Frugal Framnett

What you see is a photo of our coin jars and one can containing dollar bills. Every now and then I dig the change out of my pockets. When I do that, I pull out dollar bills as well. The coins get inspected, separated, and placed into one of the cans. Dollar bills either get tossed higgledy-piggledy into the can or counted, folded and place into the can.

I inspect quarters for bicentennial pieces and pennies for wheat pieces. Bicentennial quarters & wheat pennies get set aside and collected.
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With this post I kick off a category on investing. First off, investing should be a part of every savings plan.

First, let me warn you, I am an information technology professional not a money manager or any such thing. I am giving suggestions for you to further investigate not to act on willy-nilly. Do not take any of these investment strategies/instruments lightly! You can lose serious amounts of money to ignorance on your part, the market itself, or unscrupulous third parties.

The cardinal rule is to not invest more than you can afford to lose. That means you need to invest out of savings not out of your emergency funds or the money you use to make your mortgage payments.
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Most of us most of the time see ourselves as exclusively consumers. Many of us then take that view and complain when we are unable to consume to our satisfaction. We see this most pointedly when it comes to gasoline and energy.

Quite often, when gas prices exhibit some sort of extreme (on both ends of the price scale) we start hearing tales of dark conspiracy. The powers that be want to suck the wealth out of us! Or The powers that be want us to forget the high prices and drive more! Or The powers that be want us to vote for candidate X!, Or what gas scarcity? I can always fill up my car, truck, boat, ATVs, motorcycles, and snowmobiles! and so on.

I challenge people who think like that to get solidly on the production side of a market place and study how price points affect both production, demand, and profit!

It will help you to become a more intelligent consumer!
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We have and use a programmable thermostat in our house. It is a Hunter model 44550. It has the following features:

• A light
• Furnace/AC run time logging
• Home mode
• Four daily program points
• Weekend & Weekday programming modes
• Seven day programming modes

The device is handy but not perfect.
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Lazy Man and Money discusses frugal bar keeping. I find it interesting and want to to add to it.

I spend extra on sipping booze and less on mixing booze. In fact, I would consider it quite uncouth if you asked for me to mix up a glass of XO & coke, in fact, I probably would flat out refuse to do so. At best, I would pour in the Aristocrat and mix the coke. Same too with any bourbon starting at Jim Beam level and going up (FYI, I don’t much care for Jack Daniels (which btw is technically not a bourbon) so I wouldn’t have it on hand). I have a bottle of Canadian Club on hand (a gift) but have not opened it up yet, I should do that tonight.

I agree with the assessment of Gins - that is Gordons for mixers & Tanqueray for sipping gin (i.e. martinis). I never could stand martinis until a friend said you need to have good gin for those, makes sense.

Vodka I only drink as a mixer so cheap vodka works for me.

I don’t drink rum a whole lot and usually straight up when I do. I have a couple of bottles of Tanduay and one of Meyers. I am not a real rum connoisseur.

Brandy is one class of liquor I try to have a mixing bottle and a sipping bottle. I look for VSOP (or better) of any brand and inexpensive for mixing.

Other liquors I like to have on hand - mainly peppermint schnapps, but I should also think of Jaegermeister & blackberry brandy.

As far as wines go, I like Ravenswood & Boggle, but usually have a big bottle of inexpensive cab around for sipping & cooking. Beer?

Many religious people will tell you that money is the root of all evil. I am not certain where that quote comes from, but it hardly seems likely it comes from the Bible.

No, money is not the root of all evil, lust for money is the root of all evil. Placing the acquisition of money above God, others, and justice is the root of evil.

In fact, there is much sage advice about money management in the Bible. This comes from Proverbs 6:6-11:

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-

11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.

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One of the frustrations I have is the mail-in rebate, the worst part of it, I keep falling for it.

My problem is organization and my nature. I buy something, I then place the receipts in my wallet or in the bag, but before I am halfway home I have completely forgotten about the receipts & the rebate. Then a number of times in the near future I am bound to recall the rebates but then something else is going on and I forget it then too.

A couple of weeks go by and I am going through my wallet and I note some old receipts, I figure whatever it is I bought works so what do I do with the receipt? I throw it away, after all, I am not going to return it. Then a few days later I sit down to do the rebate & where is my receipt? If not that, then the rebate has expired.

The lesson is do not let mail in rebates influence you, instant rebates are okay, but I have never seen them outside of a grocery store.

Florence King writer for National Review Magazine wrote on this (and other things) see below the fold for her take on rebates!
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Here are the goals I am going to set for 2009.

1. Debt Reduction. We have a number of debts some are acceptable, some are tolerable, and some are intolerable. Risks - other obligations may dictate we fall back to the payment schedule (we are ahead on the schedule in both cases) or ask for a reduced payment (on one loan we can do that). However, if either risks come to pass, both loans should be retired by 2010.
   1. Impala Loan
   2. A personal loan from a relative
   3. At least one credit card
2. Closing the house We are in a good position to reduce our monthly house payment, by closing our construction loan and converting to a conventional 30 year loan. Record low interest rates this will most likely save us money! The risk here, is our PMI payments go away only to become tax escrow. Our taxes were a little higher than what we escrowed for.
3. Income Enhancement. It is very unlikely the traditional method of income increases are NOT going to visit us this year. I will have to increase income again by looking for more ways to use my professional skills outside of the 9-5 environment. However, I would like to further formalize those efforts by properly organizing and establishing those efforts. Another “jo-job”? Perhaps, but that would likely be during the spring or summer & involve a position at a place where I would like to get employee discounts.
4. Tracking spending. In the past I have been able to do this for limited area for extended times or for all areas on a limited time, but never for most spending over extended time. I will again, try to track our spending. By doing this, we can establish reasonable budgets.
5. Minimizing Utility Expenses. In previous posts I have discussed our heating bill. I am satisfied with our heating bill situation, but want to get our electric bill down.
6. Keep this blog up! I essentially stopped blogging here in mid to late spring of last year. I should keep it up and I hope this will help me keep my spirits up too!
7. Exercise more often. Yes, I consider that a financial goal. Exercise does wonders for my outlook on life, not to forget the benefits of being healthier! Some of that exercise can be put to use in activity intended to help minimize expenses, e.g. wood splitting & cutting, gardening, biking to the store instead of driving, etc.

Coins in the hand on New Year's Day!

There are two Filipino New Year’s Day customs I treasure and am eager to participate in. The first one consists of making sure you have coins in your pocket as the year turns over.

In my hand is some of the pocket change I carried over from 2008 to 2009 and at the moment the year turned over I shook my pockets making sure the change jangled. The idea is to increase what you have at the start.

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