By Sheryl Smolkin

I was noodling around the internet today when I came upon Rock Finance, which scans 200+ articles about money and daily and links to the best ones they think will motivate and inspire readers. Cait Flanders who formerly blogged as “Blonde on a Budget” has partnered with j.money (Budgets are $exy) to populate this site.

Here are a few of the “best money blogs” they have featured recently:
In Revisiting the Latte Factor: The Power of Daily Routine Trent Hamm says giving up your latte and bagel once and saving $8 isn’t a big deal. However, if you cut out 250 purchases, it adds up to $2,000. That’s why he says examining your regular routine and finding ways to save on recurring purchases is important.

Is it ethical to return stuff to the store like the dress you only wore once to the prom or unopened packages of food? When J. Money was a student he gave a used boombox back to Walmart several months after he bought it because he was flat broke and the store had a 90 day return policy. Nevertheless he was very embarrassed and made a vow not to return goods he purchases in future unless he immediately realizes he made a mistake or the goods are damaged.

Mrs. Frugalwoods has WAY more willpower than I do. She says she hasn’t purchased any clothes in 2.5 years and counting. Her initial reasons for enacting a ban on clothes-buying were financial, But then she realized she frequently used to buy clothes more for fun than anything else. And the unexpected benefit of her continuing decision not to buy clothes is that she is increasingly less concerned with her appearance. “I’d much rather save money than buy into the notion that I need to fix my appearance,” she writes .

Mr. Money Mustache offers wealth advice that should be obvious. Some of his colourful suggestions are:

• Don’t try to gamble your way to wealth.
• When you get a windfall, it should go straight to your highest interest debt.
• Don’t buy stuff you can’t afford and don’t need.
• Don’t pay to have stuff stored.
• Don’t look at restaurants as an ongoing source of food.
• Stock up on reasonable amounts of things you use when they go on sale.

And the Financial Samurai writes about slicing through money’s mysteries. He questions why Vacation Money Is Crazy Money. After discussing why his frugal habits fell apart on a recent trip to Paris, he offers some interesting suggestions for controlling vacation spending.

• Create a budget in Excel.
• Spend cash for food and entertainment
• Don’t forget exchange rates
• Where possible combine business travel and personal travel.

Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card and

 

By Sheryl Smolkin

I can never get too excited about the make and model of the car I drive. All I expect it to do is to reliably get me from A to B and cost as little as possible to run. But there has been a lot of press about the pros and cons of electric cars lately, including the latest luxury Tesla.

If owning a Tesla is on your bucket list, you may be interested in a blog from the self-proclaimed tightwad Mr. Money Mustache describing his 1400 miles of non-driving in a Tesla with a friend who recently acquired one for over $75,000 USD. He says the autopilot actually works, and the company has lined U.S. interstates and major cities with high-speed electric charging stations fueled with free solar electricity available 24 hours a day.

However for the rest of us, the more realistic option when we are looking for a family car is to purchase or lease a new or used vehicle from a car dealer in our community. Automobiles – Buying and Selling, an interesting post from Saskatchewan’s Public Legal Association discusses the pros and cons of these alternatives and your legal rights and responsibilities in each situation to help you make the decision that is best for you.

If a used car is in your future, take a look at What You Need to Know Before Buying a Used Car. When it comes to inspecting a car you are interested in, TrueCar.Advisor says be a “DIY detective.” For example, he suggests bringing along a little fridge magnet and placing it all over the car (lower door, front fender, etc). If there is any plastic body filler present, the magnet won’t stay in place, indicating the vehicle has been in an accident. If you want a more in-depth list of possible DIY Detective skills, visit the DMV guide.

Andrew Wendler acknowledges on caranddriver.com that vehicle listings on Craigslist are always free of oversight and may include half-truths and incomplete vehicle histories. However, this classified advertisements website can be a highly effective tool for locating the car of your dreams, so he provides 10 Tips for a Successful Car-Buying Experience on Craigslist that should help you separate fact from fiction and make a satisfactory purchase.

And finally, in a guest post on the Canadian Finance Blog, Retire Happy’s Jim Yih warns readers Don’t Fall for This Amazon Payments Car Scam. Unfortunately there are phishing scams out there that make you think you’re paying through services like Amazon Payments or PayPal, but you’re really sending your funds to a fake site and are unlikely to ever see that money again. He recounts how he almost got taken in by an Amazon Payments scam when he was looking for a used car a few years ago and includes screen shots, illustrating how you can identify signs of a bogus offer

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information with us on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.