Countdown to Financial Fitness: May 2021

To celebrate the audiobook release of my self-help, personal finance book, Live Well, Grow Wealth, I'll be sharing excerpts each week on this blog.

This excerpt is from Chapter One, Live Within Your Means, and it discusses how to squeeze the most out of the money you have.

We live in a rich country, and most of us are guilty of waste: wasting food, wasting resources, wasting money. We overbuy, we overpack, and as a result of our wasteful habits, we overspend.

You have probably seen someone use half a roll of paper towels to clean up a small spill, ruin a half-full can of paint by not bothering to put the lid back on, leave good tools outside to rust. Walk through any restaurant and observe how much food is left on customers' plates, ready to be thrown away.

Examine your own life to see if you can cut expenditures by wasting less, by recycling and re-purposing. Do you throw away a tube of toothpaste before squeezing out the last bit? Do you open a bottle of water, take a sip, set it down somewhere and forget about it? Instead of recapping it and putting it back in the refrigerator, do you just pour it down the drain? You could at least water the house plants or rinse a dirty dish with the contents if you're not going to drink the rest of it.

I have neighbors who let their newspapers pile up on the driveway while they're on vacation, and then throw them away when they return. Not only does the collection of newspapers send a signal to potential burglars that the residents aren't home, they are paying for a service they aren't using. With a quick phone call or online request, they could suspend their subscription and have their account credited for the time away, or perhaps have the papers donated to someone who might enjoy reading them.

Print on both sides of a sheet of paper when feasible—and don't waste ink and paper to print out anything unnecessary. I worked with colleagues who printed out every email they received. Why? Learn to trust electronic storage. (But be sure to back up your data regularly.)

Excess copies, documents printed in error or no longer needed, and even junk mail and opened envelopes can be used as scratch paper. No need to ruin a clean sheet of paper to write yourself a note or make a grocery list.

Don't mail anything you can pay online or hand-deliver. I've received Christmas cards, thank-you notes, and invitations from next-door neighbors that were stamped first-class and processed through the Post Office when the person could have walked over and handed it to me or slipped it under my door.

If you use a credit card that offers reward points, periodically check your balance and redeem your points as soon as you’ve earned enough to purchase something you want or need. Don't let the points expire or become devalued by the company's policy changes. And take a moment to compare your redemption options to ensure you're getting the best value.

For example, when I first signed up for a Discover Card, I received a cash rebate once a year which equaled approximately one percent of my qualifying purchases. Now Discover has converted to a point system and added a lot of gift cards and products as redemption options. I still assumed I would prefer to receive the cash, which I usually applied to my current Discover Card bill. But after closer review, I found I needed fifty reward points to redeem fifty dollars in cash (or credit toward my bill). However, I could redeem only forty-five reward points for a fifty-dollar gift certificate at certain restaurants where we dined frequently. As long as I selected a gift certificate I knew I would use in its entirety, I was able to squeeze an extra five dollars from my reward points.

For more tips, read or listen to Live Well, Grow Wealth by Sharon Marchisello.

Countdown to Financial Fitness

Monday, May 17, 2021

Countdown to Financial Fitness: Squeeze the Most out of Your Money - Part 1

Squeeze the Most out of Your Money - Part 1