Yesterday when I went to Starbucks with a co-worker to get a $1.87 coffee I overheard a customer say to the gentleman making her drink - "You guys are my closest family and friends. You Jim, Nancy.." She goes on to name off all the people working behind the counter and all the people that work on the second shift.

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous!! If you know one of the cashiers names, then fine...but when you know everyone that works there by first name, then you have a problem.



To me this relates a lot to the "Latte Factor" David Bach preaches so much about. I can't imagine what this lady's latte factor looks like if she knows all their name.

Anyhow, I admit that this is her choice to go there everyday, but I on the other hand choose to go only once every three weeks or so. I don't want Starbucks getting rich off me! NO THANKS, STARBUCKS!! Starbucks Your are NOT my family!!

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Did it again!! Through yet another means of just putting my stuff out there I sold a book on Amazon.com. Total sale price was $55, and with fees and shipping I’ll net $40. So I’ve added $40 to the challenge, which pushed me over the $500 Mark! I made it past $500 in extra income (cold hard cash) in just 18 days. I’m going to really push to $1000 these last two weeks.

Also as another stream of income I invested $2033 in a county bond yesterday that pays 12% interest through my local county office. I figure that will earn me $0.685/day interest so with 13 days left in the challenge then I’ll add $8.91 to my total. In all I’m up to $513.91. Overall, I’m really pleased with my progress.

Ebay update: We have one watcher our our ebay listed item, but no bids yet.

Craigslist – Yesterday my wife and I discussed about listing all of her unopened Pez dispenser collection. We don’t want the hassle of listing each individual Pez, so we are thinking about listing the whole collection on craigslist for one set price…$200 or $250. We’ll see what bites we get on that.

Check out my blog at frugal retirement

Yesterday I signed up for mysurvey.com as a part of my 30 day Multiple Streams of Income Challenge. This was based on one of the comments I received on the first day of starting this series. This morning I got my first survey which only took about 5 minutes. Wasn’t bad at all. This whole survey bit isn’t my most productive means for generating extra income that didn’t exist before, but the whole concept is that there are other ways for person to generate income by use of the internet, skills, or any means.

I got a comment just the other day from Nic saying the exact same thing, “I've been following your 'Multiple Streams of Income' series and must admit, you helped me kick it up a notch or two. I listed items on Craigslist and put out items for our yard sale that I would not have otherwise. The house and garage is about 1500 lbs lighter. Clothes have been cleared from our closets w/no intention of replacing them. We're living w/less and enjoying it more. Even our food pantry got an overhaul and food close to expiration went to the food bank.
Thanks Dicky, you da man! ”

For a lot of us its just a matter of getting off our behinds and doing something to get out of debt, get closer to retirement, or just provide some income for a vacation or holiday.

Multiple Streams of Income - Ebay update: currently on day 2 of 7 we still don’t have any bidders on our baby bedding. We’ve had quite a few viewers, but no bidders yet. I’m not worried yet.

Question for you all – has anyone else had some success in creating another stream of income? I welcome your inputs or comments! Also does anyone else have any other tips to generate some more income? If so, then send them my way and I’ll try them out! Again thanks for everyone's encouragement and help in pushing through this Series!!

10. That I should own a bike so I can bike to work

9. It would cost $50 to fill up my Ford Escape

8. Its not fuel efficient to accelerate quickly

7. Telling my 3 1/2 year old son to bike to preschool isn't an option

6. How to get free fuel

5. A gallon of gas would cost more then a gallon of milk

4. American auto makers really don't make fuel efficient cars

3. 20 miles per gallon isn't really that good of mileage

2. Paying $3.49/gallon really hurts!

1. Its not smart to comment to the cashier at the gas station on the price of gas - its not her fault

About 6 months ago I came across igoogle and have since fallen in love with it! I can create my very own dashboard as to the feeds or things that interest me. Take a look.

It allows you to add different gadgets and RSS feeds to your homepage so that you had have one desktop for all the things that interest you. As you can see from mine I have dating tips to jokes to blogs to financial tips. It really has a lot of great features that can make organizing information for you easier and quicker.

Along with that you can add my RSS gadget feed to your igoogle homepage by clicking on my +google icon in my “About me” description.


Check out how easy it is to do and find other things to add to your igoogle page!

We’ll here is the latest update. After two unsuccessful listings on craigslist of our baby bedding (at a high price – what? I didn’t say my prices were fair), I finally broke down and listed it on ebay. Wife just wanted it out of the house, so I agreed. Was asking a whopping $100 on craigslist, but I expect it to go for $60 on ebay. Then we’ll have to pay all the fees, so overall I’ll probably be able to add $50 to my challenge.



Today its day 16, which means I’m over the halfway point and I need to start pushing it into overdrive to not only get to $500, but push towards $1000!! I really have to dig and think of some more ideas on how I could generate some revenue or sell something. I’m wondering if I should scope out some garage sales for some resale items or what. I’m open to any ideas.

You know as I’ve gone 16 days in this challenge I’ve realized one thing – its helped clean up our house! It definitely helps to get clutter out of the house and get more organized.

Anyhow, today while I was doing dishes I was thinking this 30 day challenge has been a lot of fun! I need to think of another challenge to do to get to retirement early. What I thought of was “30 days to live more green”.

Over the past two years as I’ve become more environmentally conscious I’ve realized that there is great benefits both to the environment and my checkbook by living green. So my hope is to challenge me and you all on how I can live more green while seeking to get to retirement early. I have some more ideas for more challenges, but I won’t get ahead of myself.

Check out recent posts at frugalretirement.blogspot.com

You may have heard this countless times - but it bears repeating. One of the best things you can start doing today on your road to financial freedom, is to begin paying yourself first. Now, I don't just mean throwing money into the 401k or IRA or what have you. I mean that once you get that paycheck in hand, to set aside a certain percentage of money to go into a savings account.

There are many different savings vehicles. I use a money market. This way, the money earns interest - and can be easily accessed in case you need it. It's a good idea to have - at the minimum - $1000 in the event of emergencies. And, always try to keep that minimum. This will offset any "Murphy" visits and allow you to keep saving and you won't lose ground on your journey to freedom.

Ideally though - 3-6 months of living expenses and more is a goal you may want to set for yourself.

You may also select to be more risk-taking with your savings. Perhaps you know of a good stock? Or you'd like to try online banking?

Wherever you choose to put your savings - start paying yourself today!

Check out Frugal Retirement for more updates and tips to get to retirement early. You can also see how the 30 day - Multiple Streams of Income Challenge is going!

We'll today we are going to be leaving for the farm to see my Grandparents who are celebrating 67 years of marriage!! What a great accomplishment and testimony of committment to each other through it all. I truely look up to my grandparents for the blue print they've laid on long lasting, giving, selfless marriage. I also learned the majority of my money sense from my grandparents, because of what they instilled in me about what the Great Depression taught them. Its a lot of the little things like cutting up old shirts to make dish rags, making your own soap, cleaning up your entire plate at the dinner table, to using pots /pans that are so old that the bottom of the pan isn't flat but egg shaped, to having medicine in your medicine cabinet that expired in 1984 which they say is still good (ya right). Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!



Also going home this weekend to see if I can help dad with some of the fieldwork or atleast get the equipment ready. I always like being home and away from the city. I like walking out on the gravel roads at around 10 o'clock and seeing no light pollution, hearing no cars, and just listening to the crickets cherping. Its a great calmness that I feel. Plus I like getting up in the morning with grandpa and listening to the radio over a cup of coffee. We always have good talks over coffee in the morning while we rock in our rocking chairs!

Anyhow, its off to the farm this weekend!

Today was a very productive day for our family!! First off I added $40 to my 30 day Multiple Streams of Income challenge. I sold one of my old golf clubs on craigslist so that brings my total up to $465 on day 13!! I think I'll easily be able to make $500 and maybe even close to $1000. We'll see if I can come up with some more ideas on creating income.

On top of that I built a raised garden in our back yard and I am really pleased with how it turned out. Found some great "how to website" on building a raised garden, went to the local hardware store picked up the necessary lumber, soil, and nails and walla! In all it costed about $150 for everything, so hopefully the organic veggies are worth it and more! I'm sure we'll get multiple years of use out of it. My wife was extremely supportive while I was building it and was knocking on the window giving me the thumbs up. My son did an AWESOME job of helping me pick up the bags of soil, take them up to the garage, and put them in the trash! Mom and I were so proud of him that we gave him hot cocoa afterwards.

If you want to see more pictures of the garden then feel free to check them out at frugal retirement blog.

I'm looking for topics of interest from everyone on things they'd like to see blogged about to live more frugally, retirement, savings, economy, coupons, 401k, or any financial topics. With your feedback I'll post your topics of interest on frugal retirement

Yesterday I talked about making a list of things that need to get done, because I have so many ideas that come and go through my head. It was really good to do this, because throught the day I came up with probably 15 things that needed to get done or things I needed at the store. That way my trips to the store would be well spent and I would have to make multiple trips. I put the same piece of paper in my back pocket this morning before I head off to work, and hope to continue to add to my list.

Also yesterday I got a lot of good responses about my tranquil picture of a cabin over looking a lake. So I found another picture of a house overlooking a lake that is for sale for $799,000 that looked really peaceful. Its also a view from the cabin where Rachel Ray produced her first cookbook.



I'm also contemplating stopping my blog on savingadvice.com and blogging completely at frugal retirement because of the duplicate content. I also like what my "archived" buddy EnoughWealth said in his final post. EnoughWealth or check out EnoughWealth Blogspot

We'll the results are in on the "What do you consider the most important factor to get to retirement early?" poll.

Here are the results.


Along with that I publish a new poll. "Who had the biggest influence on your financial mindset?" Vote at frugal retirement.

The last three days have been horrible. I haven't had any time to do anything to add to my challenge money. I've been so busy with schooling and work that life hasn't allowed me the opportunity to blog or focus on creating another stream of income. However, I did have one e-mail on selling my golf clubs, which I listed on craigslist, but haven't heard back.

Last night as I was reading my son the "ABC Superheros" book got me thinking about writing a children's book. I discussed it with my wife about a week ago, but maybe I need to investigate that more. I have a good friend that is a great artist that would add a lot to the book. I'll have to do some more thinking and discussing with my wife.

Also lately I've been having visions of retiring early, living on a lake, sitting on my deck and just blogging for one of my retirement activities. It would be nice to not to have to show up for work, if I didn't want to, and watch the sun rise over the lake sipping my coffee and adding to my blog. This is just another vision of what I would like to do when I get to retirement early.

Lastly, last night my wife and I discussed somethings that needed to get done around the house and I finally felt like it was time to write a list of "things that need to get done" to help keep me focused. I have about six things on my list, which I'll keep you posted on.

I'm only on day 8 and I've made $425 so far!! Sold our media cabinet and side table on craigslist today. Put three more items out there tonight for sale - baby bedding, golf irons, and golf driver. Hopefully I'll get some bites on them. Priced the baby bedding kind of high, but everything I've listed on there has sold right away. We'll see though. Anyhow, I'm extremely pleased with the 30 day challenge thus far. Hopefully I can make some more money besides selling things online that can be residual income.

I've also includes specifics about my craigslistings on my frugal retirement blog.

Got a frugal tip for you all today. Walgreens is have a sale today only where you can get 15 free 4x6 photos. Just use code - TAXDAY to get them free and pick up at your local Walgreens.

Well no movement yesterday on the front yesterday to make more money for my challenge. No offers yet on our media cabinet on craigslist, so I may need to relist it and reduce the price a little. I'll probably do that today. I also need to go ahead an list our baby bedding on ebay or maybe even craigslist. We are hoping to get around $60 for that. I am still struggling with ideas on how I can multiple the $225 I've already earned and help leverage it. I'm open to any ideas. I've also been working on creating a partnership on developing my online blog for frugal retirement, which may help in my Multiple Streams of Income challenge.

We'll it looks like its going to be a great day today again with highs in the 70's!! I'm very thankful for this weather after this winter.

With this nice weather in store for today, tomorrow, and Wednesday it makes me itch to want to take some time off. I have been wanting to take some time off lately, but I'm working to save up my vacation hours at work. Right now I have about 330 hours of vacation saved up and we can save up to 400 hours. I'm hoping by the end of the year I can have 400 hours saved, then I'll be forced to take 3 weeks vacation and 1 1/2 weeks of holiday's each year other wise I lose it. Plus with having another kid this year it will be a lot better to take vacation when the kids are growning up and spend quality time with the family! Personally, I'd just like to get away to a quiet destination out from the city, and get a log cabin and sip coffee while overlooking a pond, river, or mountain range.

Today I listed another item on craigslist - media cabinet and side chair. I hope I can only have as much success as I did yesterday with selling our tv. Also I'm trying to think of ways to re-invest the $225 we made yesterday to help grow that money. Does anyone have any ideas. Initially I just thought of putting it in a money market account, but was trying to think of some way I could leverage that money. Anyhow, if anyone has any ideas then let me know.

Also today I started reaching "Loop-holes of the rich" - a Robert Kiyosaki type book. Thought it might be helpful since I formed a LLC for my new farming business.

I'll keep you all posted on how the new listing on craigslist goes.

I can't tell you how excited I am to start on this journey - especially after today. Today I started out working on generating more streams of income and started by listing one item in our storage closet that has been just sitting there for the past 6 months. Today I listed our old TV on craigslist!!

More pictures are on my blogspot page Frugal Retirement

Within one hour I got two e-mails saying they wanted to stop over and see the TV tonight! This could generate $225 for my challenge on just the first day. I really pumped as you can tell from my exclamation marks! Below are a couple of the pictures of the TV.
I started taking pictures of a tv media cabinet that we are also going to list and some baby bedding the next day.

Updated while was writing this blog:
A guy e-mailed me and I called him while I was writing this blog, said he wanted to check the tv out, stopped by and bought it. $225 added to the challenge!!! I'm only on day one and I am almost half way there. More updates to come, but as you can tell I'm excited.

Ok...today is the first day of a new challenge I'm starting. I am starting a 30 day Multiple Streams of Income challenge. I am going to work for the next 30 days on generating extra income that wasn't there already. These things will range from selling things on ebay, to craigslist, to generating revenue from blog advertisements, and to donations. Half of what my wife and I generate will be given to our church.

With that said I'm also up to ideas on how we can generate "Multiple Streams of Income" that we may not of already figured out. I'm truely open to any an all ideas. I'll give daily updates on my personal blog (Frugal Retirement) and here with a widget that will track my progress. My hope is also to get others to think of how can I generate more income with the skills, time, resources I have in my life. My initial goal will be to generate $500 of income, which is a bit lofty! Help me and my wife make this challenge fun and exciting. What ideas do you have?

Today I woke up and it was worse outside then yesterday. I can't wait for next week though. It is suppose to be in the 70's!

Also I started work yesterday on a home project. I'm going to be putting up a shelving unit in our garage so we can store seasonal stuff. Should look pretty nice by the end. Maybe I'll post some pictures!

Visit Frugal Retirement to see other frugal tips to get to retirement early!

Lately I've been thinking about this question. Why do I blog? Why do I choose to share financial information with other people? For me it gives me some accountability to my goals and helps me stay on track to my debts and retirement accounts. I would say for the majority of the people on this site it also provides some financial advice on how to get out of debt and get that advice without revealing your identity or judgement from friends or family.

What are your thoughts? Why do you blog?

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Poll - Most important factor to early retirement

Today I just added a new poll to my blogger site, which I'd like all of to participate in. I'm doing a study about what is the most important factor in getting to retirement early. With all the great bloggers here I thought this would be a good sample group to gather data from. Thanks.

I'll post the results in 10 days when the poll closes.

~Make my blog one of your favorites or feedburns if you like my financial tips for retiring early. Please check it out at Frugal Retirement

Copyright of Frugal Retirement

Copyright of Frugal Retirement

Last night I watched this special on IPTV called, "Retirement Revolution". Its focus was on "This documentary illustrates the origins of the retirement concept and how it has evolved over the past several decades. Everyday stories are coupled with expert perspectives to help alleviate anxieties and empower viewers to take control of their futures. Hosted by Paula Zahn, the program offers practical considerations that can help prepare for a retirement on one's own terms."

IPTV Special

In the episode it talked about saving one hour of your income per work day towards retirement - minimum 1 hour! It got me thinking...am I saving one hour of my income per day? I checked this morning and I'm saving exactly one hour per day. Atleast I'm doing the minimum, but I want to be able to retire early. Maybe if I get a promotion soon that I can then divert all of that increase into saving for retirement.

I just wanted to challenge you all if you aren't already saving 1 hour per day, then consider it! How many hours of your work day are you saving for retirement?

~Make my blog one of your favorites if you like my financial tips for retiring early. Please check it out at Frugal Retirement

Copyright of Frugal Retirement

Copyright of Frugal Retirement

Today I looked on my companies pension website to see if I quit today how much of a pension I would get! With 8+ years of which 6 years are vesting in the pension program I was astounded that I’d get $484/month at 65! That’s almost $6000/year. I know a person shouldn’t rely too heavily on actually receiving that money, but I personally feel like that is a lot of money. I certainly hope that my company pension will remain vested until I’m 65 (only 34 more years to go), because “$500/month would be some nice cigarette money.” (not that I smoke)

Anyhow, I was wondering if any of the SA bloggers out there currently are vesting in a pension and how many are receiving a pension check today. Also has anyone experience a lower check then they were previously quoted or had to have their pension managed by the Pension Benefit Group (subsidized by the government)? Just looking for people’s thoughts on pensions.

~Make my blog one of your favorites if you like my financial tips for retiring early. Please check it out at Frugal Retirement

Copyright of Frugal Retirement

Copyright of Frugal Retirement

Yesterday at the library I picked up the book automatic millionaire homeowner by David Bach.

After reading about 60 pages and also having read smart couples finish rich and The automatic millionaire I have to say this book is very similiar to the other two. To me he just puts a different twist on what he wrote in The Automatic Millionaire, and is making more money off this book. I personally really love his books and think he does a great job of laying out the basics of pay bills automatically, avoid the small purchases (he calls the latte factor), saving automatically, and paying down debt. He is a no frill guy that gives you all the standard basics to become wealthy in America. You're probably waiting for the but, or however...well here it is...however, I don't like when authors just rewrite the same material and get richer off of it. I'm personally glad I didn't spend the money to buy this book. Go to my blog site to see some video I have of what I mean at http://frugalretirement.blogspot.com

Make my blog one of your favorites if you like my financial tips for retiring early.

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Copyright of Frugal Retirement

Today my wife, son, and I all went to our public library again for the send time. We checked out 8 books and one kids DVD. Last week I mulled over whether I should spend the $25 dollars to get a library card, but I'm definitely glad I did. I got three financial books, my wife got some birthing books, and son got some kids books. I would venture to say that if I had boughten all these books it would have costed me more then $100! With that said, I'm glad I shelled out the $25 because I definitely save a lot more over the coming year!

Also I've been doing some thinking about my blog site Frugal Retirement and I think I might try and do a little more consistent blogging. One to help others learn how to retire early through frugal living and to give updates as to some major changes going on in our life. For example two major things that is happening to our family is that we are having a baby in September and I just formed a LLC and am renting out 520 acres of farmland in Iowa to raise corn and beans. So as you can see it might be some stuff that is blog worthy!

Hope you all enjoy my blogs in the coming weeks!

Read the rest of my blog at Frugal Retirement

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