Beating Broke

Take a Challenge To Start the New Year Off Right

January 30, 2012 By MelissaB 14 Comments

If you would like to start 2012 on the right financial footing and want to do something that is attainable, consider taking a challenge. Two of my favorite challenges are spending challenges and pantry challenges. Take either or both of these challenges, and you will find extra money to do with what you please—to save for a new vehicle or home, to bulk up your emergency fund or to snowflake on your debt to get it paid off faster.

I have already spoken about the spending challenge, otherwise referred to as the No Spend Month as an excellent way to raise money for Christmas gifts, but it is also good to
do another time of the year. Choose one month when you limit your spending for disposable items such as groceries, entertainment and gas by as much as 50% of what you typically spend. You will find yourself being mindful of what you spend money on because there is very little money to spend. If you normally spend $800 a month on groceries, entertainment and gas and you vow to slash that amount by half for one month, you now have an extra $400 available to meet your financial goals. (I often have a no spend month in February. The psychological boost of knowing it is the shortest month of the year makes it easier to stay the course.)

Another challenge I try to take at least one month a year, but ideally two months a year, is a pantry challenge. All of us have some extra items lurking in the cabinet. I often buy ingredients for a certain recipe, but then if I don’t get a chance to make that recipe, I often still have the non-perishable items on the shelf a few months later. With a pantry challenge, you try to use up what you have. A common misconception is that you are not allowed to grocery shop at all. That is not true. Just like a spending challenge, you set a designated amount you want to spend. Say you spend $600 a month to feed your family of five. During a pantry challenge, you decide you will only spend $200 for the month. That means you must try to make meals from ingredients you already have on hand. This is a great way to not only save money but also to use up food that may be nearing its expiration date so it doesn’t go to waste.

If you would like a little extra money for your financial goals this year but you don’t have the time or inclination to work more hours, having a spending or pantry challenge may be the perfect solution to generating more money in a limited time frame.

Have you taken part in a challenge before? Were you successful?

photo credit: 401K

Starting a Business? Read This Guide!

January 27, 2012 By Shane Ede 1 Comment

One of the best ways to break out of the daily grind, and do something that you really enjoy, is to start a business. You’ll likely work twice as hard, but because it’s something that you love, you’ll enjoy every minute of it. When my wife quit her job, she could have used a lot of the advice that is contained in the guide I’m about to share with you. There were lots of questions about the structure and methods that are necessary to starting a small business. Luckily, if you’re starting a new business, you can read the guide and cut through some of the learning process.

The guide I’m talking about is one that has been put together by my friend, Eric, from Personal Profitability. It’s free. All you have to do is have an email and sign up for his newsletter. He’s a stand-up guy, so your email is safe with him, and all you’ll get is some really great information about starting a business and personal finance.

So, go over and sign up for the newsletter and get your copy of the Starting a Small Business guide.

The guide is 16 pages long, and covers everything from developing your idea into a business to increasing revenue and income, to the proper ways to exit a company you’ve started if that’s what you want to do. It’s not all-inclusive (that would take a couple hundred pages), but it is a great start on your way to starting a small business.

Is Recycling Bullshit?

January 25, 2012 By Shane Ede 27 Comments

Show of hands. How many of you actively participate in recycling endeavors in your community? You schlep around your empty cans, jugs, and bottles. You pile them up with your used papers, then sort them all into bins so some poor schmoe down at the recycling center doesn’t have to. All so your city can save a few dimes on an already expensive endeavor. Ok, now show of hands, who thinks recycling is bullshit?

Let’s think about this honestly for a minute. Because, I think we’ve got our terms confused. What, exactly, is recycling? It’s the taking of something that’s already been used, and putting it back through the manufacturing cycle so that the material can be used again. That extra cycle is where the term recycling comes from! But, what is the cost of that extra cycle. Let’s break it down a bit. We’ll ignore the first cycle, since it’s going to get used for the first cycle regardless.

Let’s consider a plastic bottle. It’s been created, and used. It’s empty, so has no further use in it’s first cycle. You collect it with similar bottles, then submit it to the local recycling center. We’ll discount the energy that you use in collecting the bottle, as it really isn’t that much more work than you would use in throwing the bottle away. But, what about the energy that will be used in picking up or dropping off the bottle. You’ve got to either have someone pick up the bottle, or you have to drop it off at the recycling center. Once the bottle has been taken to the recycling center, it then has to be shipped to a factory where it can be broken down in a way that makes it recyclable. More energy wasted in transportation. Once it’s there, at the factory, it then has to be broken down. Depending on the process, that could involve melting the plastic under heat. It could mean squishing, cutting, and making the plastic into threads. Even more energy wasted. Once it’s been broken down, the resulting product must be taken to yet another factory that can then turn it into the “recycled” product.

By the time it’s recycled, it’s been through a manufacturing process three times. Does the extra cost in energy, pollutants, and work make it worth our while? I’m not sure that it does. Want to take a deeper look at some of this? Take a look at this video. Now, arguably, the show is called “Bullshit”, and anyone who uses that as the name of their show (or as a title for an article) is out to be a bit sensationalist. And, certainly, I don’t know that Penn and Teller count as experts. But, I do think they make some interesting points. There’s three parts to it, so it’s a bit long, but worth watching, I think. When you’re done, we’ll continue on below. P.S. as you can imagine, a show whose title is “Bullshit” has some NSFW language in it.

I admit, I like sensationalism. And, I’ll make another admission. I’m not entirely against recycling. But, I tend to think that the first two parts of the motto “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” are far more useful and important than the recycling. By reducing the amount of energy and products that we use, less needs to be made. By reusing the things that we can, we reduce the amount of products that will need to be recycled or thrown into a landfill. Instead of expecting someone else to ease my conscious, and take away my trash to be converted into something usable, I’d rather reduce the amount of trash I make. Less paper plates. Less non-reusable water bottles. Less stuff.

The one thing that I collect to send off to recycling is soda cans. Mostly, because I can drop them off at the local Humane Society where they take them to a scrap metal yard and sell them for cash. It’s an extra way to give to one of my favorite charities. Here’s some more sensationalism for you. The Humane Society is, essentially, a pet recycling center. People take their unwanted and used pets there, so that they can be washed, fed, given their shots, and sent back out to a new family.

I’ve gone on about recycling long enough. Now, it’s your turn. Is recycling bullshit? Scroll down a few inches on the screen and leave a comment. Do you agree that recycling might be bullshit? Do you recycle religiously? What steps do you take to reduce, reuse, and recycle? Heck, you can let me have it in the comments too, if you like. One small caveat in doing so, is that any excessive NSFW language will likely get edited out.