We are home with the new baby.  She’s doing so well and I want to thank all of you who responded with ‘well wishes’ and prayers.  My wife and I took her for her first checkup today and she is a healthy, happy baby girl.  My mother-in-law is staying with us this week, helping with the baby and our other two kids.  Big sister and big brother love baby number three and are enjoying showing her pictures to their classmates.

I am ready to get back to blogging about personal finance -

I’ve already started to publish updates over at No Credit Needed Network.  I am about 1 week behind.  Updated charts will be published, every hour, around the clock, until I catchup.

I’m moving forward with my weight loss, over at No. Calories Needed.

Friday morning, I’ll release a new episode of the No Credit Needed Podcast.

I want to thank you all for your patience, as I work blogging into our new 3-kid household.  I love writing about personal finance and I have a new series of posts that I think you will really enjoy.  Over the next few weeks, I have several topics to write about - including how the new baby changes our budget, increasing our life insurance coverage, and why I decided not to sell our old car.

Again, I want to thank all of you who left comments, wrote guest posts, or sent emails.  We are truly blessed and we have so enjoyed the last few days.

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While we settle in with new baby - No Credit Needed will feature a few guest posts from some of my fellow personal finance bloggers. (I’ll also mix in a few posts of my own, as I find the time.) Today’s post comes from Prime Time Money - and it should get you primed and ready for a great summer of personal finance management.

5 Rules of Spring Training (for Your Finances)

It’s spring training time in major league baseball. Time for the players to head south and get ready for a long season of games. In a similar way, we non-pros need to dedicate some time during every season to get our financial lives together. Why not start now? Whether you’re a rookie or an old timer (like NCN), here are the 5 (unofficial) rules of spring training for your finances.

Pitchers and Catchers Report First

The first positions to show up at training camp are the pitchers and catchers. Why? I suspect because it takes longer for them to get their arms ready for the season, and their ability to work together is critical to the team’s success.

When getting serious about managing your finances, whether it’s your first time or just an annual update, it’s best to start with the most important elements. For me that’s been (1) spending less than I earn and (2) ensuring proper savings for retirement. These, I’ve found, have been my most important players. So I focus on those first. Determine what the major items are for you and spend your early efforts there.

Start Slowly

Regardless of the position, everybody player needs to ease into it. There’s no point in going out full-speed from day one, risking injury and burnout.

The same is true of our finances. Don’t try and tackle every issue tonight, or even this week. That huge amount of credit card debt took a while to build up, so it might just take a while to get rid of. Make yourself a plan of all the things you need to accomplish, whether it’s debt reduction, organizing your files, increased retirement savings, or buying a first home. Work on them as you find time. Take a long-term approach to meeting these goals. It’s a long season, just make sure you have a plan and you’re headed in the right direction.

Go Somewhere Warm

Major league teams go to either Arizona or Florida for their spring training. I think they call them the “cactus” and “grapefruit” leagues. They take this out-of-town approach so that they have consistent weather and can be away from the distractions of their home town.

For me, I’ve found that I do best with my finances when I take myself out of my normal routine and comfort zone. Read a new and motivating personal finance book. Visit a quality personal finance blog.  Go cash-only for a week. Mix things up a bit and see how that changes your perspective and provides motivation for a lasting effort with your finances.

Practice the Fundamentals

The key to hitting a fastball or making the throw to first is not natural talent alone. These players swing the bat several hundred times a day and make the same routine throws over and over again. Repetition of the basics is the backbone of any quality baseball training program.

Likewise, for your finances, practicing the fundamentals over and over will lead you to success. For debt reduction, practice the debt snowball. For short-term savings, try making it automatic. Most importantly, find the little things that are working for you and simply repeat them.

Have Fun

Lastly, another element to spring training in baseball is lots of fun, as evidenced by this recent at-bat by “Yankee” Billy Crystal. Spring training is filled with stunts like this, and the teams do a good job of keeping the atmosphere light and care free.

Personal finance can be a dry and boring topic if you let it be. Make sure you’re having a little fun with it along the way. Do this by focusing on all the enjoyable experiences you will be able to afford once you get things organized. Also, be sure and celebrate the goals you accomplish along the way. Have fun!

I want to thank Prime Time Money for this awesome post. I encourage you to visit Prime Time Money, read more about PT Money, and subscribe to the PT Money RSS Feed.

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Baby number three - a little girl - was born Sunday Morning around 10AM. She weighs 8 pounds and she is beautiful beyond words. Mommy is doing fine and we should be going home early Tuesday morning. I stole a few minutes and found some free Wi-Fi so that I could share our wonderful news with my readers.

Big sister and big brother are fascinated with little sister, and they’ve taken turns holding the baby and kissing the baby and loving the baby and talking about the baby. My wife is resting, back at the hospital, and I’m out getting gas for the trip home and purchasing the one thing we forgot - a baby monitor! (of all things?!?)

I’ll have much more to write about when we get home, but for now -

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvelous [are] thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, [and] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all [my members] were written, [which] in continuance were fashioned, when [as yet there was] none of them.
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
[If] I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes.  My wife is doing great and we are so ready to get home and enjoy our ‘completed’ family.

New babies ROCK!!!

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In October we paid cash for a new (to us) minivan. Here are some thoughts, about the minivan, six months later -

Value - I think that we got a great deal. By going with a used van, our total costs were about 60% less than they would have been, had we gone with a new van.

Ride - Our minivan is a Chrysler - and it has a quiet, comfortable ride. In fact, when you sit in the front seat and crank it up, it’s hard to tell if the engine is running, it’s that quiet. The front seats have plenty of legroom, but the back two sets of seats are a little cramped. We own the ‘base’ model - and it’s short for a minivan. But, our kids are small and there is more than enough room for them and their friends. In fact, due to the fact that it’s smaller than our old van, our daughter, who sits on the very back bench seat, can look over and check on the new baby.

Features - The van came equipped with satellite radio and the middle seats have built-in child restraints. Other than that, the van has pretty basic features. With three kids and ball practice, the cloth seats work just fine. We wish that the van had power-doors, but when trying to save money, there are times when we must with the fact that we can’t have everything that we want. I would love to have a factory-installed navigation system, but, for now, we just use our inexpensive, portable GPS. - So far, the van hasn’t given us any problems. The tires were new when the van arrived and windshield wipers are in good shape. The oil has been changed twice and it has a new air filter. From time to time, there is a ’squeaking noise’ that comes from the inside of the the right-rear door. When we take the van in for it’s 60,000 mile tuneup, I’ll ask our mechanic to take a look at the door. Other than that, everything about the van is great.

I must say, we have really enjoyed our new (to us) minivan. I was hesitant about purchasing an automobile sight-unseen, but everything has worked out, really well. My wife loves the van and she even lets me drive it, from time to time.

Side note - For those of you who might be interested, baby number three hasn’t been born yet. My wife is resting in the other room, as I type this, so I’m trying to be very, very quiet. In fact, just to be on the safe side, I’d better go outside and vacuum out the van, just in case ‘today is the day’! New babies rock!

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As I recently mentioned, I’ve been shopping for a new lawn mower. Well, after today’s trip to the recycling center, I have figured out a way to pay for the new mower.

I am going to collect and recycle aluminum soda cans.

Here’s the plan -

One aluminum soda can weighs .5 ounce, which means that it takes 32 aluminum cans to equal 1 pound.

Currently, 1 pound of aluminum cans can be sold to the recycling plant for $.70.

The new lawn mower that I want retails for $1400.

I need to collect and recycle 2000 pounds of aluminum cans.

At 32 cans per pound, I need to collect and recycle 64,000 aluminum cans!

While I have been planning to purchase a new lawn mower this spring, I might wait until next spring. If I give myself 365 days to collect and recycle 64,000 aluminum cans, I’ll need to pick them up at a rate of 175 cans PER DAY!

To be honest, I don’t see how in the world I’ll be able to find 175 cans, per day, every day, for a year, but I think I’ll give it a shot. We live on a dirt road and there are plenty of places to park my truck, walk for a mile or two, and pick up cans. I’ll try to do my ‘can hunting’ when I’m taking necessary trips, so as not to waste gas. And, I’ll look for places where people are simply discarding cans and see if I can haul the cans off for them. The recycling center is between our house and town, so I won’t have to go out of my way to drop off the cans.

One side note - Apparently, certain cans weigh more than others. I weighed six cans from six different companies, and the lowest weights ranged from .45 ounce to .60 ounce. Hopefully, I’ll find more of the .60 ‘ouncers’!

Edit: If you are looking for information about state bottle deposit laws - check out BottleBill.Org.

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