The driving experiment - a conclusion

Published on June 3, 2008 in Saving Money. 0 Comments

So today I filled the tank of our Mazda 6, ending the final week of my month long driving experiment of driving slower and a little less aggressively. This week I took it a little farther, driving even slower than usual and being careful to accelerate slower.

This week I managed to get an amazing (for me) 29.6 mpg. This is a fairly large jump since I started at the beginning of the month, and I am actually fairly surprised at what a difference slower driving can make. Although my results are not nearly as good as the results on the Wisebread Blog, I think they’re pretty good.

The jump in miles per gallon from the beginning of the month is almost 4 mpg. On a single tank of gas 4 mpg takes us 56 extra miles, or the equivalent of about 2 gallons of gas every single week. Although driving 55 mph on the freeway is extremely annoying, I will likely keep it up since I have now seen the effects of driving slower.

I encourage everyone to consider their driving habits and slow down when driving. With gas pricing hitting the prices that they are every little bit helps. Next time you get that chain email saying to boycott the gas stations, drive slower that day to conserve gas. It’s good for your wallet and good for the environment. And in the long run that’s far better for all of us.

Some weekend entertainment

Published on May 31, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

I didn’t want to go an entire week without posting something, so I thought I would provide a little entertainment with a personal finance twist.

Here is the video for Cake’s song “Rock ‘n Roll Lifestyle”



The video is a little weird, but I love the song. And just remember “Excess ain’t rebellion.”Rock on.

Tomorrow is a better time to buy than today

Published on May 23, 2008 in Buying Stuff. 0 Comments

I wanted to point out a slightly ridiculous article I read today courtesy of Smart Money. Apparently they think it’s a good idea to go ahead and buy a new high-definition television now instead of waiting.

I am by no means one to talk about not buying new toys and gadgets. On the contrary I own quite a few cool gadgets (which is probably part of the reason I’m in so much debt). If you are in the market to buy a new TV and if you have the money to do it, then do it.

Stop rationalizing about spending money! If you have some extra money, no debt, and are saving for the future I see absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t spend money to make your time now a little more enjoyable. I mean why make money if you can’t spend it, right?

Here is my thoughts on each of the reasons why it’s ‘best’ to buy a high-def TV now, and why it might be a good idea to wait:

1. Prices may go up.

Yeah, right. I can’t recall ever seeing the price of consumer electronics go up. Every year processing power gets cheaper and cheaper thanks to Moore’s law. And as company’s try to push out the next best thing to get your buck the price of the current generation is almost always guaranteed to go down.

2. Bigger Selection.

Sorry, can’t say I really care about this. There will always be a few top brands selling the top products. Nothing else matters. If you are going to drop $2,000 on a television you better get the best, not some cheap, crappy off-brand just to say you have a high-def. There is more to a good screen than resolution.

3. No new technology worth holding out for.

This is slightly true, although I would argue that 1080p sets are still rare versus their 720p counterparts. As time goes on they will become more common and cheaper.

If you have plans to upgrade your DVD player to Blu-ray it’s probably worth holding out for the extra resolution if you can’t afford a 1080p set now. Blu-ray players, the Playstation 3, and the XBOX 360 all support 1080p. And if you plan on getting a media center PC or an Apple TV you will want the highest resolution available.

4. Sales on last-year’s models.

Wow! Really! Guess what? The same thing will happen next year (see #1) And then year after that (see #1). So if you can’t afford the television you really want now, save up for the one you want and buy it later. It’s not going anywhere, and more than likely something better will come along at the same price.

I really can’t believe a magazine called ‘Smart Money’ would put out crap like this. I wonder if there’s any connection between this article and the stimulus checks being sent out.

If you want a TV, just buy it. Articles like this do a disservice to personal finance.

What happened to electric cars?

Published on May 22, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

There is an article at NBC5 in Dallas, Texas about a man who retrofitted a used car bought from a junkyard with an electric motor. The car cost $4,750 to build, including the car itself and the electric motor. It gets 300 miles per charge and only costs $7 to charge. Not bad.

It really makes you wonder why our government is pushing crap fuels like ethanol, or grilling the oil industry on high prices instead of subsidizing production of electric cars and pushing for a true solution to the problem. If some dude in Texas can build a decent car in his garage out of spare parts don’t you think Honda or Ford could build something awesome?

I watched a movie a while back called ‘Who Killed The Electric Car’ about the history of GM’s electric car the EV1. The basic premise was there was not enough profit to make the electric car, and that diversions like ethanol and hybrid cars kept the status quo alive for everyone who profits from oil sales.

Here is the movie, courtesy of google:

If you have an hour and a half to spare it’s a pretty interesting documentary. Mel Gibson is even featured in the movie as a former EV1 owner. If you’re short on time you can jump to the end to find the conclusions on why electric cars are no longer around.

I remember when I lived in San Diego there was a target near our apartment that had designated electric car parking complete with recharging stations. Too bad electric cars don’t actually exist other than home brew cars and boutique cars like the Tesla. Maybe one day people will make the choices necessary to really bring about change. Until then I don’t think fuel prices are going lower.

Are you procrastinating on your future?

Published on May 21, 2008 in Goals and Productivity. 0 Comments

despair-poster-procrast.jpg

This week I had a project due for my class that I am taking, and as always I ended up doing most of the work last minute. This put a serious damper on the quality of work, so now I’m hoping for leniency versus being confident in a high grade.

While driving to class I started to think about the consequences of procrastinating on bigger things. First up is the biggie - retirement. Are you doing everything you can to ensure you can retire when you want and with enough income to support yourself? What happens if you don’t save enough? Will you just throw up your hands and hope for leniency? Do you really want to be dependent on someone else to take care of you in the future? I know I don’t.

Of course there’s always things that stand in the way of saving. Maybe you have too much debt to pay. Or you have kids or car problems or whatever. There will always be problems. The question is are you taking care of them today or putting them off for later?

What about your health? Do you get annual physicals and dental exams to make sure there’s nothing going on that could be a big problem later? I know I am guilty of not getting my checkups done as often as I need to.

How about your cars? Do you take them in to get serviced at the manufacture’s recommended milage? Do you even know how often you should be going in and what services to get done? Taking your car in every 5000 miles to get the oil changed is a lot cheaper than buying a new engine because you were too cheap to get the oil changed and the engine froze up.

I am not trying to harp, these were really questions I asked myself. I encourage you to do the same. What are you putting off for tomorrow that you should be doing today? Every project begins with a first step. I encourage you to think of the next action that needs to be done and do it as soon as possible. You will feel better you did.

The driving experiment - week 1 results

Published on May 13, 2008 in Saving Money. 0 Comments

Saturday was the first day that I filled up my tank since starting the driving slower experiment that I began at the beginning of the month.

I made it 393 miles before the low fuel light came on, which is a lot more than usual. I put in 13.8 gallons, giving me about 28.5 mpg, pretty good considering the maximum highway mileage is 29 mpg. Unfortunately regular gas was $3.99 a gallon!!! Yikes! So I didn’t save much money. At least I’m not driving an SUV.

So I would say week 1 was a success. Week 2 is not off to a great start, a road trip for Mother’s Day involved some fast driving, and Monday I was late for work, which also necessitated faster driving. I will get back on the ball though, I promise.

We received our stimulus check today

Published on May 9, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

This morning when my wife and I checked our bank account we saw that $1200 had been deposited. Without a second thought we made a $1200 payment on one of our credit cards. The whole idea of a stimulus package seems a little ridiculous to me. Do our elected officials really think that $600 per person is going to do anything in the face of massive drops in housing prices? They need to start encouraging people to save their money and invest, not spend.

I encourage everyone to use your check from the government to do something truly productive. If you have any debt at all, pay it down. It doesn’t matter if it’s credit card debt, student loans, an auto loan, or a mortgage. Paying down your debt now means you pay less interest later. If you are debt free then save that money. Put it in an emergency fund or use it to open a retirement account.

If none of these work for you, if you’re already debt free, if you’ve already fully funded all of your retirement account options, and you have a sizable emergency fund . . . you probably didn’t get a check. :-)

Don’t listen to the government. Don’t listen to the media. Taking care of your own wealth is by far the most productive thing you can do for the economy. Don’t blow it.

Midterms are awesome

Published on May 8, 2008 in Personal Growth. 0 Comments

So I am back in school and Thursday night is the first midterm. I am dutifully putting off studying until the last possible moment.

Instead of writing a full post, I thought I might just link to a few relevant back to school posts from around the web.

First up, Blueprint for Financial Prosperity wants you to consider your income path. One of the big reasons I am going back to school is to eventually move into a higher paying career. The advice is spot on, annual increases will not get you to where you need to be. Worse yet, you will likely be making less money every year thanks to inflation. If you’re unhappy with your current income it’s time to start thinking about what you can do to change that.

Of course if you’re going to start a new goal it’s important to be organized. Lucky for you 43 Folders has a list of links for the chronically disorganized. I think I can finally say I’m not in that group anymore.

And finally a few tips to help you get stuff done. David Allen’s book ‘Getting Things Done’ has been a huge help in getting myself organized and thinking about the way I handle tasks. It has also been great for stopping procrastination (except for right now of course). On the other hand, instead of sitting around I’m actually being somewhat productive by writing here.

I hope everyone enjoys the links. I hope by next week I can find some time to write up something original, I know Tuesday’s post was a little lame too. Eventually I will finish up part 3 of the retirement series, which will cover rolling over your 401(k)s between jobs. But first I need to rollover my own 401(k) so I can make sure the process I’m describing works!

Now it’s time for me to get back to work!

Money Saving Tips (A generic title, I know)

Published on May 6, 2008 in Saving Money. 0 Comments

There is a post up on The Consumerist on 12 Ways to Save Money Without Scrimping.

There are a few that I think are especially good, and are more of tweak to the way you think rather than a way to save money. The first tip is an important fix for people who like to spend time shopping. If you’re idea of a fun time is to spend money then saving money is going to be a major problem.

The second tip is a way of thinking that has helped me and my wife to spend less money. Every time I think about spending money, I think about having a larger bank account balance or a lower credit card balance. It doesn’t work all of the time, but it works enough to help.

Use the things you own

One tip I would like to add is to use the things you own. When I think about buying new stuff I look around and think about the things I have that I haven’t used lately. When I think about buying a new book I look at the ones I have. Books can take a long time to read, and I admit that sometimes I lose interest in a book before I finish reading it.

Before buying a new movie decide if you can watch one at home instead. If there is a new video game out decide if you would rather play one you have already.

Sell the stuff you don’t use

Because I don’t like the number 13, I thought I would add one more tip to bring the total to 14. If there are things in your home that you don’t get regular use out of, sell it on Craigslist or eBay. I have been putting stuff up on Craigslist and it’s nice to not only free up space but to also get some cash on the side.

I encourage everyone reading this to think about one way they can save money this week. Is there something you could put up on Craigslist to make a quick $40? Could you spend some time at home watching a movie on your shelf instead of going to the movie theater? Could you cook dinner and use your home kitchen instead of going out to eat? Hopefully everyone can find something this week.

If you have any ideas or stories, please post them in the comments!

A driving experiment. Does driving slower significantly change gas milage?

Published on May 1, 2008 in Saving Money. 0 Comments

So I have read a few articles saying that driving slower can significantly increase the miles per gallon your car gets, thus saving you money. To test this theory I will try to drive slower for the next 31 days of May.

I usually fill the car’s gas tank up when it’s on empty so that I can minimize trips to the gas station. One tank of gas is 14 gallons and will get me about 360 miles. That works out to about 25.7 mpg (360 miles / 14 gallons).

Fuel mileage on the car is 21/29. I do about 75% of my driving on the freeway, and the rest on the streets. So I should get:

21 mpg * (.25) + 29 mpg * (.75) = 27 mpg

That’s an increase of only 1.3 mpg over what I get now. Not much, but I’ll take it if I can get it. The challenge will be to get the savings without losing patience.

The rules

I will not drive faster than 65 mph on the freeway. Frequent use of cruise control will be a requirement since 65 feels like you’re walking on California freeways. I will accelerate slower, and try to brake less. I think a good description I read once was to “pretend you have no brakes.” This will be tough in morning rush hour when tailgating is a must to keep other drivers from cutting you off.

The results

When I fill up I will take the miles driven divided by the gallons put into the car to get my gas mileage. So we will see if driving a little slower and less aggressively can actually make a significant change in the cost of gas. I encourage anyone else reading this to take up the challenge and drive a little slower for the next month, and post your results in the comments. It would be interesting to see if people driving different vehicles get different results.