So I finally signed up for blogline, and I was trying to figure out how to add my own site, just to see how it works. I realized now I have two feeds, since I changed domain for the site. The old one isn’t working anymore… I’ve temporary fixed it (I think), but everyone should update their feed link to: http://www.stopbuyingcrap.com/atom.xml

Instead of the old http://www.freshbacon.com/moneyblog/atom.xml (which doesn’t exist anymore)

Sorry about the hassle! You can also just simply click this link: Add to Blogline and it should add it into your Bloglines.

Bloglines is quite a handy thing. For the past month or so, I’ve been visiting each site individually. I think I still prefer that sometimes though. *shrug*

After reading frugalgirl’s savvy saver, I remembered that a lot can be saved if you buy textbooks wisely. Textbooks are almost in the “crap” category, seeing as how after you buy it and use it once, you don’t generally use it again. But most of the time it’s a necessary expense, so us college folks better cough up the dough.

This will basically give some tips on how to save money on buying textbooks. It got longer than I realized, so I’m going to split the “How to Sell” section into part two.

I’ve bought 95% of my textbooks online, and sold quite a few books online (few thousand dollars worth). I used to do it on the side to make money, so I’ve learned a thing or two. It’s a fairly easy way to make money. You source used books from fellow students, sell them online for profit; or you can sell for people and charge a comission.

There’s more to it, but that’ll be covered later :) If you’ve never bought or sell a book online before, this could be a pretty good read.

Continue reading “How to Buy and Sell Textbooks…”

Recently a friend of mine, who doesn’t use online banking very much, saw that I was scheduling some payments to be made. He noticed that I was scheduling a payment that’s due about a month later, to be paid 2 days before the due date. He asked me why I did that and he quickly regretted – because I wouldn’t shut up afterwards.

What I do with all my bills is that I pay them at the very last possible minute. Credit card bills, utility bills, you name it – if I can pay it at the very last minute before I’m penalized, I do it.

Some of you know why I do this, some of you don’t.

Basically, I’m utilizing grace period and float times to my advantage. Grace periods are the period of time in which financial charges are not incurred on a credit card. Realize though that grace period only comes into play when you make your payment in full for the previous month (and in the case of some, two months or two statement periods).

www.webster.com has a good definition on float for this particular usage:  “The time between a transaction (as the writing of a check or a purchase on credit) and the actual withdrawal of funds to cover it.”

Grace period and the ability to “float” are in my opinion some of the best benefits of using credit cards.  Another example where I use both to my advantage is when I pay my cable and wireless bills.  Let’s say both my Time Warner and Verzion Wireless bill closes on May 20^th, and both bills are due June 10^th.  I can pay on June 8^th with my checking account, OR I can pay with my credit card, which further lengthens the actual time the cash are withdrawal out of my accounts.

Some people hate borrowing money, and hate having a debt loom over their head. I understand that completely. It can become quite bothersome, and at times you worry about paying late, thus receiving a big smack on fees and penalties (not to mention hurting your credit for late credit payment).

One reason why I still do this though is because I’m cheap, and I want to make $2.30 by paying at the very last minute.

Take this month’s American Express Blue bill of mine, which will be around $1,200. The statement will close on May 17, and the bill will be due around June 12. When the statement closes, I’ll schedule a payment of $1,200 to be made on June 9 online. (Payment takes about 2-3 days to process) This 23 day period in which no interest will occur (due to the grace period), will let me earn a petty $2.30 in interest if I keep the $1,200 in my ING Direct account earning 3% interest.

Now some people will think I’m silly for doing this for $2.30 but you should take into the account that, if I do the same thing for the rest of the year and assuming it’s the same amount of bill, that’s $27.60!!  Okay, still nothing to scream about, but $27.60 is better than $0.  Yes these are taxable interest income, but again, it’s still better than $0.  In reality, what I earn in interest is much more than that.

The obvious problem with paying all your bill at the very last minute… is if you spend too much, you might not enough money to pay your bill.  If you pay late, you may even incur large late fees.  Worse yet, if you had an introductory low rate, that may be gone… or your original interest rate may hit default rate.

Given the risk, why do it?  Well as I’ve mentioned, this is to teach myself money management skills.  This requires me to be on top of my every income and expense.  If you ask me on any given day, I will be able to tell you how much money I have in my savings and checking and I’ll also be able to tell you how much is owed on each of my 6 credit cards, the spending limits left on each cards, and when each cards are due.

These days, paying your bills at the very last minute is made much simpler by online payment services.  Most major bank chain provides online bill pay service, and more and more are reducing or taking away the fees that use to be associated with them.  (It’s been shown that if a bank has free Online Bill Pay, people keep more money in the checking account)  Most utility, cable, and phone services also have online payment ability too.  What I do in these instances is find out which online service process faster, so I can pay as last as possible.  One good example is my Time Warner bill pay.  If I submit a payment on Time Warner’s website to pay my bill, it takes about 5 days before the payment is processed.  If I utilize my credit card’s bill pay service, the same payment takes 2 days to process.

Another major reason why I do this is so that I have more cash available to me between the time when bills are due, and the time my paycheck/income arrives.  I know the amounts mention above may not seem worthwhile, but what I gleam from doing this is well worth it to me.  As you income, expense, and net worth increase… the same will occur when you take advantage of grace period and float times available to you.  The banks do this all the time, they want to decrease actual float time as much as possible, so they have more time to use your money before they have to “give it back” to you.

This is a good time though to point you towards the disclaimer, since paying bills late is definitely a no-no.

Besides the interest earned and cash flow freed; each time I do this I get a better understanding of my financial budget and picture.  Each time I schedule a payment, plan for future expense, I get a better look into what I spend on and how much I have available to pay for it.  At the end this results in better financial literacy, and that’s definitely something worthwhile to me.

Edit: On the flip side, it’s often said that millionaires don’t borrow their way to their wealth.  Debt, in any form is a no-no.  In that respect, everything I mentioned is just silly and a waste of time.  Spend below your means, save portions, and invest the rest.  No need for these silly credit games.

I bought myself a new monitor, a Viewsonic VP171B. Its sorta crap, its sorta not. My current monitor is an old 17″ CTX CRT monitor. I’ve had it since 1996, its making funny noises these days and the gamma / brightness level is totally down. I’m using the computer a lot more lately, so I figured this is as good of a time as any to charge it on the new card. I’ll pay it off before any interest ever occurs on it.

One nifty feature is that, like many LCD monitors out there… it rotates and spins. So now I’ll have more vertical space to read blogs. Sweet!

Semi-wasted money? $310.65 + $14.30 (s&h) + $25.18 (tax) = $350.13

Here’s some upcoming plan of mine for this blog.

• Part 3 to Credit Card 101, maybe Part 4 too. I think I’ll go over student credit card, what to expect when you apply, pros and cons of student cards, etc.
• An article on FICO scores. What factors in it, how it affects us youngins, why we should even care about it.
• Another part to the lovely “Stop Buying Crap”
• I have an upcoming vacation to Hawaii, so I might write about that too.

Applied for two new credit cards recently for business and personal purposes. Blue from American Express, and a Chase (Bank One) Business Platinum VISA card.

Blue offered “up to” 15 months 0%, low APR, and reward points.

Chase offered 15 months 0%, and 7.99% thereafter.

Got approved and received the Amex yesterday, and the Chase card today. (Applied for them 4/24/05)

Here’s the fun part. American Express gave me a $10,000 credit limit for the Blue, which is LOWER than the student card I have with them. They also tacked me with a higher APR with the Blue, a whopping 16% (compared to 11% with my student card). Now why I would even use this card when I have cards with prime rate boggles my mind. Plus, they didn’t even give me 12 months intro period, they give me 5 months. Five? What the. I won’t be carrying any balance with them, but still, 16%!? Oh well, after the silly intro period, I think I’ll have the two cards consolidated, and see if they can give me better rates. If anything, at least the limits will combine.

Same story with Chase. Got a regular VISA card, not platinum, not even gold. Granted, there’s little difference, and the extra “benefits” aren’t something I’ll need, and not something I care for much. They gave me the 15 months 0%, which is nice… BUT, they gave me a credit limit of $2,500 to use it with. I’m sure we all want a business card with no spending power. At least the rate after intro is acceptable, not that I’m planning to carry any balance with them too. Called to see if I can raise the limit before activation, no go. The guy kept pushing me to get the credit protection plan, I kept telling him no. He didn’t seem to understand NO THANKS.
This is a familiar practice with credit card companies though. I’m not surprised, just a bit amused that it finally happened to me. When you receive and apply for those “Pre-Approve” offers in the mail, or if you choose to apply for a card online/offline base on the rates you see, you may very well get something else that’s different than what you wanted. Lower or higher rates, different intro period, no intro period, different benefits or no benefits, different rewards structures or no reward structures, and at the end, really a completely different card. So read your Cardmember Agreement carefully when you receive the card you applied for, you may find some terms and condition that are completely different than what you thought.

At the end, I’m a bit annoyed. I got more inquries on my credit report for more open credit lines that I probably won’t use after the intro period. Sigh. I figured Chase would at least go near the limits of my other cards. Meh, guess not.

Refer to this post for why I got the $100. Turns out the research survey took only an hour and 15 minute (not 2.5 as they claimed). So counting in the time it took to drive there, about 50 minutes – that’s $100 for 2.12 hour of “work.” that’s $47 an hour. Not too shabby.

The market research from Synovate focused mostly on the upcoming 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser. It’s quite a funky SUV. Not something I would consider though.

Besides the $100 cash, I got a drink and two snack bars (wohoo!). Overall the experience wasn’t too bad at all. I basically just walked around, looked at different SUVs, specifications, prices, pictures, and answer the questions they have with a portable computer tablet.

So if you ever get one of these market research invitation in the mail, you should definitely consider it, as long as the drive isn’t too far out of the way.

My experiences overall with reputable market research companies are pretty good. They wont try to sell you anything, and they respect your privacy and time. Here’s a good internet survey company that you might want to check out: SurveySavvy (I found out about them through howstuffworks.com). I’ve been a member since 7/2004 and have gotten $41 from them, not too bad for about an hour or so of answering questions about what i waste my money on :)