Money Blue Book

When you’re standing in front of the cash register about to make a large purchase for hundreds of dollars, it’s easy to immediately recognize the high cost and the financial gravity of the situation. The price is high and it’s easy to see how the large one time expenditure is going to hit your pocket book. But what about those pesky little daily expenses that we often take for granted? They are just as effective at draining money, but the only difference is that they usually occur over a wider span of time. Those type of silent and hidden expenses do add up quickly over a month or even a one year period. It’s important to be aware of what some of them are so that we can learn to avoid these money traps and do a better job of pocketing the savings.

1) Bottled Water – Although I list this as my first money drain due to the consensus of many, it’s actually one daily expenditure that I personally find to be worth the daily cost. While not necessarily healthier in terms of purity, due to the convenience and the healthy consumption habit the act promotes, I actually think drinking bottled water is worth the regular cost. However, there is a right way to do it and a wrong way. The right way is to buy bottled water in bulk supermarket 24 packs or in Costco’s mega 32 packs. The absolute wrong way is to buy them in single units from a place like a 7-11 convenience store or a gas station where their unit price is the highest. Why buy a single serving Aquafina for $1 or more when you can buy a large 24 pack for $5 or less? My local grocery store frequently offers special deals for $3 or less.

2) Coffee – It’s a common morning addiction but it’s an expensive one. Coffee drinks from places like Starbucks are so addictive I’m occasionally convinced that they must drip extra caffeine into the java brew to get consumers hooked. I’ve managed to ween myself off them but many people still find coffee to be an integral part of their regular morning routine. If you spend only $1.50 for a standard cup of coffee per day during the business week, consider yourself relatively lucky since you’re spending only $390 a year, comprised of 260 weekdays. What about those people like me who used to spend up to $5 a day on premium expresso drinks like my personal favorite – the white chocolate mocha? Premium coffee habits demand nearly $1,300 a year.

3) Alcohol – I’m not much of a beer or liquor fan, but many people are. If you hit the bars daily for a drink, at $4 a beer, that’s $1,460 a year. Even if you only went a few times a week, the cost of multiple beers add up fast. Mixed drink and wine prices usually go for much higher. If you love your beer, try buying bulk packs. With wine, consider buying wine in a box. Maybe because I’m not a wine expert, but many boxed wines seem to taste the same as bottled ones. It’s mostly just a difference of packaging in my opinion as a wine newbie.

4) Smoking – Cigarettes are not only bad for you, they are also very expensive. With local, state, and even the federal government enacting higher cigarettes taxes, the habit can only get more expensive over time. A pack currently costs around $4.50, which comes out to more than $1,600 a year, but many smokers don’t just consume one pack – some consume multiples. If you’re a current smoker, work hard to kick the habit. If not for your own health or family’s well being, do it for your wallet’s sake. It can be done – my dad kicked his fledgling smoking habit shortly before I was born.

5) Vending Machine Drinks and Snacks – Buying chips and sodas from vending machines will cost you. Depending on where the machine is located, you may pay $1 or more for each purchase. Do that once a day and that adds up to $365 per year. Can you really afford that? What you’re paying for is the convenience of getting what you want, when you want it. Try to wait till you’re at the supermarket where you can obtain the exact same thing for half price or less.

6) Frequently Eating Out – Going out to eat is my biggest and most substantial money drain. So far I haven’t been able to cut the habit or substitute it with regular home cooking, which is the frugal living solution to meal planning. I pretty much eat out for both lunch and dinner at this time in my life. With lunch prices at work costing upwards of $8 or more and local eateries near my home costing $10 or more for dinner, that’s $18 per day for meals, which comes out to more than $6,500 a year for food alone. That is way too much money being spent on meals for just one person.

7) Manicures and Pedicures – Manicures cost around $20 a pop. For women who are addicted to weekly manicures, that’s more than $1,000 a year for nail service that you could probably learn to do at home yourself. Is a thousand dollars a year really worth the momentary pampering?

8) Underused Monthly Memberships and Services – There are many membership plans that consumers frequently sign up for but either forget to use or end up under-utilizing. By not taking advantage of the monthly services paid for, you’re basically throwing good money away. The most commonly underused services include gym and fitness memberships, cable television services, and telephone plans. When it comes to telephone service, do you really need that land line anymore? What about your wireless phone plan – do you actually get close to using up all of your monthly plan minutes?

What about movie rentals? I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time – for just $16.99 a month you could rent three DVD’s at a time as often as you wanted. But how often is that really? Scan your credit card statement for those automatic monthly charges you normally just pay and ask yourself whether you’re getting your money’s worth. How often do you go to the $50 a month gym? Cancel what you’re not using. Underused services are financial drains that should be examined and reevaluated regularly.

9) Unnecessary Car Maintenance and Premium Auto Services – Unnecessarily frequent oil changes, car washes, and car detailing services – they all add up. Your car might be your baby, but your auto pampering may be costing you way too much money for a mere inanimate object that is likely depreciating slowly as I speak.

10) Credit Card Interest Charges and Fees – Using credit cards that offer rebates and cash back rewards may help you maximize your money when it comes to routine purchases, but if you’re not careful with card management, you might find yourself in serious debt trouble. Fixed monthly interest rates for credit cards are usually high and average around 13% APR but they often increase if you become delinquent on your payment obligations. Try to pay your statement balance in full each month. If you must incur a balance, work hard towards paying them off to avoid those unnecessary finance charges and interest fees that can rack up fast.

Updated List Of The Best 0% APR Interest Credit Card Offers Below

Zero percent purchase credit cards are specially suited for credit savvy consumers looking to make free purchases for 12 months or more without having to pay the amount back until the end of the promotional offer period. If you’ve low on spending cash or find yourself in a temporary financial emergency, 0% purchase credit cards can help you deal with your personal finance expenses until you get back on your feet. In the last few years there have been at least two occasions when I personally needed to depend on 0% card offers to help get me out of a temporary financial jam that lasted a few months. Although I was in good financial shape at the time my liquid spending money was just momentarily tied up in stock investments. So to successfully weather the cash strapped period, I paid off daily living expenses using my newly applied no interest credit card. Hey, it beats relying on pay day loans any day (which I’ve never had to use, thankfully).

Both 0% Balance Transfer and 0% Purchase Credit Cards Have Pros and Cons

While 0% balance transfer credit cards have gotten more publicity among those seeking debt reduction and among those looking to profit from high yield savings account interest, they usually require more careful management effort to maintain. One top differentiating benefit of using 0% purchase credit cards is to avoid the initial transfer fees associated with many balance transfer cards. For those who want to avoid the hassle and effort of shifting balances around, 0% purchase cards offer an attractive option.

With no interest purchase credit cards, cardholders accrue no monthly interest charges for purchases they make for the duration of the card’s introductory and promotional period, which usually lasts about 12 months (but can vary anywhere from 6 to over 15 months). Each month’s minimum statement balance (usually small) still needs to be timely and regularly paid off to avoid any unintended late payment fees or penalties. During the promotional period, cardholders can continue to make free 0% purchases up to the maximum credit limit available. However, as always, I always encourage users to be responsible with their credit usage and always work towards paying off the total statement balance off before the end of the promotional period. After scouring all available credit card offers, here are the best offers I’ve come up with. Please note that balance transfer fees may apply depending on offer details (although they are very frequently capped at a certain amounts). Please read the terms carefully.

Consumer Credit Cards That Offer Both 0% Purchases And 0% Balance Transfers:

1. Chase Slate Card With Blueprint – 0% APR for purchases and balance transfers (12 months)
2. Citi Platinum Select Card – 0% intro APR for 12 months purchases and 18 months on balance transfers
3. Discover More Card - 0% APR for purchases (6 months) and balance transfers (15 months)
4. Discover More Black - 0% APR for purchases (6 months) and balance transfers (6 months)
5. Discover Open Road Card - 0% APR for purchases (6 months) and balance transfers (6 months)
6. Capital One Platinum Card
7. Capital One Prestige MasterCard
8. Citi Forward(SM) Card – 0% APR for 7 months on purchases and 12 months on balance transfers (special offer: sign up bonus)

Great Consumer 0% Purchase Credit Card Offers:

1. Citi mtvU Card - 0% interest free rate on purchases for 7 months if you qualify
2. American Express Blue – 0% APR for purchases (6 months)
3. American Express Blue Cash® – 0% APR for purchases (6months)
4. American Express Blue Sky® – 0% APR for purchases (6 months)
5. Chase Freedom(SM) Card – 0% APR for purchases (6 months) – (Bonus $50 for new accounts)
6. American Express Clear Card – 0% APR for purchases (up to 12 months)
7. Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards Card
8. FNBO World of Warcraft Platinum Visa

For a while now I’ve had an obsession with watching house flipping reality programs on TV. That is, until the real estate market collapsed. Since then, the hype and fascination seems to have subsided a bit with the feeling that perhaps many of these shows did the public a great disservice by over glamorizing the flipping experience. By oversimplifying the renovating process and featuring only the greatly successful flips, some of these housing shows perhaps gave many the misleading impression that flipping is so easy, even a caveman can do it – prompting many to foolishly dive in without proper real estate education.

These popular house flipping shows should be regarded as entertainment only and not seen as a step by step blueprint guide to flipping projects. If you are looking to get inspired and want to become more involved in the real estate investing business, watching these shows will certainly give you a good introduction into the realm of flipping. But they won’t teach you how to properly finance your flip project or even address necessary aspects like how to obtain the appropriate construction loan or even how to properly budget for unexpected repairs. But entertaining they most certainly are.

Here Are A Few Of My Favorite Flipping and House Hunting Shows:

1) Flip This House (A&E Channel) – This show is probably the original house flipping program of recent years. Each episode tracks the purchase and renovation of a single home, listing the price of the home, renovation cost, and the expected profit from each flip. For newbie flippers, this show provides the least realistic portrayal of the amateur flipping process as the show only spotlights the trials and tribulations of experienced and professional real estate teams.

However I love the show and found it irresistibly entertaining due to the endless stream of scam and fakery controversies that have continuously plagued every season of the show. The Flip This House show and its television network are currently embroiled in at least one lawsuit involving allegations of fraud and breach of contract, as well as other well publicized rumors of flipping fabrication and scams.

The most notorious episode involved Atlanta “real estate developer” Sam Leccima and his season two housing flip scam debacle. His on the air house flipping prowesses were later exposed and discredited as shams by news investigators when it was revealed that he had duped many investors in an elaborate flipping cover up. Apparently not only did he fail to own a real estate license at the time of the show’s filming, he also never owned the houses he allegedly flipped. Much of the work shown on the show was revealed to be actually temporary and shoddy patch up jobs designed to look good on TV. Home staging presentations were faked with his own friends and family posing as potential buyers. Fake Sold signs were slapped in front of unsold homes to make his on the air flipping projects appear successful. How the A&E filming crew failed to realize what was happening as it occurred is beyond me. Very fishy indeed.

Other allegations of fakery involved the humorous and entertaining Montelongo brothers. After watching several of their episodes, I got the feeling much of the whipped up drama was being exaggerated and staged. At some point the episodes grew so ridiculously off the wall that they became asinine, such as when one of the Montelongo bros supposedly had a mental breakdown and had to visit a psychotherapist, or when the family had to sneak into a hotel with their pet dog and birds because their home was being worked on.

However, the show’s most popular real estate team was probably season one’s Trademark Properties, which featured folksy leader Richard Davis and his lovely fan favorite sidekick Ginger. However, due to contractual legal disputes, they’ve since moved over to another television network to start their own show.

2) The Real Estate Pros (TLC/Discovery Channel) – This show exclusively features Trademark Properties which left A&E after filing a lawsuit against the television network over allegations of breach of contract stemming from nonpayment claims. The characters are the same and the show revolves around the same flipping adventures of the Charleston based company.

3) Flip That House (TLC/Discovery Channel) – Unlike the other shows, Flip That House features mainly amateur singles and groups of house flippers as they work together through the process of purchasing, budgeting, renovating, and appraising. The conclusion of each show always ends with a final renovated home value estimate from a real estate agent, but the appraisal usually entails some ridiculously high projected profit that reeks of unrealistic expectations. Despite construction and budget obstacles, the flippers also always seem to come out on top.

Thankfully in the spirit of realism, some older episodes now showcase a Flip Forward feature where viewers can catch up with past flippers to see how their venture actually turned out. Oftentimes, it’s revealed that many flipper properties ultimately languished unsuccessfully on the market for months to years despite the original projected profit spin.

4) The Property Ladder (TLC/Discovery Channel) – This show is one of my best favorites, but only because I enjoy watching train wrecks of amateur flippers crashing and burning their way through the house renovation process. Most of the time I cannot believe some of the wacky approaches out there when it comes to flipping houses. The show features host Kirsten Kemp as the expert property developer who advises these bumbling fools as they strip, hammer, and spend their way into the financial hole. They never seem to listen to her but strangely frequently come out on top, to my viewing disappointment.

5) Flipping Out (Bravo TV Channel) – The show centers around the real estate flipping and personal life of Jeff Lewis, a colorful Los Angeles high-end real estate developer with an obsessive compulsive management streak. The fun part is not watching his team purchase homes and resell them for profit, but rather watching him multi-task his business deals and still keep tabs on his beloved cat “Monkey”, housekeeper, and former boyfriend and business partner Ryan. “Drama for sale” seems to be the theme of this interesting flipping show.

6) House Hunters (HGTV Channel) – With the implosion of the real estate market, there seems to be greater demand for home staging shows and programs that focus on the home buying experience. As a prospective home buyer one day, one of my favorite new shows is House Hunters, which tracks the house hunting experiences of families and couples as they visit prospective houses while verbalizing their likes and dislikes about every aspect of each home they visit. At the end of each episode, they have to decide which home they liked the best and which they would like to make a purchase offer for. It’s very educational and beneficial for me to see how others go through the home buying thought processes as they visit homes and scrutinize the pros and cons. The fun part is always trying to guess which one they’ll ultimately go for.

I can’t help it. I’m attracted to and fascinated by trashy reality television shows – the bigger the train wreck, the better. My newest reality fixation is Bravo TV’s new millionaire dating show called The Millionaire Matchmaker. This show could easily be the next logical step up for those party girls from MTV’s Super Sweet 16, which I previously wrote about.

The Millionaire Matchmaker features feisty Los Angeles matchmaker Patti Stanger who runs a modern and high end business of helping rich men fulfill their dreams of finding true love and potential wife, and helping gorgeous women marry into millions. On the show, her clientele of wealthy men pay a high fee to be introduced to an exclusive selection of beautiful and smart women, pre-chosen based on their compatibility factors. The men are given access to an array of high end staff of date coaches, personal shoppers, and interior designers to help them improve their personal self appearance and to spruce up the presentation of their millionaire dollar homes. Many of these men are workaholics who are usually too busy with their own careers to find time to date for themselves.

For women, joining the club is free so long as they can pass the high physical appearance requirements and aren’t red flagged as possible gold diggers. From the start, Patti makes it clear that she is no Heidi Fleiss madam and that her agency is not an escort service as she strictly prohibits sex until both parties have entered into a committed, monogamous relationship.

Progressive Female Liberals Need Not Apply

You’re not going to find any feminist trailblazers on this show. What you’ll get is no-nonsense traditional views of what men and women want when it comes to love and relationships, especially when money is no limitation. Caveman tenets of lust, love, and attraction apply – with men being attracted to beauty, youth, and fun; and women being attracted to material possessions, confidence, and power. It’s the age old swap of money for beauty. Just from watching a few episodes, it’s clear that millionaire dollar men feel entitled to a higher standard and quality of women than common folk. As the show astutely points out, millionaires choose women the same way they would order a new car off the lot – they want the perfect, newest trophy model gift wrapped to suit their existing lifestyle without the flaws.

The most entertaining and fun part of the show comes with the crazy bits of wisdom (if you can call it that) that flies out of head matchmaker Patti Stanger’s mouth. She’s a rambunctious firecracker who doesn’t hesitate to lecture and verbally slap her male clients around for their own tough love good, whom she views as misguided little children. I really like her and even though much of what she says can be considered abrasive and shallow, I think there is much hidden truths in what she has to say. She also seems to genuinely care in shaping her eligible millionaire bachelors into successful relationship putty – even if that means she has to ruthlessly critique their flaws to make them understand what’s wrong with their views and why they are unable to settle down into real relationships.

The Show Strongly Reinforces Stereotypical Male and Female View Points

The show perpetuates a timeless and traditional view of men and women that frankly, remains alive and well today. It is this very return to tradition that has been one of Patti Stanger’s keys to success as a matchmaker. She is harsh on both men and women, screening both for the perfect traditional matching qualities. The men are checked to make sure they are truly worth millions and the women are screened carefully to maintain a high physical appearance standard. Many of the show’s millionaire clients come to her with a particular female look already in mind that’s partial towards the young, model-type look. Perhaps as a genuine reflection of the unspoken views of society, the show perpetuates the understanding that what men want the most in women is beauty and youth. What women seem to want the most from men is power and money.

According to Patti’s values for there to be matchmaking success, this means men need to be chivalrous, they need to be generous with their money, and they need to take charge and be confident with women. Females on the other hand are encouraged and taught that they must accentuate their physical qualities – if they have nice “assets” they must flaunt it, they must dress alluringly to appeal to male tastes, and they must show a little leg here and there – basically don’t dress like you’ve just left work. Another disturbing but perhaps real life lesson is that she also lectures women on the need to downplay their own professional accomplishments – basically if you are a doctor, never introduce yourself as one initially – because when it comes down to it, men don’t want to compete in that department.

I Find The Show Entertaining Because It Reflects Many Unspoken Facets and Truths About Societal Views Towards Dating and Relationships

Whether the traditional values promoted by the show are right or wrong is not for me to say, but I think the reality is that despite the modern progress men and women have had in terms of human relations, in many ways we’ve stayed the same. Many commentators have blasted the show for perpetuating traditional stereotypical views of women and I understand why they are upset. But at the same time, the show is about hooking up men and women who want love, not about political correctness. Love is a crazy thing where traditional ideas still hold true.

Even though I think matchmaker Patti Stanger has a narrow view of what men want, I think she is frequently right on point when it comes to her true life assessment of male and female preferences when it comes to dating. Of course her traditional views may be controversial and humorously offensive to some – such as when Patti chided one of her prospective women for having red hair, because as she put it, red hairs are “not the freshest produce in the aisles” (presumably implying that red hair is old school and outdated). Dye it brown she ordered, because men don’t like red hair. If you have curly short hair? Grow it long or get hair extensions and perm it straight because men like hair that is long and straight so they run their fingers through it.

However, the show does seem to promote a worthy abstinence requirement as a way to keep the men’s dating motivations on the up and up (so to speak). Patti imposes a strict no sex policy until a committed relationship has been established. While this almost puritanical policy tries to inject some standards, it doesn’t detract much from the inherent meat market circus of matching up nearly two dozen attractive women with one rich man for his choosing. Then again, is it really all that much different when people post their personal profiles complete with physical attributes onto online dating sites like Yahoo Personals or eHarmony?

The Show Does Teach A Valuable Lesson – Money Does Not Always Buy Love and Happiness

As an ordinary non-millionaire Joe, I actually find some guilty comfort knowing that even millionaires have major trouble in the dating department despite their massive financial fortune. The show reveals that even millionaires can be fault ridden in the love department. The Millionaire Matchmaker’s stars are not the peddled and pimped out women who willingly submit themselves for selection, but rather the sleazy, cocky, and pathetic men that do the picking. In one episode you had one man in his late 40’s who despite his noble assertions of wanting to find true love with an educated and marriage-minded mature woman, still ended up picking the young co-ed nearly 20 years his junior out of the female selection pack despite having nothing social in common with her. Then there was the episode with the one rich guy who ran a successful online sex toy business who could not give up his player lifestyle of throwing female laden house pool parties or removing the “non-offensive” stripper pole bolted in his living room.

Their money might provide them housing comfort and material joy, but it’s also the same corrupting influence that clouds their proprieties and explains why they insist on finding their trophy sugar babes rather than their more age appropriate soul mates. Entertainment aside, the show does demonstrate that money doesn’t really buy true happiness. However, it will allow you to buy access into the Millionaire’s Club to meet plenty of long and straight haired young women, who are eager for you to lavish them with material attention – for the short term at least.

Check out Patti’s Commandments Of Dating for both men and women. Prepare to be entertained, offended, and dumbfounded at the same time. Her views really reflect on the current dynamics of male and female wants and expectations. Here is a sample of one of her thought provoking dating tips directed at women:

Once you have decided you like a specific male and you have gone out with him four times, it is important to show your appreciation and reciprocate. But do not offer to outright pay for something: once a woman touches money/credit card in front of a male she becomes masculine energy, which is undesirable. But this does not preclude showing thanks by purchasing him a CD, book, theater or concert tickets, just don’t do it in his presence. Offering to cook a meal for him is an exceptional, appreciative gesture. The number one small request a wealthy man makes of a woman is a good old-fashioned home cooked meal.

Masculine energy? Haha! Great stuff!