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Posted
Sep 24 2007, 08:12 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Get Rich Slowly. When I went to the street to get the mail on Saturday, the latest issue of The New Yorker was in the box. Walking up the sidewalk to the house, I idly began to remove the subscription cards. I stopped, though, when I came to a full-page cardstock advertisement. I read the front of the ad. I read the back. At the kitchen table, I carefully removed the ad from the magazine, carried it upstairs, and sat down at my computer. I typed in the listed URL, and for the next two hours, I was at the mercy of the advertiser. What was this ad for? The 2007 MINI Cooper. I hate my current vehicle -- a 2000 Ford Focus. I bought it in a hurry after my 1992 Geo Storm was totaled by a wayward tractor-trailer rig. I've loathed the Focus since Day One.
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Posted
Sep 27 2007, 04:14 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
What I love about the Smart Spending message board is that it’s peopled with folks who are just as easily amused as I am. This group knows you don’t have to spend a bundle to have a ball.
Take the reader posting as “chrisfan1958,” who has sworn off most desserts due to health concerns. Five or six times a year, she treats herself to an ice cream that’s not just a luxury -- it’s a time machine.
“It's hot and ice cream is melting faster than I can eat it, dripping down the side of the cone, sticky fingers, and a messy face. Just like I was eight years old again!” Chrisfan posted on a thread about small luxuries.
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Posted
Oct 04 2007, 09:48 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Sam’s Club thinks I deserve luxury. Specifically, the retailer thinks I deserve a pair of Granny Smith apples dipped in caramel, rolled in pecan pieces and drizzled with three kinds of chocolate. This particular luxury would cost me $18.22 -- plus shipping, since it’s available only online.
The two-piece treat was one of several items highlighted in an e-mail whose subject line read, "Luxury You Deserve At Sam’s Club." That got my attention because I’d just read a review of a new book called "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster."
Back in the 19th century, the "luxury" trade was small and aimed squarely at European aristocrats. Now it’s big, big business and marketed to the middle class. For example, the author mentions a secretary who’s saving to buy her second Prada bag.
She’s putting money aside to buy a purse. She’s not saving for a down payment on a home, startup funds for her own business, tuition to further her education or, God forbid, retirement.
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Posted
Oct 05 2007, 08:52 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Two modern-day nomads have figured out how to live on the cheap in fabulous places. The Professional Hobo 's next destination? Hawaii, where she'll be a caretaker on a 76-acre beachfront property. She uses several resources to connect with paying ( Caretaker Gazette ) and volunteer (Wwoofing and Rotary International ) projects around the world. Fabulously Broke offers another take on the "homeless" life, living out of a suitcase -- in nice hotels -- as she moves from city to city.
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Posted
Oct 15 2007, 09:22 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A recent thread on the Smart Spending message board, “Feeling Guilty,” dealt with reader ManyaP’s recent purchase of a $450 vacuum cleaner. Her guilt stems from making such a big purchase when she’s trying to save for a home.
Fellow readers assured her that quality vacuums improve indoor air quality and last longer than cheap ones. In fact, ManyaP’s son has “horrible allergies,” and she’s tired of buying appliances “that have either burned out or just weren't meant for heavy-duty everyday use.”
Still, she felt guilty.
I’m right there with her, having recently splurged on two luxuries. Well, they felt like luxuries to me. Friends called them sensible.
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Posted
Nov 27 2007, 06:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Clever Dude is conducting an exercise under the heading " What could you give up when you're in financial trouble? " We think it's an excellent question -- one that more people might have to ask themselves if the economy is heading toward recession . CD acknowledges that "different people have different ideas of what defines necessary ," and we think some of his choices will surprise you. Part One of his post identifies "luxuries," a laundry list including the gym, cable TV, home phone and eating out, for a total monthly savings of $297. Part Two lists "semi-luxuries," with $917 to $1,167 in potential monthly savings. On the chopping block are the Honda Ridgeline ($500 a month for the truck payment and insurance), Internet service, and use of the family pool -- "Well, it certainly is a luxury, but you can’t just not open the pool one year and expect it to be fine," he explains. He'd also reduce the utility and cell-phone bills and defer a student-loan payment. We're looking forward to the
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Posted
Jan 04 2008, 12:23 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The no-new-clothes resolution by MEG at The World of Wealth may seem extreme, but it won't after you read what she spent on clothing in the last 18 months. "The numbers are indisputable: I have spent an obscene amount of money on clothes during that time," she writes, and then provides a detailed list of her purchases. "I really hope no one I know is reading this right now," she says.
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Posted
Mar 04 2008, 05:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. A trimmable expense is one that fulfills a want rather than a need. Buying fruits and vegetables is not a trimmable; buying chocolate-covered fruit is. While you could go through all of your expenses and try to eliminate everything that is discretionary, you might find yourself enjoying life less and less. Trimmables, while not required, are there to help you live life and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Rather than cutting out a trimmable, consider reducing either its quantity or frequency. Spa treatments may seem frivolous, but if they are valuable in reducing stress, cutting them out entirely may not be a smart move in the long run. If you go every week, consider visiting every other week. If you go every other week, consider going every three weeks. Don't cut it out entirely. Reduce it so you can save a little but not lose the recuperative effects.
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Posted
Mar 10 2008, 09:26 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Frugal epiphanies don't always have the magnitude of a subprime mortgage crisis. Mine came last week through a package of naan at a neighborhood market.
At the time I was getting over a stomach bug, and suddenly flatbread sounded like a nice accompaniment for the chicken soup on which I'd been cautiously dining. The price was $2.19 for a bag of five.
My first instinct was, "No. You don't need to spend the money. You've got crackers at home." My second thought was, "Do I really want these? If so, then I'll buy them."
I'm now able to report that toasted naan is a nice change of pace from saltines.
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Posted
Apr 04 2008, 06:54 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Recently I was leafing through Jonathan Pond's very good personal-finance book, "Grow Your Money," which I had reviewed a while back. In it, he makes the astute statement that everyone puts their money into three basic groups: necessities, luxuries and saving for the future. The more I thought about that statement, the more profound I thought it was, because it provides a framework for the financial problems ailing many Americans. Obviously, the pile that will get you in the best shape over the long term is the "saving for the future" pile, but people's failure to do that is only part of the problem. The reason so many Americans are in poor financial shape is that they put more than they should into one of these areas to the detriment of others. Let me show you what I mean.
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