My Attempt At Doing What Successful People Do On Weekends

Time management expert  and author Laura Vanderkam has a new e-book called “What The Most Successful People Do On Weekends” (read review from House of Peanut here).  I haven’ t read it yet but the gist of it seems to be how to be more productive on weekends.  I tend to emulate or strive for simplicity and personal happiness even if it’s not the same as what “successful” people do.  I believe successful people are defined by the author as typically Type A high-powered & career-minded people who are successful in their fields.  Therefore, I’m not the target audience!

However, that doesn’t mean I can’t get good advice from books like these (and I’m sure I will once I read it..).  One of the tips from the author’s blog at least is to  plan an Anchor event on the weekends.  This anchor event should be something fun that gets you and/or your family out of the house so that weekends are more memorable and not all about chores and puttering around.

For several weekends, we’ve accidentally followed this advice.  The first weekend was very simple and not super planned-out but it was a Saturday morning excursion to a nearby park.  The next weekend was a music concert for kids at the library on a Saturday morning.  The third weekend included a date night on Saturday.  I admit that doing something fun on Saturdays, when I normally would be puttering around the house, was a good change for our family.  We tend to put off the fun stuff; if we don’t do it on Saturday or plan something, nothing fun gets done.

At the same time, those weekends felt harried, too.  The music concert took out a good chunk of morning.  We still had a lot of stuff that needed to get done.  On top of regular stuff like meal prep, cooking, putting dishes away, multiple diaper changes, and more,  I managed to do some gardening and a quick wipe-down of the kitchen and bathroom, including the dreaded chore of cleaning the tub.   My husband was busy, too, but we were too busy to notice each other’s chore duties!

After all these memorable, fun weekends, I need a chill-out weekend to decompress and do nothing!

How do you manage your weekends? Are you on board with the idea of planning fun or do you prefer to have unscheduled time, or a little of both?

Frugal Opposites?

I’m beginning to think that my husband and I are frugal opposites, not in the classic saver vs. spender situation, but we’re frugal in such opposite ways that we still somehow disagree on spending (and saving) priorities to some extent.

First off, we are both fairly frugal.  However, I am more willing to spend money when I think it saves time, like on like housecleaning, moving or computer tech help and the like.  My husband is more of a DIY-er especially related to household things like dishwasher installation, property fixes, etc..  even if it can take him a lot of time and it’s not always easy to figure out. And I guess since he’s more of a DIY-er in aspects that he’s good at, he’s also hesitant to spend money in areas just to save time (since in theory we could tackle housecleaning, for example, on our own).  After having kids, he did come around to hiring housecleaning help and I guess he was never completely against it; he just saw less reason for it than I did/do.

If any spending is remotely related to career or career-advancement, he will spend the money (or want to), while I still like to weigh the return on investment.  This is a tough one because there are countless job-related spending opportunities from books to classes to conferences.   As for measuring ROI, how do you know if that networking event or conference will result in leads and work? I tend to give it one-shot and that’s it.  Say, I attend one conference but if I don’t get much out of it, I won’t go to ANY ever again. My husband wouldn’t rule out all conferences that way; he would look into another conference or would still be open to returning to the same conference after some time has passed.  Since work-related events are often costly, this can become  a sore point.  I think I usually “win out” but I wonder if I’m holding him or myself back from true career opportunities.   He’s been creative at networking on the cheap (with real results) and I do try to be open-minded about pricier opportunities but I still have a hard time justifying that spending.

I have a harder time pulling the trigger on purchases in general.  My husband doesn’t really pay attention to small-item purchases but hesitates on big item purchases (like furniture or appliances).  I guess I believe that little things add up and this is why I still use coupons, look for  sales to stock up on household items, send in rebates, and pay attention to recurring expenses/bills.  I know that my husband doesn’t really understand why I call our internet/cable/phone provider every year.  However, one year, I knocked down $40+ per bill ($480 annually) and I’m pretty proud of that!  

Our different spending habits haven’t been a contentious issue, however, because we do always talk about big purchases.  Even if we don’t always agree, both of us have a say.  I also think that it’s been a fairly even split in terms of who “wins” in the final decisions.  In many cases, we reach a compromise by setting a budget that we both feel comfortable with, delaying the purchase a bit, or not spending at all, without the other one holding a grudge.

Are you and your significant other opposites in terms of spending/saving?  Are you both frugal yet still have different spending habits?

What Won’t You Pay For?

I love reading magazines, from money to fashion/design to family/parenting, to the point that I could easily subscribe to a dozen.  However, in the interest of saving money and reducing temptations, I limit myself to 3 or less at a time.

Despite my love of magazines, I haven’t paid for a subscription in years, not since getting my first free subscription via expiring airlines miles.   After that, I realized that there are a few ways to get my fix for free.  This works for me because no magazine is a must-have for me.  I enjoy Real Simple and Self, but as long as I get any glossy lifestyle magazine, I’m pretty happy.

In addition to airline miles, which I can never seem to redeem for travel, I have also gotten free magazines via online surveys.  I don’t waste too much time on these but I’m part of a consumer panel and I actually enjoy giving feedback so it doesn’t feel like a waste of time.  Over the years, I’ve gotten 15 – 20 free subscriptions from Lucky to Smartmoney to Martha Stewart Living.

Another way I’ve gotten free magazines is via purchases.  It’s not so common but Harry & David had a promotion — offering a free subscription with X amount purchase.   I had to email customer service but it was really easy and I think I got Sunset or Martha Stewart Living magazine. I also got a free issue of Dwell from an online furniture/decor store.

Right now I have 3 magazines coming in — 1 via surveys and 2 via Recyclebank participation.  I’m still not sure how Recyclebank works (or makes money) but I get points for reporting my recycling so I figure why not participate.

Anyway, this post wasn’t supposed to only be about ways to get free magazines. I was just wondering if other people had similar experiences.  One friend finds it hard to pay for designer jeans because she used to get it for nearly free via a work connection.  Another friend hates to pay for parking. Do you have something (or things) that you just can’t bring yourself to pay for?

Not Sure Delayed Gratification Is Working…

Part of the reason I’ve been so successful at saving money is my lifelong ability to delay gratification (check out this post on Grumpy Rumblings for definitions and comments, etc..), even in my more impulsive college years and early 20s.  However, lately, I wonder if this method works so well for me anymore.  I just feel like I’m delaying the inevitable purchase (and yes, I know that purchases/spending are rarely inevitable..)  Still, even if it takes me a long time to buy something, I usually end up doing it at some point.  I guess I know my tastes and needs pretty well by this age and it’s increasingly rare that I want something that is useless or frivolous.

That is not to say my ability to delay gratification is useless. Many times, I earmark pretty pictures in magazines or bookmark websites (saving items in wishlists or shopping carts). If I delay the purchase, I usually forget about the urgent “need”.  I may also consult my primary shopping list and remind myself that I have higher spending priorities.  Sometimes I completely forget about the item and lose interest.

With some things and experiences, however, my want usually remains so it’s just a matter of time before I buy those shoes or book that massage.  Of course the delay can mean months, even 1 year or longer, so I suppose this tactic is still working.  And there are times now that I let go of the “want” because more urgent basic and real needs crop up in the meantime.

So I guess it’s back to the inevitability of the purchase that is getting to me.  What difference does it really make if I buy something I want now rather than 3 months down the line ( besides new stuff often going on sale..)??

A Rebate Hack

Okay, this sounds totally crazy but I actually set up Google Alerts for a few of my favorite brands/products.  Since setting these, I’ve been notified of rebates from brands such as L’oreal and Olay.  These rebates are often $10 or higher and make a big difference if you stock up when there’s a rebate, sales and manufacturer or store coupon.   If you’re not a coupon master, you’ll save money even if you buy the product at Walmart’s regular low prices and then send in the rebate.  (Yes, you have to be willing to actually mail in a form!) Anyway, it’s super simple to set up and worth it for certain brands that regularly offer rebates.

A Simple Way To Give

If you’re a frequent online shopper like me, you probably heard of or use websites like Ebates that give you a percentage back on your purchase.   A few months ago, I also discovered a website called iGive.  Similar to Ebates, it tracks your online purchases but the money is donated to your chosen charity.   The best part is that you get credit for both Ebates (or Mr. Rebates) and iGive on the same online purchase.  When I shop online, I always go through Ebates first to see if my store is participating on the Ebates cash back program.  If yes, I go to the store’s website.  If you have the iGive button installed on your computer (an easy one-time process), all you have to do is  click on the iGive button and do your browsing/purchase as usual.  Those little amounts add up over time and it’s nice to get and give  something back!  Since joining, I raised $92 for my cause…

Lowe’s Blows..or Adventures in Customer Service

I just have to say this…Lowe’s Customer Service blows..and here’s why:

I had placed an online order on the last day of an appliance promotion.  For some reason, my credit card issuer blocked the charge. I had to call and confirm that it was a valid charge; however, they could not re-authorize the charge. I had to go back online and redo the transaction.  At 9:00 pm pacific time, I tried to re-do the order but the price had jumped back up because it was past midnight eastern time (where the business HQ or warehouse was located I guess?).  This makes zero sense!  The sale was supposed to end that day but I assumed, rightly so, that it would expire midnight at my local time.  No where on the site did it say the sale would end at eastern time! If anyone has ever experienced something similar, please let me know!

Anyway, I contacted Lowe’s customer service and explained that I would like to get the sale price. Plus, and more importantly, I had an additional 10% off coupon expiring in a few days.  That extra 10% off plus 10% off sale price had already been applied in my shopping cart earlier, and would have gone through if not for Visa blocking the charge on their end. 

The first service rep refused to honor the sale price but said they could accept my 10% coupon on the regular price. I responded saying that Home Depot had the same sale price and could they honor the price as a competitor match, plus honor my 10% coupon code considering that the price should not have changed before midnight pacific time.   Another rep replied that it was not possible to do both.  Since I’m pissed about their website pricing change, I’m going to order the same item from Home Depot instead.

Contrast this to Macy’s…I purchased a few things from them but used the wrong coupon code, getting a 10% discount instead of 15%. After placing the order, I emailed them asking if they could let me use the 15% despite it being an error on my end.  They quickly credited my account for the difference.  I wouldn’t have been mad if they said no but I was very happy that they were so nice!

I think most businesses are and should be much more accomodating to their customers, if demands are reasonable.