. So the bottom line over the last three months is it said we are overspending by...

Question on credit score and balance transfers

(Ralph) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:08:21 PST

Here's about the best online info I could find on the individual components of a credit rating:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICO_score

It is an unfortunate fact of life that I have to keep shuffling while I try to pay down balances. But when I shuffle to a new 0% or low rate, how much of the available credit line should I use? I'm thinking maybe 90% to maximize the amount of cheap money, but trying to stay under the triggers for ratio of debt to available credit. But I have no idea what the triggers are, or even if they are on an account by account basis or a cumulative basis.

Boy, if this one from the Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_history#How_credit_ratin... article is true, I am REALLY in big trouble! It brings up a very interesting point though, since I am looking at transferring OUT of a CC with a high APR but a low minimum payment to one with a very low 2% APR and most likely a much higher minimum payment.
# Control of debt - Lenders want to see that borrowers are not living beyond their...

Small victories and big setbacks

(Ralph) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:02:09 PST

We avoided ordering out two nights this weekend, probably saving about $30 - not too bad, definitely a much-needed step in the right direction. Annualized, that comes out to $1560 after tax dollars!! And speaking of tax, it's good to keep in mind that ordering out is penalized by...

Convenience stores, daily bread, and profit margins

(Ralph) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:27:38 PST

Does the price of bread irk anyone else? And if so, what have you done about it? I always try to buy it in the grocery store for around $2 (store brand or sale), but since I seldom do grocery shopping, too often I have to buy it at the convenience store for $3+. We have a bread...

Eating the elephant one bite at a time

(Ralph) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:07:00 PST

It seems like almost every task I get lately is so monumental that is it discouraging. But what I need to do is always the same, slog through it one step at a time. And the obvious key is you can't give up, no matter how tedious or discouraging it gets. OK, this was a pretty simplistic...

So do you feel sorry for BoA, Chase, Citigroup, etc.?

(Ralph) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:42:53 PST

I find it pretty amazing that they can have so much loss from bad debt. CEOs and other executives get paid all these millions and they still make fundamental blunders like that? And for those of us working to pay off debts, how does it make you feel to see so many people just get...

Frugal motoring

(Ralph) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:10:07 PST

About the only thing we can do about high gas prices is to combine trips out the wazoo. I did that tonight - dropped my daughter off at swim practice, bought dog food, got gassed, went to get my hair cut but it closed early tonight, had a $1.27 (with tax) salad at Wendy's, got the...

It's not easy to squeeze a budget,and I guess large minimum payments are good.

(Ralph) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:55:08 PST

After budgeting for the essentials, there just isn't much room for cutting in my budget. It seems like all I've got are the perennial targets, food and household items. Severely reducing eating out costs is the easiest score, but my wife's fast food habit will be tough to break....

Moneydance or Yodlee? (financial software revisited)

(Ralph) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:06:00 PST

I want to get back to logging expenses with software. I am intrigued by the online one provided by Yodlee.com and mint.com, but for some reason it scares me to have to provide bank account login info. But I guess you have to do that to connect with any software, so maybe it comes...