So we stopped at our local antique mall this afternoon.  It was more crowded than usual, but nowhere near the traffic level at the typical retail outlets.  That, and since many antique malls have a large variety of sellers, there is a similar large variety of types of merchandise.  It’s more part antique mall, part flea market, part craft mall / boutique shop.  We found the standard assortment of antiques:  depression glass, occupied Japan figurines, washboards, pump organs, old advertising signs, etc.  But others had hundreds of books both old and new, CDs, DVDs, and more.  One seller had fossilized shark teeth (which we got for our daughter).  Another had dollhouse furniture.  And of course there were plenty of booths that had a mishmash of unusual items.  We found a painted gourd for one of my relatives that would go great with their decor.

Heading to an antique mall can mean making an end run around the holiday crowds.  As an added bonus, the gifts that you find for your friends and family can potentially mean more since the gifts from these places are a little harder to track down than ones that can be bought at Amazon.  If you get them at a steep discount, so much the better!

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I commented on Baker’s post that I was surprised that Discover waited that long to contact them.  (Perhaps they didn’t wait at all regardless.)

Businesses owe your heirs no special consideration

My grandfather died a few years ago.  It was very shortly afterwards that the agent for his homeowner’s insurance policy called my mother to inform her that the premiums would increase because it was now a vacant home.  My mother gave the agent an earful (she had grown up with him), saying that he had been a good customer for decades and that they were canning his policy before he was ground temperature.  The agent gave her a sympathetic ear, but the risk to the property does go up if no one is living there, and hence the premiums should go up.

Business relationships are just that: business.  It’s nothing personal.  And that’s just why situations like what Ms. Townley experiences leave a bad taste in people’s mouths:  there sometimes is almost no personal touch that’s expressed.

But when a customer outcome (how’s that for a business euphemism!) severs the relationship with the business, it would be unwise for the business to continue on as if nothing had happened.  In the case of my grandfather’s insurance company, they’d be taking a risk that’s not adequately compensated for the premium.  In the case of banks seeking to settle credit accounts with the heirs of deceased cardholders, they only have a short window anyway to recoup anything at all.  If they wait around until the heirs have grieved, then (a) the heirs still won’t want to pay the deceased’s credit card bills and (b) there may be no money left in the estate to pay them with anyway.  It’s the quick creditors that get their money, not the considerate ones.

It’s a matter of legacy and preparation

To be fair, I’ve been caught on the receiving end of “businesses just taking care of business” (though thankfully I haven’t had to deal full bore with a death in the family yet).  Even the act of changing your address disrupts things.  I’ve missed bills, missed deadlines, and gotten nastygrams because I didn’t update my address with everyone I did business with.  Businesses didn’t really care that I had other stuff going on when I moved.  All they cared about was their business.  And frankly, that’s how it should be.

So, I’ve gotten better at preparing for things that might disrupt payments, cause cancellation of services, or otherwise be inconvenient.  Businesses expect me to pay my bills.

Likewise, when the ultimate disruption comes (death) how I’ve prepared my estate and finances will reflect on my legacy.  If I have things in order, my heirs will indeed have time to grieve, rejoice, whatever.   If I don’t, then it will be a nightmare for them.  They might be tracking stuff down.  Or they might be getting harassing phone calls from banks about my debts.

In any case, it’s up to me whether my heirs are leaving flowers at my grave or spitting on it.  My creditors won’t care one way or the other.

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This past weekend I took a trip to Costco to pick up a few things.  Some places my wife and I hesitate to get generic (store) brand because it was weak, didn’t work, tasted nasty, contained ingredients that gave her a headache, and so forth.  This is a side effect of the manufacturers creating an acceptable product at a much lower cost.  Something has to give to meet price.

I don’t have the same reservations with Costco’s store brand, Kirkland.  Their products are almost always more than just inexpensive and acceptable.  They’re quite competitive on quality.

So, I ventured into a product area that probably puts generic to the test more than just about anything else.

I bought Kirkland beer.  A case of Kirkland Handcrafted Ales was $18.99, which was a good $5 cheaper than name-brand competitors like Sam Adams (which is tasty, don’t get me wrong).

One of my fraternity brothers in college often said that there are two kinds of beer:  good beer, and better beer.  Now that I’m (more than) a bit older, I’ve reached the conclusion that there is such a thing as bad beer, too.  But let’s give Kirkland brew a fighting chance: is it good, or better?

I was pleasantly surprised with the taste — definitely at least at par with most name brands in the “expensive” section of the grocery store.  The IPA had a nice bite to it, and the others were true to form.  By no means were they alcoholic dishwater.  (The labels on the bottle are plain, but who cares?)

It’s true that not all generic items are created equal, but in my experience Costco’s store brand is high enough quality across the board that you can feel confident at least giving it a shot.

Even with beer!

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“Since when?!” she piped up.  I had thought new paperbacks were $6.99 or $7.99.  I knew they were at one point, but that turned out to be ten years ago.  New paperbacks are usually well over $10 now.  (Shows you how often I pay attention to the prices of paperback fiction.)

That’s pricey, but that’s probably the highest price I’d pay: the list price on the back of the book.  Here’s a list of places to get books, ranging from highest to lowest price (approximately):

• Retail, in a chain bookstore. This is the Borders price for a new book that isn’t a recent release or otherwise on special.  It’s the price on the back of the book.
• A discount seller like Amazon.com. Usually you can get a better price here for a new release: 20% or 30% off of the list price.  If you buy the right amount of stuff, or have Amazon Prime, you can get free shipping as well.
• On an e-reader like the Kindle. Sometimes you can get a break on the price of a new book if you have an e-reader.  Unfortunately most of the very popular books aren’t much less expensive in electronic form than in print form.
• A used book store. You’re likely not going to get the newest books, but you can get fairly recent books for Amazon prices.  There may be a few dog ears on the pages, but the words are still there.
• Used on Amazon. Amazon.com also has links to sellers of used books.  The price might be fairly good but there’s not much way around the shipping: $3.99 for a book.  That takes a bit of the fun out of it.  For more expensive books this could be only a small difference, though.
• Library book sales.  My wife enjoys going to these.  Our local library culls its collection of duplicates and takes donations of books as well.  The prices are really good:  $2.00 for five paperbacks, slightly more for hardbacks.  During the last days of the sale they’ll sell you an entire bag of books for $1.
• Borrow from the library or from a friend. This is free (as long as you return it on time!)  You might be waiting a while for a popular book, though.  There’s where the price is: your time, both waiting for the book and getting it in the time frame allowed by the library’s wait list.

What the price boils down to is how fast you want to have the book. If you want it now, you pay more than if you want it later.  If you want it the second you see it in Borders, you’ll pay the most.  If you borrow it at the library months or years later, you’ll pay the least.

The choice is yours!

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For a time, though, I had resigned myself to the prospect that her writing would be a great creative outlet for her, and would help her to make peace with the thoughts that haunted her for whatever reason.  As far as anyone else ever seeing her writing (including me) that wasn’t an option for a time.  But even keeping her writing as close as she did, she knew that the quality of her writing was better than quite a bit of what she had read, so she had thoughts of trying to make a go at it.

“You’ll never know until you try!”

At the same time she was seeing how good her writing was, she was also keenly aware of how much of herself comes out in it.  It used to be that getting a novel published was a long, dues-paying process with many technical, editorial, and financial barriers along the way.  Now that the cost of publishing has gone through the floor, and now that it’s economically feasible for distributors of both publish-on-demand works and e-books to all but remove any editorial screening, the major barrier is just building up the courage to unzip ones fly and get the stuff out there. As recently as three years ago, my wife was looking to jump through the hoops to work with an agent — not for economic reasons, but more for assurance that her work was really good enough.  She figured if it got past the scrutiny of an agent and editor, then it was actually good enough.  That, and she was concerned about whether people would take her seriously if the book were self-published.

Why you should try

After nine years of marriage, one would hope that I’m getting better at not needlessly or deliberately irritating my spouse.   So why is it a good thing for her to get her book out there even though it’s outside of her comfort zone?

• Passive income. Royalties are passive income.  Royalties are recurring income.  Invest the time up front once, and receive payments again and again.  It’s one of the better kinds of income to have.  Book publishing provides passive income.
• More baskets for our eggs. It’s wise to get more than one income stream going.  What’s more, depending on the subject matter of the book, this could end up being a substantial basket.
• Disaster insurance. Right now I bring in most of the income for our family.  My wife still works very hard at maintaining the family, of course, but as valuable as that work is, it’s not a paid position.  We have some insurance in place, but that’s a money source, not an income source.  That will eventually run out.  Developing an income stream that is more or less my wife’s alone can take a small amount of the pressure off should something really bad happen to me, because she doesn’t need me to do it.  She went through the publishing process herself, and she could do it again.
• It’s low-hanging fruit. My wife already can write.  She has been writing for a very long time, and she loves it.  Why not make money at it?

How the other spouse can encourage this and still remain married

Encouraging my wife to do this took years.  I’ve found this to be the same when I’ve suggested it to my other creative friends.  It’s a process to get creative people to sell their work.  Sometimes this process has risk to it.  Friends might just tune you out after a while, but if the person you’re encouraging is your spouse, you still have to live with them.  If I recall correctly, the first time I ever was able to read my wife’s book, she basically threw the manuscript pages down in front of me.  It gave me the feeling for a second that I had won the battle but lost the war.  (When my wife thanked me in the acknowledgements she said that I had bullied her into finishing the book.  That was probably part of the bullying.)

All of that was to say that this process has to be done carefully and with real investment. I certainly made mistakes along the way, but I think I did a few things right along the way, too.  Here are some of those things:

1. Start sooner rather than later. The process takes time, and it’s far easier to go through the process when you’re not depending on this income.  It can be stressful enough without adding overdue bills in the mix.
2. Be patient. Like I mentioned before, I’d been suggesting this to her for years.  Choose appropriate times to talk about it.  I can tell when my wife is getting overloaded with technical details and I stop.  I learned how to do this the hard way at times.
3. Be sure to do it for the right reasons. If it started getting to be more about me than my wife, then it’s for the wrong reasons.
4. Keep it light. My wife loves writing.  If it started to get to the point that she didn’t enjoy writing, or talking to me about her writing, then that would be a worse failure than publishing something and never selling one copy.  I have to make sure that I don’t take away her joy of being creative.
5. Take a genuine interest. I know very little about the Civil War, and given three hours, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read that kind of book.  But I did read it.  I listen to my wife, and ask her questions.  Learning something about what my wife is an expert on is part of my job description, as far as I’m concerned.
6. Be there for emotional encouragement. By nature I’m a problem solver, but sometimes I have to put away my thinking cap and expose my ears so that I can listen to what she’s feeling.
7. Invest money. My wife had put in the time for the book.  Along the way, she made use of reference material that cost money.  Printer supplies by the case, the real Microsoft® word processor when the free OpenOffice one would have worked just fine , etc., all cost money, but it made her finishing the book easier.
8. Investing time. Money is one thing, but for some activities it’s cheaper to put time in.  That’s an investment, too.
9. Doing some of the non-creative drudgery. Now that my wife’s book is out there, she’s already told me that promoting the book is something that I’d be better suited to tackle.  And that’s fine!  I’m glad I can help.  I certainly can’t write or research the way she can.

Afterword:  So what is the book about?

My wife’s book is titled An Uncivilized Yankee.  It’s set in the American Civil War.  The two main characters are on opposite sides of the war, and they’re of opposite gender, and that’s about all I’m going to say of the plot.   Civil War buffs will appreciate the historical accuracy.  Like I mentioned before, this isn’t the kind of book I would have chosen, but I had a hard time putting it down while I was reading it.  You can check out the book’s website for a synopsis, as well as for checking out the first chapter of the book.  If you like what you see, it’s available in paperback or on the Amazon Kindle.

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MBH Picks!

• Good Financial Cents tells the story of how he got started as a financial planner.
• Credit Cards Canada asks what it would cost to put the twelve days of Christmas on your credit card.
• The Penny Hoarder gives a how-to on making money by shopping at drugstores.
• Magical Penny has something different in mind when he talks about diversification.
• Gen Y Wealth lists twenty financial milestones to reach in your twenties.
• The Saved Quarter has a great list of ten gifts that keep on saving.
• Life Lessons from a Military Wife has a great list of gifts from the heart instead of the wallet.

Budgeting

• The Financial Blogger has a guest post that shows (succintly) how to instantly increase motivation for sticking to a budget.
• Green Panda Treehouse chats about where our money goes.
• Live Real, Now suggests a pre-step to Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps.
• Passive Family Income lists three steps to setting up a budget.
• Mom’s Plan shows how to save money on groceries without coupons.
• It’s the envelope budgeting method with a slick interface and great training resources.  Check out Mvelopes Personal and give it a try for free!

Career

• Free Money Finance discusses one opinion of the biggest thing an MBA does for you.
• Darwin’s Money reports that looks matter in the workplace.  (Survival of the fittest, I guess.)
• Before You Invest explains how to start an eBay business.
• Boomer and Echo lays out the cost of starting a franchise.

Credit

• Studenomics goes through how credit card companies make money.
• Smart Balance Transfers lists three reasons not to get an airline credit card.
• CardHub explains how to get a higher credit limit.
• Credit Card Offers IQ has some Citi bonuses to report.
• The Digerati Life lists five prepaid Visa cards that require no credit check.
• Credit Card Forum gives ShopDiscover reward tips.
• Soldier of Finance marches through how to get free credit scores at CreditKarma.
• Ask Mr. Credit Card reports on the Mastercard DDoS attack.
• Miss Bankrupt explains the difference between prepaid cards and secured cards.
• Nerd Wallet compares Citi rewards cards.
• Discover More® Card – $100 Cash Bonus

Debt

• Consumer Boomer calls for responsible use of revolving credit this holiday season.
• Balance Junkie explains how to solve a debt problem.
• Sustainable Life Blog reports on a debt payoff decision.  Was it the student loan or the truck?
• Donna Freedman wishes everyone a debt-free Christmas.
• Tight budget for Christmas this year?  Make your dollars go further with Mr. Rebates!

Finance

• MomVesting explains the concept of net worth and offers words of advice if that number is below zero.
• PFStock talks about a website that lets you see how your income stacks up to other people in your ZIP code.
• Sustainable Personal Finance has a com-post.  (Garbage collection for nothing and your premium soil for free.)
• Sun’s Financial Diary discusses loans of last resort.

Frugality

• Living Richly On A Budget kicks that expensive caffeinated drink habit down to size and shows how to make your espressos at home.
• FruGal winterizes her beauty routine on a budget.
• Consumerism Commentary tackles the argument that frugality is bad for the economy.
• Sweating the Big Stuff advocates donating more to charity.
• Subscribe to Groupon’s Daily Deals!

Investing

• Commodities Universe gives a brief introduction to paper trading some futures contracts.
• Buy Like Buffett runs down some Christmas gifts that appreciate in value.
• Investing Thesis has a fairly lengthy interview on the topic of gold, bonds, fiat currencies and economics.
• Do Not Wait recommends not waiting to identify your sources of investing risk.
• The Dividend Guy recommends investing in yourself.  I agree 100%!
• The Intelligent Speculator lists no less than twenty things to consider when evaluating an exchange-traded fund.
• Dividends Value gives us a baker’s dozen of stocks with a good mix of yield and growth.
• Money Thinking chimes in with a history lesson on what happens when the stock market crashes.
• The College Investor explains different kinds of education saving accounts.
• Retire By 40 goes through his portfolio and explains his rebalancing.
• ETF Base makes the case for emerging markets exposure.
• The Smarter Wallet discusses modern portfolio theory.
• Chicago Financial Planner has a bit of a gripe with Vanguard.
• Dividend Growth Investor makes the case for dividend investing in retirement.
• Watson Inc wonders if he’s a financial hypocrite.

Money Management

• Net Worth Journey shares three lessons learned from hair transitioning and how they apply to money management.
• Generation X Finance lists five great year-end financial moves.
• Beating Broke expounds on financial intentionality.
• Provident Planning continues his series on stupid rules of thumb.
• Go Banking Rates warns that this winter could be costly.
• Musings of an Abstract Aucklander (!) chats about lifestyle creep.
• Prepaid Cards 123 discusses prepaid cards that offer online bill pay services.  Interesting way to keep on top of things if you’ve made mistakes before.
• Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured (!) ask if paying a relative’s tuition is the right thing to do.
• Daily Financial Solutions explains the real cost of owning a car.
• Manage your money for free with Mint.com!

Real Estate

• Garbage Filter explains some common real estate terms helpful to those looking to buy a home.
• Yes, I Am Cheap predicted the mortgage fraud crisis.
• Mortgage rates are at multi-decade lows.  See if you could save money with a mortgage refinance!

Reviews

• Accumulating Money reviews a book on the stock market by Mariusz Skonieczny.
• PT Money reviews EBates.
• Investor Junkie reviews E*Trade.

Saving

• Fabulously Broke in the City breaks this little news:  Women who save are sexy.
• Money Help for Christians gives a brief introduction to the 403(b) retirement account.
• Cash Money Life explains how to cash in US Savings Bonds.
• Len Penzo blows the cover on six money-saving tips that are anything but.

Taxes

• Bargaineering ponders what would happen if the mortgage interest tax deduction didn’t exist.
• Spruce Up Your Finances discusses the ins and outs of itemized deductions.
• Personal Dividends makes the case for solo 401(k)s for the small business owner.
• One Money Design has a tax prep checklist.
• Get quick answers and speedy, professional, intuitive tax preparation with H&R Block At Home!

Other

• Prairie Eco-Thrifter reveals the key to happiness.  Well said.
• Wealth Pilgrim explains term life insurance.
• Budgeting In The Fun Stuff plays her top five songs about personal finance.
• Oblivious Investor investigates and discusses a different side of online bank recommendations.
• Financially Poor parades ten epic money pwns.  (Warning — this post is PG-13.)
• Dough Roller shines the spotlight on the American Red Cross.
• My Dollar Plan reports on some Amazon bonuses.
• Canadian Finance Blog describes some insurance you can do without.

That’s it!  Thanks for checking out the posts.  Have a safe and happy holiday!

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Anyway, one post series she did a while back (3 1/2 years ago) was financially-related, and the last of the series outlined five steps that she took that helped her to become financially independent. (Warning: linked post contains strong language!)

The second point made a lot of sense to me.  She only invests in things that she enjoys. From her post:

I know a guy who is a whiz with stocks; he loves them. My husband, on the other hand, gets a huge kick out of investing in small businesses. Yet another friend is into precious metals. There are countless investment opportunities out there, but the trick is finding one that fascinates you.

Personally, I love real estate. I can walk into the biggest, dumpiest, most wrecked foreclosure on the market and find something cool about it. I adore single family homes, old buildings, abandoned restaurants and I’d rather go to an open house than the movies. I’m obsessively diligent about watching the market and at any point in time I could tell you with reasonable accuracy how many houses in my city are for sale, how long they’ve been on the market, and how much they’d have to go for to make money. Real estate is ‘my thing’ and I’m convinced the only reason I’m successful with it is because I enjoy it. Give me 10K and tell me to the play the stock market and it’s likely I’d be broke in a week. Give me 5K and a copy of a MLS and watch me go.

The key ingredient isn’t so much what you invest in, but that you absolutely love it, can’t get enough of it, want to research it, want to put the time into learning about the investment so that you can do it wisely, and profitably.

For the past few years I’ve been wanting to dip my finger into real estate.  With the purchase of our new house I had the opportunity to try renting out our old house.  I must say that it was fun getting involved in the process:  calling around to ask for advice, learning how to fix up things in the house, touching up the walls, cleaning the floors and the carpets, developing a relationship with a property manager, getting insurance matters in place, and finally signing a lease with what appear to be really wonderful tenants.  It’s probably too early to tell whether I’ll enjoy investing in real estate in the long run, but I must say that I’ve mostly enjoyed it so far.

Getting the property ready to rent took a number of evenings and a bunch of phone calls over a few weeks, but it was something I could do and looked forward to doing.  I enjoyed it. There have been investments I haven’t enjoyed as much, and I’m not doing them anymore because they never really took off.  The reason that they didn’t take off, though, is probably because I didn’t enjoy them!

Maybe there are a few things in your portfolio that you don’t really enjoy?  Replace them with things you do.

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This may come as a shock to everyone but my wife, but I’ll let you in on a secret:

I don’t know everything. Especially about money.

That’s part of the reason I started up Cash Commons — so I could possibly get some answers to my money questions (and help to provide the answers I did know to other people for their money questions).  There are a number of questions that the enthusiastic folks that contribute to Cash Commons haven’t answered yet, and I’ll highlight them throughout this week’s personal finance submissions.

The engine that runs Cash Commons allows privileges within the system based on earned “reputation” which is earned from other users by asking good questions and giving good answers.  For the questions I highlight here, I’ve sliced off a bit of my reputation as a “bounty” that will be awarded to the best answer.  So if you’ve been waiting on the sidelines to register and test out Cash Commons, here’s an opportunity to get some quick “reputation” and pull your user profile up to the front page.

In any case, enjoy this week’s submissions!

Editor’s Picks

• Bargaineering has six great ways to kill your credit score.
• Eventual Millionaire explains how she paid off  $70,000 in debt and quit her job.
• My Dollar Plan lists ten ways to rejuvenate your finances.
• FIRE Finance exposes the sad reality of looted 401(k)s.

What’s different about single-family homes and mobile homes that makes one appreciate and the other depreciate? Pulled this question out of Dr. Dean Burke’s new book, The Millionaire Nurse.

Budgeting, Credit, and Debt

• Nerd Wallet compares automotive credit cards.
• Consumer Boomer asks: “What’s the real cost of your credit card?”
• Narrow Bridge Adventures highlights the downside of otherwise good credit card rewards.
• Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance explains how television can save you money.
• The Smarter Wallet shows how to borrow money when credit is tight.
• Stumble Forward runs through five tactics to slash debt now.
• Money Relationship asks if you should use your credit card as your emergency fund.
• Debt Tips asks: “Can debt consolidation save your neck?”
• Independent Beginnings asks  a tough question: “Would you risk your baby’s life to avoid debt?”
• Free Money Finance discusses American debt.

Am I obligated to refinance my mortgage if the home is no longer my primary residence? Or is just continuing to pay my mortgage on the old house enough?

Career and Economy

• Technical Certifications argues for why it’s a good idea to get IT certifications.
• Studenomics discusses how to decide when going full-time with a side business is appropriate.
• Darwin’s Finance discusses raises.
• LifeTuner gives some ways that young people can deal with economic shifts.
• Penny Jobs has some choice words on current student loan reform.
• Cash Money Love also reports on student loan reform.

Frugality and Saving

• Len Penzo puts store-brand and name-brand cereals to the true taste test.
• Live Real, Now risks sleeping on the couch and gives five ways to force your spouse to be more frugal.
• Energy Saving Gadgets reports on green surge protectors.
• Eliminate The Muda! asks: “What sacrifices are you willing to make?”
• Well-Heeled Blog is setting up a joint savings account with a significant other to save up for a vacation.
• Bucksome Boomer asks if her generation can afford to retire.
• Good Financial Cents goes treasure hunting online.
• Free From Broke explains what a CD is.
• Budgets Are Sexy claims that $5 a day will let you become a millionaire.
• Magical Penny discusses the individual savings account.

What’s the “naked” part in naked short selling? Heard this term at dinner a couple of days ago.  I know what short selling is, but not the naked part.

Investing

• Invest in the Markets tells how to find solid stocks.
• Accumulating Money discusses a 401(k) rollover to an IRA.
• Money Help for Christians explains value averaging.
• Wealth Pilgrim suggests using caution when handling inherited IRAs.
• Dividend Growth Investor explains the 4% rule for dividend investing in retirement.
• Investing Thesis outlines their stock-picking criteria.
• Foreigner’s Finance gives insights on foreign savings accounts and CDs.
• Dividends Value sheds light on master limited partnerships.
• Oblivious Investor shares a quickie on why he doesn’t pick stocks.
• IRA Reviews reviews the Vanguard IRA.
• Amateur Asset Allocator describes how to determine mutual fund holdings with Morningstar.
• Gen Y Wealth has a post with a flowchart on determining where to locate assets.
• Bible Money Matters reveals his Lending Club investing strategy.
• Balance Junkie crunches numbers on the ultimate calculation.
• PT Money on Roth IRAs vs. 401(k)s: Which one tastes great, and which is less filling?
• Canadian Finance Blog reminds us that American investment advice might not apply elsewhere.
• The Trend Rida declares the smartphone war over for investors.
• Tough Money Love advises avoiding the bond fund trap.

What are your indispensable Quicken 2010 tips? I’m a new Quicken 2010 user.  What makes it rock your world?

Money Management

• The Wisdom Journal has 14 reasons you’re living on the edge financially.
• Green Panda Treehouse lists a who’s who (what’s what?) of personal finance e-books from bloggers.
• Hope To Prosper says that a fool and his money are soon parted.
• Christian Personal Finance has a guest post with four tips for broke college students.
• Smart Money Daily recounts the continual drama of men, women, and money.
• Rainy Day Saver runs over the basics of estate planning.
• Funny About Money is counting all her money.
• Digerati Life asks: “Should you get low-cost life insurance?”
• Go To Retirement gives five strategies for retiring on less.
• A Modern Gal asks: “Why does spending money make us feel good?”

Real Estate and Taxes

• The Financial Blogger lists six reasons why he will not use a real estate agent to sell his house.
• Frugal Dad reveals the secrets to falling in love with your house all over again.
• Alpha Consumer dispels the myth of the baby tax credit.
• Provident Planning runs some tests to help you decide whether you need to file a tax return or not.

Other

• More Than Finances lists five documents that should be in your estate plan.
• Car Negotiation Coach says to use free car quotes at your own risk.
• Military Finance Network explains what Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance is.
• Need Money Tips is starting off with the Shoemoney System.
• One Money Design gives nine ways for women to increase cash flow.
• The Financial Student has a discussion of rich vs. wealth (video has explicit language).

Have a great week!  And also stop by Cash Commons with your money questions and answers!

(Photos: Erik Charlton, Marco Bellucci, fontplaydotcom, konradfoerstner)

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I mentioned in the roundup that we bought a used clothes washer and dryer.  We found the advertisement on our local Craigslist, went up, and found the set to be in very good shape.  A comparable set today would cost between $800 and $900, and we bought his two-year-old set for $400.

An $800-$900 washer/dryer set isn’t completely bottom of the line, but it’s not top of the line, either.  A water-efficient, energy-efficient top-load washer, plus a matching dryer, runs about $1,000.  The washer model at this level is Energy Star rated.  (The dryer isn’t, but I think that’s because dryers aren’t efficient in general.  That’s what clotheslines are for.)

There’s a big push for people to upgrade their appliances to more efficient models.  The government is even chipping in 30% of the upgrade cost on selected appliances, up to $1,500, in the form of a tax credit.  (Washers and dryers aren’t included.)  It would seem that we, and our greenness, took a step backwards by buying a used washer and dryer.

Well, it probably will not only less costly overall to get the used appliances instead of the new efficient ones, it will probably be greener, too. I’ll explain.  There are a couple of things to consider:  total cost, and total energy expended.

Let’s use these numbers, which are pretty close to what they were when we checked them out at Lowe’s.  The less-efficient set cost about $30 more per year to operate than the more-efficient set.  At a cost difference of $600 ($1,000 – $400) this means a break-even point of 20 years.  We’d be fortunate if either set lasted this long.  So, the difference in the total cost of ownership is a wash.  (Sorry.)

But what about total energy expended?  It’s true that I’ll burn more energy running the inefficient appliances, but that’s not the only consideration.  The energy-efficient appliances would have been brand-new, meaning they were constructed out of new materials.  This construction process is very costly in terms of energy. We’re giving the used appliances a second chance.  The appliances are already manufactured.  It’s a pretty green way to go, actually.  Why buy new when you can make do?  Why buy new when a place like RepairClinic.com will help you find the replacement parts you need?

It’s helpful to remember the second “R” of being green:  reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Used is great.  Take that, Energy Star!

Thanks to Cash Money Life for including this post in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

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Basically, the code smells a little bit.  There’s nothing really wrong with it, but it’s getting close to its “best if used by” date or it’s past it a bit.  You want to incorporate lessons learned sooner rather than later to get the smell out.

Personal finance is the same way.  There are money smells that indicate that, although there’s probably nothing really wrong yet with your finances, your personal finance situation is turning a bit and can get rank further down the road.  Liz Weston’s article, 8 signs you’re headed for financial disaster, calls out a few of these money smells:

• Surprises on your bank account statements. You have some of those extra fees for overdrawing your account in some way, and didn’t expect them.
• Lack of savings. This indicates that you’re tapped out and could easily go into the red.
• Lack of discretionary income. This indicates that your breathing room is gone, and that you could easily go into the red.
• You’ve taken out a payday loan. These are typically viewed as loans of last resort, as they carry very high interest.  This indicates that other funding sources have dried up.

There are others on Ms. Weston’s list, but they’re more indications that things not only smell bad with your finance, they’re downright spoiled.  Missed loan payments, for example, indicate that serious problems have already arrived.

I’d suggest a few more early-warning type indicators:

• You start to ask, “When does the next paycheck come in?” Maybe this one only has a hint of malodor to it, but if there were always three or four paychecks’ worth in the checking account, it would hardly ever matter when the next one came in.  As it is, if this question is being asked, it means that it’s a concern.  There still may be time to shuffle money around from one account to another in order to cover a credit card bill (that still may be paid in full) and the problem is averted.  But it’s still far better to have a lot of cushion in the checking account, not just a small one.
• You start to second-guess yourself about when payments have come out. Related to the above one, earlier this week I had to call up my wife to see if our credit card payment had been taken out of our account.  I knew that it was getting close, and I knew that my next paycheck wouldn’t be deposited until now, so I feared (for a few minutes, anyway) that I had dropped the ball.  What triggered this brief feeling of low-grade dread was seeing my balance on an ATM slip.  It was easily high enough not to bounce anything, but not if my credit card payment hadn’t been taken out already.
• You pull out a fair bit of money from business accounts to fund current personal expenses. If business profits are used to cover current personal expenses rather than grow the business, then this is a money smell because it shows that present demands are cutting into future-oriented pursuits.

We’re embarking on a typically spend-happy few weeks, and things can get really busy.  Please take time to smell your finances!

Any other money smells I’ve overlooked?

Thanks to A Gai Shan Life for including this post in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

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