[Good morning, friends! Got a fantastic guest post for you today that’s got me reconsidering all kinds of habits over here! It comes from Amanda Grossman over at Frugal Confessions, and hopefully it gets you rethinking some of your routines too Take it away, Amanda!]

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I’m about to introduce you to a frugal living rule I started using almost a decade ago.

It’s saved me untold amounts of money.

And to be honest, it’s without much sacrifice at all (none, in some circumstances).

It’s called The Half Rule.

I only wish I’d discovered it back in my early 20s when I could’ve really used it!

It’ll help you fight inflation. It’ll cut your grocery bill down without having to stop buying the products that you like.

And you’ll start to have some money left at the end of the month.

While it can’t be used on everything, it can be used in more cases than you think.

Ready for it?

What is the Half Rule?

The Half Rule means cutting the amount of product you use in half, and seeing what happens.

Does it still perform like it should? Then keep it at the new, half-level. Do you need to add a bit more to it? Go ahead and do it.

You’ll likely always end up using less than you were before, causing you to have to buy a replacement product less (and saving you money).

I started playing around with this over a decade ago. and I can’t tell you how much money it’s saved me (without having to buy generics or go without).

You see, I’m going out on a limb here, but I think we all use too much product.

And there are three main reasons for that:

• Manufacturer Recommendations are Inflated: Manufacturer recommendations are often asking us to use more of the product than necessary.
• Habits are Hard to Break: We have developed a habit of using a certain amount of a product, and it’s hard to change habits. (J$: This is me!! I need to work on this!)
• Product Inflation is a Real Thing: We’re experiencing product inflation, where we think to get the same amount of pleasure out of something, we need to use more of it (has anyone increased their Starbucks size to grande, for example, to get the same degree of pleasure they used to get from a tall?).

I tested this rule out by cutting in half my use of:

• Shampoo
• Laundry detergent
• Dryer sheets (I’ve cut them in half to no bad effect for decades now)
• Cooking oil (started using an oil mister instead of pouring it)
• Restaurant meals (I typically take 1/3 to ½ home for lunch)
• Bagels for breakfast (I started eating half a bagel at home, instead of a whole one)
• Starbucks order size
• Glass stovetop cleaner
• Tape (when wrapping gifts)

And those are just the easy ones you can start with.

[TIP: to save even more money, pair this Half Rule with my Bank It! Saving Money Challenge.]

Why is the Half Rule So Effective?

When you change a few things here and there, or something by a little amount, it’s not really noticeable to your bank account.

Not enough to make you want to keep doing it.

By cutting your use of many things in HALF, you quickly see the change to your money.

Imagine having to buy 10 products half as often – that’s a significant change to your spending.

And with these current prices?

Yeah… you’re going to notice.

It starts a ripple effect of savings – one that you can control.

[TIP: you could then use your extra savings to get one month ahead on your bills!]

A Specific Example of Where This Paid Off

Most of us don’t want to take a close look at how we’re using products, because it’s become a habit.

And habits can be hard to break.

I’m no different from you in this.

But many times, the money we need to actually increase savings is being spent on our habits.

For example, I love Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap. I use it to create foam hand soaps for each of our bathrooms.

I was filling up half the bottle with the semi-expensive peppermint soap, and then the other half with water.

I can’t even blame this one on a bloated manufacturer recommendation; when I finally looked at the instructions, I noticed that I was only supposed to use 1 part soap to 3 parts water.

It was all me (product inflation? Habit? Not really sure).

I changed. Now, I’m buying Dr. Bronner’s refills less often.

Ka-ching!

When you bring awareness to how you’re using a product, then you can make a change.

Is The Half Rule for Everything?

Again, this rule does not work for everything.

But I would argue it works for MUCH more than you will initially think.

For example, you can’t fill up your gas tank halfway and still commute the same number of times to work.

Never, EVER, cut a prescription in half.

And you won’t catch me eating ½ of a single serving size of yogurt.

But why waste your money on a daily, caterpillar-sized amount of toothpaste on your toothbrush when a dentist-recommended pea-size will do just fine?

Take a handful of products, cut your use in half, and see if anything changes. You might be surprised. I know I was.

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Amanda L. Grossman is a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®), a 2017 Plutus Foundation Grant Recipient for her kid money program, The Mt. Everest Money Simulation: A Kid’s Educational Adventure, and founder of Frugal Confessions and Money Prodigy. You can learn more about Amanda here.

// Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
// Link to soap and mister are Amazon affiliate links

[This post, “The Half Rule” – A Frugal Hack I Live By, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Got this note from a reader and been obsessing about it lately:

“I just wrapped up a 10 – 2 challenge. Here’s how it works – You work on a long term project for 10 minutes a day – every day – for approximately 2 years. The thing is, you have to work on the project every day. If you travel, you have to either improvise or do make up work for the days you missed. I even use a stopwatch to make sure I work on the project for a full 10 minutes. You’ll be amazed at what you accomplish!”

Love it! Super easy sounding, right?!

And if I whip out a calculator here, hold on one sec…  It looks like it actually adds up to… 7,300 minutes!! Or roughly 122 hours! WOW! Imagine dedicating that many hours to *one* single goal of yours? What would you be able to achieve?! How better off would you be? Physically/mentally/professionally?

It’s hard to fathom the number of things we let fall by the wayside just because they’re “too big” to start, so let this be the kick in the ass you need to actually GET GOING on a dream that you may be putting off. Or even just something annoying that really needs to get done but you know will take forever! Lol… Literally stop reading this right now and get going if you already have it in your head – I promise it’ll be better than reading the rest of this post

If nothing crosses your mind, let me throw out some ideas:

• Review your finances every day (expenses, credit cards, budget, net worth, subscriptions, insurance, credit score, credit report – plenty of things you could keep tabs on and improve)
• Declutter your entire house (each drawer, closet, *gasp* garage!)
• Get a new job/promoted (research, apply, improve skills)
• Get a new girlfriend/boyfriend/friend (same examples as above )
• Write a book! (might feel choppy with only 10 mins applied, but you’ll probably find you’ll spend more time once you’re “in the flow”)
• Start a passion project (blog, book, TikTok, coin collection!)
• Work out every day (go for a walk, go for a run!, lift some weights, do some yoga, play some basketball – you only have to do it for 10 mins!)
• Work out your mind every day (meditate, read, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles! (Remember that time I got obsessed with them for like two months??! Man I went bonkers…))
• Study the bible (my friend who came up with this 10-2 idea did exactly this – used his time for the past two years to devour the bible and create a “spiritual warfare database!”)
• Weed/Garden/Landscape (after a month you’ll probably just be *maintaining* from that point on!)
• Learn a new language (Spanish? French? HTML?)
• Learn something else entirely new! (Programming, Video Editing, Baking)

The options are endless…

And I don’t care who you are, everyone can spare 10 mins a day towards something that’s important to them. The years are going to pass anyways, why not get something extra out of it with minimal effort?!

I found the perfect book too yesterday for tracking it all:

I scooped it up at Goodwill as a future gift to my sister (it was only $2.99!), but now I’m thinking I need to keep it for myself, lol…

But how perfect is this for tracking?! Each date has a small section to jot down quick notes, and they’re stacked on top of each other so every year going forward when you come back to the same date you can see the previous years’ notes on it. Which hopefully will keep you motivated and inspired!

Here’s an inside page so you can see exactly what I’m talking about… And yes, I just wrote in it so it’s officially mine

So you can see there’s a section there for each of the 5 years, so over time you’ll be able to reflect on the previous years’ successes and notes and you don’t have to keep getting a new journal :) In fact, you could even turn this into a 10-5 Challenge if you really wanted to! Haha… And I just found it on Amazon too in case you want one for yourself (currently $15):

One Line A Day: A Five-Year Memory Book

But really, you can use anything to track this – what’s important is just that you do! Use a Notes app, staple some blank papers together, or use a good old fashion Google Doc, it doesn’t matter – just track it however is most natural to you.

And as you’ll see, I’ve already started this challenge :) Which for me is to do *one thing a day* for someone, or some place, that helps them. I had been trying to get to a WEEK in a row of helping someone each day – and even pulled it off once (see the PS at the end!) – but if I could accomplish it for 2 YEARS straight that would be amazing.

And on Nov. 6th you’ll see Day #1 was completed! I gave a microwave to my friend Debbie whose old one just broke down (it had been sitting in my basement for 5 years!), and then I called my mother “just to check on her” and not to ask for something which is usually the case And since I had extra room there at the end, I made a note that we had won our league’s soccer championships (and I scored in it!), so that future me will be reminded of the feat a year from now.

Now some days I already know I’ll have trouble finding someone to help, or maybe not even be IN THE MOOD to help!, so on “off” days I’ll carve out the 10 minutes to simply strengthen my *mindset* overall, whether by reading or brainstorming or even by meditating – that way with each passing day I’m even more *conscious* about the mission. The more you practice doing something, the better you get at it right?! And we have 7,300 mins with this challenge so we’re gonna get GOOD!!

So yeah – I’m pretty stoked about this, and hopefully you are too :) Spend a few minutes thinking it over today, and then tomorrow get right to it and start tracking it all. It doesn’t matter if it’s something big or small or somewhere in between – just get crackin’ and feel good about it!

Remember – the time is going to pass anyways, so why not get something out of it? And I want to hear all about it!

PS: The one week I accomplished this!

• Day 1: helped serve a community dinner for our homeless friends
• Day 2: helped give out free food and veggies at our local food bank
• Day 3: gave a buddy of mine a haircut as he was low on funds, and also just really doesn’t like going to barbers! (And if you’re wondering, yes – I gave him a mohawk!! I can’t be trusted to cut anything else! )
• Day 4: helped my church archive old documents in their archives room – not only fascinating to hold and touch old artifacts, but to learn the overall process of *properly archiving* too!
• Day 5: helped a friend get a website off the ground and move her childhood dream further along
• Day 6: brainstormed marketing and fundraising ideas for a new garden opening up in our city
• Day 7: co-led an after church youth session – the scariest of all as a) I don’t know or fully understand the bible at all (!!), and b) pre-teen kids are so awkward and quiet and really don’t like to talk, haha… Though I did find a secret weapon: snacks!

It was a pretty fantastic week, but also exhausting… I’ll have to be careful of my energy levels and find ways to self-care throughout the next two years so I don’t accidentally burn out.

// Link to book is an Amazon affiliate link

[This post, The 10-2 Challenge, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Got three random hacks for you today to save time, annoyance, and forgetfulness ;)

Anyone else do these??

#1. The Trash Bag Hack

You know how every time you have to change the kitchen trash bag it’s super annoying cuz you have to go digging under your sink for the box of them, and then a couple of days later you have to do it all over again?

Well, at first I thought I hacked it pretty well by just pulling out 6 or 7 bags at a time and throwing those at the bottom each time saving me a little grief, but even still I got annoyed so last month I put THE ENTIRE ROLL of bags at the bottom of the can, lol… I’m not gonna have to do it again now for at least a couple more months! BOOM!

#2. The Water Bottle / Mowing Hack

I thought of this over the weekend and it was a game changer :) Instead of keeping my water in the garage or somewhere else outside to trek to whenever I’m thirsty, I decided to just plop it right there ON TOP of the mower that way it’s only inches from my mouth instead of yards! Not only did it save me time and annoyance having to back track to it every time I needed to hydrate, but I actually drank MORE water since it was right there in front of me as a reminder! Triple win!

(THOUGH WARNING: This worked perfectly with my *electric* mower (see top pic), but when I switched to my gas one when the battery drained it did not prove as successful, haha… (see below pic). It not only burned a whole in the bottom draining out the water, but it was piping hot when I tried downing the remaining molecules!! Do NOT try at home, lol… (Though in my defense I put it far away from the engine, but it must have moved in transit and got way too close to the hot parts, womp womp…)

#3. The “Throwing it on The Floor” Hack

I stole this idea from my friend Travis Pizel, and it came in handy the other night when I was out of body wash in the shower…

It was the third time I meant to replace it when I was all done, but as usually happens I get caught up in my daydreams and completely forget once I’m out. So this time *I threw the empty bottle out of the shower*, and when I got out I saw it laying there on the floor there – and voila! It prompted* me to replace it right then and there!

Travis calls this the “Reminder Pillow” , and uses it all the time before drifting off to sleep:

For some reason it ALWAYS seems like I remember something that has to be done just as I climb into bed and get comfy. So, I reach down, grab one of the bazillion extra pillows scattered around our bed and chuck it across the room. Vonnie will ask, “What are you doing?” My response: “Reminder pillow.” The next morning when I get up, I’ll stumble across the pillow in the doorway and think to myself, “Hey, why is there a pillow laying….. ooooooh yeah, right” and I instantly remember what it was I had forgotten to do the night before. :)”

A quick easy hack that can be used anywhere!

And that’s all I got for you today! Hope you can use one or two of these :) If you got any silly little tricks of your own, please do share them in the comments!

Yours in better human’ing,

*James Clear calls this whole idea of throwing stuff “triggers”… Where an object triggers your brain to do or think something and says it’s imperative when working on goals. Here’s a bunch of other triggers you can incorporate into your life as well, especially that last one ;)

• 20+ Triggers to Hack Your Life & Money
• Physical Triggers
• The ol’ “Picture in The Wallet” Trick

[This post, 3 Random Life #Hacks, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Good morning!

Here’s an outline of tips and tricks I do to help me live my Best Life :)

I started putting it together for a possible book or PDF or something?, but I also just wanted a place that captures it all for easy reference later… If you like it, I’ll do an update as other ones come to mind!

It really is amazing how good habits can compound over time… Bad ones too, but we’ll save that list for another day ;)

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A bunch of things that have gone on to
change my life:

Money:

• Tracking my net worth
• Automating all bills
• Consolidating all banking
• Rounding up all debt payments/investments
• Using one credit card for everything (and paying it off monthly)
• Maxing out retirement accounts every year
• Storing all tax documents in one spot
• Tipping 20% no matter what
• Always keeping cash in my wallet (money clip)
• Always keeping a $20 bill in the car for emergencies

Shopping

• Always buying it if it’s a book
• Always buying it if it’s under $10.00
• Asking: “Would I rather have this thing or cash?” before any purchase
• Asking: “Would I wear this out the dressing room?” before any clothes purchase
• Shopping thrift stores for cheap fashion experimenting
• Always having a back up plan for stuff you buy
• Leaving all packages needing to be returned in the trunk so they’re always ready

Productivity:

• No coffee until you’re ready to do the “real” work!
• Answering emails in batches
• Answering emails with emojis and gifs (quicker *and* fun!)
• Answering emails via iPhone (more acceptable for writing less)
• Answering emails but *not sending* them until later (slows down the back and forth)
• Only keeping emails needing attention in the inbox (archive the rest)
• Setting calendar items for all your friends’ birthdays so you never forget (esp old college ones as time passes on…)
• Spending just 15 minutes to jump start the stuff you hate (you’ll often end up doing more once you get going!)
• Going “all in” when you find something you love (It may change later, so soak it all up while you’re excited!)
• Stacking habits for better efficiency
• Re-reading Essentialism every now and then

Household:

• Making your bed every morning
• Cleaning the litter every morning
• Putting away the dishes after every meal
• Doing a load of laundry every day
• Lighting a candle at dinner
• Keeping books easily accessible around the house
• Spritzing plants every day with water (easiest way to keep them alive!)

Clarity/Mind:

• No phone in bed!
• No phone *in front of other people*
• Wearing a watch so less times picking up the phone
• Keeping phone notifications turned off
• No working on the weekends
• No working at night
• Hitting inbox zero every day
• Waking up at 5am and getting the day started on your own terms

Kids:

• You can never love them too much!
• They’d rather play with YOU than a toy
• Keeping an “adventure bag” in the trunk (with extra clothes, toys, bathing suit)
• Keeping their scooters/skateboards in the trunk (for more sporadic adventures!)
• Going with the flow while playing, even if it’s not fun (they’ll quickly move on to something else!)
• Sticking to a loose schedule for play time, nap time, screen time
• Urging them to do as much as they can by themselves
• Bribing them if it leads to better habits
• Not letting them get free stuff at yard sales…

Minimalism:

• Keeping key chains minimal (house and car keys only)
• Keeping money clip minimal (only cash and cards)
• Keeping clothes to *only what fits in a suitcase*
• Giving every thing a “place”
• Keeping a box for all stuff that needs to go out
• Keeping all email accounts/website accounts/other accounts consolidated
• Removing areas of the house that accumulates stuff easily (usually flat surfaces)
• Walking around the house looking for stuff to declutter when bored
• When stuck on an item, asking: “Would I go out and buy this again?“
• Re-reading The Power of Less every now and then

Health:

• Banana and water in the mornings
• Cut up apples w/ peanut butter in afternoons
• Stop eating when 80% full
• 1-2 walks every day!
• 100 push-ups every day
• Brushing your teeth right after dinner so less temptation to snack/drink late night

Charity:

• Always saying “yes” when asked for money
• Giving the largest dollar bill in your wallet/purse/pockets
• Setting up *automatic* donations to organizations that matter most to you
• Becoming a Lifetime Member of the clubs you belong to
• Keeping your eyes consciously *open* for opportunities to help

Reminders to self:

• No one can ever take away your success!
• Freedom > Money > Stuff
• It’s either a Hell Yeah or a No – Sivers
• You can get equal happiness from stuff that costs money and stuff that doesn’t
• “Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage.”- We Bought a Zoo
• When in doubt, ask yourself: “Do I like who I am when I’m doing this?”
• “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale

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[This post, 75+ Things I Do That Improve My Life 🔥, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

I don’t know if bribing is good or bad in the Parenting 101 handbook, but I’ve been doing a lot of it lately and I gotta say – it works

Three examples:

#1. “If you don’t cry at drop off for a *month* I will buy you whatever you want!” – I blurted this out over dinner one night (one too many whiskeys), and my 4 year old’s eyes lit up like it was Xmas Eve… He’d been having trouble getting into preschool each morning (he LOVES it there but for some reason cries as soon as I’m about to leave him) and everything we’ve tried up to that point wasn’t working…

“I can get anyyyyyyything???” he says with a sly grin. “Yup, anything! Within reason!!” I start backpeddling, lol… “Okay, deal.”

And just like that it was on… Which a) surprised the crap out of me because it’s been such A THING lately and there’s no way this silly little trick was gonna work, right?, and b) I started to get nervous because all of a sudden I had promised him a big, probably expensive, prize, haha… But I knew he couldn’t ask for anything too crazy ‘cuz his imagination isn’t as developed as his older brothers’, and a few minutes later I was put to ease when he came back with, “I want a giant squishmallow.”

[A giant squishmallow – adorable, cuddly, under $40!]

Examples #2. and #3. Upon hearing this interaction and the joy emanating from little bro’s face, the two older bros wanted in on the action and promptly asked what challenge they can do too for a prize. I thought about the different areas they were currently struggling with, and came up with their respective challenges:

For older bro #1 (8 y/o): He has to go an entire month eating whatever we serve up for dinner that night – and not complain about it. We’d gotten into the bad habit of preparing him something different on nights he didn’t like what we were serving (a major fail on OUR part, of course, probably due to bad memories of our own childhoods of “if you don’t like it, starve!” LOL) and before we could get into more of the details he quickly complied, “I’m in.” And deal #2 was made.

This time, however, I was smart enough to put a cap on the prize FIRST ($50), to which he said he’d let us know later what he wanted so he can enjoy all the possibilities first… Something his old man likes to do too ;) (So far he’s considered Pokémon cards, Robux credit, a music player he can have all to himself, and most recently a drone after a Target visit – the place where all dreams come true)

As for the oldest boy, 10 y/o Not-So-Baby Penny who’s perfect in almost every single way (I’m allowed to say that because I’m his dad!) the challenge tailored to him was to go a whole month *without asking any questions he already knows the answers to*, or those he can easily figure out if he thinks hard enough.

He’s currently at that stage of asking never ending questions, one after another after another – which is fine! We encourage curiosity in our house! – but many of them we’ve noticed don’t really need to be asked if he just took a few seconds to think about it first. And if he catches himself before we can answer his questions, it doesn’t count – that way he’s got some wiggle room since admittedly he’s got more opportunity to fail than his brothers who only have to overcome their bad habits *once* each day. We also put the cap at $50 for him too, though interestingly he hasn’t even so much as *hinted* to what he wants in the end so I’m super curious to what’s brewing in there!!

But we’re now into week #4 of them all, and if you can believe it – everyone’s on track to get their prizes!! A fall miracle!!

Baby Dime hasn’t shed a single tear in three and a half weeks, much to the shock – and joy – of his teachers (they asked me what the trick was and thought it was hilarious when I told them I cheated and bribed him, lol…), Baby Nickel has eaten every single thing we’ve put on his plate so far, even if it takes him longer to finish than the rest of us, and Not-So-Baby Penny has since been learning how to answer his own questions in his head, saving everyone in the household major sanity ;)

I can’t tell you how proud of them I am. And of myself for coming up with the genius plan, hahaha…

Really goes to show how powerful rewards can be, though, both mentally and physically. All three of them had said over and over again how hard it is to overcome this stuff and that they “just can’t do it” before the challenges, yet here we are weeks later and they’re just breezing through it!! It was all in their head!! And of course ultimately I’m hoping it sticks WELL AFTER the deadline which was my ultimate motive for it all. Outside of just having some peace and quite for a little bit ;)

Here are some of the key parts I think that have made this so successful – in case you want to try it out in your household ;)

1. Pick things that can go on to become better *habits*
2. Pick things that are *doable* for each of them specifically (all 3 of my kids were saying “how easy” each others’ missions were, but that’s only of course because they’ve mastered ’em already! The point is to overcome their unique struggles, which will be different for each kid)
3. Pick things that really annoy you/the entire family! lol…
4. Put in the clause – “if you miss a day, the clock starts over”

I can’t tell you how often that last one comes up in conversation ;) It serves as a perfect back up motivator on days when you think they may slip up!

We also incorporated some general leeway for each of them too, depending on the circumstance. For example, when my 8 y/o got sick he could “pause” the mission until he was feeling better, and for the oldest boy as I mentioned he was able to “take back” his question if he catches himself before we answer it. But for the most part this “clock starting over” clause has been enough to keep them all on track so far…

It’s also important to know *what* exactly motivates them too.

Some are excited over candy, others want cash, and then there’s the rare ones who just yearn for the inherent rewards of personal satisfaction ;) Candy and money bribes did *not* work in my case (nor the personal satisfaction – they laughed in my face when I brought that up!), but turns out the “world of possibilities” under a certain amount did motivate them enough to take action. All of which not being that different for us adults.

Oh, and here’s one more silly example of the power of rewards:

So cash hasn’t lost its edge entirely! Lol… Different situations call for different rewards ;)

What type of challenges are you currently working on? What are the rewards you have set up for yourself?

[This post, The Power of Rewards (AKA In Which I Bribe My Kids to Behave…), was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

One of the joys of having your money on lock is being able to spend lavishly on the things that make you happy without having to think about it much.

(And by lavishly, I mean on anything $10 or less – because frugality )

We make so many dang decisions every single day of our lives, so anytime you can shave off one of them it’s a WIN. Plus, why not splurge a little without over-analyzing every last purchase if you’re hitting your goals just fine?!

It’s pretty amazing what a Hamilton will get you these days too:

• Coffee? Yum.
• T-shirt? Rock it.
• Rings? Flaunt it.
• Books? The Best!

If it makes me happy or feel good (or look good) – I will buy it every single time and not feel bad about it.

In fact, just yesterday I employed this rule when I came across this book at the local book store:

Gucci Mane was probably the last person I was expecting to enter my life, lol, but something about it made me want to pick it up and devour it…. Probably that pinky ring (Gucci Mane is a rapper famous for trap music – and going in and out of jail/drugs)

So I did. It cost me exactly $10 and I didn’t have to check a budget or anything.

And then I promptly went next door and ordered a $6 latte at the coffee shop where I sat and consumed both for the better part of two hours!! IT WAS BLISSFUL!!

And also the fastest I’ve ever read a book in my life*. It wasn’t even the greatest story telling or writing, it just fascinated me to no end and I couldn’t put it down. It’s amazing how drastically different our lives can be on this Earth! And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish I was a bit more of a troublemaker like GUCCI is too, haha…

And sure it adds up over time, but so does pleasure. If you’re already hitting your financial goals though it’s all “extra.” And let me ask you – would you rather have $1,000,010 or $1,000,000 and a good book? (Or coffee or beer or big bag of gummies??).

An extra $10 doesn’t add as much value to your life once you cross a certain point. And even if you’re deep in debt or just getting started in your financial journey I recommend cutting yourself a little slack every now and then! I wouldn’t get crazy with it, but a $10 splurge will go much farther in your mental health and motivation than 24/7 deprivation. Just don’t do it every day and you’ll be fine…

At any rate, another thing I do that’s worked out great for me in recent years :) And if you’ve been doing any of my last 6 tips you should have plenty of extra Hamiltons to play with! Go out and have fun with one of those puppies today!

Yours in splurging,

*In two hours I read 1/3 of the book, which anyone with “reading OCD” will tell you is astonishing… I rarely had to re-read any of the lines, or got stuck on a word I had to repeat over and over again until it felt “right” or anything. I think because the world of Gucci has no impact on my life whatsoever, haha, so it wasn’t “important” enough where my brain had to make sure it soaked everything in. Even though it’s crazy inspiring! So thanks G-mane! For being yourself, and for giving this new fan some hope in future book reading… Keep on spittin’ your truth

[Cover art for Delusions of Grandeur]

** Links to book are Amazon affiliate links

[This post, $10 or Under? Get it., was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Morning!

Here are a handful of things I do/did that’s really impacted our finances over the years…

Check ’em out and see if any of them are worth testing out!

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Rounding up debt payments! — Whatever your monthly payment is, just roundup to the nearest $10th and kill off a little extra debt without even noticing it! This works sooo good for your credit cards, car loans, or even mortgages. Or if you really want to step up your game – round up to the nearest $100th! We’ve probably shaved off at least a year or two of payments doing this, and makes it a bit easier to budget too if you prefer using whole numbers vs exacts.

Rounding up investments — Similar to the above, if you get into the habit of rounding up your monthly investments they’ll only compound that much faster. And if you really want to speed things up, use apps like Acorns which will *automatically* round up ALL YOUR TRANSACTIONS to the nearest $1.00 and drop the difference right into investments for you. So every time you swipe your card for coffee or groceries or even your 100th Amazon purchase of the week (hah), you’ll feel a tad less guilty knowing that you’re at least investing at the same time ;) I banked $600.22 when I first tried Acorns without even noticing it – it was great.

Actually SAVING your savings! — You know when people say they’ve “saved” money by using a coupon or getting something 10% off or buying one and getting another one for free? Well, you might not have paid full price for the item, but you’re still very much *spending* money vs *saving* since nothing actually went INTO your savings account!

With this spending/savings hack (dubbed “Spavings“) you’re actually doing just that: putting the money you’ve “saved” from discounts right into savings. So that 10% off becomes an extra $4.00 dropped into your account, and that coupon for buy one get one free becomes an extra $10.50 banked that you didn’t have to spend. You literally save every time you spend! And let me tell you – it adds up. When I experimented with this for 10 months back in 2018 I amassed $4,040.50 – almost enough to fully fund a Roth IRA!* Try it out for a month and see how it goes!

Asking for fees to be waved — Probably the easiest of all tricks. The next time you get a fee or penalty or any other of the sort, just pick up the phone, or email, and ask (politely) if it can be erased! I’d say over 50% of the time it works, especially if you’re a loyal customer and it’s the first time you’ve been hit. And often if you ask for a supervisor after getting rejected you’ll win a number of those battles as well.

I just did this with the $19.31 late fees I stupidly acquired on our water bill last month, and within minutes it was waived! 3 minutes and 4 seconds to be exact as I timed it ;) (Shout out to ZJ for reminding me to do this!!)

Doing a “no spend” month — This was one of the first challenges I tackled as a nubile 20-something starting out my financial journey, and every month since I’ve “saved” at least $200 a month from being in more control.

The idea is to spend *only* on the necessities of life for a month (food, shelter, etc), and then resist from spending money on the “wants” (Starbucks, new clothes, new books, etc). Not only do you save a hefty amount for the month, but more importantly it forces you to STOP and face your embedded behaviors over the years! Where you learn quickly what triggers your desire to spend and how to curb it since you’re not allowed to for the month. And if you’re really smart about it, you’ll put in some barriers over this time so that when the month runs out you don’t go back to your freewheeling ways and erase all progress! Just be sure to *tell everyone* you’re on this mission so all your friends/family don’t hate you every time you have to say “no” to something ;)

Waking up an hour+ earlier — Not a finance trick specifically, but slowing down your life and spending more quality time on yourself will definitely affect your money and mood (and confidence!) for the better. And certainly if you use this hour entirely on improving your finances every morning there’s no way for your wealth not to grow! Imagine spending a whole hour every single day on it?! For me these days though, I choose to use it for my *mental* health and guard this time pretty intensely. All other hours are dedicated to my kids or family or life/projects/yada yada but these 1-2 hours every morning are solely for ME where I sip my coffee, feed my brain (i.e. read), eat my porridge, and basically just reflect on life as the sun creeps up and brings about the new day. One of the best habits I’ve ever set up for myself, and I owe it entirely to Benjamin Franklin!

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I’ll have to dig through my brain for more, but these are just some of the smaller things we’ve done over time to really help grow our wealth… Which may not look that impressive on their own, but combined can really pack a punch! Try one or two out over the week and see how you do!

Any tricks you do yourself that’s worked out well too?

*I included other “free” money in this account too, like birthday checks or found money on the ground, or any savings from cutting down bills over time, etc… That’s the real game changer right there – doing one-time work for monthly passive savings!

[This post, 6 Ways to Turbocharge Your Savings, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Morning!

So a new coaching client of mine has a weekly newsletter on helpful tips for your money, and I liked her last one so much I had to steal it and share with everyone here :)

Rita’s been a consumer advocate and personal finance journalist for the past 2 decades, and unlike some of us who tend to get a bit verbose with our tips (*ahem*), she’s great at condensing them into bite-sized nuggets.

Here’s her latest 10 tips – hope a few of them help!

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Rita R. Robison Newsletter

#1. Look for sales on clothing, grills, and camping gear in October. Wait until November to buy TVs, iPhone 14s, laptops, and electronics. Get ready for the Black Friday sales by taking a look at this article on the best laptops.

#2. Save up to 50 percent off on groceries from Flashfoods, an app that connects surplus food from grocery stores directly to consumers. The meat, produce, and other perishable items are near their “best-by date” and need to be picked up the same day. Some stores participating are Family Fare, BG’s, Meijer, and GIANT.

#3. Take a look at this article on how to cut out food waste and save money in the process.

#4. Watch out for scams if you want to donate to victims of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico.

#5. Be aware when the Fed increases interest rates, like it did recently, the rate goes up on your credit card balances not just your new purchases. See the article linked for seven ways to lower your credit card debt.

#6. Check out Amazon Outlet. The items are overstocks – Amazon bought too many of them – discontinued items, or clearance items. You’ll see clothing, kitchenware, home decor, electronics, and other categories discounted.

#7. Tired of your wireless plan? Satisfaction with value mobile virtual network operators or MVNOs, such as Boost Mobile, Consumer Cellular, and Mint, is increasing and they’re saving money for consumers. MVNOs buy minutes from the big mobile companies like T-Mobile and AT&T. However, MVNOs have fewer features.

[Editor’s note: I’ve been using an MVNO for over 8 years now  – Republic Wireless. Chopped down my cell bill by $100 every month adding up to over $10,000 now! From one simple move!]

#8. Check out these tips for finding holiday flight deals even as ticket prices spike. One is to get a ticket to fly on Monday, December 19. Flights are generally about $120 less costly that day.

#9. Join financial blogger J. Money, of Elite Edge Money, and see how many of these seven financial tips from Mark Cuban you can check off. [Thx for the shout out!]

#10. Read any papers carefully you’re asked sign when you take a friend or relative to live in a nursing home. Some facilities put illegal clauses into contracts saying you’ll be on the hook for the bill. See the article linked for the stories about the troubles a daughter and a friend had.

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Rita R. Robison is a consumer and personal finance journalist, making her living over the past 20 years by finding the best bargains, calling out the crooks, and advocating for regular people just like you and me. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter for bite-sized financial tips, and get a bonus free e-book on how to optimize your personal finance decisions. You can also find her on her blog, Rita R. Robison Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist.

PS: I just signed up to her newsletter myself – something I rarely do! But how great are these?! It’s like getting all the financial secrets each week, love it…

[This post, 10 Quick Hits, and a Newsletter Recommendation, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Do you have cats?

Cats that like to poo outside their litter box to remind you who’s boss?

I have one of those, and until last year couldn’t find a way to stop her madness. Then a plumber doing some work on our house gave me the best advice a cat lover could get, and it’s transformed into one of the most epic habit stacking routines of my day!

He said – try scooping out the litter *every single day* instead of whenever you happen to remember (which for me was roughly every other day), and then make sure to do it at the *same time* every day too as cats love that $hit (no pun intended).

I decided I’d give it an earnest go, and from that next morning forward I scooped the litter every single day to see if it ended this silly little game of hers…

But to do the kitty litter I have to put on my shoes first so my feet don’t get dirty from all the litter scattered around the basement, so I need to first go into the garage to get them.

And on the way to the garage is my water spritzer for all my plants, so I might as well give them a spray too while I’m at it so they get their daily dose of love* as well.

Then since I’m in the garage and have my shoes on, I might as well open the garage door to retrieve the newspaper waiting for me, as well as the trash and recycle bins on pick up days.

Then once I’m back in the house before heading down to the basement, I should also collect and start the laundry too since that also gets done daily downstairs.

And since I’m going upstairs now, I might as well switch out of my pajamas and into Big Boy clothes for one less thing to do later!

So now that the plants are spritzed and the garage door is opened and the newspaper/bins are brought in and my shoes and clothes are on and the laundry basket is in my hands, I go downstairs to do the kitty litter and have successfully (and rather effortlessly!) completed 7 tasks all within a 5 minute window.

And since our dehumidifier is also in the basement and needs to be emptied every morning, I’ll knock that out too – now making it 8 successful tasks that I don’t have to think about or remember for the rest of the day! All accomplished with barely a thought since they all flow so smoothly together.

This is the magic of Habit Stacking. And it can be applied to all areas of life :)

The beauty is that it only takes a few tries for the routine to set in too if you connect the right things at the right times together!

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Here’s another stack of habits I’ve formed, this one around my finances:

At the end of every month, usually on the 31st or 1st, I’ll sit down at the computer and update my net worth. But to update my net worth I have to log into all my accounts, which also forces me to review everything and make sure no unapproved transactions or hackery is going on**.

It also prompts me to check our credit scores to see how those are going, so I plop those numbers into my spreadsheet as well, and then update our house value while I’m at it purely for entertainment purposes (and it really is “entertainment” as one place can list our house at $100k-$150k more than another??! So we take the average of 5-6 different places and then use that as the best guess of its “value”.).

While I’m sitting there, I’ll also make it a point to update our Credit Card Tracker to see how our month of spending went compared to previous months. This has been especially fun to track in and out of Covid times where the #’s have changed pretty drastically

Look what I mean:

• Pre-Covid: $4,2071.44 avg/mo balance
• Covid: $3,262.19 avg/mo balance
• Covid Resurgence: $4,040.90 avg/mo balance
• Current times: $5,516.07 avg/mo balance

We had monthly savings of around $1,000 through the thick of Covid!, but as it started to dissipate so did the savings and we’re now spending $1,300 MORE than we were Pre-Covid, lol… Which I suspect will start going back down now that things are settling again (you stay away, monkeypox!!!) but a good thing to keep an eye on for sure…

So again – one habit here (the updating of our net worth) that kicks off multiple other similar habits that all string together to form an effective (and efficient) set of accomplishments.

Not to mention some forced reflection in this particular stack of habits too since you’re getting the lay of the land of your entire finances each month! You’re bound to feel *something* staring at your New Number whether you like it or not! Haha…

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Here are some other, smaller, habits I’ve incorporated over the years too:

I have a dedicated place where I put ALL bills that come in from the mail so I always know where they are and can pay in one swoop when I’m feelin’ it.

I have multiple folders set up in my desk drawer for all things Taxes, Receipts, Business, Car/Home stuff, etc to similarly drop items into as they make their way into our house (Receive, Process, Place!)

I also still wake up at 5am’ish every morning, setting off another string of habits that includes personal “ME” time, scrumptious food and coffees, allotted time for reflection and reading, and anything else that tends to be put by the wayside throughout the busy days.

All things kicked off, again, by one simple habit: in this case, waking up at 5am.

(I also used to have a pretty killer EVENING stack of habits too when the kids were smaller and went to bed earlier. It went like this –> dinner –> put kids down –> brush teeth (so I wouldn’t snack/drink all evening!) –> take a shower (so I didn’t have to do it when exhausted) –> relax/watch TV/read/sex? –> bed. I was all washed up by 8 every night and ready to relax (healthily!) for the rest of the evening – it was marvelous!!)

And btw, this habit stacking could also work *against* you too if you’re not paying attention!

As nicely as it can flow together to improve your life, it can work in the opposite direction to try and destroy your life!

How many times do you say you’ll go out and only have *one drink*, but then one drink turns into two then three then making all kinds of regrettable decisions and phone calls, only to wake up hours later wishing you had just ignored that first drink to begin with?

Or what about when you decide to treat yourself for being an adult so you head out shopping for some new shoes or an outfit, but then pick up some sweet accessories to go along with it and then grab some fast food since your now hangry, and maybe then pop into the theater to watch that movie everyone’s raving about as you digest (Top Gun?), thereby turning your one initial decision into a half-day spending extravaganza! And it flowed just as naturally and effectively as the aforementioned *positive* string of habits, just in the opposite way!

So the cascade of Good from stacking habits can very well be a cascade of Bad too.

Try spending the next few days taking an inventory of all the habits you catch yourself doing every day – both good and bad – and then see if you can find the activators of the group, as well as if there’s a way you can re-arrange and connect them to flow better. It may take a bit of sorting through as you’ll be amazed at how many habits you do on the daily!, but start paying closer attention and see what you can shift around for more optimal living

As nerdy as it sounds, this new routine of litter/laundry/clothing has drastically improved my mornings and it honestly takes barely any effort at all! And if you are wondering, yes – the cat is much happier now too ;) She still toys with me here and there, but the days of pooping outside her litter box are mostly in the rear view mirror…

So thanks Mr. Plumber Man! Your one tip completely transformed my mornings!

Any of you guys have any great routines that have changed the game for you too? Whether in your daily lives or careers or better yet – your finances?

Share below so we can all learn from them!!

PS: Here are a bunch of free spreadsheets for tracking net worth if you’re looking for a good one: Best Free Budget Templates & Spreadsheets (I still use a modified version of that first one up top I created circa 2008!)

PPS: And here are some good books on habit forming too if interested (links are Amazon affiliate links):

1. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones – by James Clear (I’m currently reading this and so far so interesting! I’m only in the first few chapters, but hoping it covers habit stacking and examples of such so I can steal them for my own life ;))
2. Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything – by BJ Fogg (This one’s on my list to read next, based on a recommendation by a friend who said he found it to be much more impactful than Atomic Habits, particularly around habits you just can’t seem to figure out. He said the science in the book is incredibly helpful too.)

* For 30-something years I could never keep a plant alive for more than a week, and then one day I decided to say hello to them in the mornings and spritz them with water, and for some magical reason that keeps them happy and alive so now I do it every single morning and they live basically forever :) So EASY and EFFORTLESS!

** Checking your accounts every month doesn’t catch everything (like my overdue water bill that almost got our water shut off last week (!!)), but it does prevent a majority of issues. And only takes a few minutes if you stay on top of it!

[This post, The Magic of Habit Stacking ✨, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]

Tattoos.

Design work.

Piano lessons.

Photography.

All things a friend of mine gets free through bartering!

Remember that old fashioned way to transact?! Something our ancestors did for thousands of years before cash money became a thing? :)

I’ll be honest and say I haven’t given it any thought in at least a decade (I once wanted to trade a website for a house – thinking it would be cool to exchange a digital property for a physical one, lol…), but now my brain is on fire with all the possibilities!

I ran into her the other day, and after noticing she had way more tattoos on her than I remembered, I struck up a conversation and here’s how it went down:

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ME: “Woah!! Look at all those new tats!! You’ve been busy!”

HER: “Thanks! I bartered for them!”

ME: “Excuse me, what?”

HER: “I bartered for them! We have this thing going on, where my tattoo artist hooks me up with free tattoos whenever I want them, and I hook him and his wife up with haircuts whenever they need them. It’s been a great partnership.”

ME: *** hurriedly makes mental notes for a blog post later… ***

ALSO ME: “Gosh that is cool…. Do you barter for anything else or just tats?! I feel like you could do a lot with this!”

HER: “Oh yeah, I give haircuts for design work for my albums, free photography, and lately even piano lessons… Which I definitely lose money on, but I also don’t spend any money so it comes out worth it in the end.”

*I should mention my friend is a professional hair stylist – thus why everyone wants her scissor hands… She’s also an up and coming local musician, so all the design/photog work has been a blessing in getting her album artwork done without having to scrounge up the money for it.

HER: “I also make sure to check in with everyone every few months just to double check they’re all still happy with the set up – especially the tattoo artist. And then we adjust if needed… It’s been working out great.”

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And I would say so given that I saw at least 5 new tattoos on her since the last time we met! Here are a few of the more colorful ones for your eyeballs’ pleasure:

[That last one actually MAKES me want to get out and jog!! Haha… That could be a cool hack to get you to do stuff more – just tattoo it on your body! ;)]

What I love best though outside the savings, is the mutual *respect* each of the parties has to have for one another in order for this to work.

If either person doesn’t think the other is talented enough, then there’s no way you’d exchange anything for it, no less actually *want* what the other person is offering. So with each new barter here you’re basically saying, “Hey – your stuff is awesome! I’d love to have it!” and vice versa. Particularly with the tattoos since, you know, they are PERMANENTLY MARKED ON YOUR SKIN FOREVER, lol…

In a way this also reminds me of another kinda sorta but not really bartering-related mindset I call “gigs for goals” – where you assign each income stream to an expense so they even out and you can appreciate it more.

Kinda like this:

There’s no bartering being transacted here, but by assigning each gig to a goal you’re effectively doing the same thing in terms of mindset – “doing this one gig gets me this one item.” It gives you a more concrete reason to hustle, but also honestly just FEELS better and more motivating than just working harder for “more money.” At least for those of us who are emotionally intertwined with money like I am.

In fact, I’ve been kinda doing a combo of this bartering/gigs for goals concept myself with my own consulting services…

I’ve noticed that whenever I tell someone I’d love to have X, Y or Z but am too frugal to pony up the money for it, they’re more inclined to hire me and we both get a nice win out of it! Like a few months ago when I tweeted that I wanted a rare book for $75 and asked if anyone needed some work done so I could buy it. I had over 5 people reach out to hire me and I was able to pick up the book by the end of the week! (Thanks guys!!)

I even made a Wish List of this type of stuff last month to see if I can continue my luck :) Here’s a sample of some of the items I put on it, again mainly things I’d love to have but just can’t get myself to spend the $$$ on:

So far only one person has taken me up on this Wish List route, lol, but hey – one is better than none! And again – it’s just a more fun and exciting way to think of this stuff than a more colder “pay me $100 and I’ll help you” type of transaction. And most times you’re going to convert your earnings into *something* anyways, so why not visualize it from the start to make it more real?

At any rate, all this to say that bartering is very much alive and well, and if you haven’t considered it before (especially if you’re cash flow is low or you’re just starting out in your journey!) do give it some thought and see if you can make something work!

You don’t have to be a professional hairstylist or tattoo artist or anything really to make it happen, but do figure out what you’re *best* at and then start sharing it around and see if you get some hits… You’ll be amazed at what people would pay or trade for, and we usually don’t give ourselves nearly as much credit as we should as we always assume “everyone knows this stuff” which is rarely the case!

So make a list of your skills (or passions), have your best friends and family members do the same, and then exchange notes and see if there’s any good match ups there. Or better yet – approach the places/people who you know offer what you want and then pitch them on a trade! Worst case they say no and you’ve wasted what, approximately 2 minutes of your life?

Here’s a list of stuff I enjoy helping with and am good at – if anything here is needed in your life/business, feel free to practice pitching me and we’ll see if there’s a fit :)

• Blogging / branding / building / marketing / monetizing
• Money / saving / debt / mindset / lifestyle design
• Community building / branding / engaging / growing
• FinTech / connecting / marketing / branding / engaging
• Coin collecting / evaluating / inventorying / liquidating
• Micro-philanthropy / engaging / fundraising / strategizing
• Blog brokering / buying / selling / valuing

(More about my services/testimonials here: J$ Consulting)

Or of course you can always just buy me something off my Wish List and make this blogger happy!! Haha… Like a used surfboard that is not there yet but I really need to add as I JUST LEARNED HOW TO SURF last week and I’m now (unsurprisingly) addicted!!! OMG it’s so much fun – it’s just like skating, only hurts 10x less when you fall!!

But more on that for another day… If you have a surfboard though sitting in your garage doing nothing, I WANT IT and will trade any of my services for it!

Alright, now 1-2-3 go barter!!!!

Make your ancestors (and your wallet) proud!

UPDATE: Okay wow…. As soon as I finished this post my good friend Nate called me and you’re not going to guess what he and a friend just came up with??! They decided to give each other 10 hours of their time each week to help them build out their projects!! One will be doing SEO/Email Marketing/Content-related stuff for the other, and the other will be doing Networking and Business/Product Development.

In other words:  THEY’RE EXCHANGING THEIR SKILLS – I.E. – BARTERING WITH EACH OTHER!!

Talk about a coincidence on timing!! I told Nate I hated him so much for telling me this cuz now I have to go back and edit this post again!!, lol, but man gotta love it… So many ways you can get what you want in the world, with or without money! Just gotta get creative!

[This post, Bartering Is Alive and Well!, was first published by J. Money on Elite Edge Money]