Long Lost Footage Chuckiesblurbs Vlog Ep 3

This is just lost footage. I had an idea to totally just do vlog episodes showing people who to save money, but I later scrapped the idea because of the amount of time it would have taken between looking for a better job and doing webmatering more seriously. I can only show things online these days so i just leave it at that.

Re: The 4 Worst Things About Writing for the Internet

Hey everybody. This is Charles once again getting it in. I was satisfying another Facebook addiction phase when I came upon this article at http://cracked.com . While I am a fan of Cracked, Daniel O' Brian wrote a article that would probably get under a lot of writers skin. First off, if you are writing on the internet trying to just make ends meet doing articles about blogs, your not really going to get anywhere. Trust me, I didn't start making any money off of blogs. Because if I did, I would starve to death. That's the truth.

If you expect to make ant money on there internet, two of the simplest ways is A) having a marketable product and B) having a huge fanbase prior to making something. For example, celebrities are already successful, so when they make blogs they are instant hits. They already have the following and they already have their target audience. My blog probably only has around a few hundred followers and just so we're clear out of those followers only 2% of them will leave actual comments. The other 98% will either tell me in person, not tell me, or are bots trying to spam me. And... that's just what it is.

Now the whole thing about his articles being ripped off also touched a nerve with me. I have been doing this as a hobby for years. I tried to do on a pro level, but without a blogging army or team, competition is really cut-throat. I was making articles with Blogger News Network before this. My job was to comment on news paper articles and review different products. However, I searched my own articles to discover that  on of them was stolen by another website called Sheeple (probably changed the content around and threw dirt on my craft). I wasn't getting paid enough for the amount of effort I was putting out so I decided not to do it anymore. What Daniel O' Brian is talking about here makes a lot of sense from a writer's perspective. The only way bloggers can come up really is with viral content from a large fanbase. No one these days really is knee deep into frugality and I have way more popularity on my Korean blog because I use comedy and target a wider audience. Plus I have loyal fan base through Facebook. That being said, the best way to come up on writing skills is to network with writers and target a large fan base.

It's an unfortunate reaction to have, but it's true. Publishing on the Internet means you run the risk of having your work seen but also stolen by millions and millions of people, all the time, every day, forever. Even if we got this guy's blog shut down, I guarantee you three more blogs would take its place, all of them piloted by writers who have no problem stealing other peoples' material, because starting a blog and stealing are two very easy things to do. To a lot of folks, the Internet is still just the Wild West, lawless and open, and full of shockingly filthy people. There are no rules, and if anyone's caught doing something wrong, the go-to excuse of "Relax, man, it's just the Internet" isn't stale enough yet that people won't still casually throw it around. And maybe the Internet will always be this way, with fickle audiences, impossible-to-please commenters, distractingly endless $%^&**#$, and shameless plagiarists. - Daniel O' Brian: Cracked Comedy Writer


 

And that was more eloquetly phrased than I could have put it. Please remember that this is the truth about blogging in general. There are plenty of people that want to rip off your ideas. One so called friend took it upon himself to write a book copying many of the ideas on this blog. In hip hop, the person who steals someone else's rhyme structure and flow is known as a "biter". I would like to dub these people who do the same thing with blogs as "writer biters."

That being said, Daniel O' Brian claims that the pros outweigh the cons. If you are persistent and find a responsive audience; they do. If you can get thousands of people to read just your blog out of the billions of other blogs; they do. I think I have been lucky to get the hundred or so people to keep reading per month. I think it is that alone that keeps me writing. It is a passion that only grows everyday. I have written work in a lot of different genres. Fiction, Non-fiction, poerty, you name it. As I near my 200th post I have noticed my style has evolved with the times and has continued to stay fresh. Being creative and innovative is what keeps a blog alive. Also putting in the time to write good material is key to consistently creating success for you and your blog. 

That was my reply. I'm out! CB

Chuckiesblurbs has donated to the Japanese Red Cross

In order to help raise awareness of the situation in Japan, I have decided a few months ago to donate to Japan. I am a man of my word and CB has personally donated 16,000 JPY towards the relief effort in Japan. Please if you have anything to spare, please donate to their cause. The people of Japan have got hit with a paramount 9.0 Magitude earthquake leaving close to 30,000 people dead.

A little bit ago, Japan was hit with another 7.1 earthquake and these tremors are exspected to continue for a long time. For me, Japan really is a second home and I feel like I'm obligated to do something to help them. So please, contribute what you can.  Go here if you want to donate.

What am I going to do with my bonus/tax refund?

This is just a response post.

First off, I find it funny that people always ask a bunch of questions about what am I going to do with a refund or any type of money I happen to earn or recieve. It is not like these people are really entitled or are asking me for money. I think they are just curious. This is not an isolated incident; I was asked several questions simular to this last year by droves of people that cannot seem to manage their finances. When I tell them the same answer, they always give me the same look as they go into some form of cardiac arrest.

I always tell them, "I am going to save and/or reinvest it".

Then magically their blood pressure goes up about 40 points and their eyes buldge with disbelief. Hey I am not trying to do retail for the rest of my life. Neither should anyone there; unless of course they are shooting for management. Godspeed on that one. It's possible, but there are seriously more better paying jobs out there in other states or countries. I, for one, will not stand by and have my money totally devaluate itself. For that reason, I am trying to seek employment in Japan. If everything goes according to my plan, I should be able to become a full time freelancer in a few years.

If you really must know, the money will a) cover a flight to Japan and b) will cover apartment fees, key fees, etc. If there is a c option, it will be either saving or reinvesting  into some stocks that I have had my eye one since December. I will try to make the most of the situation, however there will definately be some unavoidable costs that I have to factor in. So that is my plan in a nutshell. I could have replied "none of your business", but since everyone are kind of curious as to what I would do with the extra money I would have to reply using the words of L.L. Cool J: "Just smile and accept the money".

As the first official CB tangent for the new decade, I have been approached to write some food comparison articles for a international magazine called Healthy Beginnings. No, I do not know how to cook per se, I just know a lot about different cusine from around the Pacific Rim. If you want to check out their magazine the  link is http://www.hbmag.com/. Maybe you can find some food that is cheap to make that is considered healthy. I would rant about how food is too processed, but I'll save that content for my actual articles should  I get published.

Chuckie's Blurbs Vlog Ep. 2: Sushi Pier #2

This is a video for the review Sushi Pier #2. I know that I did one in the past, but I do not think I really did the place justice by words alone. So, I made these videos. Enjoy the atmosphere and looking at the food!

Also I would like to add that all rights in this video are the property of  Sushi Pier #2 and their affliates.

Overall the rating is
Food 4.5/5
Service 5/5
Frugality 4.5/5 (For all you can eat sushi at dinner time, the price is pretty good.
Cleanliness 5/5

                                  For more info about Sushi, please check out the book The Sushi Ecnonomy, by Sasha Issenburg. It is a really good book!   

I also would like to thank the GM Chris and the waitress Chisato for being such good hosts. Me and my friends really put away the food. So overall I give them 4.75/5! Will be eating there again!

 

And part 2!

Chuckie's Blurbs Vlog Ep.1

You know how I promised videos for CB last year? I am following up on that promise. There will be more. There will be more. This video is focusing on frugality. I go a little bit into languages, but I want to raise an awareness that used book stores tend to have a variety of knowledge on a shoe string budget. You can find books that are almost new and save 60-80% on its retail price. Enjoy!

Been Busy As of Late

I just wanted to say that something might actually came through for me. I am currently doing some correspondence writing for this inventor. I need to concentrate some of my efforts towards this, because he knows some very prominent figures on Capitol Hill and I need to concentrate towards that.

As far as my resolutions, I am currently at 42 books. I am currently reading Hal Leonard's Guitar Method books I, II, and III because I really like music as well as foreign languages. Oh and I just need 4K more and I will have my goal for this year. It would be nice if I exceed ten thousand dollars. The more I have for Japan, the better. I want to create my own consulting firm so the more the merrier!

I also have my other investments going for me. For the most part, I am just going to sit on them until their peak arrives. One of them will have seasonal peaks and valleys while the other one will hit a huge peak in 5 years. I will probably be back in Japan sometime by 2010 with a job.

I am just giving an update on the events in my life.

Until next time--save money now; avoid poverty later!

Swine Flu Pandemic

Now I know there is a scare over the Swine Flu. There is a lot of people making a mad dash to the hospital. But it does not mean you should make a rush to the hospital. Quite the opposite, you need to avoid the hospital emergency rooms. They will take you to the cleaners, even with insurance.

When you sign up for the appointment hospitals mainly work with contract service. Aside from the VA, almost all of the hospitals will bill you for the emergency room visit. Then they will bill you for the medicine, then the doctor. If you want to be able to take a hold of your destiny, you need to think unconventional. Hospitals are banking on you to have some kind of insurance and aliment.

After it is all said and done, you will be billed appox. $1000 for the common cold without insurance and approx$500, with it. There are other options however. There are clinics that only bill you by how much you make per year. If you only make roughly $20,000 per year, you might be able to get a reduction in payment on top of your insurance. I went to get a physical at Reno's WARC and it only cost me about $70. The average price of that at a hospital is about $300. You do the math: what would you like to pay?

With the swine flu you need to be frugal to get affordable treatment. If you show signs of the swine flu, you might want to seek treatment at the health clinic. If not and you want to get diagnosed, try going in for a physical. Who knows, it might save your life.

Working for Food

Okay I know people wonder what I do in my off time in order to entertian myself. One of the things I do is play guitar. Another thing I do is help other people. At Sam's Club my manager had to move today and he is not the most healthy of people. He is however a earnest person who will bluntly tell people what they need to do.

I did some moving work for him so that he can move from one apartment to another. The payoff was food. now why did I work for food? Because the cost of me to eat out would have been $10. So why not help someone on my off day, get food as payment and do a good deed at the same time.

This is one of the ways I avoid spending too much money on food. I focus on trying to lessen the blow of food expenditures. Now everyone needs to eat. If I cannot eat, I cannot write this blog! If you see a situation that you are in where you can get some volunteer work in, by all means do it!

There are 2 reasons why you should do this:

a) You can get free food. (One of my themes yay!)
b) For every mile you drive in your car, you can write off an itemized deduction for driving to the event. It is 16 cents/mile.

Not bad huh?

So if you are off and want some wholesome entertainment, by all means, take the reins and volunteer. It will give you a warm feeling inside!

Bike to Work Day

For those of you that are feeling diehard gutsy about saving money, I have came up with a interesting way to do so. I, personally will be joining Reno's Bike to Work day on May 15th just to prove a point that frugality works and people are stating to take notice.

I now have people that often ask me questions about ways to cut their costs on gas. If they live too far to walk, my suggestion to them is to try to bicycle it to work. All it takes is about $100 and the fee is one time. All you really need to do is maintain the bike which is not too bad--a tire here and there. Dare I say it, you also get exercise! I take great pride in the fact that I walk to and from work. I am in such good shape that I can run miles on end, let alone bicycle the trip. For every amount you bicycle, you are supposed to get sponsored and win prizes after awhile. For more details, click here

Super Savings From Pay As You Go Plans!

Hope everyone likes the new layout. Looks a bit more uniform than my last layout. Thank you templates =).

Today I will talk about those "Pay As You Go Plans". The theory behind them is that you can pay for whatever you need to use then save by not using the plan until you run out. Is this what frugality advocates in definition?

I would have to say yes. Frugality is a lifestyle where you use practically any mean to save money. "Pay As You Go" has hit the radar for today's discussion.

Well what is "Pay As You Go"?

Pay is you go is a term for a type of prepayment. It basically means that you select a service for its lack of contract, you get what you want and the company offering the service gets their money--no questions asked. Pay as you go can be a good way to save money, but you need to watch out for imitators. Namely phone companies that "offer" this service.

Pay As You Go Vs. Pay By The Day

It should be common sense, but not quite. Many people are under the impression that pay by the day plans are a way of being frugal. The unlimited option would actually save you more than a pay by the day plan. One thing is that you take the use of your phone and pay $1/day regardless of use plus an additional dollar per day for other services. In other words you literally pay $60-70/day for the use of your phone. Tracphone offers a true pay as you go plan plus you can double your minutes if you talk a lot on the phone. I do not so I switched to them and I am paying way less than a monthly prepaid service. I am probably paying about $5/month of service. No fooling. there is also a plan where you can take all of your calls from the Internet. The main carrier for this is Skype: a Internet phone company. There is also a device that you can use for your phone for roughly $40 that can be about at Radioshack of all place. The service allows you to make unlimited calling for $20 per year and that includes international calls as well!

And There Is Monthly

There are plans to lease your phone or a car out there, but consider this: how long do you actually use a phone or a car in one month? If it is not a lot then you should probably switch to just a pay as you go plan.

On cars I have to make a special note about rentals brought up in David Bach's book "Fight For Your Money". If you have to rent a car do not get surcharged for 'Peace of Mind'. Rent the car OUTSIDE the airport and you will avoid a lot of headaches. Also ask for a dollar amount beforehand so the dealer cannot up sale you. If you let people cajole you into renting a luxury car, then you deserve to be broke. If you cannot get the deal you want, leave the store. Airport car rental places will generally charge you double for a service that you do not need and that is their 'convenience'.

For the Business Person

Getting a pay as you go is in your court. If you find yourself making a lot of calls then getting a plan that has restrictions on how many calls you can make probably is not for you. But this does not mean you should get ripped off and get a plan that does not fit your lifestyle. Simple analyze your phone or car uses and figure out whether or not you can benefit from a plan that is unlimited. I use to be on one of these plans while I was in college.

I was making a lot of calls and needed the added service. But once I got out, the amount of calls I would make slowly died down and I moved on with my life. I needed something cheaper so I can save more money. I was set on being frugal. Besides not eating out often, this was the next step I choose to eliminate liability from my lifestyle. Trust me, phone contracts are the pits. The more you spend to talk to someone, the more it costs you to make that money back up.

Pay As You Go Calculations

Take it from me all it takes is mental math for the plan I am on, but when I buy minute packages, I do have to make small calculations. I have a double minute plan pre-installed into the phone so what I do is take:

dollar amount/minutes= price per minute/2= real price per minute (for my double minute plan)For those of you not on a minute plan, take dollar amount then divide by minutes. Sprint is also cheap with its flat rate cards, in fact they are Tracphone's real competitor. Some of their plans mmight actually be cheaper than Tracphone, but you have to shop around.

For cars, I usually factor in the driver and gas, but I will keep this simple and just do the plans.

There are weekday and weekend plans. Weekday plans usually run about $70, but weekend days are roughly half that. Do not bother with insurance there because it does not matter. It is just a gimmick to keep you broke. Cars come pre-packaged with a fender bender insurance plan included in the warranty of the car. You do not have to pay for a plan in order to rent a car. If they tell you otherwise, leave the store--IT'S A SCAM!

Frugality Is Popular On This Blog

I am writing a little early because my days off at Sam's Club was switched. I have been online for a while now. I have had roughly 700 visitors on this site. The traffic has slowed down a bit mainly because I have not been adding content on a daily basis. But I am actually okay with that for now because I mainly wanted to do this as a hobby and to have a fan base where I can educate people on this subject. I never knew that I was going to get such a positive response from my co-workers, friends, and net pals. I have also received positive response from people in Japan and France as well, so this thing is global. Most of my response though is a old hat trick called "word of mouth". I only prosper through you, the viewer. So I would like to thank, you the viewer for making this site into something that can inspire me to go on.

Frugal Shopping

This is mainly inspired by David Bach's new book on how not to get ripped off. I am all for not being taken to the cleaners and think the best way to avoid this is through reading and research. So you want some stuff that you saved your hard earned money for. Why should you really do without? People need certain things in their life that gives them meaning, but it does not mean go in debt over them.

If you are reading this understand one thing: you have to get your finances ship shape before you even think about shopping for yourself. The art of frugality means that you should have your finances a massing themselves like a army. They should be accumulating to the point that whatever you are about to go in on should be covered by your assets and then some. It might not hurt to make investments that give you passive income before you enter this phase of your life. Right now, I am not quite there mentally but honestly if I wanted to I could get any thing on the shelf at the store. A year ago, you could not possibly fathom what kind of pain I had to go through.

Now that pain is over and the lesson learning and mentoring must go on. Why do people have to go through a serious amount of self inflicting torment is beyond me. We have these sayings "Pain retains", but that is just not a wise way to learn. I find the best way is to learn through other people's mistakes. And today's topic, is about me learning from other people's advise and misfortunes.

Like I said before, you do need to be a rocket scientist to be frugal. It just takes good old fashioned W-O-R-K. Now that you have taken the steps to secure your future. It is time to do some living in the present chuckieblurbs style.

Despise What You Cannot Have

This bit of information comes from Robert Greene out of 48 Laws of Power. In other words, if the item you want is out of your price range: do not get it. I have always thought that the best way to take care of one's finances is to take care of YOUR SELF first. But, if you want something just to have it, make sure that is it only a fraction of what you earn or make. Do not fall for any "No Money Down" schemes. They really just accumulate interest while you for bare any costs.

Do not get an extended warranty on any item in the store unless it is at a reasonable price. I cannot believe how many warranties I sell per day. There are a lot of people who fall for this and make some 3rd party rich while they become poorer. It is certainly a shame that many of these people pay for an extra year when the product in the store might still be good until the year is up. People think this is just me being disgruntled with my profession, but in actuality I know the inner workings of the warranty. You are far better off with just getting an upgraded membership, that gives you an extra year in service warranty than to pay for another one. If you think paying 5% -15% to safe guard an item that you can just get back by going through membership or claims then I have sure hope you are balancing all of those bait and switch bills and deals that we salesmen give you. Trust me, I have made Wal-Mart thousands of dollars off of warranties and let me tell you, if you know how the system works then you will least likely be scammed.

What Will Give You The Best "Bang" For Your Buck?

It is by far the way of clearance. Warren Buffett says "You can put all of your eggs in one basket; just watch the basket". Meaning when buying something, you should watch the price like a hawk. If you want a HDTV for example (though I probably prefer a book over a TV), you see that it hits the sales floor at $1,300. Right now we will use the word "Hot" since it is used by different stores and I will not jeopardize my job at Sam's Club for not using another word. At $1,300 it is probably about 25%. You can honestly wait and see what happens with the item. Eventually it will enter a phase known in the retail industry as being cleared. The best deals comes to those who wait. Sure this tactic is not full proof and you might not get what you want every time. But if the item gets bought up, you can move on to a better item that you want and amass more money. Frugal people do NOT spend above their means I do not care how bad you want the item. If you cannot afford it, something in your head should tell you to let it sit on the shelf.

Careful when purchasing clearance items. Eventually they will get reduced to the point where they are no longer being sold at the store's location. I think that is the point you should probably try to get them. Look for red flags as in a drastic drop in price. On TVs and computers it is about $500-600, from the original. It means it is about to be "deleted" or liquidated. If this happens, you should go ahead and try to get the item as soon as possible. If you try to get it at a liquidation supplier, you have to find the company that the retailer uses and no one is going to tell you. Those are considered trade secrets. I will tell you that usually when the items are selling BELOW cost is when they will be sold to a liquidator.

Buyer Beware: The Red Tag Items Are Only As Good As The Last Owner

Take it from me, a professional salesman: Red tag items are usually buys that are worth their weight in gold. More than likely the item cannot be returned, but if you buy it at a good price you do not need to worry about the return policy because usually the prices there are below liquidation. More than likely, the last owner used the item and he thought it was too complicated to get it to work.. Meaning that he/she got fed up and got a refund. Those items are then slotted in the clearance aisle, where they are sold to the lowest bidder.

There are things you should look for when buying from there. The first thing that should trigger is whether or not it actually is a good buy. Second is for damage. Lastly, check for missing parts. Do not be pressured by pushy salesmen who just want to get rid of their junk. Make sure the item you are buying comes with a factory warranty or do not buy it. It is that simple. If it does not come with its paperwork, it stays on the shelf.

Do NOT Fall For Baits and Switches.

People will try to up sale you. It is my job to up sale people in order to get more money out of them. What I do is find out what type of person they are and figure out what warranty or credit card I can sign them up for. Frugal people never fall for any of these schemes and neither should you. More than likely, the cost is around 20-30% more before any of those special no money down deals. With it, it is around to 30-40% extra profit. There are great deals at Sam's Club without ever having to go for a credit card, so you should just avoid it outright. Frugal people do not use crutches such as a credit card to sustain them: they use their own cash in order to buy the item. That's right; it's all or nothing! I am serious when I say this. I do not use some plan in order to gain money off of the deal. That only works in investing, not buying something that loses its value.

While investing smart is good, buying smart is equally important to frugality. You should be doing this rarely. Only when you have earned the right to buy something should you do it. Remember the item loses its value as soon as you take it out of the store. If you do value based shopping, you will be A-OK. The best way to buy is to figure out if you are being up saled and what the actual cost is. You might not be able to get the item for your desired price so you might have to buy it at retail. If it is at a decent price, then there is no problem. Ask the staff what the margin on the item is. If they are good salesmen and not total scum, they will not lie to you about their margins. Honestly, I do not lie about this, but I do not give away the true margin. I just tell them that we (as in Sam's Club) might be selling the item at a gain or a loss. Those are trade secrets after all.

Intermediate Frugality

For those of you that have been able to follow these steps, I wish you success in the future. One person off of Facebook, address "I should be proud of her younger sister and her husband" they saved up and bought their 2BR/1Bath condo outright. I think this is terrific. I am glad to see feed back from this special I am doing. Another person criticized one of the authors of the books I put up on display: "Rich, Dad; Poor Dad". While I am debating him on the author's background history, I think the most important thing he said in relations to frugality is that people should not waste their money on things that devalue as soon as you take them out of the store. I will leave it at that mainly because I want to stick to writing about frugality for the next few months.

Ok, so you formulated a budget and have taken cautious notes. Good, now this section will focus on taking basic bills and making them "more basic." Some of the advice here is mainly to get out out of those expensive phone plans and contracts. You should only enter contracts if you are guaranteed to save money. In other words, if it gives you a fixed bill and not a fluctuating one, then it is permissible. However, this does not mean to go for them every time.

Contracts Equal Servitude

Let me make one thing clear. Contracts are anti-productive to success. Unless you are getting some deal where you are getting "cash flow" from a business or are the issuer, being the issuee is a no-no to frugality.

1. You are basically stuck with an obligation. You have to meet all terms of the agreement in order to opt out. Or you can opt out with cash, but you will pay a hefty fine for getting out early or can suffer a blow to your credit score.

2. You are not mobile. You cannot ever obtain true wealth if you cannot control expenses. You are locked into a agreement, thus, giving someone else cash flow. While cell phone contracts are the exception to the rule, most other agreements are actually detrimental to your success. Rental agreements should be taken with a "grain of salt". If you have reliable roommates and fixed expensive, then this should not really be a problem. If they tie you down with unwanted bills, then it is time to relocate and a replacement for your room.

3. Contracts often take away from your income. You usually have to set aside money in order to pay a certain bill. The more optional your bills become, the better. Except for my lease, (which builds credit) the bills that I have can be cancelled at anytime, at my discretion.

Prepaid Fallacies

There is some misnomers I want to clear up about pre-paid. You want to make sure the offer will not flucuate on you without advance notice.

Cricket has always been a flat rate for me except I have to stay with in Reno to make phone calls. However, while I can switch to Trac Phone and get a cheaper rate, the reason why I have not done this right away is mainly because I have been working on curbing my calls so I can actually do the prepaid cards at my discretion.

Again frugal people find them that work for them, not for deals that they have to work for. This is key to saving money. Will the card be cheaper for you? Not if you make a lot of phone calls. So figure out what works for you before you make a commitment that you will regret in the long run. The idea of being frugal is to not live paycheck to paycheck, but it is also to gear you towards investing. You want to have a service that is profitable for you to have before you commit to it.

Avoid Taxable Items

This will require some research on your part. What I do is try to find deals that you do not get taxed on. Right now, I just found out that my HSA account will tax me $36 in order to keep it open. So I am going to shut it down. Will I miss the $600 that Wal-Mart put in it? No, because I take care of my money and my body. I have only been to the doctor once for sinus infection in ten years so there is no need to pay extra tax for something that is damaging my income and putting me on the radar. I was rather upset that Wal-mart opened this without my consent, but this is easily fixed by closing the account. No problem there. I think this was merely an accounting error; so closing it would free up $36 dollars.

Another thing that could send you to the poor house is eating out everyday. The amount that you will get taxed on every dollar is around 7cents per $1. That is also why eating out is one of the main indicators of why you cannot achieve wealth. If you pay $10 for you meal, you are paying 70cents for that meal. $1.40 for $20, $2.10 for $30 spent and so on. Fortunately, this tax is simply avoided by buying goods from the grocery store that are not "prepared" goods. In lay man's terms, anything that is considered cooked equals prepared goods. Frugal people mainly cook for themselves. While I am not the best cook, can goods, makes sure I do not starve while other people are spending more time preparing the food. To me, time is also valuable, but I do actually make something for myself every now and then. If you want to take this to an extreme you can target food that is considered "Depression Cooking" by Clara, a nice 93 year old lady who is one of the gurus of frugality. If anything you can figure out how she lived to be 93! She has a YouTube special so just go there for the videos.

Shopping in bulk will also help you save money. Those of you that own a Sam's Club or Costco card will be aware of this already, but having one of these cards will allow you to go into Sam's Club or Costco and you can buy items by the unit, which is dramatically cheaper than buying per unit. Usually I pay around 35% less than I do for items that are in regular grocery stores.

Setting Dates to Pay Bills

This takes some commitment on your part, but I have to say this is one of the keys to keeping track of your budget, so I will emphasize it here again in order to drive home a point of responsibility. People do not get out of debt if they pay their bills late! Period. So while this is really a basic skill, it can also be classified under intermediate if you are trying to pay off some dead-beat loan. You have to follow the schedule if you do not have much money, but once you accumulate more than enough money, you can buy your freedom faster by making advance payments.

This is all for now. Join me for Intermediate Frugality II coming from a Wi-Fi station near you!

Frugality 101

There are more and more people becoming homeless these days. It seems that the very words i am using are becoming rather prophetic, but alas poor frivolous spender I knew him well... he is on 4th street currently asking me for a quarter. Do you think this will be you if you continue to live paycheck to paycheck? If so then read on.

Now let it be told that I am no saint, but I am certainly not a prophet either. I am just a small time investor with big dreams. I just know what I need to do in order to save money and reach my goals. For those of you that wish to know more about the current economic crisis, books I recommend are "Getting Started in the Underground Economy" by Adam Cash, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki and "Finance Wars" by Stephen Palmer. This is your reading list for today. I am Prof. Eggleston and Surviving the Neo-Depression is now in session.

Here is some basics you need to figure out:

1. Setting a budget- Before you even start a saving plan you need to figure out how much you pull down every month. People with multiple jobs/investments will obviously have the advantage over the guy with just one job, but that is okay. With a budget you can set aside money to invest every month until something pays off.

The object of setting a budget is to gear you towards thinking like a frugal person and an investor. Let me put it to you this way: right now I do not make a whole lot, but I do not live paycheck to paycheck anymore. There is a reason for this-that is neo feudalism. At some point I decided that life was the pits and I wanted to do something about it. The first thing I did was set a budget and I have not looked back. I continue to reach for the stars even in this failing economy.

Do you think Donald Trump and Warren Buffett got anywhere by being frivolous spenders? No they set budgets on various projects. Trump even said in his book "Why We Want You To Be Rich" that setting a budget is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. It will put you on the path of being rich.

2. Set aside money as an emergency fund:

This is actually one of David Ramsey's suggestions in the total money make over and it makes sense. You got to start somewhere and the best way to do so is to save up $1,000 is quickly as possible. For those of you that are 9-5ers like me, you will find this rather discouraging, but if you have a lot of bobbles or doodads, you can formulate a strategy and turn them into a small profit. While you might have to sale some of your stuff at a loss this might actually be a good thing: the more stuff you have in your life, the more you complicate it. So to counter this and to set aside an emergency fund, have a yard sale, Ebay it or use some other site to sell your stuff on it.

For the most part, I have my emergency fund in precious metals because I am mainly preparing for stage 3, but I also have $1,000 in addition to this set aside. And I am glad I did this because I had a situation to deal with last month and I am glad it is over. And guess what? I did not even break a sweat over the $1,000 being gone--I earned it back. your emergency funds should be for your worse case scenarios--not your checking account.

3. Save $10 week: starting now- Both Dave Ramsey author of "Total Money Makeover" and one of my other friends recommend this. The object of doing this is so you can have something to spend for yourself. You CANNOT use this money until the end of the year or until Christmas.

Want that X-box? Want that LCD TV? With this strategy, you can have it in 1 year without dipping into your savings for it. The secondary objective is to teach you patience and how to manage money. If you just have a part-time job, this might be a bit harder, but taking $10/week aside will motivate you to a) find a better job and b) invest. This money should not be stored into your bank account. Any envelope will do. The reason for this is to curb temptation. If you find yourself diving into this envelope, obviously you suck at managing money and need to rethink your strategy. And if you cannot do this simple task, I'd rather have a trained seal give me financial advise. I have done this already and guess what? I reinvested it. I took the $520 and bought gold, silver, and a foot switch for my guitar (hey it is meant for yourself right)?

4. Calculate Expenses- While I have low expenses (more on this in Frugality and Personal Finance 102), I still have them nonetheless. Everyone has them. We all consume something and have to pay something. Everything has a price and this aspect of finance cannot be avoided. Let us use my expenses as an example.

Food: $90 Which is less than what it was, I could lower this more, but I enjoy eating out every once in a while. I am not a serf, so I eat out whenever I feel like it. Mostly, I target canned goods.

Phone: $45-Cricket Wireless; Per-paid service; no contracts.

Rent: $225

Laundry: $10

Investments: $160

Student Loan: $60

My total expenses is $590 for the whole month. It might hit $600-700 depending on which investment I go into, but for the sake of simplity let just say it is $600. Like I said I do not make a whole lot so we will just calculate my petty "earnings" which would be higher if I was not taxed but that will be reserved for another blog.

$1,400
- 600
_____
$800/month

Note: This is above average: there are month where I pay more or less. This month I actually pulled down $900 because I ate out less and paid in advance on my loan. You might ask, why is there nothing for clothes, video games, hygine supplies, etc.? The reason why is because that expence does not come up all the time. I have a strategy for not spending much on neccesities and luxury items. In fact, I do not bother with luxury items. Instead, I invest my cash in myself and in ideas. That is what the $10/week for 1 year plan is for. LCDs and electronics lose half their value in roughly 2.5 months so I do not buy them.

Notice that my expenses are simple. I did not even have to sit down with a calculator to calculate what I am earning. I can fire off the numbers off the top of my head without breaking a sweat. While I love math, I hate complicating my life with stuff that does not matter. Yes, investments do tend to get complicated, but I have also strategized how much per month I am willing to invest. Usually I buy stocks and precious metals, but I will do other investments once I earn more money. This blog is one of those things. Instead of money, I am investing time. If I see a return on my investment, aka revenue or profit I will invest some money into this site, but for right now, I just do this in my free time.

For right now I will say simplifying your expences is rudimentary to successful frugality. If you cannot do this then you will live a complicated life and it will be more complicated to begin saving money. If you have to sit down with a calculator just to calculate your expences (excluding financial investors/advisors) you have to many expences and need to re-evaluate what is neccessary in your life. Obviously I do mean downgrading your lifestyle. Keeping up with the Jones's will keep you broke. You might have certain things you can't live without, but there are certainly things you CAN live without. Living without those things can keep you from living paycheck to paycheck and can keep you from living in the streets.

5. Releave Yourself of Those Nasty Credit Cards- Cut them up: I used to not understand the difference between good debt and bad debt, but not it is crystal clear. Credit cards are designed to keep you broke. You do not need a credit card to invest. Just get a debit card with a Visa or Mastercard logo. I use to have a credit card while I was in college and I was making the payments on them. They start out small but gradually increase with the more you spend. If you want to be frugal, you have to understand that credit cards will only keep you broke. When I paid mine off I felt a tremendous weight leave my shoulders. Yes, the loan I took worth way more than the credit card, but in the end, the card cost me money while the loan helped me make money.

While I am not in the career of choice, (70% of all college students start in a feild outside their studies) I have earned enough through to make myself free man and debt free. And there is a bonus to this: people who live their lives without using a credit card will find themselves with more cash in the long run than with people who actually gotten credit cards. Imagine that. You want a $1,000 to use? Save it up for a "rainy day" fund. Do not spend it on stuff that goes down in value. Borrowing credit is not part of frugality-eliminate "credit" from your volcabulary. The only type of debt that is good is that which could make you wealthier, but you need to mmake sure that whatever you invest in (i.e. mortage, stocks, assets) brings you a return before you start investing in it.

5. Save: This is the final basic step to follow. You might actually start out paycheck to paycheck, but if you say then you can calculate how many pay check away from the street you are. As a side note: if you start out, you might be this far from the street. It might take you awhile to get out of this, but the more you save the more you can earn. It is like walking a tightrope at first, but saving will be the end all for people. This is the simplieststep of frugality. You put money in the bank, it stays in the bank. You do not let it leave the bank. The more it leaves the bank, the more you will lose. I do not believe in losing as a winning strategy.

Now I know you are thinking, "that's it"? But simple things are rarely simple. This is where saving becomes an art: you have to figure out how to keep the money from leaving the bank. And that is where it becomes a little tricky. If you have bills find ways to reduce them if not eliminate them. If you have investments which are not earning you a profit, get rid of them. If you have people that are asking for hand outs, ignore them--they're losers that want something for nothing.

Your homework is to make a list of things in your life that cost you money and figure out ways to reduce them. If you can reduce them or eliminate them then you will figure out one facet of personal finance-reducing costs. Bills are liabilities, so reduce them as much as possible and you will be on the path of NOT living paycheck to paycheck. If you find anything I mentioned above complicated, then there is a special little white school bus you should be taking.

If you have anything that is in your life that is considered "complicated" excluding stuff that is beyond your control like child support, I will be glad to help you for a nominal fee of $50/consultation visit. I have to charge for the complicated stuff because it is taking away time I could be using for the internet for research or working. I do not do "free". It is another word that I rarely use. Everything has a price, and so do my services.

The dollar might collaspe, due to the mis-management of the economy, but if people in Congress knew how to be frugal, then there would be no problems in the dollar, but we are a nation of spenders and our economy is being managed by spenders. You might want to think outside the box and save. Quit borrowing for expensive stuff that is above your means. Do not fall for anything that is on the ol' idiot box. I wrote a long article on saving because people obviously do not know how. Everyday people come up to me and ask me how do I do it.

Site Will Be Slowly Updated Until Further Notice

My updates will slow down until a) I get my own Internet connection or b) I get another good Wi-Fi signal near my vicinity. My apartments currently do not have Wi-fi, but I am only paying $225/month so I cannot complain. I will probably save about $1,000 more and then I will see what I will do next.

I am worried about the layoffs a little, for Sam's Club is poised to lay off 3,000 Managers. I guess the associates will run the floor. Overall our market is pretty steady so I do not think the layoffs will effect my club that much.

I plan on reading another ten books in February, so the pressure will be on me.

Chuckies Blurbs Reached 500+ Visitors

I have great news for those who have been visiting the site religiously: we have reached over 500 visitors in 2 months! Our records also show that there has been a substantial increase in visitors since December 2008. This means that the way things are going, the site will continue to grow and prosper. I wanted to produce about 25 blogs this month, but was mainly sidetracked with moving. However, I think I have at least reached one of my goals by getting more visitors to the site than last month.

To all of the dedicated fans at CB, thank you for supporting the site and a special thanks goes out to Nightrunner for suggestions and criticisms. With this recession, 2009 is going to be an interesting year at Chuckiesblurbs. That being said, I am going to finish moving and hopefully I will be able to get this site back to a regular schedule.

Totally Random Yet Not 2nd Post

I just thought I let people know my status.
a) I am recovering from my loss.
b) I might have found a place.
c) I have the power bill to rule them all!

a) My roomates have left me with some damaged stuff that will eat away at my deposit. Oh wait we actually get those back? But, seriously the car being left and the broken window sort of tarnishes my rep.

b) I am currently looking for a place near the Peppermill on Linden. I will have to see how that turns out. I might need a ride to help me with moving all my books for right now I do not have time to quickly sell them. I will cross that bridge at the new place.

c) I do not know how, but I got a powerbill that is $286! The good news is that it is not inn my name and my roomate refuses to take my money to cover the cost. The bad news is that he will ditch the bill when we move so I think wherever I go, I will be in charge of another bill. Le sigh...I do not mind paying the bills, but calling and going online to take care of them all is quite tedious. I think that is utter garbage squared. Whether he ditches the bill or not does not matter to me. I would have paid my share if he decided to change his mind.

Possibly d) I am currently formulating a strategy inorder to cut my bills by 60%. One bill I will get rid of is the power bill. If possible, I want to get rid of garbage and only pay half the total rent. I think it is gonna be 2 people in a one bedroom for me. After that, I do not want anymore roomies unless they have a consistancy of completing leases.

Chuckies Blurbs Now On Digg.com

I am just writing away today. Thought having people digg my material, would generate more viral traffic. We will see what happens with that. Stay Tuned.

Thousand Dollar Homes

Wow when you thought the housing market was done with surprises, here it comes again with $1,000 homes for sale. I could not believe my eyes when I read that. I was in awe for a brief second. If anyone wanted to make a killing renting, now would be the time to do it.

What is the catch you ask? The homes are in Flint, Michigan, one of the most run down neighborhoods in the United States. However, this is perhaps a once in a lifetime deal; this will not happen again for a very long time. These homes for the most part are what I said earlier: liens. If you want to stop giving you money away on borrowed time, it is a start. The people that are prudent with their money, will see that they could perhaps see a return on their investment should they rent out these homes at $200-300 with in 4-5 months. You will not be able to do that with a home here in Nevada. Like I said before, banks need buyers to get rid of the property. Don't believe me? Look here !!

Chuckie's Blurbs reached 300+ visitors

Yes! I am so happy about this! It has actually taken a lot of hard work to do this because it requires me to constantly update my content. Thank you everyone for the dedicated support and it is good to start the New Year off with a bang. 2008 definitely had its ups and downs, but this year I feel will be epic. There will be new challenges and obstacles to overcome. While I do tend to talk a bit about the economy and finance, it is good that I have people who actually are aware of this house of cards coming undone.

So far Barack Obama, has been doing surprisingly okay considering that the economy is in the dumps. I have to hand it to him, he has been able to quash some of the bailouts that the house was trying to pass. It is a shame that on some counts his hands are tied, mainly by judicial and legislative accounts. Rest assured, if he boo boos, I will gladly ping him on it. His handling of his seat in congress has been rather mature so I think he is off to an okay start. Our fearless leader GWB on the other hand would require me to make a separate blog devoted to his eight year history of failures, speech slips and shoe dodging.

So 300 visitors isn't a bad way to start off the New Year! If you like this blog, then please subscribe to it. I am actually hurting for subscriptions and could use regulars.

This is Spar...!!? Oh wait, that is trademarked. Keep on reading on!