Sometimes, I wonder how I got so lucky in life.
Given a choice between flying to Italy for a week to see the Leaning Tower and sitting at home for a week to play XBOX, I'd rather sit at home and play some COD.
I hate doing something that the vast majority of people enjoy. And a lot of women encourage me greatly to go see different countries.
To that I say to them, "Do you know how much that costs?"
My mom likes to travel to Taiwan once every two years. Each time, her round trip ticket is at least $1000 in the season that she goes.
It makes my brain bleed that a person would spend that much on a plane ticket.
$1000 is 50 ounces of silver.
$1000 is 2/3 the value of my car.
$1000 is 5 playstation 3s
$1000 is 2 ipad airs
(as of 4/12/14)
$1000 is just the cost of the plane ticket to Taiwan. This amount doesn't include cost of food, lodging, and doing fun stuff.
Also, traveling requires planning, packing, scheduling time off work, getting gate raped in airport security, and spending 1.5 to 2 days on a plane.
If I do travel, I'd much rather just stay domestic.
Take a week off work, check out stuff in the city of Atlanta.
Visit the high museum, world of coke, Botanical Garden, aquarium.
All that at a fraction of the cost of flying to another country.
I imagine what it would be like if my mom travels to Taiwan 30 times in her life.
At $1000 a ticket, that comes out to $30,000 over a lifetime.
$30,000 is my living expenses for 3.65 years of my life.
Before you decide to travel, make sure you really want to do so. And still, consider what you could rather do with the cost of the plane ticket, lodging, and expenses.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Avoid Combos at Fast Food Places
This strategy isn't for everyone.
Popular consensus deems that fast food is disgusting, causes cancer, over priced, causes diabetes, and causes degradation of American culture.
With all that being said, I find most fast food really delicious. AMERICA
Even though lots of people hate fast food, those are probably the same people that will eat at Burger King from time to time.
A five second google search shows that 30% to 40% of Americans eat fast food at least once a week.
Avoid fast food whenever possible, but if you must eat Taco Bell, don't spend too much money on it.
For this example, lets assume the average American eats fast food once a week (52 times a year).
I would really recommend choosing a restaurant that offers a dollar or value menu. Most combos come with a burger, a soda, and fries. Each numbered combo goes for $5 to $7.50.
From experience, the burger goes the longest way in providing satiation. Go ahead and sacrifice the soda and fries.
Order from the dollar menu and buy 2 or 3 dollar burgers/wraps/chicken sandwiches. Get water if you need it because it is usually free.
Eating 3 dollar menu burgers will make you feel just as full as eating a number 1 combo, maybe even more so.
If it is a true dollar menu, the cost of 3 burgers will come out to $3.18 to $3.22. Roughly half the cost of a combo.
Annual cost of eating fast food 52 times a year at $6 a combo.
52 * 6 = $312
Annual cost of eating fast food 52 times a year at $3.18 each visit.
52 * $3.18 = $165.36
Annual savings by avoiding combos at fast food places = $146.64
Monthly savings = $12.22
Once again, I do not encourage eating more fast food then you already do. I only encourage saving money with every visit to McDonalds.
Popular consensus deems that fast food is disgusting, causes cancer, over priced, causes diabetes, and causes degradation of American culture.
With all that being said, I find most fast food really delicious. AMERICA
Even though lots of people hate fast food, those are probably the same people that will eat at Burger King from time to time.
A five second google search shows that 30% to 40% of Americans eat fast food at least once a week.
Avoid fast food whenever possible, but if you must eat Taco Bell, don't spend too much money on it.
For this example, lets assume the average American eats fast food once a week (52 times a year).
I would really recommend choosing a restaurant that offers a dollar or value menu. Most combos come with a burger, a soda, and fries. Each numbered combo goes for $5 to $7.50.
From experience, the burger goes the longest way in providing satiation. Go ahead and sacrifice the soda and fries.
Order from the dollar menu and buy 2 or 3 dollar burgers/wraps/chicken sandwiches. Get water if you need it because it is usually free.
Eating 3 dollar menu burgers will make you feel just as full as eating a number 1 combo, maybe even more so.
If it is a true dollar menu, the cost of 3 burgers will come out to $3.18 to $3.22. Roughly half the cost of a combo.
Annual cost of eating fast food 52 times a year at $6 a combo.
52 * 6 = $312
Annual cost of eating fast food 52 times a year at $3.18 each visit.
52 * $3.18 = $165.36
Annual savings by avoiding combos at fast food places = $146.64
Monthly savings = $12.22
Once again, I do not encourage eating more fast food then you already do. I only encourage saving money with every visit to McDonalds.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Why I hate Obamacare
This post will have no political opinions. These are only have facts.
In the Fall of 2012, I decided to get some health insurance.
Since I was building my wealth, I wanted to protect my wealth if I got injured skateboarding or in a car accident.
I got a plan from Humana. It was a High Deductable Health Insurance Plan.
The deductible was $10,000. After that, 100% of the costs would be covered.
It was perfect for me, I was very satisfied with a $10,000 deductible.
My premium was slightly more than $40 a month. I was completely satisfied with my plan.
I got a new job in the Spring of 2013. In the Fall of 2013, my job offered me free health insurance.
Knowing this, I decided to cancel my plan with Humana.
After November, the health care reform laws took effect.
Just for fun, I decided to check Humana again in February of 2014 to check the premium for my old plan.
I couldn't not find a High Deductible Health Plan anymore.
The cheapest plan I could find on Humana had a monthly premium of $160 a month.
In the Fall of 2012, I decided to get some health insurance.
Since I was building my wealth, I wanted to protect my wealth if I got injured skateboarding or in a car accident.
I got a plan from Humana. It was a High Deductable Health Insurance Plan.
The deductible was $10,000. After that, 100% of the costs would be covered.
It was perfect for me, I was very satisfied with a $10,000 deductible.
My premium was slightly more than $40 a month. I was completely satisfied with my plan.
I got a new job in the Spring of 2013. In the Fall of 2013, my job offered me free health insurance.
Knowing this, I decided to cancel my plan with Humana.
After November, the health care reform laws took effect.
Just for fun, I decided to check Humana again in February of 2014 to check the premium for my old plan.
I couldn't not find a High Deductible Health Plan anymore.
The cheapest plan I could find on Humana had a monthly premium of $160 a month.
Save money by being healthy
Most of the things you can do to save money is to avoid buying or doing stuff.
To save yourself a lot of cash and still have stuff to do, its best to spend your time doing stuff that is very cheap.
Probably the cheapest hobby I have ever had is running.
I'm not a very good runner but even I was able to run 5 miles in about 53 minutes.
Running is free. It costs next to nothing to do.
The only problem is that running sucks for most people. The hardest thing to do is to just get up and do it.
But to stay motivated, the best suggestion I can give is to track your progress. After each run, record your time and distance ran. Then, set some goals for yourself and try to achieve them. Its like playing xbox and hunting for achievements.
Obviously, there are health benefits to staying in shape, but there is another benefit to spending more time running.
The more time you spend doing something like running, the less time you leaving available to do something more expensive like going to a bar, spending money on video games, or dating.
To see this effect, you will have to spend several hours running. Not an easy thing to do.
But running isn't the only option.
There might be a pool/aquatic center in your county and membership could cost maybe $15 to $20 a month. I only recommend that if you really like swimming. Otherwise, you could spend $5 for a few hours at the pool.
I've been a skateboarder for 13 years. Luckily for me, I live in a place where there are free concrete skateparks. Off the top of my head, I've easily gotten over 1000 hours of free entertainment.
Last year, I decided to buy a mountain bike at Wal Mart for about $100.
Not having ridden a bike regularly for over 8 years, it was so much fun just to ride around.
If you buy a bicycle for $100 and ride it for just 10 hours, each hour of entertainment only cost $10. And the more time you spend riding, the cheaper your entertainment gets.
Hobbies are very useful. I'd encourage people to get out there and do something healthy.
To save yourself a lot of cash and still have stuff to do, its best to spend your time doing stuff that is very cheap.
Probably the cheapest hobby I have ever had is running.
I'm not a very good runner but even I was able to run 5 miles in about 53 minutes.
Running is free. It costs next to nothing to do.
The only problem is that running sucks for most people. The hardest thing to do is to just get up and do it.
But to stay motivated, the best suggestion I can give is to track your progress. After each run, record your time and distance ran. Then, set some goals for yourself and try to achieve them. Its like playing xbox and hunting for achievements.
Obviously, there are health benefits to staying in shape, but there is another benefit to spending more time running.
The more time you spend doing something like running, the less time you leaving available to do something more expensive like going to a bar, spending money on video games, or dating.
To see this effect, you will have to spend several hours running. Not an easy thing to do.
But running isn't the only option.
There might be a pool/aquatic center in your county and membership could cost maybe $15 to $20 a month. I only recommend that if you really like swimming. Otherwise, you could spend $5 for a few hours at the pool.
I've been a skateboarder for 13 years. Luckily for me, I live in a place where there are free concrete skateparks. Off the top of my head, I've easily gotten over 1000 hours of free entertainment.
Last year, I decided to buy a mountain bike at Wal Mart for about $100.
Not having ridden a bike regularly for over 8 years, it was so much fun just to ride around.
If you buy a bicycle for $100 and ride it for just 10 hours, each hour of entertainment only cost $10. And the more time you spend riding, the cheaper your entertainment gets.
Hobbies are very useful. I'd encourage people to get out there and do something healthy.
Cutting your own hair
Cost saving: Cutting hair.
Annual Savings $20 to $120.
Cutting your own hair is one way to save extra money.
Last I checked, the cheapest place I've gotten my hair cut cost me $20 each time (tip included).
Each week I walk through Walmart, I see the WHAL clipper for about $25 or $30.
After enough time, I decided just to buy it and try it out.
For a man that can go through life with a shaved head, a WHAL clipper would be one of the most useful things to have.
But I like having my thick hair to some extent. Granted, when I started cutting my own hair, I had no idea what I was doing.
Just go slow and take it a little off at a time. But if you screw up, don't worry, it will grow back.
I shaved off most of my hair in October because I screwed it up really bad.
Cutting your own hair is kind of fun too. You can see what your hair does and cut it how you like. Its like extra customization.
Some men will go a year without a hair cut.
On the other hand, some men get a hair cut every other month.
My guess is that most men get a hair cut about once a season.
4 hair cuts * $20 = $80 a year
Subtract the cost of the clipper ($25) and you have a $55 saving for the first year and $80 each year after until the clipper breaks.
1st year monthly savings = $4.58
2nd year and so on monthly savings = $6.67
The cost saving may not be worth it for every man.
I would recommend shaving your head at least once to see if you can deal with it.
Buy a hair clipper and see if you like cutting your hair.
An extra bonus is that now I don't have to drive out to my barber 4 times a year.
It may sound lazy but time is important.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Never buy a TV bigger than you are.
Each week, I go to Walmart. When I'm there, I usually head over to the electronics section and I always see the flatscreen TVs on display.
The biggest one there is a 70 inch flatscreen TV.
I'm 5 foot 8 so I just realized earlier today that this TV is bigger than I am.
It costs $1,500. (as of 4-6-14)
While I could buy several of these TVs, I just couldn't imagine spending $1,500 on a TV. I can't even justify spending $200 on a TV.
And I realize that consumer spending is what keeps a lot of Americans broke.
Consumer spending - buying stuff you don't need (most likely on credit).
$1,500 is how much money I spent on gas for the entire year of 2013.
$1,500 is the kelly's blue book value of my car.
$1,500 is 4,500 cups of top ramen.
$1,500 is 1,500 cups of McDonald's coffee
I just can't justify spending a lot of money on material things because most of the joy comes acquiring the stuff rather than using it.
A big TV would seem pretty cool at first, but after a few weeks or a month, it just becomes normal. The novelty wears off.
When the novelty wears off, you are still out $1,500. While you can still sell your tv, it is a used product and you would be lucky to recover 50 to 70 percent of the cost.
Thankfully, I imagine that most consumers don't buy a 70 inch tv.
A 30 to 40 inch flatscreen would probably go for $500 or $600. I don't really pay attention to them.
Still, that $500 or $600 could be better spent otherwise.
Though, if you really need to have a tv, I would recommend spending no more than $200 if absolutely needed.
The biggest one there is a 70 inch flatscreen TV.
I'm 5 foot 8 so I just realized earlier today that this TV is bigger than I am.
It costs $1,500. (as of 4-6-14)
While I could buy several of these TVs, I just couldn't imagine spending $1,500 on a TV. I can't even justify spending $200 on a TV.
And I realize that consumer spending is what keeps a lot of Americans broke.
Consumer spending - buying stuff you don't need (most likely on credit).
$1,500 is how much money I spent on gas for the entire year of 2013.
$1,500 is the kelly's blue book value of my car.
$1,500 is 4,500 cups of top ramen.
$1,500 is 1,500 cups of McDonald's coffee
I just can't justify spending a lot of money on material things because most of the joy comes acquiring the stuff rather than using it.
A big TV would seem pretty cool at first, but after a few weeks or a month, it just becomes normal. The novelty wears off.
When the novelty wears off, you are still out $1,500. While you can still sell your tv, it is a used product and you would be lucky to recover 50 to 70 percent of the cost.
Thankfully, I imagine that most consumers don't buy a 70 inch tv.
A 30 to 40 inch flatscreen would probably go for $500 or $600. I don't really pay attention to them.
Still, that $500 or $600 could be better spent otherwise.
Though, if you really need to have a tv, I would recommend spending no more than $200 if absolutely needed.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Monthly Expenses
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