This is where your finance takes place

This year more than ever, I need to get away and take some time to rest. As most of my weeks of vacation are taken for studying, I need to completely disconnect from this world for a few days. My wife and I have been discussing our options since February.

The problem is that we are limited by time (we only have one week) and by money (as always!). On top of that, I am not a big fan of packing my children in a car or on a plane for several ours.

 

Last year, we rented a vacation property with a few friends and we had a lot of fun. So we decided to do the same thing this year with a few modifications;

- In order to completely get away from the day-to-day life, we were looking at non-tourist remote area. The good news is that there plenty of land in Quebec so we had the choice of many destinations. Choosing a non-tourist area will be way much cheaper than renting a vacation property where there are activities such as ski, festivals or tourist attractions.

- We were also looking at a small place with a lake or a river and a forest nearby so we can take walks. When you have two young children, you don’t need much to have fun! Since we were not looking for a high class condo but more for a small place to sleep and cook, we were able to save a lot of money.

- We will bring most of our food and cook it there. As we can prepare most meals in advance, we will save again a few bucks.

We took about a week to choose the right vacation property according to our needs and budget. Internet really helped out our quest to find a quiet place. Within a few hours, we went through the whole province and saw all the properties available according to our needs.

In the end, we rented a nice place on a lake surrounded by woods for a whole week. It will cost about $500 for the property and potentially $200 for food and gas. So our vacation will be under $1,000 and we will be able to spend some quality time with our family far away from work and my MBA !

 

 

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As the North America population is buried by debts, I thought I would give simple advices on how to stop dollars bleeding away from your wallet. I am not reinventing the wheel but a good recap is always important when we wonder how to save a few more bucks. I personally apply most of them in order to remain in control of my personal finance.

Report your bigger project

Buying a car, renovating the kitchen, travel all around the world; all these projects seem to be very exciting but they also are very costly. The more you wait before going ahead in an important project, the more you become rational about it. You may relate the importance of having tinted windows on your new car if you take enough time to think about it. This will allow you to save a lot of money and still do your project.

Save before buying

That is one habit that most Baby Boomers, Xers and Yers completely forgot about. Nobody sees the need to save anymore when you can buy a dvd player for 36 easy payments of $2.97 a month (don’t laugh, I really saw that ad on TV!). Don’t you think that you would pay way less interest buy saving your money prior to buy goods?

Reduce the amount of credit cards

While I think that 3 or for 4 credit cards is optimal considering your credit score, some people just can’t handle it. If you notice that you are not able to pay your credit cards months after months, the only solution is to consolidate them and put the axe into it.

Don’t make mortgaging a hobby

I think that with the sub-prime crisis, Americans pretty much understand that living over your means can’t last for ever. It is true that you can restructure your debts by refinancing your property and you will pay a lower interest rate on top of having smaller payment. However, if you have to do it every year, you have a budget problem. Unfortunately, the housing market is like any other markets, it doesn’t always go up…

Buy a property according to your means

Once again, the housing bubble is teaching us a good lesson about our greed for bigger properties. I actually did the exact same mistake a year and a half ago when I bought the property I live in. Fortunately for me, everything went as I planned and now I make enough money to pay for my household. However, I am aware that things could have turned the other way around. You don’t necessarily get a promotion because you buy a new house!

Pay your debts first

Most people just go for more and more debts. Once they are done with their budget, they consolidate and go on partying again. Credit is as bad as alcohol! Establish your budget and allow an important amount to your debts in order to make them disappear for good.

Forget about restaurants

This is one tip I have a hard time with. It is so convenient to go to the restaurant for lunch or when you are coming back home after a hard day of work. By planning your meals in advance, you will always have something handy to cook and be less tempted to go after a good pizza.

Frugal vacations are still vacation!

It is not a necessity to go to Disney Land every year. You can still have a lot of fun by staying home during your vacation. This year, we planned to stay home most of the time in order to work on our backyard. I am sure my son will have a lot of fun playing with his shovel and buckets while we plant flowers!

The bottom line is to try to come back to more simple things in your day-to-day life. I personally don’t consider that expensive = happiness…

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Frugal Tip: A Blackberry For Less Than 50 Bucks

Over my last MBA weekend, I asked one of my team mates how much his Blackberry cost him. He was probably the first guy I met with a Black that is not paid by his employer! As a financial planner, mine would not be paid by my employer either but I think it would be very efficient to have one.

The main feature I am looking for is to have access to my agenda everywhere I go.

He said that his Black cost him about $20 and that he pays $30 a month to use it. Impossible. That is nonsense I replied. It can’t be that cheap; it is what I paid for my regular cell phone with a 3 years contract.

He smiled back at me and said: “me too”. Huh? So here how he did it:

#1: He add a regular cell phone with Rogers but wanted to have a Black so he can manage his heavy schedule and have a cell phone at the same time. He called Rogers and asked them if his existing SIM card would work in a Blackberry. They answered that it would and that the phone would be perfectly functional.

#2: So he went on E Bay to buy an old and used version of this type of phone for $15 plus shipping. I would say that it is probably part of the first generation; black and white, no Bluetooth. However, it works perfectly find.

#3: He took his SIM card from his existing cell phone and plugged it in new (old) Blackberry. A few seconds later he got his signal and everything was working perfectly.

Can this work with every cell phone provider? I don’t know. However, we decided to use my SIM card into his phone to see what would happen. The phone reopened and was showing my phone number under my Videotron network.

So you can almost have a full Blackberry operational for less than $40 a month and the phone itself cost almost nothing.

Where is the catch?

If you noticed, I used the expression “almost have a full Blackberry”. Obviously, if you use your existing SIM card that is link to a normal cell phone plan, you will not get access to internet or your emails. So for those who are looking to communicate with their little tool on the road, it won’t work.

However, there is nothing stopping you using your Black for schedule management and take notes wherever you are. I still have to try it (I didn’t buy mine yet), but my friend is able to link it to his outlook and transfer his agenda back and forth. So I can technically update my agenda in my phone every time I log on my laptop.

I definitely try it as I have not much too loose. In fact, I have a big $30-$40 (the price of the phone) on the line. I’ll definitely try it and advise if it works well for me

 

image source : flickr.com

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