i The Frugal Law Student | 2007 | June

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High Gas Prices=Increase in Car Break-ins?

Written by Brett McKay

Earlier today our car was broken into. One of the items taken from it was our gas card. When we called to cancel it, the customer service rep at Shell said there has been an increase of cases like ours ever since gas prices have gone up.

According to the Shell rep, they’ve been getting hundreds of calls like ours everyday and that it’s on the rise. Some people have reported that their cars have been torn apart with most valuables left untouched, but their gas card was stolen. She said that criminals, knowing that many people leave their gas card in their car out of convenience, are breaking in to cars specifically looking for gas cards.

I don’t think this was the reason we got our card stolen. We had stuff in our car that probably made us a target. During their rummaging, the crooks probably saw the card and added it to their haul.

I doubt that there is a correlation with increased gas prices and car break-ins. I can’t imagine crooks breaking into cars only to look for gas cards. What if there is no gas card? I don’t think a criminal is going to say, “Fiddlesticks! No gas card! I’ll just leave these CDs and car stereo here and check the next car over for a gas card.” Perhaps the number of car break-ins is staying the same and crooks are just adding gas cards on the list of things to look for while jacking stuff from cars. Thus, the number of gas cards reported stolen from vehicles will increase to match the number of car break-ins. So, maybe high gas prices=increase in gas card heists, not increase in car break-ins. Either way it sucks.

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[tags]crime, cars[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 14 Jun 07 | This And That | Comments (8)

We’ve Been Burgled!

Written by Brett McKay

My wife and I woke up this morning to our car being broken into. They smashed in one of the back windows. Glass was everywhere and was a pain to clean up. The crooks got away with our radar detector, my wife’s CDs, and a gas card.

What a way to start your day. We’re not going to make a claim with our car insurance on this. It’s not worth our rates going up. The window they smashed wasn’t that big, so it shouldn’t be too expensive to replace it. We had the gas card canceled, so no worries with that. I think the most painful thing to lose was my wife’s CDs. Music is really important to my wife, so having those stolen really hurt. She spent lots of money and several years collecting her CDs and now they’re gone. She had about 40 CDs in her case. At $10-$15 for each CD, it would be too costly to replace them.

broken-window.jpg shattered-glass.jpg

(Notice in the first picture that not only was our window broken, a bird pooped right next to it. Thanks, bird, for rubbing our loss in our faces.)

So now we have the ghetto black plastic bag covering where our window used to be. It will have to do until we can get the window replaced. Thankfully, we have a small emergency fund we can dip into to cover the costs to replace the window. It makes me mad we have to use what little emergency money we have on a stupid thing like this.

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[tags]crime, cars[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 14 Jun 07 | This And That | Comments (20)

Personal Finance Question From Office Space: What Would You Do If You Had a Million Dollars?

Written by Brett McKay

Office Space is one of the most hilarious movies ever made. Not only is it pee-in-your-pants funny, it also gets you thinking about personal finance. In one scene Peter, the main character, asks his mulleted neighbor, Lawrence, what he would do if he had a million dollars. Warning: Adult language.

So, Lawrence would hook up with two chicks at the same time and Peter would do nothing. But as Lawrence wisely points out, you don’t need a million dollars to do nothing.

What would you do with a million dollars?

If I had a million dollars I would first pay off my wife’s and I’s student loans which is hovering at about $50,000 right now. That leaves me with $950,000 to play with.

Second, I would invest half- $450,000- in some index funds. If I left that money alone for 20 years, without adding anything to it, at a conservative 8% return, I would end up with a little over $2 million. Not too shabby.

I don’t know what I would do with the other $450,000. It would be nice to buy a house with cash. With low housing costs here in Oklahoma, it could be possible to do that with $450,000. I guess a good option would be to sock it away in a high yield savings account or perhaps invest in CDs or bonds. With such a huge principle I could have a decent amount of supplemental income each year from dividends. I would definitely use some of it and go on a nice vacation somewhere.

That’s what I would do with a million dollars. Now it’s your turn. What would you do if you had a million dollars? Drop a comment and add to the conversation.

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[tags]Office Space, Personal Finance [/tags]

> Brett McKay | 13 Jun 07 | Personal Finance | Comments (17)

Submit Your Money Stories For Carnival of Money Stories- June 18th Edition

Written by Brett McKay

I’ll be hosting next week’s Carnival of Money Stories here at The Frugal Law Student. For those of you not familiar with the Carnival of Money Stories, here’s what kind of posts we’re looking for.

Here in CoMS we talk about personal experiences or the experiences of others on saving, investing, finance, money management, money generating, business ventures, success and tales of struggle. We would love to hear how you are handling your financial and business challenges as well as your opinions on money news and stories you come across.

In short, the Carnival of Money Stories puts the “personal” back in personal finance.

Please submit your articles with this submission form. Deadline for submissions is June 17th.

I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s posts!

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[tags]blog carnivals[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 12 Jun 07 | Carnivals | Comments (0)

4 Symptoms of Living Beyond Your Means

Written by Brett McKay

Many people don’t realize they’re in financial trouble before it’s too late. Individuals who end up bankruptcy often say the same thing: “How did I get here?” More and more Americans are living beyond their means, especially younger Americans. The problem is that living beyond your means has become a societal norm. Consequently, many people don’t recognize that they’re living beyond their means. So, for your consideration, I present 4 symptoms of living beyond your means. As soon as any of them show up, make the needed adjustments, i.e. spend less, in your financial life immediately.

  1. You use loans to pay debts. If you’re using debt to pay old debt, then you’re definitely living beyond your means.
  2. You only use credit to make purchases. You can’t afford the lifestyle you’re living with cash anymore, so you move to credit cards. To make yourself feel better, you pay with cash that’s drawn from your credit. Cash from credit is the same as just using your credit card- you’ll have to pay it back.
  3. You get overdue notices everyday. The only thing you get in the mail is letters from creditors wanting their money, but you don’t have the money to pay them. It might be time you start reining in on your spending.
  4. You don’t know how much you’re spending. If you never have money and you don’t know where it has gone, you’re probably in trouble.

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[tags]debt, frugality, bankruptcy, credit cards[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 12 Jun 07 | Credit Cards, Frugality, Personal Finance | Comments (8)

Frugal Experiment: Brushing Teeth With Baking Soda

Written by Brett McKay


Last week, I decided to start brushing my teeth with baking soda. In every book on frugality that I have ever read, brushing your teeth with baking soda is always in a list of money saving tips. A box of baking soda costs a little more than a dollar. The amount of baking soda required to brush your teeth is minimal, so you can probably get hundreds brushes in before you run out. The cost per brush probably comes out to a penny, maybe even less.

How to Brush Teeth Using Baking Soda

You can brush your teeth with baking soda in one of two ways. First, you can create a paste from the baking soda in a glass. Just mix the soda with a little water until you get a paste like substance.

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The second way is to just put the powder directly on your brush and just start brushing. Your saliva will create the paste. I preferred the second method because it required less time.

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Results

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It wasn’t too bad. The baking soda has kind of a salty taste, so it’s not as a refreshing experience like brushing your teeth with your mint toothpaste. Baking soda is also abrasive, that’s what makes it such an awesome cleaner. But I think it might have been too abrasive. I had a small cut on my gum at the end of one brushing.

When I was done brushing, my teeth felt squeaky clean. It was like I had just gotten back from the dentist. After a few brushes, I noticed my teeth were a little bit whiter than usual. Very nice. Not only does baking soda make my mouth feel dentist clean, it also whitens them up. I’m not only saving money on toothpaste, I’m saving money on expensive teeth whitening products.

I went to go show my wife the results of my little experiment. I thought she would be ecstatic to hear we can save money each year by switching from normal toothpaste to baking soda.

As I opened my mouth to tell her the good news, my wife’s face cringed, “What smells like poo?”

“What?” I replied.

“You’re breath. It smells like poo. Get away from me.”

“That can’t be. I just brushed my teeth with baking soda.”

“Well, it made your breath smell like poo. Please brush your teeth with toothpaste like a normal person.”

Hmmm… so baking soda cleans well, but leaves a poo scent in my mouth. My experiment with brushing my teeth with baking soda ended quickly. My wife didn’t want to be married to a guy with poo breath. Saving my marriage is much more important to me than saving a few dollars.

I haven’t given up completely on the idea. I’ve read that many people add mint extract to their baking soda to leave their mouth feeling fresh. Perhaps that would eliminate the halitosis that brushing with baking soda causes. The only down side is that it would take some time to prepare each morning. If I were ever in a rush, it would really put a kink in me getting out the door on time.

Has anyone else tried brushing their teeth with baking soda? If so, what have your results been?

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Featured Resource

Brushing your teeth regularly is only a part of Dental Health. Organizations like the American Dental Association recommend visiting a Dentist at least twice a year. If your job doesn’t provide dental find cheap family Dental Plans online.

[tags]frugality, teeth[/tags]

> Brett McKay | 11 Jun 07 | Frugality | Comment (1)
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