Commuting is a drag. There was a point in time that I had a 5 minute commute to work, then I decided to move and my company said I could just work from home. When it came time to switch jobs my walk down the stairs turned into a 45 minute (one-way) commute – and that was on a good day. So for the past two years I’ve found myself in the car for a minimum if an hour and a half each day. It seems insane at first thought, but I am a bit surprised how I have gotten used to it.

How do I pass the time? There are two main things I do that keep me sane: 1) Eat Sunflower seeds – this is mainly to keep me awake. I find I don’t get drowsy if I am constantly eating something and Spitz BBQ sunflower seeds are my addiction. 2) Listen to audio books.

Why audio books? A few reasons. First, I’m not much of a music person. I never have been. I will listen to music on occasion, but it gets old fast to me. I know, I’m strange in this regard. Second, I like learning new things. I don’t really get that from music. Third, there are lots of books I would like to read, but I just don’t have the time. My average weekday looks something like this:

4:00 AM – 6:30 AM: Freelance or independent work
6:30 AM – 7:15 AM: Shower & get dressed
7:15 AM – 8:00 AM: Commute to work
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Work my butt off!
5:00 PM – 5:45 PM: Commute home
5:45 PM – 8:00 PM: Family time (dinner, play with kids, etc)
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM: Time with my wife (watch TV, talk, eat ice-cream)
10:00 PM – 10:30 PM: Ready for bed, read, pray

So that is an average day, I wouldn’t say I stick to this schedule religiously, but it is somewhat predictable if nothing is on the schedule. So you can see I don’t really take the time to read. Dave Ramsey often says that the average millionaire reads one non-fiction book per month. So the best way for me to get in all the books I would like to read, is by listening to audio books.

Here are some of my favorite sources for audio books:

1. Audible.com: this like the Amazon of audio books. (In fact, they are now owned by Amazon). I have a monthly subscription that I pay $14.95 per month for. This gives me 1 credit per month. Each audio book is 1 credit. Also, as a subscription member, you get discounted pricing on all books. If a discounted price of a book is less than $14.95 I will likely purchase it without using a credit and save my credits for more expensive books. I’ve learned that credits will expire if you don’t use them, so this encourages me to continue to find new interesting books to read. I do find that my favorite are self-help type books like Zig Ziglar stuff. It energizes me. I look at the membership price as an investment in me.
2. BooksShouldBeFree.com: This is a very easy to navigate site with all kinds of audio books created from public domain sources. Check out the top 100 to see some of the great classics available. Sometime is is nice to step away from non-fiction books and just be entertained.
3. LibriVox.org: This may be a duplicate listing because it seems to me that all the listings in BooksShouldBeFree.com are essentially taken from LibriVox. It appears LibriVox is build on top of WordPress, so I mention them mainly because they are the source we can all thank for these free audio books, but their user interface will not be as nice as the custom interface of BooksShouldBeFree.com.
4. iTunes: While this integrates well with my iPhone, there are a few reasons I don’t use iTunes much. I have purchased AudioBooks on iTunes in the past and after switching computers and iPhones, I don’t have those books available and I can’t find them in my account history. I’m sure this has improved since the invention of iCloud. Second, they tend to be more expensive. Generally a book selling for $29.95 on iTunes I’ll just find on Audible.com and use 1 ($14.95) credit.
5. Podcasts: So I know they are not audio books per say, but if you run out of books you want to listen to, check out some podcasts that are in your interest area. The best place to find these are on iTunes, and most of them are free.

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I love Disneyland. My in-laws took our family 3 years ago and we had a blast. We went again just over a year ago and met my parents there. It wasn’t quite as fun the second time just because we all got very sick with fevers, body aches and the whole nine yards.

Plus, the last two times we went were during the holiday season. The first time was between Christmas & New Year’s. The second time was about a week & a half before Christmas. Both times the place was completely packed. There were signs up saying Disneyland/Calfornia Adventure were sold out! I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Disneyland is much funner when it is not so packed.

I’m getting to the point where I want to go back. We had a baby last September so we are waiting until he is older. Our first time we went our youngest was 4 months old. He got very sick and when we returned home he developed RSV and had to spend a few nights at the children’s hospital. That was NOT a fun ordeal. I figure one year old would be a decent age. He won’t be nursing anymore and will be a little easier to manage. Plus, if you take a child before they turn 2, they get into Disneyland free.

We live in Utah. The past two times we have flown. It seems odd, but doing the math, it cost about the same to fly as it did to drive. But next time, I think we will drive anyway. Why? First of all, I hate what the TSA is doing with their groping security theater. This is my way of protesting. Other benefits of driving include:

• Our kids can handle a long drive better than a plane flight. We put in a DVD in the car and they are entertained. Our last flight had TV’s in the back of the seat, but we had no control over what was available to watch.
• We can stop and take breaks when we need to.
• Less stress. It can be stressful going through all the airport security and make sure you get everything you need in place & on time.
• Road trips can be fun & memorable.
• Our luggage doesn’t leave our site & our control.
• We are not limited as much to the amount or weight of luggage.
• More freedom to travel. We don’t have to worry about catching a shuttle or taxi if we need to leave the Disneyland area.

All in all, with 4 small kids, driving just seems like the way to go this time around. Perhaps when they are older and the governement wises up and gets rid of the TSA it will make more sense to fly again.

I’ve determined from Google Maps that it will take about 10 1/2 hours to drive there.

When To Go

Like I touched on earlier, I really have no desire to go on a crowded day again. My friend send me this link that shows the best times to go to Disneyland if you want to avoid the crowds. I’m thinking sometime between September & October will be ideal. My youngest son turns 1 in September and my 3 year old turns four in September. So mid to late September ought to be ideal. Plus, it is not nearly as hot as the summer months.

I am not concerned about taking kids out of school or taking time off work. School work can be made up, and that’s what work vacation days are for. Memories made on vacation are more valuable in my mind than routine school or work days. So, also to avoid busy crowds I would leave on a Monday or Tuesday. Weekends are generally more crowded, plus, I may be a bit prudish, but I just don’t like vacationing on the Sabbath. It doesn’t feel right and therefore sort of spoils the vacation for me.

The first time we went we had a 3 day hopper. The second time we had a 4 day hopper. Honestly, the second time we were done and ready to go home after 3 days. Four was just a bit too much. I’m sure being sick with 3 small, sick children had a lot to do with that sentiment, but still, if the park is not crowded, 3 days should be plenty to do and see all you want.

So given the estimation of 10 1/2 driving hours (plus time for rest stops, lunch, etc) two whole days will be dedicated to traveling. So with 3 days in the park, that makes this a 5 day vacation. Knowing that I don’t want one of these days to be on Sunday, that gives us two options: Monday through Friday, or Tuesday through Saturday. I don’t have to make this decision yet, but I’m leaning towards Tuesday through Saturday mostly because I have heard that when it is not busy season, Fantasmic only shows on weekends. That would give us a chance to watch Fantasmic (which I haven’t seen yet) on Friday night.

Budgeting For the Trip

Now, the really important stuff – how much is this going to cost? I recommend getting out a spreadsheet and planning all our you expenses before any vacation, then saving up and paying with cash!

Let’s start with the Travel. Using a tool I wrote a few years ago. I can estimate the cost of fuel to make the trip. I enter the average cost of a gallon of gas, my average mile per gallon my vehicle gets, my starting location and my destination. Google’s map API will determine the distance and I get a one-way and round trip cost estimate. According to the fuel trip cost calculator, it will cost about $330 in fuel (we have a big SUV). I will round that up to $350 for a more even number. I always like to round up a bit.

Next is the hotel stay. The first time we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. It was very nice, and it was fun walking through Downtown Disney, but the real excitement is the park, not the place you sleep. So a hotel is a hotel, or is it? The second time we booked a reservation at the Anaheim Plaza. The Anaheim Plaza is across the street from Disneyland and probably the cheapest place you will find so close to Disneyland. Unfortunately, we hated it. Our room was dirty, hot, muggy, & stinky. They had turned off the A/C for the winter season in our building. The tub was clogged so we took a shower standing in dirty water. We asked for a rollaway bed and they never brought it. It was just an all-around bad experience. But, my parents & younger sister stay there every time they go and they like it, so your mileage may very. It was so bad for us that I cancelled our remaining nights and walked down the street to find something better. We ended up re-packing and waking our luggage down the street to the Best Western Park Place Inn. It was so much nicer. It was cleaner. It was updated. It was closer to the main gate – just right across the street. We got a room with two qeen beds and a hide-away queen bed. So it can fit a family of six.

If we were to stay at the Anaheim Plaza we would need a family suite (basically two rooms connected with a door separating them. We can get that for $109 per night. For 4 nights that is a total of $436. If we were to stay at the Best Western Park Place Inn again, standard rate for the same room we had before would be $134 per night. I know that last time I got a discount using my Costco card. Plus, I noticed on the internet that if you book 21 days in advance, you can get the room for $107.20. That makes that decision way too easy. On top off that, it includes free WIFI (Anaheim Plaza is $10 per day) and free continental breakfast, which with a family of 5 eating would save us almost $50 per day if we chose to eat breakfast at the Anaheim Plaza. So, moral of the story, don’t take room prices at face value!

Now, for the important part – the Disneyland park hopper passes. They will cost $152 each for 3 of our children and $169 each for my wife and I. That’s a total of $794 – close to $800.

So, between travel, hotel, and passes we’re up to roughly $1600 (rounding up). Now we need to plan for food. Remember that we already have breakfast covered.

One of our neighbors told me that when they drive to Disneyland they pack a cooler full of sandwiches to eat on the way there and for lunches while there. We have done this before on trip to a Colorado Rockies game. It’s not a bad idea. If we plan on leaving Tuesday morning we can spend Monday night making sandwhiches for the upcoming week and packing them in our cooler. The hotel has a mini fridge and microwave so we can plan on using them as needed.

Still, eating out can be a fun part of the whole trip so I don’t want to eat sandwhiches for every meal. I figure we could spend $150 on grocery items for making sandwhiches and packing chips, crackers, & other goodies. Then I would plan $250 for eating out. That would give us $50 per day for eating out. That’s basically one meal at a restaraunt for a family of five. Then I would give us $150 for treats & refreshments inside the park. Again, that is $50 for each day we are in the park.

All of these we could definitely save money if we mostly eat from the groceries we buy before hand. But I’m guessing from past experiences we will want to eat out on occassion. I think this budget gives us quite a bit of wiggle room. So for food, I will plan for $550, which gives us a grand total of $2150.

Now, lastly, who can visit Disneyland without picking up some souvenirs? This is where we went way overboard last time. But, last time my mom gave each of the kids $50 to buy toys and souvenirs, so that really helped. I hope it didn’t set a precident. In any case, I figure that we could limit ourselves to spending $50 per person for the whole trip. That gives us $300 for souvinirs. If we more stuff, we will need to sacrifice on the food & treats, which is certainly doable. That gives us a total of $2450. We’ll just round that up again and say this trip should comfortably cost us $2500.

Now, I can start planning for the trip. If I went accornding to plan, it is roughly 7 months away. I would need to make sure I’m saving $357.15 per month in order to have all the cash I need to make this trip happen.

Of course, before I started booking my hotel and paying for my Disneyland Tickets, I would likely call a travel agent or check out Costco for their Disneyland package deals. Sometimes they might just have some deals that can save you money. Plus, they get their paycheck from commission, so it doesn’t cost you anything to use their services. Last time I did this, I found that booking through a travel agent would have cost us about $200 more. So we did everything ourselves. The first time we went, my in-laws used a travel agent. I must say that the package that the travel agent put together was a less stressful experience. Plus, it probably would have been a wash since we ended moving hotels.

One way to help stick to the daily budget would be to withdraw cash before the trip. I would then separate each persons souvenir money into envelopes and our eating out & treats money into daily envelopes. Once the money is gone, we stop spending. If we don’t spend it all one day, we have more the next.

This has been a fun exercise for me to plan and I hope you have enjoyed it and maybe even benefitted from it.

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I was listening to the Dave Ramsey Show podcast yesterday when Dave went off on Bank of America and large banks in general. He then praised his small community bank. That got me thinking about my bank – America First Credit Union. I’ve been with them for nearly 10 years now. I thought I would take some time to share some past experiences as to why I love them so. This is totally unsolicited. I’m not getting paid to promote AFCU. I just wanted to give them praise where praise is due.

History & Past Experiences

My first checking account was with First Security Bank. I chose them simply because their office was the closest to where I worked. They were OK I guess. Just a bank to me. Then, the office were I worked was moved across town. Still it wasn’t too bad because I also moved apartments and had a branch within a mile of my apartment. Then, a few events occurred then that caused me to switch banks:

1. I got married
2. First Security Bank was bought out by Wells Fargo
3. We moved

There was a discussion at work and someone brought up the fact that he recently switched banks to America First Credit Union and really loved their service and online banking. It was totally unsolicited and out of the blue. After hearing the recommendation for AFCU, I was really curious about their online banking because I hated First Security’s lame attempt at it and the transition to Wells Fargo didn’t seem to be going smoothly. I had seen AFCU branches around. Since moving there was actually an AFCU branch in the supermarket closest to us, so we switched.

They guy at work was right. AFCU’s web interface was so much better and cleaner. They even had free online bill pay, which Wells Fargo was charging for at the time I believe.

I just wanted to share a few experiences that has kept AFCU on my awesome list over the years.

Before I ever heard about Dave Ramsey, I had car payments. I wanted 5 speed Nissan Maxima so bad and when I finally found one I had stupid written all over my forehead. I bought that car for $18K and got a 8% loan from Wells Fargo (through the Nissan Dealership). As rates started to drop I decided to refinance it through AFCU. I think I got the rate down to the 5% area and saved quite a bit on the payments. Plus, after than, making payments was as easy as transferring the money in my online banking – and it really was easy. The 9/11 event occurred shortly after that and auto loan rates continued to fall. Each time they did, I would send a message to AFCU via the online banking portal and ask if I could lower my rate. They would mail a paper for me to sign, and I would send it back. No fees. Super simple! What other bank does that?! I had that car loan down to 3.9%! (or was it 2.9%… I can’t remember) I was so pleased with their car loan process that I bought 2 other cars by getting loans through AFCU. The process was always quick and painless. (I now feel obligated to say that I don’t have car payments because I have seen the debt free light)

When we moved to our second home we didn’t have any AFCU branches near us. In our previous area we had 4 branches all within a 5 minute drive. Shortly after moving, a popular Wal-Mart was being torn down and rebuilt into a Super Wal-Mart. I sent an email to AFCU and suggested that it would be really great if they could manage to get a branch in that Wal-Mart because they really didn’t have much of a presence in that area. I got a reply letting me know that the email had been forwarded to the powers that be and they would see what they could do. Sure enough, when Wal-Mart was completed AFCU was there.

Unfortunately, everyone else soon realized how cool AFCU was and they branch got so crowded at times that I dreaded waiting in line there. I had to do it every two weeks because my new employer was so old school that they didn’t do direct deposit (that’s another story in and of itself). I’m sure AFCU noticed the popularity there because they have since built another branch just down the street with lots of drive through windows.

When I decided to form an S Corp for all my side business I was torn as to what bank to use. I really wanted to use AFCU but they didn’t offer free business checking as they did personal business checking so I went with Key Bank. They offered free business checking and were the closest bank to my house. When we moved to our third home there was no Key Bank nearby so I looked around again and then learned that AFCU now offered free business checking, so I switched in a heartbeat.

It seems AFCU has always kept up on the latest technology trends. They have worked with every online service and mobile banking service I have tried. When I started writing my own envelope budgeting application (Inzolo), I wanted to find a way to import transactions directly from my bank rather than download transaction files then importing into Inzolo. AFCU has an OFX server and their implementation is so awesome that it made it possible for me to develop and test an OFX import tool for Inzolo. Now I have a nice budgeting application that integrates very nicely with my bank accounts.

A few months ago I attended a launchup event where CFOwise partner Ken Kaufman made that statement that the only time you should enter your bank is to open your account. Now I know AFCU has always offered the ability to mail checks in to cash them. But it isn’t any more convenient that going through the drive-through teller IMHO. But just recently AFCU has now added the ability to scan your check images with a scanner and deposit them through their online interface. How cool is that!? The only down side is that it is only available for personal accounts so I can’t deposit business checks this way. I tweeted about it and got a reply that they are working on it and hope to have the ability to deposit business checks soon. I’m sure they will.

Thanks for everything AFCU. Keep up the great work!

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Now let me preface this by saying I am a huge fan of Dave Ramsey and I see the wisdom in all of his teachings. Now that said, I readily admit I don’t follow everything he says. One area in which I don’t follow along is with the cash envelope budget system.

I think the system is excellent. I do believe it “hurts” more to spend cash. It is hard for me to break a $20. I like that fact that when I spend cash I usually end up with change that becomes savings because I never spend change (I don’t know that Dave ever mentions that one, but it is a nice bonus).

My wife and I tried the cash envelope system. We gave up after only two months. Here are the reasons why:

1. Inconvenience. Let’s face it, debit cards make life so much more convenient. It is not convenient to got to the bank or ATM once or twice a month to allocate cash in your envelopes. I hate waiting in line at the bank so I avoid it at all costs. My credit union now allows me to scan checks from home and deposit them online – even less reason to ever go there.
2. Inconvenience. Yeah, same reason, but different. It is inconvenient to pay with cash. Grocery stores are not so bad really – unless you use the self-checkout, which I often do – again, because there is usually no lines there. Putting cash in those machines is downright painful. And really, who pays for gasoline with cash anymore?
3. Location of the envelope. It’s happened on more than one occasion that my wife is making dinner and finds she is missing an ingredient. So what does she do? She calls me and asks that I pick it up on the way home from work. If I don’t have enough blow money in my wallet I reach for the debit card.
4. Have you ever reached the checkout and when it is time to pay you realize you don’t have your wallet. That is really mortifying to me. I’m frantic in that case. I start looking through my car for a hidden $100 bill (it’s never there) or a blank check (never there either). Even if I only live 3 blocks away it is inconvenient and super embarrassing. If you forget your envelope and you don’t realize it before you get in line to checkout, are you really going to go home and get it? Not me, I’ll pull out the debit card again. Of course my intention is to go back to the bank and deposit the amount of cash I spent, but I don’t because that is so… inconvenient!
5. While it “hurts” me to spend cash, it seems to have the opposite effect on my wife. If money talks, all it ever says to my wife is “goodbye”. I’m not being rude here. She readily admits this. It’s not more difficult for my dear wife to spend cash than it is to spend money in any other way. In fact, I think it is sometimes easier for her. It seems to call out to her to be spent! OK, now I’m being rude .

Let’s face it. I love debit cards. What I like about them is that if you use your debit card as a debit card (as opposed to credit card) it withdraws the cash out of your account immediately. Your bank account balance is updated immediately (at least where I bank it is).

Here are some more things I love about my debit card:

1. It is free to use. I have a free checking account. I don’t have to pay for new checks as long as I use my debit card.
2. My bank let’s me customize it. I generally put pictures of my kids on it so people can tell me how cute they are. I sometimes wonder though if my bank would be opposed to me scanning in my drivers license so people don’t have to ask for it when I use my debit card in place of a credit card.
3. It’s thin. With all that cash, your wallet can become a pain in the butt – literally.
4. It doubles as a credit card. For those places that don’t accept debit cards but can take credit cards, my debit card works fine. I generally have to wait a day or two for the transaction to appear on my bank statement though.
5. Did I mention it is convenient?

So, how do we make use of the timeless & effective envelope budget system with debit cards? We use Inzolo.

Whenever I get income, be it a paycheck or any other form of income, I decide where we are going to spend that money and allocate it to various virtual envelopes.

Whenever we spend money using our debit card, the transaction imported lightning fast into Inzolo and I specify what envelope that money came out of. I can visually see all my envelope balances. If I go over in an envelope I can easily move the exact amount I need to cover the difference from another envelope.

It’s basically like haveing dozens of savings accounts set up in your bank and deciding where each transaction will come out of. I can even split transactions so that different portions come out of different envelopes.

Inzolo also has a mobile web interface. My wife and I both have iPhones. So we can pull up our Inzolo account anytime and see our envelope balances.

So if you love the idea of the cash envelope system, but don’t feel you have the will power to stick to it, I urge you to give Inzolo a try.

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So this is something I have known about and have done in the past, and I kept meaning to do it, but today I finally did it. I lowered my cable/internet bill.

Truthfully I was considering cancelling cable anyway. I’m paying about $117 per month for high speed internet and basic digital cable. I should note that I am paying $10 extra for higher speed internet and getting a $10 discount for bundling cable and internet so that is pretty much a wash.

Since I don’t watch a lot of TV I wasn’t too concerned with cancelling it altogether. I know my wife enjoys watching Fox News in the mornings and watching TLC and HGTV during the day as she is folding clothes and stuff. For the kids we have a few shows we DVR for them like Tom & Jerry and Martha Speaks. So when they want to watch TV we generally have something available.

Since I have built my own media center pc, we have the benefit of watching shows online. I recently discovered hulu desktop which makes it even easier. So that being said I was totally ready to just cancel cable altogether. I guess the biggest sacrifice would be from my wife who, like I said, enjoys Fox News and TLC. One other downside that I would miss is being able to see the 500 or so movies that will be playing soon on all our channels and recording the ones I want to see. I think this is one of the coolest features of Windows Media Center.

So I determined to call and cancel and figured that Comcast would offer me a deal to get me to stay. If the deal was good enough I would take it. Before calling I read some great tips from Matt Jabs that helped me stay upbeat and friendly with the customer support person.

I was connected with "April" and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi, I currently have cable and internet and I would like to cancel my cable TV service only.

April: [Gets my name and retrieves account] OK, do you mind if I ask why you want to cancel?

Me: I just want to lower my bill.

April: OK, well, how about I see if I can lower you bill. It appears you are currently paying $117… per month, is that right?

Me: Yeah, that sounds right.

April: It looks like you are paying $10 extra for an 8 megabit connection. I can remove that $10 charge for a year. For your cable service, I can reduce the price to $29 per month for a year. Would that work for you?

Me: So what would be my total bill?

April: It would be $71 per month, saving you $46 dollars per month.

Me: Wow, for a year huh? Yes, let’s do that.

April: OK, you’re all set.

Me: Really, that’s all I have to do?

April: Yep.

Me: Great! Thank you very much.

April: No problem. Thank you for being a Comcast customer.

So I spent a total of 3 minutes and 45 seconds on the phone and saved myself $552 over the course of the year. I would say that was worth my time and I don’t mind keeping cable TV around either. Especially now that I have a big screen to watch BYU & Utah football games this fall! Oh, did I forget to mention that?

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I’m very mediocre at online marketing. I know all the theory and things I should be doing to make money online, but I haven’t hit the big time by any means. I think a big part of the problem is that I’m not very motivated by making money. For for some weird reason, I’m very motivated to save money!

This is where the knowledge and skills I’ve developed in internet marketing begin to be entertaining and profitable. I have two example to share. One I’ll share now, the other I’ll share after May (you’ll understand why when I share it then)

Example the first:

I love Rocketman! It’s one of my all time favorite movies. It’s just plain clean stupid humor. I wanted a copy of it so bad on DVD. At first it was only available as a region 2. I couldn’t take a chance of it not working. LaterI found that it was released in region 1. I saw a few copies on Amazon, but they were selling for over $50 per copy. I did some searching and found that the only way to order them was by joining the Disney DVD club. I didn’t want to join the club for one movie. I did some calculation, and though I can’t remember the exact numbers (this was two years ago) I figured if I joined the club and bought filled my requirements by buying all Rocketman movies, I could get approx 9 copies for $118.00 ($13.10 each) and then quit. So, if I kept one and sold the rest to break even, I would just need to sell them for $14.75 each. Since they were selling on Amazon for $50 I figured it wouldn’t be a problem.

My wife was quite surprised when she saw 9 copies of Rocketman show up in the mail. Ok, by now she’s probably not surprised by the weird things I do, but rather curious. I kept one copy for my personal collection and sold the other 8 on Amazon for an average of $40 each after shipping. So, to do the math, I got my movie and made $202.00 in the process!

I told a friend about it and he was elated because his wife had joined the Disney DVD club and they still had 3 movies to buy before they could fulfill their commitment. He bought 3 copies of Rocketman and sold them promptly.

So why not wash, rinse, repeat? I told you, I’m lazy. I hated going to the post office and shipping movies. Besides, I’m sure they have some kind of rules about household quitting and rejoining. I did tell everyone what I did and said they could do the same to make a quit buck, but I think they were all too skeptical and no one took me up on it.

Don’t bother now, because you can buy them new on Amazon for under $10.

Look for the follow up to this post in a couple of months.

UPDATE:

I wrote the follow up post, but just before publishing it I changed my mind. As much as I would love to share what I did (I basically got a $1000+ value from $6 worth of advertising and 1-2 hours of time). I thought it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, but from what I’ve learned, the opportunity may present itself next year! So, I guess I’d be better off keeping this one to myself for now.

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UPDATE: Since writing this post, Amazon has increased their price to $169.99, but the coupon below still works so you can get it shipped for $149.99.

So I have a small business. After meeting with my accountant last night I determined I really could make my life easier by using Quickbooks. I’ve tried the free version and it’s crap. So I figured I’d bite the bullet and shell out $200 for the pro version. Yeah, my business is growing, I guess it makes sense.

But being the budget conscious guy that I am, I figured I’d search the net for a better deal. I was nearly ready to head over to Costco to buy it for $150 plus tax, but after some further research I found a way to get it for $129.99 – no tax, no shipping. Better yet, it’s from Amazon so you know its the real deal.

It’s simple really. Amazon has it listed for $149.99. After adding it to your cart, and before you checkout, add coupon code UPINR5SC

Click Here To Order QuickBooks Pro 2008

Caution: Don’t delay if want this deal. The coupon expires Feb 15th.

Note: It works. I’ve done it. See screen shots below.

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Before anything else, let me give you a little background as to how I first learned about this book and why I read it.

I have a brother in law that recommended the book a few years ago. He had two copies, one was autographed by the other, the other, was well read, which is the one he loaned to me. I took it home and read the introduction. I had some interest but I couldn’t help but think that Robert Kiyosaki was lying the whole time. I did some research on the internet and found John T. Reed’s analysis of the book which in my mind confirmed my suspicions about the author. So after only reading the first chapter I gave the book back and said I wasn’t interested in reading any further.

If you have read any of my previous posts, you know I’m a big Dave Ramsey fan. I was surprised to heard Dave often recommending this book to everyone on the radio, even though he is often disagreeing with Kiyosaki on other financial matters.

In the meantime my brother-in-law’s business has started turning a profit and another friend of mine that also recommended the book has continued to build his business. So I thought, what the heck, I’ll get the audio book from the library and listen in my spare time.

I have to admit there were many times in the book that I still thought his stories were a bunch of bunk and I still find John T. Reed’s site more accurate. Kiyosaki tells very detailed stories about when he was nine years old.

But on the other hand, I did appreciate a new way of looking at a few things. His definition of an asset is an interesting one and made me reevaluate what I would consider an asset.

All in all, I don’t think I’ll read anything else from Kiyosaki, nor will I ever claim to be a Kiyosaki fan, but I am glad that I read the book. It gave me a new perspective on certain ideas. This book alone will not make anyone rich because I don’t think it has any real usable advice, but the value comes in how you look at life and business. It will make you think and that is always a good thing.

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I’ve never had a “payday loan.” Therefore, I’m not an expert in how they work. But being an avid Dave Ramsey fan, I feel they are the biggest rip-offs on the planet.

Do you ever see wealthy people getting Payday Cash Advance Loans? Oh, but they don’t need them, they are wealthy! Well how do you think they got wealthy? Wealth certainly didn’t come by taking out more and more rip-off loans.

As Dave always says, “Do poor people things and you stay poor, do rich people things and you get rich.”

So, repeat after me… “I will never walk into a cash advance or payday loan building!”

(This was a sponsored post.)

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