Perfectly Imperfect Family and Finances

Posted By Mr. Imperfect on February 2, 2009

Thanks for perusing our article. We hope that you can find some encouragement that will help you create your own debt elimination success story. If you have not already, consider subscribing to our post either via a RSS reader, or by email. Now, on with the exciting news!

photo courtesy of www.accountingunleashed.com

Well, January was a great month for us.  We have paid off our smallest personal loan.  This is our first bill that we have completely paid off since we began our Total Money Makeover.  By sticking to our budget, earning some extra money, and a little sacrifice we paid off this loan a full 13 months early-saving ourselves $427.18 in interest.  Another thing I would like to point out is that this was all aceived on a very modest income.

Now the increase in our assest was nothing to get excited about (an increase of 0.4%), but anything other than a negative number is fine with us.  The percentage of debt reduction was great (though just a little under our goal) at a whoping 3.2%.  If we continue this percentage every month that will have us at a total of 38.4% of debt gone at the end of 2009.  That is just shy of our 40% goal. This summer we are going to do some freelanceing to make up for the other 1.6%.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

How are you doing with your debt reduction progress?

Category: Faith, Finances, Goals | 1 Comment »
Tags: debt reduction

Posted By Mr. Imperfect on January 26, 2009

Welcome and thank you for reading our article. We are continuing to eliminate our debt. Our goal is 40% this year, even in this slow economy. If you are getting out of debt, or just enjoy personal finance and money saving articles, you can get our post via an RSS reader or Email.

In our last post we discussed some of the ways that we are going to save money this year.  Now, on the flip side of that coin, we are going to list a few ways that we are going to increase our income this year.  If you can save on your expenses, and increase the amount of income you are bringing in, well my friend you are fighting with a two edged sword.

Just as a disclaimer, for those of you who are looking for full time income, these ideas are for supplemental income only.  You will not get rich completing some, or even all of these activities.  I will say that depending on your level of commitment it is feasible to make an extra $200-$300 a month by working at all of these.   If you decide to work extra hours at your current job (or pick up a part-time job) those numbers will increase drastically.  So, without further delay, here are some of our nickle and dime sources:

1.  Surveys and Email Programs-Last month we made over $40 dollars by doing this when we felt like it.  Last year, when we disciplined ourselves to completing surveys everyday we averaged around $65 a month for surveys only.  Here are some of the survey providers and email advertisers we use:

• Inbox Dollars-sends you emails a few times a day, you click on the link in the email, and you get paid(only 2 cents each, but all you are doing is clicking a link and then closing the tab right?).  They also have surveys (this is one that we done everyday) that you can qualify for and make $0.50 each.  If you frequently shop online, the have several rebate programs that you earn money back for each dollar you spend. Right now they are offering a $5 sign-up bonus.
• Your2Cents-has surveys available often.  They will send you an email telling you about the survey (what it is about, how long it will take, and how much it pays).  They usually pay $1-$5 per survey, and they mail the check once you have hit $10.00.  They say that it could take up to six weeks to get your check, but every time we have requested a payout we have received our check within the first week.
• YouData-sign up for their program, fill out a couple of profiles, then get paid to view ads.  Right now they are doing text ads, but video will be coming soon.  The general pay is $0.20 per ad viewed (at least that is what we have been paid thus far), and they pay every Friday via PayPal.
• OpinionOutpost-almost the same as Your2Cents, they send you an email with the various details, and you earn so much per survey that you qualify for and complete.  Their surveys are generally short, and they have always sent out several a week to us.

2.  Ebay-this is not as lucrative as it used to be (increased number of users, higher Ebay fees, etc), but it is still a reliable source of income.  Start slow by selling items from around your house before trying to enter the wholesale arena.  Here is a post we done on selling items on Ebay.

3.  Freelance a skill or service-do you have a hobby?  A skill that others would pay for?  There are always people willing to pay you to do a service that either they do not want to do, or do not know how to do.  There are too many to mention here, but just a few that come to mind right away: Article writing for blogs or content providers, cleanig houses or cars, walking dogs in your neighborhood, window cleaning for local businesses-you get the idea.  The trick is to find something that is going to make you some extra money, but does not require a lot of overhead up front.

4.  Blogging-this one deserves a whole series of post (which it will get in the future).  You can make a  considerable amount of money by blogging, but it is a lot of work.  We make money from this blog as well as a couple of others, but the hourly wage is a very insignificant number.  When you are blogging, it really has to be about the passion and not the money.

5.  Extra work-everyone’s least favorite, this is one that we are going to implement this year as part of our Total Money Makeover. We are going to start by working extra hours that are available at our “day” jobs.  If these hours are no longer available, then getting a part-time job will be the next move.  I know that everyone thinks this economy is aweful, but those who want a job have one.  It may not be one that they prefer, or that is what they consider their “pay-grade”, but they have one none the less.

6.  Donate Plasma-we have done this for quite awhile, and it is similar to giving blood, only they give most of it back.  Without going into too much detail, blood plasma is used to make various medications.  The service we use pays $35 dollars per donation and you can donate twice a week.  For more information search for a Plasma Donation Center in your area.

Once again-you are not going to get rich by doing this, but our goal is freedom from debt; wealth will come later.  Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

What are your plans to increase income this year?  Have you tried any of the above?

Category: Finances | No Comments »
Tags: eliminate debt, extra income, extra money, surveys

Posted By Mr. Imperfect on January 18, 2009

Welcome! If you are new here, consider subscribing to our RSS feed to get post as soon as they are available. Not sure about RSS feeds? For a description, and a brief tutorial, check our RSS Page.

It is now a great time to begin a comparison shopping campaign if you do not already have one in place.  Finding great deals is awesome, as well as commendable, but saving money on a regular basis is a far better endeavor.  Then when you combine the deals with the weekly strategies you come out way ahead.

One of the easiest items to comparison shop is groceries.  Since grocery stores abound, you can usually find the same quality of product at several locations within a few miles.  The interesting fact is that in some cases the “everyday” price of these items will vary greatly (we have seen up to 30% differences on several staple goods).  The idea is to find what products are the cheapest at which stores and purchase the items at the best price.

We have seen and read about many different ways to comparison shop, and there is not one that is superior to the others.  It is all a matter of personal taste.  Ways people comparison shop:

1. Sales Papers- there are entire communities dedicated to this way of shopping.  If you look a little online you can probably find one for your area that will let you join free of charge.  The way they shop is by looking at the sales papers for the stores in there area, and then planning the weeks menu based on what is on sale for the week.  This is not a bad idea as long as you can make yourself conform to whatever is on sale that week.
2. Price Books-we had honestly never noticed this until we read this tip.  Since then we have noticed a few people each week carrying a book with them and writing things down as they went.  While this works for some, for us (we try to get out asap to avoid impulse shopping)  it slows down the shopping process too much.  The few times we tried to shop this way, it slowed us down by an average of 20 minutes per trip-not worth it to us.
3. Spread Sheets-This is not a perfect method, but it is the one we prefer.  We save our receipts (it took us around six weeks to get the all the items we use regularly) and then enter the data in a spread sheet.  We alternated where we bought items through various stores in our area for the six weeks listed until we got the information we needed.  Every week we enter in our receipts (takes about 5 minutes) and see where we stand.  The negative ti doing it this way is that you have to frequently either watch the prices and try to remember them, or alternate shop again (which causes a loss of money).  Luckily our savings have stayed steady, even through the price increases due to the high gas prices last year.

Just as an example, the store that has the best quality and price of meat for us has canned items (corn, peas, green beans, etc. that we use a lot of) for 89 cents a can.  Our second store just 2 miles away has the same cans for 41 cents a can.  Just this one area save us approximately $6 a week.

Comparison shopping is also great for other purchases, especially large ones, as well.  We have saved on our “normal” expenses by comparison shopping for prescriptions (seems almost everywhere has a local pharmacy, Wal-Mart, Kroger, CVS, and Walgreens competing for business), insurances, car maintenance items, etc.

A few considerations about comparison shopping:

• Make sure the payout is worth it.  It is of no use to spend 12 hours comparison shopping and save 12 cents.
• Consider all aspects when you compare.  I am mainly referring to appliances here, but I am sure other situations fit.  Consider the quality of the products you are comparing, the energy consumption, and warranty length of the product in question.
• Make it a habit and you will usually get the best deal that is available to you.

Thanks for reading, and we hope that you have a great and wonderful day.

Do you comparison shop?  What method works best for you?  What is the most you have saved?

Category: Finances, Frugality, Saving on Expenses | 1 Comment »
Tags: comparison shop, price list, save on expenses

Posted By Mr. Imperfect on January 14, 2009

Welcome! If you are new here, consider subscribing to our RSS feed to get post as soon as they are available. Not sure about RSS feeds? For a description, and a brief tutorial, check our RSS Page.

First of all I would like to say that we are coupon users through and through.  Using coupons is just one of the ways that we save on groceries.  This past week was kind of slim on the savings, so we were just wondering how many of you feel that coupons are a waste of time?

Our process usually goes something like this:

1. We get our Sunday paper early Sunday morning before church (if we wait until after they are usually all gone). Time-10min.
2. We check our usual websites and company web pages for weekly sales that are going on in our area. Time-45 min.
3. Next, we check the coupons that are inside the paper to see if any match products that are currently on sale. Time-30 min.
4. Lastly, we clip the ones we are going to use this week and file the rest for later storage. Time-5 min.

That is equal to one and a half hours of work.  Lets say that in your freelance business, or personal work that you average ten dollars per hour, you have just “spent” $15.  Factor in the cost of the newspaper and now you are at $17.

The question in play here is this-Can you save $17 by using the coupons for that week, and if so, is it worth it?  If by using coupons we save around $25, then we are only at “net” gain of $8.  With that figure we could easily make the money by writing a blog post, taking a few surveys, or many of our other endeavors within an hour and a half.

As for us, it is worth it.  We get some really good deals more often than not.  Also, this is a family gathering, so while all of this is going on (including the shopping) we are enjoying time together as a family.

If I were strictly looking at it as a way to save money and get ahead of the game, I am not sure I would continue doing it.  Most coupons are for brand name items.  We have a few things that we only use brand name products, but for the most part their generic or store brand counterparts are just as good (in a few cases better) and are cheaper even if you use a coupon on the brand name.

That is just a couple of our views on coupon use-what are your thoughts?  Do you have a system that really allows you to save tremendous amounts?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Category: Frugality, Saving on Expenses | 1 Comment »
Tags: coupon, coupon use, groceries, grocery shopping