Poorer Than You » Save Some

Holiday Gift Giving on a Student Budget

Guest Author — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:31:00 +0000

Kathryn Katz is a working mom, internet marketer and professional copywriter. Kathryn is a Certified Personal Finance Counselor and works for Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. The non-profit credit counseling agency offers a Holiday Survival Guide to help shoppers navigate through holiday shopping.

The holidays are right around the corner. You’ll be leaving the dorm to visit the family, and as part of the holiday festivities, there will be the traditional gift giving. When you’re struggling to pay tuition and working a part-time job, your budget just doesn’t have a lot of room for holiday gifts. Guess what? You’re not the only one in a financial bind this year. According to the National Retail Federation, 84.2% of Americans are going to be adjusting their holiday spending because of the economy. Many Americans will be making changes to their gift-giving, such as planning to buy more practical gifts (36.0%), buying a joint gift for kids or parents (17.3%), and making more gifts (16.7%).

Practical Gifts

A practical gift doesn’t have to be a lame gift. Before you head to the store to buy a pair of socks or a glitter-soaked sweater, pick up the phone and call your family to find out what they need. Sure, it takes a little bit of the mystery out of the gift giving process, but in the end you’ll be giving them something that they’ll use. Your family will understand that you’re working on a tight budget so they should give you gift ideas that are well within your budget.

Joint Gifts

Why buy a few little gifts when you can get one big gift that the whole family will appreciate. By consolidating your resources, you’re allowing yourself to get a really nice gift. If you don’t have enough money to get what you want, consider calling another family member and asking them to go in halves with you. The more people you get involved with the joint gift, the larger your budget will be. You can get the gift you want rather than a token, cheap holiday gift.

Homemade Gifts

A gift that you’ve taken the time to make yourself will be appreciated by your loved ones. Take a moment, and think about what talents you have. Then craft a gift that will go along with it. Here are some creative homemade gifts:

Make sure to account for the cost, time and supplies needed for your do it yourself projects. Some projects will have a base cost and then as you add more glitter or pizzazz, the costs will go up. For example, a custom photo album from Picaboo that could be used to create your Family Traditions Book starts at $9.99, but the price goes up depending on the style, size of the album and number of pages. Also, make sure you have enough time in your busy schedule to craft these holiday gifts. Starting a needle-point project the day before the holiday celebration probably isn’t a realistic project. In that case, you might want to find a favorite holiday poem, print it on some decorative paper and put it in a simple frame.

If you’re totally broke and unable to spend anything this year, then give the gift of your time. NoChristmasGiftsThisYear.com will send a note to your friends and family with the offer to share time, not money this holiday season.

Nope, We Don’t Have Cable

Stephanie — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

We didn’t “cut the cable cord,” we never had it installed in our apartment. And yet, the boyfriend and I are total “Heroes” and “LOST” addicts – how do we live?

I’ve written about how to live without television before, but I wasn’t really doing it back then, because I was living with my parents, who had the full cable+Showtime+HBO package. I have to admit, I did enjoy the access to awesome Showtime shows like “Dexter” and “The Tudors.” And getting “LOST” and “Heroes” in HD was rather nice, as well.

But my crazy college schedule included a lot of night classes, and we didn’t own a Tivo or a DVR. So I still ended up watching most of my shows online. Hooking a laptop into a television became no big deal for me, and I would stream episodes directly from the ABC or NBC websites.

It only felt natural to get cable set up as a part of moving into our first apartment. I mean, the cable guy had to come by anyway to set up our cable-based internet connection, so why not order a basic package?

We didn’t, because we don’t need it, and we don’t really use it. Obviously, if you really get use out of a cable package, then it’s probably worth the money for you. But that’s just not true for us – we prefer to support online streaming sites like Hulu because of their flexibility and the way they advance online video. I’m all for paying for things you enjoy and use… but for me, that just doesn’t include cable.

So nearly four months in this apartment now, and still no cable. We don’t even have rabbit ears or a real TV yet. We’ll get there (mostly because I really, really want to get a Nintendo Wii!), but we’re managing just fine without those things. And that, guys, is how you live without television.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about Hulu’s plan to switch to a paid model, and whether I (as a non cable subscriber) would pay for Hulu. The answer is yes, definitely. How much I would pay is what’s really in question, and would have to depend on how the system works and how much advertising there is and a host of other factors. But I would pay because services like Hulu are my preferred content-delivery systems, and I believe in paying for value. And not just in a fluffy “I say that I pay for value but I don’t really mean that” way. I’m the type of person who really likes to vote with her wallet.

So what about you – do you watch television? If so, are you getting it in the way that best fits your lifestyle, or are you paying for a television delivery system that’s not quite working for you? And if the latter is the case, what’s stopping you from switching?

8 Ways to Save Big in the Home Office

Guest Author — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

This week’s guest post comes from a talented guy named Tom. Like most people Tom spends five days per week working in an office, for an environmentally conscious supplier of cheap printer cartridges specializing in HP toners and ink where saving money and recycling is a mantra. You can read more of his work on their blog, CreativeCloud.

Many money saving websites and related articles will proclaim the power of cutting costs in your home office through the wackiest of ways. While this isn’t to say that using envelopes from junk mail, decreasing the brightness of your computer screen, and reusing rubber bands from the mail, will save you money, but the savings are minimal when compared to other areas. Having worked in an office the majority of my career, and now from a home office, I’ve found that the majority of costs associated with office work of any sort come from two main supply categories – printer cartridges and paper. If you can decrease costs on these two products, you may be able to cut your office supply budget by as much as 50%.

1. Compatible vs. Original Ink Cartridges

With office supply stores and drugstores now offering either refill programs or discounted compatible cartridges for most consumer printers, you can slash your office supply costs. With originals often selling for several times the prices of refills and compatibles, they can be real budget busters. Even if you only go through one or two cartridges a month, choosing compatibles or refills can save you from 40-60% or more.

2. Print in Black and White

Avoiding using your color cartridge, except in occasions when it is absolutely necessary, can also save you undue costs. Changing your printer settings to print in only black and white, or taking the color cartridge out of your printer completely (assuming it still works without it), can reduce the amount of color ink you use, avoiding having to replace those more expensive color cartridges.

3. Consider Best Before Dates

While in some cases, it is advisable to buy in bulk to receive discounts, this isn’t always the case with printer cartridges – especially replacements and refills. These items only have a limited lifespan (many cartridges can only be refilled 3-4 times before they begin to lose effectiveness) and exposure to air over time can cause them to dry out. Therefore, consider your usage before stocking up and try to keep cartridges in their sealed packages until you are ready to use them.

4. Reuse Paper

It often isn’t until we begin working from a home office where we are responsible for office supply costs that we realize the significant expense of buying paper. When an employer is paying, those misprints probably go right in the garbage or recycle bin, but when you are footing the bill, it’s a different story. While you certainly don’t want to send professional documents on reused paper, if you’re only using the documents for personal purposes, why not use that blank side to print on as well?

5. Make Smaller Copies

By using your print options, you can often print between 2-4 pages (that are still easily legible) on one sheet of paper. That means a total of 8 pages on one sheet of paper (front and back) or a total of 4,000 pages on a ream of 500 sheets of paper.

6. Recycle Notepads & Scratch Paper

We aren’t done with those sheets of paper just yet though. If you really want to get your money’s worth, rather than recycling or trashing them, keep them in a scrap pile for jotting down notes rather than using a notepad.

7. Use Paper Clips

As I mentioned earlier, I’m not going to focus too much on the little stuff. There are however, several smaller supply categories, which, if handled with care, can significantly reduce office costs over time. One of these categories is clips. These tiny helpers can be used dozens, even hundreds of times, cutting down the number of staples you use, and reducing paper waste by avoiding rips and tears.

8. Pens & Notepads

I haven’t bought a pen or a notepad in years. Stocking up on these types of products whenever you can, by grabbing freebies from banks, hotels, hospitals, realtors, etc. can eliminate this cost from your supply budget altogether.

Get the HP dv6t and Mini 110 for $799!

Stephanie — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:01:30 +0000

This offer has expired. Sorry you missed it! You can find the current offer at the bottom of my review of the HP Mini 110.

Two computers for less than what you’d expect to pay for one? Great Googly Moogly! I’ll tell you this: if I were in the market for a new laptop, I would snatch this up right now! Brought to you by HP and Ivy Worldwide as a part of the Better Together giveaway…

Go Big. And Small.

Purchased individually, these two computers would set you back $1129.98. Bundled together, you can get them for $979.98. That’s a pretty sweet deal, especially for students who want a good computer for their desk, but also need something to take notes in class. But it gets better – didn’t I promise you these two computers for only $799?

For the next four days (until August 12th, 2009), you can get another $180 off the price of the bundle, bringing your total down to $799.98. All you have to do is customize your dv6t and Mini 110 on the HP shopping site, and use coupon code NBW48735 when you check out. (This coupon code is exclusive to the 25 sites participating in the Better Together promotion.)

Not sure? Well, I’ve already posted my review of the dv6, if you want to read that. And I haven’t posted my review of the Mini 110 yet, but I will on Tuesday. That will still give you time to take advantage of this deal. Or you can read this short preview of my Mini 110 review:

I love it.

(Seriously.)

Haven’t got the cash to take advantage of this deal? Trust me, I understand! (Read the name of my site again.) Keep in mind that if you can’t afford to buy this bundle, you’ve got 25 chances to win it during the Better Together Giveaway, starting on August 12th!

HP Disclaimer stuff:

Valid for HP Home & Home Office (www.hpshopping.com) internet and call center purchases only. Coupon valid on first 100 redemptions, or while supplies last. Any unused portion will be forfeited. Each coupon code is limited to one usage per customer; one coupon code per checkout. Offer void where prohibited, taxed or restricted by law. Non-transferable. Not valid retroactively on previously purchased items. Not valid for any resale activity as defined by HP Home & Home Office Store. Coupons may not be used to purchase gift cards. Not valid on clearance sales. May not be permitted with certain bundle offers. Not valid on: Academic and Employee purchase programs, HP Employee purchase program, Refurbished products, Extended Service Plans. For complete coupon conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com.

Learning to Love Generics

Stephanie — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:15:09 +0000

You should be jealous! Why? Because right now I’m eating the world’s most delicious and softest molasses cookie ever. Many molasses cookies have come before it in my life, but this one is the best. And I got a whole 12 pack of them from Wegmans for $1.79!

I realize that I am blessed, in a way. Wegmans is a grocery chain that started in my city (Rochester), but hasn’t yet expanded out of the Northeast United States. Personally, I think they should take over the whole world! Their dedication to customer service and quality is legendary. And when I lived in California for two summers? I pined for a visit to Wegmans. Other grocery stores just don’t add up.

For this reason, I hesitate to write about the value of buying generics (“store brand” products). I’m well aware that my local grocery chain offers super-high-quality generics, and that some others don’t. But I’ve been in other grocery stores (had to eat somehow in California), so my experience isn’t totally limited.

Generics are Good/Tasty

Try generics! Most of the time, you won’t notice a difference, because there isn’t one. If the peanut butter and pet food recalls taught us anything, it’s that most foods, no matter what the brand, come from just a small handful of processing centers. Which means that sometimes, the only difference between the store brand and the name brand is literally the packaging. I hate the idea of paying more just for a fancy logo on my shelf, so I always try the generic.

And 99% of the time, I’ve found the generic to be a good substitute. Over the past five years, I’ve only purchased one generic item that didn’t measure up to the name brand (sorry Wegmans, but your Raisin Bran Crunch knock-off needs some work. Too much bran, not enough sugary-crunch).

And generics can save you big money, of course! I haven’t done any scientific study on this, but generics seem to be at least 10% cheaper. That’s a quick way to knock some change off of your grocery bill, without sacrificing quality.

Not convinced? No one’s asking you to switch everything you love to generics right away. And even if you do switch, you might have a “Raisin Bran Crunch” scenario on your hands, and find that you like the name brand better for that particular product. But the best feeling in the world is knowing that you’re buying a product because you like it, and not because you’ve unwittingly become a victim to advertising and branding.

And for some things, you totally know there’s zero difference between the name brand and the generic. Name brand vinegar? Give me a break!

P.S. These molasses cookies are mine and no, you can’t have any.

Living Without Shampoo

Stephanie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:05:04 +0000

Heh. I run the risk of being labeled dirty, liberal, cheap, and insane for writing this post. All things I’ve been called before, of course, but only the last three are true!

"No ‘Poo" is what it’s called when someone elects to forgo the use of chemical-laden shampoos and conditioners. There are a lot of reasons a person might do this, but the basic premise is that modern shampoos have only been around since the beginning of the 20th century. If people before were able to achieve beautiful hair without it, why can’t we?

There’s a lot of health concerns with shampoo as well, but I’ve decided to forgo talking about it, because frankly there’s already a fantastic explanation of all the No ‘Poo details on a blog called Babyslime. So in the interest of not reinventing the wheel, I’m only going to get into the financial aspects of it.

I’ve been Low ‘Poo since high school, when I found out that the reason my curly locks were frizzing so much was partially due to over-shampooing! My hair is really, really dry, so I cut it down to the point were I was shampooing only once everything two weeks. I would still rinse and use conditioner every day.

Four months ago, I read more about the No ‘Poo movement and decided to give it a try. Personally, I’ve got three reasons to do it: Money, my hair’s health, and the environment. So… about the money…

Savings?

No ‘Poo calls for replacing your shampoo with baking soda and your conditioner with apple cider vinegar. The great thing about this is that I already had both in my house! And so far, neither have run out!

Since my shampoo use was negligible before, I’m only going to compare the savings based on the cost of the conditioner I was buying before: Garnier Fructis (the kind made especially for curly hair). I’m using the prices from my local grocery store, Wegmans, but these are fairly standard prices as far as I’ve seen.

13 ounces Garnier Fructis (13 uses) = 2.99 = 23 cents per use

Days since I started: 111

Total savings so far: $25.53

Ok, eventually the baking soda and vinegar I have on hand with run out, and the savings won’t be as dramatic, right? Well, let’s see what these ingredients cost!

16 ounces of vinegar (32 tablespoons) = 99 cents = 3 cents per use

1 pound of baking soda (32 weeks) = 75 cents = 2 cents per week

That works out to less than 25 cents per week. The Fructis comes out to about $1.50 per week. 52 weeks in a year means long term savings of…

$65 per year

Wait! It gets better! Remember I said I have a gallon of vinegar on hand? Well, what if I continue to buy it by the gallon, instead of the 16 ounce bottle?

128 ounces of vinegar (gallon, 256 tablespoons) = 3.19 = 1 cent per use

9 cents per week works out to yearly savings of $73.32!

That’s not huge, but finding a few things you don’t mind changing that will save you $75 a year can add up to big money.

Saving Money on Driving, One Way or Another

Stephanie — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:47:52 +0000

I timidly handed my keys over to the repair shop manager the other day as memories of past repair bills danced through my head. I’ve spent over $1,000 this past year on necessary repairs, and I wasn’t looking to up that bill any higher. But it was making an awful scraping noise, so I took it in and prepared myself for the toppling bill.

The bill ended up being $63.20. Actually, I only paid $43.20 because I had a coupon for a free oil change.

But that’s not the only way I’ve been saving money on car stuff this summer. I’ve been going the big, crazy, scary distance that some people go to cut their gas bill in half (or more!):

Carpooling

My boyfriend and I have been carpooling whenever possible, since we’re both working on our college campus this summer. And it’s been working out splendidly – except for that one day that I totally forgot to pick him up.

It will probably take until the end of the summer until I have some solid numbers – I’ll try and compare both the amount I saved and the amount the boyfriend saved, but I’m guessing it’s going to be significant.

Driving to and from work daily, by myself, should cost about $150 a month, not counting any recreational driving whatsoever. Over the past month, I’ve spent $110 on gas, including weekend and fun-type stuff. So, booyah.

The Bus

I looked into taking the bus to work, but it just doesn’t look like a good idea. I live in one suburb and work is in another – I’d have to take one bus into the city, and then another back out to the other suburb. The bus ride would be about an hour and a half, whereas my driving commute from home is 30-35 minutes. And the bus would be $3 per day.

Oh, not to mention I’d have to drive a mile and a half to the park-and-ride spot to catch the bus. The savings would be about $40 per month over what I’m paying for gas with carpooling, but I’d lose about 3 hours a day to bus time, and I’d have to get up around 5:30-6am to get to a 9am job.

“Excuses!” you say. “That’s another $40 a month you could have!” Well, ok, maybe. I’m not a big fan of saying “my time is worth $xx.xx per hour, so this money-saving activity isn’t worth doing.” But I am a fan of saying “Sleeping in until 7am instead of 5:30 is worth $40 a month to me.” That’s just a personal choice. I like sleep.

Has anyone else changed their transportation habits in the face of rising gas prices? Or is it just me?

You Paid $9.60 a Gallon for WHAT?!?

Stephanie — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:12:19 +0000

I’m just going to say it: Bottled water is a huge waste of money. I’ve heard every argument in the book for drinking it, and I’ve yet to be convinced that it makes any sense for a person living in America to drink it. I’m so fervent in my belief that I made a short video about it:

Although the video is pretty hokey and meant to be light-hearted, I made a great effort to fill it with actual facts about bottled water and tap water (my sources are listed at the end of this post). 24% of bottled water is just repackaged tap water, and the brands that actually come from a spring or a glacier or… whatever? They give you no guarantee of cleanliness or safety, since they’re so loosely regulated.

And the cost difference is just ridiculous. In a 1999 report on bottled water, the National Resources Defense Council found that:

A five-year supply of bottled water at the recommended intake of eight glasses a day can cost more than $1,000. An equivalent amount of tap water costs about $1.65.

My campus sells Aquafina at $1.50 for 20 ounces. That’s $9.60 a gallon, compared to just $0.002 for a gallon of tap water! And according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the average American drank 29 gallons of bottled water in 2007. That’s $278.40! And how much would that much tap water cost you? Just under 6 cents. Seriously.

Bottled water certainly has a place in this world. There are 1 billion people in this world that do not have access to a reliable source of drinking water. But those aren’t the people that are getting bottled water. For Americans who have highly regulated public water readily available, bottled water is simply a choice.

And it should be an easy choice to make. Even if you went out and bought a nice $20-$30 stainless steel or aluminum water bottle to fill up every day, you’d come out way ahead of paying for bottled water. In addition to fattening up your wallet, you’d make a huge environmental impact, as well.

Americans went through about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year, 167 for each person. Durable, lightweight containers manufactured just to be discarded. Water bottles are made of totally recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, so we share responsibility for their impact: Our recycling rate for PET is only 23%, which means we pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year–more than $1 billion worth of plastic.

- (Fast Company.com article, emphasis added)

The evidence against bottled water piles up as high as the empty bottles in the landfill: drinking bottled water when tap water is readily available doesn’t make any sense, no matter how you look at it.

The video in this post was made as an entry for the Take Back the Tap video scholarship contest. And now, it’s made me a finalist! The video was a lot of fun to make, and yes… I make a cameo at the end!

Sources:
“Take Back the Tap” by Food & Water Watch
“Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?” by the National Resources Defense Council
“Message in a Bottle” by Charles Fishman on FastCompany.com
“Bottled Water’s Success Story Continues” by the Beverage Marketing Corporation

Is Your Printer Ink Really Empty?

Stephanie — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:51:45 +0000

Here’s a tip:

Don’t trust your printer when it tries to tell you that you’re nearly out of ink. Especially if your printer is an HP psc 1210 All-In-One!

Mine told me back in September that I was nearly out of black ink, so I ran out and got a new print cartridge for it. Since I print a lot for both school and work, I knew I couldn’t afford to run out of ink. But I decided not to change the cartridge until I could see a noticeable drop in quality.

I’m still waiting, 6 months later, for that print quality to drop. And if you average out my printing, I probably print one page a day (yes, black – I rarely print color, I haven’t replaced the color cartridge in two years!). So that means that my printer can churn out over 180 pages on a “nearly empty” cartridge. (And counting!)

Moral of the story: the little warning icon might be a good indicator of when you should buy a new cartridge, but you can probably squeeze out quite a bit before you actually need to change the cartridge.

Also, here’s an indication of my insanity – once I do change the cartridge, I’m going to make a spreadsheet to track exactly how many pages I can get out of a cartridge. Yep – I’m nuts!

Although, maybe not that nuts – there are a lot of people that track things like this. I seem to remember a website where people could enter in how many miles they got on their tank after the gas gauge hit E… one of you reading this wouldn’t happen to know the name of that site, would you?

Saving Time Won’t Save You Money

Stephanie — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:55:17 +0000

Last week, I asked you guys whether I was being cheap or being frugal by putting off the purchase of a new power adapter for my laptop. I got a variety of answers, but a lot of common opinions kept popping up. Notably, several people told me that buying a new adapter would save me time, and thus make me more productive, which would save me/earn me more money.

No offense guys, but… WRONG.

Saving time does not save you money. Extra time on your hands only saves/earns you money if that time is well spent. I’m a huge procrastinator and a master at finding distractions, so five extra minutes in my day doesn’t mean five more minutes of work – it means five minutes of mindlessly checking Facebook.

That isn’t to say that saving time can’t save you money – just that it probably won’t. Unless you have some sort of productivity system in place, that extra time will just get lumped into the rest of your day, and you probably won’t see any difference at all.

The same goes for money. Frugality, without some sort of greater plan for your money, won’t get you very far. Sure, you might save $1.10 by going to this gas station instead of that one, but unless you have some idea of what to do with that extra $1.10, it doesn’t really matter. The more money people have, the more they tend to spend. Have you ever noticed that money problems tend to follow people, even if they get a raise or a higher-paying job?

Money doesn’t solve money problems, a change in behavior does. More time doesn’t solve time management problems… a change in behavior does. Once you have a plan for your time and money, then you can worry on trying to find more of each to accelerate that plan.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some quality procrastinating to do!