Saving On Hobby Spending

The power of the internet to help me save cash always amazes me. I'm a model railroader. Basically, I play with scale model trains in the basement. It is a huge hobby with millions of people, mostly men, who manufacture scale empires of rail and plastic in their home. I've been doing it all my life and now have a large room in the basement (two actually) to just trains.

My hobby has gotten quite expensive and one of the largest expenses I have is for magazine subscriptions. Between my National Model Railroad Association dues (magazine), Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman, the Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette and others, I spend over $200 per year in just magazines. Well, that may all be at an end.

The Model Railroad Hobbyist is now publishing a high quality on line magazine for FREE! And not only is it a great magazine it has video, audio and full multi media ability. Incredible. I'm thinking that we'll see more and more of this as magazines continue to die here in the US.

Today’s Negotiating Tip

The location of the negotiation can be very important to the outcome. Is it better to buy a used car at the seller’s home or at your home? Your home usually because you have the advantage of not having to drive the car back home. You may also have access to the internet to show the seller what the real Blue Book value is. If you want to negotiate with a Dentist is the best place his office where the other patience can hear you or over the phone where only the Dentist can hear? The Dentist is more likely to grant you a discount over the phone. Yes, you can negotiate with a Dentist. Yes, I have changed Dentist because I couldn’t get a cash discount.

Use location to your advantage and get the best deal for your dollar!

When Working On Cars You Need a Good, Stiff Belt

Scott says…

In order to save money around the house I’ve taken to repairing cars on my own instead of using a mechanic. While I’m not the best mechanic around, many of the routine maintenance chores and part replacements I can do myself. Today I put in a stiff serpentine belt and a set of headlights.

There are three ways you can save money on car repair:

1. Buy the replacement parts on line. Once a year I’ll place an order for the parts that I need for both cars. I order them all together to avoid shipping and handling costs. My order will include oil filters, belts, air filters, wiper blades, lamps/lights and any other parts that need placing. Having them on hand makes sure I replace them on time which helps prolong the life of the vehicle, thus avoiding replacement costs. The headlights I bought came from http://http/www.thecarpartwarehouse.com and cost me a fraction of the car dealer’s price.

2. Invest in good manuals for your vehicles and rely on internet advice. Today I replaced the actual front light systems since a dump truck with a load of gravel was kind enough to break both of them. My Haynes manual (http://www.discountautorepairmanuals.com/) for my SUV gave me great instructions for exactly how to replace the headlights. I also replaced the serpentine belt and found the manual wasn’t quite enough, so I jumped on line and found the solution to my problem. No mechanics were injured during the entire process.

3. Do the work yourself. While I didn’t have the exact tools that I needed, I did have similar tools to get the job done. I took my time, made diagrams of parts that I dissected, kept the screws separated in a bin and believe it or not the whole car went back together without any screws being left out. Wow! Ok, I did burn my arm on the portable light. I gave it to my neighbor so that he can burn his arm, too.

All in all I saved $440 on the purchases and the labor and I invested two and a half hours in repair time. Not bad. Oh, minus $0.25 for a Band-Aid.