Frugality Archives - Page 4 of 5

How To Find The Cheapest Gas In Your Area

If you've been watching the news lately, you know that gas prices have been on the rise, and that we could soon be seeing $4 (or even higher) per gallon gasoline. With unrest in the middle east, government collapse in Libya, and our government not allowing us to drill, who knows how high the gas prices could go before we're done.

So while you probably can't stop using gas and just stay at home every day, you can do what you can to minimize how much you're paying for your gas when you do fill up. To help in that goal, today I thought I'd throw out a few of my favorite gas prices websites that will help you to find the cheapest gas near where you live.

Find The Lowest Price On Gas Near You

While it's probably not a good idea to drive 20 miles out of your way to find gas for 5 cents cheaper, it probably IS a good idea to find the cheapest gas in your immediate area. Prices can often vary from 5-20 cents per gallon! To help in that aim here are some useful sites that I've found.

Gas Price Websites

GasBuddy.com: GasBuddy.com is probably my favorite gas prices tool. Gas prices are submitted by users in the local area along with the time/date they saw the price. I’ve found it to be pretty accurate, and they have a variety of other tools available as well like a gas price heat map, fuel logbook.
Automotive.com Gas Price Tool: To use the tool just type in your zip code and it will come back with the local gas prices in your area. Easy as pie! The site also has an assortment of gas prices widgets that you can place on your desktop, website, blog, facebook account or google homepage. Very cool!
MSN Autos Gas Prices: MSN Autos has a gas prices tool as well. Similar to the ones above, but not always as up to date.
Mapquest Gas Prices: Yet another gas price tool, this time from Mapquest.

There are sites to find your gas prices, but those are the ones I found most helpful. Have your own? Leave a comment below!

Gas Price Apps

Local Gas Prices: App that shows a list of the gas stations nearby, and allows you to sort the list according to price or location. Tap on one of the gas stations, and it opens Maps, showing you that station and your current location.
Cheap Gas: Gives you a list of stations, sorted in order of the lowest price. Tap on a station listing, and it opens Google Maps.
Gas Buddy: My favorite app, from the same folks as the website above, gives you a choice of a list or a map of gas stations. You can configure it to list the stations in order of how close they are to you, or by price, and you can sort the stations by fuel grade, including diesel. This app is also available for Android and Windows 7 smartphones.

Other Ways To Save On Gas

While you're trying to save on how much you pay for gas, here are a few other ways you can save.

Buy gas at a warehouse club: Another easy way for some people to save gas is by buying their gas at their local warehouse club (Sam’s Club, Costco, etc). Many of these membership shopping clubs have gas as well, usually 4-5 cents cheaper than everywhere else. Granted, you usually have to be a member to take advantage of their prices, but if you are, buy your gas there. When searching for cheap gas at the websites above, the cheapest gas was consistently at the Sam’s club right down the road from us.
Use a connected GPS with local gas prices: Many GPS systems that you can buy nowadays can connect and download local gas prices. TomTom Go 740 for example has the ability to connect automatically to access traffic feeds, updated fuel prices, Local Search powered by Google and weather – so you always know what's going on. Of course some of these connected GPS do have an extra subscription cost, so beware.
Use a gas rebate credit card to pay for gas: Depending upon the credit card you can save anywhere from 1-3% or more using your gas rebate credit card. Make sure to research to find the best card available.
Practice fuel economic driving: Do your best to drive in a way that conserves fuel, instead of wasting it. In other words, don't speed away from a green light, or speed up to stop at a red. Don't drive too fast on the highway, and do your best to drive at an even speed – without speeding up or slowing down too much. Also make sure to keep your tires properly inflated and remove any unnecessary weight from your vehicle.

What are some tips you’d like to share to save gas? Let us know in the comments!

7 Creative Ways To Save Money On Your Vacation

By Contributor 4 Comments

In today’s economy, it’s already hard to enough to scrounge up enough spare funds to take a trip. Then to make matters worse, higher oil prices have sent the cost of airline tickets into the stratosphere and of course driving is no longer an affordable alternative, either. However if you get creative, you still might be able to afford a trip once in a while. Here are 7 ways to save money on vacations – some common while others you might not have thought of!

#1. Skip the restaurants and head for the grocery store
It’s been drilled into our minds that vacations = eating out. But is that really necessary? Even if your hotel doesn’t have a kitchenette, you can still save money by hitting up Trader Joes or a cheap supermarket for some premade dishes – or better yet – bring food with you from home packed in a cooler (if you’re driving). Even if you only do this for half the meals during your trip, you will be saving a tremendous amount of money.

#2. Venture where others don’t want to go
With all the violence in Mexico, package deals for traveling there are looking mighty good these days. Of course, there is a risk/reward thing here, but many claim as long as you stay at the resort you should be pretty safe. If that works for you, then it might be a lot cheaper than traveling to one of those hot Caribbean tourist destinations.

#3. Discounts for students, seniors, military, etc.
If you’re going to a touristy area in the United States – such as Orlando – there’s a good chance that many of the amusement parks, transportation services, and even some restaurants accept discounts for various groups like senior citizens, military, students, AAA members and so forth. So make sure you bring all your cards with you!

#4. Milking a credit card signup promotion
First of all, I would like to say that anyone who has a tendency to get into credit card debt should avoid this tip! That being said, if you can use a credit card without raking up a balance, then there are tons of offers out there for airline and hotel credit cards that might save you some money. For example, the Hyatt credit card is offering 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel with no restrictions whatsoever. Their rooms can easily run $300 to $500 a night, so the dollar value of the Hyatt credit card offer is significant. For a complete comparison of offers, check out Smart On Money's credit cards page!

#5. Group travel deals
We all know sites like Groupon, LivingSocial and Moolala are all the rage right now for buying restaurant gift certificates and the like. These group buying sites now offer travel packages too, but I must warn you, they are a hit or miss. Sometimes what’s offered truly is a good deal, while other times it’s only a discount on an inflated price that no one pays anyway. Regardless, they are definitely worth checking out. In addition, you can also snag some great deals through more traditional group travel venues, like Apple Vacations (over the years I have personally got a couple amazing offers through them that were not found on any of the travel websites).

#6. Home/apartment swapping
Even the cheap hotels cost a lot these days (in my opinion at least) so why not consider a house or apartment swapping arrangement? There are a number of websites available where you can arrange to either rent someone’s unused room/apartment/house – or – you can do a trade arrangement where both parties will literally switch homes for a week or so. As far as the latter option, I’m not sure I would feel comfortable having strangers in my own apartment, but I wouldn’t mind paying to rent someone else’s if it was cheaper than staying at a hotel!

#7. Avoid souvenirs and shopping!
When I was a kid, we would go on a family trip once every couple years and I would always buy a bunch of junk wherever we went. Do I have any of that stuff now? Nope! Just goes to show what a huge waste of money it was. But fortunately, it taught me early on what a waste it is to spend money on trinkets and other crap that you don’t need (and really has little to do with your vacation spot since it’s probably made in China). The best souvenirs are memories and if that’s not good enough for you, then take a bunch of pics using your digital camera!

This post was written by Michael from CreditCardForum.com, which is a forum and blog for all things credit, including reviews of the best travel rewards credit cards.

Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary: The Story Of The Persevering Parking Attendant

By Mr. Money 9 Comments

Over the last few weeks I've posted several stories of average folks who were able to retire wealthy while making an average salary during their working years. There was an engineer who never made more than $50,000, but was thrifty and saved and invested regularly. There was the teacher who was frugal, and always saved. Then there was the social worker who helped a lot of people when she gave it all away at her death. Finally there was the secretary who got a little lucky, and bought stock in her company when she was young, and was able to sell it later on for more than a million dollars.

As I continue looking around the web, I'm amazed at just how many of these stories I'm finding. Regular people who started saving young, were frugal and by the time retirement came around, they were sitting on a fortune. Today I want to look at another inspiring tale, “The Story Of The Persevering Parking Attendant”.

The Story Of The Persevering Parking Attendant

Earl Crawley, 69, is a parking lot attendant at the Mercantile Bank in Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Earl, as people call him, only makes $20,000 a year, but yet has been able to amass a portfolio worth over $500,000, have a paid off house and have no debt! While it may not seem like a ton compared to some others we have profiled in this series, I think it's pretty amazing to do that on a $20,000 a year salary, all while raising his 3 kids and sending them to Catholic school.

So how did he do it? Mr. Crawley explains in a Q&A he did for Kiplinger's:

Soon after I started working for Mercantile Bank in Baltimore 44 years ago, one of the bankers took me aside and told me I didn't have enough education to go very far at the bank. He suggested I invest in stocks.

How did you learn how to invest?

I really didn't know enough to be scared. In school I was considered a slow learner — dyslexic, it's called now. My true gift from God is my ability to listen, and that's how I'm able to ask questions and use tips from the brokers, financial planners and bank customers I see every day.

Mr. Earl knew enough to know that he didn't know enough about investing, and that he should get help from those who DID know. He talked to the people in the know, and because he listened and learned well, he prospered. So how did he get started, and where did he get the money to invest when he didn't make a ton?

I did it with good old-fashioned nickels and dimes. My mother taught me how to budget, which made me appreciate how a little money can grow. I saved what I could from odd jobs, such as lawn cutting and window washing, that I did in addition to my day job. I used that money to buy one share of IBM stock back in 1981.

I really like what Mr. Earl did. Despite making a small salary, he worked hard. He got side jobs that allowed him to create a little more margin – enough to invest. In some respects that's what we're doing at our house, investing and saving the income from side jobs and side businesses in order to get ahead.

Since he's been successful, Mr. Earl now finds people are looking to him to get help.

We've heard that you're helping others invest.

I started an investment club at my church. And I've been coaching a couple of young men, such as bar-and-grill cook Antawn Davenport and Dana Mouse Smith, who toured with the late rapper Tupac Shakur. They can help spread the message that people can do whatever they set their minds to do.

I love the fact that Crawley is now helping others of meager earnings, like the cook, to get ahead, and spreading the gospel of compound interest. It's stories like his that give me hope that others, including myself, can appreciate the power of compounding returns, and be successful – at any salary.

Here's a pretty well done story done on Earl Crawley for the PBS Show MoneyTrack:

Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary: The Story Of The Saving Secretary

By Mr. Money 5 Comments

This post is another installment in our recurring series, “Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary“. To see the other installments, please click on the link in the navigation bar above. The idea behind the series is to highlight the stories of average folks who made good decisions in order to be able to retire wealthy – even though they made an average salary during their working years. The hope is that it will help to inspire the rest of us as we continue on our own journeys of building wealth.

Today I want to highlight the story of one woman, who flew under the radar much of her life, only to give away millions of dollars when she passed away. I'm going to call this one “The Story Of The Saving Secretary”.

The Story Of The Saving Secretary

Grace Groner was a simple woman who lived a frugal lifestyle. She never owned a car, and shopped at rummage sales. She worked for many years as a secretary, and only after she passed away did people realize that she was a multi-millionaire.

She lived in a tiny one-bedroom cottage in Lake Forest, Ill.She bought her clothes at rummage sales, didn’t own a car and worked most of her life as a secretary for a pharmaceutical company.

Yet after her death at age 100, Grace Groner left Lake Forest College a gift of $7 million to be used for scholarships. The money came from three shares of stock she bought–and held on to–in 1935.

“She did not have the (material) needs that other people have,” William Marlatt, her attorney and longtime friend told the Chicago Tribune. “She could have lived in any house in Lake Forest but she chose not to.…She enjoyed other people, and every friend she had was a friend for who she was. They weren’t friends for what she had.”

Ms. Groner seemed to have plenty of friends, but they were close friends because of who she was and not because of what she had. Many of them didn't even know how much she had. Her lifestyle didn't really give any clues to the fact that she was wealthy.

While Ms. Groner did end up retiring wealthy, how she did so may not be something we would necessarily want to emulate. In some respects she ended up being very lucky.

Ms. Groner’s story might seem like a classic Millionaire Next Door fairy tale–the thrifty, conservative, hard-working saver who hoards pennies over a lifetime to accumulate vast wealth. And that is certainly part of the story. Aside from occasional trips, Ms. Groner was rigorously frugal due to her Depression-era upbringing. (Not having a husband or children may have also helped her savings rate.)

Yet the way Ms. Groner garnered her wealth was, in fact, more like one big, lucky gamble than a lifetime of scrimping and saving.Ms. Groner worked for 43 years as a secretary for Abbott Laboratories. In 1935, she bought three specially issued shares of Abbott for $180. She never sold a share, even after repeated stock splits. She also kept reinvesting the dividends. By the time of her death, she owned more than 100,000 shares valued at about $7 million.

As David Roeder of the Chicago Sun-Times points out: “It is a grave error to put your nest egg behind a single company, and it is worse when the company is your employer. Groner had a winner, but others have done this with Enron, General Motors or Bear Stearns.”The all-in-one basket strategy was, of course, a grave error for employees of Enron and others. And financial advisers love to herald diversification, which didn’t turn out so well for many investors during the financial crisis.

But Ms. Groner’s story shows that savings alone probably doesn’t get you to $7 million. It seems that loading up on a one single investment and getting tremendously lucky over a long period of time can get you there. But don’t count on it.

So basically she became so wealthy because she saved religiously, but especially because she bought 3 specially issued shares at $60 a piece back in 1935. She never sold the shares, and it doesn't sound like she diversified at all. In the end she was very fortunate that the company she worked for didn't have problems, because if it had she may have ended up losing her entire fortune.

While I wouldn't suggest others try to get wealthy in the way that Ms. Groner did, I still think her story bears out the importance of valuing relationships over money, of not buying things you don't need, saving and investing (although her specific strategy I wouldn't recommend).

What do you think about her story? What keys do you pull out of this story? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

Take A Personal Day To Fix Your Finances

By Mr. Money 10 Comments

So often our lives get busy, and it can be hard to stay on top of all the detailed minutia of our financial lives. Things tend to slide, and we end up not having the optimal setup for anything in our finances because we just don't want to jump into the details. Since performing certain financial tasks can be a bit boring or mundane, it can be easy to just push off fixing things indefinitely.

This is why I suggest having something MSN calls a “personal money day”. A day dedicated solely to reviewing your financial life, and fixing the things that aren't optimized. Getting better rates on your insurance, finding higher interest rates for your savings, rebalancing your portfolio, switching TV providers, setting up a budget and a variety of other things.

So let's get started.

Getting Started: Focus On Fixing The Big Things

So where do you start when you've decided to take a personal day to fix your finances? At our house I decided to take a personal day when I was stuck at home one day because my car was in the shop being repaired. I had to take the day off from work anyway, so I decided to make it worth my while.

If you're considering taking a day off as well, I'd suggest trying to take a day off from work because a lot of the things you'll be doing – you may need to call a place of business to get details or a quote, so doing it during business hours will probably work better. It also puts a bit more pressure on you to get things done because you're paying a price – a vacation day – to do this.

I like to focus on the bigger things first to help maximize the return. Some of the things I might focus on include:

Insurance: Make sure that your homeowners, auto, life, disability and other types of insurance are all set to go, and that you've got good rates. If you don't have one of the types of insurance, consider getting quotes to transfer your risk. If you've got decent rates already, consider changing your coverage to save money. Reduce deductibles, or drop un-needed coverage.
Bank accounts: Consider closing accounts with fees attached and opening accounts with higher rates of interest, investigate the advantage of laddering. Find better rewards and less fees.
Credit cards: Get accounts with lower interest rates, especially if you are carrying a balance. Cash in any rewards you've already got on current cards. Set up a plan to pay off your cards.
Set up a budget: If you've never set up a family budget, consider doing that now. It's a lot easier nowadays with the advent of all the budget software out there.
Retirement planning: Over time your retirement account allocations can become skewed. Consider re-balancing your portfolio. If you don't have a Roth IRA, IRA or other retirement account, consider opening one at a discount brokerage or mutual fund company on your day off!
Find better deals for utilities and services: Cancel cable or satellite TV and sign up for a cheaper alternative, or watch TV for free via your computer. Look into cheaper home phone and cell phone alternatives.
Cancel services you don't need: Signed up for cable TV but you don't watch? Have a gym membership, but don't go? Cancel the un-necessary expenses!

What I Did On My Personal Money Day

On my day off (a while back now) I focused on a couple of areas that I knew were long overdue for a look-see. I began by looking at my car related expenses, mainly auto insurance. I submitted online quotes for a bunch of different companies and to my horror realized I was overpaying on my insurance to the tune of almost $1100. I quickly switched, started paying less for the same coverage.

Next, I looked at homeowner's insurance. I found that by switching I could save another $200, and still have the same coverage.

I also looked at our savings account which was holding our emergency fund and realized that our bank was paying us next to nothing in interest. I researched some online savings accounts and signed up for one of the ones with the highest interest. This ended up meaning a few extra hundred dollars in interest every year.

So on my day off, even just looking at a few things, I ended up saving almost $1300/year. Not too bad of a return!

Conclusion

These are just a few of the things you can look at on your personal money day. It may not be the most enjoyable day you've ever had, but in the end you’ll be glad you did. It can end up saving you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. And who doesn't like having extra money to help pad their bottom line?

Have you taken a personal day to fix your finances? What types of things did you look at? What things did we miss that people should consider looking at? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary: The Story Of The Sensible Social Worker

By Mr. Money 7 Comments

This post is part of a continuing series called “Retiring Wealthy On An Average Salary” that looks at the inspiring stories of men and women who earned average salaries during their working years, but in the end retired wealthy, with plenty of money to spend and give. In fact, I've found that as I read more of these stories, these frugal investors also tend to be very generous people, giving away a huge chunk of their fortunes after they pass.

Today we have another story of someone who lived a frugal lifestyle, and was able to retire quite well off. Her name was Jane M. Buri, a St. Louis social worker.

The Story Of The Sensible Social Worker

When I read the story of Miss Buri – the social worker, one thing that struck me is that it sounds like she lead a pretty full life, despite the fact that she was so frugal. She frequently socialized with friends, and was very involved with her church. It also talks about how she allowed herself to have small indulgences like a trip to Europe, and a visit to the Rose Parade. She didn't live without, but she was frugal.

Jane M Buri, a school social worker, spent nearly four decades fighting to keep kids in class.

She tracked students to their homes, found them shoes, meals, jackets, and returned the truants to their teachers. She never married, never had children, never missed a day of work.

All the while, she was quietly building a small fortune. Buri died at 84 with $1.4m to her name.

Then in death, as befit her life, she gave it all away.

The last checks from her savings – willed to more than 50 friends, cousins and charities – should be arriving soon in mailboxes.

She gave to African missionaries, Legionaries of Christ and Catholic schools for the Sioux and Cheyenne. She donated to her high school, college and graduate school, to the south St Louis parish she visited thrice weekly, the Alexian Brothers nursing home where she volunteered, and the disabled friend she took to the discount grocery store every Friday.

How did she amass such an estate?

“It beats me,” said old friend and co-worker Genevieve O'Hara Brueggemann. “And it beats everybody who knew her.”

In retrospect, friends say Buri's savings made sense. They say she drove a 30-year-old car, watched an ancient TV, lived four decades in a house bought with cash in 1969 and just kept stacking charity donation envelopes in her sun room, until, once a year, she sent them all in.

They say she gave of herself and asked little in return.

Nobody's disputing that generosity. But it's not the whole story.

Because this isn't about someone who selflessly saved so others could have.

It's about someone who saved because spending more just didn't occur to her.

It seems as if so many of these closet millionaires are able to amass a fortune because living a frugal lifestyle comes as second nature. They're able to live with less, even still while enjoying some of the finer things, while allowing a lot of other things they don't need, that others might have bought, to pass them by.

Buri was a child of the depression, which may help to explain her frugal lifestyle. She did it out of necessity first, but then by habit.

Buri grew up in the packed city neighbourhoods of the Great Depression.

Her father ran a cigar shop in downtown St Louis. Her mother was a prim, fancy-dressing woman.

Buri was their lone child. They protected her, family members said.

“Nobody had too much money,” said Jack Goettelmann, Buri's cousin and her last relative in the area. “And all they did was try to improve.” Buri clipped coupons, her cousin said, because that was how she was raised.

As mentioned, she didn't deny herself when she wanted something.

Nor did she deny herself small indulgences. Some weeks, she ate out three meals a day, friends said. She traveled to Europe, and to the Rose Parade in California. She bought a baby grand piano.

There was nothing she wanted and didn't buy, said Brueggemann, the co-worker.

“She was frugal because she didn't need anything else,” she said. “She wanted that old car. She dressed the way she wanted to dress.”

When she passed away Miss Buri left an inheritance to many around her including missionaries, school associations, friends and family. In life she had realized that happiness doesn't come from money, and in her death she was able to continue giving to those around her and leave a legacy of caring. I can only hope I do as well to follow her example.

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