frugality

Happy Fridays From the Frug’s Basement Bar

Sharing some Frugal beer finds and a few other things.

Over the past few years, I’ve been having some fun with old coasters, postcards, matches, photographs, and other various items I find in my travels. I tend to accumulate these things from different bars, restaurants, and hotels that I stumble upon. I’ve always enjoyed the creative effort that goes into some of the simplest things, like the logo for a new craft beer or an unusual coaster or postcard.

I keep a small stack of these items in my office. When they get to a certain height, I spread them out with some old photographs and other random things on a card table and photograph them with an iPhone. Since these are essentially Friday happy hour images, I’ve always added a nice cold beer which I enjoy at the end of the photoshoot. So far, there are 16 in the series and you can see them here on Flickr, or occasionally popping up on my Instagram feed.

This year I’m adding a new twist. Lately I’ve been finding some good quality imported and craft beers at our nearby ALDI and Trader Joe’s stores where we do most of our shopping.

The prices are great, for example, $4.95 a six pack for a great quality IPA or $6.49 for some solid imported brands. The first of which I’m sharing here today. Kinroo Blue a Belgian White Ale.

Frugal Beer Finds — Happy Friday from the Frug’s basement bar. 16th in the series. Today I’m trying Kinroo Blue a Belgian White Ale that’s light-bodied with some nice orange and spice notes. A great beer to compare with Allagash White for half the price at ALDI. Sharing #beer #Art #Travel #Photography #Traderjoesfinds #aldifinds and some places I’ve traveled. 5 countries represented in this image. Guess which ones.

When I come across a new beer I like I save it in the Untappd app along with some tasting notes and ratings. It’s also a great way to find great beers nearby.

Look for more of these Happy Friday images to occasionally pop up here or on social media along with a brief beer recommendation.

The Frug

Financial Independence through Living Lean, Working Lean, and Traveling Lean. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook , Flickr , or Instagram

Think Big, Live simply. Our Five-Year Plan to Go Big by Traveling Light.

01/20 by The Frug Leave a Comment

By Brad Beckstrom

I know, I tend to get excited about things. I’ve always been like this. Periods of intense interest in something that wanes over time, then comes back full force months, sometimes years later. Minimalism is one of those things.

Minimalism often shows up in different places in my life. It could be frugality, architecture, lean investment strategies, work, art, even fitness. When I write about it I like to call it living lean.

One thing I’ve noticed is that minimalism sometimes gets painted as a movement for people who aren’t interested in success and the financial, social, material trappings that come along with it. Then I’ll see an article in the New York Times talking about how minimalism is now conflated with self-optimization and the rich who can afford to leave things alone.

To some extent, it’s both. If you’ve ever watched the show Billions, you’ll notice the minimalist offices and penthouse apartments of the hedge fund traders in the show. They are using their money to save time by minimizing distractions. Using money to skip lines, travel in private jets, have an empty desk in a spotless office. All of the “little things” are taken care of by staff and assistants. However, with minimalism, there is something deeper going on.

[Read more…]

The Frugal Reader

10/19 by The Frug 1 Comment

Finding the best free books in any format, audio, digital, paper.

By Brad Beckstrom

I read a lot. Maybe not compared to some folks, but more than I ever thought I would. Not sure how I got hooked on it. It might’ve been in the early days of Borders Books or stumbling upon some great books on Amazon back in the late 90s when that’s all they sold.

I remember a quote from Kevin Kelly, the founding editor of
Wired Magazine:

Read one book a month and it will change your life.

He’s right.

It took me a little longer to figure out that libraries and independent bookstores were a better place find good books. Sadly independent bookstores, or even bookstores in general, are getting harder to find. I live just outside of Washington, DC and they’re even getting harder to find here. The closest bookstore to me when I ride my bike into Georgetown is owned by, wait for it….Amazon.

Luckily technology is making it easier to find a good book and the key to enjoying reading is finding good books. You’ll often go through a lot of duds or books that start out like gangbusters than just drag on.

So here, in no particular order, are my secrets to finding good books, often for free. If you’re not sure what you even want to read, see below for some tips on getting book ideas.

[Read more…]

The New Frugality

08/19 by The Frug 1 Comment

Does frugality still work? If so has it changed?

By Brad Beckstrom

I learned a lot from my grandmothers. One ran a business with my grandfather and the other invested in dividend stocks. They were both ahead of their time in the 60s and 70s. I remember my grandmother showing me her stock certificates and explaining how dividends worked. She explained how she used dividends to support herself after my grandfather Tom passed away at the age of 58. I remember the railroad and utility stock certificates with their elaborate etchings and visiting her stockbroker to execute a trade well before computers arrived.

I didn’t get to really meet either of my grandfathers since they both died young. I did spend quite a bit of time with both grandmothers, either staying overnight or while visiting cousins nearby. By the time I was a young man, they both had lived through two world wars, the depression, Vietnam, the Womens and Civil Rights movements, the Kennedy assassination, 1973 and 1974 energy crisis, inflation, cold wars, and multiple recessions. As savers and investors they had seen some setbacks.

The Old Frugality

[Read more…]

All the stuff we didn’t buy.

04/18 by The Frug 2 Comments

How to save a ton on Amazon without falling into the online consumption spiral.

By Brad Beckstrom

Is Amazon getting too good? We’ve been happy with Amazon Prime, especially the perks of membership like two day delivery, unlimited movies and music, even unlimited photo storage. If you’re going to pay for Amazon Prime membership, make sure you take advantage of all the included services.

Unfortunately, over time we’ve started to see Amazon creep up as a higher percentage of our spending, showing up more frequently on our credit card bills. Usually just as a single line without much information about what we purchased or which Amazon service we purchased it from.

Example
3/20 Amazon.com AMZN.COM/BILL WA 44.27

We use Amazon to price check most purchases, especially any household staples that we have dropped off at our doorstep using Amazon Prime. I usually compare against Costco prices I’ve saved in Evernote or on Google Shopper so we’re not only getting better price on many items, I get to stay out of stores that give me hives. Staying out of stores is a good way to avoid impulse purchases. This was always a problem for my wife at Target, or myself at the hardware store. We’ve dialed back on impulse purchases over the years.

The issue now with Amazon is that they’re making things too easy. They just started offering same-day delivery in our area on many items. They’ve gotten good at making recommendations based on our purchase history. I find myself jumping on the site to do a quick price check, or reordering a case of paper towels etc., and seeing something I remembered we could use.

Stop

There are a lot of these lately. At first Amazon was great, we could quickly reorder household items and simultaneously check the price, online. Amazon would also save all of our purchases so we could go back and remember what kind of furnace filters we used. For example, furnace filters should be replaced every three months. Years ago I remember actually running to the Home Depot and buying three overpriced furnace filters whenever I needed to. By doing some research and ordering a case of these filters on Amazon, I save about 30 to 40% and can switch brands depending on what’s the best deal. I also saved myself a trip to Home Depot. How much is an hour of time worth? Think about that on your way to and from a store for a single item, make sure you include, time to park, gas wasted, time searching for the item, and standing in line to purchase it.

It’s better on Amazon or is it? [Read more…] about All the stuff we didn’t buy.

Is that purchase worth it? Consider the cost per use, a simple strategy to help you decide.

11/16 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Technology can be a pain in the ass. Smartphones, Game Consoles, DVRs, digital thermostats, talking cars, and home appliances. A lot of this technology is designed to improve our lives, give us more free time, maybe even help us save a little money. Most of it falls short. In fact, when multiple technologies are combined, they can often have a negative impact on our time and quality of life. Multiply this by a family of four or more, and all this stuff can make you its bitch. Constantly beeping, demanding upgrades, presenting you with unrepairable failures, offering multiple support options, mostly paid ones, none of which actually solve your problem, and all of which require your time.

smarttv

Planned obsolescence has become a science, hurling consumers into a constant cycle of upgrades and repairs on items that didn’t even exist 10-15 years ago, taking time and attention away from more important matters. It in an affluent society we often just throw money at the problem, replacing the defective item with the new shiny model, while the old one often ends up in a landfill.

It’s possible to step off this treadmill, embrace simplicity or minimalism. I believe these are viable approaches that can change people’s lives. The problem most people have is that they been on this hedonic treadmill so long they are afraid to step off. It’s the transition from having your life managed by stuff to a simpler path. That is the challenge for most people. I’ve been working to simplify my life for over three years: writing about it, working on it, giving stuff away, but still have a long way to go. Some progress is forward progress, and that’s what I’m focused on.

Something I found that has worked is evaluating any purchase, item you want to replace, or something you’re having trouble parting with, on a cost per use basis. Here’s how it works. Cost Per Use is the price of something divided by the approximate number of times you use it over the life of that item. So something you use many times per day may be a better investment than something inexpensive you use infrequently. Based on this formula, my iPhone is one of the least expensive things I own, and after I finish with it, I’ll give it to a family member, lowering the cost of use even further. As an added benefit, my iPhone replaced about 20 other items helping me lighten the load getting rid of everything from music CDs to handheld GPS units.

Some other cost per use examples

It’s best to start with the big stuff, so let’s start with automobiles. If you buy or lease a new SUV every three years you’re absorbing all of the depreciation and increasing your cost per use of that vehicle substantially. That vehicle loses most of its value in the first three years. If you buy a larger vehicle your cost per use is also higher based on gas and operating expenses. To lower the cost per use, it would make sense to buy your next car like it’s your last. Purchase one high quality, fuel-efficient vehicle and keep it for at least 10 years. You can lower your cost per use even further if you know exactly the vehicle you’re looking for and can purchase a low mileage version just coming off lease, and keep that vehicle. Once those car payments end, you’ll find the maintenance costs required to keep the car in excellent running condition are a lot easier to swallow. I’ve also found that keeping a car in excellent condition, including the occasional carwash or detailing, makes me less apt to even think about replacing it. [Read more…] about Is that purchase worth it? Consider the cost per use, a simple strategy to help you decide.