<![CDATA[FI TRAVELGUY - Frugal Living]]>Thu, 31 Dec 2020 06:22:33 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[What Your New Car Is Really Costing You | Frugal Living]]>Mon, 07 Sep 2020 07:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/frugal-living/what-your-new-car-is-really-costing-you-frugal-living
One of the first things people enjoy upgrading in their life is their car. People sometimes justify it as 'I need something more reliable" or "I need more space". Sometimes that is really the case but I feel more often than not it's simply that I just want it. there is nothing wrong with that but you should at least know what you are giving up!
Let's start off with some quick numbers for a frame of reference for you.

In 2019, the average new car cost $40,000 and have an average monthly payment of $550. If you wanted to include things like gas, insurance, and maintenance AAA and Kelley Blue Book calculated it as below. 
If you want to try looking into this on your own you can use Edmunds' calculating tool to find the car you want to see how they break it down. 

Okay, so we've established that a new car payment can be expensive but now let's talk about depreciation. The moment you buy a car it immediately begins to lose value. It is estimated a new car loses 9-11% the moment you drive it off the lot. Let that sink in. 

Your brand new $20,000 car is now worth only $18,000. Instantly!

In only three years that vehicle is worth almost half of what you bought it for.  Which might be a great range to buy that car... I bought a 2008 Camry in 2012.

We've established that a brand new car is going to have expensive payments and will instantly lose value. But it'll save on repairs!


Well AAA data shows that a new car costs you 8.94 cents per mile. If you drive 12,00 miles a year it'll cost you $1,073.80 per year. This coincides with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics number that in 2018 people spend $890 a year on car repairs and maintenance for all ages of cars.

If you want to take a peak for yourself you can use this calculator.

Okay, what we've established so far is that new cars have expensive payments and lose their value instantly after you buy them. 

Let's say you saved your money and were able to buy your car in cash. If you started at the age of 21 and just put that $600 "car payment" into an investment account in 38 years when you could pull it out you'd have 1.3 million dollars. If you wanted until you retired at 65 you'd have over 2.3 million. This is assuming you get a market average 8% return. 
Maybe being a multi millionaire doesn't appeal to you. Maybe you'd still want a fancy car or wouldn't be able to save up to pay in cash - I sure didn't when I bought mine. Let's say you cut that $600 payment down to $300. You'd then have almost 800,000 in 38 years or over 1.3 millions in 45 years.
If you don't trust my calculations you can do your own here.

​Summary

Although you might feel you 'deserve' or 'want' a new car just try and think about the long game. Would you rather have a brand new car or be a millionaire? Because that is the decision you'll be making. 

I can already hear the argument though of what if I can do both? If that is what you want to do with you money, buy something that will lose half it's value in 3 years then do it but your money can be used in a much better way!
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<![CDATA[Getting Paid To Go To Restaurants]]>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 07:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/frugal-living/getting-paid-to-go-to-restaurants​There is nothing I like more than free stuff. Whether it is free food, mints from restaurants, furniture, I take it all! These days travel hacking is my favorite version of free stuff but I’ve recently learned there is something that comes pretty close.
 
Have you ever wanted a free date night? A massage? A free night in a hotel room?
 
Theses are all things you can get for free or even get paid to experience. Here’s how!
I’ve sure you have heard of a mystery shopper, I know I had, but I never knew how to become one or if it was a real thing. Listening to a podcast I found out it's real and super easy to do!
 
The company I use is called a-closer-look and the sign up process is simple. They ask you to write a sample of a review from a recent restaurant visit and then some basic intelligence questions. Seriously. Like if this train left the station at this time and this train at this time when would they be X amount of miles apart. After you’ve done that you are able to log in and choose which places you’d like to sign up for.
​They will list the days they’d like you to shop and how much you’ll be reimbursed and whether you’d get an additional payment on top of that. The payment may only be like $10 but your reimbursement may be $70 with an 18% tip.
 
Once you’ve been assigned you’ll see what your tasks are for your experience. For example,  I went to a restaurant and I was required to go to the bar and get a drink (not bad right?) or they want you to order at least one or two certain things to eat. They’ll have you do things like sneakily take pictures of certain things, taking note of services times, or whether the music was too loud. I thought it’d be harder to remember or take notes but it's pretty easy.
 
If you are waiting for the catch, well here it is, the report they want is looonnnggg. Granted, as I’m doing them I’m usually watching T.V. or distracted in some way but I average 2-3 hours to complete them. I focused once and it was more like and hour to and hour and a half.​They will list the days they’d like you to shop and how much you’ll be reimbursed and whether you’d get an additional payment on top of that. The payment may only be like $10 but your reimbursement may be $70 with an 18% tip.
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Example of some questions.
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Example of some questions.

​Yes this is excessive, and yes it is annoying. I would understand if that is not worth it to you but for me it is. I like going out to eat but not always spending the money. The way it works out in my head is if I go to a restaurant and I get $70 reimbursed plus the 18% tip ($12.60) and a payment of $10 that is a grand total of $92.60. If it takes me about 3 hours to complete the report then I am still essentially earning $30 an hour and I am okay with that.


Here is an example of a date night out that I got paid $10 for!
Summary
If you are okay spending 2 - 3 hours writing a review and answering questions about your visit to a restaurant, massage place, or hotel in order to get free stuff, or paid, this is a great option!
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<![CDATA[Get New Appliances AtĀ Half The Price]]>Mon, 30 Dec 2019 08:00:00 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/frugal-living/how-to-get-new-appliances-at-half-priced
If you are looking for new appliances to put in your house, stop and read this!

When I moved into deal 3 there wasn't a refrigerator, washing machine, or dryer so obviously I needed to get some, this isn't the 1700s. I started my search and since this was the first single family house that I bought for me to live in I wanted the place to look nice. And when you are trying to spruce a place up you need fancy appliances and it gets no classier than stainless steel. I just wish someone would have reminded me that trying to be classy gets expensive real quick. I started having mini panic attacks as I looked at the prices of combining multiple fancy appliances together. 

Naturally, this lead me down a search to figure out how to get the good stuff for cheaper and half off new appliances is what I found!
Option 1- Buy It Used
If you want to buy something used online you don't have to look that hard with sites and services like Craigslist or Offerup. They allow you to see what people are selling used, or sometimes new, in your area.  Used appliances sometimes pop up at stores like Goodwill but may be in rough condition. I have seen them when I'm looking for furniture to make my own. I even have used appliance stores in my area, I'm sure you do to, that may come with a warranty which may put you at ease. 

Option 2 - Black Friday
Another option to finding cheaper appliances is waiting until Black Friday. I looked at some of the deals this year and didn't think they were that much better than normal deals. I was looking around in early August and a lot of the stores had a sale and those prices matched what they had when Black Friday came around.  Plus, there is always a "sale" whether that be Labor Day, Veteran's Day, President's Day, or heck, I'm sure Arbor Day even has something.

Option 3 - Outlet Store
In my opinion this is your best option and the one I use the most consistently. Outlet stores, like Sears take damaged units, displayed units, or ones that have been returned and allow you to buy them for a steep discount. Be aware that buying from an outlet store means they will be damaged and you need to be okay with that. For me it makes sense to buy them this way because they are for rental units or what will be a rental unit. This means at some point they will get damaged, they might as well come that way and I get a discount for it!

Here are some examples of the purchases I've made.

Refrigerator

My price - ​$773.94 
Retail- $1100 - $1500

Dryer

My Price - $320
​Retail - $719.99

Washer

My price: $404.98
Retail: $580

Stove

My price: $404.98
Retail: $750 - $800

Washer 2

My Price: $305
Retail: $430
Summary
If I am going to have to buy a new appliance I've been using an outlet store. For me, it makes the most sense because I am able to get something that is brand new but is half the price. Yes, it will be out of the box, or had been used as a display, heck it'll probably have a few scratches on it but it is still brand new and nice quality. I mean, my washing machine has WiFi! 

Personally, I don't want a used appliance that may break in a few years or an older product. I understand a counter argument if I'm buying damaged appliances and willing to spend and extra $200 over the used one I might as well spend the extra $400 and get a non damaged one. I see that point and it's valid, but for me with these either being in rental units, or going to be, at some point they will be damaged. It's not a matter of if, but when. In the long run it doesn't affect me if they are already coming with a few scratched or dents on the side that I can't see and don't impact functionality because either a renter will do that or I will at some point. 
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<![CDATA[Make Ugly Furniture Your Own]]>Tue, 17 Dec 2019 00:42:27 GMThttp://fiwiththetravelguy.com/frugal-living/make-ugly-furniture-your-ownHave you looked at buying new furniture recently?

Well I did and let me tell you, it can be expensive! I'm sure if you broke down the amount of time I'd spend sitting on that couch the price might make sense, but I'm not here for a rational numerical point. I just wanted to vent my disappointment that all nice modern looking furniture and my budget don't mix.

This means, as with most things, I'm sticking with the frugal option. I'll be hopping in the '09 Camry and cruisin' around to second hand stores looking to buy used furniture, or best case getting it for free, and trying to make it my own. The only problem I have with that is I'm 30 now, basically an adult, I want my place to look nice. So, the best solution I've found to getting modern looking furniture is to do it myself and here is how..
First, I only want to recommend you take on these jobs if you really want to hate your life for a few hours during the sanding phase!

White Washing

When I moved into Deal 3 I was going to need some new furniture so I began my hunt when I luckily got an email from a co-worker that someone at their school was giving away free stuff - bingo!

The furniture was not my style but still nice quality. I figured I could just take the free thing and try to make it better and ended up trying to white wash it. 
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Step 1 -  Sand The Dang Thing

I thought the process would be a lot easier and less time consuming than it was. The whole process took like 6 hours which felt way too long. I was disappointed that the wood didn't have any marking so instead of completely sanding it we left some black spots to give it some texture. 

This is the sander that I used and liked that it came to a point which made it easy to get into certain areas.
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Step 2 - Create The Paint 
To get the white washed look you'll need to add water to your paint. The more water you add the more diluted the paint will come out. I used a half and half ratio but that was still to thick for the look I wanted and ended up doing about a third. 
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With added water
Step 3 - Applying The Paint 
You'll naturally want to apply the paint in long strokes that are going in the same direction.  One of the differences between normal painting and white washing is you'll want to have a cloth handy. After each stroke you'll want to wipe it off to get your desired look.  Just keep this going until your done!

These were the paint brushes I used.

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Final Product
There is still some decorating or sprucing up yet to be down but overall I'm relatively happy with how it turned out. It didn't turn out exactly how I pictured but for free I can't really complain. 
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Wood Staining And Chalk Paint

When I got the T.V. stand I got two other pieces also, this one I wanted to turn into a little bar for my office. I was hoping for a rustic and weathered look and didn't know how I was going to get it from this. Time to work some magic!
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Step 1 -  Sand The Dang Thing
After the entertainment center I had a better idea of how long it might take to sand so I tried to avoid it. I thought about just keeping the piece the same color and doing something with the doors. I tried to sand them but it had so many layers it was taking forever. I thought about just flipping the doors and painting the inside. But, the slight green color around the doors was not something I could live with. I started sanding the green paint and then the sides to try and get that weathered look and got carried away. Once I started I didn't stop! I ended up doing a lot of it but still left some black for texturing. 

Step 2  - Stain The Wood

Depending on how dark you are want to go will dictate how much you apply. You'll also want a rag or something handy to be able to wipe off the excess stain to better control the color.
Step 3 -   Applying Chalk Paint
Next, I went to Home Depot and picked up chalk paint to put on that doors. The paint spreads really weird and you'll need to use a lot. I used a chalk pen to write on the doors but don't think that really worked the best as I had a hard time getting it off or erasing it. It was easy to wipe off right after I wrote but if it was a couple minutes later it would leave a mark. 

If you need some chalk paint here is a cheap option!

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Final Product
I had planned to paint the inside of the doors black and to have a list of what I had in stock but this actually turned out better than I thought. 
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A Baseboard Frame

I got a scratch off map as a gift but needed a frame. I looked and either there weren't any that fit or if you bought it from the site it was $90, yeah.. okay. When I was redoing the floors in one of the units of Deal 1 there were baseboard that were being thrown out and used those.

Step 1 - Measure And Cut
I measured out the length and then cut it accordingly. I debated on whether I should try and cut the pieces at an angle to give it a better look but decided not to.

Step 2 - Staple Map
I used a staple gun to attached the picture to the frame. This isn't the easiest or most secure away to have it attached, I should honestly put something behind it but for now it works.

Step 3 - Stain It
I didn't originally stain the frame but once I had the bar, and it's darker color, I needed to do the frame so it would match. I didn't detach the picture I just slide painters plastic over the picture and it protected it well. 
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Summary
I'm generally happy with how all of them turned out and even more happy that they were all free! I have a couple more things in the garage that I will eventually get around to and will make sure to keep post those once they are done!
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