A Penny Saved

We just don’t seem to learn. There always seem to be new financial “bubbles” in the economy just waiting to burst. The tech bubble, the housing bubble, maybe an oil bubble, and if you want to go far enough back in time the tulip bubble or mania of 1636. There’s a fine line between making a profit and trying to get-rich-quick. We have this desire to make money as fast as we can with as little effort as as we can.

So we try fool hardy things. Some play the lottery. Some answer letters from Nigeria (promising riches if we just send some money…). Some invest in things they have no idea of what they are or how they work.

It is better to be the tortoise then the hare.

The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty. (Bible Proverbs 21:5).

When it comes to finance, there are a huge number of sites on the internet.  Some sites focus on credit cards, some on loans, mortgages, insurance, savings, and more.  That’s all great - as long as you’re only looking for one thing.

Money.co.uk takes things to another level - this site is a "one stop shop" for all things money-related.  Whether you’re looking for info on mortgages, loans, Credit Cards, just about any type of insurance, utilities, money news, or just about anything else, you can find it here.  That’s probably the best thing about the site - it’s extremely comprehensive.  At a glance, you can get the best rates on many different kinds of loans.  With another click, you can get the top rates on savings accounts.  They even have a section to compare different online brokerages.  Looking for a credit card?  Compare rates and perks with ease.

RSS Feed Heaven

It’s 2008, and RSS is the latest and greatest.  No longer do you have to visit all your favorite sites every day, in hopes that there is new content.  With RSS, you know exactly which sites have new content.  It’s a dream for people in a rush.  Money.co.uk is unique when it comes to RSS.  See, there isn’t just one feed with all the content of the site - that would be counterproductive.  Since the site is so comprehensive, Money.co.uk has several different feeds.  A grand total of 5, to be exact.  That way, you get the updates you want, without the stuff you don’t.

What if RSS isn’t for you?

Not everyone is a big RSS fan - no worries though.  Money.co.uk has a great newsletter available, with money saving tips delivered right to your inbox.  And don’t worry - they won’t pass around your email address to the highest bidder.  The only emails you get will be the ones you want.

Some things are worth more than money. Good friends and neighbors sure are. The other week our dryer died. Had to call a repairman - the whole circuit board was bad; about a $250 repair bill coming our way. When I got the bill a week or so later, it was marked paid. When I called the store to see what was going on, they told me a “friend” had paid the bill.

Over the weekend, our neighbor let our girls ride a scooter (the self propelled kind!) that he had when his son was young. The girls loved it. Of course all three wanted one! Yesterday I got a call at work from my wife. The neighbor couldn’t wait any longer he was so excited - him and his wife had gone out and bought each of the girls a scooter and he had come home from lunch so he could give it to them!

It seems like every time I start to worry about money, something like this happens to teach me not to worry. I am in good hands.

It’s nice that my neighbors and friends are taking care of our family, but what is really great is that we have good friends and neighbors that love us and we love - that is priceless.

We took a vacation the other week, or as my wife likes to say “staycation.” It’s the first time we have tried staying at home for a vacation. We planned this back in December, before gas prices started their uphill climb. I would like to say that it was brilliant planning and foresight that led us to do this before it became a recent “trend.” Unfortunately it was just dumb luck (which proves as I like to say–no amount of planning beats dumb luck!). We live close to several tourist destinations so we thought we would try being tourist ourselves for a week. It was fun. It’s funny how you take for granted things that are close by that other people travel hours to see. The children loved it, and I must admit it was nice being in my own bed every night. Some of the good points about staying at home for vacation:

• Seeing the local sights that you normally just drive by
• Being in your own bed at night
• No long driving and hearing “Are we there yet?”
• Nice slow pace, can start and end your day whenever you want

To make sure we stayed in vacation mode we did not leave the answering machine on - we hate coming back to messages. We also made sure we did not get into normal mode - no cutting grass, no cleaning, etc. Also, to make sure that it was a vacation for my wife, breakfast and lunch were fun yet simple meals (yum-donuts!), and we ate out every evening (which we could afford to do because there were no hotel bills).

Overall it was a fun experience. I still like getting away, but for a change of pace it was nice. Anyone else have thoughts on stay at home vacations or tips to make it fun?

Fear. It can grip us at anytime. Financially, our anxieties or worries are more about losing things. Losing a job, losing overtime, losing the car, the house, etc. We start asking what if, and our minds go down a dark road. And with instant news and communication, we can feed our fears 24 hours a day. The media loves tragedy, fear, and uncertainty - and we buy it.

We need to reject this attitude of fear. Life is too short to be bound up in fear and in the what if’s. Be thankful for what you do have, rest in the joy of today.

“Anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.” (Bible, Proverbs 12:25)