The Passive Dad » Guest Blog Posts

Unit Pricing: The Real Indicator of Value for your Money

Traci K. — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:00:05 +0000

I was at Wal-mart with my husband last week shopping, and ended up in the laundry detergent and softener aisle. I don’t typically buy my laundry supplies at Wal-mart, but we needed detergent and it would ultimately save gas and time to just get it there. Because I was very unfamiliar with Wal-Mart pricing on these items, I think I spent well over 20 minutes staring at the unit pricing for different brands and sizes. The actual value of any product you buy can be broken down to the unit price of a given object. In the case of my laundry detergents, I saw that the better pricing was actually a major brand at regular price instead of even the sale detergent or the off-brand labels. Not only that, but the smaller packages were a better deal in general also! It’s been awhile since I found that to be true. What seems to be the best deal, isn’t always the best deal. This is when knowing how to determine unit pricing will help you.

If you aren’t familiar with unit pricing, it’s like the price per pound or the price per ounce of any given object. A lot of stores have the unit pricing listed on the shelf label in addition to the total price. Just in case you can’t find it on the shelf tag, finding the price is easy as long as you have a calculator or if you’re really good at doing math in your head.

I was shopping for dryer sheets this weekend, so let’s use that as an example. At drugstore.com, a 80ct. box of Bounce dryer sheets is $5.99. $5.99 divided by 80 (the number of total sheets) is $0.074 or about 7 cents per dryer sheet. 120 ct. box of Bounce dryer sheets is $7.49 or about $0.062 or 6 cents per dryer sheet. The difference is fairly minuscule, but the larger box is slightly cheaper when you look at the cost per dryer sheet. In our case, a box of 80 dryer sheets lasts us 3-5 months so buying more than that seems wasteful and doesn’t validate the $2.40 I would save per year.

Although to be fair, if I did this with everything I buy on a regular basis (just off the top of my head I’m estimating 30-40 things per month we buy regularly from milk, eggs, to meat) the potential savings add up to $100 and more per year. That’s just at a one cent per unit discount on things you’re going to be buying anyway although “savings” could be less or more. While this is an impractical attitude to take towards every purchase, it can have some benefit. If you enjoy math or this type of picky shopping, or you find yourself trying to decide if the smaller package or larger package is a better deal then determining the unit price may be for you.

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5 Tips to Start Planning for Retirement

Traci K. — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:00:58 +0000

There are a lot of different options when it comes to planning for retirement: 401k, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Regular Savings, Money Markets, and even Stocks. All of these methods have time tested value, although some come with more risk than others. If you’re just starting to plan for retirement, this may seem like I’m talking in gibberish. Let’s simplify! Here are 5 tips if you’re just starting to save for your retirement.

401(k): If your job offers a 401(k) retirement plan (and ESPECIALLY if they match anything at all), use it. The bigger the company match, the better off you’ll fare. What this means is that if you have a company that matches 50% of your 401(k), and you save $2,000 for the year, your company will add an additional $1,000 or 50% of what you saved. It’s free money, it doesn’t get sweeter than that. Like any type of important long-term savings, put as much as you can in! The suggested percent of your total income to stash in all savings is 10%. If you can’t make that, do what you can. If you’re older, it’s more important to make that as much of an amount as possible.
IRA: If you don’t have a 401(k) through your work, you should consider an IRA. Deposits to IRA retirement accounts can be deducted from your taxes at the end of the year, although there is a maximum deposit amount per year for tax purposes. There are two types of IRA accounts: Traditional and Roth. Traditional IRA accounts mean that no taxes are taken out of your money before it’s sent to your IRA. So, when you pull it out to use it in retirement you will have to pay taxes on it. A Roth IRA means you’ve already paid your taxes on that income, so when you do use your savings in retirement you won’t owe taxes on it. I opt for a Roth IRA because the idea on paying taxes on (hopefully) $50,000+ makes me stomach lurch to my throat.
High-Interest: Another way to contribute to your retirement savings is by stashing your main emergency savings and/or long term savings in a high-interest account or CD (or other similar investment). These types of savings are low-risk so you won’t lose money, although the money you will gain is potentially lower than other high-risk options.
Make it Automatic: Just like any savings account, make the transfer of money automatic so you forget about it and it’s not part of your incoming income.
Diversify: Although this becomes more important as you get older, it can be helpful to have retirement funding in several different types of accounts. Most low-interest accounts like IRA’s, savings, and CD’s and Bonds are pretty consistent through time, but if you have some high-risk investments (like a 401(k) that’s also based on stock prices) then make sure you have other low risk investments and savings as well.

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8 Ways to Cut Entertainment Expenses

Traci K. — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:00:07 +0000

Entertainment expenses can take up a large portion of a family’s budget and time. How often have we picked up that new release from Blockbuster only to be a week late returning it – and paying the resultant late fee. Sometimes entertainment includes eating out (or snacking out), movie theater trips, shopping (without purpose), and sports and concert events. If your family is a devoted fan of your local semi-pro hockey team and you go to almost every game without fail, I certainly don’t advocate tossing your season passes to cut your expenses as long as you can comfortably afford them. However, there are some ways to cut down on entertainment costs, no matter what form of entertainment is your poison of choice.

Unlimited Movie Rentals without the Late Fee: Try subscribing to either Netflix or Blockbuster unlimited monthly rentals with no late fees. You can get anywhere from 1-3 DVD’s out at a time depending on the subscription package you buy. Of course, you could also try your library…as long as you take it back on time!
Stream Movies at Home: You can also stream movies to your computer at home, or through select devices depending on who you’re streaming through. If you have at least a DSL connection, you can typically stream without too much of an issue although you will see delays and even poor streaming from time to time. You can get all kinds of TV shows and movies free through sites like Hulu.com
Go Outside: Try getting out of the house! Go to a park, hike, picnic, play basketball, or take a walk. None of it requires money and it’s healthy for the whole family to get outside and play. Don’t forget to bring water!
Go to Afternoon Movies: If you are going to go out to the movies, go in the afternoon because the matinée prices are about half the price of the evening showings. Be sure to eat before you go so that you save on snacks and drinks because you feel full! Check your local movie theater listings as sometimes there are “$1.50” movie theaters that play movies that are on re-run instead of new releases at a very low cost.
Play Games: Traditional board games are still an option, although they seem to have fallen out of favor lately. There are lots of new games out in additional to other things like puzzles, drawing games, word games, and card games.
Volunteer: A great way to spend time together as a family is to volunteer. You can go to a local food bank, animal shelter, soup kitchen, or any other local charity organization that might need a few hours of help. It’s a great way to meet people and help others. For kids, it’s a great way to teach them about helping others.
Read a Book: Reading books are still a time honored tradition. You can read a book out loud to the family or curl up with a good book by yourself. Local libraries have tons of books for free, and there are tons of books to be found online for free as well.
Listen to Music: You can listen to music at home or go out to concerts. You can usually find discount tickets online. Save money by sitting further back. For many classical performance halls, the best acoustics are in the balcony or top levels and often are also the cheapest seats. Checking your local County and City web pages may also show a number of completely free live concerts available as well!

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Mint Online Budget Software Review

Traci K. — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:00:16 +0000

Mint is one of the many new online budgeting software becoming very popular in the last year or so. I’ve been using Mint for about six months now, sometimes more regularly than others. Registration is fairly straight forward, although it is fairly lengthy including account and budget setup. Mint is completely free to use and syncs your information with your bank accounts by using your online login. Your information is kept safe as Mint uses the same type of security and technology as any type of well known financial institution (banks, tax companies, anyone who handles sensitive financial information). However, the concept of entering your bank account information into the Mint site may make you queasy. Don’t worry, it’s optional! For people like me who hate entering everything by hand, it’s a life saver.

When you log into the account after having linked your bank information or entering sufficient income, budget and receipts, your screen will give you a budget overview showing how much you’ve spent and where it went. If you’re just setting up your account, you can go to the Trends tab to see where your money is actually going. It will show you the last month by default, but you can compare to previous months as well. It may take awhile of editing individual stores and transactions to make sure they are counted in the correct category though.

Setting budgets is very easy, you simply follow the prompt to create a budget, choose categories and enter amounts. It’s all easy to edit through a very graphic interface. You can even set goals to pay off debts, or save for goals of your choice. The goal portion is pretty new to Mint, but very intuitive to use. It breaks your goal down into monthly goals and tells you about how long it will take to reach your goal.

Pros: Mint is very user friendly, very graphic and automatically pulls from your bank if you want to use that option. It’s great if you’re financially challenged, are new to budgeting, or need feedback and alerts if you go over budget. Mint offers text message and email alerts for a whole list of items varying from low balance to an exceeded budget amount.

Cons: Mint has a lot of options and a lot of things to customize. It can take awhile to set up and if you aren’t somewhat comfortable with computers it might be a challenge. Also, there is a fair amount of advertising. A lot of their “Save on..” options are offers from credit card companies, mortgages, etc. for related services. While they are kept to a minimum, they are prevalent.

I really suggest using Mint if you need help figuring out where your money is going, especially if you are comfortable using your online banking information. If you use email and text messages, it’s a great way to know quickly when you’re going over budget. This would definitely be great for college students trying to track debt (credit cards, student loans, borrowing money from friends) and learning how to budget for the first time. Overall, it’s an excellent program for anyone used to computer and online usage and some of their tools (like the goal tracker) are outstanding.

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PearBudget Online Budgeting Software Review

Traci K. — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:00:42 +0000

There are a number of online budgeting software available to track your expenses and help you plan and keep track of your budget and income. One of the more popular online softwares I have run across lately is PearBudget. I am always searching for a better budgeting software, so I thought I would sign up for PearBudget and see how it worked. You get a 30 day free trial, although if you decide to keep using the software it is $3 per month. As far as these types of software go, that’s a reasonable price, although I am skeptical of the cost, especially in comparison to companies like Quicken Intuit services.

The registration for PearBudget was very simple. To start, it has you actually set up a budget by entering in categories, estimated spending amounts, and monthly income. It’s a very simple layout, and the prompts are very funny and engaging. I like the simplicity of the layout and they remind you that budgets are fluid: you can change it later and don’t need to have every bill and receipt with you right now. I would use this interface just to get a budget together, assign categories and fuss with numbers when you actually see your income compared to expenses. You can always print it off for use. Here are some screen shots from the set up process:

Once the budget is set up, you need to sign up for a free 30 day trial in order to save your budget information. Once the very easy registration is complete (no payment information required), it asks you to enter receipts. I must admit, I was disappointed that I would have to enter everything by hand for a service that is subscription based, but there is something to be said for simplicity. I remember my dad used to budget in a notebook and he would keep track of every single purchase in that same notebook (even cash). This is a very back to basics version lay out for budgeting.

Once you’ve entered in your receipts, you can view expenses versus income. The layout is again, very simple and clean. The information is easy to understand and keep track of. It’s easier to use than any other software I’ve tried, but it also requires receipts to be hand entered. I might try this for the next month as my husband and I switch to a cash system to try and control some spending bleeding. It will be more work, but it might be more helpful at managing our budget at this point in time. The expenses/receipts versus budget page looks like this:

If you’re new to budgeting, if you’re used to budgeting by hand, or if the idea of using an online software that pulls information from your bank account freaks you out this software is worth a try. Keep in mind, it will cost $3 a month later. You could always switch to a spreadsheet format, but the graphical displays and history provided online might be worth the $3 if you’re not very computer savvy or if you’re a visual person.

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7 Ways to Earn Extra Cash

Traci K. — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:00:21 +0000

We’ve all been there. Sometimes you just need extra cash in a hurry. Maybe you have a present you forgot to buy, it’s Christmas time, you need more groceries before your next pay check next week, or there’s a new gadget you just want now. There are a number of things you can do to get cash pretty quickly.

Craigslist: Most of us are familiar with Craigslist by now, whether we’ve listed something, bought something or looked for free stuff. If you have something to sell, put it on Craigslist. Not everything goes, but a lot of stuff does. Especially if it’s a popular gadget at the time. Best of all, it’s cash in hand.
Amazon and Ebay: Listing things to sell on Amazon and Ebay can be great! (Textbooks at back to school time do well, also.) You do need to have your payment stuff set up before you start for no delays, and it can take more time than selling to someone local for you to receive payment. It’s still a great option for short term extra cash needs.
Do an odd job: You can always try to mow extra lawns, do yard work, baby sit, house clean, dog walk, plant sit or help someone move. You can ask your neighbors, put out flyers or advertisements, ask around at church and ask people you know. It won’t make you rich, but you can make $20-$50 pretty quickly in a weekend.
Donate Plasma: If you aren’t afraid of needles, you can make $30-$50 a week by donating plasma 1-2 times per week. There are regulations on what will disqualify you from being eligible to donate and how often you can donate. DonatingPlasma.org gives more information on the process along with a list of plasma banks in the U.S.
Medical Procedures: Other options for relatively quick cash in a rather unusual way can include volunteering for a clinical trial, donating eggs or donating sperm. While donating sperm is a rigorous screening process with minimal risk, donating eggs is a very intense and potentially risky process that has a very high pay. Clinical trials vary in terms of potential risk and subsequent pay. All of these options can take several months to complete or get any type of compensation.
Sell your Hair: There are a number of places online that you can sell your hair if you have a minimum of 10” of hair length and your hair is not bleached or overly chemically treated. Some women who have sold their hair (unbleached, not dyed, not processed, non-smokers) of 34” in length for almost $3,000! That is a lot of money for some healthy hair.
Street Performer: This won’t make you rich by any means, but if you have any type of talent (musical, comedy, miming) and you aren’t shy try performing in the street for tips. If can be a great way to have fun for an afternoon- and might lead to a gig or two. Be sure to check for any applicable laws that might indicate you need a permit or any other legal paperwork.

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Google Affiliate Program Review

Traci K. — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:00:21 +0000

The Google Affiliate program is one of many affiliate programs available online. Although it is but one of many, it is backed by the well known Google. For that reason alone, it may be one of the more popular affiliate programs available today. Setting up an initial Google Affiliate program is very easy, all you need is a Gmail account. Once you complete the initial registration, you can browse through a very extensive list of affiliates to choose from (for example Barnes & Noble, Fossil, Llewellyn, Borders, Crabtree & Evelyn and more). Each individual affiliate has the option to allow you to use their affiliate links or to decline you access. If you are approved, you can scroll through the available ads and links and get the code to paste into your website. You can track any commissions made on the very first page you see when you log in. It displays the current month in a graph form, and it’s very easy to navigate.

Pros: The program is very easy to sign up for. They also have a large number of affiliates in a lot of areas, so there are a lot of choices. You have the option of html code or a regular link for most of the affiliates, so it’s very easy to add to your website. Tracking the number of clicks and number of commissions is very easy and intuitive.

Cons: My experiences with Google Affiliates ended with three major down sides. The first is that the affiliates I used (Barnes and Noble and Amazon) had only banner ads available in html version. I find the banner ads tend to look gaudy on most sites, and these were no exception. The second down side is that the banner ads are almost exclusively -not- product specific, so your ad says only Barnes & Noble or advertises a “20% off Barnes & Noble purchases” sale. Barnes & Noble had one specifically for the Nook as well. The third down side is that if you choose to put up a banner ad with a current sale, special, or holiday pricing you then have to change it when that special is over. It requires moderate upkeep to keep all your links up to date with their currently available links as participating affiliates do update their available ads semi-regularly.

How does it stack up against the competition? The commission rates are fairly competitive, although if the company offers their own separate affiliate program you may fare better going directly through the specific company. It’s worth double checking!

Is it worth it? Google Affiliate program was not effective for my specific niche website I tried the program for. The ads were too generic for my purposes, although embedding the link into the text if discussing a product had some results. As my website didn’t deal much with products, I found it ineffective. If your website focuses more on products or lends its self to banner ads for specific stores, then it may be a great fit for you! The program its self isn’t something I had any issues with except that it didn’t work well for my specific website.

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5 Ways to Earn Passive Income

Traci K. — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:00:58 +0000

Everyone is familiar with active income: income made directly from your day-to-day job whether it’s hourly, salary, or contracted pay which comprises most peoples’ primary income source. But there is another strategy to supplement primary income, with little or no upfront work. Earn passive income with a primary investment of time or money, then sit back and collect your additional income streams with minimal upkeep. Here are five passive income ideas to help get you started:

1. Real Estate: Real estate is a traditional way to earn passive income. The best passive income opportunity through real estate is one of the most recognized: the rental property. Whether the property is already owned or bought for use as a rental, this one time, up front investment generates a monthly stream of income with little maintenance. But there are other forms to earn passive income through real estate, such as lumber sales from wooded property. This option does usually involve a large up front investment.

2.Investing: Interest and dividends make up another traditional avenue to earn passive income. Dividends are paid from investments such as stock exchange (high risk) and mutual funds (medium risk). The higher possible return usually involves more risk. Interest is from low risk investments with lower yields, but there is still a way to maximize your return. You can utilize everything from high interest checking and savings accounts, Cd’s, money market savings or investing in the stock market. There are a wealth of options depending on how much you have to invest up front and how much risk you are willing to take.

3. Information: Information products provide the best passive income for those with little money to invest up front. The products are a one time investment of effort to create an e-book, booklet or newsletter with market appeal. The e-book can be sold through a personal website and will require additional marketing. You could also use self-publishing companies that help promote e-content or try for places that publish to mobile devices. Both require that some form of need is addressed for the audience. Traditional paper publishing and self publishing also generate passive income, requiring different start up costs for any budget.

4. Advertising: Websites or blogs earn passive income online through advertising and affiliate programs. Advertising such as Google’s AdWords pays the website or blog owner as web surfers click on ads embedded in the page. Affiliate programs allow linking to products for sale. The website owner makes a small commission for purchases made by following the link to make the purchase. Website content draws people to the site, so unique or specialized content is important.

5. Sales: Content Selling/Reselling is a strategy for generating passive income online. Successful sales require original content that can be sold repeatedly, such as photographs and image licenses or sewing patterns. Other passive income ideas for content require upfront creation such as website or blog templates, desktop themes, and even mobile device applications. Reselling content can be as simple as setting up a web page for purchased content, using a domain reseller program or even selling domain hosting for other companies.

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Amazon Affiliate Program Review

Traci K. — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Amazon is one of the most popular online discount stores. You can find almost anything on Amazon and often at some of the lowest available prices. With a solid reputation among online stores and a large offering of reputable used items, Amazon is a well-trusted company to try an affiliate program with. The application process is very simple, although there is a few day wait while they review your website for acceptance.

Pros: The biggest benefit of Amazon’s affiliate program is that it is very customizable. You can choose the specific items you want to advertise, you have options in what the links look like, and you can even create your own “mini-store” interface with Amazon products. I really enjoyed that I had complete control over exactly what was being advertised and what the advertising looked like. I also enjoyed the customization options available for aesthetics on the links and even the in the store interface. Also, Amazon offers a pretty hefty advertising rate averaging four to fifteen percent of purchases made. Amazon also has such a wide range of available products to choose from, so no matter what topic your site is on you can typically find applicable products.

Cons: The most notable downside to Amazon affiliate program is that you are not able to use this service if you reside in Colorado, North Carolina or Rhode Island due to applicable local laws. Also, Amazon provides required scripting to be placed on your website to clearly identify that you are part of the affiliate program. It can require minimal maintenance to make sure your ad and link content is still the correct products, but it is not a burdensome amount of maintenance.

How does it stack up against the competition? Compared to other available affiliate programs, Amazon has a higher percentage return and more customizable ad options and layouts. Google Affiliate programs that I have tried only have a single banner ad option, whereas Amazon allows you to embed a text link which is often far more effective.

I have used Amazon Affiliate programs because of the ability to choose specific products along with the very popular and well known name of Amazon. Because I had a niche site and did a lot of book reviews, Amazon had the best selection of products.

Is it worth it? If the ads are applicable and look tasteful on your website layout, absolutely. Like any source of passive income, it isn’t guaranteed to make you a fortune overnight but it is something that will work for you even when you’re sleeping. That’s just what we want! The more content you build, the more links you have and the more traffic you drive to your site the better you will do. Time will help, as with any other type of affiliate or passive income.

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Google Ad sense Review

Traci K. — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:00:26 +0000

Google Adwords AdSense program is one source of passive income that has become increasingly popular in recent years. As Google has gained visibility and credibility during this time as a search engine, their ad and affiliate programs have also become some of the most widely used and most profitable options out there. Google was the first to market the text ad with high profitability versus the standard banner ads that most consumers had become blind to. Although some of their per click payout rates are anticipated to drop as competition for this niche marketing and advertising becomes more popular, Google has shown it is the leader in this area and will probably stay competitive in the future.

Pros: Google ad sense is very easy to use with a simple registration and copy/paste code to set up your ads. You can customize keywords and the look and feel of your ads. You don’t need any major upkeep for this program, just keep your website content updated on a specific topic with good keywords. Google automatically rotates the ads based on click rates and per click pricing.

Cons: If your website gets very little traffic or you don’t want to clutter every single page on your site with google adsense, your adsense revenue may be abysmal. The ads can also look clunky and interfere with your site design if you aren’t careful. You may need to redesign your site layout to accommodate a more natural looking integration of Google Ad sense. Also, the ads displayed on my site by google adsense were often irrelevant or had content I found offensive. These issues led me to remove my Adsense from one of my sites, although I haven’t heard of this happening very often.

How much can you really expect to earn? I have a website that pulls in about two thousand visitors per month. Google adsense is on my 5 main pages only. I get an average of 500 ad views per month with less than a one percent click rate at a five cents per click average payout. Since November 2009 I’ve made less than one dollar. To be completely fair, this site is a very niche area of content, and I’ve seen other sites on more popular topics do incredibly well with an extra $100 a month being average.

Is it worth it? If the integration doesn’t make your site look overly gaudy or full of irrelevant ads, the passive income is great. Even if the adsense revenue generated is minuscule, you aren’t spending energy to maintain it. And if you do keep up with your website and spend time to drive more page views, your adsense revenue can certainly be increased. There are a large number of websites and books that tell you how to maximize your website for maximum google adsense earning potential.

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The Passive Dad » Guest Blog Posts

Unit Pricing: The Real Indicator of Value for your Money

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5 Tips to Start Planning for Retirement

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8 Ways to Cut Entertainment Expenses

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