Gather Little by Little

View from our front porch last weekend.

It’s easy to visit Gather Little by Little on a daily or weekly basis, read or skim through the articles then move on.  Not only is it easy, but it’s beneficial too (or at least I hope so).  By reading Gather Little by Little that way though, you’re really missing out.  I thought I’d take a few minutes just to share with you a few things about Gather Little by Little that will help you benefit the most from it:

Subscribe

One of the quickest and easiest things you can do is subscribe.  While I appreciate those of you that visit my site, by subscribing you’ll get my daily content delivered to you automatically either via email or an RSS reader.  RSS is a great technology and is how I read my the more than 100+ blogs I subscribe too.  Not sure what RSS is?  No problem, this article will explain.

If you prefer email, all you have to do is complete this simple form.  I’ll never spam you or disclose your email address to anyone:

Search

Over on the right at the top of the sidebar is a search box that allows you to search the more than 500 articles I’ve published on Gather Little by Little.  Curious about a financial product or a personal finance top?  Or maybe you remember me writing about something but can’t recall the exact article name?  Use the search feature, it’s the easiest and most accurate way to find exactly what your looking for here on Gather Little by Little.

Visit the Archives

The Archives is a page that lists every article I’ve ever published here on Gather Little by Little, by month and year.  Let’s say you started reading Gather Little by Little 6-months ago.   You missed a year’s worth of content that I wrote before that.  While some of my early writing is a little raw, I honestly feel that some of my most passionate and best articles are from the first few months of writing.  My How to Get Your Finances Under Control, One Small Step at a Time series is probably the set of articles I’m most proud of as well.  I’m working on pulling those articles together into a single eBook with updated content and information.  Watch for that soon!

Add a comment or ask a question

Another great way to benefit from Gather Little by Little is by commenting.  By adding a comment you not only add value to the article, but get a chance to share your knowledge and perspective on a topic with other readers.  If you have a blog or website, you also get to add a link to your site above your comment!

Comments are also a great way to ask a question you may have and not only get a reply from me but from my other 2000+ readers that are incredibly sharp and knowledgeable (most of the time, more so than me!).

Ask me anything

I like to try to do an article each week called: Ask me anything.  This is where you the readers contact me with a question and I answer it.  Topics can be on pretty much anything.  I only ask that you keep it decent and respect my right to decline to answer if your question might be a little too personal.  So have a question about my finances, my personal life, my perspective on something??  Ask me and I’ll post your question and my answer.  I’ll only use your first name, but if you prefer I not even do that, just say so.

Have an article idea?

I have tons of ideas for articles, but if they aren’t what you want to hear, than I don’t want to write them.  I’m sure you guys have lots of things you would like to hear more about.  If so, just contact me and let me know about it.  Gather Little by Little is for you guys and I sincerely want to write about the topics you’re interested in.  So make sure you let me know what those topics are!

Announcements, News, and Stuff

Just a few quick things:

• The M-Network has a great surprise for you on Monday, so make sure you check in.  It’s something we’ve been working hard on and I’m sure you’ll enjoy.  Frankly, we have lots of things prepared for the Holidays and are working on a bunch of projects, contests and other events for 2009.  So keep an eye out!
• Surprisingly I received a number of consulting inquires for Empty Cabin Media (the site is still not live yet) and two initial engagements I’ve been working hard on.  One project was Studenomics.  I provided the owner with a bunch of tips on traffic, seo, advertisment optimization, and on their overall layout and theme choice.  They’re still working on the site, but it’s come a long way and the content is great.  Make sure you check out Studenomics and subscribe if you like the content.  I can’t mention the other site just yet, but so far it looks really slick.  As soon as it’s up I’ll give you a link.  Thinking of starting a blog or need some help with the one you have?  Contact me and I’ll see if I can help you out.

The Friday gathering

Without further rambling, here are my favorite personal finance articles from my blogroll this week:

• How to Keep Your Sanity When Christmas Shopping @ One Caveman’s Financial Journey
• 100 Money Saving Tips for the Holiday Gifting Bonanza
• Don’t Almost Save @ Mrs Micah
• Opening a New Solo 401k @ My Dollar Plan
• The Benefits of a Cash Christmas @ Being Frugal
• Recession Proof Your Job - 4 Ways To Avoid The Pink Slip @ Moolanomy - Love the picture!
• How To Prepare For Preparing Your Taxes. @ My Two Dollars
• New Stock Market Terms @ Cash Money Life - Sad, but hilarious
• Looking for Happiness In All The Wrong Places @ FrugalDad

I’ve been working from home now off and on for a few months. It started with 1-2 days at home, then 3 and within a few weeks I’ll be working from home full-time.  Personally I love it, but it’s different in more ways than I anticipated.  Working from home also isn’t for everyone.  I’ve found it to be highly productive for me, but it does require a great deal of discipline.  Here are just a few tips I have for those that are either already working from home or might be considering it:

Dedicated Space

Depending on your situation, dedicated space could mean just a desk over in the corner where you go when you work.  Having 6-kids, this wouldn’t be an option for me.  I have a dedicated office downstairs away from my family.  It’s quiet and distraction free.

The important thing for most professionals is being able to work at home and not having the person on he other end of the phone know.  I’ve been on way to many calls where I hear dogs barking in the background, children crying, and spouses talking.  I have one person I work with that must watch TV as he works.  Every time I call him I always hear a TV blaring in the background.  While all of these things are a normal part of being home, they aren’t a normal part of the work environment for  most.  You have to separate yourself from these things.

The other advantage of a dedicated space is that when you go there, you go into work mode.  If it’s your kitchen table, it’s hard to make the mental distinction that you’re at work rather than sitting down to eat breakfast or dinner.  When I walk into my office downstairs and shut the door it feels like I am walking into the doors at my companies operations center.  I go into “I’m at work mode”.

Communication Tools

When you work from home, you spend far more time on the phone than normal.  Therefore it’s critical to invest in a good quality phone line, phone, and headset.  Prior to moving I had used Vonage with a fair amount of success, but now that I’ll be going full-time at home I moved to a land line for clear and reliable phone service.

Get familiar with Instant Messaging technologies, they are a life saver.  The phone is a wonderful tool for lengthy or complex conversations, but instant messaging tools are a life saver for short and quick questions/conversations.  It’s far less distracting and intrusive as a phone ringing.  It also allows you to be on a phone call, but continue to communicate with people.  Just be sure you pay attention to the phone call!

I tried to avoid it, but I’m going to have to purchase a fax machine or use an online fax service (any suggestions??).  As much as I try to work paperless, paper is still somewhat of a reality especially when dealing with other companies or people that aren’t as paperless.

Having good communication tools allows you to be available and being available is a critical requirement for making a work from home situation successful.  Regardless of the reality, if you aren’t available than people will perceive you as not working.  Do everything you can to make yourself available.

Staying Focused

This is by far the biggest complaint I hear about people working from home: staying focused.  Here are just a few suggestions to help:

• Establish a schedule - Most likely when you worked at the office you had a schedule.  Do the same when working from home.  Be at work at a certain time and leave at a certain time.  Not only will your co-workers appreciate it, it will help you mentally feel like you’re going to work, even if the commute is only a few feet!
• Get up and get dressed - Sure one of the advantages of working at home is working in your PJs.  This doesn’t work for me.  I have a morning routine that I’ve been going through for years and in order for me to get into work mode I have to go through that routine.  I get up, fix coffee, eat breakfast, write for my blogs, shower, get dressed, then head to my office downstairs.   Granted, I wear sweats, jeans, shorts, etc. rather than business casual, but it still helps to put me in “work mode”.
• Take breaks - Ironically enough, this one has been tough.  I tend to just keep working through the whole day, even eating at my desk.  Not a good idea.  Take breaks.  Take a walk outside, come upstairs to eat lunch for a 1/2 hour or so.  This will keep you fresh and avoid overworking.
• Plan - Each day before I turn off the lights and close the office door, I make a list of everything I need to accomplish the next day.  Before I leave the next day I make sure everything on that list is done, then I make the next list.  When you begin working from home you’re no longer evaluated on whether you are at work but by how much you get done.  Make sure you are getting things done.

A few final thoughts

Just a few final thoughts from some experiences I’ve had with others working from home…yes believe it

• Don’t carry the phone or cell phone with you to the bathroom.  Awkward.
• Don’t drink alcohol while you’re working.  Resist the temptation to open that beer at 3:00pm.  You wouldn’t do it at work, don’t do it at home.
• Wear clothes. If you aren’t, don’t proudly tell everyone that you aren’t.  Even if you don’t tell them, they’ll know.  I’m not sure how, but we just do.
• Don’t eat while you’re on the phone. Nothing worse than talking to someone while they crunch chips in your ear.
• Get a phone with a mute button that is easy and quick to find.  When working at home, the unexpected will happen.  A mute button just might save you uncomfortable explaining like when your dog stands outside your window and barks at you, or your kids come busting into your office to have you settle a dispute.

What tips do you have?  Are you thinking about working from home but have concerns?  Add a comment or question!

Photo by: Yogi

Back in September, I wrote an article providing tips on how to sell your home fast in a buyer’s market.  These tips and suggestions were not only things I had personally done to the home we’re trying to sell, but also tips and suggestions from multiple real estate agents, friends, family and a significant amount of research and reading that I did on the internet.

While I still think these are excellent tips and things that really must be done in order to sell your home in the current stale market, they weren’t enough.  We listed our home in early August and haven’t received a single offer yet.  Right before school started was a fairly active time.  We were receiving on average 2-3 showings a week.  The problem was that we listed the home before we had done any of the things I suggested in my article.  Once school started, showings went down to about 1 per week and then continued to slow as we moved closer to the election and the Holiday season.

No showings in 3 weeks

As of today, we haven’t had a single showing in 3 weeks.  Our home is pristine: New carpet all around, complete exterior repainting and repairs, complete interior repainting, everything works and it’s clean.  Not only is it clean, it’s empty.  Now granted, maybe that might hurt it a bit, but only if people were seeing it, which they aren’t.

Is my agent not doing her job?

My first though was to question my selling agents ability and experience.  After all, she is new.  We discussed the lack of showings and I was surprised to find out that her entire office hasn’t had a single showing in two weeks.   This isn’t a small little office either, it’s Remax and they have more than 10 agents.  Talking to a few friends that are also trying to sell their homes, they haven’t had any showings either.

The market hasn’t slowed, the market has stopped.  Granted it is close to the holiday season and real estate sales tend to slow way up anyway, even in a good market.  But with our current market, it’s just not moving at all.

Alternatives to selling

Considering I am not able to sell, we’re looking now at renting.  This is something I had seriously considered before, but frankly chose not to as I just didn’t want to deal with the hassle.  I’m not really interested in real estate form an investment perspective, or should I say I wasn’t until recently.  Now?  Well, given the fact I can’t move my current home and I’m having to pay two mortgage payments, two sets of electric bills, twice the home owners insurance, and property taxes on two homes…I think it’s time to branch out my investing options.

Another option  would be to wait and sell later.  Even under the best of circumstances, it’s not a good time to sell: Winter time is generally slower and the holiday season is slower.  I could certainly financially afford to wait, but I just feel like I am literally burning money each month paying for a home I’m not using.

If you’ve been wondering about whether or not all of the nightly news features about the down housing market are true.  Wonder no more, they are dead on.  Houses just aren’t selling right now because there just aren’t any buyers.

I guess I’ll be calling my agent later this afternoon to discuss renting.  But, let’s look on the bright side: 1) I might be able to sell in a year or two and get far more for my home and 2) I’ll have something new to write about here on Gather Little by Little!

Have any suggestions or helpful tips for me about renting?  Are you trying to sell your home and feeling my pain?  Add a comment!

Photo by: TheTruthAbout…