Its that time of year again where we all make resolutions we intend to keep but never do.  Here is my graphic depiction of my health club on December 31 vs January 1.

In all seriousness I’ve always been a little bit skeptical of the whole idea of new years resolutions.  It seems like an artificial motivation, and artificial motivations lead to disappointing ends. How many of us (myself included) have said “This year I am going to lose weight” or “This year I am going to get organized” and then not done it?  Im going to go ahead and guess probably everyone reading this.

The secret is that cold turkey changes simply do not work for most people.  The only true way to stick to new years resolutions is to make small changes.  Here are a few common examples to get you started.

1) Get in shape
Instead of saying “I am going to the gym every day and eating only healthy foods” start easy and work your way up.  Sure, get in those first few good workouts but then try some gradual changes.  First, do ten pushups every day when you get up.  Go to the gym once a week.  Eat very healthy for at least one meal per day.  Once you have worked that into your life such that it is routine, move it up a notch.  Work out three times a week, eat healthy for two meals a day.  It is all about building routine.

2) Get rid of debt
Once again, its time to start small.  Instead of making a minimum payment, add $20 onto each credit card payment, or start to follow the Penny Saved Plan for reducing debt.

3) Reconnect with people
This is another one that can seem overwhelming but is actually fairly easy.  The key here is to start small: decide whom you most want to reconnect with and make a phone call.   After the initial contact, make yourself follow up in 2 weeks if you don’t otherwise.  Chances are, if they are happy to hear from you, they will make an effort as well.

 Why do we abandon resolutions?
The main reason is that its easy to get discouraged when results don’t come quickly enough or when we figure out they don’t immediately make us happier.  This is once again where routine comes in.  Behavior change is not an overnight occurance…and it generally requires discomfort. 

Happy New years, and remember, changes don’t happen overnight! Now excuse me while I go renew that gym membership

Everyone knows that eating at home will save you money but what you don’t hear is that it makes a difference how you eat at home.  Here are some foods that Lauren and I buy that help save money and are still delicious and healthy.

1) Protein powder
I have mentioned protein powder before because it is great for gaining muscle and losing weight.  I have been an advocate of whey for years and whats best is that not only can it be consumed by itself/in shakes, but you can also cook with it.  I dare you to taste the difference in my pancakes between those with only pancake mix, and those that I put chocolate whey in.

2) Yogurt
Yogurt is one of those forgotten foods.  “Hey I used to eat yogurt when I was a kid” sound familiar?  The truth is yogurt is great for you in almost every way.   Probiotics, protein, and deliciousness.  Add on that it can be bought in bulk for cheap and you’ve got a super food.

3) Chicken and Tuna
Chicken is one of the leanest meats out there.  Tuna isn’t far behind. Both are also cheap to buy in bulk.  A good trick is to buy the big packs of frozen chicken breasts and the big sets of canned tuna.  In the words of Chick-fil-A, eat more chicken (but not their fried, expensive chicken sandwiches)…and Chicken of the sea.

4) Green Tea
I know what you are thinking, ‘Hey wait a minute, that’s a drink not a food!’  You are right, but it is also cheap, and healthy.  Drinking a couple cups of green tea per day with some splenda is 0 calories and one of my favorite winter drinks during the day at work.

5) Eggs
You can buy a dozen eggs for under a dollar. Twelve eggs go a long, long way.  They are packed with protein and vitamins and are about as tasty as breakfast foods come, in my opinion.  Id like to buy a few chickens and get fresh eggs every day, but I’m guessing that’s against our HOA (and the thought of our dogs sharing the back yard with chickens invokes a comical scene).

Here is an interesting question: how many of you used your credit cards at Christmas?  And how much debt did you incur?

In years past I used to rack up huge debts at Christmas which I would then proceed to pay off for the next 4 or 5 months.  If you avoided that this year, congrats, give yourself a pat on the back.  If not, try a few things to get yourself back on track:

1) Transfer that credit card balance to a 0% interest card
If it is going to take you a while to get things paid off, try and pay as little interest as possible.

2) Find little things to cut back on and put that money directly toward the debt.
For example if you always get Starbucks in the morning, make the sacrifice and brew your own coffee for a while and take that to work.

3) Resolve yourself to not do it again next year

Buying presents is fun, but going overboard and paying for it later is not.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

If you liked this, you might also like Christmas Spending can hurt your Credit Score from Spendonlife.com

Though I have some posts prepared, none of them are relevant to Christmas so I would just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  And remember, don’t get too caught up in “buying” and spend time with your family, relax, enjoy the holiday and be thankful for what you do have.

Blue collar workers are the heart of America and (and a good portion of my readership) so I understand the fear that the big three automakers going under would mean massive unemployment.  I also want American businesses to succeed, especially ones such as GM that employ thousands of workers.  The problem is the big, bloated car giants spend money like there is no tomorrow.  Giving them more money will simply give them more to waste.  The proposed government bailout is not going to fix their problems and here are some reasons why:

1) It would not fix their flawed business models
GM workers earn and average of $70/hr in pay and benefits.  That is simply too much.  Thats more than (in the US) the average engineer, construction worker, teacher, project manager and blogger (ha!).  Its not just assembly line workers either, the CEO Richard Wagoner makes about $24 million a year.

GM goes through $2 billion a month.  A month!  What good would 8 billion do them?  Then there are the huge pension plans that no other industry could possibly afford to give.

2) Their cars aren’t very competitive
Guess which of the big three are on Kelley Blue Book’s top 10 brands?  That’s right, none.  They don’t hold their value and don’t stand up for the most part to similar foreign cars.

3) The idea that it would help American workers is a sham
The automakers are already outsourcing.  See Ford’s 3 billion plant they are going to build in Mexico city. (The biggest foreign investment in Mexico’s history).

4) Government car bailouts have been tried and they DONT WORK
In England Leyland car company has having problems identical to our big 3.  They owned over 1/3 of the entire market share.  The government put in 16 billion to keep them afloat. So who here has heard of Leyland?  Any takers?  That’s because they went out of business anyway.

Actual reader email from Josh in Arizona:

“Jesse,

Are you around?  This may seem weird but I am starting to get mad at you not posting, sort of like a penpal that doesnt write back…especially since this is the weirdest/hardest financial time we have seen in this country in ages.  Ok enough weird emails to bloggers that don’t know me

Josh
PS please post”

Well to the delight of many of you, and the consternation of a few of you you, I am alive and better than ever.  I haven’t quit blogging, I have just slowed down lately because I have had a son on the way and he was born this week!   Jackson Lee:

Lauren and Jackson are both doing great.  Thanks to everyone for the concern as to my whereabouts.  I have a bunch of articles that I am just finishing and I finally finished the ebooks I have been promising so look for them to come sometime this week!

Instead of paying a couple hundred dollars for a shop to “winterize” your car, how about doing it yourself?  Its easier than you think…

Engine Coolant

Your car’s coolant system isn’t just to keep your car from overheating, it’s also to keep corrosion away.  Obviously in the winter, you also can’t have the cooling system freezing. For winter, you want a mix of about 50% ethylene glycol, 50% water depending on your climate.  Here in Colorado we are fairly average so most people run 50/50 all year long.  The colder your climate, the more glycol you want in the mix because it has a much lower freezing temperature than water.  Check your owner’s manual for what kind of coolant you need.  If you are in a climate such as colorado chances are you probably don’t have to do much more than make sure your radiator and reservoir are filled with the correct mix.

Engine Oil

The oil in your engine changes depending the tempertature of your engine as it runs. This is almost directly purportional to the temperature outsite, minus a few factors.  What does this mean? It means depending on the climate, you will have to run different kinds of oils.

Once again a moderate climate like Colorado means you probably don’t have to change your oil type for the winter.  The most common oil is 10w-30 and a slightly thinner (better for winter since it is thinner, making it less likely to ‘muck’ up the engine if temperatures get really cold).  The truth is unless you live in an extreme climate, 10w-30 can get you through year round.  Always check your owners manual to make sure your car doesn’t take something exotic

Windshield Wiper Fluid

Fill it.  To the Top.

Windhsield Wiper blades

If they are showing any signs of wear, replace them.  I usually dont spring for more expensive winter blades, the truth is that the best blade is the one that doesnt leave spots or smudges.

Battery

The biggest thing to check for is corrosion.  Does it seems like “gunk” has built up around your battery cables?  Time to disconnect the battery and clean it off.  Cold weather is hard on batteries and if it has been a long time since you have replaced your battery it is a good idea to get a new one.

Tires

Check for worn tires.  Snow and ice can be dangerous so it is important to make sure your tires have a good amount of tread left.  You can spring for winter tires, but I believe a good set of all season radials is better investment as they will also work well in winter…and you can keep them for summer.

As you can tell, winterizing your car is not that difficult.  The idea is to make sure things are working properly before it gets nasty outside.  Working on a car on a nice fall day is 100X better than working on a car in a snowbank so dont tempt fate!

Halloween coupons – something I like to look for every year because hey, who am I to deny the oh say, 7 kids in my entire neighborhood a little bit of candy. Here is a coupon I found
KMart Halloween Coupons:

Amazon.com Halloween Coupons:

If you purchase: Bit-O-Honey, Laffy Taffy, Wonka Nerds Rope, Nips, Nestle Crunch, and others you can save $15 on purchase of $39 or more.

Walgreens Halloween Candy Couponss:
According a few informants Walgreens may have a limited number of buy one get one free coupons available in-store so check that out.

Shinndigz Halloween Coupons – offering free shipping on Halloween costume orders $30+ with coupon code: CSCJF8 (Exp 9/30).

SpiritHalloween.com Halloween coupons use the following coupon codes:
Free shipping on orders $75+ (Exp 10/5) stacks with… 10% off your order with coupon code: SPAF10P (Exp 10/28)
20% off any one item with coupon code: SPAF20P (Exp 10/31)

BuyCostumes.com Halloween coupons – use the following coupon codes:
Take 10% off orders $50+ with coupon code: ZOMBIE50 (Exp 10/31)
10% off Animal Planet coupons with coupon code: AP10 (Exp 10/17)
Free shipping on orders $65+

If anyone finds anything else good, let me know or just post em below

It really hasn’t been that long since I closed on my first home loan so you might think I would draw on that experience to help with the new closing yet somehow the memory of it and how it all works went the way of the dodo…completely and totally extinct. Of course there were a bunch of years of college and beer to block out anything useful. Regardless I learned a few new things along the way.

1) The lender is not your friend. He/she is going to do whatever they can to maximize the money they make. They do not have your best interests at heart. Just ask all the people with ARMs that are resetting now.

2) Most mortgage companies are the same. Rates and costs tend to even out, they are all fairly equally sharkish in their practices.

3) Your loan is probably going to be sold. If mortgages were a pile of dirt (and with all junk going on lately in the mortgage market, some of them really are) the big banks would be giant vacuums sucking up most of them.

4) Its easy to forget the costs of buying a house are not just the purchase price. Closing costs are huge. We had thousands in closing costs including: appraisal, inspections, broker fee, rate lock, underwriting, title search and examination, survey fee, and a bunch of other crap.

5) The rates you see assume great credit. Most people do not have good enough credit to qualify for the absolute top rates…especially as lenders are cracking down on it.

Bonus: Be careful when you “lock in” your rate. With the market turmoil last week the rates went all the way from 6.25% down to 5.75% and back up to 6.7%. We locked in at 6% and were not too thrilled when the lender would not let us relock when the next day rates went down a quarter point. On the upside, we actually got away pretty cleanly since rates went up considerably since then.

I have written in the past that Jim Cramer is scum and yesterday was no deviation.  He said on the air yesterday for people to sell their investments and stash any cash you need for the next five years. There is no question the financial market is essentially in ruins right now but there are a bunch of reasons not to pull out.

1) Its dangerous – for you, for me, for the entire country.  A run on the stock market is just like a run on anything else: it disrupts the economy and is bad for everyone.  If I take all of my money out, it will drop and further push Joe to take all his money out which creates a bigger drop and so the cycle continues.  There are some things in place to make sure there is not the kind of massive crash that happened on black Tuesday but essentially our biggest enemy right now is fear.

2) Regardless of what happens right now, the market will go back up.  This is not the case for each individual company, but assuming you have diversified investments and are invested in index funds, you will see brighter days in the future, I promise.

3) As of this writing, the dow is under 10k and you and I have both already lost a massive amount.  Unless there is a total and complete collapse of the markets I think the probable bottom of the market is not too far off.

Let me reiterate: Despite what you might hear, we are NOT on the brink of financial apocalypse.  History will not repeat itself.

When the risky lending of the 1920s happened, there was a striking difference between what they were borrowing against and what the risky lenders of today have borrowed against.  I was fairly shocked to learn that in the 20s the risky loans were borrowed against STOCK.  Thats right, something that has the ability to go to absolutely zero worth.

Now lets contrast that with the ridiculous lending thats happening today.  The risky loans were put up with REAL ESTATE as collateral.

Lets put two and two together: we cannot replicate conditions leading to the great crash of 1930 unless real estate value goes to absolute zero.  This has never in history happened….quite the contrary land is the one thing throughout history that has held some sort of value.  Though the real estate is overvalued and correcting, it will not go to absolute zero.

Another huge difference is that back then there were absolutely no insured deposits.  There was no FDIC.  People that had any money in banks and were unable to withdraw it lost everything.  Thats simply not possible today.

There have been tough times before (Tech crash anyone?) but do not panic.  Stay the course and stick to personal finance fundamentals: reduce debts, save, invest, and keep your head above water.