Darn it.

Had I had a “do not buy” list in place like My Broken Coin had implemented, I would have saved myself having to store two gallons of cleaning fluid.  That certainly would have been on my list.  We’re good about keeping track of what we need, but not as good about what we don’t need.

I think the trick of this method is to review the list regularly so that when the need arises to take something off of the “do not buy” list, it’s taken off.

The sodas out of the vending machine were $1.25 for a 20-ounce bottle.  This was about the same price as the cookies I got, so it was a fair trade.

I instead got a six-pack of 24-ounce bottles for $3.50 at the grocery store.  The cost of two larger bottles from the store was the same price as one smaller bottle from the vending machine.

“There’s a personal finance lesson somewhere in there,” I told him.

I know that there are some homeowners that wished they had rented a little longer before buying — especially if their property values fell enough to put their mortgages underwater!  If this is the case, then they generally can’t take advantage of lower mortgage rates because they can’t refinance.  Further, they’re stuck with their house now.  Had they been renting, they could move more easily — basically when their lease is up for renewal.

On a smaller scale, renting a piece of equipment that you don’t expect to use regularly can save you money as well.  Our church rented a cherry picker for a month when we needed to fix up the front of the church.  We pitched in to help while the equipment was there, and could return it on time.  Or, if you’re planning an anniversary party then it may be better to rent the party items like the china, serving trays, the portable PA system, the tents, etc.

One-time uses are perfect candidates for renting vs. buying.  It not only reduces the cost, it reduces the amount of stuff you accumulate as well!

If you buy something new, you get to suffer the ill effects of the worst part of the depreciation.  Did you know that a new loses about 15-20% of its value the second you drive it off of the lot?  That’s several thousand dollars.  Poof, just like that!

You can slay the depreciation monster by buying quality used items, like vehicles, CDs, books, clothes … just about anything, really.  There are only a few exceptions, but if you consider whether the thing you’re buying is still just as functional as when it was new, then odds are it’s fine to buy it used.

Buying things used means that the original buyer took the depreciation hit, not you!  You may still get hit with a little bit more depreciation, but not nearly as much.  It’s a lot easier to slay a monster that’s weak, and that’s what you’re doing when you buy used.

If you carry cash only in denominations more than $5, it can help you to not make certain impulse buys:  vending machines. Most vending machines will take (a) change, and (b) $1 bills.  If you don’t have the right kind of money to feed these machines, it’s almost as if you didn’t have any money at all, because you can’t spend it!

I’ve found that this trick works really well for avoiding the snack machines during those mid-afternoon energy lulls.  I’ll just have some water or eat some of the healthier food I have in my cube instead.

Now, if you’re tempted to spend on things after work that are in the $20-$30 range just on impulse, and you know you shouldn’t, then just keep the cash out of your pocket.  And the credit cards, for that matter.  But if it’s the little expenses that get you, then you can still carry cash without being tempted to spend it on sodas and corn chips at the vending machines.  Leave the small money at home!

If you want to save money on your wedding, one of the best ways is to go Alternative!

This means, instead of going for a £/$4,000 dress, you instead get a high quality high-street formal dress that you could use again – or hire a wedding dress. Or buy second hand. Seriously.

The things that cost a lot during weddings are as follows (this is not an exhaustive list!) – with the Cash Clever alternative listed alongside:

• Dress - for the lady of the day, this is often the biggest single expense (sometimes it’s the most expensive dress she’ll ever purchase!) – if you are short of money, big savings can be made here by going for a non-wedding dress – get a friend with style to help you shop;
• Suits – the men’s suits can also be expensive, particularly if you buy them. Hiring is a good way to look great for less, but, even more cash clever is to simply wear Black Tie, which groom and his friends may well already own – its still fully formal, and looks great in the photos;
• Reception Venue – For the reception, use your house; or a friend’s house; or a marquee at someone’s house;
• Alcohol – if you buy all of your guests’ drinks, be prepared to fork out a lot of money. Perhaps consider a venue with a bar (during an off-peak season!) – or Go Mongolian and celebrate your wedding without alcohol (see the link for explanation!).
• Photography – Wedding Photographers are great, but they know how to charge; a lot of us have friends or family who are able to take a good photograph – ask them – they could well take it as a huge compliment (and it can be their gift to you!);
• Favours – these are the little gifts that many people like to give their guests. The secret here is simple – the two H’s give something Handmade or Heartfelt to keep down costs!
• DJ / Music – instead of paying out hundreds or thousands for a DJ, get some decent speakers, and put an MP3 player onto shuffle. You can always queue up the first dance yourself – or use a playlist for the whole night! If you don’t have these things, you probably have a friend who does – ask around.
• Food – if you have your guests attending your wedding (or reception) over a meal time, it is nice to feed them something – buffet is always cheaper than sit-down waiter service. Alternatively, make it short, and ask guests to arrive fed!
• Stag/Bucks and Hen Parties – the tradition for bachelor parties has gone crazy recently. Go old school, and take your pals down to a local pub, where all of them can buy you drinks. You don’t need to go all “Spring Break” you know – especially if, like most people, you are marrying in your 30+s, or for a second time.
• Flowers & Decoration – its always much cheaper to grow and make your own decor than to pay for someone else to do it for you. This does depend upon your choice of venue, however!
• Honeymoon – this is a big one, its one aspect that you could concentrate your other saving effort on, as its actually the longest part of the marriage ceremony. Still, you should look out for deals on package holiday deals (you may not want to be cooking in self catered accommodation, for example) and note that “Honeymoon Suites” are not well-known for their cost-effectiveness (though you can get a free upgrade for mentioning you are newlyweds, providing you book economy in the first place!).

Feel free to add your own Wedding Day Savings below in the comments sections – did you have a low-cost wedding? How did you achieve it?

More and more, particularly recently, I am settling on a specific rule that probably trumps all others when it comes to living a Cash Clever! lifestyle: Reduce Monthly Outgoings.

The ways in which you can do this are really simple, but they tend to revolve around one thing – avoid monthly contracts.

There are heaps of things out there that we all view as “must have” products that involve a monthly fee, including:

• Mobile phones;
• Broadband;
• Telephone (fixed) contracts;
• Utilities;
• Rent;
• Mortgage;
• Newspaper / Magazine subscriptions;
• World of Warcraft;
• Gym Memberships.

From the point of view of the company or individual who creates the product or service, monthly fees make a lot of sense (think residual, recurring income), but from the point of view of the consumer, signing up for many monthly, non-essential contracts simply adds to the burden of financial responsibility each month.

Naturally, some items you could not live particularly easily without, such as utilities, broadband and at least one kind of telephone connection, though you could be Cash Clever! with these by making sure you are on the cheapest and most sensible package (often joining phone and broadband is a great way to save a little money).

When it comes to the non-essential – i.e. entertainment or luxury items – the equation you should use to weigh up each subscription is quite simple really: how much value does the contract provide you with? For example, if you pay $50 a month for gym membership, yet you only go once or twice a month, perhaps you should consider another form of excercise, like runnings?

Or, maybe your newspaper subscription means that you don’t spend money buying books, so it actually ends up being very cost effective (plus a lot of papers have free DVDs etc, thereby reducing other areas of your entertainment budget too).

Work out what value your monthly contracts deliver to you, and cut out those which are not providing the maximum: you’d be surprised at how much a little financial pruning can increase your monthly bottom line!

We currently have oil fired central heating, which also does the hot water on demand (i.e. not heating up a whole tank of water and keeping it hot, instead only heating water as it is needed).

Roll Back Your Thermostat

When we moved into our house, the previous occupant had the thermostats set at 21 degrees centegrade at all times.

This meant that the heating was on in August, in the UK, when we moved in.

I reset the thermostats (we have one for upstairs and one for downstairs) to 15 degrees centigrade at all times. This means that the heating does not come on unless the temperature of the thermostat drops below 15, and it will only stay on until it reaches that level.

Now, I know what you are thinking. 15 is too cold!

It is cold, however, it is more cost effective to heat only the room that you are using, particularly given the rise and rise of the price of fuel oil.

We are fortunate in that we have a solid fuel fireplace in the sitting area of the house, which means we can heat that room for very little, though it would still be more cost effective were we to use a small electric fan heater for the room we are in rather than heating the whole upstairs or downstairs rooms.

Air Conditioning is Expensive

Cold isn’t the only problem people face. Heat can be troublesome too. And also uncomfortable. But remember, air conditioning is expensive, so the cash clever advice is to use it only in extremis, or not at all.

I have lived through a heat wave in Australia (46 degrees C+) without air con. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but you do get used to the heat after a day or so. And the amount of money it costs to install, maintain and power air conditioning units in your house would be around the same price as going on a short holiday somewhere cooler during the next heat wave. While that is not a sensible suggestion, it should help to put things into persective. The golden rule? Air conditioning is a luxury – expect to pay a premium for it.

Comfort costs. Keeping warm or cool is comfortable. The cash clever way to manage the temperature at home (or work) is to make sure you aren’t wasting time, money and energy on a couple of degrees here or there. If you’re cold, put on another jumper, and count the savings you make!

After all, you can’t begin to Be Cash Clever unless you actually have some cash, can you…

Now, before I get all Rich Dad Poor Dad and start talking about income streams, its important to note that the number one cash clever way to secure your financial future is to get yourself a good job.

Whatever your political ideology might be, I think everyone, including the Communist republic of China, accepts that the world functions with money, and the best way to achieve a little bit of lucre is to trade time, and labour, for a salary.

This is income stream number one.

You need this one to be as high as possible.

But, once you’ve got your regular wage coming in, there’s lots of other income streams that you can get going without too much effort, and these range from the Safe Investments up to the Riskier Investments.

I’m not a financial advisor, but it always helps to have an opinion or two – you never know, you just might get an idea you had not considered.

So here is a non exhaustive list of Low Risk Income Streams because taking risks is like gambling: you can lose, and losing money is not the Be Cash Clever way!

1. Use an Instant Savings Account - don’t leave large sums of money floating around in your bank’s current account: they wouldn’t lend to you for free, so don’t do it the other way around! Get an instant access savings account and transfer all of your credit into and out of it as required – takes literally minutes with online banking. Make sure you leave enough in to cover any bills that could be scheduled to go out, though
2. Save Long Term – if you have a large amount of money you’d like to save, save it over a period of 1, 3 or 5 years to achieve a higher rate of interest.
3. Buy Bonds – There are lots of guaranteed low risk bonds out there. Shop around and add some to your portfolio. Ideally, you should buy bonds every month or two, so that, in a year or two, you will begin receiving regular income from them.
4. Pension Plan – We are all going to get old. We are all going to want to finish work some day. We should all be pension planning. Whether you buy a pension, or simply invest in savings yourself, you need to think seriously about how much cash you think you’ll need in your retirement and begin saving now.

The above list will mean that your spare cash works for you, creating residual income while you do other things, multiplying your effort in your day job and providing additional funds for your future.

If there is one important idea today, it is this: Have a pension plan, no matter how young you think you are.

The Premise

The basic premise – perhaps it is a general misconception – many people have is that it is possible, or even likely, to make huge amounts of money writing in an online blog.

The Reality

Yes, it is possible to make a lot of money writing an online blog. It is also possible to spend a lot of time for very little reward, blogging online.

General Rules

As someone who has developed a business out of blog based websites almost entirely, I can provide perhaps more insight into this than your average commentator. Here are some rules that I would lay down when considering whether or not to embark on a career as a blogger:

• Can You Write? This is something you need to be honest about. How good a writer are you. How easy will you find it to produce one, or more, truly engaging articles or blog posts every single day of your life. That’s what you’ll need to do. An alternative is a video blog, or a daily podcast, but these involve startup costs and would require different skills. Be sure to start a blog that draws upon your best assets.
• Do you have an interest? Blogging about a subject you are not interested in, or know little about, is possible, but not to be advised: you’ll get bored, and so will your readers.
• Can you go “Full time”? Okay, your blog might be a hobby for you, but there are professional media organisations out there doing your subject, and doing it better. Can you really compete in between your day job and your private life? If not, then perhaps consider scaling back the commercial side of things altogether and making your blog totally ad free – at least until you have a few thousand avid readers.
• Be realistic! Don’t expect to make thousands or even hundreds a month from one or two well written daily articles, no matter how many blocks of Adsense and Amazon content units you surround them with. The fact of the matter is, people are online readily consuming free information all the time – in certain niches, you can expect to earn pennies for tens of thousands of visitors. Yes, unfortunately, that means your X Factor blog won’t earn you much lucre.
• Monetise Sensibly - the word “monetize” (or monetise for Brits) essentially means turn your site traffic into money. This is easier said than done, but you should consider who your target user is, and what makes them dip into their wallet. With a fairly personal project, such as a blog, the target user is someone like you. What would you spend money on? Those are the ads you should be running.
• Don’t rely on affiliate marketing – if possible, once you have a good body of readers, you should look to diversify the range of income streams flowing into your blog or website. This means selling an actual ad or sponsorship to someone upfront. Affiliate advertising is fraught with late payments, and wearisome affiliate managers who will email you all day long and generally push you to promote them for free. Get yourself an upfront payer you can rely on.
• Be honest – don’t lie to promote a product. If something is a lemon, call it a lemon. People can see right through your sales pitches. A blog is not the place for them – think soft sell.
• Treat your readers with respect – don’t overstuff your site with ads – we all want to make money, but, come on, it isn’t for nothing, you’ve got to entertain, inform and even delight in order to do so: you cannot do this if I can’t find your article for text link ads.

Number One Rule

Be honest with yourself – accept your limitations. If you know you won’t keep it up, don’t start. If you know you have a potential to be rude to people in comments and emails, make a pact with yourself never to respond to them. If you know that you aren’t a great writer, consider getting someone who is to proof read or edit your posts.

At the end of the day, what you know is interesting, and can be presented in an interesting format; the question you need to ask yourself is simple: is it worth anything?

Only you, and the market, knows the answer to that.

The Conclusion – Is it Possible to “Blog to Riches?”

Blogging to Riches is about as likely as becoming a professional footballer or a pop star: only the few very talented and dedicated will achieve it. That is including a number of right-place-right-time lucky breaks; and the willingness to learn from every bitter experience.

Consider this before you start, not after 6 months, and you could save yourself a lot of effort – there are a million and one well-intentioned “blogging to riches” efforts floating around in cyberspace with 2-6 months of effort on them, which should now serve only as a warning to those with a laptop and dollar signs in their eyes.