Owner: The Happy Rock URL:http://www.thehappyrock.com Join Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:39:07 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Change Yourself, Change Your Wealth. A personal finance and personal development site dedicated to creating positive change that carries us down the road to success. Site statistics:Click here
Hypermiling Followup - Save $466 Dollars A Year Or More 2007-08-01 12:10:50 As I thought about some of the concepts behind hypermiling I felt they demonstrate the core philosophy we have here at The Happy Rock. If we change our attitude and relationship to world around us, our finances are also affected.
Let’s start with a look at how our finances might be affected, since we are talking about a good bit of money that can be saved. Assume an average of 12,000 miles driven a year, $3.00 a gallon for gas, 20 MPG average, and a 35% increase in MPG from improved driving habits. At 20 MPG that comes to about $1,800 a year. Increase your MPG by 35% and you only spend $1,333.33 a year. A savings of $466 dollars a year.
For me the change in attitude comes for these concepts that stuck with me from all of the hypermiling research :
I control a larger percent of driving efficiency than I give myself credit for. My impatience, lack of awareness, and even laziness can cost a significant amount of money.
At rest a car is getting 0 miles per gallon.
Pressing the acc
Cheaper Than Cheap Tip Of The Week #2 - Hypermiling 2007-07-30 09:28:43 “Cheap
er Than Cheap” is a recurring tip series about frugality. The idea is to provide helpful frugality tips that border on fanatical to the point of being humorous. Love them or hate them, let’s hear what you think.
Cheaper Than Cheap Tip #2 - Hypermiling
In the age of $3.00 /gallon gas we are bombarded with tips for increasing our fuel economy. I have mentioned how keeping your tires inflated can increase safety and fuel consumption. Other common tips for better gas mileage include using cruise control, avoiding traffic, and driving less aggressively. Hypermiling takes getting the best MPG to the extreme. Take the HybridFest 2007 in Madison Wisconsin as an example. The contest has competitors drive the same course and compete for the highest MPG. The winner Wayne Gerdes had an astounding MPG of 180 over the whole course. Hypermiling was started by hybrid car owners, but the tips are easily transferable to ‘regular’ cars. I am a novice hypemiler
Raising Financially Savvy Children - Tips For Teaching Your Children About Finance 2007-07-26 04:12:06 This is a guest post by Tehn Yit Chin over at @ Cheap as Chips, “a personal finance blog with an Australian spin”. Lend him some support by checking out his site.
We, as parents, have an enormous responsibility to our children. As soon as they are born, we are responsible for their well being. Initially, we give them care and ensure that they are healthy. As they grow, our responsibility shifts to their behavioral development, and one aspect of this is the way our children see financial matters being handled.
One of the ways that children learn is by copying. The child observes our actions again and again over a period of time, and they will start to copy our actions. When our children are in their toddler age, development of simple actions like learning to walk and talk are usually accelerated when there are other kids around for our child to copy.
The children also learn by repetition. Something that is performed over and over again will be ingrained in our childr Read more:Children
, Financially
, Raising
, Savvy
I Want To Be Rich Someday! How To Set Solid Finance Goals 2007-07-25 03:59:32 This is a guest post by Mark over at @ Financing Your Family, a newer blog that focuses on helping readers to be “smarter with their money, closer to their family, and willing to work towards worthwhile goals”. Lend him some support by checking out his site.
When I talk with people about there financial goals, there is one thing that tips me off as to whether or not they will be successful or not, and that is how they describe their goals. Some examples of goals I’ve heard are: “I want to be rich someday,” “I want to have kids,” and “I don’t want to work for a large company.” These are all financial goals to be sure, but when people tell me that these are their goals, I usually think that they just don’t really care about their lifestyle that much.
You see, all of the goals I just named are what I call, No-thought goals. These are the hasty kinds of goals that cause people to start businesses in areas that can&rsquo Read more:Goals
, Solid
, Someday
10 Tips To Save Money On Golf 2007-07-24 04:24:43 This is a guest post by Double Eagle over at @ Life in the Rough. Life in the Rough is a golf blog. One of the best in my opinion. A good place to visit if you are looking to learn a few things about golf or drop a a few stokes off of your game. The golf tips are intermixed with his personal journey to fulfill a dream by becoming a golf professional. Double Eagle is very active in his comments section and enjoys answering his readers questions. Lend him some support by checking out his site.
When The Happy Rock put out the word that he needed some guest posters to take up the slack while he’s on vacation, I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring the world of golf over here.
As everyone knows, golf can be an expensive hobby (or lifestyle, in certain extreme cases). Not everyone infected with the golf bug has the benefit of wealth, so it’s good to find ways to help our money go further so we can keep playing the game, and more importantly, keep playing Read more:Money
The Happy Rock Takes A Vacation 2007-07-23 23:14:47 The Happy
Rock was a good little rock, but always very curious. Today he leaves for the mountains of Pennsylvania with his friend the Man with The Yellow Hat, 8 children, 4 sister-in-laws, 3 brother-in-laws, and 2 grand parents.
Enough with the Curious George references. I will have a great time. The weather should be nice, and I will cherish the break and family time. In my absence three guest posters will fill in the gaps Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Please treat them kindly and give them some feedback on their excellent articles. I will be back and answering emails and comments at some point over the weekend. Enjoy!
Related PostsRequest for some guest postersIn search of some public attentionHow to move a rock! Part 5Happy Memorial Day!The Happy Rock begins…
Read more:Vacation
Government Sometimes Save Us Money - Tire Pressure Monitors 2007-07-23 08:30:59 The government always seems to be taking our money, but sometimes they do get things right and pass legislation that beneficial. US government legislation that has been in the works since the 2000 tire recall will require auto manufacturers to install tire pressure monitoring sensors on all new models for vehicle’s under 10,000 pounds. The bill, which affects vehicles for the 2008 model year, is being phased in September 1st of this year. The system is such that when the pressure of any of the four tire drops below 25% below the recommended pressure, a warning light will display on the dashboard. The consumer will still need to stop and fill up the tire though, tires are not yet self inflating(although that it is probably coming).
Tires are the most abused part of the car. We all know that we should check our vehicle’s tire pressure every 30 days, but most of don’t monitor it very closely. I probably check it once every couple months, and before long trips. This u Read more:Government
, Money
, Monitors
, Pressure
, Sometimes
Cheaper Than Cheap Tip Of The Week #1 - Pretend You Are Running Out 2007-07-20 23:42:40 I am starting a recurring tip series about frugality called “Cheap
er Than Cheap”. The idea is to provide helpful frugality tips that border on fanatical to the point of being humorous. Love them or hate them, let’s hear what you think.
Cheaper Than Cheap Tip #1 - Pretend You Are Running Out
Yesterday, I noticed when items like shampoo, dish soap, and toothpaste are running low I become much more conservative in my usage. I squeeze out the minimum drop needed to wash my hair as the shampoo begins to run low. When I have a brand new bottle I am much more liberal my whole palm ends up covered in shampoo. It doesn’t help that the amount is harder to control with a full bottle. If you can relate, here is the frugal system for you. Next time you finish a bottle of shampoo or a similar item don’t recycle the bottle; save it. From the new container put just enough into the old container to keep the frugal skimping side of you in control. Basically the
Request for some guest posters 2007-07-19 22:38:01 I will be on vacation Tuesday - Friday of next week. I wanted to see if anyone would be interested in guest posting @ The Happy Rock next week on short notice.
What you will you get in return? The joy of helping out a fellow blogger who gets about 60 hits a day, and has about 70-75 readers. At the top of the guest post I will link to your main site, and at the bottom of the post I will link up your RSS feed. Finally, I will submit the post to a carnival the following week for some more exposure. If you don’t have a blog, don’t worry. The only requirement is that it must be personal finance or personal development related. If possible, I would like to have the posts by Sunday Night, but I can work with Monday too.
Please email me to let me know if you are interested.
Email me here :
Related PostsThe Happy Rock Takes A VacationOur time is not our own……but it can be10 Tips To Save Money On GolfI Want To Be Rich Someday! How To Set Solid Finance GoalsRetai
What bloggers are saying about canceling cable and TV. 2007-07-18 22:13:06 Yesterday I posted some eye opening statistics about TV viewing. Today I wanted to wrap up the canceling cable experiment by searching the blogosphere for some bloggers
that had already tried giving up cable or had relevant posts. Here is what I found :
Gary Lee just recently canceled cable and is still adjusting.
Boomie @ The Wastrel Show downgraded to basic cable just a week ago.
Lazy Man tried to hack a cable free solution.
Clever Dude talks about not upgraging his viewing experience.
FMF @ Free Money Finance admits he doesn’t have cable.
And finally Trent @ The Simple Dollar discusses 10 reasons to cut out TV in one of his most popular articles. He then talks about dropping cable in a later post.
Enjoy
Related PostsI Need Help Canceling Cable - Save Time And MoneyDo Cable and TV Cost More Than We Think?
Read more:saying
Community In Action - Contest Edition 2007-08-03 23:04:59 I don’t normally do a lot of link posts, but I think that is going to change. First, I totally appreciate whenever someone publicly appreciates my work. Second, it builds community which is a key part of growth. Third, I think it will provide value to The Happy Rock community. Hopefully the links will be helpful and informative. If you don’t feel like these type of posts are providing value, please let me know. If you appreciate them, again let me know.
There were a few contests that I came across in the last few weeks that I thought I would bring some attention to.
Mark @ Financing Your Family is offering a 500 word review for the comment with the best use for $100 a month.
Christine @ Create Business Growth is starting a weekly comment contest for a randomly drawn relevant comment. This week’s prize is $50!
INVESP Consulting is hosting another random drawing for people who subscribe to their feed and are there long enough to read the secret post sometime in A Read more:Action
, Contest
, Edition
Follow The Shopping Calender For Big Savings 2007-08-05 22:59:20 Most of us intuitively know that when the first big heat wave hits our town, good prices in the air conditioning and fan aisles will be few and far between. The question remains though, when is the best time to buy an air conditioner? Well, now we know. The best time to buy air conditioners is August, along with computers, lawn mowers, and camping equipment. New cars are cheapest in November and December. Save on iPods in February or September. Where am I getting this you ask, Consumer Reports Calendar of Deals article.
Consumer Reports experts have taken the time to compile a calendar that reveals when we historically see the best sales for certain items. It is general guide that doesn’t preclude us from watching weekly circulars, but it does provide us with some valuable guidelines for getting the best sale price.
Save money now with the Consumer Reports shopping calendar.
The article also mentions three other tips that didn’t fit well into the calendar format.
Airline Read more:Savings
, Shopping
Learning From Others : Finance Community Round Up 2007-08-11 00:54:59 There was some great stuff out there this week. Here are my favorites :
Saving Advice offers a beautifully pictographed list of 25 personal money confessions.
Blueprint For Financial Prosperity gives as a quick description of 10 top personal finance books. The description on Your Money Your Life makes me want to read it even more.
One Frugal Girl starts a discussion on whether or not debt is an integrity problem. Bankruptcy usually is in my opinion, and I can see consumer debt bordering on an integrity issue. Even if we don’t come to conclusions, I think the discussion is useful. Integrity needs to be talked about more
Consumerism Commentary takes a through a misleading statistics example revolving around consumer debt. Again I love the discussion. Being critical about statistics is utterly important in our age of media bombardment. Like the 50% of marriages that end in divorce statistic that gets tossed around so much. I haven’t found the basis for that one yet.
P Read more:Learning
, Others
Principles In Action #1 : Treat Others Like They Have Value 2007-08-08 22:16:29 This is the first in a recurring series of posts called “Principles
in Action
”. The idea is to show positive life principles at work in my life and in the lives of others. The story will illuminate a practical application of a positive life principle and the effect of that principle in action. I welcome any readers to email me(use the contact page) with principle in action stories. If the reader wants and it ties into the theme of The Happy Rock, I will post it to the community so we all can learn and grow.
Treat Others
Like They Have Value
Last Monday I was at the check out line of our local Wegman’s grocery store. When the 19 year old check girl asked the normal ‘How are you?’, I decided to actually answer the question rather than mumble something non committal and go about my business. Being the introvert that I am, I often rush through the check out line focused on my life and trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible.
This particular day I shared how my wi
5 Key Strategies For Getting Out Of Debt 2007-08-12 22:57:07 Being debt free has been more amazing than I thought, and I want others to be able to share in a similar joy. For those who are trying to get out of debt or entertaining the thought, here is some ammunition. As my wife and I and slowly hacked our way out of $70,000 in debt, there were a few key strategies that were extremely helpful:
1. Find Your Passion – Finding your passion is my number tip for anything that requires a large amount of energy and commitment. I started thinking about being debt free, because I realized that I wanted more in life. I wanted freedom to change careers, financial freedom for my family and children(and for their children), security for my family, freedom to pursue my dreams, and to be able to give abundantly. Those are the types of things that get my juices flowing, and the real goals that propelled me to being debt free. What are the things that resonate with you and how does being debt free help you achieve them? Figure that out, and you will Read more:Strategies
My Sitemeter and pMetrics Addiction And Other Things We Do Too Much 2007-08-15 11:37:03 Hi, my name is Frank and I have a problem! I am addicted to Sitemeter and any other web site tracking package. My new love is pMetrics. The statistics are tailored for blogs and it lets you easily track your visitor’s movement within your site. It combines my favorite reports from other sites into one visitor overview page. Plus it is much faster than loading than everything else I have tried. I haven’t needed to visit SiteMeter or anything else since I signed up. I know The Happy Rock is a small site, but that just means that there is more chance I haven’t received a new hit since I last checked. It is a shame that doesn’t stop me from checking.
Every blogger can probably relate to this type of stat fascination. The real problem is that incessantly checking these stats adds no value. I would even go so far as to say that it probably hurts my overall productivity in life and for The Happy Rock. Here is how:
Wasted Time - Time spent doing something that I
88th Festival of Frugality - About Me Edition 2007-08-21 07:49:35 Welcome to the 88th Festival
of Frugality
! The Festival of Frugality is a blog carnival, which is a periodic round up of blogger’s best posts related to a specific topic hosted by various blogs.
Below are the 5 articles that I enjoyed the most, followed by the rest of the 35 entries that were accepted to the festival. For each entry I included a link to selected article and a link to the author’s ‘About Me’ page. For those blogs without an easy to find ‘About Me’ I will link to the main page. The posts are listed in the order they were received. Enjoy the wealth of knowledge.
Top Picks
Save Gas - Tips To Save Money On Gas! by FIRE Finance
I’m Frugal, So Why Can’t I Save More Money? by Silicon Valley Blogger
Ten Ways to Save on Birthday Parties by Saving Advice Blog (Main Page)
I Shoulda’ been a Cowgirl by Fish Creek House - INNside Innkeeping
HOWTO: Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) Deconstructed by Graham
Other Great Articles
Don&rs Read more:Edition
Festival Hosting and Helping Redesign The Happy Rock 2007-08-20 00:29:35 I will not be posting an article Monday, because on Tuesday morning I will be hosting my first blog carnival. The 88th Festival
of Frugality will be jam packed with some great frugal advice.
Second, for a while now I have been working on a redesign of the site. I hoped to release it this weekend, but caught an ugly cold that kept me down.
I am having trouble deciding on the column colors for the new theme and wanted to enlist your help. Click through to the Picasa album below, have a look at the six pictures provided, and cast your vote in the comments section. Reference the pictures as they are numbered in the album; 1 on the left 6 on the right. I would like to get 25 votes to get a good sense of the community choice. Feel free to add any comments or color suggestions that I may have overlooked. Thank you for the help.
The Happy
Rock Redesign
Related PostsThe Happy Rock Takes A VacationRequest for some guest postersCommunity In Action - Contest EditionHappy Memorial Day Read more:Helping
, Hosting
Tricks The Banks Play To Make You Pay 2007-08-27 10:20:44 This is a guest post form Linda Bustos. Linda is an editor for CreditorWeb, where you can learn about credit cards, compare offers, and apply for a business credit card online.
We all know that banks are not on our side. They offer us products and services to make our lives more convenient and pull us through financial jams, but we end up paying for them through interest charges…and bank fees…and late payment fees…and overdraft charges…and NSF check fees…the list goes on.
Banks have no shame in trying to squeeze as many cents and dollars from their clients. Financial institutions have many games and tactics, but their only power over you is your ignorance to them. Here are 6 tips that banks will never outright tell you but that will keep your hard earned cash in your pocket.
1. Late Credit Card Bill Trick
Some credit card companies will send bills out late in the billing cycle, reducing the amount of time you have to actually pay the thing — so
4 Ways Win By Quitting 2007-08-30 23:51:38 Sometimes we get to the end of our rope and realize that what we are currently doing isn’t working. Take heart, despite how we may feel at the time, it might be the best thing that ever happened to us. So many successful people have the rock bottom story that changed their lives. Whether it is when the creditors started calling, the death of someone close, a sunken business, failed college course, or even the loss of a close friend to a huge mistake; they all hold opportunities for growth. Opportunities to change our lives. No matter how we get there, sometimes giving up and admitting that we are sinking is a huge step. Here are a few ways to that you can benefit and deal with ‘giving up’:
Realize that we all make mistakes. Sure some are bigger than others, but it doesn’t matter how we got there. We need to use that experience to change, not to keep ourselves trapped in self-pity and remorse.
Change Your Strategy. The perspective that comes from giving Read more:Quitting
Gender Affects Salaries, But Maybe Not How You Think 2007-08-29 09:54:39 “Women working full time earn about 77 percent of the salaries of men working full time”. That number is a little misleading, as it doesn’t take into account education and employee status, but the difference is still 11% when equal employees are studied across genders.
We all know the gender differences in salary still exists in business and so does the glass ceiling to some extent. The common explanation is sexism and deliberate underpayment of women. Linda Babcock, professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University, has been studying the issue at length and has produced some interesting findings. Time and again her research shows that women are much less aggressive, and their finances take a hit because of it. An 11% hit in starting salary could end up costing a women over half a million dollars or more during a 30 year career.
Do the readers agree with this assessment?
Is the solution to teach women to be more aggressive?
This is one of those situations w Read more:Maybe
, Salaries
Learning From Others - Romance, Giving, and Leadership 2007-09-21 23:27:00 Here are couple links that I thought were worth some attention over the last week or two :
Giving
changes us! Millionaire Mommy Next Door writes a nice article about the addictive nature of giving.
How we dress often portrays how we feel about ourself, and can shape others opinion of us. Clever Dude walks us through some clothing choices that make us look unprofessional.
Two nice tips for adding some romance. 5 outdoor dates(with some local New Jersey flair) and some free ways to increase romance.
jeanjeanie discusses the cost of overcoming her fears. I like the open discussion, and I still have similar struggles to this day!
And finally a slightly off topic post for those of us whose jobs and pursuits require us to be leaders that explores influence as true leadership.
Enjoy!
Related PostsContest Winner : Quicken Deluxe 20074 Ways Win By QuittingNew Look at The Happy RockWhat bloggers are saying about canceling cable and TV.How to move a rock! Part 2
Read more:Leadership
, Learning
, Others
, Romance
Our Personal Paying Cash For Cars Story 2007-09-19 22:34:43 Last post we talked about changing the way we talk about car loan debt, now let’s talk about avoiding the debt in the first place.
The picture to the right is the car we own today. Ok, ours is just a normal bronze Murano, but you get the picture. In this post I wanted to outline the strategy we followed after going $15,000 for a 1999 black on black Toyota Celica.
First off, I didn’t realize it until years later, but buying the Celica was a mistake. My wife liked the car so much that she may disagree, but going into $15,000 of debt in the first few months of marriage was not a wise choice.
The payment was just over $300 dollars a month, but the loan was our highest interest debt and was paid off in two years. During that time we decided not to go into debt again. We had a lot more debt to pay off, so we snowballed the freed up money into other debt.
Fast forward two years, and we were just about out of debt and had a brand new baby boy. The ride home from picking him up wa Read more:Personal
If You Are Making Car Payments, You Don’t Own The Car 2007-09-17 22:59:45 We usually talk like we own the car, but this is just a delusion. If you secure financing for an automobile, the bank or financing company probably owns your car. The person with the auto loan is most likely granted non-possessory security interest in the vehicle. Basically, the bank owns the car and you are not able to sell the car without the loan being paid in full.
The reason I mention it, is to clear up what I think is a major reason it is so easy to be in debt. The lending industry wants debt to sound rosy and cheerful, so that consumers will go into more debt. If we continue to fool ourselves into thinking we own things that are not actually ours, we will continue to by more things we can’t afford. Yes, I said it! If we are paying payments, we probably couldn’t afford the item. We delude ourselves by affording payments!
If you think I am crazy or sound foolish, you probably never received the title to a car in the mail after you made your last payment(or paid cash in f
New Look at The Happy Rock 2007-09-16 23:31:17 The long awaited site redesign is finally done. It did the design and upgrade myself, and I am pleased with the results. It was a very good learning experience, although with all the new found knowledge by the time you finish something like this you are ready to do it again.
I want to thank all the readers and friends that voted a few weeks back. Number 3 was the overwhelming favorite, although it wasn’t my favorite. The first column color doesn’t look right on my home computer, but looks good everywhere else. But this site is for the readers, and the readers spoke! Please, always feel free to drop me an email or leave me a comment if you have ideas for improvements or things you don’t like about the site. I highly value your input, and it is this input that shapes the site!
If you are in a reader, click through to the main page and take a look. Let me know what you think. Remember to leave web browser and version information for any comments about problems.
Read more:Happy
Don’t Forget Your Health Club Membership Reimbursements 2007-09-13 22:46:38 Just recently I received an extra $250 in my paycheck, because my application for my health club reimbursement finally came through. I am still waiting on one for my wife, but I will continue to pursue that. This excellent little benefit that many employers are offering will save us $500 this year.
Many more employers and medical insurance policies are offering preventative medicine programs that help you and them save money. If you pay dues at a gym or health club, you may be eligible. My company offers a straight $250 reimbursement on gym fees in a given 12 month period. To receive the payout I had to submit an application with an official receipt or acknowledgment on my gym’s letterhead showing that I had paid $250 dollars in dues.
My company’s offering is quite a liberal program, as most require some amount of proof that you are actually benefiting from the gym membership. These requirements can vary, but usually consist of the health club proving that you went twice Read more:Health
, Membership
Simple Tip For Spending Less - Think About Pre-Tax Dollars 2007-09-12 22:17:53 A simple tip that I came across while reading The Quiet Millionaire is to frame your spending in pre-tax dollars rather than after tax dollars. Assuming a 33% tax bracket(actual tax rate of about 25%), you need to earn $1.33 for every dollar you spend. So that $1.00 you spent in the vending machine for a soda, actually cost you $1.33.
Thinking in pre tax dollars doesn’t have as big of an impact when the purchase is small, but as the purchase amount increases so does the impact. It takes another hour or two of work to cover the $33 dollars of federal tax on the $100 grocery bill. Now if we talk about a $10,000 used car that is another full month of work($3,300)! A $25,000 new car actually costs us about $35,500 dollars. The problem exacerbates if we talk about buying something on credit; pre-tax dollars for the purchase and for the interest.
What this simple trick helps us do is clarify our needs vs. our wants for the given product. Is a used car worth an extra month of work Read more:Simple
, Spending
A Closer Look At Debt Consolidation 2007-09-12 10:03:47 This is a guest from George Powell, editor of the independent financial portal Financial Web(other links in post).
With so many individuals and families mired in debt (and sinking ever deeper as the days pass), it’s easy to see how the rapidly expanding debt consolidation market has grown into a multi-million dollar industry. The seductiveness of easy credit has lured countless numbers of unsuspecting people into its
trappings of fine print, higher interest and long-term payments. Once inside, solid financial footing begins to give way to a quicksand of installment and revolving balances due, which can eat up a family’s resources faster than a roomful of hungry kids with an unattended plate of pastries. It’s no wonder, then, that when an apparent lifeline is thrown their way, many people eagerly grab onto it.
But let’s take a closer look at that “lifeline” to see if it’s actually worth betting your financial well-being on. I’m sure y Read more:Consolidation
, Debt Consolidation
Recommend Site To A Friend
