April 2011 Net Worth Snapshot

Changing Oil

With the crazy high gas prices lately, I've been thinking of ways to reduce costs that involve my car. I'd like to move closer to my job, but that's not quite in the cards yet. I've been changing my own oil for awhile now and wanted to see how much I'm saving.

On to the money:Cost of oil change: $30-$40, we'll use a $35 average
Cost of oil and filter from Walmart: $13
Oil changes per year: 5
Cash saved per year: 5(35-13) = $110

I'm pretty handy so changing my own oil isn't a big deal. It takes me about 20 mins. You may think the savings isn't worth the work but there are other benefits to changing your own oil. For one, the guys at the lube shop don't care about your car. They'll overfill your oil, strip your bolts, and overlook things that could later be a problem. I like being able to do a quick spot check on everything under my car to make sure nothing is about to break down. Also, being more familiar with your car will help you from being ripped off when you have to get it serviced.

If you absolutely MUST pay someone else to change your oil, don't let them change your air filter! Even the most mechanically inept person can swap out a dirty filter for only the cost of the filter.

How to change your oil

I bought my first ETF today

Today I bought 54 shares of NYSE:KBE. It doesn't quite fit into my investment strategy of index mutual funds but I recently liquidated some shares in my IRA and didn't quite have $2500 (which is the smallest minimum investment for most mutual funds). I had several criteria for choosing this etf:

1. Liquidity: 4.47 million avg volume
2. Undervalued: The financial sector is one of the few that hasn't recovered since the 2008 crash
3. Index Fund: It follows the KBW Bank Index
4. Low management fees: expense ratio of 0.35% 
5. Dividends: yield of .75,  I'd prefer something closer to 2%, but I compromised because the dividend yield was higher pre-2008. 

Wish me luck, we'll see if the financial sector rebounds. 

No more haircuts!

Do you know what the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is?

About two weeks. 

I used to give myself haircuts back in high school when I wanted a mohawk or some other crazy style. I did this mainly because I knew my mom would never pay for someone else to do it, so I had to get creative. Occasionally I would give myself a more normal haircut (usually when my mom strongly, umm, encouraged me to). It was easy to learn. I watched how the barber did it, got some clippers, arranged the mirrors and went to town. Luckily for me I'm a guy so if I screwed up too badly I could just shave it off, no big loss.

Anyways, this weekend I found the clippers and decided I'd save the $15. It turned out fine, only one chunk missing (the girlfriend found a spot I missed and, ahem...,  "trimmed" it. Love you babe!). This may be harder to get away with if you're a woman, but I'd guess it would save you a lot more than $15 too. Also, if you cut all your kids' hair you could quickly multiply your savings.

On to the money:
Haircut every 2 months: 6 x $15 = $90 per year saved.
Hours worked equivalent: (After all deductions) About  6