Author Archives: Money Beagle

You Can Do It

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Little Boy Beagle will be three in just over three months.  He learns new things all the time and tries something new every day.

A lot of the things he tries don’t always work, or even if they do work, they aren’t consistent.

As he works on conquering new things, he would take pride in an accomplishment, but if something didn’t go right, he would often get exasperated and say:

“I can’t do it.”

After hearing this more than a few times, I tried to turn it around.  If he would have a problem with something that I knew was within his realm of possibility, and he’d say he couldn’t do it, I’d go over and say

“You CAN do it”

and would then try to help him with whatever he was doing, showing him how to do it, working with him to get it, and encouraging him to try again on his own.

You Can Do It Lake Huron Beach Oscoda Trip 9-25-09 16

by stevendepolo, on Flickr

While not everything worked the next time he tried, after I started telling him that he CAN do it, I noticed that:

  • Many times, he would try more than once before giving up.
  • He said “I can’t do it” a lot less, even when he couldn’t.
  • He actually started telling others “You can do it” if he heard someone give up.

All of these things are pretty cool, and if a two and a half year old can get it, I think we can all learn that lesson.

If you fail at setting a budget, don’t just give up and say you can do it.  Tell yourself that you can do it and start over again.  And, as my son learned, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Work at it hard enough, and soon you’ll not only be doing it where you once thought you couldn’t, but you’ll be the one providing encouragement and advice moving forward.

So, find something you think you can’t do.  Tell yourself “I can’t do it”.

Then stop and say: “I CAN do it”

Then, go give it a try.  You might just surprise yourself…

Thanks for reading! Please subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or check out my Facebook page. This original Money Beagle post Copyright 2012 Money Beagle is authorized to appear only on www.moneybeagle.com. Thank you for reading and remember: It’s a great day to be alive!

Don’t Yell At Telemarketers

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I love telemarketing calls.   Few things make me happier than picking up the phone, hearing a few seconds of silence, only to get pitched some product or service that I don’t want.  It just makes my day.  It all makes me so happy that instead of the ‘DO NOT CALL’ list, I wish they would invent the ‘PLEASE CALL’ list.  I’d be the first one to sign up.

OK, absolutely none of that is true. 

Truth be told, I hate telemarketing calls just as much as well…everybody else.

But I won’t yell at them.  Or be mean to them.

Why is that?

Because a job experience many years ago taught me a few things about telemarketers.

I worked for a small IT company, and one day I was sent out to a new client that had come from a referral.  They needed us to help set up their network, a couple servers, about 25 desktops, and a few printers printers, stuff that was pretty routine.  I got the name of the company and the location, made an appointment, and headed out the day of the appointment.

The name of the company didn’t clue me in at all to what they did.  It’s not like they were named ‘TELEMARKETING CENTRAL’.  It’s been so long that the name escapes me, but it could have been any type of business.  So, when I got there and started finding out the details about the job, and that telemarketing was key, I was surprised and didn’t know what to expect.

From a systems perspective, it was a pretty routine install.  There were a few extra cards that got plugged into the server to handle the phone lines, and there was an extra card in each desktop machine that allowed the person to talk and type all from the PC.  Besides that, it was pretty straightforward.

After things went live, we went back now and then for general support issues or changes that came up.  By that time, the call center was in full effect. And, as I watched them work, I learned even more:

  1. The people making the calls did not make the decisions.  They did not sign the contracts on what products or services to represent.
  2. The people who made those decisions were nowhere to be found.  The call centers are kept separate from the corporate offices, so while there are floor managers, you don’t find the people that made the deals mixing with the people that had to do the deals.
  3. There’s a reason for the pause.  There’s a background system that auto-dials numbers and it will only transfer to a live agent if it hears a voice.  That explains why you will often pick up, say hello, and have a few seconds of silence before someone comes in to make their pitch.
  4. The script was right there.  People had to follow the script.  This included following up and making a second attempt even after the customer initially declines.
  5. If they don’t follow the script, they could get fired.  Part of the job of the floor manager was to spend a portion of his or her day listening into calls and ensuring that the script was being followed.
  6. The people making the calls got no pleasure out of it.  They knew what they were doing.  They knew that the people they were calling most likely didn’t want to hear from them.  But, they needed the work and were happy for the paycheck.  In talking with them, most were barely scraping by and needed the check.  Many had kids that the paycheck was providing food and clothing to.
  7. They got paid minimum wage.
  8. Turnover was high.  Nobody went into that field as a career goal.  The people in the corporate offices?  Maybe.  But, the people making the calls got out the second that they could.
  9. They let it roll off.  Mostly.  They get hung up on and yelled at a lot so much that they pretty much just let it slide off and move to the next call.  But, I can’t imagine that it doesn’t still get to them.

Essentially what I learned is that the people that made the calls are real people, and in all honesty, they hate making the calls just as much as you hate receiving them.  If you get mad at them or threaten them or belittle them, you’re accomplishing absolutely nothing.

The best strategy is to be polite but firm.  You might have to say “No thank you” (and you should say thank you at least once) more than once, but if you think you’re going to make a point by yelling at them, I can pretty much assure you that you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Have you ever lost it with a telemarketer?  I’m sure there are some horror stories out there.

Thanks for reading! Please subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or check out my Facebook page.This original Money Beagle post Copyright 2012 Money Beagle is authorized to appear only on www.moneybeagle.com. Thank you for reading and remember: It’s a great day to be alive!

Don’t Get Tunnel Vision When It Comes To Your Finances

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When I was in high school, I worked for my aunt and uncle, who owned a collectibles shop.  At the time, figurines such as Precious Moments and Hummel were very popular, and their store became one of the more popular area destination for collectible enthusiasts.

Since most of the stuff was breakable and there was stock in the back room of many items, we would get the item from the back and unwrap it for the customer to look at while they were ringing up.  Occasionally, a customer would find something that they didn’t like about what they were buying.  Often paint was incorrect or maybe they would discover a small chip.  They would point out the defect and they’d ask for a different one.  Assuming we had more, we were happy to oblige.

Over the years of working there, I noticed an interesting behavior that, I would estimate 90% of customers were guilty of.  When we unwrapped the replacement piece, they would look only at the spot where they had previously discovered the defect.  If the first one had a chip on the back, they’d take the new one, look at the back, and finding no chip, give it back with the OK.

This puzzled me because, with that course of action, they neglected to look at the new piece in its entirety.  If there happened to be a chip in another location on the new piece, chances are they would have missed it, simply because their mind had zeroed in on the spot where the defect was in the original piece.

Many of us can get similarly focused on a problem with our finances.  If something goes wrong with our finances, it’s absolutely correct to focus on that and fix the problem, but don’t make the mistake of assuming everything else is OK.  Even if it was before.

The lesson here is to focus on your finances as a whole.  Sure, you want to focus on the problem spots, but if you look only at the problem spots from the past, you might miss warning signs of potential problems in other spots.

Here are some areas where this could potentially apply:

  • Just because your 401(k) had a great return last year, don’t assume you shouldn’t look at the allocations.
  • Just because your credit card payments deducted every month without fail for two years, don’t assume they came out on the date they have every month.  Make sure to check.
  • Just because your cable company has never made a billing error before, don’t just toss the bill in the trash.  Make sure everything looks correct.

I’m sure there are others and I’d love to hear your input.

Bottom line: Don’t get tunnel vision when it comes to your finances.  There are potential cracks or chips all over the place, so make sure to give a good look to all areas.

Thanks for reading! Please subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or check out my Facebook page. This original Money Beagle post Copyright 2012 Money Beagle is authorized to appear only on www.moneybeagle.com. Thank you for reading and remember: It’s a great day to be alive!

Weekend Roundup: February 17, 2012

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What are your plans for the weekend?  For the first time in many weekends, I don’t think we have any.  But I’m sure we’ll find something to do.

If you have a few minutes, check out these great blog posts as well as blog carnivals in which I’ve recently been included:

Have a fantastic weekend!

Thanks for reading! Please subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or check out my Facebook page. This original Money Beagle post Copyright 2012 Money Beagle is authorized to appear only on www.moneybeagle.com. Thank you for reading and remember: It’s a great day to be alive!

 

Budgeting Our Tax Refund

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We haven’t received our tax refund yet, but I’ve already budgeted what we’re going to do with it.

Before any readers get up in arms, know this:

  • I have a ballpark idea of what our refund will be
  • I usually estimate conservatively, meaning that we usually get at least what I estimate
  • Most of it is going into savings

Using a couple of online estimators, I was able to forecast roughly what our tax refuCalculator and tax returnnd will be from the feds.  I have a separate fund within our money market accounts where I allocate a portion of any blogging income aside to offset the increased income which does not get taxed throughout the year.  Add this to our state refund and this comprises the entire amount we’ll get back.

Without knowing the amounts, I can already tell you where it will likely go.  Things might change a little bit here and there, but overall, here’s the percentage allocation we’re likely looking at:

  • Savings replenishment – 25% – When we bought our camper last year, we went a tad bit over budget.  We have a comfortable savings and we went ‘over budget’ with the understanding that we’d essentially pay ourselves back with the refund and a percentage of other income
  • New car fund – 20% – Eventually we’ll need to replace our cars, currently 5 and 6 years old and ideally we would not take on a new car payment when that happens.
  • Home repair – 20% – We have a really big oak tree in our backyard that is dying and needs to be removed this year as it is annoying (it drops what leaves it grows around the 4th of July) and is close to the corner of the house so it presents a future danger.  It’s very tall and will have to come down in pieces so it’s probably going to be pretty costly.  We’re also continuing to save for a new roof in the next couple of years.
  • Kids fund – 15% – Little Boy Beagle will be starting pre-school in the fall, so we would like to have that paid for up front.
  • Travel fund – 10% – This fall will be our 5-year wedding anniversary, so we’d like to do something fun for that, as well as pay for the camping trips we plan on taking throughout the summer in our new camper.
  • Auto / Camper repair – 5% – Fix any routine or unexpected costs arising from the cars or camper
  • Gift funds – 5% – To pay for Christmas gifts and other gifts that we purchase throughout the year.

All that adds up to 100%.

If the refund comes in significantly higher than we estimated, we’ll often give ourselves $50-100 each in extra spending money but if we don’t get that, it’s not that great a deal.

In other words, most of it goes directly into savings with allocations to specific earmarks. The travel fund is the only thing that my wife would consider ‘not boring’ *lol*

What are you planning on doing with your tax refund this year?

Image: Calculator and tax return by Images_of_Money, on Flickr

Thanks for reading! Please subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or check out my Facebook page. This original Money Beagle post Copyright 2012 Money Beagle is authorized to appear only on www.moneybeagle.com. Thank you for reading and remember: It’s a great day to be alive!

How To Clean Tile Grout

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Last month, I outlined my list of 500 tasks to do throughout the year, essentially keeping track of recurring tasks that will keep things around the house functional, clean, and clutter free.  One of the things I added was a regular ‘deep cleaning’ of the bathroom tile and grout.

Both of the bathrooms upstairs are white on white: White tile with white grout.  It’s simple and can be a very clean look, well, if it’s clean.

Which it really hasn’t been.

We use a steam mop every time we clean the house, which actually works great on the tile itself, but it does nothing for the tile.

From everyday use, the grout has gotten progressively darker in both of the bathrooms, and started to look pretty dingy.  It was even worse in the shower stall of our bathroom.

I’ve always been a pretty big fan of eHow, so I was happy to find a solution that involved using Oxi Clean as a solution. Oxi Clean has always worked well as an addition for laundry, but I always knew it probably had more uses.

The article essentially suggested that you make a paste out of it, combining two and a half scoops of Oxi Clean with two cups of water.  I ended up adding more Oxi Clean as I found that it wasn’t really a paste, but just thickened water.  In the future, I might have to experiment with the ratios.

Following the instructions, I applied it to the grout.  You don’t really scrub it in, you just apply it and leave it sit for awhile to let it work itself in.  I used a rag to apply it to the tile, and went off to do some other stuff, returning about 45 minutes later.  By that point, some of it had dried, but that was OK.  I came with hot water and a cleaning brush and set to work scrubbing.  I could instantly tell that it was working.

The Grout Wall

The Grout Wall by Afroswede, on Flickr

I scrubbed all the areas that I had done, then I emptied the bucket, re-filled it, and got a fresh rag.  I wiped it off a few times, because the article stresses that you really don’t want to leave Oxi Clean residue around, so make sure it’s completely off.

Once that was done, I went back over the whole floor with the steam mop.

I only did about 1/3 of the floor and one of the three walls in the shower, simply for the reason that you have to leave yourself an area to work (and I could have done all three walls in the shower, but I was getting tired plus I wanted to see if it actually would work).  Right now, it looks a little strange in our bathroom because you can definitely tell the difference between where I did it and where I haven’t, but seeing it will give me extra motivation to finish up the remaining areas.

As I said before, I’m excited to see what other uses we can find from Oxi Clean.  It’s been a staple in our house for years, but I have a feeling that cleaning the tile grout is just one of the many uses that we will hopefully discover.

Thanks for reading! Please subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or check out my Facebook page. This original Money Beagle post Copyright 2012 Money Beagle is authorized to appear only on www.moneybeagle.com. Thank you for reading and remember: It’s a great day to be alive!