I just had a major business dispute with a friend... I sold him my piano studio 15 months ago, and was going to be paid over the course of a year. Thankfully we had a clear contract to refer back to when he tried to back out of the last payment! My initial attempts to get paid in a timely fashion were ignored, but mentioning that I was going to call in a third party to look at the contract did the trick. He wasn't trying to be a jerk, but our contract definitely saved the friendship and gave me the income I had been counting on!
Wow! I have to say that I struggle with this. I am an explorer and an adventurer, and I'm not independently wealthy, so I always try to make the most out of my trips by seeing as much as possible of the area. I want to see every place and culture on earth! But I married a guy who is a SLOW traveler (as we discovered on a pretty crazy trip to Europe last summer that he hated because of the pace... :/) so I see some slow travel in my future. Which isn't all bad, and I have tons to learn from him! Thanks for the insight. I can see there is tons to value in slow travel as well, which is encouraging! :)
I would also add that if you are a buyer you consider working with an /exclusive/ buyer agent--one that does not ever list houses for sale. That way you know for sure your interests are the only one's being served. Accredited buyer agents, while more helpful than someone with no training in buying, nonetheless gave up on the mission of exclusive representation, according to the national Association of Realtors. This means an accredited buyer agent can work in a agency where the person in the desk next to them is selling the very house you are hoping to buy!
I totally disagree about the tires. Some random craigslist person posting their used tires? OK, not so much. But a local tire shop with an extremely good reputation selling only very barely worn tires for $100 less and with a guarantee? A skilled technician can tell if a tire is damaged, and in a small town like I live in the last thing a tire shop can afford to do is risk the reputation damage that would come with selling unsafe, subpar tires.
Canning does take forever when you are first starting out. It's with a lot of practice that you develop your own efficiencies and it gets a lot quicker!
Actually Jenny, I buy produce when it is in season (carrots, potatoes, apples, pears, etc.) and can it for year round use. I used to freeze it until I had a freezer full of food go bad because the freezer wore out. I haven't bought tomato based anything for more than 5 years because I can my tomatoes from my garden whole, then I make sauce, paste etc.
I grow my own spices. I cannot believe the different in them! They are so green & flavorful. I would say that growing my own spices has really changed my cooking for the better! I just dry them in the oven & then either grind them in a coffee grinder, or put them into a plastic bag & smash them...I will never go back to buying most spices!
Probably the most overlooked place to "get it in writing" is contracted residential services. We must have a copy of the policy along with the contract and this is after we check current status of any applicable licenses. It pays to be this careful.
I am a car dealer. My name is Jared and I'm 22 years old. I am the youngest dealer currently in the state and have been for 4 years now. I don't want to give the wrong impression, I had much help from my father. He himself started his own dealership at 21, and did very well for himself. He would tell me stories of the 70's and 80's and how car sales were so different back then. From what it sounds like, car salesmen back then were pretty much exactly how you discribe them in this article.
Times have changed my friends. As stated so kindly above, we have smartphones, computers, online local listings for "private party" ads that can be filtered instead of thumbing the newspaper. We have technology folks, and let me tell you the secret to finding a "good" car salesmen.
Honesty. The reason I have made it and am growing in these last 4 years is plainly that; honesty. I embrace the fact everyone has access to this information! Makes it easy on me. At the auction when I'm buying cars and have a mobile app that scans the vins barcode, instantly showing me kkb, nada, and wholesale value. Not to mention carfax and other history reports on the vechicle. I know exactly what I should pay for something while the "I have been doing this since before you were born" are still thumbing their Kelly blue books.
PS- side note, all that bollochs about dealers using some sercret booking system for trades call "nada" is totally ridiculous. That's available to everyone and gives even less value than kkb. If there's a secret "book" it's called "black book" but even so the values of cars change literally every week so it's honestly pointless. What I do for my customers, walk out with them scan the vin and see REAL numbers, auction valves from the previous week. But be realistic, if your car is junk then don't think it's worth high book.
I'll wrap this up. How have I made it work and am the go to dealer locally. Honesty. You all are so wired and scared you are being ripped off by reading and hearing thing of this sort you refuse to use your brain and make your own damn decision what the car is worth to you! For example...
You come back from a test drive and you want the car. The salesmen comes out and says how'd it drive? You say great, then, "what's the BEST DEAL you can do" the honest salesmen replies, 22,000. And you know this is a good deal because you did your research and the car books at 28,000 clean retail. You haggle him again, "we'll ill buy it for 20,000" the salesmen replies, 22,000 is the best deal I can do? I paid 20 for it... You leave because he wouldn't come down again. He sells the car to the next customer.
Later that day from a new car store you are push into a car you didn't want, and you payed to much for. It sounded like a better deal because he lowered the price a whopping 8 times! Holy cow what a steal. Not. Wake up and be smart. If you want to be treated with respect then show some! If a salesmen tells you the bottom dollar and it is reasonably under the book value I promise he doesn't have anywhere else to go! That's it. Don't counter back at a ball busting 2k under his BOTTOM dollar you just asking for. It's the people like that who make sales mind games. Just be honest and be smart. If its a good deal to YOU then it is.
Hi Thursday,
Yes, obviously many of these are bad ideas, but I would add at least one exception. Networking can be a process and while it's clearly a mistake to knowingly spend time and energy networking with "the wrong people," it is sometimes not so easy or obvious at first to distinguish or to know which contacts will lead in the right direction. Be careful not to be too timid while making connections.
Being on good terms with and making a good impression on a former co-worker, who, after a few months at her new job, realized that she had too much to do and asked if I wanted to work with her. I ended up making almost double what I had been making at my old job, plus insurance and benefits.
Wow, excellent advice. We often get so caught up in trying to visit all the places out there that we forget to actually relax and enjoy them. This was a great reminder to let a vacation be a vacation and to soak in one place at a time.
You make a really good point about considering the foods you eat. I hadn't thought about that. Also really like the point about wearing cotton or linen.
I just had a major business dispute with a friend... I sold him my piano studio 15 months ago, and was going to be paid over the course of a year. Thankfully we had a clear contract to refer back to when he tried to back out of the last payment! My initial attempts to get paid in a timely fashion were ignored, but mentioning that I was going to call in a third party to look at the contract did the trick. He wasn't trying to be a jerk, but our contract definitely saved the friendship and gave me the income I had been counting on!
Wow! I have to say that I struggle with this. I am an explorer and an adventurer, and I'm not independently wealthy, so I always try to make the most out of my trips by seeing as much as possible of the area. I want to see every place and culture on earth! But I married a guy who is a SLOW traveler (as we discovered on a pretty crazy trip to Europe last summer that he hated because of the pace... :/) so I see some slow travel in my future. Which isn't all bad, and I have tons to learn from him! Thanks for the insight. I can see there is tons to value in slow travel as well, which is encouraging! :)
I would also add that if you are a buyer you consider working with an /exclusive/ buyer agent--one that does not ever list houses for sale. That way you know for sure your interests are the only one's being served. Accredited buyer agents, while more helpful than someone with no training in buying, nonetheless gave up on the mission of exclusive representation, according to the national Association of Realtors. This means an accredited buyer agent can work in a agency where the person in the desk next to them is selling the very house you are hoping to buy!
Paying off my school loan right after college!
I totally disagree about the tires. Some random craigslist person posting their used tires? OK, not so much. But a local tire shop with an extremely good reputation selling only very barely worn tires for $100 less and with a guarantee? A skilled technician can tell if a tire is damaged, and in a small town like I live in the last thing a tire shop can afford to do is risk the reputation damage that would come with selling unsafe, subpar tires.
Frugality to me is about maximizing the utility of your money--putting it where it brings you the most pleasure or usefulness.
Only get the ones with the latching lids!!! The other kind don't keep rice half as well. :(
I'd rather have the right tool for the job than be a minimalist. Sure, there's extraneous clutter, but a lot of "stuff" is really, really useful!
I have a new baby, and a daily bath or shower is one of the top things I look forward to every day!
EEEEWWW!
Canning does take forever when you are first starting out. It's with a lot of practice that you develop your own efficiencies and it gets a lot quicker!
Actually Jenny, I buy produce when it is in season (carrots, potatoes, apples, pears, etc.) and can it for year round use. I used to freeze it until I had a freezer full of food go bad because the freezer wore out. I haven't bought tomato based anything for more than 5 years because I can my tomatoes from my garden whole, then I make sauce, paste etc.
I grow my own spices. I cannot believe the different in them! They are so green & flavorful. I would say that growing my own spices has really changed my cooking for the better! I just dry them in the oven & then either grind them in a coffee grinder, or put them into a plastic bag & smash them...I will never go back to buying most spices!
Probably the most overlooked place to "get it in writing" is contracted residential services. We must have a copy of the policy along with the contract and this is after we check current status of any applicable licenses. It pays to be this careful.
Thanks for having us in this awesome list!
I am a car dealer. My name is Jared and I'm 22 years old. I am the youngest dealer currently in the state and have been for 4 years now. I don't want to give the wrong impression, I had much help from my father. He himself started his own dealership at 21, and did very well for himself. He would tell me stories of the 70's and 80's and how car sales were so different back then. From what it sounds like, car salesmen back then were pretty much exactly how you discribe them in this article.
Times have changed my friends. As stated so kindly above, we have smartphones, computers, online local listings for "private party" ads that can be filtered instead of thumbing the newspaper. We have technology folks, and let me tell you the secret to finding a "good" car salesmen.
Honesty. The reason I have made it and am growing in these last 4 years is plainly that; honesty. I embrace the fact everyone has access to this information! Makes it easy on me. At the auction when I'm buying cars and have a mobile app that scans the vins barcode, instantly showing me kkb, nada, and wholesale value. Not to mention carfax and other history reports on the vechicle. I know exactly what I should pay for something while the "I have been doing this since before you were born" are still thumbing their Kelly blue books.
PS- side note, all that bollochs about dealers using some sercret booking system for trades call "nada" is totally ridiculous. That's available to everyone and gives even less value than kkb. If there's a secret "book" it's called "black book" but even so the values of cars change literally every week so it's honestly pointless. What I do for my customers, walk out with them scan the vin and see REAL numbers, auction valves from the previous week. But be realistic, if your car is junk then don't think it's worth high book.
I'll wrap this up. How have I made it work and am the go to dealer locally. Honesty. You all are so wired and scared you are being ripped off by reading and hearing thing of this sort you refuse to use your brain and make your own damn decision what the car is worth to you! For example...
You come back from a test drive and you want the car. The salesmen comes out and says how'd it drive? You say great, then, "what's the BEST DEAL you can do" the honest salesmen replies, 22,000. And you know this is a good deal because you did your research and the car books at 28,000 clean retail. You haggle him again, "we'll ill buy it for 20,000" the salesmen replies, 22,000 is the best deal I can do? I paid 20 for it... You leave because he wouldn't come down again. He sells the car to the next customer.
Later that day from a new car store you are push into a car you didn't want, and you payed to much for. It sounded like a better deal because he lowered the price a whopping 8 times! Holy cow what a steal. Not. Wake up and be smart. If you want to be treated with respect then show some! If a salesmen tells you the bottom dollar and it is reasonably under the book value I promise he doesn't have anywhere else to go! That's it. Don't counter back at a ball busting 2k under his BOTTOM dollar you just asking for. It's the people like that who make sales mind games. Just be honest and be smart. If its a good deal to YOU then it is.
Hi Thursday,
Yes, obviously many of these are bad ideas, but I would add at least one exception. Networking can be a process and while it's clearly a mistake to knowingly spend time and energy networking with "the wrong people," it is sometimes not so easy or obvious at first to distinguish or to know which contacts will lead in the right direction. Be careful not to be too timid while making connections.
Being on good terms with and making a good impression on a former co-worker, who, after a few months at her new job, realized that she had too much to do and asked if I wanted to work with her. I ended up making almost double what I had been making at my old job, plus insurance and benefits.
Buying foreclosure!
I have my grandmother's plus an electric one my MIL bought me. :) Free--my favorite!
My favorite gifts were cash! :) They went to books and the like.
Wow, excellent advice. We often get so caught up in trying to visit all the places out there that we forget to actually relax and enjoy them. This was a great reminder to let a vacation be a vacation and to soak in one place at a time.
That's a good point. Don't want to accidentally stink someone out on a first meeting or job interview;)
You make a really good point about considering the foods you eat. I hadn't thought about that. Also really like the point about wearing cotton or linen.
Glad you like it KC!
I like that idea!