Category Archives: advice

So You Broke Your New Years Resolutions?

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It was only a month ago, but I’m sure for many, both the New Year and the resolutions that came with them are distant memories.

How many diets have been busted?  How many workout programs have been abandoned?  How many smokers are smoking again?

If you’ve already broken those promises, here’s what you do:

Take a look around.  Know that anybody you see has likely broken their resolutions as well.

Then, start them over.

People have gotten into this mindset that we can only improve ourselves but once a year.  The New Year brings a new you and when the shine wears off the list of things we want to do to better ourselves, so many of us shrug our shoulders and figure they’ll try again next year.

Why wait?

The fact is, there’s no good reason not to start again.  Why not try again to hop on the treadmill or throw away the smokes?  Are you really going to give yourself another eleven months of bad habits?  That extra eleven months is not going to make it any easier to change next year.

It’ll just make it harder.

So, forget about the fact that you’ve blown your New Years Resolution.

It’s a new month, so I ask each of you to kick off your New Month Resolution.  Today.

And, the good news about that is, that if you fail, it’s the shortest month of a year so in a few weeks you can start all over again :)

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!

Making One Good Decision Is The Key To Everything

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Monday through Friday, my alarm goes off at 5:04AM.  I have two options:

  1. Get up, go downstairs and exercise.
  2. Flip the switch, resetting the alarm for 5:39AM.

That’s a gap of thirty five minutes.  It’s thirty five minutes of extra sleep or it’s a thirty minute workout.

My goal is to work out three times a week minimum.  More would be nice but anything less than three and it’s not a good week.

I don’t do anything too intense. I have a recumbent exercise bike in the basement, so I’ll head downstairs to use that.  Sometimes I’ll lift some of the dumbbells that we have down there.  During spring and summer months, I’ve been known to walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the sunrise.

But, it all starts with that first decision.

Measuring My Progress by kretyen, on Flickr

I’ve found that the decision on whether to wake up or sleep in goes much further than that.  It can lead to an overall impact much greater than that of just the workout.

In an average workout, I burn, for the sake of argument, 150 calories.

That means that the difference between a day when I get up versus a day when I don’t is 150 calories.

Not too shabby, right?

Except it often goes further.

On a day when I work out, I know that I’ve already started things on the right foot.  So, when it comes time to pass the candy jar later in the afternoon, I’m more likely to pass on a day when I’ve worked out versus on a day when I haven’t.  That can be 100 calories of no-candy eating.

When I get home from work, I’m normally hungry and I’ll usually have a snack at the same time that Little Boy Beagle wakes up from his nap as a way to tide me over until dinner.  One of my favorite things to snack on is graham crackers.  I’ve found that on days when I work out, I might grab a sheet, break it in half, and eat just that.  On days when I don’t, I’ll eat an entire sheet or maybe even more.  That can be another 100 calories!

Add those three things up and we’re talking a difference of 350 net calories in a single day, but the ‘indirect’ benefits have already become more of a factor than the direct benefits derived from the actual workout.

The same can hold true with financial decisions.  If you’re on a strict budget, and you go out on a whim and spend $10 that wasn’t accounted for, that might look innocent enough especially when you figure that $10 isn’t going to really break the budget that much.

Only that $10 purchase can open the door.  After all, if you can afford $10 without an impact, what’s going to stop you with the next thing you want that’s $20? After that, it could be $40.  Keep going and you’ll suddenly be wondering how you spent $500 over budget at the end of the month.

All because you made the $10 decision that started the whole thing.

I truly believe that making one good decision is the key to making a lot of other decisions that will help things go your way.

Don’t worry about every decision being the right one.  Just focus on the first one you make being the right one, and you’ll have a much easier time of it and you’ll find that many other decisions will simply fall into place.

And, for the record, today I got up at 5:09!

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!

We Need A New Dishwasher

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About a year ago, I saw a Woot deal for a package of six Water Froggies.  Essentially, they are little water sensors that look like…you guessed it…froggies.

I put them in a few spots around the house where I thought leaks could occur that I wouldn’t want to go undetected for too long.  I put two by the hot water tank in the basement, one under the washing machine, one under the dishwasher (both of these required me to unscrew the bottom panel of each appliance), one under the kitchen sink, and one under the laundry room sink.

Last week, my wife came home to the sound of beeping.  She called me and after I told her what it probably was, she tracked it down to the kitchen and under the dishwasher, where she had started a load of dishes before leaving to run some errands.

When I got home later, I took a look and sure enough there was a wet spot on the plywood under the dishwasher.  Thankfully the leak wasn’t catastrophic.

And, thankfully the leak was detected by the water sensor.  Without it, the subfloor could have been ruined, and we might not have known about the leak until it  got really bad at which point it probably would have caused damage to the finished area of the basement that is under the kitchen, not to mention that it could have ruined the subfloor and linoleum.

I put an upside down lid to a plastic storage bin under all the areas where water would be, and ran a load.  Sure enough there’s a small leak.  Right now, it’s just a small drip that is easily caught with my rigged ‘drip pan’ but it’s likely going to get worse.

The dishwasher is original to the house, so it’s just around 13 years old.  It was likely a basic dishwasher in it’s time.  It’s white and while it was probably all white at one time, the area around the control panel is slightly different plastic which has severely yellowed over time.  The dishwasher itself is extremely loud.  Now that I’ve got the panel off, I can hear that the motor itself doesn’t sound in that great of shape.

All in all, I think this dishwasher has outlived it’s useful life and it’s time for a new one.

All of the appliances in our kitchen are white, with the exception of the stove/oven which is white with a black door.  We have debated getting a stainless steel dishwasher with the idea being that we’d slowly replace the appliances over time to match or we would do the rest as part of a one-day-in-the-future kitchen overhaul.

I think we have decided to go with another white one.  Why?

  1. We’re hoping the rest of the appliances last a long time.  The fridge is eight years old, the microwave is four years old (we put that in), and I’m assuming the oven/stove is…well I’m not really sure, but I’m guessing it was original.  Still, those usually last the longest.
  2. We’d like to overhaul the kitchen a bit, but being budget concious, we realize that’s probably five years or more away.
  3. Going from two different colors to three (including the black on the stove) is taking a step backwards.
  4. The white ones are a bit cheaper.

We’re going to shop around and use Consumers Reports and other ratings as a basis to get a replacement unit.  Some of the top-of-the-line models are $1,500 – $2,000 which blows my mind.  The basic ones I’ve seen can be had for $300.  I’m thinking ours will likely be in the $500-700 range, hopefully not too much above that with taxes, delivery, and installation.  Though, we’ll see.

Any dishwasher recommendations or horror stories to share?

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!

Online Poker: A Bigger Industry Than I Ever Imagined

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I was amazed when I found out from two different people I know that they both play online poker.  One was my sister-in-law’s boyfriend and the other was a guy at work.  I would have never guessed that these were poker players.  I don’t know what image I had, but I guess I realized that there are probably a lot more people who play poker online than I had realized.

I don’t get the impression that either of these guys plays irresponsibly.  Still, it stoked some interest on my part.  Not in playing, but in finding out more about those that do play.

One site I saw said that over ten million people in Americans play or have played online poker.  Wow!  Now that’s a big industry and I’m sure there are tens of millions of dollars flowing through it.

So, what are some things to remember when it comes to playing online poker smartly?  Here are a few tips:

  1. Set limits- If you decide to play poker online, set limits on how much you will spend.  Just like at a casino.  Stick to those limits no matter how tempting it might be to go over them if you’re having fun or if you think your luck is just turning around.  It probably isn’t!

    Poker by Images_of_Money

  2. Play sober – Casinos in Vegas provide free drinks for a reason, because they know they’ll get the money back on the drinks and then some.  I’d venture to guess that online poker sites see peak times that coincide when people get out of the bar.  Don’t fall into this trap.
  3. Find reputable sites – Because the online poker industry isn’t strictly regulated, the opportunity for scams is pretty high.  Use a list of online poker rankings to research where you might want to play and understand what you’re getting into and what to expect.
  4. Don’t leave your money tied up – I read a news story last year where the government temporarily shut down access to a bunch of sites, during which time any funds that were deposited were also unavailable.  I believe the situation was resolved fairly quickly, but if anybody had any immediate need for that money, they could have been in a lurch.  Keep any balance to a minimum.
  5. Don’t force it – If it’s not working, it’s not working.  If the cards aren’t going your way, shut it down and try again a different time.

Who do you know that plays online poker?  If you don’t think anybody in your family, friends, or co-workers does, think again.  You might be surprised!

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 2011 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!

5 Ways To Avoid Phishing Scams

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My wife got an e-mail over the weekend saying that her Citi Dividends credit card had been ‘restricted from use’ due to ‘suspicions about the address on file’.  It then gave the address on file.

It wanted her to immediately log into her account and was nice enough to give her a link to do so.

The entire e-mail looked legit.  Except that none of it was.

She had me go look at it, since I do all the work with our banks and credit cards and such.  I took one look at the e-mail and realized it was an attempt at phishing.  The link that was provided for logging in did not point to Citi’s website.  It pointed to a different site that I’m sure would have happily collected any login information we would have entered, and used it for illicit purposes.

My wife had gotten issued a new card because of potentially fraudulent exposure a few months back.  Based on the fact that they actually had our address, I’m wondering if that was the fraudsters trying to actually use the information they had gleaned as a way to get actual credit card information.

If you get an e-mail asking for information like this, make sure you protect yourself:

  1. Don’t act on any e-mails you get.  Call the number on the back of your card before clicking anything.  If there is an actual concern with your account, this will be flagged and you will be able to work through it.  Again, make sure it’s the number on the back of your card, not any one that you get in an e-mail.
  2. Check your information often. If anything ever looks out of place, you will know about it sooner if you check your balances regularly.  The longer duration that takes place between any fraudulent activity and you reporting it will potentially put you on the hook for more of it.
  3. Report any suspicious activity.  If you suspect a problem, let the company know.  They don’t want their name attached to any phishing scams, so they should work harder to ensure that the criminals are stopped.
  4. Look for overly personal information.   When I saw the e-mail, I was struck by two things: First, that they had the correct address but more importantly, that they actually included the address in the communication.  No financial institution should ever send out any personal information in an e-mail, and the fact that there was something there raised my ‘BS’ meter more so than if it wouldn’t have been there.
  5. Trust your hunch.  If something doesn’t seem right, trust your hunch and act accordingly.  Or another way to put it is: Don’t trust anybody but yourself.

Have you had any attempted phishing scams try to get your information lately? Did you shut them down?

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 2011 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 Forget To Check For Promo Codes!

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We were recently ordering some stuff from Pottery Barn Kids for our daughter for Christmas.  They had some promotions that were built into the item pricing of the things we wanted to purchase (one item had free shipping, another had free personalization).

My wife showed me the items she wanted to order to make sure I approved of the details, and had already entered in her payment information.  I said that the stuff looked good, but then yelled “WAIT!” and dived across the living room couch, as she went to hit ‘Submit’ for the payment.

After picking myself off the floor and taking in the ‘are you nuts’ look that I was getting, I said:

“We have to check if there’s any promo codes!”

I checked some of my favorite sites (Retail Me Not is my go-to site) and as it turns out, there weren’t any additional coupons off.  But, I still check every single time.

You never know what promotion someone else has discovered that might save you a few bucks.  Even if you find a coupon only one out of every ten times, that still means you’re saving money just by a few clicks.  Now that it’s the holiday season, you want to make sure that you’re checking as I’m sure there are more orders, more competition, and more codes available!

Regardless if it’s Amazon (who almost never has any coupon codes), Pottery Barn, or any other site, I always make sure to look if there’s any coupon/promotional codes available.

Do you? 

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 2011 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! -