Don’t buy your books…

Rent them on Chegg!

I don’t know why I haven’t heard about this site until now. Or why I dropped $300 on books (13 books on Amazon. Used. Can you believe that?!)

But the gist of it is, you pay a pretty low price to use your books for the semester. From what I can tell too, the savings are pretty hefty. Then at the end of the semeter, you send them back for free. Chegg takes care of the shipping and their site promises to be really fast.

I was curious how much money I could have saved this semester had I found out about Chegg a few weeks ago. My most expensive book, “Law of Public Communication” cost me $100 (including shipping) because I had to buy the 2010 version. But on Chegg, it would have cost me $66.22. I’m guessing that when I try to resell this book on Amazon, I’m probably not going to get more than $50 if I’m lucky.

But for some of my books this semester, renting on Chegg wouldn’t have made that much difference. My “European Politics in Transition” book cost me $50 and on Chegg it would have been about $47 to rent. It’s definitely worth buying and reselling on this one.

Moral of the story: next semester, I’m Chegging.

Here goes nothin’

I’m not going to lie; I’m no expert on money in the traditional sense. The one economics class I took in high school put me into dream land every day, and the economic crisis kind of makes my me want to hide under a rock. But I am one really good with one thing: managing my own money.

I’ve been lucky when it comes to personal finance because I learned it at a very young age. For literally as long as I can remember, I worked to earn money. When I was a kid, I did chores around the house to earn an allowance of $2 each week. That $2 was my money for anything other than the necessities. When I asked for my mom or dad to buy me a toy the response always was, “You have your own money.” So I learned to save (one year of saving really paid off when I bought this).

I share this story because while money may be very complex, it breaks down to simply earning it, spending it on what’s important and saving it. Yes, when I was five years old having a Barbie Dream House was the most important thing, but college is different and our priorities are becoming that much more important.

In this blog, I hope not only to provide tools for how to save money, but to break down a bit of this complicated world of personal finance so it’s just a bit easier to understand for all of us. I still have a ways to go when it comes to money and I’ll chronicle my ventures so we can all learn from my mistakes and success.

Gas tools galore

The price of gas when you first started driving has now become one of those life facts you’ll never forget and always bring up as a reference point: When I started driving gas was $1.95 and I spent about $18 a week).

Right now, it seems gas is going back up after a nice stay around the $1 and change mark, but analysts say (what does that even mean?) it should stay around the current national average of $1.90 (the New York state average is $2.07).

Need to find the cheapest gas in your area? Check out this handy interactive map from MSN Autos. You just zoom into wherever you’re located, and it lists all the nearby gas stations and its current price list. I checked it yesterday, at least by the gas station closest to my apartment and that was correct - but that’s all I can reallly vouch for.

Also, a sort of common sense tip from Young Money, everyone probably already knows to fill their tank when the price of gas is low - but do you do the reverse when the price is high? I’m in the habit of always filling my tank so that I won’t have to keep coming back to the pump, but if gas prices are high, there’s a good chance they’re falling, and in that case, I’m missing an opportunity for lower prices. The trick there is to keep on top of the news and anticipate when prices are rising and falling. Don’t you worry, there’s a tool for that too.

And if you can’t get enough about gas … check out The Ithacan’s new column Common Cents for an interesting argument about why gas prices should stay high.

The cure to empty cabinets

… is of course to go food shopping. BUT if you’re like me and that just never seems to happen (I think I’ve been living off old pasta, chili my dad made when I was at home and grapefruit my grandmother mailed me from Arizona, for like, two months) there’s a Web site for you!

At NotBeansAgain.com, you enter whatever you’ve got in your fridge into its ingrediometer and you’ll get a list of recipes you can make without having to go food shopping. Plus, there’s a “League of Thrift” column on the homepage with the day’s top recipes, so if you have to go food shopping, at least you can try to find something that uses the least amount of ingredients. The current winner according to me? Poor Student Pie (because how could you not relate?) which appropriately calls for 2 potatoes, 1 can of beans, butter, grated cheese and chili powder. So even if you don’t have all of that - you could easily pick up a few things for less than 10 bucks (which it would totally cost to order out) and be set for dinner tonight … and maybe lunch tomorrow.

Now, don’t expect magic or anything people, if you’ve only got lettuce and some pickles, it’s not going to turn out a secret recipe for Filet Mignon, but still, who knew most of your leftovers could be put to use? And when you’re strapped for cash, every day you don’t have to buy milk and eggs or hit up Campusfood.com counts for something.

The man, the legend, the interview: Warren Buffett

Magically, a transcription of a PBS Nightly Business Report interview with Warren Buffett ended up in my inbox and I thought it would be a great place to pull a catchy quote for a Money Talks post (which is basically my cop out when I have nothing else to write about). But halfway through the interview I realized it was way to good to pick and choose. Buffett - CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, worth about $60 billion (pre-economic collapse), and widely considered to be one of the smartest investors in the world - is truly an amazing guy.

For someone who’s life you would think revolves largely around money, he is, afterall, an investor by title, he seems so unphased by the economic climate right now.

A PBS reporter interviewed Buffett as a part of the Nightly Business Report’s 30-year anniversary special about his talks with President Obama, his optimism for the economy in the long run, and how he hasn’t altered his investing strategies since 1949, or maybe ‘50 (no, he will NOT give you investing recommendations, even if the reporter begs, which she does)

Here’s a quote to satisfy those of you who don’t like to read, the majority of the interview after the jump for those of you in the middle, and for anyone who wants the whole beast - post a comment and I’ll e-mail you the full interview.

Well the most important thing to fix right now is the economy. We have a business slowdown particularly after October 1st it was sort of on a glide path downward up til roughly October 1st and then it went into a real nosedive. In fact in September I said we were in an economic Pearl Harbor and I’ve never used that phrase before.

- Warren Buffett,

CEO, Berkshire Hathaway,

inventing new phrases.

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Defeated.

The only thing worse than a New Year’s Eve party that ended with shattered glass and a hole in my parent’s wall was having my Mint.com account laugh in my face come 2009 - sure, I spent the latter part of 2008 cautiously watching every penny that left my wallet, but then came Christmakkah. All of the painful sacrifices I made, including pledging to go a year without buying clothes (which is still going well, by the way) were worthless because I drained my bank account on presents. I don’t mean to sound selfish, I enjoy buying gifts for family and friends, but there are ways to survive the holidays without depleting your savings - I just broke every rule.

So I, like the economy, am starting out the year in a downturn. But I’m getting a head start for next year and I suggest you do the same. It turns out, Christmas Club Savings Account, offered at many local banks or credit unions, are sort of nonsensical because they make almost no interest. But the general idea is easy to replicate, just find yourself a high-interest CD (easier said than done these days, but don’t forget about Bankrate.com) that allows free transactions throughout the maturation period. The only stipulation on you is to actually transfer a part of your paycheck to the CD - the one benefit of the traditional Christmas accounts is that it’s out of your control.

So in light of all this I have a two-part New Year’s resolution: 1) Be able to save money THROUGH the  holidays next year, and 2) use that money to pay my parents back for the damage done to their home.

Get some answers, Girlfren’ (or Boyfren’)

One of the greatest things about being home for breaks is definitely late night TV …. or just having time to watch TV, for that matter. So it was with great pleasure that I finally discovered the Suze Orman show - I’ll admit, I’ve been intrigued ever since they started spoofing her on SNL.

I’ve become quickly obsessed …. I spent most of today YouTubing clips from her show (and re-watching the SNL skits) - it’s sort of amazing how someone can be so obnoxious and yet so intriguing at the same time. I mean, she’s clearly smart, but there aren’t that many respectable TV personalities that can get away with referring to a caller as “Girlfren,” and there aren’t that many respectable people period who can emphasize so many syllables with equal importance. She’s sort of amazing.

So halfway through my Suze Orman marathon, my father discovered how incredibly lazy and unproductive I was being me and suggested I ask Suze for advice on how to invest my money - afterall, she’s bound to love me … I have no debt, about $7,000 in savings and some considerable cushion in the fact that I don’t pay many expenses (no rent, utilities, not too many bills, etc) and own a car. So, for probably the first time ever, I’m going to take my dad’s advice (he gave me $5 to get my car washed today and instead, I bought Starbucks … being home is so great).

I’ll keep you updated on what she says …. though I suspect it ends with: People first, money second, things third. Thanks, Suze.

The Suze Orman Show airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. and midnight on CNBC. Check her out.

Save on Christmakkah shopping!

Visit Restaurant.com NOW and get a $25 coupon for $10! $2!!

Just type in your area code for a list of restaurants near you.

You can thank me later.

UPDATE: Get at $25 coupon for …. $2 with the special discount code: SURPRISE.

Finally, something you can’t blame on our generation

It’s not exactly news that the economy is a little sub par right now or how it’s affecting consumers (that’s the name the financially stable policy makers use for the lowly public) - but The New York Times published an article on Saturday about debtors that are even deeper in debt during this recession than previous recessions … there are a whole lot more of them. The downturn economy is affecting people even harder this time around than usual - maybe because it’s hitting on all fronts (housing prices are down, incomes are down, jobs are down, lending is almost nonexistent) but I think it’s also because people in 2008 just live differently than people did during some of the last deep recessions (like in the early 1980s when Congress reacted to failing banks by deregulating them and loosening lending restrictions … good idea, guys).

I know, I know, I’ve said this a million times but people just don’t save as much anymore - even the idea of saving has transformed into the idea of investing. I’m not saying I know much about the stock market yet, I don’t have any investments, but I do know that the people who have made out best coming out of the financial crisis are people who have CASH. According to Bankrate.com, in 1985 Americans saved 11.1% of their income, in 2005 that rate slipped to -.5%, the first time since the Great Depression that it dropped below zero, and it’s pretty much stayed down there ever since.

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The 1-day challenge

Does anyone else see something a little ironic about the concept of a one-day challenge? Maybe that it’s only one-day long? I mean, there’s probably little that you couldn’t survive for just one day, even people diagnosed with the black plague were given a few days to go.

Well The Simple Dollar suggested a new way to save money - don’t spend anything for one day. Now if that sounds completely outrageous to you, I think you’ve got some serious financial woes ahead of you. If you’re saying, one day? I can do that easy - then I think you should do it for a week.

It’s all about budgeting - think about what it would really take to spend $0 one week, fill up your gas tank on Sunday, buy groceries that last (eggs, rice, frozen meats, pasta, coffee - yes, that’s a food group), maybe some alcohol to get through the weekend and what else do you really need?

It may seem like you wouldn’t really be saving any money because you’re just spending it all on Sunday instead of throughout the week - but what the challenge does is make you think about what you need and what you don’t need, how much you really spend on things, and how you can reduce that. If you did this once a month, I think the savings would be significant because eventually, your whole outlook on spending, saving and consuming would change.

Ramit picked up this story on I Will Teach You To Be Rich and featured a reader who took the challenge and saved between $50 and $200!

We do a week with NO spending. We fill the car with gas and hit the grocery store on Sunday. Starting Monday, we cannot spend a CENT. Sort of a fun little challenge. And it is only for a week. So, if I see something I need or want, I can get it next week. No cheating. AMAZING results. The first time I did it, I was flabbergasted to have the same $20 bill in my wallet. I got very used to it and so it is a nice little “shot in the arm” technique. Kind of like a fast to begin a diet regime.

Take a shot at it, if you can’t make it for a week, try a day. Let me know how it goes for you.

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