What is CSA?

I've gotten a couple questions asking if I have more information on the CSA that I mentioned a few posts ago. This morning's Boston Globe had a piece on Community Supported Agriculture, where the farmer sells shares of "stock" in his land each spring, and all the "shareholders" receive a portion of the produce grown on the land, according to how big their "share" is.

A pretty neat idea.

Farms' investors enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of their labors

This is one of the ideas I'm kicking around for putting the land on my parents farm to better use in the future...part of the "simple life".

I'd like to be able to leave the rat race and support myself on a variety of income sources, this could be one of them. It's a long ways off, but you'll probably see more of this type of stuff and thinking in this space moving forward...

Coming soon...

I will post something soon...I promise.

Maybe a look at some pretty major expenses I could be looking at in the next 12 months, and how I should handle them.

Some major things that could be on the docket...

• Engagement Ring
• Wedding
• Honeymoon

Further out:

House down payment

Things could be getting interesting, but I need to come up with a plan first!

Should you quit your job?

Mark Morford in the San Francisco Chronicle has a fascinating article today looking at those who are leaving their "safe" jobs to pursue other things.

Call it "the cafe question." Any given weekday you can stroll by any given coffee shop in the city and see dozens of people milling about, casually sipping and eating and reading and it's freakin' noon on a Tuesday and you're like, wait, don't these people work? Don't they have jobs? They can't all be students and trust-fund babies and cocktail waitresses and drummers in struggling rock bands who live at home with their moms.

Of course, they're not. Not all of them, anyway. Some are creative types. Some are corporate rejects. Some are recovering cube slaves now dedicated full time to working on their paintings. Some are world travelers who left their well-paying gigs months ago to cruise around Vietnam on a motorcycle before returning to start an import-export business in rare hookahs. And we look at them and go, What is wrong with these people?

It's a bitter duality: We scowl at those who decide to chuck it all and who choose to explore something radical and new and independent, something more attuned with their passions, even as we secretly envy them and even as our inner voices scream and applaud and throw confetti.

I'll admit, part of the reason for this site is to Simplify My Life so that I can do just that. It's not something you can enter into on a whim, however, I realized that I needed to get my financial house in order to be able to even consider living a simpler life on reduced income.

I have my ideas. My parents have a farm, and I've kicked around the idea of building a house there (They've said they're setting aside house lots for my sisters and myself) and working from home there...the idea being twofold, my living expenses might be less, and I can be available to help out my parents when they need it.

I could look into growing certain crops, organic even, or doing something called a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) the opportunities are there, the land is there, and my parents struggle at times to get by.

I've spilled a lot here, and more will come as we go on, but the dream to Simplify My Life lives on...

Checking the mail

Went to the mailbox and found a couple of items of interest. Well, to me, any way.

The first was a notice from Capital One that they have actually increased the credit limit on one of my cards. Granted, it's only $500, but it's the first increase that I have received since I got the card, probably about four years ago. I don't plan on going out and taking advantage of my higher credit limit, but still it's nice to have them giving to me with having to ask them.

The second was a credit card offer. Yes, I do get plenty of these each week, and most of them are from Capital One. This one however was from Household Bank and is the first time that I am actually considering applying for the card. The offers I get...most of which are from Capital One...mostly consist of six months of 3.7% APR, followed by a 12.99% rate later on. This card would have a full year of ZERO % and an 11.24% rate after that.

Now I realize that that rate is probably still much higher than anything a lot of your would accept. For me, this is actually the best offer I have received in the last few years. I'm considering opening the account, just to have it. I currently have two credit cards, both zero balances, and both with Capital One. Does it make any sense to open an account with another company, but not use the account except in case of emergency?

Now, these are minor items, yes. But to me, in looking at them and thinking about it, it appears to be that I can take the increased credit limit and improved offers to mean that my credit is slowly rebounding. Without going and pulling my credit score to see for sure, I can use indicators like this to assume that my own personal "stock" and credit worthiness is slowly on the rise...

Another Small Step in Investing

So I looked at my direct deposit paycheck stub today, and realized that my meager cost of living increase has gone through. Before taxes, I will now make about $68 dollars more per month.

Very exciting, I know.

So I decided to take that money and do something with it. It's not much, but maybe I can turn it into more. Give myself a bigger raise, as it were. I already have a Sharebuilder account and decided to go through their "Portfolio Wizard" tool and see what it would recommend. I followed the steps and it recommended a couple of investments to make. Coincidentally these were both investments I had looked at already and was interested in making. So I set up $50 a month to go towards those investments.

It's not much, I realize. But now I have $250 per month that is being taken directly out of my check and placed into some sort of Money Market (Virtual Bank or ING) and Investments (Sharebuilder)

We'll see what happens.

The 11 Best Money Saving Ideas of All Time - Part 4

The 11 Best Money Saving Ideas of All Time - Part 4

by: Palyn Peterson

At any time in history, no matter what the current state of the economy, no matter what the current trends, no matter what the unemployment rate is or where interest rates lurk, some money-saving ideas stay true.

Some of you may have heard of these ideas before, others may be entirely new to you. But whether you are familiar with these super secrets or not, it will be well worth your while to put them into effect in your own life. The magic they will work on your financial life is guaranteed. I urge you to put them to work - any one of these could change your life! Big changes come from small steps. One plus one does equal two, so if you add one from eleven different places, you will see big results.

This is a four part series giving you advice on saving your hard-earned money in a variety of down-to-earth ways. Nothing here is anything that anyone can't do on a daily basis.

Amazing Money Tip #9

You must set short-term goals and long-term goals. If you don't know where you are going, how do you expect to get there? It's simple but powerful logic. When you have a target sitting out there somewhere in the future, a target which is your goal, it can almost act like a magnet that pulls you toward it.

Setting solid goals which are attainable, yet still a challenge, have proved time and time again to be one of the most powerful methods of achieving wealth and success ever developed. It has been demonstrated in corporate training schemes. It has been used successfully again and again by countless individuals. Setting both short term goals and long-term goals has the effect of focusing your mind like a laser beam. It pulls you along toward higher and better things. It gives solidity to what you are trying to accomplish, and thus makes that which you want more real and likely to come into your life.

As you have probably heard, it is best to write your short- term and long-term goals down on paper and then post them somewhere in your workplace and home. The first thing you should do every morning is look over your goal list, and then put together your Top 10 to do list which will move you toward your goal. The last thing you should do every evening is review your short-term and long-term goals, and tell yourself as you go to sleep that you are going to do everything in your power to make those goals a reality in your life.

Amazing Money Tip #10

Invest your money and make it work at multiplying itself. Saving money in a savings account is important as we said above, but the 2.3 percent interest rates most banks give you is not even enough to keep pace with inflation.

You must do more than save your money -- you must invest it. That means financial vehicles with super-high rates of return, such as mutual funds and stocks, or the more risky commodity markets.

A $5,000 investment in commodities can return you 10 times that amount -- $50,000 --in just a few weeks, although you could easily lose it as well. Invest your savings into a long term certificate (CD). You can often get one with an interest rate up 4.5-5%. They are 100% safe, and still give you a much better return than normal savings accounts.

The bottom line is, you should take a portion of your savings and put it in a high interest or high risk investment plans. That's the way to really get ahead.

Amazing Money Tip #11

Have fun! Yes, this tip easily makes my list because it is so essential to your success. The great writer Ray Bradbury once said in an interview: "If you are not having fun, you might as well forget it. Do everything you do with joy and you'll be successful." You need to be having fun to stay positive, and you need to stay positive to make money. So come on! Get out their: laugh, clap your hands, live! Have a blast and rake in the cash! The world is waiting for you!

I hope you have learned many new ways to save your hard- earned money, and enjoy your day-to-day life more. Remember, nothing discussed in this 4 part series is anything that you can't do. If you put this information to good use, it is guaranteed that you will benefit from it.

Copyright © by Palyn Peterson

mailto:palyn@futureinternetmarketing.com

About The Author Palyn Peterson publishes the acclaimed Advanced Internet Marketing News. A professional newsletter with a refreshing perspective and a strong focus on no-cost techniques. http://FutureInternetMarketing.com. FREE Tips, Tricks, Tools, Resources, eBooks, and More! This article is free to publish with resource box. If using this article, please send a brief message to mailto:palyn@futureinternetmarketing.com

Sneaky Capital One?

Every month like clockwork, Capital One sends me two small books of checks, one for each of my accounts. They're so you can write a check and it will be charged to your credit card account. I actually used a couple of these over the winter because the big selling point on them was that your interest rate for purchases made with the checks would only be 1.9% (I think) Something very low like that as opposed to my regular rate, which is in the mid teens.



So today, I got my two checkbooks and I actually looked at them for a moment instead of shredding them to pieces. Now that my credit cards are all paid off, I actually thought for a moment about the time when the payoff on my car reaches the level of my credit limit on my highest card and that it might be a smart move to use one of these checks to pay off my car at that time, and then only be paying the low 1.9% (or whatever it was) interest rate on the principle.

However, I looked more closely at the checks, and noticed that nowhere did I see wording about a low interest rate, it actually took me a few minutes to find and see that now these checks are charged interest at the same rate as regular purchases, so it really would be no savings at all for me to use a check to pay off the car loan.

It got me thinking about when this change in interest rate for the checks went into effect. Was it months ago and I just didn't notice...know that I had no intention of using the checks?

How easy would it be for someone, who after months of receiving these checks with the low interest rate plastered all over them, to take the checks without looking closely at them and make some major purchase with them, not realizing that they were not gaining any savings whatsoever in terms of interest?

Just a small lesson as to the importance of looking closely at any paperwork you receive from financial institutions, and especially from your credit cards.

The 11 Best Money Saving Ideas of All Time - Part 3

Need extra cash for emergency bill but payday is too far away? NationalPayday.com can help with a cash advance up to $600!

Editors note: "B" is still swamped in the middle of a project, here is the third in a series of Money Saving Ideas from Palyn Peterson...

The 11 Best Money Saving Ideas of All Time - Part 3

by: Palyn Peterson

At any time in history, no matter what the current state of the economy, no matter what the current trends, no matter what the unemployment rate is or where interest rates lurk, some money-saving ideas stay true.

Some of you may have heard of these ideas before, others may be entirely new to you. But whether you are familiar with these super secrets or not, it will be well worth your while to put them into effect in your own life. The magic they will work on your financial life is guaranteed. I urge you to put them to work - any one of these could change your life! Big changes come from small steps. One plus one does equal two, so if you add one from eleven different places, you will see big results.

This is a four part series giving you advice on saving your hard-earned money in a variety of down-to-earth ways. Nothing here is anything that anyone can't do on a daily basis.

Amazing Money Tip #6

Do what you love and the money will follow. I think there's a book by that title. At any rate, it's true. One of the primary reasons that many people live paycheck to paycheck, and are broke despite working very hard at their jobs, is the fact that they hate what they do.

If you hate your job, you will not have a positive attitude toward money. You will associate money with that dreadful sound of the alarm clock every morning. Once you tie up your source of wealth and income with drudgery, that's exactly what the majority of your life will become: drudgery.

Starting today, you should begin planning your escape. The first thing you should ask yourself is: "If money were no object, what would I be doing? What do I like to do most for fun, and is it possible that I could get paid for it?"

Sound ludicrous? It's not. In fact, if your work is not also your play, you are fighting against yourself. You will eventually burn out and hate the world. On the other hand, if you get up every day being exciting, positive and looking forward to what you are going to be doing - and making money at it - you will automatically move toward doing more and more of what you love, and making more and more money at it. If your dream job means starting your own business, don't let that stop you either! It is much easier than most people think. Look in to it, it could literally change your life.

Amazing Money Tip #7

You must get organized. Being a tidy, efficient person has more influence on how much money you make more than you can ever imagine.

If you want to have a lot of money, you can't afford to be a slob. Think about it. Let's say you are at your desk trying to get some work done. You need to find the stapler, but because your office is such a pit, you spend 15 minutes looking for it. You've just spent 15 unproductive minutes. Next you may need to locate a file, and that takes you 20 minutes of sifting through paper. Another 20 minutes down the tube. By the end of the day, you may easily burn up two or three hours doing something as trivial as looking for things. The same goes for any kind of job you might have. If you are an auto mechanic, how much time do you spend trying to find a nine-sixteenth wrench, when you could have it at your fingertips.

It's disorganized people who are always saying at the end of the day: "I seem to work so hard but get very little done!" Of course! You spent the entire day looking for the Scotch tape!

The fact is, time is money. The more time you spend unproductively, the less time you are earning money. Clean up your office. Organize your tool shed. Get your bookwork organized. Think of every minute saved as a buck in your pocket.

Amazing Money Tip #8

Make your own daily top 10 list. Speaking of getting organized, you should sit down every morning with your cup of coffee and list the top 10 things you would like to get done that day. Then organize them in priority of importance. Start at item #1 and go down the list as fast as you can.

Make no doubt about it - this is a powerful way to get work done. It will put hoards of cash in your pocket. The reason is that making money is all about movement - forward movement. As the famous novelist Ayn Rand told us, in a capitalist society the most important things a person can do is move forward every day!

Having a top ten list will ensure that you accomplish something every day. You may not get through the whole list every day, nor should you necessarily try. Just do your best. At the end of the day, you should be able to look at your list with pride, examine the scratched off items and say: "That's what I got done today! I did something to better my life and create wealth!"

Again, this method has been used by a majority of the most wealthy and successful people in history. Shouldn't you join the club?

The next of the 11 best money saving ideas of all time will be discussed in part 4. Until then, take note of what you have learned so far and put this information to good use. Read and reread this article; I bet you will notice a difference sooner than you think.

Copyright © by Palyn Peterson

mailto:palyn@futureinternetmarketing.com

About The Author Palyn Peterson publishes the acclaimed Advanced Internet Marketing News. A professional newsletter with a refreshing perspective and a strong focus on no-cost techniques. http://FutureInternetMarketing.com. FREE Tips, Tricks, Tools, Resources, eBooks, and More! This article is free to publish with resource box. If using this article, please send a brief message to mailto:palyn@futureinternetmarketing.com