by Eileen Roth
Remember that you always pay extra for convenience—so the more prepared the foods you buy, the higher the price generally is. If you’re on a strict budget, study up on the bulk shopping, cooking, and storage techniques discussed in Chapter 5 to cut your food bills significantly.
Have prescriptions delivered to your home, ordering by phone to your local pharmacy, by mail, or through one of the many Web sites.
Find a hair stylist, makeup artist, or barber who makes house calls.
Hire a maid service.
Have dry cleaning delivered.
Canvass the neighbors for a teenager who can cut your lawn or remove your snow.
Get a babysitter so you can go out.
Have music lessons in your home.
Set up an account with your printing/copying center and express delivery service so orders can be picked up and delivered.
Order meals out, whether from a take-out place, a specific restaurant, or a restaurant delivery service.
Bring technology home: Have a computer techie or trainer come to you.
Cybershopping and services
The Internet has seriously revolutionized running errands. Why schlep around in the car when you can shop online for anything from cars to clothes to computer parts and your friendly postal carrier or delivery service can bring the goods to you?
However, some transactions are better suited to cybersolutions than others. Consider two potential virtual shopping trips:
Scenario one: You get on the Web, use a price-checking service to find just the toy your nephew has requested for his birthday at the best price in the nation, buy it, and ship it cross-country with a few quick clicks. You then devote the time saved to writing him a nice long letter.
Scenario two: You spend an hour flipping through the pages of a national clothing store site searching for a shirt you saw in the window of your local branch. You finally find it, take a guess on the size, and fill out all the forms to buy it, only to have the shirt not fit when the package arrives.
Which of these situations represents the most efficient use of the Internet?
The Internet can make quick work of many errands and save time and money—if the right variables are in place. The first scenario is such a case, while in the second, you would have been better off going to the store where you saw the shirt.
Cybershopping makes the most sense when
Your connection speed and navigating skills enable you to complete your transaction faster than you would in person or by phone. This means you don’t waste time flipping pages or filling in forms that could be saved by seeing something live or dealing with a real person. For example:
•Go virtual to purchase a particular CD. Just type the name into the vendor’s search engine and buy.
•Consider traditional if you live next to a well-stocked CD store with good prices or aren’t quite sure what you want.
You can use the Internet to gather information and compare prices. For instance
•Go virtual for electronics, computer hardware and software, toys, books and music, and office supplies.
•Consider traditional when shopping for something such as unique home-decorating items that can be viewed more quickly and easily and contextualized in a display.
Chances of needing to return it are slim. Such as
•Go virtual to buy electronic postage stamps.
•Consider traditional to shop for clothes.
You’re shipping your purchase somewhere else and can save a trip to the post office too.
You’re housebound or live in the country.
Cleaning and Chores
Like many people, you’re grateful for vacuum cleaners and all but still waiting for the technological revolution to make keeping the house clean easier. Hello, inventors! Meanwhile, here are old-fashioned ways to get household work done fast.
Hiring help or delegating
One way to get the job done is to let someone else do it. From hiring out to tapping family members or cohabitants for help, you can turn to other people to ease your burden of chores. Here are some specifics:
Hire household help. This time-honored tradition makes even more sense in the age of families with two working parents. Whether you hire out on a regular (weekly or monthly) or special-occasion basis (parties and holidays), consider professional help for everything from cleaning to catering, babysitting, elder care, gardening, pool maintenance, and snow removal. You can even hire someone who comes to your house every week and cooks a week’s worth of meals, leaving everything packaged and labeled with reheating instructions.
To determine whether hiring out is cost-effective, determine the time you would take (not the professional) to accomplish the job, multiply that number by what your time is worth per hour, and divide the result roughly in half to account for taxes. If the amount is more than the cost of hiring,
you’re actually paying less by outsourcing—if you spend the time saved doing something productive. But then again, sometimes that’s not the point.
Share with a partner. The days of strict gender lines for household jobs are long gone. Sit down with your mate and work out who’s willing to do what, by dividing up tasks and sticking to them or establishing a chore rotation. A kitchen-friendly man may discover that his wife would rather take out the garbage and mow the lawn than cook—so swap already.
Share with the kids. Chores are good for kids! Have a family meeting and schedule jobs appropriate to the age level of each child laundry, meal setup, dishes, cooking, garbage patrol, and errands. You may rotate chores, or even have a weekly lottery to add a little excitement factor. Young ones can start by discovering how to pick up toys and crafts, make their bed, and choose their clothing at night as their first time-management assignments.
What you can do in the house
When the job of household cleaning falls to you, find the time by setting up routines and planning ahead. Some suggestions include
Plan the same day each week to clean the house. Depending upon traffic, you can step up to twice a week for a light once-over on the bathrooms.
Okay, if you absolutely must, you can scrub the sinks and sweep the kitchen floor every day.
Set aside time before holidays to polish the silver and clean the china cabinets, dishes, and crystal glasses you’ll need (see Chapter 8). Nobody needs this stress in full holiday swing.
Separate laundry into two different washdays—one for clothes, one for towels and linens—to lighten the load on each day. Use the same days each week.
Stash a few extra garbage bags at the bottom of your wastebaskets so when you throw away the current one, a new bag is ready and waiting.
Save money by using plastic grocery bags to line small bathroom wastebaskets.
Choose at least one day a year to purge your household files if file purging isn’t an ongoing process.
What you can do outside the house
Outside appearances (and functions) do count, so organize your regular outdoor tasks with these tips.
Clean the garage floor a couple of times a year. You may like going there much more.
Keep the cars in shape by posting repair, tune-up, and tire-rotation schedules on the garage wall. Have a basic maintenance check done before each major trip to head off highway disasters. Wash, wax, even repaint your baby as often as it takes to stay in love. Maintaining the automobile you have is much cheaper than buying a new car.
Take the snowblower and lawn mower in for tune-ups before their seasons start. Add these items to your car maintenance schedule so you don’t forget.
Have blacktop driveways resealed once a year.
Handling and Moving Your Money
Moving money around is easier than ever before. Make sure this works for, not against, you. With a few management techniques you can make the most of your dough. See Chapter 17 for more on bringing balance to your finances. In the meantime, you can
be prepared and organized to handle everyday challenges as well as emergencies. Lose the late fees, say goodbye to high interest rates, and have cash on hand where and when you need it with some simple money moves.
Preparing for emergencies
At some point we all need emergency cash, whether the car broke down or whatever. To avoid making hasty phone calls to family and friends at questionable pay phones during personal disasters, it pays to be prepared. Some tips to make troubles easier:
Keep a spare $20 bill hidden in your wallet for emergencies only. Replace the bill the next day if you spend it.
Carry a spare check in your wallet in case you unexpectedly run out. Keep your check register on hand so you can record checks as you write them.
If you can resist the temptation, carry a credit card for big emergencies only.
Being a smart debit-card user
Debit cards are fast; they’re the new way to write a check. But unlike charge cards, when you reach your limit, you’re broke! Yeah, those debit cards are great, but only if you’re organized enough to track your balances.
If you don’t have your checkbook along to record debit transactions on the spot, be sure to take the receipt and enter the reduction right away when you get home or place it in your To Enter Take Action File to process when you pay bills.
Pay for things with a charge or debit card to prevent having to get and carry cash. A debit card is a better bet than credit if you get tempted not to pay off your charge card balances at the end of the month.
Getting the most from your credit cards
Credit cards can be great to have when making big purchases such as a refrigerator or washer and dryer. However, unless you plan on paying off the balance every month or you’re older and have good, established credit that enables you to get the cards with low interest rates, you can be in for an interest-rate roller coaster.
Get a charge card that gives back—cash, airline miles, or points toward something you can use. Pay if off every month so your givebacks aren’t negated by interest charges, or worse yet, late fees.
Do your best not to carry credit card debt; it’s too expensive. Cancel your extra charge cards to reduce temptation and pay as much as you possibly can each month to keep interest costs down.
Managing your monthly bills
Paying your bills is a monthly ritual that you won’t ever be able to escape. That being the case, you may as well make payments as easy and painless as possible. Set up a schedule and a budget. Every month, pay the bills, balance the checkbook, and get your finances in order. Just get comfy and do it. To get you started:
Make a monthly budget, including an allocation for savings.
Pay all bills at one session, preferably once a week. Don’t wait until they are due; just mail them now. The amount isn’t going to get any smaller—and if you’re late, you could be slapped with an additional fee.
If you don’t make a regular salary, cross-check your paychecks with your record of hours worked or invoices.
Keep separate checking accounts for business and personal funds.
Dealing with the big picture
Every once in awhile, shifting your focus from the everyday to the faraway and out of the way pays off. Being proactive can save you money and hassle. On a periodic basis, make an effort to do the following:
Check your credit rating and Social Security status. Correct any errors; they could have major implications for your financial health.
Refinance your mortgage when interest rates are down. Pay extra whenever you can to save interest costs—but not if you’re carrying higher-rate consumer debt. Always pay the highest rate balances first.
If you have considerable credit card debt, consider refinancing. Rather than paying the high interest rate of a credit card debt, find a bank that will give you a loan at a low interest rate and pay off the credit card with the loan, saving the difference between the two rates.
Find out about investing for college savings and/or retirement plans as well as ways to reduce your tax bill. For many people, investments in an IRA earn 30 percent off the top simply by not being taxed. Personal Finance For Dummies (IDG Books Worldwide, Inc.) can smarten you up fast.
Using electronic financial services
Going to the bank, writing checks, and licking stamps all take up your time. Why not move your money with bytes instead? These financial services can save you time and money. Imagine being able to cut down on your monthly bill-paying paperwork! Consider the following:
Pay while you play (or work) by using automatic debits to your bank account to pay utility, credit card, and loan bills. Keep a running list of debits and days of the month they’re made to enter into your checkbook at bill-paying time.
Some Web-based services receive all your bills on your behalf, send you an e-mail as they come in, and then take care of paying them as soon as you e-mail back the go-ahead. You keep control but have no checks to sign or stamps to affix.
Hit pay dirt with direct deposit from your employer. Sign up to have your paycheck electronically deposited into your account and you can spare yourself payday lines at the bank and often waive monthly service charges too.
Bank by wire, using the phone or the Internet to view balances, transfer money between accounts, and explore your bank’s financial resources. When you’re wired, you can wave goodbye to bankers’ hours.
Making Time for Your Family
Ah, the ties that bind . . . Who doesn’t want higher-quality, less-stressful family time? A few good habits can help unite your household and create more quality time together, as well as ease the logistics of managing and caring for a group. Give these ideas a try to sweeten up your home life.
Savoring together time
With family members coming, going, and lining up for the bathroom, some houses feel more like Grand Central Station than a home. The solution is to schedule routine tasks and fun family time so everyone knows what to expect. These togetherness tactics can help.
Make a schedule for the morning to plan bathroom time and breakfast to get everyone out the door.
Eat dinner together with no television and discuss everyone’s day. A shared meal is both emotionally important and an efficient time for communication, so make eating dinner together a priority and schedule it in.
Have a family meeting once a week to set up chores or schedules and provide an open forum for everyone to talk about whatever’s on their mind. Sunday night is often free of other commitments.
Have a family day once a month with a fun group activity—a picnic, sports event, amusement park, museum, bowling, skating, miniature golf, and so on.
Establish a family reading time, a no-TV night, or a game night.
Stick little notes in school kids’ lunch or school bags every so often with “I love you” or “Have a great day.” Keep your college students’ mailboxes full. Write a letter to each child upon high school and/or college graduation about growing up and the future.
Make time for relatives. They’re more precious than you may realize in the course of busy days. Visit grandparents, drop a card to cousins. They share your gene pool and your past—but can share your present only if you let them.
Finding support systems: Kid care
Kids are bundles of energy, fountains of joy—and in need of constant care. Prevent parental burnout with ways to keep children happy and well cared for while you get some well-deserved grown-up time.
Carpool! There’s always another child going where yours is . . . and another parent who can drive next time.
Join a playgroup to meet other parents and share ideas and support while the kids amuse themselves.
Drop a child at a park district program, preschool, or library program for an hour or two so you can have some free time or run errands.
Shop at stores with play areas to keep little ones occupied while you browse.
Find a gym with child care. No more excuses
.
Trade babysitting hours with another parent.
Ask grandparents to take the kids overnight so you can have a night alone with your partner. (If you’re lucky, maybe they’ll even invite them for a week so you can have a romantic vacation!)
Send all the kids to summer camp or relatives and tackle a big project you couldn’t otherwise get done.
Elderly or dependent care
Whether you’re a primary caregiver, offering major custodial care around the clock, just helping out with errands, or simply lending a hand or preparing for emergencies, keeping affairs organized can ease caregiving. The following can help you help others:
Make a file for each relative for whom you have responsibility, including a copy of the will and files for bank, insurance, charge card, bill, and investment information. Include brokers, bank locations, safe deposit boxes, and so on.
Add your name to the bank accounts, safe deposit box, checks, and charge cards of the person you are caring for so that you can handle financial affairs if necessary.
Keep a full set of residence keys, including outside doors to apartment buildings and storage sheds. Know at least one neighbor who you can call in an emergency and give that person a house key.
Go along on doctor’s appointments and track treatment and care. Make sure the doctors have met you and have your phone number in their file.
Establish a day of the week for grocery shopping. See the section in this chapter for more on expediting errands and shopping.