Things to do Instead of Spending Money

If you're trying to keep a strict budget, one of the chief problems that can throw your whole life out of balance is that of boredom.  You might be saying to yourself "that's not such a bad problem".  In fact, some people might even consider the lack of having to do anything as a major luxury.  In our fast paced and busy world we live in, this can often be true, but if you are bored too often, this could spell a disaster for your finances.

Let me elaborate:

Often times, boredom is a rather unpleasant state we find ourselves in.  We try to find ways to avoid being bored, and we usually have "go to" methods for at least doing something.  If you're not careful, your "go to" boredom fix could be something very expensive such as eating out, going shopping, or other entertainment venues.  Before you know it, you find yourself spending way more money than you should have.  So how do we relieve our boredom in a fugal way?  If you're a home owner like myself, there are always an innumerable amount of tasks that should be done, but sometimes I like a little spice in my life.

This blog here suggests at least 56 things you can do that cost very little to nothing.  Most of them are pretty good ideas, however I would argue that they are not all cheap.  Entertaining friends can be pretty expensive if you're not careful.  That said, it's at least a good start to having you think outside of the "proverbial box" and come up with some different ideas.  For me, writing this here blog is often a nice hobby and keeps me thinking.  If I was a better writer, it could even be a source of income.  Either way, look to your own environment for some entertainment, and you'll be surprised at what you find.

Wonderful Moment of the Day: My impatiens seedlings have all sprouted and will be ready to plant soon enough!

Straight Razor Shaving

Over the weekend, my Wife and I had dinner with a coworker and good friend of hers who has the interesting hobby of shaving with a straight razor.  I have to admit that the idea of holding a large and razor sharp blade to my throat seems a little discouraging to me, and therefore I’ve never attempted it.  However, when I pressed him on why he decided to shave like this, he gave me a number of reasons first of which was the cost.

I’ve praised DollarShaveClub for the affordability of their disposable razors, and have enjoyed using them.  I was in disbelief that there was something cheaper out there other than not shaving.  The basic straight razor shaving kit is comprised of a razor, whetstone (or hone), a strop (piece of leather and canvas), brush, and shaving soap.  A simple Amazon search for these products of mid-range quality yielded the following estimated prices:

Razor = $50

Whetstone = $80

Strop = $26

Brush = $7

Soap = $12

Total Cost = $175

Right off the bat, this seems like a pretty large startup cost just to scrape the hair off my face.  Let’s look into these investments a little more closely.  First, you’ll want to take into consideration whether these purchases are 1 time or recurring.  The mid-level razor is probably good for about 4 years or so, the whetstone will last for life, the same with the strop and brush, and the soap might have to be purchased once a year.  The 4 year cost of shaving in this style is $211.  With DollarShaveClub, I upgraded to their mid-level razor and pay $6/month.  Over 4 years, this will have cost me $288 which also assumes they don’t increase the price.  

Conclusion: It definitely seems cost effective in the long run to shave with a straight razor.  Our friend also mentioned the non-tangible benefits such as creating a morning ritual out of the routine and connecting with his own masculinity.  Either way, I don’t think I’ll be shaving this way anytime soon, especially since my wife walks into the bathroom from time-to-time while I’m shaving and she has some pretty quick arm movements.  Heaven forbid I’m shaving the Adam’s apple during that time!

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Spring has finally arrived!

Unit Costing your Food Purchases

Everyone has experienced the difficulty in deciding which is the better deal when shopping at the grocery store.  The seemingly endless choices in dish soap or cereal are enough to make a frugally determined person quite frustrated.  Do I choose the generic brand, or do I go with the name brand that is conveniently on sale?  I’ve seen time and time again, price conscious consumers falling for the sale signs and “reduced priced” glamour only to still be paying more for a product in which they are not very brand conscious for. 

There is a very easy strategy to compare all the cereals, or dish soaps; look for the unit cost information just to the left of the price.  All products are required to have this information, and it essentially puts every like-minded product on the same playing field.  For example, what is the better deal, the generic dish soap that is $1.99 or the name brand soap that is on sale at $1.79?  Many people might pick the name brand soap, but what do the unit costs say?  The generic is $8/gallon and the generic even after the sale is $8.75/gallon.  You know that you are getting more product for your money if you went with the generic soap.

Product packaging and design is a multi-billion dollar business and one of the main goals (besides enticing you to buy the product), is to make the product look larger than it really is.  No wonder you might have a hard time comparing product prices when all the containers have slightly different amount in them.  This is the beauty of unit costs though; it doesn’t matter the sizes, because you can compare them all just in the same manner. 

Today, my Wife and I hardly ever even look at the actual price of a product, but instead look at the unit cost.  One word of caution though; sometimes the units may be a little different.  On the rare occasion, I’ve seen the unit cost listed (for example) as $/gallon and $/liter.  This may through things way out of whack, but this is usually a rare occurrence.  I’m not promising you that your grocery bills will be smaller with this shopping tactic, but I can guarantee that you will be getting much more for your money if you follow it.

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Been having a relatively easy week at work given that I just came back from a week long vacation.

Community Colleges Looking Better

In a recent article from CNN Money, it was reported that the average salary for a person starting out with an Associates degree is about $50,000/year, whereas the average for someone with a bachelor's degree is around $35,000.  How could this be?  Why does having 2 extra years of collegiate education warrant less money?  Something doesn't seem right here.

Upon digging into the article and reading further, you'll find out that most people who graduate with an associates degree are trained in "skills" jobs such as medical equipment technicians, dental hygienists, etc...  These middle skilled jobs have a relatively high starting salary, and there is also a need for these types of workers.

What struck me most was this paragraph in particular:

"Although these figures vary widely by profession, associate's degree recipients, on average, end up making about $500,000 more over their careers than people with only high school diplomas, but $500,000 less than people with bachelor's degrees, the Georgetown center calculates."

If you were wondering whether an associates degree is a better deal than a bachelor's degree, it still appears that those with bachelor degrees end up catching up to and surpassing those with an associates.     Associates degrees are definitely a worthwhile degree to pursue, especially if you are trained in a particular skill, but the traditional 4 year bachelor's still remains on top.

Wonderful Moment of the Day:  Having my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and their three kids drop bye for the weekend.

6 Month Ting Update

If you haven't been an avid reader of my blog here, then you may be unaware of the potential benefits of switching your phone plan over to a discount provider.  About 6 months ago, my Wife and I switched over to discount service provider called Ting, and the results have been pretty great thus far.

Here are the previous posts on the subject:
Post 1
Post 2

It's time for a 6 month checkup to see if the results have been fruitful as I have hoped.  Over the past 6 months, I have spent a total of $352.29 which includes purchasing two refurbished LG Optimus's (Optimi??).  Taking away the cost of the phone, this works out to a bill of about $40/month.  Previously, I had been with Verizon, had 2 simple feature phones and was paying over $88/month.  If I had stuck with them, I would have spent a total of $616.

If there was ever any doubt on whether you should switch, consider what you would do with another $264 in your pocket.  Overall, the service has been great, and the phones have been working fine.  The only downside I can see is that the phones work on the Sprint network which is rather sub-par when compared to Verizon or AT&T. 

While we're on the subject of cost cutting and bill reduction, here's another concept that as saved my Wife and I tons of cash...get rid of your cable bill.  I know, I know, the thought of only having a set of bunny ears on your TV may be terrifying, but think of what you are currently paying.  Cable bills can range anywhere between $20 - $200/month and can literally drain you of money.  The promise of more entertaining shows is a hard thing to give up, but try this exercise when deciding what you want.  Write down a list of all the TV or movie channels/shows you actually watch.  Don't write down the ones you would like to see, just the ones you currently watch.  Does this start revealing a picture of your actual usage?  Chances are, you don't make much use of the 200+ channels at your disposal.  Possibly downgrading to a more simple package might be worth it.

If you want to take a more extreme step, you can consider cancelling your cable TV altogether.  There are many more ways of fulfilling your entertainment needs today then there ever was.  As a first stop, try this sub-reddit.  My Wife and I have been off of cable for over 4 years and haven't looked back since.

Wonderful Moment of the Day:  Rides from friends!

Save Some Money on your Cable Bill

We all have frustrations with the cable company.  In fact, back in June Yahoo Finance posted an article listing the top 15 most hated companies, and cable companies racked some of the top spots.  What make this so?  My own opinion is that consumers feel like they're trapped.  With municipalities contracting with certain cable providers, you almost experience a sudo sanctioned monopoly in your area.  What's a smart consumer like yourself supposed to do.  Well, I have one option that saved me a few bucks.

Before you even begin, you need to examine what you really need as far as cable.  Are you really watching the 500 channels you are subscribed to?  Do you just need local access?  Maybe a pair of bunny ears is a better investment?  Do you need cable TV at all?  For me, the last question is a no brainer.  My Wife and I hardly ever watch TV, and so we use bunny ears to get the local channels, and pay for a basic Internet plan.  Needless to say, my cable provider decided to pull a fast one on us a month ago by charging an arbitrary $5 fee per month for renting a modem.  We've had a modem for years, and now the company was just looking for a new source of revenue.  Well, here's what I did:

Cable Company: Good morning, how can I help you?
Me: Hi, I'd like to cancel my Internet subscription.  The price is too high?
Cable Company: OK, well let me just see if we have a promotion for you.

....a minute goes by....

Cable Company: Good news, you qualify for a $7/month discount on your subscription for the next year.
Me: Great, let's do that.  Have a great day!

There you have it.  I just saved an additional $84 in the next year.  It's not alot, but every little bit helps.  What's key in this discussion is that you say you will cancel your Internet.  If you say something like "I see one of your competitors has a lower rate", you probably won't get anywhere.  Cable companies know their competitor's rates, and can probably call your bluff.  If the cable operator starts going through the process of cancelling your subscription, just say no thank you, "I've changed my mind", and get off the phone.  Nothing will happen if you do this.

Hopefully, your experiences with your cable provider will be pleasant, and this article will bring you a little discount in the new year.

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Cat loves new Cat Tower!

Getting and MBA for Almost Nothing

I’ve written a number of times about the ever increasing cost of education (here, here, and here), and it’s getting to the point of “bubble” classification.  In light of such news, going back to school to achieve an MBA or some other form of higher education can seem downright daunting.  There is hope for you frugally minded and career driven folks.  Many employers today encourage worthy workers to go back and get their degrees and they’ll often times shell out some cash in the process.  Below is a recount of my tale and how I spent only $1,950 to achieve and MBA.

The first question you need to ask yourself is whether going back to school is even right for you?  Some issues that I weighed while making this decision were the following: would I have time to do well? Should I do a part time or full time program?  Will this degree from X school help me in my career?  What were my financial constraints?  For the purposes of this particular article, we’ll assume that you’ve already made the choice to go back to school and achieve an advanced degree.  Now, let’s discuss how you’re going to fund your new-found educational experience.

Pick a Part-Time Program over a Full-Time Program

When going back to school, you could decide to quit your job, go back to work full-time, and finish your degree in about 2 years depending on the program.  Whereas this experience might save a year of your life, the downsides in my opinion far outweigh any benefits that extra year could provide.  You will not get any potential employer subsidies, you will not be earning a salary and have to pay tuition, and these 2 years of not working don’t really count towards your employment experience.  Instead, consider a part-time program.  Mine was 3 years, 2 full courses and 1 mini course a semester (with 1 summer course), employer subsidized, and those 3 years working to get my degree count as 3 years of real work experience.  If your 30 years old at the end of your part-time schooling, you would have 8 years of real work experience (graduated undergrad at the age of 22), whereas you would only have 6 years of experience in a full-time program.

How to Go Back to School for Almost Nothing

This is ultimately what you came here to read about, and it’s not some hidden secret.  The answer…get your employer to pay for your education.  Easier said than done, right?  Well, even if going back to school and getting an advanced degree is a goal 5 years done the road, this next step needs to be in the back of your head now.  If you are currently searching for employment, make sure to inquire about your potential employer’s tuition reimbursement plan.  If you’re lucky like I was, then they already have something set up for those worthy enough to get approved.  This question can also be a good topic to discuss in your interview as it shows that you are a driven candidate and that you have goals to improve yourself.

If you are currently employed and happy with your employer, then research to see if your company has some sort of tuition reimbursement policy.  You might have to talk to your HR rep as these things are not always conveniently published.

What do you do if your company currently doesn’t have a tuition reimbursement policy?  The first thing you need to do is set up an appointment with your manager, discuss your goals, and see if something can be worked out.  Often times these types of situations occur in small companies with the owner overseeing everything.  I had a friend in my program who worked for a small custom door manufacturer.  He asked his boss if he would cover his education in exchange for working there at least another 5 years, and they agreed.  If you’re company does not offer tuition reimbursement, and they never plan on doing it, then it might be a good idea to start looking elsewhere. 

Proving to Your Employer that You are Worth it

The last tactic to achieve tuition reimbursement from your employer is to prove that you are worth it.  This comes from your everyday behavior in your place of work.  Be responsible, prove yourself valuable, and excel in what you do.  Have semi-frequent conversations with your manager about you career and self-improvement goals.  Eventually, you will need to have the conversation about how an MBA will help you in the workplace, but make sure you tell them how it will help your employer as well.  This is the final secret I have to offer.  They are essentially investing in you and you have to prove that their investment is worth the expense. 

My own reimbursement strategy was organized through me showing my grades to my HR department.  For every A or A-, I was reimbursed 100%, B was 80% and C was 50%.  The only reason I had to pay $1,950 throughout my 3 years was because my employer would only reimburse me at the 50% mark for pass/fail classes (otherwise known as mini 1 credit courses).  These cost me $650, and I had to take 6 of them.  I survived 3 job movements throughout my MBA program and had over 4 managers throughout the process, but as long as you prove your worth you should be fine.  Another arrangement to my reimbursement was that I would have to pay back a pro-rated amount of my reimbursed tuition if I were to leave the company before 2 years after my last payment disbursement.  A fair arrangement if you ask me.

An MBA can be a great advantage on your resume, and can offer a world of opportunities.  Even more beneficial is all the knowledge that came in the form of understanding the underlying issues at stake in most business decisions.  You too can go back to school for almost nothing.  You just have to ask the right questions and do your homework.

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Received half of the parts in my new PC-build…a post about this to come soon.

The Power of Metrics when Buying a Car

Buying a new car is never an easy experience.  Your filled with all sorts of conflicting emotions ranging from anxiety, to sheer excitement.  During this rare lifetime event, you may even be persuaded to spend more than you originally thought.  After it's all over, you come out with a large monthly payment and maybe some regrets, but I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be that way.  My secret weapon when shopping for a new car is the use of metrics, and I'll highlight one here that may be useful to you.

I cannot tell you the importance of metrics when comparing two complicated purchases.  Think about all the variables that go into purchasing a new or used car; how many miles does it have, will it have a warranty, what are the extended features, etc...  Depending on your resolve, you could end up with all sorts of prices.  My first step when purchasing a car is to determine what make and model I want to purchase.  This is sort of the pre-work that you must do before you even get to the dealership.  Research online whether the car you want has good reviews, talk to other people that may have this car, and see if you can "test drive" a friend's car.  This type of pre-work will help you build some resolve and get through the dealer experience unscathed.

Now that you are at the dealership and know what kind of car you wish to buy, the next step is to determine which car is the better value.  Below is an example of 3 Toyota Prius' (I believe Priora is the plural), each with different manufacturer years and different mileage.  To best compare these vehicles, I created a metric called $/Life (or how many $ per mile left in the car I will have to pay).  The basic formula is (Price/(200,000-current mileage)).  I figure 200,000 is a good mileage for the life of a car.  If you're a frugal person like myself, then you're going to drive your car until it's dead!  If you feel uncomfortable using the 200,000 mile limit, you can switch it to 100,000 miles or whatever else you like.

Based on the metric, you can see that the 2008 model prius is the best deal given the current mileage and price.  Now this should not be the end all, be all in your buying decision.  Understand that each car has different features and model years could be very different from each other.  Where this type of comparison comes in real handy is if you are comparing the same model year and make between dealerships. 

Next time you have to buy a car, give this a shot or create your own metric.

Wonderful Moment of the Day: 3 days until Thanksgiving!

The Continued Benefits of Ting.com

Back in September, I wrote about our new phone plan search.  The Wife and I were longtime fans and users of Verizon, but our contract was expiring, and we just felt that we were getting charged way too much and that getting smart phones through them would cost and arm and a leg.  Since the writing of the last article, we bit the bullet, dropped Verizon and moved our numbers and plans onto the startup Ting.com which is owned by a domain provider called Tucows.

If you recall from my previous article, Ting seemed to make the most sense for what I was looking for in a phone provider; cheap bills, nationwide service, no prepaid minutes, and a reliable customer service experience.  With Verizon, my wife and I had to LG feature phones with texting disabled which cost us around $78/month.  All that is after you deduct 20% of the bill due to a corporate discount my company has with Verizon.  This seemed way too much money for what we were getting.  Sure, the phone service was great and I hardly ever had a dropped call, but we were living in the 90's and wanted to make the jump into at least 2005.

We signed up for Ting through their simple online form which basically consisted of telling them my old Verizon account numbers and our old phone numbers.  In a matter of a week, we got our first two LG Optimus' (Optimi?) and were on our way.  The setup was rather simple too, however there were a few problems along the way.  Since we were buying refurbished phones, mine didn't have any sound and my wife's broke down after about a week of use.  No worries, Ting has a year warranty on all phones, and so we promptly received two more at no cost.  They even supplied a return box which to send the old phones.  Ting does have better phones, but once a cheap guy always a cheap guy.  The initial purchase of the phones were only $68 a piece which is far from the top of the line models you see out there now.

Now the good news.  As the image at the top of the blog suggests, my new monthly payment was $46.79 netting me a savings of at least $30/month.  Ting has a graduated payment plan which means you pay for what you use on a step basis.  This first month, I used a bunch of minutes since I was downloading apps and playing around.  I expect this to go down drastically and will probably only be paying about $35-$40 per month.  Doing a little math, and I find out that in a little over 4 months, I have saved enough money to pay for the purchase of the two new smart phones, and over two years (which would have been signing onto a new contract) I will have saved $720.  Think of all the stuff you could use $720 for.  If you're not happy with your current phone plan or company, considering switching today.

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Had a delicious ham, salami, and capricola ham sub for dinner!

Taking Advantage of Corporate Perks

Whether you work for a huge multi-national company or a local mom & pop shop, chances are, there are company perks you should be taking advantage of.  If you haven't noticed by now, I actually still work for a bank, and have enjoyed many of the company perks ranging from health care to discounted phone plans, to discounted gym memberships.  Whatever your story is, you should do a little research and figure out if your company offers some sweet deals.

This blog concept came to me as I was experiencing one of the local benefits this past Saturday.  Myself, the wife, and another couple with their small child had free tickets to see our local aquarium.  This was in part due to my company donating to this aquarium, and in repayment, they offered a free visit day.  It was a fun time filled with sea lion shows, and exotic fish.  As I was walking around and became face-to-face with a sturgeon, I realized that I'm pretty good at rooting out company perks.

I like to think of company perks ranging from a few different levels.  The most fundamental and basic is a health care plan.  This may or may not include dental, eye, or any other sort of health benefits.  Along the same topic of fundamental needs based perks, your company most likely will offer some form of retirement plan whether it is a common 401k or the increasingly elusive company pension.  All these benefits fit into a basic needs category.  One perk I took extreme advantage of was tuition reimbursement which essentially allowed me to achieve my MBA for free.

Next up on the list of perks are the local discounts.  Most companies offer discounted movie tickets through their HR office, or maybe even a reduced gym membership.  My company had an arrangement with a few gyms and also 20% my Verizon phone bill.  Along with this group comes the free activity perks such as aquariums, zoos, and museums.

Finally, the next group belongs in sort of a consumer discount group.  Companies are starting to subscribe to discounted vendors that offer a web portal to many more discounts throughout the world.  You could see travel discounts are deals from technology stores.  It pretty much runs the gamut.  These types of deals are nice when you are really looking for something.

The point of this isn't for me to brag, but to make you aware that these type of deals exist out there, and you should do a little research and find out what your company has to offer.  You may be surprised...

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Coming home to a chicken pot pie...yum!

Dishwasher Shopping

There comes a time in  man's life when he must admit defeat.  That time came last week when our dishwasher broke.  I know, I know, you must be asking yourself why an independent man such as myself needs a dishwasher anyway?  I have my good old fashioned hands for the job, but let me tell you that I spent my whole life without a dishwasher, and this luxury is amazing when it comes to time management and water used.  Believe it or not, the total water used by a dishwasher is less then the amount you would use washing by hands. <citation here>  But that's not the point of this post.  Instead, I want to tell you how I got a great deal on the product.  Let me also put the caveat that my wife and I did take apart the whole machine to see if we could fix it, read the manual, and even had a repair guy come over.  Turns out the part that needed replacement cost as much as a new machine.

Before you purchase something like a dishwasher, you have to ask yourself whether it makes financial sense. Given the aforementioned citation, it looks like I may save about $40/year in water and electricity.  Besides the tangible costs, the intangible include my own time, my wife's time, and also the value of my property.  Overall, if I buy a cheap-medium grade dishwasher, I believe that it will pay for itself in about 4 years or so.

Once you've done a basic financial analysis, you can start shopping around.  In my case, I looked at the mainstays (Home Depot and Lowes), but I also checked a few other online retailers, and even a couple local shops.  I read all the reviews on dishwashers, and even did some searches for "best value" makes and models.  This led me to a 24in Frigidaire.  Lowe's gave it a 3 stars, and Home Depot gave it 4.  That's about what I'm looking for, as long as it washes the dishes half way decent.

Next came a road trip to both stores.  Both offered the same retail price and were willing to match at around $259.  This is where the fun happens.  Now, I'm not recommending one store or the other.  In fact, I think they both have their pluses and minuses, but the Home Depot salesman was not willing to give us anything below $259.  So, we hiked on over to Lowes, and talked it up with the Salesman.  He was a genuine fellow who laughed along with us.  He said he would match the $259, and use our $20 coupon bringing the total down to $239.  As he was ringing us out, something amazing happened; with a few key stroke, he too off another $50, bringing the total pre-tax cost to $189!  He laughed, said we were good people, and also reminded us that he doesn't make a commission.  I don't know if he used some sort of employee pricing, or somehow over-rided the system, but I was not about to ask the questions.  We thanked him for his kindness and walked out of there.

I attribute only the first $20 of my experience to actual frugal discipline and smart consumerism, but there is something else to be learned here; that additional $50 in savings were the result of the salesperson liking us.  Granted, we got lucky, but we also had a good time with the salesman before any discount was applied.  Next time you're about to buy something, remember that the store staff are people too and treat them with a little alacrity.  Now for my own installation...

Wonderful Moment of the Day:  This didn't happen today, but my story above was pretty freakin wonderful!

Exploring a New Phone Plan

I'm always on the look out for deals.  If you haven't figured out by now, I'm pretty OCD when it comes to research, and I've been itching at finding a better phone plan since my current service with Verizon will be expiring on September 24th.  The coverage was great, however I only have 2 simple feature phones between my wife and myself.  Even with my company discount of 20% off the phone charge, I still pay about $68/month before taxes.  We only use about 200 minutes per month and even have texting disabled.  Needless to say, I feel like I'm getting slightly ripped off, and have made it my part time job to find a new phone plan.

Examining the main carriers of Verizon and AT&T, I've come to the conclusion that these companies have a virtual duopoly on the cell phone market.  Upgrading to a smart phone with either of these institutions will cost me between $100-$200/month.  That's likely having an additional car payment!  So lets examine my other options.  Note that each section includes a financial analysis which incorporates NPV.  A two year plan in today's dollars (assuming a yearly inflation of 3%) would cost me $1,632.


Operating on the Sprint network (as do the rest of these plans), Virgin mobile is defining itself as one of the best cheap alternative carriers on the market.  It has modern phones and cheap monthly plans with unlimited talk and text.  Before taxes, and buying the cheapest Android enabled smart phone ($40/person), I would be looking at  bill of approximately $1,709 over 2 years.  Not exactly a savings over time, however I would be upgrading to smart phones.


Net10 seems like a good alternative.  It incorporates the same basic features of normal prepaid phone plans and appears to have some decent phones.  I'm hesitant to jump into prepaid phone plans due to persistent attention needed in order to keep your phone service.  What I don't like about this plan system is that most of the plans are use it or loose it type deals.  If you don't use your allocated minutes within  30 day period, you loose them.  This seems like too much work.  Looking at the financials, I would probably have to use 2 $45 minute plans over 60 days which amounts to $45/month.  However, like most prepaid plans, you have to buy your minutes upfront ($90/person for their cheapest Android phone).  Total cost would be $1,227.  Not too bad, however I would have to go to the Sprint network and their remains questions about porting my phone number.


Pageplus is another interesting prepaid phone plan distributor.  Assuming I could only use 10mb of information per month (highly unlikely), then I would be fine with the $12 plan/month.  Their cheapest Android enabled phone is $80 (not sure if I would want a Kyocera), which would total a pretax cost to me of $718.  Now we're really getting in the savings.  Pageplus looks much more simple to use, and their coverage map is far more robust.  However, this still feels like I'm compromising.

This brings me to Ting.  Ting is a relatively new company with a quirky way of going about the phone business.  You sign up for recurring monthly plans on the Sprint network, and if you go over, you just get upgraded to the next highest plan for that month (which is also cheap).  Phone selection is very good and always expanding, and their blog is pretty interesting.  There are no overage fees, and Ting will reimburse you for minutes you don't use bringing you down to the plan that fits your habits.  This alone is something no other organization will do.  Total cost to me is about $1,051 for 2 years.  Not the cheapest option, but the service looks great, I could end up paying less, and I can have a family plan and port my old numbers.  There is even a possibility to keep my current phones in the future, but I would like to upgrade from a feature phone.  Ting looks like it will be my option and by switching over, I'll save about $531 over two years for a better phone.  Not too shabby in my opinion.

I'll write about my experience again in the future once I have a couple of months under my belt, but I just wanted to show you the type of analysis I undergo when completing a large purchase.

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Saving big on phone service!

Shaving on the Cheap with Dollar Shave Club

I hate paying more money than I have to, and this goes doubly so for products I feel I must purchase and have no choice on the cost.  Specifically, I'm referring to the obscene markups in male shavers and shaving products.  A quick search on Amazon brings up the following prices: $18.49 for 8 mach 3 razors (or $2.31/blade).  This also doesn't include the cost of shipping, or the handle that comes with it.  I picked the Mach 3, because I think it's a pretty standard shaver that everyone is familiar with.  If you are gifted with a perpetual 5 o'clock shadow such as myself, you can understand how I go through one of these blades a week.  Over the course of a year, my razor expense is about $600/year.  There has to be a better way.

Along came Dollar Shave Club with their cheeky Youtube video and business model.  I thought to myself that this was definitely something worth the effort.  On their website, you are presented with 3 blade options; the humble twin (a simple twin bladed shaver), the 4x, and the Executive which is a whopping 6 bladed razor.  How the program works is determined by which blade you decide.  If you want to go with the simple twin, you pay $1 per month which is automatically charged the same day each month to your credit card, and receive a handle along with 5 blades.  You heard me right, $1 per month which includes shipping and handling!  At the time when I ordered from Dollar Shave Club, the simple twin was out of stock (something to do about communist dolphins hijacking their shipment) however, I decided to splurge a little and purchase the 4X.  I was not disappointed. The 4X came in a little paper envelope along with 4 blades and some merchandise advertising.  You can see the layout in the image below.

My Dollar Shave Club Package

The price came out to $6 per month which translates to $72/year, a net saving of $528 for me.  If you decide to go up to the Executive, you will only receive 3 blades per month at a cost of $9, but you are buying a 6 bladed razor!

Dollar Shave Club's business model is sound: provide simple cheap razors with good quality and people will buy them.  They also have a funny marketing department and seem to have a generally happy time in their jobs.  There is no locking in contracts, and you can cancel, upgrade, or downgrade your razor at any time.  They even have a pretty sweet referral process.  If you refer someone as a customer, you get a free month of shaving.  Do this enough, and you'll never have to pay for razors again.  That said, if you feel that my blog has been helpful to you at all and want to contribute in some small way, purchasing your razors at Dollar Shave Club through this link will help me greatly!

Oh, I forgot to mention that the actual shaving experience was a delight as well.  Women, be warned though.  My wife tried out one of the 4X blades and did not enjoy the experience...if only Dollar Shave Club offered a female version!

Take advantage of all the consumer opportunities available to you today and never pay for razors more than you need to again!

Wonderful Moment of the Day - Playing with my kitties!

Take Advantage of Your Library

Bates Hall in the Boston Public Library

I'm often amazed at the American institution known as the public library.  Think about it from a business perspective.  "Guys, I've got a great idea!  Let's set up a building where we house thousands of books containing information gathered from all the reaches of the world.  Let's also set up some computers, buy a bunch of DVD's and CD's and make this resource available to the public.  On top of that, let's allow people to borrow this information for the price of .... FREE!" Sounds kind of crazy doesn't it?

The amount of trust provided by a city's library is nothing short of amazing.  A couple weeks past, my nieces and nephew were visiting and since they are <8 years old, I knew that I needed something to entertain them in their down time.  Being the ever frugal person, I decided to hike on over to my public library and check out some kids movies.  I walk in and am amazed that they have thousands of kids DVD's free for rental.  You can even hold on to them for 10 days.  I grabbed 4 cases (Wallace and Grommit, Carmen Sandiego, The Muppets Show, and Fraggle Rock), check out at one of their self-check out kiosks, and am out the door in less then 10 minutes (9 of those minutes were actually spent looking for the right movies).  If you stop to think about, this is an amazing service provided to all of us for free.

Unless you live in some remote part of the US (sorry all you international readers, but I'm certain you have something similar) chances are you have a public library somewhere pretty close to where you live.  The modern library system as we know it today has its roots in the invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg.  Since printed material become exponentially cheaper and faster to produce, we could now start storing the information in public buildings so the general public could become more educated.  In the U.S., libraries started to gain track in the mid 18th Century.  One of the biggest advocates of the library system was Benjamin Franklin.  Benjamin's library operated by people paying for a subscription so that the library could buy more books.  People who had this subscription could then borrow any of the books belonging to the library.  Lets also keep in mind that this was a time in which income tax was non-existent, so there was little other choice to fund this endeavor.  Today, libraries are mostly funded through our income and property taxes.

So, how can I maximize myself and my life through the use of my public library?  I think the answer is obvious here in that you should start your own reading lessons.  Anything you could ever want to learn is located in your library and it also includes a bunch of extremely cheap (free) entertainment.  There is literally nothing cheaper to both enrich and occupy your life.  You can even request a book to be ordered by the library so that you can get some additional resources.  With all these benefits, it is almost stupid to never stop bye.  Take the time, and visit your local library soon!

Wonderful Moment of the Day: Picking up a free financial book to read at my local library.