Jana Says

Be food wise when traveling

February 10, 2012 by Jana 12 Comments

This post is part of Yakezie blog swap #17. Aloysa is a creator of My Broken Coin, a personal finance blog, where she openly admits that she has a serious spending problem. She is not a frugal person. She is not a disciplined saver. Find out more about her by visiting her blog. While you’re there, you can also check out my post, The best travel secret ever? Off-peak travel.

I don’t consider myself the world’s most seasoned traveler but I‘ve been around the block a few times. I have traveled quite a bit in my life.I also consider myself a spoiled traveler. I am not a backpacker who carries everything they need on their back with youthful adventure and limitless enthusiasm. Maybe in my early twenties I could have traveled the world with my backpack and infinite endurance. But I am in my late thirties, and I like to travel comfortably.I don’t like hostels because I never did feel safe enough there. (a side note: by no means am I influenced by the horror movie Hostel.) Somehow I am not able to have a good nights rest in any hostel. I feel exposed and vulnerable. Also, a nice bed, a private bathroom, and a clean shower should not be considered a luxury during my travels. Those are necessities.Comfortable travel also means spending money on things that I enjoy: sightseeing, shows and shopping.

When I travel I don’t try to save money on sightseeing. I will pay whatever I have to in order to see the sights that I have always dreamed about. The Great Wall anyone?

I will try to get cheaper tickets to a show at the Moulin Rouge, but if I have to pay the full price, I won’t fret over it. How often do you get to go to the Moulin Rouge after all?

Shopping is just too much fun to go cheap because the shopping experience in different countries is just unforgettable. At least for spenders like me.

Food, however, is a different story. Food should not be your biggest expense during your travels. You can save quite a bit on food if you know one simple trick. I’ve learned it over the years of travel and this trick has never failed me.

Eat where the locals eat… because they eat in places that travel books will never mention.

Finding those places will require a lot of walking. It also means walking away from the high-tourism areas, and venturing out into the side streets, and sometimes even to the outskirts of towns.

It might not sound exciting and even frightening. I completely agree that unknown places can be scary. Depending on the location, you will have to exercise some caution, of course. Venturing into the unknown is one of my favorite adventures.

It never hinders:

– To discover local eateries (some of them can truly be gems)
– To eat much better food (you might be surprise how well some local chefs can cook)
– To pay much lower prices (sometimes half price!) than in any touristy area
– To get directions to other similar good eateries
– To find out about local events
– To support local businesses
– To have fun

It is unavoidable to stumble upon something that you will not like. Or something that will look scary or unsanitary. It has happened to me plenty of times! Don’t be afraid and don’t give up. Keep looking!

Travel is all about experiencing local cultures. That means food!

Little things add up

February 9, 2012 by Jana 3 Comments

This is a guest post from Ashley over at Money Talks. Her passion in life is to help you get control of your money. If you like this article stop by her site, or better yet, subscribe to her feed so you don’t miss a thing.

I worked at Toys R Us when I was in high school. During my time there I was often tasked with being a cashier. I rang up everything from swing sets to action figures, but nothing caught people by surprise more than those customers who had a basket full of stuff from the birthday party supply aisle.

It never failed. I’d ring up all the paper plates, colorful cups, matching napkins, streamers, balloons, and gift bag goodies and come up with a total that was a complete shock to the customer.

“What!” they’d exclaim, “That can’t be right!” They would pull open the bag I had just filled up and do some mental math.

“Sigh, that sure adds up quick!”

It does. Each item in their bag only cost a few dollars but when added up it was more than they expected.

It’s the same with life. A few dollars here, a few dollars there, and before you know it your whole budget is blown. The larger items you can plan for. You know how much your house and car cost. But do you know how much you spend on maintenance for those items? Do you know how much you spend on school lunches for your kids or on hair products for yourself.

It’s good to know because it all adds up. Most people’s financial problems don’t come from the big stuff in their budget. Usually their big items are in line with their income because they were paying attention to those things. In most cases it’s the small things that sink the budget. Paying attention and counting those little things can make or break the budget. That’s why tracking your spending and living on a budget helps you get control of your money. It forces you to spend time thinking about the little things.

Just like my Toys R Us customers, no one ever gasped at the cost of a new basket ball hoop or expensive bike. No. What caught people off guard was when they filled their cart with $2 items. Individually, those things weren’t worth the time to think about, but as whole they added up to some serious bucks.

How do you feel about watching the small things in your budget? Do you have a system that works for you? Does it feel overwhelming to have to watch every dollar?

The day the kitchen floor melted

February 8, 2012 by Jana 27 Comments

My kitchen floor is tiled, DIY-style. Pretty impressive, right? It probably won’t be once you find out the reason why.

When we moved in, our kitchen floor was a lovely laminate. Not the nicest in the world, but certainly not the worst. For the amount of time we planned on being in the house (we’ll get into that another day), it was sufficient. Sturdy enough to handle our family’s traffic yet easy enough to clean. It was also neutral enough that we could pretty much choose any color paint for the walls. A few other cosmetic changes and our kitchen would be exactly what we wanted in our starter house. Simple and easy.

Until the day I melted the floor.

It was totally an accident and it happened in a fit of sheer stupidity. I was cooking dinner (salmon) in a pan on the stove. I turned away for a minute or so (fine, I forgot what I was doing and started on something else) and the next thing I knew, the salmon started to burn. Like really burn. And it stunk. And it was smoking. And I wanted it out of the house before the smoke detector went off and my dog had a coronary.

At this point, I had two choices. Choice one: throw the pan in the sink, fight with the window above the sink and let the smoke and smell dissipate that way. Choice two: put the pan on the deck. Which do you think I chose? That’s right. Not the first choice, which made sense. Nope, my dumb ass went for option 2. Almost.

Our deck, like most decks, is made of wood. In my panicked state I started to think “Ohmygod. If I put the pan on the deck, the deck will catch fire! I can’t put the pan on the deck!” So I didn’t. Instead, I opened the door to the deck (which is off our kitchen) and put the pan on the floor inside so the smoke and smell would blow out the door. Problem solved!

Not really. [Read more…]

Money Tune Tuesday: Audience of One

February 7, 2012 by Jana 3 Comments

I’ve been wanting to use a Rise Against song for a Money Tune Tuesday for quite a while now. But I could never quite find the right one.

I’m a huge Rise Against fan. Not only do I think they’re music is incredible but most of their songs have quite a strong message. I once heard someone compare Sublime’s song to a wolf in sheep’s clothing; meaning, the message is pretty strong but the melody and presentation of the song don’t make it apparent that the song is about something so serious or disturbing. Rise Against does the same thing. And their videos are equally powerful.

Instead of going with one of their more popular songs like “Help Is On The Way” or “Savior” or even their newest, “Satellite” (not to be confused with The Dave Matthews Band’s “Satellite”. Seriously, never confuse them), I’m going with their song “Audience of One”. I picked it because a lot of times, that’s how I feel.

When we started paying down debt, my husband and I lost a lot of friends. Our families didn’t understand our choices (for a variety of reasons) and many times, we felt like we were by ourselves. We had outgrown our previous lifestyle in favor of another more fiscally prudent one and most people couldn’t get behind it. It was hard for us to find kindred spirits to spend time with and, if we did, it was fleeting. So we accepted that, for the time being, it’s just us.

Being your own audience is a pretty liberating feeling. You don’t have to answer to anyone. You get to do things on your own terms, free from judgment and criticism. But it can get lonely. If you’re in a situation where you feel like you’re by yourself and no one’s listening (or supporting you), don’t give up. Just keep going down your path. Because eventually, all of those in the audience of one will add up to a pretty large crowd.

Note: While I am a fan of their music, I do not necessarily agree with their politics, advocacy or activism (if you watch the video, you’ll see what I’m talking about). There are some causes I 100% agree with and some that I do not. I try not to let that detract from how great their music is.

Book review: Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel

February 6, 2012 by Jana 2 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to read Phil Villarreal’s “Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel: 100 Dirty Little Money-Grubbing Secrets”. The premise of the book is to provide, you guessed it, secrets to saving money. Phil covers every category from kids to travel to restaurants to dating. If you want to save money, he gives you tips on how to do it. Except Phil doesn’t provide your standard advice like clipping coupons or cutting back on cable. He takes it a bit farther.

This is not your standard money saving guide. With tips like using stores like CostCo to provide your free lunch or using your money savvy skills to avoid ever bringing food to a pot luck or ending a relationship just before a major day (birthday, anniversary, etc) or even discussing why you should never buy a watch, no stone is left unturned in this book. If you want to know practical yet morally questionable ways to save money in pretty much every area of your life, this is the book for you.

I feel obliged to point out that Phil is an outstanding writer. A topic like saving money is usually a bit, well, dry. Okay, fine I’ll say it. It’s a boring topic. But the way Phil presents it is clever, entertaining, and blends just enough pop culture to drive his point home without feeling like he’s pandering to his audience (plus, he talks about how he was able to get a free preview of an episode of Prison Break. I’ve never discussed this here but I was a Prison Break fanatic and I think Wentworth Miller is one of the most perfect looking men ever. So, this mention alone made the book awesome. But I digress). The short chapters make the information easy to digest and help prevent the book from getting too boring.

There was one part of the book that confused me, though. While the point of the book was to entertain and inform, and it did that very well, there was an overriding tone of sarcasm. That tone, which was not at all offensive, did make it confusing as to whether or not he was serious about some of the tips he was suggesting. It was hard to decide if he was providing solid, concrete information, applicable to our lives or if he was making some sort of commentary on cheapskates.

I believe he was doing both. Just beneath the surface of the sarcasm are actually some pretty good tips. But the way it’s presented provides a sort of caution against being so cheap you actually come across like an ass. No one should ever place money and frugality above ethics, morality and basic common decency. It is possible to take frugality too far, as the book points out in a humorous way, but it’s also possible to be careful with your money.

If you’re looking for a book with practical tips for saving money in a manner that, at times, bucks the system, this is the book for you. And if you have a friend who’s thisclose to extreme cheapness, pick up a copy for him, too. He may learn something.

The opinions expressed above are entirely my own. I was not compensated in any way for reading the book or providing my opinions.