Disneysteve's Common Cents Blog

Since Jan. 1, 2006, I have designated 17% of my gross income for savings. Every 2 weeks when I get paid, I calculate 17% of the gross, round it up to the nearest $5.00, and direct that much toward savings (split between taxable mutual funds, our IRAs, DD's 529 and extra home equity loan payments).

As of July 1st, I am increasing to 18%. I've realized in recent months that after the 17%, we still had money left over after paying all the bills and spending whatever we spent on stuff. In reality, I could probably up it to 20% and still be okay. I figure I'll do 18% for the 2nd half of 2007 and see where we end up. If we're still fine in December, I may increase it to 19% starting next January. We'll see how it goes.

We spent the day at Jersey Gardens. For those not from the area, Jersey Gardens is the largest outlet mall in New Jersey. We go there about once a year as we do get some good deals, much better than at local stores or malls. The mall occupies a plot of land about the size of Rhode Island, across the road from Newark Airport.

Anyway, I was looking at the directory while DW and DD were in one store and I couldn't help but think about why people overspend so much. There are just way too many choices of where to spend our money. Years ago, we didn't have such choice and variety. Shopping options were quite limited compared with today.

The directory of shops certainly reflects the typical differences between men and women. There are 33 women's apparel stores, 23 for kids and just 10 selling excusively men's apparel. Got feet? There are no fewer than 33 shoe stores at the mall.

For those who would argue that at least clothes and shoes are necessities to a point that we all need from time to time, the list doesn't stop there. Need some bling? Jersey Gardens has 22 jewelry stores. Want to smell better? There are 9 perfume stores with such creatively varied names as Perfume Boutique, Perfume Forever, Perfume Romance, Perfumania and the romantic French-sounding La Perfumerie. Do we really need all that? Perhaps your cell phone is on the fritz. There are 7 cell phone vendors on hand.

The choice and variations of what to buy and where to buy it, I think, just encourages people to spend more and more money on stuff they probably don't really need. And this isn't limited to clothing and accessories. The same thing is true at the grocery store. In 1970, the average grocery store carried about 9,000 items. Today, that number is well over 40,000. On one supermarket trip, I counted over 200 choices in the cereal aisle alone.

Or go to the toiletries department at Target or WalMart and see the variety of deodarants or toothpastes or shaving creams. They come in every imaginable color, style, fragrance, etc. Women, do you really care if your legs smell like mango/kiwi or strawberry/banana after you shave? Does it truly matter if your armpits evoke spring rain or summer breezes?

There was a great book a few years ago called, I think, The Paralysis of Choice, in which the author talked about how many consumers are completely overwhelmed by the options when they go shopping and are often unable to make a decision, lest they pick the wrong thing.

Oh, to return to a simpler time. Stores were smaller and more manageable. People were thinner (the overabundance of food choices is part of the problem behind the obesity epidemic). And shopping was far less stressful. Plus, shopping was done more out of need and less out of entertainment value.

I've referred to this article in a couple of posts and several people asked if they could read it. I was hesitant to post a direct link because of the personal info, full name, town, etc. So instead, I've copied it here and edited out my last name and exact location. I've also removed the source, but it was a national financial magazine geared toward those in the medical field.

Keep in mind that this article was published over 3 years ago and was written about 6 months before that, so it is nearly 4 years old. Our numbers are even better now as my student loans are gone, DD's 529 is over 21K, we are still driving the same 2 cars mentioned, our investments have nearly doubled to 390K and we now save 18-20% of income, not 13% like in the article.

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How this young doctor keeps debt at bay

Mar 5, 2004

This 39-year-old physician has school debt, a house, and a family—yet he's squirreled away more than $200,000.

Family physician Steven G. is a happy camper.
He's 39, he's paid off most of his medical school debt, and his savings are growing. He's on track to have college funds and retirement savings ready when he needs them—and that's on a salary of about $105,000.
No, you won't find the G.s shopping at Neiman Marcus. "Some doctors drive fancier cars or live in bigger houses," says G.. "We live below our means. But we don't feel deprived. We enjoy today, but we prepare for tomorrow."
G. has come a long way. He graduated medical school in 1990 with about $102,000 in medical school debt. When he married two years later, the newlyweds' joint assets totaled about $6,000. Now they're up to about $200,000, not including their house, cars, or collectibles.
G., who started practicing in 1993, is an employee in a two-doctor urban office. He and wife, Marci, 40, a homemaker, and daughter, Jennifer, 8, live in a three-bedroom colonial in New Jersey.
Other than a $10,000 gift from G.'s mother toward their down payment, Steve and Marci have built their own stash. And G. predicts he'll be set for a comfortable retirement around age 62, after paying his daughter's college education.
Determined to wipe out med school debt
G. vowed to wipe out his debts early on. In 1994, after he'd been in practice for a year, his Health Education Assistance Loans totaled about $62,000. That year, he started making extra principal payments (an additional $450 a month on top of the $225 due). Then, in 1999, he took out a home equity loan of $28,000 to pay off his car and part of his student loans. Those HEAL loans are down to about $11,000 now. The home equity loan has a $25,700 balance and 15 years left. "Once the HEAL loans are paid off, I'll have a chunk of money to put toward the home equity loan," he says. "I'll pay off all my debt way ahead of schedule."
G. also began saving early. "We started putting $50 a month via automatic deposit into our first mutual fund in 1992, and increased that amount as my income rose," he says. The account is now worth about $22,000. The G.s have since added other funds and investment accounts, IRAs, and a 529 plan. Currently, 13 percent of G.'s gross pay goes toward savings and investments. Some large financial goals are looming, and the G.s aim to be prepared. "Our daughter will have a Bat Mitzvah in about five years, which we expect will cost about $20,000," says G.. "Five years later, she'll head for college."
Rather than take a loan or charge the expenses, G. plans to save for both the Bat Mitzvah and college. "The 529 plan we started last July now has about $3,000," he says. "Once my HEAL loans are paid off, I'll redirect some of that money into the 529. I expect to have about $75,000 by the time Jennifer starts college."
The G.s do use charge cards, but refuse to carry a balance. That keeps them from spending beyond their means, and from throwing away money on interest charges. "Credit cards can be the bane of existence for many people," he says. "We can't see spending first and then paying off; we save first, and then pay for what we want."
Despite their frugality, the G.s don't neglect charitable giving. "We donate money and volunteer our time and services to our synagogue, and support our local public television station and my undergraduate college," he says. They also donate old clothes, toys, books, and household items to Purple Heart Veterans, Goodwill, and other causes.
Taking frugality as a way of life
What's G.'s secret? Attitude.
"We are not into status items, and we're not upgrade happy; once we buy something we stay with it," he says. "But we don't feel like we're sacrificing. Marci and I enjoy our lifestyle."
The G.s will buy top quality items that are important to them. "We both love to cook, so we have Calphalon pots and pans, and KitchenAid appliances," he says. "We also have an extensive collection of Walt Disney memorabilia, and have spent thousands of dollars on it over the years. They're obviously not necessities. For things we don't consider a big deal, we buy something functional," he adds.
Take cars, for instance. The G.s own two that they bought used: a 1998 Toyota Camry LE and a 2000 Toyota Sienna LE minivan. "The Camry was a dealer demo, and had 11,000 miles on it when we bought it," he said. "I plan to keep it for another five to seven years." The minivan was two years old when they bought it last year.
"Our living room has had the same old furniture and IKEA bookshelves for the past 10 years, interspersed with some new pieces," he says. "Our house is nice, but it's not a mansion." The G.s intend to stay in their current home, although they may remodel or add on to create more space.
Finding bargains and getting the best prices also help the G.s' saving campaign. "We shop carefully," he says. "We buy some food items at Target because they're cheaper than at the supermarket. We'll pick up things at yard sales or thrift shops. Especially when my daughter was young. Why pay full price for overalls that she'll wear for three months, when you can get them for $1 at a thrift shop?"
The G.s take out novels from the library rather than buy them at bookstores, although they purchase reference books new. The family usually eats at home. "We prepare most meals from scratch. It's healthier and cheaper than dining out." And the G.s don't pay for any household help.
Vacations also reflect the G.s' stretch-your-dollar philosophy. They spend at least one week a year in Disney World, "but we stay at a $39-a-night motel two miles from the park, rather than on-site, where it could cost several times as much," he says. This year, they spent another week in Massachusetts. "We stayed at a Marriott using Rewards Points earned on our charge card."
But they also splurged. "One weekend last year, for our anniversary, we stayed at a luxury hotel in New York, ate at fancy restaurants, and went to a Broadway show," says G..
Steve and Marci have a crucial advantage: They have similar attitudes toward saving. "There's no way we could have accomplished what we did if one of us was a spender and the other a saver," he says. "We can't think of a single instance where either one of us wanted to blow money on something ridiculous and had to be talked out of it."
No financial advisers need apply
The G.s don't use a financial adviser. "We got a financial analysis done twice—in 1996 and in 2001—by our insurance broker," says G.. "The most recent one showed a very small projected shortfall for our anticipated retirement needs. But we identified the factors that will correct that gap in the near future. It mainly involved repaying my student loans and having that money for additional investing.
"I'm proud to say that our broker was quite impressed," adds G.. "In fact, he ended up telling me that I was overinsured, and he actually reduced my life insurance coverage by $250,000. It's not often you hear an insurance salesman telling you to buy less insurance!"
While the market slump of the past few years zapped G., he's not sweating. "The market correction had a big impact on paper, since we keep about 80 percent of our portfolio in equities," says G.. "But that decline came after a huge run-up, so we're still way ahead of where we started, and the recent recovery has erased much of the paper losses."
Thanks to the G.s' philosophy, they're certain they'll be comfortable later in life. "We figure that it will be much easier to live a modest lifestyle after retirement because we're not living extravagantly today," says Steve. "We hope to live at least as well, if not better—more travel, theater, fine dining. We want to enjoy retirement, not spend it struggling to get by on a tiny nest egg."
 

Where their money goes

2002 Total income $105,000
Adjustments
Income taxes $27,100
Property taxes 4,600
Pre-tax contributions to savings and investments 0

Total adjustments $31,700

Total spendable income: $73,300
Expenditures
Housing (including mortgage payments utilities, and maintenance) $16,000
Loan and debt repayment 7,000
After-tax contributions to savings and investments 14,400
Food and dining out 5,000
Insurance (Life and disability) 5,900
Autos (gas, repairs, insurance) 5,500
Vacations 6,000
Hobbies and entertainment 2,000
Medical and dental expenses 3,500
Clothing 1,800
Charitable contributions and gifts 3,500
Miscellaneous 2,700

Total expenditures $73,300
 

1. Know the odds - The casino, or house, has a mathematical advantage in every game played in a casino, but that edge is not the same for every game, or even every bet within a given game. In a game like Keno, the house edge is 25-30%, meaning for every $100 you wager, the house can expect to win $25-$30. On the other end of the scale are the Craps and Blackjack tables where the house edge is just 0.6% and 0.8% respectively. So compared to that Keno game, at the Craps table, for every $100 you wager, the house can expect to win just $0.60. Where do Slot Machines fall? It depends, but isn't good in any case. The house edge on slots varies from about 3% to 25% depending on the machine. The worst table game odds can be found at the roulette table where the house edge is 5.25% (with double zeros).

2. Learn the game - The odds I just discussed apply only to players who are utilizing perfect strategy. An untrained blackjack player gives the casino more like a 20% edge, instead of the 0.8% edge from a knowledgeable player. There are numerous websites and books at your local library or bookstore where you can study the games (craps or blackjack hopefully) and learn basic strategy to maximize your odds and minimize the house advantage. There are also many online casinos where you can play for free to practice your skills before setting foot in a real casino wagering real money.

3. Establish your limits - Other than learning the game, the most important things to decide before you start playing are how much you are willing to lose and at what point you will stop if you are winning. Many people do the first one and forget to do the second. As a result, when they are doing well and find themselves ahead, they don't stop playing. Instead, they keep on wagering and, inevitably, end up losing money when they could have walked away ahead had they set, and stuck to, a winning limit, not just a losing limit.

4. Get a Player's Club card - On your first visit to a casino, stop at the Promotions desk and sign up for their Player's Club. It goes by a different name at every casino. You will get a card with a magnetic strip. You then insert that card in any slot or video poker machine or hand it to the pit boss at any table game. Your play will be monitored and recorded and you will earn points toward comps, or complimentary gifts. Comps can range from free parking in the casino garage to free meals to major stuff like TVs, stereos or free vacations. Contrary to common belief (I was surprised to learn this myself) but comps are not reserved only for the high rollers. After just my 2nd trip to one casino this year, wagering just $300 each trip (and winning several hundred one of those times) I received offers for free hotel stays at that location. It definitely pays to get the card and to stay loyal to one casino (or family of casinos).

5. Gambling is entertainment, not investing - Since this is a personal finance site, I should point this out. Money that you take to the casino should come out of your Entertainment budget or envelope. This should be money that isn't needed for anything important like rent or college or retirement. If you win, you can certainly put some extra money toward those things. If you lose, however, you don't want to come up short where it really matters.

Go and play and have fun and GOOD LUCK!

Top 10 Reasons for an Annual Physical

“I feel fine.”
“I only go to the doctor when I’m sick.”
“Doctors only recommend physicals to make more money.”

People have all kinds of excuses for not getting regular check-ups. Here are 10 reasons why you should. For the record, I’m a board certified family practice physician in practice for 14 years.

1. High blood pressure: Often called “the silent killer”, high blood pressure usually causes no symptoms at all but greatly increases your risk of having a heart attack, a stroke, kidney damage and other serious health problems. Millions of people have high blood pressure and don’t know it until something bad happens. Seeing your doctor annually and getting your BP checked can identify the problem before it harms you.

2. Diabetes: Like high blood pressure, high blood sugar can have no symptoms until it is severe, but will still be damaging your body even though you can’t feel it. An annual sugar test can identify this hidden disease. This is especially important if you have a family history of diabetes or you are overweight. Women who had elevated sugar during pregnancy are also at higher risk of developing diabetes later in life and should be regularly screened.

3. Cholesterol: Same story. No symptoms. Unless you get a simple blood test, you don’t know your cholesterol is high and hard at work clogging your arteries and setting you up for a heart attack or stroke.

4. Cancer screening: Many common cancers can be checked for with simple tests as part of your annual physical. In the office, we can screen for breast, colon, skin, cervical and prostate cancers by exam, blood test, Pap smear and sending you for a mammogram. Patients 50 and older should also get a colonoscopy.

5. Vision: It never fails to amaze me how many patients come for physicals and can barely read the eye chart. I wonder how many auto accidents are due to drivers who just can’t see what is happening around them.

6. Vaccines: You aren’t all done with shots once you turn 5 years old. Adults need shots, too. Tetanus boosters, flu shots, pneumonia vaccines, pertussis boosters, hepatitis B, etc. This is particularly important if you are planning any foreign travel, but even if you aren’t. Speaking of travel, you should always check with your doctor well in advance of a trip to see if any special vaccines are needed (typhoid, yellow fever, malaria medication, etc.).

7. Obesity: Many people never step on a scale outside of their doctor’s office. As a result, a lot of folks seem truly surprised when they come in, get weighed, and see how many pounds they’ve gained. Often, just seeing that number motivates them to make some changes, start eating better and get back to their exercise routine. Plus, it gives me an opportunity to discuss their weight and make suggestions about how to address it.

8. Smoking: Studies have shown that patients whose doctors counsel them to quit are more likely to quit. If you smoke, hopefully your doctor will raise the subject during your annual exam and talk to you about quitting. There are various methods to help you quit that your doctor can prescribe if you are ready and willing to make a quitting attempt.

9. Thyroid disease: This is a common problem, particularly in women. There are symptoms, but many of them are very general and people attribute them to other things: fatigue, weight gain, dry skin, changes in the menstrual cycle. This is another case where a simple blood test can identify the true cause of those symptoms and your doctor can prescribe medication to correct the problem.

10. Anemia: Again, something like thyroid disease that has symptoms that people often attribute to something else. Fatigue, decreased exercise endurance, headaches – all things that many of us feel from time to time. That annual blood test can determine if the underlying cause is a low blood count. If so, your doctor can work with you to find out why you are anemic. The cause could be something simple and benign or something much more serious. Catching it early could make a big difference in the outcome.

We had our garage sale today. The weather forecast was iffy but wrong and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

We woke at 5am to start setting up. First sale was at 6:50am and we were pretty busy almost the entire morning. We started packing up just after 2:00pm because we were pretty much done and the weather was starting to turn. We didn't want it to start raining while everything was still out.

Our goal for this sale was to get rid of stuff, not make big bucks. With that in mind, it was very successful. We sold lots of stuff, including some larger items that were taking up a lot of space in our garage. Usually, we are much firmer on our pricing but this time we took almost any offer on things.

Total for the day was about $250. We spent $30 for the newspaper ad so netted about $220. Not a lot of money considering the amount of work involved, but we're satisfied and, like I said, we were more focused on freeing up garage space which we did nicely.

I registered for ebay on May 15, 1997, 10 years ago today.

My first sale was a pre-opening commemorative guide to Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park which I think went for about $17.00. My most recent sale was 2 days ago for a lot of 50 promotional pens for $15.50 to a woman in England. Along the way, I've logged sales to every state and most major countries.

My best month I had sales of just over $2,600. My best year I had sales of over $13,000.

For a few months in 2000, I did ebay full-time after leaving my old job.

At my peak, I was running 100 active auctions at all times. Back then, auctions ran for 10 days and I would list 10 new items every day.

I currently sell pretty casually, 16 listings in the last 60 days, and that was after a very extended period of not selling at all. I just started back recently, but I'm looking forward to many more years of active selling.

I just e-mailed the ad for our garage sale next Saturday to our local paper. I brought up the old signs from the basement and just need to change the date on them.

All the stuff we will be selling is already packed up and ready to go in the garage. In fact, we have tons more stuff than we can possibly put out in one day. My plan is to have this sale and then have another at the beginning of September. Anything that doesn't sell next week goes to Goodwill, NOT back into the garage. It is time to clear this stuff out once and for all, one way or another.

Now we just have to hope for good weather.

Nothing beats using ebay to sell stuff that you've gotten for free. No complaints about fees and commissions when anything you earn is pure profit.

I recently had 2 auctions close for a total of $28.02. And I've got 2 active auctions for identical items that are up to $14.21 so far. That's at least $42.23 (minus fees) just for keeping my eyes open to opportunity and taking advantage of the situation.

The best part is that what I'm selling is something that I have ongoing access to, though in lesser quantities. Even so, I can accumulate enough items every month or so to put up another auction. Even $30/month is $360/year for doing basically nothing. That sounds good to me.

Sometimes it is the simple things that excite us.

About a year ago, my daughter accidentally swung the front storm door open a bit too far and stretched the hinges out of place. Ever since then, the door wasn't quite right but we hardly ever use it as we enter through our garage, so I never did anything about it.

Then a couple of weeks ago one of the spring closers broke. Now the door really wasn't right as it was hanging down a bit and not flush with the frame. To close it, you had to lift up on the handle to get it back in the frame.

Well, I finally went to Home Depot and bought a new closer. That fixed one problem but not the hinge problem. I was able to fix that with a hammer and a nail punch to tap the hinge plate back into shape.

Now the door is good as new and it cost me all of $10.50. And I had been procrastinating because I really thought the door was trashed and I'd have to replace it for a few hundred dollars. Wasn't I pleasantly surprised?

We took the plunge and bought DD her first cell phone. We've been researching it for a few weeks. We checked the prepaid options but finally decided to add a line to our Cingular/ATT family plan. On the surface, the prepaid option looked cheaper. However, with her on our plan, calls she makes to our cell phones (or us to hers) are free. Also, any friends she calls who are on the Cingular/ATT network would also be free.

We never use all of our plan minutes and, in fact, have about 4,000 rollover minutes stored. So even if, with her, we now use all of our plan minutes, we've still got a cushion of rollover minutes so we wouldn't generate any additional charges.

We did opt for the phone insurance for now until she gets used to carrying and caring for the phone.

Of course, while we were there, DW started looking at all the nice new phones. Her phone is almost 3 years old. I upgraded last year after losing my phone. The clerk said she was eligible for a free upgrade - just had to pay for the new phone. She looked at the options and liked one that was $29.99. We decided that would be her Mother's Day gift. She's been wanting a new phone for quite a while. We rarely splurge like that or upgrade things that are still working okay, so it was actually a hard decision, but she's happy to have a nice new phone with more modern features.

My last auctions of the month just ended. We didn't quite make our goal of $200 in sales for the month. Our total was $188.23 for 8 items. April was a bit off because of Passover, Spring Break and the fact that I was out of town for 3 days last week so I didn't list auctions to end during those times.

That makes the grand total $296.71 for March and April since I started selling again. I'm going to shoot for $200 again in May.

I'm back home from AC. I ended up pretty much breaking even on my blackjack time, which was fine with me.

One thing that did me in (as is true of most gamblers) was not quitting when I was ahead. Most people go to the casino with a set amount they are willing to lose, but they don't set a limit on how much they can win. It sounds kind of counter-intuitive to put a cap on your winnings, but if you are going to gamble, you need to set an end point. Otherwise, you just keep playing and playing and odds are you will eventually give back your winnings.

So how do you pick a stopping point? With our investments, we're all pretty satisfied if we earn 10% in a year. But somehow sitting at the blackjack table, earning 10% in 10 minutes doesn't seem satisfactory at all. I mean, if I sit down with $100, I'm just not going to get up and leave when I am up to $110.

My general rule (which I didn't always stick to this week) is to quit when I've doubled my money. After my losing sessions on Wednesday, though, I stuck to it on Thursday and Friday and that's how I got back to even for the trip. There is just some brain defect that makes you want to keep playing when you are doing well rather than taking your winnings and walking away. Oh well, hopefully next time I won't let greed get the better of me.

I got a nice surprise today. I got an envelope from Charles Schwab, where I have one of my IRA accounts. I could see through the window that it said "Pilgrim & Baxter" which I thought was a little odd because I sold my Pilgrim fund shares a couple of years ago.

I opened the envelope to find a check for $95.70 for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Fair Fund Distribution. Apparently, this is a fund established by the SEC to compensate investors whose accounts were affected by some trading irregularities (market timing) that went on in the '98-'01 period and my account qualified.

I just need to look into any tax implications from this payment, but I'm sure my accountant will be able to figure that out. All I know is I've got $95.70 I didn't have when I woke up this morning.

I am currently in Atlantic City to attend a professional conference. I arrived this morning and plan to stay until Saturday (possibly Friday night unless my wife is able to join me Friday and stay over with me).

Anyway, I do enjoy playing some blackjack when I have the opportunity. Over the past couple of years, I've studied the game and learned basic strategy (something very few casual players bother to do). Although it definitely doesn't guarantee you will win (as was obvious today), it does nearly eliminate the casino's advantage, making it less than 1%.

I got off to a decent start and at one point had more than doubled my starting stake. I continued playing and ultimately gave back almost everything I had sat down with. I played again later and did even worse, losing all I sat down with.

I do plan to play more while I'm here. Hopefully, I'll have better luck next time around.

A very active day today.

I spent about 3 hours cleaning in my garage. I managed to consolidate a lot of stuff, stack things more compactly, fill two 30-gallon trash bags, fill 2 carton boxes with recyclables, put a couple more cartons on the yard sale pile and find a few things for the ebay pile.

When my wife came in to check on me, I asked what Saturday we had free in May to do a yard sale. She checked and we are free on the 19th, so that's the day. Last year, we never managed to have one so stuff has really piled up, even more so since we cleaned out my mom's house before she moved last June.

Until today, we had just enough of a path to walk through the garage. Now it is a few feet across and more open feeling even though I really didn't get rid of much.

Finally, I just listed 2 items on ebay and wrote up descriptions for a few more that I'll post tomorrow night.

Oh, and I also did another medical survey for $50 (see prior post about those).

Time to go crash for the night.

A family trip to Walt Disney World has become as common as a day at the beach when I was growing up. Many families, however, struggle to make a Disney trip happen and, in the process, spend far more than is necessary. There are plenty of ways to do Disney on a budget. My family of 3 spends about $2,000 for a 9-day trip. I've seen plenty of people spend 2-3 times as much for a 7-day trip. So here are some of my best tips for keeping the trip affordable.

Drive to Florida. This is a perfectly reasonable option for a large percentage of the population. It is a 17-hour drive for us from New Jersey. Doing so saves us about $1,000. We avoid airfare, airport parking, and a rental car.

Stay offsite. Disney has many wonderful hotels, but the rooms are small and expensive. The surrounding areas of Kissimmee and Lake Buena Vista are filled with endless hotels, timeshares, townhouses and condos where you can get similar rooms or much larger properties for less than Disney charges. We've paid as little as $37/night for a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo. There are many websites where you can research options including vrbo.com, skyauction.com and disboards.com (a great discussion forum for all things Disney).

Eat breakfast in your room. Since you are driving, you can pack non-perishables like cereal, pop-tarts, granola bars, etc. Then you can visit the supermarket upon arrival and buy milk, juice, yogurt and other perishables. Breakfast can cost $1/person or less. Compare that to a restaurant where $6-8 is typical.

Stick to counter service restaurants. Unlike many amusement parks where the fare is limited to hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken fingers and fries, the Disney parks house many excellent counter service restaurants where you can feast on Asian noodle bowls, sushi, grilled salmon, rotisserie chicken and more. The advantage is the prices are quite reasonable compared to table service restaurants. You also get in and out more quickly leaving more time to enjoy the attractions. A great site that lists every menu for every Disney restaurant (with prices) is allearsnet.com.

Share food. Most restaurants have generous sized portions that can be shared. The 3 of us will often get just 2 entrees and an extra side. Saves money, avoids wasting food and discourages us from overeating. Another secret is that you can order things that aren't exactly on the menu. For example, if there is a burger and fries meal, you can order just the burger and save a couple of dollars. Then just share someone else's fries.

Drink water - tap, not bottled. We're always amazed how many people we see at Disney drinking bottled water, at $2.50/bottle. That, or soda, is a real budget buster. Tap water is free and plentiful.

Since you are staying offsite, it is easy to dine offsite occasionally. Routes 535 and 192 are loaded with every type of restaurant you can think of from national chains to local chains to independent places. If we take a break from the park mid-day, we may grab lunch outside. Or if we have a non-park day or cut out early one evening, we'll do dinner outside.

Visit the Disney outlet stores for souvenirs. Our favorite is the shop at Orlando Premium Outlets, just a few minutes from Disney property. They have overstock and discontinued styles at nice savings. It is all genuine Disney stuff, just cheaper.

As I said, we spend about $2,000 for our trips, and we could easily trim that if we needed to. We collect Disney memorabilia so have a larger than average souvenir budget. For everyone else, though, it would be quite doable on about $1,600 for everything, and that's for 9 days. Seven days would be even less. And a 4th person would only add about a few hundred to that total since transportation and accomodations wouldn't increase. Just park tickets and food.

My mom offered to buy us Broadway show tickets for our anniversary this year so I went online to pick a show. Since it will just be my wife and I, I wanted to pick something adult oriented. Otherwise, our daughter would have been upset that we weren't taking her, as we all love going to the theater.

We chose Avenue Q which from what I know about it is definitely not a family show. We'll be going in July, the weekend of our anniversary. We're looking forward to it as we haven't been to a show for a couple of years.

I have the opportunity pretty regularly to do medical surveys for which I receive cash honoraria. Honestly, I don't do most of the ones I get invited for, but once again I'm making a conscious effort to do them all because it is stupid to pass them up as it is pretty easy money.

Anyway, yesterday I got a check for $50 for one I did recently. Sunday, I did one for which I'll get $60 and today I did one for $55.

On top of that, I was recently invited to speak on behalf of one of the pharmaceutical companies. I didn't ask how much I'd make when agreeing to speak. I was guessing about $250 because I seem to recall that's what I got a couple of years ago for something similar. I got my contract the other day and it is for $625. I was very happy about that.

So all in all, a good week for side income.

We got the heater serviced today (see previous post). Actually, I didn't call until today because it seemed to be fine all week, then went out again last night (in the midst of our Nor'easter storm).

Of course, the unit is out of warranty.

The repair was $361.60 including the service call. The other option was to extend the warranty for another year. That would be $369 and cover the service call and twice/year routine maintenance visits on the heater and AC, plus 20% off any needed parts. So including today's repair, it would come to $545.53. I don't normally believe in extended warranties, but in this case I figured it was really only costing us $184 to be covered for the year instead of $369. Plus we'll get the 2 service visits included for that price. So we decided to take the warranty just in case something else breaks. And even if nothing breaks, we'll get 2 service calls for $184 which isn't such a bad deal.

We noticed Sunday night that our heater wasn't working quite right. It is coming on and it is blowing hot air but it isn't quite keeping up with the temperature it is set for. Last night, it was set at 70 but according to the thermostat it was only 68 in the house. I just put in a new filter and to my untrained eye, everything looks okay, but I know it isn't right. So I'll put in a call to the service folks today. Wonder what that will cost me?

Ok, we weren't exactly housecleaning. We were searching for my wife's wallet on Thursday. She had put it somewhere while cleaning earlier in the week and couldn't remember where. She thought she had stuck it in a drawer or cabinet because we had guests coming and she didn't want to leave it out in the open.

Anyway, we were going through every drawer in the bedroom and hallway, among other places. While we didn't find her wallet (which did eventually turn up - at the bottom of the washing machine), we did find quite a few items that we agreed we had no use for. Three of those items have already gone on ebay. Two already have bids totalling $95.99 and they don't end for 5 more days.

So take some time and go through those drawers and closets. You never know what hidden value you might find.

We hardly ever go to a shopping mall. We do most of our shopping at stand-alone stores like Target and Wal-Mart or a couple of large strip centers in our area.

Last night, we dropped our daughter off at Girl Scouts and didn't feel like just going home, so I suggested we wander around the nearby mall. This is a mall that I've been going to since I was a child. It has certainly changed over the years, as I think all malls have. It really struck me last night how incredibly upscale it has become. Very little to appeal to folks of average means, or folks like us of above average means who choose to live below those means.

Years ago, the mall had Woolworths and an independent book shop and a little cafeteria and a craft shop and such. Today, it is populated by Coach and Godiva and Abercrombie and Brooks Brothers and the like. Very few stores that we would ever set foot in and even fewer that we can afford to shop in. Other than the food court, there was very little there that appealed to us.

What also struck me was that the average customer looked to be no more than 25. Surely all these teens and young adults can't be earning nearly enough to truly afford the prices of these stores. It isn't hard to see how so many people get so deeply in debt if this is where they are choosing to shop.

I miss the simplicity and down-to-earth shopping that we had years ago. There was a great book a few years ago called "Trading Up" that talked about this phenomenon of how as our nation has become more prosperous, everyone has upgraded their normal level of goods. Instead of Maxwell House coffee, its Starbucks. Instead of a Buick, its a Lexus. Instead of vacationing at the shore, its Cancun.

I'm not sure what my point is, but I can tell you that I won't be visiting the mall again anytime soon.

I admit it. I squandered $1.00 today. Actually, with tax, it was $1.07. We went looking for some things DD needs for the Renaissance Fair her class is doing. I came across compact fluorescent light bulbs. I figured the ones they are selling for $1 probably couldn't be as good as the ones sold everywhere else for 10 times as much, but I decided to gamble and buy one.

Guess what. They're not as good. First, it is a white fluorescent, so really can't be used to replace an incandescent bulb as it is a totally different type of light. Also, the package said it lights instantly. That isn't quite true. There is a couple second delay when you turn it on. Finally, it didn't seem very bright, though I didn't leave it on long so it might have brightened after a minute or two as some bulbs will do that.

Of course, it isn't a total loss as it is a working light bulb. I just can't use it where I was planning to.

Our last auction of the month ended today. We sold 5 items for a total of $108.48. Not bad at all since we did it very casually and made no serious effort at all.

I was a little disappointed with today's auction since there were 7 watchers and it ended with only 1 bid. I was hoping a few of those watchers would be competing at the end and boost the price.

Of course, I know from experience that with a little effort, we can do far better. My best month ever on ebay I took in nearly $3,000. I've been training DW how to do ebay and a couple of the sales were hers, so she's getting the hang of it. I'm sure we'll gradually ramp up the number of items we post. I'm going to set a goal of $200 in sales for April, nearly double this month. That should give us something to shoot for and still be easy to accomplish.

In preparation for Passover, we are in the midst of our annual major house cleaning. A couple of days ago, my wife said she wanted to make a very frivolous purchase. I could tell from her tone that she was kidding, so I asked what this frivolous purchase was going to cost me. She said it would be more than the new bathmat she bought last week - that was $5. Now I knew I was in trouble - LOL! Turns out she wanted a new kitchen trashcan since the one we have is quite dirty. She figured about $15 to replace it. Being the cheapskate that I am, I promised to clean it for her and if it didn't come out clean enough, then she could buy a new one.

I just took it outside and scrubbed it with a Brillo pad and it is bright white, as good as new. Wife is satisfied and said, "Boy, you'll do anything to save $15, won't you."

Yup!

I only use my Discover card when they have a good 5% cashback bonus special. As a result, I haven't used it for a few months. But a few months ago, I also redeemed my cashback bonus for $20 to be applied to my account. The only problem was I ended up having a zero balance when that occurred, which left me with a $20 credit. I kept meaning to use the card since I had a credit, but I forgot. Yesterday, I got a check in the mail from Discover for the $20 credit. I guess it is better for them to pay out the money than to keep tracking it on my account. Honestly, I'd rather have the money and not have to worry about using the card to utilize it.

I've used Half.com several times in the past but hadn't listed anything lately. The other day I was packing old clothes to give away because Purple Heart was coming. I found my wife had put a book in pile. Rather than give it away, I listed it on Half.com. It was a novel with the dust jacket. I priced it at $2.89 which seemed to be the going rate. Less than a week later, it sold! Certainly not a big windfall, but it couldn't possibly have been easier so it's found money as far as I'm concerned.

Well I had an expensive day, but for a good reason. My daughter will become Bat Mitzvah in Sept. 2008. We've already booked the DJ and photographer for the party that will follow the ceremony. Today, we met with the caterer we wanted to use. We know him and his staff well as they frequently cater events at our temple and we have attended many of those affairs.

We spent about an hour discussing menu options and how to structure the evening and ended up giving him a $1,000 deposit to reserve the date. Since he knows us well, he gave us a nice break. Rather than booking us at the 2008 anticipated prices, he booked us at the 2005 prices. So we will be paying $58/adult and $38/child. The bar will be another $3/head if we provide the alcohol or $18/head if he supplies it. That would bring the total to $76/head. Not bad when you consider that our wedding in 1992 was $72/head. And I know I'll get the alcohol myself and save a few hundred dollars.

Yes, we've had money put aside for this for years. I've got $25,000 earmarked for the affair though I'm hoping we don't need all of it.

Little by little, I'm trying to get back into selling on ebay. I used to sell regularly, even full time for a stretch in 2000, but I got away from it for quite a while.

I listed 2 items last week. I had 4 vintage department store credit cards that we found when cleaning out my wife's aunt's house in 1992. I knew there were folks who collected them but even I was surprised by the final price: $46.00. I was happy with that.

The other auction was for a bin full of rubber stamps that my daughter hasn't played with for years. There were a total of 79 items including stamps and several stamp pads. That sold for $24.50.

And two weeks ago, we sold a kitchen knife that we had recently replaced with a better one. That went for $7.99.

So in just 3 auctions, we brought in over $78 on stuff that was just lying around the house taking up space.