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In this issue:
Introduction
What Is Debt?
The Curse of Perfectionism
Holiday Calling Tips
That's Outrageous!
Tips, Quips, Quotes & Questions
On www.Stretcher.com This Week
Hello to all my Frugal Friends!
Hope all your holiday planning, parties and tasks are going well. Wanted to remind you that we have a wealth of ideas on the website www.stretcher.com Everything from last minute and inexpensive gift ideas to calming thoughts when the 'to do' list seems like an impossibility!
All the Best!
Actually it is the end result of poor financial planning, bad thinking habits and/or sadly, an unfortunate event that took place in our life. The tool used is the system of credit, the overuse of it. Too much credit is the ability to go into debt and too much debt is the inability to obtain more credit when needed; like buying a house. Debt is a maggot that shows no discrimination in relation to social status, race, religion, etc. It has no demographic boundaries; it will feed upon and chew away the dignity and self-respect of anyone in its path. Debt starts out tiny, then it takes over and get out of control. Debt is not good, no matter how small it may appear, it is a system that have no feelings. When does it appear and in what form? Certain things and events in our lives make us vulnerable to this maggot. Poor financial management skills are one source of when debt can appear into our lives. Not everyone has been taught the proper way of handling their finances, events in which we have no control over such as death of a spouse, loss of job or disability caused by an accident are without question, times in which debt can come into our lives. It also can creep into our lives while we are wide-awake by tempting us with spending above our means. It can appear in the form of credit cards, car loans, and store brand charge cards, unsecured loans of various sorts and the now popular payday loans; these are just a few forms in which debt can appear. We often rely on the tool credit to give us instant gratification, regardless if we can afford it or not. When we look at our finances that way, we become part of a trap that does not allow us to view the real cost of the things we purchase. Often times than not we rely on credit rather than trust ourselves to save our way to the things we want. We start feeling nervous when the bills arrives and depressed when we realize there is not enough money to pay the bills in full, only part of the bills get paid and therefore, balances are carried over into the next cycle which will ultimately lead to finance charges. This process continues as you keep charging and borrowing, the next thing you know it has spiraled out of control and you lose your grip. Ruby Wallace is the author of "Being Smart about Credit and Debt". Email her at paybillz@onebox.com From the book, "Being Smart about Credit and Debt" There's a rule known as the Pareto Principle. It teaches us that 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our results. The additional 80% of our efforts will only yield an additional 20% of results. The first thrust of effort then is the most productive use of our time. The latter thrust is very costly. For example, let's say you allocate 2 hours (which we'll represent as 20% of your time) to clean a room, a basement, or a garage. Let's say that will you will be able to get it to be 80% clean. It won't be perfect, but it will be acceptable and a job well done. However, to squeeze out an additional 20% of results, to make it "perfectly clean", will require an additional 80% of your time, or 8 hours. The additional results are sixteen times more costly than the initial results from 20% of the effort, not to mention that while you're trying to squeeze out those additional results, you are kept from doing a lot of other more productive things. This rule has a lot of application to you as a time manager. Ever notice if you're in sales how 20% of your customers give you 80% of your sales and the other 80% of your customers give you the remaining 20% of your business? Where then should you be spending 80% of your time? With the 20% of the customers who are giving you 80% of your business. Ever notice how 20% of your relatives give your 80% of your headaches? It may not always work with exact mathematical precision, but, typically, the small chunk of input yields the biggest chuck of output or results. Most of us benefit from this rule intuitively. When you and I approach a task (clean a room, prepare a term paper, write up a project, etc.) we decide to put in a reasonable amount of time and effort to achieve a reasonable result. The result may not be perfect but it will be acceptable and this will free us to devote our time to tackling other endeavors. We put in a reasonable amount of time and produce a pretty decent report. It may not be perfect, but putting in a whole lot more time to make it a little better is not cost-effective and therefore not worth the effort. Those who suffer from the Curse of Perfectionism do not understand this principle. Their goal is always perfection, which, realistically, is unattainable. For example, you cannot clean a room perfectly. As you clean it, it's getting dirty as dust settles. Any written report can be polished and improved upon with more time and effort. Striving for perfection is then always stressful and frustrating. Their overall productivity suffers as they spend an inordinate amount of time on a few things, trying to make them perfect, rather than a lesser amount of time on a lot of things that will multiply their results. The curse is cured when they abandon the need to do their tasks perfectly, when they understand that excellence in performance is attaining a degree of perfection, not absolute perfection. This does not compromise one's standard of excellence in performance. It enhances excellent performance with increased results. For a humorous break for you and to share with others, get your free copy now of my short article, "You Just Might A Workaholic". (If you use your cell phone in the shower to return business calls in the morning before work, you might just be a workaholic. If you set your alarm for 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. so you can check your voicemail, well, you just might be a workaholic.) It's free and fun. To get yours now, email your request for "might" to: mailto:ctsem@msn.com Receive your free Timely Time Management Tips on a regular basis in your email to increase your personal productivity and get more out of every day? Sign up now for your free "TIMELY TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS". Just go to: www.topica.com/lists/timemanagement and select "subscribe".
Consumers seem to be in one of three groups now: worried about the economy in general, worried about their own job or laid off and hunting for work. With the U.S. economy shrinking for the first time in eight years and 401K plans evaporating, people are looking for ways to reduce their bills. However, phone bills can increase during the holiday season. Infrequent long-distance users could use some helpful advice. Here are 10 tips to help consumers reduce household budgets by shaving dollars off phone bills: Three tips for calling from the road: 1. Never dial zero to use a calling card. Instead, dial the toll-free access number for your card. Unlike the old days when dialing zero connected you to one network (AT&T), there are now many long distance companies. If a phone is setup to route calls via AT&T, WorldCom or Sprint, dialing zero to use other companies calling cards will cost you a $4.99 initial fee. The rate-per-minute will be different as well. 2. When making calls from hotels or relatives' homes consider using your mobile phone. Do you have a cell phone that does not charge roaming fees? If there are minutes remaining on a "national" monthly cellular plan, making calls with the cell phone won't cost you (or your relatives) anything more than you're already paying each month. 3. If you don't have a calling card or good cellular plan, 10-10 "dial-around" plans can come in handy for calls from relatives' homes. Just because a relative has an expensive long distance plan (millions of people pay as much as 30 cents a minute for state-to-state calls) is no reason to stick them with a high bill. And if you plan to reimburse them for your calls, the best 10-10 plans can reduce that rate to a nickel or less a minute. Another 10-10 number benefit is billing itemized separately with the local phone bill. Simply make sure you're using a 10-10 number that no one else dials from that phone. Then when their next bill comes, you can reimburse the amount due for that particular plan. No need to search for phone calls or break out the calculator. Three tips for saving on U.S. calls: 4. Don't confuse "nights and weekends" special rates with "evenings" discounts. Some plans offer lower rates after 7 pm every day, charging regular daytime rates before that hour on weekends. 5. Watch out for Universal Service Fund (USF) charges. Users who only make instate calls will not see any federal USF charges added to their bill. However, phone companies typically add between 9 and 10 percent to the cost of interstate and international calls to reimburse funds they must pay the federal government. If you find your usage shifting to more out-of-state calls, consider a plan with a flat monthly USF fee. As an example, some plans add a flat monthly fee between $1.12 and $1.44. This is good news to people with long distance usage over $15, but bad news for low volume users. 6. Always ask if the in-state long distance rate for your plan is different than the state-to-state rate. A common regret is finding that long distance calls within your state cost more than calls to other states. Some plans that provide evening or weekend discounts off state-to-state rates don't do the same for in-state calls. If this is the case with your plan, start shopping around for another. Four tips for making international calls: 7. Never assume that a plan with low rates for U.S. calls has good rates for international calls. You could get charged several dollars per minute unless you sign up for an international calling plan. 8. If you are just making one or two short international calls during the holidays, it may not be worth a $3 or $4 calling plan fee. Often the best deals with no monthly fees or commitments come from the 10-10 plans. Rates to popular call destinations such as Germany and the United Kingdom can be less than 10 cents per minute. 9. A recent U.S. telecommunications trend is callers paying higher rates to place international calls to mobile devices (wireless phones, pagers, military devices). This policy is confusing to Americans who are used to seeing a person accepting incoming calls on a mobile phone paying for those calls. In many other countries the person calling to a mobile phone or pager pays a higher rate to do so. Phone companies are increasingly passing these higher costs on to consumers. 10. This final tip is more about saving you frustration than money. While most international calls require dialing "011" before the phone number, that is not necessary for calling Canada or Caribbean countries. For those destinations, simply dial 1 plus area code and phone number. Another tricky thing about international phone numbers is area codes that start with "0." In some countries like England calls within the country may require dialing "0" as the first digit of some area codes. When calling from the U.S. you will need to drop the initial "0" in area codes for the call to go through. Courtesy of the consumer advocacy site 10-10PhoneRates.com. The site often provides notice of rate increases or decreases the day they take effect, and occasionally in advance, whenever phone companies announce plans early. 10-10PhoneRates.com does not sell any phone services or take commissions from phone companies.
When I bought my Gateway PC, I was told that if I bought an extended warranty or extra software, I'd be eligible for their trade-in program. According to the offer, you can trade in your Gateway computer toward a new Gateway from two to four years after purchase. I paid for the extended warranty just so I could trade in my computer at a later date. My computer is now three years old, and I called to find out its trade-in value.
According to Gateway, my computer has no value as a trade in. The customer service representative told me that Gateway has no control over what the computers are worth, but if they offer a trade in (which, remember, is not free) within two to four years, I think they imply they're going to offer something for the computer if the customer trades it in within that time period. The customer service rep told me I might have gotten something if I'd traded it in after two years, but I don't think that makes Gateway's practice any less deceptive. Really, no home computer is going to be worth anything after four years, yet they continue with this "offer." I love my Gateway, but I'll never buy another computer or anything else from this company.
Now it's your turn! Just send an email to: outrage@stretcher.com and tell us what drives you crazy! You'll feel better for venting!
more recommendations, including some of the methods used to evaluate water, at www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217a.cfm
Please send your tips to Tips@stretcher.com If we use your tip or reply to 'Can You Help' in any of our publications we'll send you the next three issues of our print newsletter as a 'thank you'.
What Is Debt?
Female Car Buyers
The Curse of Perfectionism
Holiday Calling Tips
7 Tips for Giving Allowances
How long can a bank hold your check?
Does it pay to refinance with a 15-year mortgage?
The difference between interest rates and APRs
Don't Forget Fido & Fluffy
Cooking with Powdered Milk
Auto Insurance
Bottled Water for Less
Another Interest Rate Cut
Eggs In One Basket
What a Year
Clout at Community College Prices
A Great Mortgage
When to dump a mutual fund
Do I have to File a tax return?
Internet stock option tax headaches
Writing off a PDA
Taxes on a stock-related court settlement
Remote Starter Switches
Textured Paint
Readers' Tips
Tax Greetings
A Green Christmas
Withering
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by Ruby Wallace
by Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
by Richard Sayers
Gateway's Trade-In "Benefit"
contributed by Clare C.
Introduction
by Gary Foreman
gary@stretcher.com
Gary
What Is Debt?
by Ruby Wallace
The Curse of Perfectionism
by Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
Holiday Calling Tips
by Richard Sayers
That's Outrageous!
Gateway's Trade-In "Benefit"
contributed by Clare C.
Tips, Quips, Quotes and Questions
Consumer Reports rated water filters within the last year. It would be worth the trip to the library to check it out. If I remember correctly, the Brita filter rated well. I think Brita has a filter pitcher that rated well also. A faucet-mounted filter is another option.
Remember that you have to replace the filter cartridge regularly or the filter doesn't do its job. Still, filter cartridges are cheaper than the $1 per gallon you are paying now.
GJR
More importantly, he said that you should NEVER use any kind of powder detergents (dishwasher, clothes washer) since these tend to re-solidify in the tank. And, never use a garbage disposal if you have a septic system. Also no sanitary product disposal or diaper liners or wet wipes, even if products are billed as "flushable".
I've recently read that one should not do all of the week's laundry on one day if using a septic as this stresses the system. One or two loads in one day was the recommendation.
Be careful about grease and/or oil going down your drain when doing kitchen cleanup. An easy disposal of oil or pan drippings: leave crumpled-up newspaper in the pan overnight, and the next morning the grease has been absorbed and the paper can be disposed of in the garbage. Give the pan a wipe with either more newspaper or paper towels to remove as much oil as you can before putting it in the sink.
Nancy
This helps to develop the emergency fund. It can be personalized to each family's needs and expenses. An example of items included in the weekly budget are property insurance and water bill (which are annual), property taxes (semi-annual bill), rent/mortgage, food, allowance, vacation, gifts, charity, clothing and most important: include a personal savings line in the budget. As the budget balance increases, the key is to keep that money in the budget. When emergencies arise, the money will be there.
JEG
D-L N
The same year, I covered Styrofoam balls with different scraps of fabric and tied with different types of ribbons and cords. Some I left plain, others I decorated with beads, cord, and other things I found around the house. The only things I had to buy were the Styrofoam balls and some of the cords and ribbons I used. I finally found a use for all the broken jewelry I had saved all these years! The technique is simple: choose the size ball you want and cut a circle of fabric big enough to cover it and gather at the top and tie. Velvet is elegant but denim works just as well. They make great gifts, too.
Sarah D.
Wendell, NC
Lorraine
On www.Stretcher.com This Week
www.stretcher.com
by Ruby Wallace
How much do you really know about debt?
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217c.cfm
What every woman needs to know before buying a car
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011211.htm
by Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
Are your good efforts doomed to failure?
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217d.cfm
by Richard Sayers
Reach out and touch someone for less
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217e.cfm
by Misty Weaver-Ostinato
Strategies to make a difference in their life
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217f.cfm
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011211a.htm
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011212c.htm
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011213a.htm
by Kaylin White
Holiday treats for your pets
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217g.cfm
by Marcella Kunc
A handy resource in your kitchen
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217h.cfm
How to save
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011209.htm
What do readers do to get good, inexpensive water?
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217a.cfm
Could it be the last?
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011207k.htm
Employees who load their 401(k)s with company stock may lose their retirement savings
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011210.htm
The pits for investors
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011212.htm
A prestige diploma without paying prestige tuition bills
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011212a.htm
10 do's and don'ts
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011212b.htm
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011210a.htm
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011213.htm
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011211b.htm
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011212d.htm
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011213b.htm
Ask Bob: The Auto Answer Man
Why won't they install one?
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217b.cfm
The Natural Handyman
Time for a repair
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217j.cfm
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011217t.cfm
Home and Small Business
For a part-time card maker
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011211c.htm
Tree farmers looking for a green Christmas
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011212e.htm
Cash flow at a small nursery
http://www.stretcher.com/brm/01/011213c.htm
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