Bucks Guide to Frugal Traveling

This is the fifth installment of the “Bucks Guide” series, which consists of previous posts grouped into topical guides. When I read other blogs I like I’m sure there is older content I might want to read, but usually I don’t have the time to dig through the archives. This is my attempt at making subject matter easier to find here. To that end here is:

Bucks Guide to Frugal Traveling

How to Camp on the Cheap

Is AAA Worth It?

How to Buy a Used Car – Including the Audacious 30% Rule

Eight Essentials for Winter Driving

Car Review from a Tow Truck Driver

My wife and I recently had a vehicle break down and called AAA for a tow. We found ourselves trapped in the cab for the 35 mile trip with a very chatty driver. Besides running us through his entire work history and calling his wife on his cell phone to tell her about his day one of the observations he offered was his opinion on the best and worst cars on the road. In his opinion the best car out there was the Volvo. In his 5 years of towing he had only towed four of them, and those had not broken down but had been in accidents or had flat tires. The worst vehicle? He said the Jeep Grand Cherokee was hands down the biggest piece of junk on the road. He had towed more of them by far than any other vehicle.

I have not owned either vehicle so I don’t have an opinion but I thought it was interesting to get a car review from someone who tows them every day.

The following sites and their descriptions appeared at other places on The Buck List:

Looking for free places to stay while you travel around the world? Check out the non-profit Couch Surfing.

Trippish is a combo direction and weather site. Type in your departure and arrival locations and the date and Trippish will give you the route itinerary along with weather forecasts.

Type in a location to get the current weather, forecast and webcams views at Weather Bonk.

Wi-Fi Free Spot is a directory of locations that offer free Wi-Fi all over the world, including a state by state breakdown of the USA.

Free Campgrounds – This site is geared for finding RVers a place to camp for $10 or less but many of the campgrounds I looked at also offered tent camping as well. Worth a look.

Travel Muse – Plan, create and organize your trips using this site. If you don’t know where to go use the "Inspire Me" button.

The next time you are making travel plans give Kayak a try, a travel website search engine.

Use Gas Buddy to find the lowest gas prices anywhere in the USA.

How do you know if what you are being charged for auto repair is fair? Check out RepairPal for “independent and unbiased repair estimates, user ratings and reviews, plus advice you can't get anywhere else.”
Brave New Traveler – I really like this one. They sum it up best by saying, “Incorporating mostly original content from staff writers and guest authors, BNT avoids “destination-specific” narratives and instead focuses on topics like philosophy, health, politics and culture.”

Visit State Fair Dates to find when state fairs all over the U.S. will be held, as well as links to their web pages.

Byways.org is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation and is a “grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States.”

Founded in 1999 in Oregon, BootsnAll Travel “seeks to cultivate an organic community that encourages independent travel.” They offer thousands of travel stories & blogs written by travelers, offer travel guides, and can even book air tickets and adventure trips. Visit their Boot Blog and sign up for your own free travel blog.

Looking for an airline toll-free phone number or website? Bookmark Toll Free Airline for quick reference.

The Rideshare Directory offers to “find a regional or national rideshare, vanpool, or carpool resource.” Search your state and travel together next time.

City Squares is an interesting site that profiles local businesses that might not have a web presence. Type in your town or city and you might find some hidden gems in your own neighborhood.

Type in your zip code and find out what others really paid for their cars at True Car.

cashURwheels is “the only marketplace that connects private vehicle owners with advertisers directly.” If you have ever thought about plastering your vehicle with ads to make some extra money visit this site to see how it works.

Search for cheap airline tickets and price comparisons on Cheap Flights. They also offer free travel guides and a deals alert newsletter.

Travel Chums is a free travel companion matching site. Sign up and create a profile and you then have several options to meet others that are compatible to travel with.

I haven’t stayed in a vacation rental yet, but it sounds like an interesting alternative to hotels and resorts. Check out Zonder where you can search for homes and condos by location and nightly rate.

2 Car Pros offers free car repair advice by certified ASE technicians, as well as a forum, videos and an archive of questions and answers by manufacturer and topic.

If you like to travel and prefer the local eateries Roadfood is the site for you. Register for free to post in the forums and write reviews of restaurants you enjoy. Also use their search engine to find restaurants along your travel route.

Car Care offers a free car care guide, a repair shop search engine, a service schedule and a listing of DOT websites for the United States and Canada.

Visit Home Away to peruse more than 425,000 paid vacation rental home listings across 120 countries. They say they list properties that rent from $200 to $300,000 per week.

The Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory “is your guide to official tourist information sources: government tourism offices, convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, and similar organizations that provide free, accurate, and unbiased travel information to the public.”

Vacation Rentals by Owner “provides an online space for homeowners to advertise their vacation properties and make it easy for travelers to search 130,000+ rentals in over 100 countries worldwide.”

You can use Viator to book popular tours and travel experiences at the best value. They hand-select every local travel provider and screen each experience for quality, value and service. Worth a look.

Don’t let the name fool you, Frugal RV Travel is not just for RV owners. They offer a free newsletter, a blog, advice on how to find free camping, frugal travel tips and more. Don’t forget to find out if you are a Shunpiker.

Cities on the Cheap offers insider information on free things to do and deals in various cities across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Subscribe to keep up on all of the deals.

“Fred and Suzi Dow have been visiting, researching, and providing a wealth of information about National Forest campgrounds since 1994.” Check out their site at Forest Camping for personal reviews and photos of the campgrounds they have visited.

Airfare Watchdog finds and lists low fares that are verified by humans. Subscribe to receive free fare alerts and also try their search feature that queries ten other sites.

Lonely Planet not only publishes unique travel guidebooks but also has an award winning website. Check out their travel tips, reviews and the extensive Thorn Tree message board.

Side Step is a travel aggregator that searches over 200 websites to find the best travel values on the web.

Free Campsites – Use this site to find free campgrounds and boondocking locations in the United States and Canada. A search of my state of Iowa produced 46 results, but not all were free. The site is worth a peek anyway.

Traffic “is the #1 U.S. traffic-only website for online and mobile traffic information.” Check out this free site to see how they can help with your daily drive.

Traveleyes “is a travel company with a difference. We provide holidays for both blind/visually impaired and sighted travelers, journeying together in a spirit of mutual independence.” Visit this unique site to learn more.

If you are planning on traveling around the U.S. anytime soon make sure to bookmark the National Traffic and Road Closure Information site. They offer state by state information on construction, weather and road conditions and links to all of the state DOT’s.

DogFriendly provides nationwide city guides and travel guides for dog owners. If you like to travel with your dog this site is indispensible. While there take a look at their free online travel guide.

Fuel Economy “provides fuel economy estimates, energy and environmental impact ratings, fuel-saving tips, and other useful information.”

If you like to bike check out Bicycling. They offer everything from bike reviews to training and nutrition advice, as well as repair and maintenance tips, ride maps and news.

Trip Advisor can give you travel advice, help you to book hotels and flights and provides 1,000’s of traveler reviews.

Fare Compare is an airline ticket comparison shopping website where you can compare prices on thousands of airline flight options from over 500 airlines.

ToursByLocals “connects travelers with local tour guides who are keen to share their knowledge, experience and expertise.” If you like to travel this could be a good way to get an inside tour by a local. If being a guide sounds interesting you could make some money doing that.

Do you hate ticket cameras and speed traps? Visit the National Motorists Association, who “work for more rational traffic laws, reasonable speed limits, fair enforcement practices and traffic courts more interested in justice than ticket revenue.”

Traxo automatically creates and updates one itinerary from over 40 air, hotel and car websites. You can access your plans on paper, your phone, calendar, or the web.

MotorWatch is “an indefatigable protector of the American public’s right to have safe, defect-free motor vehicles.” While they really want you join with a paid membership you can also find plenty of free information by clicking around the website.

Whether you are thinking about planning your first cruise or are a regular “cruiser” Cruise Critic is a site you can’t afford not to visit. Use the site to plan and research your cruise, read cruise reviews, ports of call profiles and destination stories. Make sure to visit the Cruise Critic message boards while you are there.

Related Reading:

Bucks Guide to Food and Cooking

Do You Keep a Budget?

My eyes start to glaze over at just the mention of the word budget, but I am curious to know if some of you actually manage to keep one, and how successfully. My wife and I over the years have tried a few times to keep a formal budget, only to find out that we were already doing a pretty good job managing our money. We do employ the pre-budgeting process of keeping track of our expenses for a certain amount of time, and we go through that exercise every year or so just to get an idea of if we are on the right track.

The Informal Budget

We both do the grocery shopping, at different times, and we like to save money using coupons and buying store brands. We keep a full pantry for when things might get a little scarce, and only eat out occasionally, preferring to cook from scratch at home. We drive used cars that we own, so there are no monthly payments. We paid off our mortgage early, a few years before this recession hit, and we think that was one of the smartest financial decisions we ever made. We didn’t like losing the deduction, but we don’t miss the monthly mortgage payments at all. By keeping track of two years worth of rolling files of our household utilities we can spot any upticks and try to determine what caused them.

So if trying to stay out of debt and watching your expenses equals keeping a budget, I guess we do keep an informal, mostly unspoken kind of budget. How about you? Do you keep a budget, and if so, what kind?

Related Reading:

Coupons!

Don’t Eat Out, Find a New Recipe

Ten Ways to Save Money by Staying Home

Weekly Roundup

Coupon Map is a directory of other coupon sites and very easy to use. Simply type in your location and the site gathers links to all the coupons it can find relevant to your search. I got a few misses during my searches, such as a coupon for Arby’s in Chicago (I’m in Iowa) and some of the sites ask that you sign up with them to get the coupons. Worth a peek anyway.

MotorWatch is “an indefatigable protector of the American public’s right to have safe, defect-free motor vehicles.” While they really want you join with a paid membership you can also find plenty of free information by clicking around the website.

Whether you are thinking about planning your first cruise or are a regular “cruiser” Cruise Critic is a site you can’t afford not to visit. Use the site to plan and research your cruise, read cruise reviews, ports of call profiles and destination stories. Make sure to visit the Cruise Critic message boards while you are there.

Here is an article claiming that the national debt is actually much higher than official government figures. I linked to another article on the same subject from a different source on August 13. Because most politicians want to be reelected once they are in office I think there are very few that can make the hard decisions to turn this situation around, which does not include adding more debt. Term limits for Congress, anyone?

If you have any iPhones sitting around unused check out Cash for iPhones to see if they might be worth some cash. Use their online quote system to find out if they want your iPhone and if they do they even offer free shipping. Payments are by check or Paypal. Their sister sites buy a variety of other electronics.

I have decided to take the Yakezie Challenge. What is it? Click and find out!

Some recent personal finance posts I enjoyed reading.

This one presents the interesting idea that sometimes you should keep your goals to yourself.

This is on a subject I have written about before. Check out four ways to become more financially literate.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed. This post explains how to borrow, rent or share tools to save money.

Have a great Weekend!

Frugal Lessons From The Past: Hillard Green

History can provide some of the best lessons to help us figure out solutions to today’s problems.

Concerning finances, thrift, frugality and simple living there are tried and true bedrock principals that we should never forget.

This post is part of a series that focuses on some of those principals by going to source materials for inspiration.

The Foxfire Magazine project started in 1966 as a gathering by Georgia high school students of the oral history and folklife of their elders living around them in the Appalachian Mountains. In 1972 the first book anthology was published, followed over the years by 11 more books. The following are a couple of couple of excerpts from the first book of an interview with local resident Hillard Green, who at that time was around eighty years old.

The first excerpt is taken from the interview while Mr. Green is preparing to can tomatoes.

“Everyone ought t’learn how to do such as this. One a’these days, times might get back hard again, and then what will they do? Nobody not knowin’ t’do nothin’. Might have t’live off the th’land again, one day. We never had nothin’ fer th’winter only what we put up. What we put up was what we had. Goin’t’be a lot of hungry people someday.”

On another occasion Mr. Green spoke about government fiscal policy. The war he speaks of is Vietnam, of course, but it sounds eerily like he could be describing America today in 2010.

“They’re sittin’ up there raisin’ their big wages. We’re livin’ here a’doin’th’best we can. They can keep that war goin’. They’re runnin’ th’ money out, y’know; goin’ down, goin’ down all th’ time. It’s goin’t’finally go plum out ‘til we don’t have nothin’ but stamps t’trade with here first thing y’know.”

Related Reading:

Foxfire.org

Frugal Lessons From The Past: Seymour On Work

Join a Time Bank to Save Money

If you are among the many today that have more time than money to get things done wouldn’t it be great if you could turn that time into money? Consider joining a time bank, where you earn a time dollar credit to your account for each hour of service you provide to another member. You can then turn around and spend your time dollars for services that you need that are offered by other members. Services can include anything from babysitting to home repair, cooking to haircuts. The time dollars are not assigned a monetary value to avoid taxation.

There are over 100 time banks across the country with more coming. If time banking sounds like something you might be interested in check out Time Banks.

Related Reading:

Do It Yourself Clubs

Offer Your Services for Barter or Cash

10 Free Barter & Swap Sites

Borrow, Rent or Share Those Tools

Weekly Roundup

Scambusters is a public service website that has been helping people protect themselves from Internet scams, identity theft and spam since 1994. While you are there make sure to subscribe to their free weekly newsletter.

I have tried sites similar to Zilo before with little luck, but maybe I’m just no good at it. You set up a store, choose from among the over 6 million products they offer for you to sell and you earn up to 10% commission on every sale you make.

Traxo automatically creates and updates one itinerary from over 40 air, hotel and car websites. You can access your plans on paper, your phone, calendar, or the web.

In this article the author offers a proposal for what the economy needs now.

Shop At Home is a free shopping portal that gives you access to the best deals from your favorite stores, a selection of free catalogs, a newsletter and a Cash Back program.

Some recent personal finance posts I enjoyed reading.

Yet another brief case study in why you should not live beyond your means is outlined in "The Case of the Imploding Life."

The real lifestyles of the rich and famous are explored in how the rich roll.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed. With this post I ask if a financial education matters.

Have a great weekend!

10 Ways to Earn Fast Money

The following is a guest post written by Jena Ellis with Online Certificate Programs.

Whether you’re broke as a joke or just want some extra spending money, there are several ways to get paid without putting your internal organs on the black market. Here are 10 tried-and-true ways to earn fast money:

Sell Clothes

A quick way to earn money is to sell your gently-used clothes, shoes and accessories to resale shops that will give you money for the items they want. Depending on the brand, condition and style of your items, you may only get 50 cents for one shirt and $5 for another. Either way, you’ll make enough to buy dinner and free up some space in your closet.

Donate Plasma

Donating plasma is an easy way to make some great money every month. For every donation, you can expect to receive $20 on average. Some places will let you donate twice a week and give more money each time you donate. If you’re healthy, have two hours of your day to spare and not afraid of needles, donating plasma may be your best bet.

Freelance

If you’ve got the time and determination to find work opportunities, freelancing can be a very lucrative endeavor. Freelancing isn’t limited to writing, editing or publishing either, there’s also computer programming, web design, consulting and graphic design opportunities on the web. If you’re talented in the field and able to meet strict deadlines, freelancing is an option worth exploring.

Sell Stuff Online

Craigslist, Ebay and other online marketplaces allow you to sell your belongings at your asking price. You are responsible for setting up an ad, describing the items and providing contact information. From furniture, books to workout equipment, your stuff can sell very quickly and you’ll be surprised how much some people are willing to spend on your junk.

Pet Sit

Pet sitting your neighbor’s cat, dog, bird or hamster is not only easy to do, but you’ll also earn some serious dough in the process. If not already instructed to do so, offer to pick up the newspapers, take out the trash and get the mail as an added incentive to pay you more. Once you get in good with one neighbor, they’ll pass on your name to other pet owners.

Clean Houses

Starting a cleaning service is a guaranteed way to make fast money because everyone has to clean their house, but most people would rather someone else do it for them. In order to keep people from hiring a professional maid service, you may have to drop the price or throw in some bonus services, such as doing laundry, organizing closets or polishing hardwood floors.

Babysit

If you have childcare experience and like kids, babysitting is a great way to make some fast cash. Today’s babysitters can make upwards of $10 an hour or more to watch kids on a weekend night. Babysitting can be tiring, but at least you’ll be leaving the house with immediate pay-off.

Cash in Your Change

Take your dusty piggy bank to the bank or a coin counting machine to turn your loose change into dollar bills. Turning your coins into cash may cost a small processing fee, but either way you’ll be happy to have cash and not just 800 pennies sitting around.

Rent Out Your Space

Is your roommate moving out for the summer or do you have an empty room in your new house? If you’ve got a vacant bedroom, study or basement, rent out the space to a college kid or someone who needs a place to stay immediately. You can determine if you want to charge a flat fee or calculate bills into the rent, but first make sure they have a job and can afford to stay at your house before renting out a space.

Return Past Purchases

If you’ve been having buyer’s remorse for getting that designer purse or splurging on a flat-screen TV now is your chance to return those items and get your money back. Depending on the store return policy, as long as you have the receipt, the price tags are still attached and it doesn’t show any wear, you should receive a full refund that will go back into your pocket.

Related Reading:

Five Alternative Sites to Sell Stuff Online

Are Thrift Shops Running Dry?

Ten Ways I Have Made Money Since Loosing My Job

Frugal Recipe: Chicken Salad

As with some previous recipes I have posted here this recipe for chicken salad can have a lot of variables which, in my opinion, is a very good thing. I will list the basic ingredients we always use first, and then the extra ones we occasionally add.

Ingredients:

Two cups of chopped cooked chicken

Two stalks of celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

1 cup of mayo (or more to taste)

Squirt of lemon juice

Squeeze of mustard

Spice to taste. We have used, in various combinations, salt and black pepper, basil, parsley, garlic and tarragon.

Extra ingredients can include black or green olives, sliced cucumber and diced tomatoes. We don’t add the cucumbers or tomatoes until ready to serve because it can tend to make the mixture soupy if it sits for a while.

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together and serve on your favorite kind of bread as a sandwich or with lettuce as a salad. Mmmmm!

Related Reading:

Frugal Recipe: Hobos, A Campfire Mainstay

Make Money by Selling Your Bones

Okay, not the bones in your body, but how could I resist using that title? I’m referring to animal bones you might collect while walking in the woods or other remote locations. I have been a bone collector since childhood, when I would gather skulls and miscellaneous bones of possum, raccoon, deer and all sorts of other deceased creatures from the wooded ravine behind the house I grew up in. Over the years I have continued the habit, usually while taking my dogs out in the woods. While some might find the habit of picking up dead animal bones as distasteful, I see skeletal remains as mysterious and full of beauty, a view I suspect is shared by most osteologists, archeologists, zooarcheologists as well as paleontologists.

While I am not really interested in selling the bones I have collected over the years, a while back I got to wondering, as I tend to do with many things, if there was a market for them. I was half surprised to find out that there is. A little online research turned up the following sites where you can sell your bones.

Clear Creek Trading Company – They sell Indian artifacts, skulls, animal bones, leather hides, fur pelts, art and craft work, medicinal herbs, beads, cowhides and many other related items. I contacted them and asked if they purchased from individuals and they confirmed they do.

Skulls Unlimited – Their main page asks if you have a skull to sell and gives their email address. They offer mammal, reptile and human skulls and skeletons as well as fossils, osteology books, skull teaching kits and many miscellaneous items. Make sure to watch the Mike Rowe Dirty Jobs video while there.

The Bone Room – They buy from private individuals. Email them with photographs and a detailed description, as well as an asking price. They sell animal skulls and skeletons, human bones, framed insects, fossils, eggs, claws, horns, and much more.

The American Headhunter – Their products include bird skulls, books, reptile skulls and shells, snake skins, fish skulls, mammal skulls, and miscellaneous items such as porcupine quills and deer antlers. I contacted them asking if they bought from private individuals and they said the best way to determine if they want what you have is to call them.

Related Reading:

Bucks Guide to Making Side Cash

A Walk in the Woods

Weekly Roundup

A while back I wrote a post about how to find your missing money. Since then I have come across another site to add to the bunch. Visit Missing Money and perform a search using your name and state.

The Buck List participated in a personal finance carnival last week. Visit the Carnival of Money Stories for articles on investing, debt, housing and more.

The Rodale philosophy is about healthy living on a healthy planet. That involves organic farming, reducing waste, getting fit and addressing health matters from a naturalistic perspective. Go click around on their site; I’m sure you’ll find something of interest.

There seems to be a 12 Step Program for just about any kind of problem out there. If you are a compulsive debtor or know one check out Debtors Anonymous. It’s easy to join as they take most major credit cards. Just kidding, it’s free.

If you want to cut out that annoying wait on hold while placing a call to a customer service center try LucyPhone. Use the site to call the number you want to reach and 'Lucy' will call you back with the customer service rep on the line. How cool is that?

Some recent personal finance posts I enjoyed reading.

This post offers advice on 10 things you should never do in a recession.

This author asks if you should have a survival job during unemployment.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed. This post lists multiple uses for vinegar.

Have a great weekend!

Five Free Tutoring Sites

Schools are back in session and while there is plenty of learning going on there are always students who are struggling with a subject or class. If that includes you or someone you know consider looking into free online tutoring sites for help from the comfort of your own home. Most operate 24/7 to provide free help and usually all you have to do is register. Give them a look, one of them might be just what that perplexed student needs to get over the hump.

Algebra.com – They write algebra lessons, help solve homework problems and offer free tutors online for Pre-algebra, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and Physics. Make sure to visit their extensive question board.

Tuition Plaza – Their online tutoring section offers quizzes and homework help forums for many different subjects.

Tutoroli – They connect students with live tutors in real time, who provide one on one help for homework whenever it’s needed.

Tech Tutorials – This site offers a directory of free tutorials for IT professionals, hobbyists, and home users. They also offer discussion forums, a free job search, free tech magazine subscriptions, white papers, and other technical reference materials.

HippoCampus – They provide multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students free of charge. Their content has been developed by colleges and universities all over the world.

Related Reading:

Search for Scholarships

10 Great Resources for Free Books

Best Free Reference Sites

10 Free Online Colleges and Courses

The Symphony of Being

William Henry Channing offers this inspirational piece on what makes up his own personal spiritual symphony.

“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common - this is my symphony.

Weekly Roundup

The winner of the $60 Gift Certificate Giveaway was Sheila H. Stay tuned as I’m pretty sure there are more giveaways coming up. Congratulations Sheila!

There seems to be an endless amount of sites like InboxDollars, where you earn money by reading emails, redeeming coupons, playing games online, shopping and taking surveys.

The Building Materials Reuse Association is “a 501 c3 non-profit educational and research organization whose mission is to facilitate building deconstruction and the reuse / recycling of recovered building materials.” Make sure to check their directory for building material reuse organizations and stores in your state.

Hayes Otoupalik has been buying and selling military collectables for 49 years. If you have any militaria dated from between 1845 to 1965 that you are interested in selling call or email for a quote.

I liked this witty article about Zen and the art of economy repair.

Do you hate ticket cameras and speed traps? Visit the National Motorists Association, who “work for more rational traffic laws, reasonable speed limits, fair enforcement practices and traffic courts more interested in justice than ticket revenue.”

Some recent personal finance posts I enjoyed reading.

This post discusses how to money-proof your relationship.

Here is one about how to defend against 7 sneaky sales tactics.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed. This article compares roadside stands vs. farmers markets.

The Free Shopping Fix

My daughter and I were visiting the other day when she surprised me by saying she thought she might be addicted to shopping. After seeing the surprised look on my face she moderated that statement by saying she didn’t think she was addicted, but she really liked it. She went on to describe one way she battles her urges. She signs on to one of her favorite online stores and starts shopping, filling the cart as she goes. Once she is done she empties the cart rather than checking out. That way she gets her shopping fix without buying a thing.

Four Leading Causes of Overspending

It seems even the most financially disciplined among us can sometimes slip up and spend more than they wanted to for something. Those more susceptible to the temptation of overspending are virtually surrounded by daily possibilities. To help identify the overspending trap here are four key reasons why we do it and how we can avoid it in the future.

Credit Cards

The factoid most bandied about concerning credit card debt is that the average American carries $8,000 of it. While I don’t personally know anyone that owes nearly that much, if it is a true average there are some people in this country that are seriously drowning in high interest debt and in need of credit repair. Your best bet to avoid this trap is to just not own any credit cards. Forget the regulatory reforms offered by congress. If you need plastic money, say for ordering items online or paying at the pump, use a debit card. To opt-out of receiving pre-approved credit offers visit OptOutPrescreen.

New Cars

I have never purchased a new car. But I know many who have, and I’ve heard most all of them complain about the monthly payments, fret about the slightest ding or scratch, implement no eating or drinking inside rules, spend top dollar to have them washed and cleaned, worry about how the weather might harm it, and on and on. All that for something that can depreciate from 10 to 20 percent in value in the first year of ownership and close to two thirds in value in five years. Let someone else take the hit. Buy your vehicles gently used, but severely depreciated.

Impulse

It seems that those who buy on impulse many times will either put themselves in the wrong situation or think that it will help some kind of unfulfilled perceived need. Because of everything from the candy and magazines in the grocery store checkout lanes to the tempting advertising that surrounds us everywhere, this can be a tough one to fight. Not having the money in the first place can help (see Credit Cards above) as well as not looking at the ads, grocery shopping on a full stomach and just staying out of the department stores. If you just have to buy something to make yourself feel better or to get over the bad day you had at work try an ice cream cone over those new pair of shoes.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

The Great Recession might have curtailed many from this annoying tendency, but I’m sure not all. My opinion is it is rooted in one of the darker sides of our nature, that of coveting what others have. But usually rather than stealing what our neighbors have we go further into debt buying like items. How to cure ourselves? Try to be happy with what we already have and stop paying attention to what everybody else has. Besides, most of what you are trying to keep up with has probably sunk the Joneses deep into a sea of red.

Related Reading:

What Money Mistake Do You Regret?

Why Do So Many PF Bloggers Start Off As Financial Idiots?