Tony Hawk Just Wants Water for His Birthday
If you haven’t heard, Tony Hawk turned 44 this year on May 12th. Instead of asking for a new skateboard or a bobble head, he asked for US to donate to Charity Water for his birthday. According to Tony’s online campaign site, “Nearly 800 million people live without access to safe, clean water. Ever day, millions of women and children walk hours to get water from muddy ponds and rivers. The health risks are abundant for these families.”
So far over 314 donations have been made & 992 people will be served by this water project.
Make Money Selling on Ebay
Image via CrunchBase
Selling stuff online is a good way to make some extra cash. This past weekend I bought a Modem/Router at a yard sale for $5 and sold it for $60 on Ebay. If you like that kind of profit margin, here are 5 things to consider when selling stuff on the internet:
1. Stick With What You Know
Look for items that you are familiar with. I used to work at Ultimate Electronics so I am very familiar with what different electronics are worth. What products do you know the most about? Search for those exclusively to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
2. Check What Price the Item HAS Sold For
Search for the product on Ebay before you purchase it (download the Ebay Mobile App if you haven’t already. It is available for both Android and Apple). Use the completed listing feature to see what it has actually sold for. Like I talked about previously in How to Sell Things on Craigslist Fast, it does not matter what people have it listed at. What matters is what people have actually been able to GET from a buyer for a particular item. Read More…
Memorial Day Sales: Do’s & Dont’s
Sale (Photo credit: Gerard Stolk (vers la Pentecôte))
If you are one who likes to take advantage of Memorial Day Sales, you need to be prepared. There are thousands of stores getting ready for your appearance this weekend. Their hope is that you spend as much money as possible at their store. My goal is to help you be an informed consumer. Here are a few things to do and not to do:
Things You Should Do
1. Make a list of things you need/want – This way you know exactly what you need to get before you head to the store.
2. Map out all the places to shop ahead of time – This is the best way to save money on gas and eliminates going to the same area twice.
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How to Buy a Used Car
Category:Toyota Echo sedan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On Monday we bought my wife a newer “used” car. She drove her previous car, which was a 1998 Honda Accord, for about 3 years and it was time to replace it. I know firsthand that buying a used car can be frustrating, so here are some tips for buying a used car.
Dont Buy From a Dealer
Often when I find a car on Craigslist that I like, I get excited about it. Mainly because the buying process appears to be almost over. Then I scroll down to the bottom of the ad and realize that it is being sold by a dealer. My excitement is instantly replaced with disappointment. There are 3 reasons why I don’t like buying from a dealer:
1. Sales tax – A dealer is obligated to charge you sales tax, where a private party is not (at least this is true in Arizona). If you were to buy a $5000 car and add 9.3% sales tax, that is an extra $465.
2. They are generally more expensive - While I was searching for a car for Kim, I saw a couple of cars sold by dealers that were about $1,000 more than the private party listings.
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How to Build Your Credit at No Cost
Credit Card (Photo credit: 401K)
Since we talked about How to Check Your Credit for Free yesterday, I figured I would follow up and show you how you can improve your credit score for free.
First, I want to mention that debt should not be a lifetime endeavor, but only used for a short stint of your life. The goal should be to use debt for the smallest amount of time possible and then with the extra cash you were using to make your debt payments, start saving up and paying cash for things.
Many people think that they need to go out and finance a car or get a store credit card to build their credit, but this can be costly. If you take a loan out on a used car, the current average interest rate is 4.35% according to Bankrate.com. If you take out a store credit card, you could have annual fees and the possibility of overspending.
Here is a simple, free way to build your credit score:
Get a credit card that has no fees whatsoever. Then, setup auto-pay for bills that are fixed. Here are some examples: cell phone bills, internet bills, insurance bills, cable bills, etc. Then cut up the card and never use it. This way, you are never at risk of overspending. Also, you should never pay interest because you already budgeted that expense. Then pay it off every month so that you never carry a balance. This is what we have decided to do and it works great.
But I don’t Overspend
According to a study done by Dunn and Bradstreet, people spend 12-18% more when they use a credit card. On top of that, if you pay cash, a lot of times you can get a discount. I can’t tell you how many times I have told sales guys, “I am paying cash, what is the best price you can give me?” There is a reason why 75% of the Forbes 400, the richest 400 Americans, said the best way to become wealthy is to become debt-free and stay there.
Our goal is to be completely debt-free, including the house in 6 years. What’s yours?
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How to Check Your Credit Report for Free
Checking your credit report can be a really good thing to do. The challenge is that there are so many websites out there that appear from the surface to be free. However, there is only one website that is truly free: AnnualCreditReport.com. According to the Federal Trade Commission, this is “the only authorized source to get your free annual credit report under Federal law.”
Why is it Important to Check my Credit?
Inaccuracies or Fraudulent Activity - The main reason is to look for errors or fraudulent activities. A couple of years ago we ran my wife’s credit report and it had a delinquent bill from a cable company in Texas. The funny thing is that she never lived inTtexas. We since got it taken off, but the only way we knew about it was by pulling her credit.
Securing Low Rates – If you read yesterdays post about How to Pay Your Mortgage Off Early, I talked about refinancing to a 15 year mortgage at around 3.11%. The only way you could qualify for a rate that good is by having a solid credit score.
How Often Should I Check my Credit Report?
Once a year should suffice. Pull one report from each of the three bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. If you pull one every 4 months, this would be a good system to catch errors and address them quickly. Then go through each item and verify that it is correct. If you find any errors you should be either able to submit a request online or there is a telephone number for each company where you can file a dispute on what is being reported.
How Much Should I Care About my Credit Score?
All a credit score does is tell people how good you are about borrowing money and paying it back. You should desire to have a history of paying people what you owe them, however, the goal should be to borrow money for a short period of your life and transition to a cash based approach. Once you have a paid for house and are completely debt-free, a credit score will basically be useless. In fact, if you don’t borrow money for an extended period of time your report may come back with zero data. That is a good thing if you don’t want to use debt as a way of life.
So if you haven’t checked your credit report in a while, why not check it today for free?
How to Pay Off Your Mortgage Early
Housing (Photo credit: james.thompson)
Many people want to pay off the mortgage on their house early. They want the flexibility to have less money going out the door every month. They want to be debt-free and not have to worry about living paycheck to paycheck. Is this you? Maybe your skeptical and don’t think it is that big of a deal to pay it off faster. Well, let’s start with an example. Let’s say you buy a house and get a 30 year mortgage for $200,000 at 3.8%. If you kept the loan to the end of the term you would have paid $135,489.29 in interest. This means the total amount you paid for the house would be $335,489.29.
If you bought a house and got a 15 year mortgage instead at 3.11%, you would pay only $50,518.36 in interest. Bringing your new total to $250,518.36. This is a difference of $84,970.93! I don’t know about you but I am interested in saving that kind of money.
So how do you do this?
Create a Financial Gameplan
Track your expenses on a monthly basis and determine what your surplus is. That is, after all your bills are paid and investments are funded, how much extra money do you have left over each month.
Increase Your Monthly Payment
Calculate what a 15 year payment would be by going to Bankrate.com. Then if you have enough surplus, begin paying that payment toward your mortgage each month.
Decrease Your Expenses
If you have little-to-no surplus, go through you financial gameplan (budget) line by line. Ask yourself, ‘how can I spend less in this category?’ By doing this you could free up extra cash to pay down your mortgage faster.
Refinance to a 15 Year Fixed
If you currently have a 30 year mortgage at an interest rate above 5%, consider refinancing to a 15 year fixed. The current average national rate is 3.11% on a 15 year. This could save you a few thousand dollars a year in interest just by making this move.
Make One Extra Payment Per Year
If you want to wear the minimum amount of flair, you can make one extra payment per year. In the 30 year scenario above, you would pay your home off 4 years sooner.
Do you have a plan to pay down your mortgage early? What is it?
How to Watch the Solar Eclipse for Free
Eclipse Annular (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As you have probably heard, today there will be an Annular Solar Eclipse in the Western United States starting around 5pm. It is referred to as an “annular” eclipse because the sun is covered by the moon which produces a “ring of fire” effect as it blocks most of the sun’s light. There are several different observatories and organizations that are offering free viewings of the solar eclipse later today. If you are looking for the time and location of a viewing in your area, then you have come to the right place:
Arizona
Who: East Valley Astronomy Club
Where: Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch - Gilbert, AZ (Phoenix area)
When: May 20th, 2012 at 5:15pm
California
Who: Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society
Where: Sacramento City College - Sacramento, CA
When: May 20th, 2012 at 5:00pm
Nevada
Who: Sidewalk Universe
Where: Sparks Marina Park - Sparks, NV
When: May 20th, 2012 at3:00pm
New Mexico
Who: Bandelier National Monument Night Sky Team
Where: Bandelier National Monument - Los Alamos, NM
When: May 20th, 2012 at 6:30pm
Texas
Who: The South Plains Astronomy Club and TTU Museum
Where: Lubbock Lake Landmark - Lubbock, TX
When: May 20th, 2012 at 6:30pm
If you are looking for more viewing opportunities, NASA has a site where you can search by city here.
Make sure not to look directly at the solar eclipse without protective glasses as it can severely damage your eyes. See the article, “How to Safely Observe Sunday’s Solar Eclipse“ on Space.com for safety tips.
If you’re not much of a risk taker and want to play it safe, you can view the eclipse live online via the Slooh Space Camera.
Lastly, if you have your own glasses or viewing equipment, you can find out the best time to see it in your area by going to TimeandDate.com.
How to Sell Stuff on Craigslist Fast!
Last night I decided to sell my old cell phone on Craigslist and I didn’t want to wait a couple of weeks to get rid of it. So I implemented the following steps and I was able to sell it within 2 hours of listing it. Here is how to sell your items on Craigslist quickly and at a decent price:
Make Sure There is Demand for Your Item
I usually go to Ebay and check the ‘completed listings’ because this will show you what has actually sold and for how much. This will give you an idea of what the demand is for your particular item. If there is no demand then your item will not sell fast.
Price it Right
On top of checking Ebay, I will see what prices the item is listed for on Craigslist within the past couple days. This is what other people will be looking at who want to buy what you have. Then I would price it competitively to be slightly less than one in a similar condition. For instance, there was a phone on there for $240 so I listed mine at $220. Remember, just because something is listed at a certain price, doesn’t mean somebody will get that price for it.
Be Willing to Negotiate
Plan to sell your item for 10-20% less than the list price. I listed my old phone with the idea that I would sell it for $200. One of the first things the buyer asked was what my lowest price was. I told him that I just listed it and the lowest I could go was $200. He bought it and did not even try to negotiate any lower.
Describe the Item in Detail
Have this question in mind when you list the product, “What would I want to know if I were buying this item?” Here is my answer to this question:
- Condition: Does it have any flaws, damage, and is it fully functional?
- Specs: What are the specific characteristics? In my case last night, I listed the screen size, storage capacity, processor speed, how many mega-pixels the camera was, etc.
- Accessories: What comes with the item? Listing the accessories is important because it could be a reason someone buys yours over a competitors.
- List a Reason: What is the reason you are selling it? This does not have to be long. One sentence should do. This way people know the “why” behind the listing and they will be more comfortable to give you a call.
- Telephone Number: You must list your phone number to sell it quickly. I actually don’t even contact people with just an email address. Often times those are scams or marketing ploys to get your contact info. Also, use the digits like this: 602-555-5555. Don’t do this: Six 0 Two 555- 555Five. This is annoying because often I like to call from my cell phone. if done right, I can just touch the number when I see the ad and it instantly places a call. If you list it the latter way, this is not possible.
- Special Features: Is there anything about this item that is different from others listed? If there is, make sure to put that as well. This could be the difference between someone buying yours or another item they find.
- Pictures: I am very leary of an ad that does not have any pictures. I am also not fond of ads that post pictures found on the internet, instead of posting pictures of the actual item for sale. You might sell your item with somebody else’s pic, but probably not quickly. So take good pictures that are clear and that show all the accessories that go with it.
Have you sold anything on Craigslist fast? If so, did you do anything different than I described above?
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How to Stay Fit on a Budget
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Losing weight” is the #1 New Years Resolution, according to the study by the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology. Did you set this goal for yourself? How has your progress been so far in 2012? Often times, people give up on their resolutions because of the cost. According to Dr. Sal Arria, President of National Board of Fitness Educators, the average hourly rate for a trainer is $60-$70 per session. If this isn’t in your budget, I have 3 ways that you can stay fit and that won’t break the bank:
1. Create a Workout Routine at Home - If you create a habit of jogging, doing push ups, sit ups and lifting free weights, you can accomplish a lot for little-to-no cost. This is the route I chose while we were getting out of debt.
2. Join an Inexpensive Gym – This is what I do now. I have a membership to a gym called YouFit and it is only $10 per month. They do not have a pool, racquet ball courts or a sauna; But what they do have is cardio equipment, weight lifting machines and free weights. This is all you really need to stay in shape, the rest of the amenities are just luxuries that can be done without when your on a budget.
3. P90X – This is for the person who is willing to commit to working out, 6 days a week, for 90 days straight. This is not for the faint of heart or the physically challenged. This is a program for people who are serious about making significant progress in a 3 month time frame. I was actually able to buy a copy on Craigslist for around $60. So what you could pay for one session with a personal trainer, you could get this DVD set which will give you 12 different workouts.
Is it your goal to lose weight or to be healthier? If so, why not commit to doing one of these suggestions today?
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