We Rv 4 Fun.com Blog

Save some money on your next trip to the grocery store with these tips!

The average grocery expense for a three or four person family in 2005 was $110, according to a Food Marketing Institute survey.  The rising cost of oil is affecting how much we pay for everything, so the cost of groceries is also rising. We have to eat, so food is a “necessary” item, but it is also a variable expense, meaning consumers have some control over how much they have to spend on the outlay. When I was a stay-at-home mom, I learned tricks to save money on all our adjustable expenses. Many weeks I could feed our family of four on $40.  (more…)

One of my first jobs out of college was as a mortgage broker for a (gasp!) sub-prime lender . Before you get out the tar and feathers, let me state for the record that this was before the term “sub-prime” was common terminology. Let me also state that I quit after less than one year because, even in 1994, I felt I was a practicing a form of legal loan sharking. 

Currently, the supporters of aid for those who may lose their homes due to “unfair lending practices,” seem to be pointing their fingers at the mortgage brokers.  Since these guys were actually in the room when the borrower signed on the bottom line, they make the easiest target.

But why are lending companies being pegged as the ones who preyed on helpless, unsuspecting consumers?  Doesn’t culpability lie with the realtors who listed and sold the home?  Last week one couple in California sued their realtor for selling them a house for $1.2 million dollars when a similar home, just down the street, was on the market for $200,000 less.  The kicker was the less expensive home had air conditioning and a pool. Um, you mean someone paid over $1 mill for a pad that doesn’t even have air conditioning?!

I always thought it was amazing that a home appraised for just the “right” amount, coming in within thousands, or even hundreds, of dollars of the sales price for the home. I heard a story on the radio about one appraiser in Florida, who said he was told by a realtor to appraise properties for a certain amount or he wouldn’t get any more work. When the appraiser refused to fudge the numbers, he was essentially blacklisted by realtors in the area. 

Ultimately, doesn’t the responsibility lie with the consumer who is borrowing the money?  I know several people who admitted to taking a home equity loan or cash out refinance in order to pay off automobiles, take vacations, and pay for big screen televisions.  

Certainly there are those unsophisticated borrowers who do not understand the legalese of a Truth-in-Lending Statement and a Deed of Trust, and those borrowers should get a break.

Blame the consumer, the realtor, the appraiser, the lenders who encourage cash-out financing. Everyone should take responsibility. Now, the ones who will benefit will be those who didn’t buy into the hype of an ever-expanding housing market, as well as those of us “lucky” enough to be renting!

Amy

Turn on the news and you will hear sad tales of how people are losing their homes because they bit off a little more than they could chew financially. Isn’t it just amazing that our countries GDP is based upon consumer spending.  For years Americans have been spending more than they make.  Big SUV’s in the driveway, huge Flat-Screen TV’s, vacations, all bought with credit.  We know of many people who took out “debt consolidation” Home Equity Loans (HELOC’s), convinced their home price would continue to rise, and unconcerned about repayment.

Now that the price of borrowing is too expensive, shopping has taken a nosedive. Fortunately, our family realized long ago that things don’t bring us hapiness or security.  Rather, having no debt and having a nice cushion in the bank account affords us to sleep well most nights.

Soon after Rich and I married, we realized we were traveling down a path of long work hours and little quality of home life. Long hours at the office meant we saw more of our bosses than each other, and we didn’t like it. Like many of our friends we were becoming victims of “stuffitis.” We yearned for less stress and a simpler life, but really thought we were destined to be in the rat race until we turned 65. We started to accumulate debt, like so many young couples. Once we had Morgan, I became a stay-at-home-mom, and our income was cut by one-third. (more…)

The first step to trying to save money and live a more simple life doesn’t lay in your checking or savings account. Whether you are a saver, a spender, or somewhere in the middle, here is an exercise that will benefit just about everyone!

For you spenders with the maxed out credit cards; a low bank balance or maxed out credit is not the barrier to your dreams, whether you dream of early retirement, changing jobs, or just cutting back on work hours for more quality time. Rather, limited savings and/or a lot of debt are the symptoms of the underlying problem that prevents one from realizing their dreams. This disease is one I like to call “stuffitis.”

Like spilled milk, lamenting over a low balance and bills will not immediately fix any problems. However, so many feel paralyzed by hopelessness and just don’t know where or how to start cleaning up their finances.  Well, don’t fret because there is something much simpler that you have a lot of control over that can greatly influence your future and make you feel much better in the short run.  And that thing is…. (more…)

Following is a copy of a post I recently made on the www.irv2.com forum on a discussion over whether now is a good time to buy a new RV.  It pretty much sums up the way we feel about finances in general.

For those of us without unlimited funds, and about 50 years of life expectancy in front of us, we have learned to temper our “wants” with “enough.”

A 4-slide $250K depreciating asset that gets 7 mpg just doesn’t’ make sense for us (that doesn’t even consider the maintenance expense!). And we are in the top 5% of savings for our age group (40 yrs). (more…)

Opportunities exist for saving money every day, but sometimes you need to negotiate a little. I was really surprised when an RV salesman confided in my husband and I that about half of all people who buy from him pay full sticker price.  Little do they know they could have easily saved 15-25% just for a little haggling.

How many money saving opportunities do you pass on because you are afraid to ask? I negotiate for everything, from cars and groceries to yard sale items and rv camp sites. Sometimes my family is downright embarassed, but I think they get a little impressed when I do score a good “deal.” I love to get a bargain, and today was no exception. (more…)

Written by the late Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, this is a classic how-to about quitting working for “da man” and check out of paid employment all together. I first heard of this book about 10 years ago and it has certainly changed our lives.

The book describes how Joe left a tiresome and stressful job on Wall Street and eeked out a fulfilling existence on $6000 per year by following 9 steps discussed in the book.  The steps are not simple, but are necessary for finding your “enough,” which is different than everyone else’s “enough.” 

For instance, for our family, we find that we don’t get a lot out of eating at restaurants, but love traveling in our RV. We are willing to forego trendy clothes, expensive dinners, and McD’s, but please don’t ask us to get rid of the camper! (more…)

 

 

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