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Posted
Oct 10 2008, 06:44 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Most people are familiar with the status quo bias. In simple terms, it means that people prefer things to stay relatively the same. We talk to the same people, follow the same path to work, go through the same daily routine. We enjoy little changes like reading a different book, going on a different trip in the summer, or watching a different movie. But radical changes? Not so much. The only problem is that the status quo bias costs us money all the time. Because we prefer to stick with the familiar, we often choose to stick with things that are less cost-effective than the alternative. Here are nine common ways the status quo bias can cost an average person money.
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Posted
Oct 03 2008, 07:20 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. After my article about how to deal with a partner who hides money problems, several readers made the point that these situations are often the result of people lying to themselves about money, whether directly (by telling yourself false conclusions about the facts you already know) or indirectly (avoiding the facts). I used to lie to myself about money. I'd buy things on the credit card without checking balances or considering the consequences, telling myself it wasn't that big of a deal or that I could easily afford it later. Sometimes, I'd figure out my complete financial state, know on some level that it was atrocious, but tell myself that it wasn't bad and that I had things under control. Here are some of the tactics I used to overcome that tendency to deceive myself about my financial state. Without these tactics, it would have been much more difficult to turn my financial life around.
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Posted
Sep 26 2008, 06:58 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Just try this little experiment tomorrow. From the very start of the day, keep a little notepad with you and jot down everything that makes you feel genuinely happy inside. Don't worry about whether it's something big or something small. If you feel a twinge of happiness, jot it down. Then, a day or two later, do it again. Make four or five little lists of the things that make you feel happiness during a given day -- the things that make you feel good. By then, you'll have a few nice little lists. Go through them and eliminate any good feelings that make you feel bad when you look back on them, like silly frivolous purchases that were a rush when you made them but now feel like a waste to you. The items remaining are a collection of the good things in your life. These are the things that bring you joy on a regular basis and provide the fuel for you to keep going.
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Posted
Sep 12 2008, 06:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Yep, you read that right. Luck. To me, luck occurs when a positive and fairly unexpected event happens in your life, whether it be financial or otherwise. Thus, improving your luck means increasing the chances of such positive events happening -- and also increasing the chances that you'll be able to take advantage of them. In other words, there's nothing supernatural about it. No hoping, no holding four-leaf clovers in your pocket, no rabbit's foot or lucky coin. No "think and it will happen" secret nonsense. Just preparation -- nothing more, nothing less. Here are 10 things you can do to make yourself lucky.
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Posted
Aug 29 2008, 06:23 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Lara from Coffee Can Cash left an intriguing comment recently about my post on minimalist kitchens: I'm sorry, but I can't agree with the idea "when in doubt, buy it cheap." ... If you want to save money for the long haul, buying cheap on one occasion isn't what's going to do it; it's the fact that you're cooking at home as opposed to going out. My cheap (read: not frugal, but CHEAP) ex-boyfriend had these disgusting old pans and cookie sheets when we first got together. It was quite clear to me that they were dollar store finds from three or four years ago and they were flat-out gross (you could see the burn marks from cookies past). I'd rather have the $4 AirBake cookie sheet that's going to last me 20 years than have to buy $1 pieces of crap that burn stuff every three years.
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Posted
Aug 22 2008, 02:18 AM
by
Ryan MacClanathan
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
Out of all of the
blessings that have come into my life over
the last two and a half years or so (a new home, my daughter, financial
recovery, a new career, a lot of wonderful readers), the one that has truly
helped me to sleep better at night is the move away from living paycheck to
paycheck.
Paycheck-to-paycheck living
happens when you are regularly waiting for your next paycheck before you make
basic financial moves,
like paying bills or buying food or doing something fun. It's incredibly
dangerous for a number of reasons:
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Posted
Aug 08 2008, 04:40 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Recently I've heard a lot of parents grumbling about the exorbitant cost of buying school clothes for their kids for the upcoming year. A few parents were at least putting all of their eggs in the basket of the tax holiday on clothes in Iowa -- and they were quite proud of this, certain that they'd be getting a better deal than everyone else. Guess what? If you put in a little bit of time, you can get your kids plenty of clothes for just pennies on the dollar -- and it'll be exactly what they pick out, too. Even better, the same strategy works for your own clothes shopping. This is the way to get cheap clothes.
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Posted
Aug 01 2008, 06:29 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Before my financial turnaround, I had several expensive hobbies. I loved to golf on the weekends, I played Magic: The Gathering competitively, I collected DVDs, and I thought it was great to eat as many meals as possible at high-end restaurants. Each of these hobbies was a massive drain on my bank account, consuming money in huge bites like a cash-starved elephant. Since then, I've given up most of my hobbies and channeled the remainder onto paths that are much more financially stable. To do that, I had to adopt a handful of useful tactics. If you have a hobby that's a constant money drain, try some of these to see if you can make it more affordable.
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Posted
Jul 25 2008, 05:31 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. One of my favorite debates with my wife has to do with socks. I tend to wear my socks into oblivion -- until they're literally falling apart. Holes around the toes, deep wear on the heel, and I'll still wear them. Since I tend to wear them only inside of shoes or around the house, I figure, "Why not?" But my wife's not so approving. So I sat down with her to figure out the numbers on this one.
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Posted
Jul 11 2008, 06:49 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Let's start off with an interesting statement. I believe that many of the personal-finance problems people face are due to confusion between wants and needs. Not long ago, I used to think there was a blurry area between wants and needs. I'd use that blurry area to justify some of my purchases -- cell phone usage, expensive pens and so on. Those things were "needed" in some way, so I would define them as needs and not think about them critically.
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