Archives for June 2011

7 Frugal Date Suggestions

June 22, 2011 By MelissaB 7 Comments

Whether you are dating or married, one of the best ways to maintain closeness in your relationship is to have a date night. However, with the high cost of entertainment, dating can put a serious kink in your budget, but it does not have to. Here are some frugal date suggestions that will kindle your relationship and protect your wallet.

-Cook together. Dates don’t always have to entail a dinner and a movie. Consider making a meal together. My husband and I both love to cook and eat, so during our courtship we frequently cooked together. We tried new recipes and varied what we prepared. Sometimes we would make an economical stir-fry, while other times we bought crab legs from the grocery store and treated ourselves. We bought the crab legs on sale for $9.99; still much cheaper than a night out on the town, and we could talk while we cooked.

-Go to a free concert. If you live in a metropolitan area or near a college town, there is no shortage of free events. Take advantage of them and plan your date around the event. We attend blues festivals and food festivals as well as concerts in the park. They provide several hours of enjoyable entertainment for free.

-Rent a movie. Rent a movie or two from Redbox or the local library. Redbox only charges $1 per movie, and the local library may offer them for free or for a nominal fee for $1 or $2.

-Star gaze together. If you live in a rural area, take advantage of the darkness and put out a blanket on the ground and gaze at the stars together. My husband and I bought a constellation map and spent hours trying to identify all of the constellations. It’s also fun to watch shooting stars.

-Hike together. If you live somewhere with trails or hiking paths, take a hike together. It is free, and you can’t compete with the beautiful scenery.

-Have a picnic. In this modern society where we are trained to go, go, go, it seems simple to pack a meal and have a picnic somewhere, but you will appreciate the time to talk and just focus on one another. My husband and I frequently went to a local waterfall in the evenings and just talked. It was so refreshing to hear the water in the background, and the scenery was amazing.

-Grab a bite to eat during happy hour. Many restaurants offer ½ off appetizers between the hours of 3 and 5 and after 9 p.m. Plan to dine out during that time and enjoy some half-price appetizers. (This is fun to do sometimes; I went to grad school with a guy who would only take his dates out for half price appetizers. I am still amazed that he found girls to go out with him.)

If you go the traditional route of dinner and a movie for a date, you could spend upwards of $50 for two people for just a few hours of entertainment. Instead, try some of these frugal date suggestions or alternate expensive dates with more frugal dates. After all, the point of dating is to have fun and enjoy one anothers company, not spend as much money as you can. Enjoy!

photo credit: ai.dan

The Financial Checklist for Seniors

June 20, 2011 By Kristy Ramirez 1 Comment

If retirement is fast approaching and you haven’t spent much time preparing for it, then you will likely find your golden years to be a little restrictive when your regular income stream ceases and you haven’t planned on how to replace it. However, you don’t need to panic just yet as you may still be able to create the life you want for yourself in retirement by dealing with a few issues you had previously put off thinking about, such as ensuring you can live comfortably in retirement, and making sure you don’t lose your home or financial independence. If you are only around five years away from ‘receiving your gold watch’ you are cutting it fine but you still have time to go through this checklist and get yourself ready for your retirement future.

1 – How and Where You Will be Living

First up of course you will need to turn your mind to how and where you will be living. For instance will you be able to remain living where you are now or will you have to move. In some cases, couples approaching retirement sell everything and buy a smaller apartment or sometimes even a motor home to travel around the country. Spending your retirement on the road gives you a chance to see places you have only dreamt about, or read about, while still maintaining part time work.

Often the family home will become too big for you once your children have moved out and you can choose to embrace the freedom of this lifted responsibility by swapping your home for a home on wheels, or downsizing to a smaller place. While you will still have family ties and community responsibilities, you can enjoy the freedom of a smaller home which is easier to maintain, not to mention easier on your finances too.

2 – Complete All the Paperwork in Advance

Whatever you plan to do in retirement you will have to prepare yourself for the changes that will eventually take place. You will have to complete the required documentation to allow you to receive any benefits that you may be entitled to such as Social Security, Medicare. You’ll also need to make other personal arrangements such as include superannuation and life insurance. If you have investments, now is the time to start clearing them and sorting out the kind of portfolio you will have in retirement.

3 – Choose a Good Financial Planner

You can also seek help with this checklist from your financial planner, which can be useful if you have investments that are earmarked to provide you with a passive income when you are no longer earning in your own right. Either way, you will need a list of your assets and all the debts you will still owe when leaving paid work. You don’t want to carry any debts over into your retirement years as your earning capacity will be reduced, and so too will your ability to repay these debts quickly, plus you want all of your retirement funds to be allocated to enjoying life. After clearing all your debts you will then have a clearer picture of how much you will have to retire on.

4 – Don’t Forget That Medical Check Up

With all your debts paid off and a clear picture of your financial future starting to take shape, it will be time to have a thorough medical check up. You will need to do this so that you will not be surprised if any health problems were to suddenly arise that would throw all your carefully planned financial future and retirement activities into disarray. Remember your medical insurance cover might well change too once you have retired and you may need a current check up for your files.

Whatever the result of your medical check up, or if illness should strike in the future that was previously unforeseen, don’t let it take over your life, try to live your retirement life to the full no matter what the odds are. If you had planned to travel, do so, medical care is widespread around the country and the continuous change of scenery might be of immense help in giving you a renewed approach to life.

5 – Rearrange Your Life Insurance

As you get older you will be approaching the business end of your life insurance – the eventuality you have taken out a policy for is closer than ever. Also look at the policies you have to protect your family because while you may have had a life insurance policy which could cover your childrens’ college expenses if you were to die when they were young, your children are probably finished their studies and pursuing their careers, so find out whether your term life insurance policy is one which has the option to convert it to a senior term life insurance.

Your main goal is still to avoid leaving behind any financial hardship for your family or friends when you finally die. Therefore, make sure your funeral costs will be fully covered along with any debts that may remain outstanding, and don’t forget to keep your will up to date. Many people fail to make it clear about how they want to disperse their belongings, but a will can put paid to any disagreements that may arise after you have gone.

A good approach to a successful retirement is to realise that you can’t take it with you after your life has ended, so therefore arrange matters which allow you to live comfortably within your means, do things you have not been able to do before, like travel and meeting new friends while keeping active mentally.

What if Everyone Was a Frugaler?

June 15, 2011 By Shane Ede 16 Comments

What if everyone in the world was as frugal as the most frugal? Inspired by conversation on the Early Retirement Extreme forums about the ethics of the Early Retirement Extreme lifestyle. So, the beginning of that linked conversation (if you haven’t read it) is based on the premise that if everyone did as Jacob does and lived the ERE lifestyle, would the world collapse? And, if so, doesn’t that indicate that the ERE lifestyle is not socially responsible (ethical)? Which, got me to thinking. What if everyone was as frugal as most of the frugalers we know? What if frugal was normal?

I’m not talking about the people who hand wash their Mercedes, either. When it really comes down to it, the ERE lifestyle is pretty similar to the frugaler lifestyle. Each has their extremists. So, what if everyone was frugal?

Would we all make our own shampoo? Would we all have a sustainability garden? Would we all coupon? Would coupons still exist?

It’s an interesting question. Many of the things we all see and do each day exist because a much larger section of the population use them far more regularly than we do. Disneyworld, for instance, probably wouldn’t exist if it’s only customer base were frugalers. What about those Mercedes cars? Probably not in the U.S. But, if you think about it, there wouldn’t be very many used cars available for purchase, since we’d all be busy driving them until the wheels fall off. What would that do to the auto industry? If all the people who buy a new car every year, or even every five years, stopped doing so? You thought they needed a bailout a couple of years ago! They’d really need one then.

We might see more local farms growing a larger variety of goods because more people are shopping at farmers markets and taking advantage of the Co-Op farms. We might see less McMansions and more smaller houses with big yards and gardens. We might see some pretty drastic changes in the pricing of some things. Without all the willy-nilly spenders out there paying whatever the manufacturer asks for the product, you might see more reasonable pricing to get people to purchase a product. We would likely see a return to a more craftsman foundation, much like the early retirement extreme lifestyle. People might be interested in making things themselves if the market dynamic shifted that drastically towards the frugal side of things.

How do you see the world changing if everyone was as frugal as the most frugal?

photo credit: kenteegardin