Month: February 2014

Don’t Set Your Cash On Fire

burnmoneykingControlling or at least limiting your vices can not only help you live a much longer and healthier life, it will likely make you much, much richer. (I don’t mean to preach, and I strongly believe in personal liberty). Perhaps the one to really try to avoid is smoking, or if you do smoke, I wish you best of luck if you decide to quit. Yes, tobacco is one of the most addictive substances you will come across in everyday life, and so quitting can be incredibly hard to do. In smoking your are literally burning money away Continue Reading

Upcycling

recycleHave you heard of the term ‘upcycling’? It means converting a used product into something useful again, in terms of better quality and being better for the environment. What is this all about? Well, it’s really about using your creativity to generate a useful, fun product that can benefit your friends or yourself.

Here is a link Continue Reading

Buy Used

paper-bagPerhaps it is best to try and restrain your shopping urges, focusing more on needs than wants. However, if you need something try your best to get it used. This could be from a car to electronics or furniture. For example, many friends are probably trying to upgrade their electronics, which tend to have very short life cycles and so you can get a relatively new printer, computer or phone extremely cheap. My most recent item was a relatively new printer, which was given for free 🙂

One of my favorite places to shop for good deals is Continue Reading

Savings = greater happiness

big-smileDid you read the recent interesting Ally study results saying that it isn’t necessarily the salary that you can earn but rather your savings that can really affect your levels of happiness?

If you would like to read in a little more depth I found a nice discussion on the topic here.

OK, so overall such a survey didn’t appeal to my rigorous scientific standards. However,  the gist of it is that Continue Reading

Minted

minted-1I have been using mint.com for just over a year and have found it a very useful way to track my finances.It allows you to easily keep track of any accounts such as credit cards, bank balances and loans. This is in addition to including investments and property.  Tracking your spending habits from short to long term can be completed with just a click of a mouse Continue Reading

Brown Bag It

Lunch1

One way is to bring lunch to work, for starters it can certainly be much tastier than the offerings you can get from many a canteen or food court. Moreover, you can keep to any organic, vegetarian and/or minus food allergen type of diet of your choosing much easier.

At $10 a lunch, for 5 days a week for 1 year is $2400, assuming 4 weeks vacation. Clearly $24,000 over ten years is nothing to be sniffed at Continue Reading