Suburban Dollar » The Rest

Carnival of Money Stories – Signs of Summer Edition

Kyle — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:30:53 +0000

Summer is one of my favorite and one of my least favorite times of the year. It is great to be able to get out, get some sun and enjoy the great weather. It can also be unbearable to be outdoors without some way to cool off. This weeks theme will highlight some of the things that say summer to me. The first, and biggest has to be the beach. Nothing says summer like sand, surf, and mai tai’s.

As always I take this carnival very literally so I have only included those submissions that were actual stories related to money.

Editors Picks

Nicole over at Rainy-Day Saver talks about having to adjust to a new mortgage payment. A lot of people forget that property taxes and insurance aren’t fixed cost items and can fluctuate from year to year. When there is a change your mortgage company is going to adjust the amount you pay to compensate. This was a good look at how it can affect you.

Ace from Ace of Wealth is pondering whether or not he really needs two cars. Personally we couldn’t live without both cars in my home. There is no certainty as to when my wife will get off work and we both have to be able to pick up the kids at any time. If it wasn’t for that we would probably be able to swing it.

Johnathan with Christian PF talks about how he handles occasional expenses. A key point he makes is how our personalities play into how we handle our finances. As an introvert I tend to try hard to hold on to everything I get and I know some outgoing people who love to buy.

I have relatives from Southern California who are always amazed by our summer thundertorms here in the South East. They blow in, make a lot of noise and then blow out. I love sitting on the front porch and watching the storms blow through.

The Rest

Katie from the Tripbase Travel Blog talks about traveling full time without spending a fortune with Nora Dunn.

Kristina from Dinks Finance discusses Marrying Money and whether or not marrying for money is a good financial strategy or poor financial planning.

Miranda Marquit wants to know what you are willing to go into debt for over at MoneyNing.

J. Money from Budgets are Sexy ran a guest post by Ms. Tiffani that discusses how she and her friends started the G.O.O.D. $ Gals group to help them own their dreams.

Austin over at ptMoney talks about using your daily salary to put expenses into the proper perspective.

Balance Junkie has provided their Q2 update for their 2010 Financial Plan.

Free From Broke asks whether you should automate or unautomate your finances. Personally I think it should be a balance of the two that works for you.

Bucksome with Bucksome Boomer talks about their experience with Adility.

Watermelon, or any melon for that matter, seems to be a common item in the heat of the summer. I love kicking back and eating a watermelon/spitting the seeds.

Squirrelers postulates on whether or not you can ever get a truly free lunch.

Ryan from the Military Wallet talks about his experiences shopping for mortgages and what the different types of mortgages are.

Free Money Finance highlighted a reader comment this week that boils down to one fact: No One Cares About Your Career Like You Do.

Adam with Money Relationship provided his update for July and discussed what has been going on in his life financially.

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff discussed a cruise they went on last year. I love cruises as a vacation, even if they aren’t the cheapest thing on the block.

Donna Freedman over at Surviving and Thriving discusses how you can exploit a potluck as a frugal meal (or two).

Finally, boating is my favorite thing to do in the summer. I don’t know how to sail but I love running around the lake in my bowrider, towing the kids, and going for a swim. I feel more alive on the water than any other time.

What is your favorite way to pass the time in the summer?

Carnival of Personal Finance #263 – Upstate Edition

Kyle — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:30:06 +0000

I just got back from a week long trip to visit family in upstate New York. Ever since I left the great state of New York people always ask where I am from. My answer is simply, New York. I can’t even count how many times I have been asked what it was like to live in a city that big. The fact is I have never even been to New York city. I grew up in upstate New York where Canada is closer than the city and the shores of Lake Ontario were where we spent our summer days (if we were lucky). This week my theme is a tribute to the often overlooked piece of New York.

The image above outlines the “pieces” of New York, I spent the last week in the green piece over there by Lake Ontario, I grew up a bit further south where the men are orange and basketball and lacrosse are king. It is a beautiful part of the state and surprisingly similar to where I live now, minus all of the snow.

Editor’s Picks

Jim from Wanderlust Journey presents Checked Baggage Fees List, this hit home for me this past week. Travelling with two kids we had our luggage plus child seats. Don’t forget that you can check child car seats for FREE! We always use a travel bag with our car seat and then through a bunch of necessities in with it, like diapers and wipes. They would otherwise take up a good bit of room in regular luggage.

Chris from Stumble Forward presents Buying A Timeshare Vs All Inclusive Resorts: Which Is Better, This was a pretty interesting comparison. My wife, kids, and I are all going to an all inclusive resort later in the year and look forward to the “included benefits.” One thing to keep in mind is the amount of alcohol you would normally consume on a vacation. If you drink a lot you can really maximize the value of all inclusive. (please don’t get drunk though just to make it more worth while…. even if I might )

Jaime from Eventual Millionaire presents What I Learned from the Prosperity Game. I don’t know what it was about this that really caught my eye. I think it was the idea of going through and trying to determine how you would spend exorbitant amounts of money. What would you do if you had to spent $1,000,000 in one day? I can’t even begin to fathom how I would unload that much cash in a day, but would you really be getting something you wanted?

J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents To DINK or Not to DINK, and by DINK he is talking about dual income no kids. Having just traveled with two kids for a week, on my own I really realize what it takes to raise and care for a family. I wouldn’t trade it for the world and I really don’t think you should make your determination on whether or not to have kids based solely on finances or fear of not having enough money. If you don’t want kids that is cool with me, but if you do want kids don’t fool yourself into thinking it is in your best interest not too because of money.

Paul Williams from Provident Planning presents Raising a Cow for Beef: Month 10. This was pretty wild. For all of you animal lovers don’t look into this cows cute little eyes, he is destined to be steak. I have never heard of someone raising a single cow for slaughter. As you can see from this breakdown there is a lot inefficiencies in managing a single animal that are overcome when dealing with a herd but all the same this is a neat experiment. I don’t think the wife would let me keep a cow in the back yard though.

Career

Jeremy from Generation X Finance presents Caretaking As a Career Option – What’s In It For You?.

Kristia from Family Balance Sheet presents Are You Wasting Time and Preventing Yourself From Your Million Dollar Dream?, and says, “A lesson learned from successful million-dollar small business owners.”

The Financial Blogger from The Financial Blogger presents Sometimes, Not Asking for a Raise is the Best Strategy to Get One, and says, “Say what? This eager young Gen Y TFB won’t ask for anything? Does this even make sense? I actually think that this is the best strategy to get a raise this year . I fought so much last year that I thought of giving my boss a break. You know why? Here’s why:”

Money Management

Daniel from Sweating The Big Stuff presents I Went To Bank Heaven Today, and says, “A daydream about getting back at the banks!

Grad Money Matters presents Ah, the Financial Implications of a Dreamer Marrying an Uber-Realist….

Squirrelers from Squirrelers.com presents Saving is Great, but Don’t Forget to Make Money Too!, and says, “Many of us focus on ways to save, but let’s not forget that we need to make the money that we want to save!”

2 Cents from Balance Junkie presents Have We Become a Society of Financial Adolescents?, and says, “Here’s a comparison of the psychological characteristics of teens and the financial habits of our modern culture. See any similarities?”

Bob from Christian Finances presents 12 factors that affect your homeowner insurance rates, and says, “An important part of any good financial plan is to have a goal for moving forward, and also to have a good defensive financial plan. Of course, insurance is a key component in financial defense…”

Austin Morgan from Foreigner’s Finances presents Why You Need an Emergency Fund, and says, “It’s the surgeries, broken water heaters, and lost jobs that require our finances to go in to a spiral. This post examines how an emergency fund can prop up your finances in the face of life’s unexpected twists. ”

Finance

Pop from Pop Economics presents Why you procrastinate, and says, “This story is about procrastination. Why do we do it even thought we know it’s bad for us and can make things worse? What kinds of people procrastinate more than others?”

Ray @ Financial Highway from Financial Highway presents Beware the Debit Card, and says, “While credit cards are much maligned in the personal finance community, use of debit cards come with their own set of problems that can catch you unawares if you do not know how these things really work?”

The Erie Canal runs (ran) 363 miles from Albany, NY to Buffalo, NY. A segment of the canal ran through where I grew up as a kid. The photo here is actually from just outside the town I grew up in. I have actually been on this very spot. It was pretty cool to find the picture while working on this theme.

Reviews

The Mighty Bargain Hunter presents Review of Gregory Karp’s The 1-2-3 Money Plan, and says, “Just what the title says! No surprises here … ”

Investing

The Modern Gal presents Have You Become More Financially Risk Averse.

Darren from MORE than Finances presents Coverdell Education Savings Accounts – What Are They And How Do They Work?, and says, “Most parents hope to send their kids to college one day. But with rising costs, they look for different ways of saving to afford it. One method is through the Coverdell Education Savings Account. What is it? How does it work? What are some of its benefits and drawbacks?”

Kristina from DINKS Finance presents What Type of Investor are You?, and says, “If you don’t know what type of investor you are, ask yourself – “Am I willing to take risk?”

RJ Weiss from Gen Y Wealth presents The One Document That Every Successful Investor Has, and says, “Although your situation might be fairly simple right now, as you age, life begins to get a little more complex. Your investment policy statement will act as your compass to your financial plan.

Eric from Narrow Bridge presents How IPOs Work: A Tesa Motors Case Study, and says, “A look at how IPOs work for both the company and investors and how you can buy into next week’s Tesla Motors IPO.”

Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents Can You Roll Over Your Old 401k Into Your New 401k, and says, “Changing jobs? Have questions on what you can or can’t do with your “old” 401k? Should you roll it over into an IRA, cash it out, or roll it into an existing plan. Here are a few tips.”

Mike Piper from Obvlivious Investor presents Are ETFs Bad for Investors?, and says, “Much ado has been made about the ways in which ETFs are being misused. But is the rise in ETF popularity really such a bad thing?”

Dividends Value presents Why We Are Dividend Growth Investors, and says, “We have all heard it… Stodgy, for old people, yawn, boring! These have all been used to describe dividend growth investing. As a dividend growth investor, I sometimes think our strategy is the most misunderstood. Periodically, it is good to remind ourselves why we are dividend growth investors.”

Panda Mike from Green Panda Treehouse presents Why Asset Allocation Is So Important, and says, “Can’t you just pick a few stock market indexes, build your portfolio and open your account statement in 30 years just before your retirement? If it was so simple, I would not have a job anymore Find out why asset allocation is so important”

Dividend Growth Investor presents Five Dividend Stocks which beat Index Funds , and says, “There are several issues with indexing; some of it stemming from the fact that decisions affecting inclusion of firms are not made in accordance with a consistent strategy in mind. Back at the top of the internet bubble, many tech companies were added at inflated prices, only to be removed when prices were at their lows. This excessive turnover lowers portfolio returns. In fact, if the S&P 500 never added or removed any of its original components, it would have outperformed the results of the S&P 500 over the past 50 years.”

Lake placid which was home to the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics is well known for its skiing. It is one of only three places to have hosted the Olympics twice. In addition to skiing Lake Placid is often used as a starting point for climbing the 46 high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains.

Budgeting

Jason from One Money Design presents Benefits of Personal Budget Tracking Software, and says, “Budget tracking software helps save time, improve accuracy and can help you learn more about your spending habits(good or bad).”

Funny about Money presents How Do You Organize Your Budgeting, and says, “Funny wonders if she’s getting altogether too OCD about tracking budget items.”

Real Estate

MD from Studenomics presents How Young People Can Get a Home Mortgage.

Money Beagle from Money Beagle presents Homeowners, Are You Treading Water?.

Credit

Michael from The DoughRoller presents How 5 Financial Blunders Will Affect Your Credit Score, and says, “Depending on your current credit score, these five mistakes could cost you thousands of dollars over the long-run”

Sean from Grow Money presents How to Deal With Credit Card Debt.

PT from PT Money presents The Best Cash Back Credit Cards, and says, “A thorough review of some of the better cash back cards available today.”

Saving

Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Financial Challenges for the Class of 2010.

Ace from Ace of Wealth presents The Secrets of Fighting Impulse Purchases, and says, “With as much as 70% of all in store purchases being impulse purchases, it can put a huge dent in anyones budget. Being aware of why you do it is just as important as how to prevent it. Make yourself better prepared for impulse purchases. Learn how it happens and use these tips to prevent it. Your wallet will thank you.”

Jill from My Dollar Plan presents Flexible Spending Account Changes on the Way, and says, “This is a great debriefing of the changes coming to FSA’s as part of the new health care bill.”

The Adirondack mountains are located in North East New York and are contained within the 6.1 million acres of the Adirondack Park. The park contains both the 46 high peaks and the actual Lake Placid. The 46 high peaks are the 46 peaks climbed by Robert and George Marshall from 1918 to 1924.

Frugality

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog from Canadian Finance Blog presents How Small Savings Can Make A Big Difference, and says, “Reducing bills can make a big difference. A couple small savings can have the same effect as a big raise at work!”

Kevin from Financially Poor presents Ask and you shall receive.

Debt

The Smarter Wallet from The Smarter Wallet presents Are There Benefits To Payday Advance Loans?, and says, “Payday loans are dangerous, but could there actually be benefits to using them? Here’s a contrarian view of payday loans, a high risk form of debt that a lot of people misuse. Perhaps there is a “right way” to using them…”

Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Fix Your Bad Credit Yourself or Use a Credit Repair Service?, and says, “Should
you repair your own credit or hire someone to help? Here’s a discussion.”

FMF from Free Money Finance presents The Cruel World of Payday Loans, and says, “The worst of the worst when it comes to accumulating debt — payday loans!”

Other

Jason from Live Real, Now presents I Smell a Scam.

Neal Frankle from Wealth Pilgrim presents Should You Use A Professional Trustee For Your Trust?, and says, “Naming a professional trustee for your living trust is a dangerous proposition. Let me share an example.”

Craig Ford from Money Help For Christians presents What To Do When You Have A Late Estimated Tax Payment, and says, “A how to guide for those who forgot to make their estimated tax payments.”

June ‘10 Update (Bloody Friday)

Kyle — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:57:09 +0000

I have dubbed this the Bloody Friday update. I have been putting off doing the update because I knew what it was going to look like. I know I have supported all of the decisions I have made over the last month. And while I don’t necessarily regret them you certainly get a good perspective on things when you write it all down. My net worth took a $30k hit last month. All of that hit was buying my wife’s new car. We paid a good chunk of change down on it so we could avoid being upside down. I could always “fudge” the number and put the value of the car in, it is $12k over what we owe but I do not consider a car an asset so that ain’t happening.

As you may have noticed I have been in and out of writing lately. I am working on time management but I have been working on building up my business and it is taking more and more of my time lately. I am really enjoying the work I am doing, if you are interested in keeping up you can check out my recent projects, I also do WordPress consulting and programming if you ever need help with your blog.

Assets
Cash Savings	$13,932.00	-$5,636.00
IRA	$10,180.00	-$495.00
Roth IRA	$4,081.00	+$112.00
401k	$53,606.00	-$1,382.00
Other Investments	$760.00	+$68.00
	$82,559.00
Liabilities
Credit Cards	$2,643.00	+$921.00
Car Loan	$22,108.00	+$22,108.00
	$24,751.00
Net Worth	$57,808.00	-$30,362.00

Suburban Garden Experiment – June 2010 Update

Kyle — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:14:11 +0000

Another month has passed in the life of my garden and I am starting to be all but a little disappointed this year. There are certainly some high points so far. Mainly my green beans and peppers which are doing great so far. I have managed to collect around 4 heads of broccoli and quite few green beans. The radishes i planted came and went pretty quick but they were tasty. I have been having problems with my Zucchini this year. It appears my poor soil this year is causing a phenomenon known as blossom end rot. I have unfortunately not had the time to try to rectify this issue so unless just plain old miracle grow will fix it I am probably going to have to chock the zuchini up as a loss this year.

In addition to my failing zucchini harvest I have completely lost my slicing tomato. I don’t know what happened but the thing shriveled up and died pretty damn quick. I will tell myself i bought a bad plant from the store but more likely there was a disease or fungus that was in the soil from the year before that took hold and reeked havoc. I may need to build out a third vegetable bed next year for tomatoes so I can better rotate my crops. My Cherry tomato is like 5 feet tall but starting to show signs of disease. I hope to get a few good handfuls off of it before it also goes the way of the dodo.

In addition to the diseases i have been fighting back a number of pests this year. Most notably has been the infamous cabbage worm. These little green buggers take up shop on your broccoli and eat the crap out of it. The worst part is they get in on the crowns and when you cut a crown off to eat you are surprised by several dozen icky green caterpillars. I treated with Sevin and it seems to have helped but I am not a big fan of dousing everything with poison. On top of the cabbage worms the local bird population has made a mental note of the location of my blueberry bush. Fortunately my harvest has been saved by a Halloween decoration (see the photo below).

I still have some hope for my peaches this year, it is remote but far better than years past. My blackberry crop is looking better everyday. With both wild and cultivated varieties well on their way to becoming edible. My cantaloupe still alive, albeit tiny. Hopefully as the summer months drone on it will continue to grow, and if I am lucky, make me a melon or two.

Friday Finance Followers – Shameless Promotion Edition

Kyle — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:21:24 +0000

As many of you know from some my previous posts, I have started a side job doing web design/programming. A big part of what I am trying to get into includes WordPress support. I have been at this for a while and I have learned a lot about WordPress and theme customization. Specifically I have done a lot of work now with both the Thesis theme and Atahualpa. This work is evident in sites like this one based on Thesis, and mobiled-tailz.com which is based on Atahualpa. Whether you are just getting started with a self hosted WordPress install, moving hosting providers, or moving from Blogger or WordPress.com I can help you get through it. Working with websites and WordPress has become more than a hobby to me, honestly I would much rather be doing that then writing articles. If you need help with you blog or website drop me a line at kyle [AT] suburbandollar.com or stop by my business site SuburbanMedia.net

Now on to this weeks articles.

@MoneyCrashers wants to make sure you don’t let social media ruin your career. I agree with the author completely. People do not think enough about the implications what they post on Facebook. With their privacy policy constantly changing and according to some longer than the bible you never know where your information is going to end up.

@RJWeiss talks about 5 weird habits that can make you rich. The one of these habits that stuck out the most to me was the one about setting big hairy goals. Obviously I have a hard time setting goals that are hard. Just look at my goal meters over there in the sidebar, I hit those pretty early on this year. I need to sit down and come up with some big hairy goals that will really challenge my ability to save.

@InvestorJunkie says to leave investing to the professionals. No problems with that statement here. There are too many variables I don’t understand in true investing. I currently hold an investment account where I have been buying into an No Transaction Fee index fund of the S&P 500. The costs are low because it is an index fund and I pretty much just ride whatever is going on in the markets.

@RevanchGS thinks late nights increase eating out. I would add to that that busy days equally increase eating out. It is just more convenient to eat out when you are up/out late or super busy. This can put a strain on not only your budget but your waist line so be careful.

Sell Your Car Yourself, Screw the Dealership – Part 2

Kyle — Thu, 13 May 2010 12:11:19 +0000

Yesterday I talked about the old ways of selling your car on your own. While occasionally effective they don’t provide the best bang for your buck. With the advent of the internet there are many ways you can tap this ever growing population to not only list your car for sale but make sure it is directed towards the people most likely to want to buy it. While listing your car in the local paper classifieds is appealing your target audience, internet classifieds increase that audience 10 fold. Today we are going to take a look at how I actually went about selling my car.

The New Way

Did you know millions of people are on the internet all the time? THEY ARE. So why not sell your car on the internet. The best place to do that is on Craigslist, mainly because it is free and widely used. Craigslist isn’t just a place to find crackpots and scam artists, you can actually sell stuff on it. Really you can sell anything you want, of course I don’t have any experience with that, just selling a car so that is what I am going to focus on here. The key to selling your car quickly is to be as descriptive as possible so the potential buyer doesn’t have to do a lot of guessing. Below is my actual listing, minus some personal details (click to enlarge).

Probably the most important thing is to be honest, if you know something is wrong with the car state it up front. Don’t paint a picture of a perfectly sound car then spring the issues on them during the test drive. You will just piss them off. My car sold within three days of placing my ad here are my suggestions on what to make sure you include to get your car sold fast.

A Good title, include vehicle make, year, model, mileage, and one or two key features
Be upfront about issues
List out all of the features your car has
Pictures, lots of pictures
Be descriptive in your wording, lets face it talk sells
Include your phone number, just because they are on the internet doesn’t mean they don’t want to deal with a real person
Pictures, really pictures

I said pictures twice for a reason, people want to see what they are getting before they actually make a decision. Craigslist allows you to upload picture but they make them tiny and limit how many you can have. If you are a little web savvy you can actually host your own photos and just include them in the ad as tags. I did it that way so the pictures were much bigger than the Craigslist Standard.

Once you have your ad make sure you are responsive to people who call about the car, I put one call off for 30 minutes and the lady had already bought another call. The guy who bought my car didn’t leave a message, I called the number back to see what he needed.

Make sure you wash your car, inside and out, before you bring it for a test drive. People don’t want to see your 3 month old McDonald’s wrapper in the car, they want to see you took care of your ride. It is best to clean your car the day before you list it otherwise you will be rushed to get it done in a hurry, like I was. It is really best to make sure you take pictures of your car while it is clean. As you can see from the photo in that ad I had a lot of brake dust on the wheels.

Be prepared to negotiate, have a price in mind you are willing to accept and stick to it. If you are asking $7 but know you will take $6 don’t balk at it when someone offers you $6, negotiate but don’t throw in the towel. I sold my car in 3 days for $2k more than I would have got a dealership. I only had to take it for two test drives. That is the last thing I will leave you with. If someone wants you to bring the car to them do it but do it someplace neutral. I met at a park and at a college campus, both heavily populated. Don’t risk your life but be accommodating, you are the one trying to make the sale.

Have you ever sold a car on Craigslist? How did it go?

photo: (hugo90)

Sell Your Car Yourself, Screw the Dealership – Part 1

Kyle — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:27:35 +0000

Let’s face it, you aren’t going to get squat for your car at the dealership so the only way you can maximize your profit is to sell it yourself. When I was getting ready to buy my wife’s new car we talked to the dealership and they were thinking $3,500 or less, we talked to CarMax and they were willing to put up $4k. Kelley Blue Book value for the car, private party, was $7k in excellent shape. That is a pretty damn big disparity between what the dealerships would give me and what I should be able to get. I decided to say screw the dealerships and sell my car myself.

Don’t make any mistakes, it isn’t a cake walk to sell it on your own, but then again when was last time three grand fell in your lap while you were lazing around doing nothing. While it does take some work it is actually pretty easy to unload that old car in a pretty short amount of time. If you are asking yourself how you to can master the art of being a car salesman, you are in luck but first lets look at how you shouldn’t do it and tomorrow we will look at how you should go about selling your car.

The Old Way

Way back in the day, ok maybe not all that long ago, people who wanted to sell a car on their own had to rely on some pretty in effective methods for selling their cars. One method involves creating a sign you put in the window, or write on the window, advertising your vehicle is for sale. This sounds like a good idea but you are really just hoping that someone in a car passing you on the Interstate is in the market for a car. The likelihood is pretty low that you are going to find that killer buyer randomly driving down the road you are driving on. In method that is the same but different people put signs in the car window then park it near a busy street. This way you are increasing views as well as ensuring someone could stop and actually write down the number to call. The problem here is you are still relying on your buyer just happening on your car, odds are they aren’t out cruising up and down the road looking for a car to buy.

These first two methods are like walking into a crowded room of random people and asking each one of them if they want to buy a car. Odds are you going to go through a whole lot of people before you find one who says they are interested in a car. Even when you find that one person they may want a minivan when you are selling an SUV. You get a lot of looks but interested parties are hard to come by.

The most effective of the “old ways” was to list your car for sale in the classifieds section of your local newspaper. This method works because you are putting your vehicle in a listing where people who want a car will be looking. The problem is words can only be so descriptive. If you say great condition I don’t know it is without coming to see it. If you say it is a red convertible, is it candy apple red, blood red, brick red, or pinkish red? I can’t tell from the words in the ad. In addition to the lack of visual sales appeal a lot of papers charge for your ad to run, that cuts into your profits.

I am not trying to say you shouldn’t do these things. I immediately put a sign in my cars window when I was selling my car. It didn’t hurt anything and you never know when you might drive by that car thirsty teenager with a wad of cash. If you don’t need to drive your car around by all means park it in an place where you can advertise it’s availability. Just don’t rely on it as your sole method of selling the car, there are such better ways, but more on that tomorrow.

Have you ever successfully sold a vehicle using one of these traditional tactics? Tell us about it in the comments.

Wealthy Blogger List – May 2010

Kyle — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:57:36 +0000

Welcome to the May 2010 update of the wealthy blogger list. Things seem to be plugging right along in the Net Worth arena across the blogosphere. I am sure this past week in the markets has caused some heartburn in the portfolios of many people, but most of these updates are from before that happened so green is a popular color this month. I am a little bit scared to see what happens next month but I am confident the markets will come back to sanity and things will continue on their way. Next month is going to be a blood bath for me, so make sure to stay tuned to see what happens.

Site	Net Worth	Variance
Poorer Than You	-34,089.00	+$1,311.00
Deliver Away Debt	-31,652.06*	+$6,310.69
Money Funk	-18,202.00*	+$1,602.00
My Pretty Pennies	10,695.00	+$1,455.00
Spilling Buckets	22,358.77*	+$4,971.55
Couple Finance	25,804.34*	+$1,543.34
One Guys Money	37,970.00*	NRY
Punch Debt in the Face	41,789.00	+$3,895.00
My Money Shrugged	52,739.90	+$1,220.51
Mapgirl	59,756.00*	-$1,553.00
Suburban Dollar	88,170.00	+$2,021.00
One Mans Money	90,915.70*	+$2,859.25
A Gai Shan Life	100,340.60	$8,041.09
Me In Millions	106,311.14	$2,442.26
Financial Samurai	115,800.00	NRY
No More Spending	121,746.00	+$1,366.00
The Financial Blogger	128,740.00*	$15,296.00
Budgets are Sexy	166,261.93*	+$14,906.23
Pantsinacan	240,627.00*	+$297.00
Money Really Matters	266,132.18*	-$154.01
Consumerism Commentary	356,832.00*	+$8,340.00
Million Dollar Journey	438,670.00*	+$5,790.00
Free by 50	657,859.00*	+$18,741.00
2Million Blog	671,603.92*	+$18,016.37
Enough Wealth	809,400.00*	-$20,200.00***
Sun Financial Diary	978,231.73	NRY

Friday Finance Followers – I Lost the Battle Edition

Kyle — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:11:35 +0000

Some times it is important in life to concede to your spouse. In this particular case I have given in to the wishes of owning a new (new to her) vehicle. Based on our current income, debt load, and expenses there really isn’t any reason for me to deny her a car. Well except for my insane aversion to debt. So today I am meeting with a gentleman to hopefully sell my existing car, thanks CraigsList, and then hop over to the dealer to pick up my wifes new ride. She is probably getting one of the most expensive mothers day gifts ever. In all it is a great car that will chug gas like a German at Oktoberfest chugs beer. But it is what she wants and it will be a great car for toting kids around town and taking long trips. Feel free to rip me a new one for taking out a loan but enjoy some of these articles first.

@MrsMicah asks how many times do you have to fail before you succeed. This is an article after my own heart. I am currently struggling to get my web design/programming business, Suburban Media, off the ground. I have only been able to land one client so far and it is frustrating. I am starting to explore some additional avenues of marketing and hope they work out for me.

@ExtremeJacob wants to know if you are suffering from careerism. It is a new word to me, but I am happy to report that I am definitely not suffering from careerism. To sum it up succinctly he say “the goal for a careerist is to rise as high as possible in terms of professional rank and achievement.” My goals right now don’t align with that statement.\

@Studenomics has a great roundup of personal finance advice for college graduates. I don’t usually link to roundups but there is some genuinely useful information in here. If you are getting ready to dawn the cap and gown check out these tips to help you get started on the right financial foot.

@MJTM wants to know if home remodeling is really an investment. Personally I don’t consider it an investment in the traditional sense of the word. It may not return the same amount you put in it but improvements on your home can make you stand out in a neighborhood of monotony. If you have six houses for sale in a neighborhood but yours has improvements they may be more likely to put an offer on yours first.

@MattJabs wants you to start living on one income. I think this is a pretty great idea, we don’t do this right now but when my wife was getting ready to go on maternity leave we were pretty much living on one income to prepare for the hit.

Carnival of Personal Finance – @ Well-Heeled Blog

Carinval of Money Stories – @ Carnival of Money Stories Site

Festival of Frugality – @ Live Real Now

Money Hacks Carnival – @ Nerd Wallet

Maybe I Should Listen to Myself

Kyle — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:00:11 +0000

My grand plan for today was to discuss the new account I opened up with Scottrade after reaching my $500 savings goal. Plans are great but life has a tendancy to get in the way. Instead of writing a full length, thought provoking, mind gripping article I will be recreating the last four months of financial transactions in my Quickbooks Pro software.

You see my file was corrupted and it causes Quickbooks to crash instead of open. Now I can’t send invoices or bill clients, generate tax reports, or otherwise manage my finances. This shouldn’t be a problem, if I had been keeping regular backups I would be gravy. But I wasn’t, I was stupid. Don’t be stupid, back your stuff up. Almost one year ago I said “Be Prepared, Backup your Data.” I guess I should have listened.

P.S. I am now storing my files on my DropBox account and creating backups to an external drive.