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We have all heard of social media, social networking websites, and budgeting software website.  One company took those ideas and created an interesting mash-up called Blippy.

Blippy allows you to link up your credit card or online profiles at sites like iTunes, Amazon.com, or Netflix to create a purchase feed.  The feed shows the community or your friends what you have been spending your money on.

What I Like:

The site gives you community support and a little external pressure to follow your spending goals.  If you are trying to cut back, and tell your friends, they can catch you red handed buying DVDs or wasting money at the mall.

The feed function can be a useful supplement to using sites like Mint.com or Thrive.

What I Don’t Like:

If you like your privacy, this is not for you.  If you make a stop at Victoria’s Secret to buy a present for your wife/girlfriend, they might be able to see it ahead of time.

If it sounds like something you would like, visit Blippy to sign up for free.  You can sign up easily using Facebook Connect or the Twitter API in just a few clicks if you want to connect your accounts.

[Via Credit Karma Blog]

I will never forget the image of Tyler Durden telling the mystery hero in Fight Club that, “The things you own end up owning you.”  That line still rings true with many of us, and one blogger came up with a system to actually quantify how much your things own you.

Matt at Steadfast Finances had this to say about his stuff to work ratio:

Just to show that all personal finance bloggers aren’t a pristine model of financial responsibility all of their lives, the graphic below represents how my personal finances looked using what I call the “How your stuff owns you calendar?” method when I was fresh out of grad school, making ~$60,000 a year, and leveraged up to my eyeballs.

He then gives a very blunt look at where his money goes, and it is eye opening at the very least:

If you want to figure out how to make your own “The Things You Own End Up Owning You” calendar, head over to Matt’s post and follow the great tutorial.

If you want to lose weight, there are two important parts of the puzzle: eat better and exercise.  Those two areas combine to have a big impact, but one is much more important.  It is easier to skip the burger than swim laps for two hours to burn it off.  To make a big difference, you need to control the input, not the output.

The same logic can be applied to finance.  Budgeting, the exercise of personal finance, can make a big difference.  Going from no budget to watching your expenses can save you a lot of money.  However, as some financial bloggers point out, it is important to go for the big kills rather than a nickel here and a dime there.  Cutting your rent, insurance, and cable/Internet bills can save big over the course of a year.  Even more important, though, is income.

If you can save $10 per month by asking your cable company to lower your bill, that is $120 per year, not too shabby.  But if you can get a raise of $100 per month, that is $1200 per year, which is a bigger impact.

What we see here is that controlling your income can have a bigger impact than controlling your expenses.  Easier said than done, right?  WRONG.  There are two major methods to increasing your income.  1. You get a raise or increase income from what you are doing already.  2. You create a new source of income.

I have created new sources of income from a few places over the last year.  The most successful has been eHow, where I have made over $1,000 in the last 18 month.  If I did more there or added another supplement, I can have that grow by more.  It only took a few hours to get started on making that $1,000, why can’t you do it.

Getting a raise is also possible, even in today’s economy.  If you are worth it, your company will pay you more to stick around.  I got a raise of nearly 20% in the same time period my group laid off about 15 people.  If I can do it, you can do it.  Just work hard and be the best at your job.  Sometimes that takes time and careful negotiation, but it is possible.

Ramit over at I Will Teach You to Be Rich is kicking off a series on earning more income, and it is worth a read.  I know there are silent readers out there, please come out of the shadows and let us know if you have secondary income streams in the comments.  Any residual income?  If not, tell us in the comments too.  As a community, I am sure we can come up with some good ideas.

For Chanukah, I asked for and received a Roku.  Roku is like a cable box for the internet.  My box brings in unlimited Netflix streaming videos (20,000 available) and music from Pandora.  It can be setup to do much more.

I decided, upon getting the gift, to cut my Netflix subscription from 2 DVDs at a time for $13.99 per month to 1 DVD at a time for $8.99 per month.  Sure it is only $5 per month, but that is $60 per year.  I can do a lot with $60.  The cheapest Roku costs $80, so this is a 16 month break even point for what I look at as an entertainment investment.

For now, I am sticking with cable as well, but it definitely makes me think.  If I could Hulu through the box as well, and have a digital antenna, it would make me think a lot harder.

So far, I have not used the box a lot but I like it.  It works just like a cable box.  It was easy to setup and has its own remote.  I started watching season one of Dexter on my Roku.  It is just like watching it on TV, but I can pause and leave and come back.  I guess it is like a cable box and DVR in one.

These days, a lot of people in their twenties discuss “cutting the cord.”  That cord, of course, being the cable cord bringing in dozens, if not hundreds, of TV channels.  Reasons for cutting the cord have traditionally been either monetary or usage.  People did not want to spend the money or would not use it enough to make the expense worthwhile.  Nowadays, though, other options exist as a substitute.

One substitute to cable, that is totally free, is broadcast.  A handful of channels, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox, send their shows out for free in cities.  The recent nationwide upgrade to digital broadcasting gives a higher quality than ever before.  Most popular shows come in over network TV, and you can get local news from these channels as well.  If you have a TV and no cable, this is the default option.

However, if you need a fix of “The Hills” or weekly Monday Night RAW, you need cable or a dish.  Those pay channels only come in over cable.  I enjoy being able to watch Law and Order at any given time on one of a handful of channels that always have it on.  Beyond there, for true movie lovers, are the premium subscription channels like HBO, Stars, and Cinemax that give you 24-7 movies.

If you are a movie lover, there is a cheaper option.  For $8.99 per month, you can watch any movie that Netflix offers streaming through your computer, PS3, X-Box, or a Roku or internet Blue Ray player.  With high speed internet, the quality is great and $8.99 is much cheaper than HBO.  If the 20,000 or so Netflix movies don’t include the one you want, that $8.99 gives you unlimited exchanges for 1 movie at a time.  Up that to about $15 for 2.

If you are a TV show lover, most networks offer their shows online at their websites, or you can find most good shows on Hulu.com for free the day after the show airs live.  I use the Hulu queue to ensure I don’t miss new episodes of my favorite shows like Lost and The Office.

So, does Internet let us cut the cord?  Yes, potentially.  However, it depends on what you want.

I like being able to flip through the listings and find a show I want on 100 different channels.  I like being able to turn on a free movie or show on demand.  I like TV.  So, to me, it is worth the cost.  For others, Hulu and Netflix or Redbox might suffice.

It all comes down to what you think something is worth, and what else could you do with that money that would make you happier.  Yes, this is the good old economic concept of opportunity cost.  If you can’t get a better value, or utility, from something else with a similar price tag, cable or a dish is a good way to use your hard earned money.  If there is something you find more value in, do that instead.

Either way, it is good to periodically re-asses cable and other fix cost utilities.  What do you all do?  Cable or no cable?

Last week, I wrote about my recent apartment hunting.  Now that I have a new place picked out, I have to move.  I arranged an overlap of one week so I have time to move everything in my busy schedule of working during the day and going to classes at night.

So, I started by looking at moving trucks.  I went to the most obvious place first, U-Haul, and was surprised by the cost.  The rental fee, about $20, didn’t seem too bad.  However, the .80 per mile blew me away.  I have mapped out the route from the rental place to my needed stops and found that it is about 20 miles.  With tax and all, that puts the cost somewhere in the $40-$50 ballpark.  No thanks.

So, I decided to look at Enterprise to see about just getting a pickup for the afternoon.  $109!!!!!  No thanks.

I did a little more Google magic and ended up at the website for Budget Truck Rental.  With a fall coupon they have out, offering 25% off and only .50 per mile, I found a winner.  Estimated cost with tax: $29.99 including miles.

Next up, I had to figure out how I was going to get the furniture into the truck and into the new apartment.  Fortunately, I have helped friends move in the past, and would help those friends again in a heartbeat, and they offered to help me.  Cost: one dozen doughnuts and a six pack of beer. (We are moving in the morning-early afternoon time frame)

Next, though, I realized I would need Internet when I move in.  I have blogs to maintain after all.  Fortunately I work somewhere I can get a phone/Internet package discount, so I have set everything up for a good bargain.  TV is not as cheap as I expected.  The TV company got rid of “expanded basic” cable and now makes you get either crappy basic with about 20 channels for $15 per month or “digital starter” for $55 per month.  I hoped expanded basic would be somewhere in the middle, but it is dead.  So, considering that I do like watching my cable shows, I just bit the bullet.

With roommates, the cost of TV and Internet is split 3 ways, but now I am at it alone.  My power/heat bill, though, will go down significantly moving from an old house into an apartment.  Even losing sharing on the energy bill, I am saving (and I turn the lights off when I leave).

I guess I should stop rambling and get to the point.  Moving is not cheap and certainly not easy.  When you are considering doing so, remember that the cost is not just an increase (or decrease) in rent.  It is new couches and dishes if you are sharing with other people, and utilities are going to change as well in most cases.  Commute times may shift and insurance costs may change.  There are many pieces to the puzzle.

The most important thing to remember, above money, is your happiness.  If you are miserable where you live, it is probably worth the extra cash to get out to a new place.  If you think you can be happier elsewhere, spend the money.  What is the point of money if not to make us happier?

Yesterday I completed a multi-week process of searching for and picking a new place to live.  I have been living in a house near my school for the last 15 months.  In that 15 months, I have been very happy with the rent and location, but I decided it was time for me to go out and get a place on my own.

I started my search with an apartment book and the Internet.  I found a free “Apartment Book” for the Denver area from the people behind Apartment Guide.  I used that book to eliminate certain parts of town, limit down neighborhoods I would like to live in, and get an idea of what is out there and what costs might be.

From there, I used a combination of two websites to find and investigate apartments in those areas.  I used a zip code map to help me search.  Apartment Guide was useful for finding apartments within my rough guidelines for a one bedroom apartment within a certain area and price range.  I also checked for things with Apartment Finder and Apartments.com.  There are dozens of sites that help with this.  Some charge, some are free.  Based on everything I saw, the charge sites are a rip off.  Why pay for what you can get for free?

The big things I was looking for were near my school, but not full of undergraduate students.  That created a circumference to search within but eliminated a handful of apartments right near campus.  I also wanted something that was one bedroom, not a studio, for about $600 per month.  Again, this limited down the selection.  There were also a bunch of “wants” that I could live without.  Those included in unit washer/dryer, covered parking, and no pets.  I also wanted to be in a safe, clean place.  Those two are not negotiable.

Based on a few hours of searching on those websites, I came up with a list of about a dozen potential apartments.  I searched for ratings on those apartments through two major methods.  The first was a simple Google search.  Using Google, you can find out a lot about an apartment, particularly a bad one.  Second, I searched every single apartment on Apartment Ratings.

Apartment Ratings was one of the most useful tools in limiting the apartments I found.  I looked back at a few places I have lived before and saw that most of the ratings were either very bad (most) or very good (a few).  The ratings on these sites are user generated, like Wikipedia or Yelp, and have to be taken with a grain of salt.  People are more likely to rate a place that is really bad than if they were just content.  I also looked at a trend over time.  More recent ratings are going to be more relevant to current management than older ones.

Using the ratings sites, I was able to eliminate apartments with apparent drug, violence, noise, break-in, and bug problems.  That narrowed my list down to about six.  I then did more reading into what people liked and didn’t like about certain areas.  That limited it down to three.

Once I had my top three apartments in mind, I looked online at the websites, which offer only the most glowing reviews, and found that one of them had nothing available in my price range (not even within a few hundred a month!).  And then there were two…

I did a drive by of both complexes to see what they looked like in person, how the neighborhood felt, and what was around.  One of the two was in an area just off from a familiar busy road.  The farther I got from the road, the less safe the area felt.  And then there was one…

I toured the final apartment complex on my own once and setup a time to come back with my Mom to get a second look.  No matter how old I am, it is always good to get a second opinion.  I trust that my Mom would never let me do anything stupid, so I brought her along.  Parents, significant others, and good friends are good options for when you are looking.  I did it once without anyone helping and ended up in a bad situation that I had to pay to get out of.

I setup another visit to see the actual unit I would be moving into.  I really liked it.  I filled out the application and left a deposit.  I should be moving around the middle of next month.  I would love to tell you all where, but seriously, this is the Internet.  There are lots of wackos out there!

What I Learned: Tips for Apartment Hunting Neophytes

• Living around a university campus often puts you in a situation with a crappy landlord that will try to take advantage of you.  Living farther out could mean better landlords, based on my experience.
• The web has a plethora of information about safety and living in certain areas, but you have to see it in person and go with your gut.
• Get a trusted second opinion before you pay any money or sign a lease, always.
• Living is generally the most expensive part of your monthly living costs.  However, it is also the place you spend most of your time.  Pick a place that you will love.  Don’t settle on being unhappy with your living situation.  You can quit a job, you can sell a car, you are stuck in a contract when you sign a lease.  If you are not confident, don’t sign it.

What advice do you have for a new apartment goer?  A college student looking for fall housing?  A 20-something going to a new city?  Please fill in where I missed or left off in the comments.

I have a steal on rent. Right now I am paying $400 per month. I knew the landlord so he cut me a good deal. However, most people in this neighborhood pay more like $600-$800 per person per month. In a 4 bedroom house that is easily $2400-$3200 per month. Mortgage payments might be less than that.

People around the country are making similar discoveries. People are finding that buying a house or condo costs less per month than renting. It is important to note that this is on a cash flow basis only, buying is almost always a better decision in the long run for net worth and investing.

If you were wondering how this works, I am glad you are here. That is exactly what I was planning to tell you.

So, lets say you pick an average neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, my hometown.  Lets say average rents are $600-$800, as described above.  Now lets say you can buy a house for $200,000.  At current rates, if you put 20% down, your monthly payment might be as low as $1,050 per month.  If you live with a roommate at only $500 per month, you are making money.

Let’s look at this through another lens.  If you live about 15 minutes down the road, you can find a great downtown apartment for $1200 per month.  Condos in the same neighborhood start below $200,000.  At the same rates, you can see the $200 cash flow savings per month.

If you are starting to think entrepreneurial, I am in a neighborhood near a campus with many renters.  You can buy a $200,000 house with 4 bedrooms and charge $600 per room per month.  After your mortgage payment, you are making $1200 per month in profit.  Given there are other costs of owning the home, you get the idea of how this works.

Someone I know used that logic when he bought a house.  He lived in it with three other roommates for a couple of years.  They were each paying him $500 plus their share of utilities.  Based on the price of nearby houses, he was not making a lot, but his rent was free.  He has since moved out and rents the extra room for $500, ensuring a monthly profit of at least $500.  At the end, he is also building equity in the house on the renter’s dime.

So, if you are looking to move sometime in the near future, it might be a good idea to look at buying too.  You could save money, or make money, in the long run.

The United States government has passed the “cash for clunkers” law, giving Americans an opportunity to sell old cars for more than their value.  The CARS, or Car Allowance Rebate System, program gives a window to trade in or sell cars with low gas mileage.

If you have an old car, this might be the time to buy.  The program started on July 1st and is likely only going to be around for a limited time.  To be eligible, your car must be less than 25 years old, have a fuel rating of less than 18 miles per gallon, be in drivable condition, and have been in your ownership for at least one year.  Heavy trucks and cargo vans have different requirements.

If you think your car might be eligible, it could be a good opportunity to upgrade to a low fuel car from your big ugly old car.  Check out the CARS website for more details.  If you are going to finance it, be sure to check out my recent post on shopping for a car loan.

Whenever I put something in the dryer, I clean the lint trap.  I figured everyone did that.  However, I can easily tell if my roommate was the last to do laundry if the lint trap has an inch thick layer on the screen in our dryer.

I didn’t think much of this, but I started to do a bit of digging.  This is targeted to the guys out there, as (I know it is profiling but I don’t care) most girls seem to know how to do laundry already.

I did a little research on what can go wrong if you don’t clean the lint trap.  It turns out quite a lot can go bad.  There are two main issues with leaving the lint in the trap.  First, the dryer uses more electricity to run and is not as good at drying clothes, often leading to a second run through.  Second, the dryer can easily light on fire if the lint trap is full.

So, to recap (just like on MANswers).  Clean the lint trap because it will save you cash and keep your house from burning down!