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80 Days to Change

Day 21: Feed the Pig

For me, my financials are in dire straits. In "Shift", Gary Keller talks about making adjustments to survive a shift in the real estate market. When the market is on the down turn you have to eliminate anything that you can to make it through. I am now in the process of eliminating any cost that I can to survive these lean times. Are any of you having to cut expenses to make it through this shift? If so, let me know some of the areas that you are cutting back on.

Here are the areas that I am cutting back on:

Beverages. If it isn't tap water or coffee out of my coffee maker then I'm not drinking it. Goodbye are the days of strolling into Starbucks to grab a quick cup of coffee. Who really needs to pay between $5-$8 for a cup of coffee? How much money have I spent on sodas and all of those empty calories that I wear on my belly now?

Take-out and dining out. This has got to stop. Almost every meal for my family is either take-out or dining in a restuarant. Buy in bulk, cook enough to have leftovers and eat smaller portions is what we are going to do. We blow so much money on convenience.

Monthly recurring bills. If I can make it without it then it is gone. Paying $44 a month to manage your own database on a server in another country that you can't access unless you pay is stupid. If you are closing 4 transactions a month then you can afford this service. However, I'm not closing 4 transactions a month so I'll be using Outlook.

Print ads. They are expensive. It's nice to show your sellers that you are marketing their homes in magazines but man is it expensive. For now, I plan on doing whatever free marketing I can do online. Craigslist.com and Trulia.com are great and blogging on Active Rain is my most favorite.

Do you have any ideas about ways to cut expenses?

Share your thought so we can all "Feed the Pig", the piggy bank that is.

Paul

"100 Days to Change"

Posted by Paul Hockaday on 01/06/2009 12:40 AM

Comments (16)

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16 Comments on 80 Days to Change

JAN

fantastic Paul! = we just had our Shift Chapter 2 Brainstorm session today........so much of what you said was covered...........cutting back on all unecessary expenses at work and at home.........you hit the biggies, coffee - water we pay for - convenience foods........videos.......paid seminars when there are so many free ones to download of KWU or KW Connect........we should start a list going and pass it around......! going to family reunion.......or is that a nonsequitor? lol

Thanks for your post definately worth it.

Bryan Schroeder

Gas prices have gone down but I like doing the BIG circle. When I leave the house unless I'm showing houses I try not to back track while driving. The other thing never take the husband to the stor3e with me. It's reminds me of when the boys were little. Taking items out of the cart and wondering how did he manage to sneak that in there?

The biggest money saver has to be the fireplace. When we built our home we put in the fireplace that ties into the duct system. We do pretty good at keeping it going along with the other 3 located throughout the house. Yes I do love my fireplaces. Fortunately we have 10 acres of trees that always need thinning.

Good luck to you Paul.

I love your post, I am in the process of cleaning up my database and prioritizing it and then working on transferring from Top Producer back to outlook. I never used top producer effectively and personally I don't even like the CMA program. That is $55 a month I will be saving, also realized I was paying $26 for an AOL account I haven't used in 8 years, just carelessness and laziness on my part and cancelled that as well. No need for waste in good times or tougher times.

Good for you Paul! I have spent the last 2 years rearranging my personal finances so that I am much 'leaner' and much more able to cope with a slow market. Little things like watching movies in our own home theater instead of going out to the theater saves us a huge amount of money. It costs our little family about $80 to go to a movie with snacks included, instead we actually buy a dvd (tonight we bought 6 of them for $5 each) and watch them at home. Our friends are all lined up asking to be invited over to watch them too, lol. It is a different experience and actually alot of fun.

Budgets are made to help and in times like this we all need to look hard at the budget. I am thrifty by nature so I never had wasted lots of money. No advice here just evaluate your budget and cut the stuff you dont need.

Thanks for the post and that is a great start. I use the lowcost constantcontact.com to keep in touch with clients and leads, is pretty inexpensive and much better than print ads or direct mail, if you want an example of what I do, send me an email and I will include you on my e-list

Paul: Another great way to save is simply adjusting your driving habits. I have a Honda CR-V and get 28 mpg around town. But... no jack-rabbit starts or screeching stops. It makes me laugh when so many folks pass me like I was standing still... when I am already doing the speed limit. They are just pouring money down the drain, or sewer, as the case may be. Thanks for sharing.

Great post. You hit the hot spots. Some of the other things that others posted on was the gas. I have cut out running back home in the middle of the day. I pack my lunch too. I was looking at last January compared to this year- some of the things I got rid of than, are still gone. Pretty proud of that! Cindy

Paul, Like you I am spending more and more time marketing on-line both the properties I have listed and looking for referrals, way less dollars, but more time involved. Keep up the good work.

After a lengthy illness, I found myself "starting over" with little resources. I was amazed at what I accomplished with hardly nothing. There are TONS of free advertising sites for listings. When I had no listings, I advertised my managers listings. I got 2 buyers from that! I use postlets.com and sawitonline.com. They post your listing in tons of places, and through them you upload to craigslist. When I decided to farm a neighborhood, I WALKED the entire neighborhood, hanging goodie bags on their doors. About 90 homes at a total cost of about $20, even less than a post card mailout which would not have been noticed by most. For monthly newsletters, charge for advertising blocks for related business such as mortgage companies, insurance sales, home repair companies. I have 3 business card size blocks in my newsletter that I charge for- this pays for all my postage!

I made a deal with the local coffee shop that I would put a free coffee coupon in my newsletter and they give me free advertising in their menu!

Print ads: putting one cheap ad in the local paper that says " 5 homes priced to sell now from $100k to $500k! Won't last long!" will generate tons of calls vs. one ad per specific property.

If you get TV reception from antenna, get rid of your cable! You can see hundreds of TV shows and movies free on www.hulu.com, or even netflix for as low as $8.99 a month unlimited- right from your computer. You can even feed these to your TV screen if your techno savy.

Bartering is become extremely popluar again. Craigslist has a section for trades, and there are bartering sites. Google bartering to find local sites in your area.

I see all this talk about "change".

Change will come when the sellers of homes return their prices to levels that are sustainable with local incomes.

Paul, what do you think about that sort of "change" ?

Colonel Orson Swindle

paul- I am cutting back as everyone is but I am not cutting out. We need to feed our local economy. So instead of eating out once a week I am eating out once a month and making it a restaurant review as well for a localism post. Instead of Starbucks everyday, its Starbucks once a week as a social event to chat and make new friends (and business). I pack a lunch more often now but I also still patronize my favorite lunch places just less often. After all I want people to know I ams till in business :)

Before I discovered Active Rain and thereafter had time for nothing else... I was a big fan of frugality sites. Some of my favorites: thedollarstretcher.com - new every Monday - the oldest and best with superb archives. A carnival and a festival of blog posts - if you do a search you'll find them - carnival of debt reducition and festival of frugality. Savingadvice.com is also good. And on the tube - Suze Orman on Saturday nights. Good luck with your budget - it's the New Frugality for all of us.

Liz

JAN

Col Swindle, that would be a fantastic change. If that change occurred then we wouldn't need any kind of stimulus. That would be a stimulus in itself. Sellers are holding on to overheated values that they think their homes are worth and first-time home buyers are finding it almost impossible to afford these homes. Where is the "affordable" housing?

FEB

With the market as it is, everyone needs to protect their margins and find ways to cut our personal as well as professional expenses. I thought I would share the following:

I often use price comparison sites to find the best price for an item I have
decided to purchase. It is amazing how much the price of a particular item
fluctuates from store to store. Last year I saved over a thousand dollars
purchasing the exact Plasma TV I wanted just by purchasing it at a store I
found on one of the price-comparison shopping sites.
Amazing... Although I used my TV savings as an example, these sites can be used to save money on everyday items such as books, DVDs printers etc.

Another way I have found to earn additional savings is by checking coupon sites
to see if there are any online or printable coupons for merchants from whom I
am planning to make a purchase.

There are many sites that offer price comparisons or list available coupons. To
help select which sites are best I am including links from a Smart Money article
where they have rated these sites for results and performance.

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/Which-Comparison-Shopping-Site-is-Best/

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/5-Best-Coupon-Clipping-Web-Sites-23634/

Hope this helps your cost cutting, Paul.

Thank you for the post. I have learned some great money saving ideas.

Ella

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