10 Common Money Mistakes

Money Mistakes

Money Down The Drain

You would think that since we handle money on a daily basis we should be experts on money, but the reality is that we make a lot of money mistakes that lead to us losing our hard earned money.

If you read my story, you know that I made a lot of money mistakes that kept me living paycheck to paycheck every month.  Fortunately I have rectified some of those mistakes, but I’m still working hard to get on the path of financial independence.  Below is a list of common money mistakes I’ve made and that you should avoid.

How I Saved $450+ On Getting My Car Painted

car painted

Car Leprosy?

A few months ago I noticed the paint on the roof of my car was fading a little bit.  I found this to be a bit odd because my car is not that old (2007), but I also never use wax on my car so I figured that’s probably what happens when you don’t wax your car.

The “fading” started growing slowly until it got to a point that I had to do something about it.  If I ever want to sell my car I don’t want it to look as if it spent too much time in the sun and now its skin is peeling.

I couldn’t allow the car leprosy to continue so I decided to go to auto body shops and get quotes on getting the roof of the car painted.  I stopped at a body shop on my way to work and the technician there said he would paint it for $450 – my job now was to find someone who can paint my car for less.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Book Review

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Book Review

Rich Dad, Poor Dad – What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not!

On my latest visit to section 332.024 at the local library I came across Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, and since it was labeled as “The #1 New York Times Bestseller” I decided to grab a copy and check it out – no pun intended.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book yet. That’s not true, I know exactly how I feel. Read on.

When I first started reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I was a little intrigued by the first few chapters, but as I kept reading I started to feel more and more annoyed by Robert Kiyosaki.  The book has some good points, but at times it also made me feel like I was sitting through a sales pitch. No, I don’t want to buy a time-share Robert.  He actually doesn’t say you should buy time-shares, I just felt like he was constantly trying to sell me something.

But before I tell you why Kiyosaki rubs me the wrong way, let me break down a few things about his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

How to Stop Procrastinating

Stop Procrastinating

Stop Procrastinating

On Monday I told you about my little encounter with Vogue magazine and how I needed to flip through 120 pages of ads to get to the first article.  The first article, however, caught my eye and I decided to give it a read.

I’m glad I did.

The article is called “Late or Never?” by Adam Green, a Saturday Night Live writer and Vogue theater critic, who is also a major procrastinator.  Adam starts by saying how he was always late on his writing assignments and this in turn gave him a bad reputation.  I’m paraphrasing because I don’t have the Vogue edition in front of me, but his reputation for being late was so bad that when his former boss left the company, she received a mocked copy of the magazine with the headline “Adam submitted an article on time!” – or something along those lines.

I’m In The Wrong Business!!!

magazines

Vogue, April 2014

Last Saturday I went to get a haircut because I needed to look pretty for a wedding I’m attending.  Kate’s brother, Eugene, is getting married… Congratulations Eugene.  Since my guy doesn’t take appointments and it’s a first come, first serve agreement, I had to wait around a bit for my turn.

I like to call Alfonso my barber, but he doesn’t work in a Barber Shop.  He is the only male in a Hair Salon – does that make him my Stylist?  Anyways, after checking Facebook on my phone without finding anything amusing, I decided to see if the “Barber shop” had any magazines that might keep me busy for a while.  But the magazines that were available were not up my alley.

Since I already know there’s nothing useful in Cosmopolitan and Vanidades (Spanish magazine that is nothing but sex.  90% of the topics are “How to make your man scream your name in bed” or “How to make your man achieve the greatest orgasm he ever had.”  I honestly don’t know how come you don’t need to be 18 to buy this thing.  I digress again.) I decided to pick up Vogue instead.

Make A Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

Enjoy your summer

That small bead of sweat rolling down my back indicates that it is indeed summer.  Coming from a tropical island where it’s always hot, I love summer. Maybe not those days where it goes above 100F (>38C for the rest of the world), but I like when you don’t need thirty seven layers of clothing just to go outside.

I like summer because everybody seems happier – when they’re not complaining about their shoes melting.  And the reason is because they get to come out of hibernation.

This might not be a problem for folks living South of D.C., but I live in New Jersey and it gets pretty cold in the winter.  And besides those days when we get to go skiing, ice skating, or break our backs shoveling snow, we really don’t get to hang out outside too often.

Why You Need an Emergency Fund

Emergency Fund

Do you have an emergency fund?

Murphy’s Law is typically stated as: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And if we don’t have an emergency fund we are risking going into debt when Murphy comes knocking on our doors.

According to the most recent Bankrate’s Financial Security Index survey, 26% of consumers have no emergency savings and another 24% have less than three months’ expenses.  I was one of these people not too long ago.

And this is not just an issue with low-income Americans, more than 25 Million middle class American families are living paycheck to paycheck and have little or no savings.  This staggering number proves that regardless of how much money we make, we have a savings problem.

Ting Review After 1 Month of Usage

Ting Review

Switch to Ting and Save Money

If you already read my Ting review and are ready to switch, please use my referral link and claim your $25 credit.

For most people having a smartphone is a luxury that they can’t live without, I know I can’t.  But if you’re still using one of the major carriers, then you are getting robbed big time.  I’ll explain.

I mentioned before that I switched to Ting in order to save money because my Sprint bill was too much for me.  I was paying $127 for two phones (Family Plan) and that’s including a 25% discount I got from work.  That means I was paying $1,524 a year just to have access to Google on the go.  And that number is way below the average cost of owning a smartphone.  The average cost of owning a smartphone for 2 years is around $3,400 for ONE phone!  I just wasn’t okay with this.

Like many people, I always thought that there were only 3-4 cell phone carriers and that’s it.  I thought everything else was either a scam or didn’t work.  Oh was I wrong.

DIY Phone Screen Replacement

cracked phone screen

Yup, that’s a cracked screen.

I’ve had my cellphone for over two years now and in that time, I’ve dropped it dozens if not hundreds of times.  The phone has fallen on concrete, asphalt, tiles, gravel, hardwood floors, grass, beds, pillows, etc.  Other than in water, I’ve dropped this thing everywhere.

Each time I’ve dropped it I held my breath hoping the screen would survive the fall and time after time the screen had survived.  That was until the last time I dropped it.

I was just sitting watching TV with Luna – cat #1 – and had the phone on my knee.  Luna, being a cat, decided she didn’t want to be next to me anymore and used my knee to jump from the couch to the floor taking the phone down with her.

The Friday Five – Backrub Edition

backrub

Did it?

June 13th – June 19th

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five. This is where I share what I consider the week’s top-five money related articles from around the web.  There are a lot of great personal finance websites publishing amazing content daily and I feel that I must share them with you.  I hope you enjoy my five favorite articles of the week.

If you haven’t, please read this week’s posts on MDN Now A CommentLuv Enabled Blog and on Spent: Looking for Change (Documentary). Please don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Google+, and like Million Dollar Ninja on Facebook.

In no particular order here are The Friday Five