Beating Broke

I Quit My Job: Recovering

November 21, 2011 By Shane Ede 27 Comments

When I finally put in that two-weeks notice, I was floating on this nice little cloud, high above the world, happy with my decision and feeling like I could do no wrong. Like Andrea of So Over Debt put it, it was the first good nights sleep I’d gotten in quite a while. And, of course, for the two weeks that I was still working, I stayed on that cloud, anticipating that last day, and the end to my tenure at that employer.

As those two weeks went by, I went from anticipating the day, to downright demanding it came faster. As more and more of my tasks were transferred to temporary replacements, and I packed more and more of the stuff off of my desk, I began to think about all the things I could be doing at home, at my computer, with this site, and my other sites. It was torture!

At the end of those two weeks, I nearly ran for the door! I was already filled with ideas of what I would write the next day, the things I would do, and the changes I could make. Little did I know that I had a bit of a different path planned. You see, I woke up early the next morning, with the flu. Yep. I spent my entire first day of self employment with the flu. The following day, I was well enough to at least sit at my desk, but being productive was almost certainly out of the question.

One of the things that I decided, early on in this adventure, was that the income from this and other sites wasn’t going to be enough to make up the difference, or even to make a dent in it. I would have to get a part-time job in order to help pay the bills, while I built the sites up to a reasonable income level. I already had a lead on one, so the first full week of self-employment, I went and met with the owner and we worked out some details, and I started last Thursday. The part-time income from that should help with the bills. I’ll get a bit less done on my sites, as I’ll be working three days a week, but it was something that I felt/feel was necessary in order to keep some constant money coming in while I work on building other things.

Now, a full week and a half after I quit, and the holidays rushing in on us, somethings are coming back into focus. I’ve always gotten a bit worked up about finances. That’s why I created this site, after all. So, knowing that we lost over half of our income and will only be able to constantly replace about 1/3 of that income immediately, has me a bit stressed. My wife want’s to do some holiday shopping, and my natural instinct is to shut off all of that, and “give hugs” this Christmas. It’s caused a bit of friction, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out.

I’m recovering. From the high of quitting my job. From the flu. From stressing entirely too much over money. From a lot of things. Such a major life change is bound to require some recovery period, and I am confident that I’ll come out the other side. There’s just a few bumps in the road. What an adventure!

photo credit: alibree

Avoid Temptation on Black Friday

November 18, 2011 By Shane Ede 11 Comments

If you’re like almost every other American, after you’ve gorged yourself on all the Thanksgiving day feasts, you’ll be headed out to do a little gorging of a consumer variety. Black Friday is well known as one of the largest shopping days of the year. Most every retail store has some huge deals for the turkey-drunk shoppers that wander to their doors. And, like most every other American, you’ll likely spend way more than you had planned on spending.

As your favorite personal finance blogger, I urge you to not do that. I’m all about buying what we need at a price that is below the normal retail price. Sales, coupons, and rebates are the way to go when buying things that we need. But, chances are, the things that will be on sale on Black Friday will not be things that you need. In fact, they’re likely to be things like big-screen televisions, computers, and the hot toy of the day. You’re going to be tempted to buy them all, because the marketing department makes it look like such a incredible deal! Here’s some tips for avoiding that temptation, and coming away from your Black Friday shopping with a happy account balance.

Have a budget. This should be the only tip you need. But, you’ll get in the store and be tempted. But, having a defined budget for how much you are planning to spend is still a good thing! Even if you go over that budget, you’re much more likely to at least stay close to it if you have a budget, than you are if you don’t have one at all.
Make a list. You’re likely shopping for gifts for everyone, hoping to make them all happy while saving some money on what you buy them. Make a list of the people you’re planning on buying for, compare it to the flyers that will be inundating your vision over the next week, and then make a master list of people, with the things you plan on buying for them, and where you’ll be buying them. Now, stick to your list!
Be aware of prices. Just because the marketing department put the price in big yellow letters over a big red starburst does not mean that it’s really a good deal. The stores will be full of items that they are marketing as a big savings, when they really are not. Be aware of the prices of competitors, sure, but also be aware of what the price for that item was last week and be wary of artificial sale prices that aren’t really sale prices.
Don’t fall for the swap. Many of the places will have a very limited amount of the big sale items on hand. When they run out, they’ll “swap” the sale item for a similar item that’s more expensive. You’re there for the big sale item, and you can’t leave without it, so you pay the little bit extra to get the similar item. Usually, that “swap” item is regular priced, and not on sale at all.
Free can be bad. More than any other day in the year, the stores will be pushing free items. “Buy a tickle-me-broke, and get a free tin can!” The free item is usually a low cost item (loss leader) that they can afford to give away, while the item you have to buy is usually not on sale for as much as they’d like you to believe, and is a much higher profit item.

The biggest thing to remember while you’re doing your shopping next friday is to be aware. Be aware that the store isn’t out to save you money. They want to make money, so they will do what they can to bring you in the doors with a huge sale and then sell you all the high-profit items that aren’t on that huge sale list. We’ve all seen the videos each year of the people trampling each other trying to get one of the ten of those super cool kitchen gadgets, or video game systems. Don’t be that person. Be conscious of what you want to buy, how much it sold for before, and what the price should be the day you’re buying it. Have a set amount you want to spend and stay close to that amount. You’ll be happier that you did.

What are your plans for Black Friday? Gonna be in the crowds at midnight? Or wait until it cools off later in the day? Or, are you a Cyber Monday shopper?

photo credit: Matt McGee

I Quit My Job

November 9, 2011 By Shane Ede 32 Comments

I did something a couple of weeks ago. I’m sure that, based on the title of this article, you can guess what that something is. In fact, today is my last day. Starting at 5, I’m a free agent!

Why I Quit my Job.

Over the last several months and weeks, several things had happened at work, and while each would have likely been bearable on their own, the whole was completely unbearable. I don’t want to get into any real details, as I prefer to take the high-road and just leave what’s done, done. Unreasonable demands on me, and and my time had made my work a true chore, and I wasn’t willing to deal with it anymore. And so, I attempted to make my argument as to why the demands were unreasonable, but those arguments fell on deaf ears, and I submitted my resignation and two weeks notice. And, boy, did it feel good.

What about that House?

If you’ve been reading the last few weeks of articles, you’ve noticed that I’ve been writing alot about the house we were planning on buying, and the process that we and other prospective home owners have to go through. As you can likely imagine, the loss of one of our incomes has made it impossible for us to be able to afford the new mortgage payment that the new house would have brought with it. As a result of that, we’ve since cancelled the purchase and will remain in our current house.

The upside of not buying the house, and having to pull our current house off of the market is that we’ve done quite a bit of work on it in the last month or so to make it more appealing to prospective buyers. A new deck, some new flooring in the hall, and paint touch ups, among other things have made the house look pretty nice. It still remains rather small for our growing family, but it’s in really good condition now, and we’ll just have to make do.

Plans for the future.

With my resignation, I got something that I hadn’t really expected. Some freedom. I declared my free agency, and I’ll be attempting to make the most of it. I’ll be spending a lot more time writing for Beating Broke, as well as my other online properties. I’ll be writing some guest posts for other personal finance sites, and am hoping to have another ebook ready for you all sometime around the end of the year. (If you’ve got topics you’d like to see an ebook on, please let me know in the comments!)

I’ll likely have to take on a part time job, but have resolved to make it part time so that I have the time to do the extra work on this and other sites. It’ll help supplement the income I make online until such time as the online income grows enough to support me doing it full time.

How can you help?

The biggest way that you can help me, right now, is to continue reading my articles, here. It’s why I write them. It’d be pretty boring if you didn’t stop in to read, leave comments, and add to the discussion. If you’ve got topics you’d love to see covered here, please let me know in the comments or by using the contact us link at the top of the site. I’ll do my best to cover them as quickly and as fully as I can. Finally, share the site with your friends! Let them know how much you enjoy the articles!

photo credit: timsnell