Money And Frugality Tips

Being frugal doesn't mean being a miser. It just means using restraints in your resources so you can achieve lasting and more fulfilling goals. Below are some tips on how you can live this way:

1. Buy a used car. The most expensive miles on a car are the first 10,000. So let someone else drive those for you. You save a lot of money considering how little value the car has actually lost.

2. Be patient. Don't buy that new gadget today even if everyone has it. Wait a month or two and the price will certainly go down.

3. Buy airline tickets as far in advance as possible. Buy at least two months in advance and you'll get the cheapest rates. For holiday travel especially, buy as soon as you can.

4. Never buy extended warranty. New products usually come with a 90 day or one year warranty anyway.

5. Make your own meals. Eating out is expensive if you do it often.

6. Get a better cell phone plan. If you've been using the same cell phone plan for two years, chances are there's something better out there. Call your mobile provider to find out.

7. Be bank wise. A lot of banks charge you checking fees or minimum account balance fees. Find a bank that does not.

Tips in Improving your Relationships through Passive Barriers

I have posted an article about using passive barriers in you personal finance. A passive barrier is something that makes the normal activity more difficult. In this article we use passive barriers to help in improving our relationships.

• Don't keep the TV remote near you when watching TV. If you are prone to channel surfing when you get home instead of bonding with your family or doing something more productive, simply take the remote away from the TV and keep it in a less accessible place.

• Do not keep your cell phone in your pocket. If your friends and family can hardly talk to you because you're always checking your phone, decide not to carry your phone everywhere. Focus on the people who are presently with you and the task at hand.
  

Texting Increases Crash Risk

Well this is a good news for those people who likes multi tasking while driving hehehehe, Reports said that text messaging behind the wheel increases the risk of a crash or a near crash by 23 times, and is far more dangerous than talking on a cellphone while driving. Well its obvious while texting your focus is on the cellphone, on what you are texting. One can talk on a cellphone while not taking their eyes off the road.

"Text messaging on a cellphone was associated with the highest risk off all cellphone related task." According to the study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. They have also found that text messaging resulted in the longest duration of "eyes off road time"--4.6 seconds over a six second interval.

It recommended that"texting and dialing, should always be avoided" and called for text messaging to be banned in moving vehicles. (now that's kinda harsh but if it helps why not). According to the New York Times, texting while driving is banned in 14 of the 50 US states.

The NHTSA research, which tracked cellphone use by US drivers in 2002, found that 955 people were killed during 240,000 roadway accidents while speaking or texting on a cellphone.