Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Earning Swagbucks and Saving with Coupons

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Coke Zero © by DefeatEd2k4

Have you all seen those commercials for Coke Zero where the person is put into some crazy situation and then they drink a little Coke Zero and notice the and in the description, then start saying “and” and getting all these crazy things?  That stuff doesn’t happen in real life.  Right? That’s just some commercial mind’s crazy idea of what the melding of “Real Coca~Cola taste AND zero calories” can do for you.  While I can’t vouch for the power of and in your soda drinking, I certainly can show you a way that and works in real life.

What I’m talking about is saving money with coupons AND earning Swagbucks.  I’ve talked about Swagbucks a few times before, but, if you’re unfamiliar with them here’s a rundown.  Swagbucks is a “paid-to-search” site, where you use their custom search engine, and occasionally win Swagbucks for doing so.  They’ve got a bunch of other ways to earn Swagbucks, including taking a daily poll, watching SwagbucksTV, Tasks, and even games.  One other way, that I’ve been taking advantage of, is their coupons feature.  Using their coupons page, you print out coupons.  They’re running the same system as Coupons.com, so if you usually use that, you’ll be getting the same coupons.  The big difference here (the “and”, if you will) is that for each coupon that you print through the Swagbucks system, and then redeem, you earn 10 Swagbucks.  Pretty cool, no?

Once a week or so, I’ll go through the list of coupons and print as many as we’ll use, then give them to my wife who cuts them out and sorts them for use.  She’s in charge of that, because she’s got the coupon organizer, and is far better at actually remembering to use the coupons than I am.  🙂

My favorite use of my Swagbucks is to trade my Swagbucks in on Amazon.com giftcards.  450 Swagbucks gets you a $5 Amazon card.  On average, I get a new card every other month.  While it certainly isn’t going to make me rich, it feeds my Amazon habit, and helps me reduce my spending on books and such.

Give Swagbucks a try. (Join Swagbucks here.) After all, who wouldn’t like to make some extra cash and save with coupons?

If you sign up before April 2nd, 2012, and use the code MARCHSWAG during the sign up, you’ll get an added 70 Swagbuck bonus on top of the current 30 Swagbucks you get when you sign up, for a total of 100 Swagbucks to start off with.

How Do You Define Affordability?

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People use the term all the time when making purchases.  “I can afford it, so why not?”  they say as they sign the paper work for a new car, a new house, or swipe their credit cards for that fancy new television.  But, can they really afford it?  How do you define affordability?

Like many of you reading this, I’ve often defined affordability by whether I can make the payment or not.  It was while reading The Millionaire Fastlane that I read a passage that made me rethink how I define affordability.  The passage was this one:

Think about the last time you bought a pack of gum.  Did you fret over the price?  Did you ask, “Hmmm, can I afford this?” Probably not.  You bought the gum and it’s done.  The purchase had no impact on your lifestyle or your future choices.  To a rich man who walks into a dealership and buys a six-figure Bentley without thought, the acts are the same.

Affordability is when you don’t have to think about it.  If you have to think about “affordability,” you can’t afford it because affordability carries conditions and consequences.  If you buy a boat and resort to mental gymnastics over affordability, YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT.  Sure you can assuage affordability and make outlandish arguments, often starting with “I can afford this as long as…” […]

This self-talk is a warning that you can’t afford it.  Affordability doesn’t come with strings attached.  You can bluff yourself but you can’t bluff the consequences.

So how do you know if you can afford it?  If you pay cash and your lifestyle doesn’t change regardless of future circumstances, you can afford it. In other words, if you buy a boat, pay cash, and are NOT affected by unexpected “bumps in the road,” you can afford it.  Would you regret a gum purchase if you lost your job a week later? Or if your sales forecast was slashed by 50%? Nope, it wouldn’t make a difference.  This is how affordability is measured against your level of wealth.

All I want for christmas...To overcome wealth impersonation, know what you can and can’t afford.  There is nothing wrong with buying boats and Lamborghinis if you can truly afford them.  There is a time and a place to indulge.

Reading that, and taking it to heart, it completely changes the perspective on what you can and cannot afford.  I have no problem affording the pack of gum, but I certainly couldn’t afford a boat.  In truth, I think it’s a bit of an extreme example, but one that we should probably strive for.

Think about some of the more recent purchases you’ve made and whether, using Demarco’s definition of affordability, you could really afford them or not.  I know that, if I use that definition, I certainly couldn’t afford the new (to me) car we bought a year ago.  The house we almost bought before I quit my job was absolutely out of our affordability range.  On the other hand, the new Blu-Ray player we bought to replace our dead DVD player was affordable, and, with kids, somewhat necessary.

In a way, Demarco’s definition of affordability matches up quite well with the cash-only lifestyle that many try and live.  If you can’t pay cash for it, you can’t afford it.  It’s a personal goal of mine to someday be able to live my financial life in that way.  I’d like nothing better to purchase our next car with cash.  Or, our next house.  Will it happen?  Realistically? Probably not.  But, it’s a goal, so we’re working towards it.

What about you?  How do you define affordability?  Does Demarco’s definition make sense to you?

photo credit: Tom Wolf | Photography

3 Big Steps to Fight Off Rising Produce Costs this Summer

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My family has been increasingly consuming organic produce because we are trying to eliminate all food additives, preservatives and pesticides from our diet.  If you are trying to feed your family the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, you may be spending more than you would like on produce, regardless if you buy organic or not.  Just for my family of 5, meeting the USDA dietary recommendations means feeding us 25 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, or 175 servings a week!  Here are steps you can take now to save money this summer on fresh produce:

Grow a garden.  If you have the space, consider growing your own garden.  You will have an abundance of fresh, organic produce growing in your back yard, and food doesn’t get any fresher than that.  Eliminate the chemicals and the long transportation time that your produce often endures to get to the grocery store shelves.

VegetablesIf you live in the city or don’t have room to grow a garden, consider getting a plot at a community garden.  Community gardens are designated locations that usually have 15 to 40 plots available for members of the community to garden.  You use a plot and plant what you would like.  You just have to agree to maintain your plot and water it at least once a week.  There is often a small fee.  The community garden I plan to use this summer charges $20, but that money is refunded at the end of the season if you have tended your garden throughout the season.

Subscribe to a CSA.  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Many CSAs offer organic produce and deliver it to a location near you every week.  Programs often let you choose between a 1/2 bushel and a bushel of produce weekly or every other week and typically run for 18 to 22 weeks.

In return, you must pay for your share upfront, usually before May.  In larger cities CSAs fill up quickly, so you may want to begin looking for a CSA in your area this month or next month.  You also usually are not given much say in the produce you receive, so being open to trying new vegetables is necessary.

Freeze Your Excess.  If you have grown your own garden or have a share of a CSA, you may find yourself with an abundance of fresh produce during the summer months.  Rather than letting it go to waste, consider preserving some of it.  True, you could can some of it, but I have done that before, and it was a miserable time.  (This is just my experience; you may enjoy canning.)  Instead, take advantage of your freezer.  Shred the excess zucchini and put it in the freezer in small bags.  Puree excess squash to sneak into baked goods during the winter.  Make Jamie Oliver’s pasta sauce and freeze it for future spaghetti or pasta meals.

With careful planning during the rest of the winter months, you will be able to not only enjoy fresh produce during the summer and slash your grocery bill, but you will be able to save some of that produce for the fall and winter months, effectively lowering your grocery bill for produce all year long.

photo credit: Martin Cathrae