saving

Make Your Budget Easier to Grasp with Targeted Accounts

8:00AM Kevin Purdy | Personal Finance blog Funny About Money tweaks the concept of a “freedom account”—a single stash for irregular-but-common expenses like car repair and clothing—and comes up with targeted accounts. That means opening up a money market or similar small account for each kind of expense, based on how often it occurs, rather than track a bunch of expenses from a big fund. For example, I look to the irregular little surprises that can happen at any time (plumbing or car repairs, vet bills, etc.), annual expenses (car and home owner’s insurance, property tax, income tax), and long-term expenses (purchase of a new car, about once every ten years; major repairs or renovations on the house, which I hope don’t happen more often than about once every eight or ten years). That way, the author states, big walloping expenses like car repair don’t throw off your budget and give you a clearer view at what you’re spending. Targeting your emergency savings [Funny About Money] More »

Determine a Down Payment on a Car

12:50AM Kevin Purdy | Trent at The Simple Dollar blog would rarely recommend getting into debt, but since financing a car is sometimes a necessary evil, he recommends taking a good look at your finances, and the market, before signing those dealership papers. He walks through familiarising yourself with your credit report, shopping around for loans, and, of course, saving early, but his key advice on how much to put down is summed up in one sentence: Have at least a 20% down payment (unless you’re buying an old car, then 10% is the bare minimum), but if the interest rate is over 7%, save for a bigger down payment and wait until you absolutely need the car. Anyone’s mileage will vary, depending on their finances, but Trent’s advice seems pretty solid. How have you determined what you should and shouldn’t put down on a new or used car? Share your own advice, and other car-buying tips, in the comments. How Big Should My Car Down Payment Be? [The Simple Dollar] More »

Download Files to Favourite Folders with FavLoc

1:17AM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): You can always customise where you want files you grab in Firefox to end up, but a catch-all “Downloads” folder, or just a desktop, often ends up seriously cluttered. Free Firefox extension FavLoc lets you set pre-defined locations where you’ll likely place files and send them there directly from your right-click menu. For dual-booters like myself, it’s really handy, as you can see above, but it’s also useful for sorting the images, pictures, programs, and all the other downloads any avid browser ends up grabbing. FavLoc is a free download, and works wherever Firefox does. More »

Organise Your Money in 2008 with Wesabe

10:30PM Kyle Pott | As the last few days of 2007 slip away, make a New Year’s resolution to get your finances in order with Wesabe. A few months ago Adam kicked Mint’s tires. After giving Mint a whirl, I knew it wasn’t for me. With Wesabe’s plethora of features, open source mindset, and strong community backing, it’s the perfect money management app for my needs. More »

Yahoo Upgrades Its Web Search

11:38PM Gina Trapani | Yahoo rolls out some big upgrades to its web search tool today like the new Search Assistant, a pretty list of dynamic suggestions based on your search terms. (Check out the assistant in action on a search for “lifehacker” above.) You can also watch web video right inside Yahoo’s search results (search site:youtube skateboarding to try it out) and any search with the word photos in it will return Flickr pics. (Here, have some sunset photos.) From “To Do” to “Done” in One Search [Yahoo! Search Blog] More »

Cancel Services Quickly

7:00AM Wendy Boswell | Sometimes, cancelling a service that you don’t want or need anymore can be a giant pain in the behind. However, calling outside of regular business hours might turn the tide your way: The biggest tip is to call well outside of normal business hours — in my company, customer service was open 24/7, but the retention department closed in the evening. If you call, say, before bed, or during the middle of the night, you’ll just be talking to a regular CS rep who has no incentive whatsoever to keep you as a customer. It can turn a twenty minute phone call into a two minute phone call. If you’ve ever had to deal with pushy reps this could be a lifesaver. What’s your best tip for getting out of services you don’t want? Thoughts in the comments. How to cancel a service [Boing Boing] More »