Personal Money Tips

This post for surviving Christmas with your credit intact might be a bit too late to you. If you have not done your shopping yet, then here are ten tips to surviving the holiday season without killing your credit card.

1. Be creative and brainstorm. Sit down and think of an appropriate gift. Some gifts are thoughtful and don’t cost much. If possible, think of a theme for everyone.

2. Prepare a budget. Yep, with all the glitter and feel good / feel bad factor, you can get carried away to buy an expensive gift to feel good/redeem yourself with family and friends if you have hurt some feelings along the year. Saying sorry and meaning it, is much cheaper! Bring along a list and calculator to total up your shopping.

3. Take stock. Before you go shopping, look around your house for gifts or items that you might have bought earlier and never use! You’d be surprised at what you have. Vouchers and other items your received from annual dinners etc make good gifts.

4. Give away used stuff. Not that old shirt or blanket but you might have a special item that you’ve not used in along time and might not use again. Like a family treasure, if might just be the right time to let someone else in your family enjoy the treasure. After all, it is a season of giving.

5. Shop at one go. Go to a place you can get almost everything in one go. By looking through your budget that you made up plus with a shopping list, you can scout around and total up how much you are going to spend. If you are over budget, you can cut down on other items across the board without having a too expensive gift for someone and a too cheap gift for another. Then you might be tempted to be “fair” and justify yourself to spend above when you can’t get an item for another person.

6. Leave the credit card at home. If you have a hard time sticking to a budget, leave your credit card at home and bring cash. Yep, pulling a stack of note and counting it off for the cashier have a psychological effect. Trust me, it has an impact on your spending.

There are many people who write books and claim they retired early. I came across Billy and Akaisha from an email I received. Billy and Akaisha retired at age 38, and they are currently travelling around the world. They have a website at www.retireearlylifestyle.com. On the site, you can download their book “The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement” It cost $14.95.

Now, I didn’t have a chance to read their book but I’ve manage to look at the table of contents. In the early chapters, they cover the story of early retirement. In later chapters, the money essentials are covered including

Chapter 12 - Where to Start?
Chapter 13 - Track Spending
Chapter 14 - How Much Is Enough?
Chapter 15 - Advantages of Simplicity
Chapter 16 - Putting Simplicity into Practice
Chapter 17 - Spending Choices
Chapter 18 - Money Mindsets
Chapter 19 - Money Management

As you can see, tracking spending and knowing how much you need is always essential. No matter what lifestyle you choose, you’ll always come back to these 2 key items. Later chapter talk about Money Mindset as well as Money Management.

As I’ve mentioned previously and bear mentioning again, most people think more money is the solution. It is not. Whether you are already financially free and retired early, you still have to manage your money! Since you have to manage your money and this will be a lifetime requirement, why delay building good money management habits.

The earlier your develop simple habits like tracking, budgeting, saving and investing, the better it will be for you. I’ve written about how to keep track of expenses using a PDA. If you prefer, pencil and paper works just fine. Do this well and money will be your servant. Retiring before 50 can be a reality.

I came across this post on 43folders this morning. I haven’t browsed over there for quite some time, so lucky me and perhaps you too that I came across this post. 43folders is Merlin Mann’s site that talks about personal productivity that’s based on a book titled “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. Getting Things Done offer a different way of organizing things in your life to make you more effective. I’d probably do a review a little later.

Back to eyeglasses. Like myself, Merlin Mann also wears prescription eyeglasses. If you are a short sighted person, you’ll know that they are expensive. In case you think prices ranging from $300 or more is the norm, a short confession from a retired optician says the real cost a they inccur to sell a pair to you.

As a retired Minneapolis optician I can tell you first hand that we bought our lenses in bulk and most single vision lenses cost less than $2.00 a pair, Bifocals and progressives cost us as much as $6.00 a pair. Frames ..Name brand, up to $10.00, same quality generics cost us much less. Online is the way I buy all of my eyewear, new glasses in under two weeks.

Looks like us, the eyeglasses fellas have been taken for a ride for a long time. But no longer. There are online options now! Prices range from as low as $26, writes Merlin. If you are trying to save a ton of cash on your next pair of eyeglasses, head on over here and get the full story how to get cheaper eyeglasses. Now if only I can get my eyeglasses online where I stay, I could have several pairs at least a spare pair just it case the first one is damaged.

Check out GlassyEye to find out where you can locate online stores for cheaper eyeglasses