Expenses

This category looks at stuff that we spend money on!

PayDay Loans: Should you use or avoid them?

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Payday loans, when used sparingly and in true emergencies, can be financial lifesavers. A payday loan is funds borrowed from a lender with a promise of repayment, usually from the borrower’s next paycheck. Hence, the name payday loan.

With a payday loan, there are no credit checks, no up-front costs, no sharing your financial information with others and you get the funds within 24 hours. Those are distinct advantages in a crisis. If your car won’t run or it’s the middle of winter and your furnace breaks down for the last time, payday loans can fill an urgent need especially for those whose credit would preclude short-term bank loans.

Finding a payday loan isn’t hard; it seems they’re on nearly every major street corner these days and they’re worldwide. They have longer hours than banks and credit unions and they also cash checks for a small fee.

However, what if payday comes and you’re unable to pay back the loan in full? Payday loans will roll over to the next paycheck and the next and the next—each time adding interest which averages $15 per hundred. Therefore, if you’ve borrowed three hundred dollars for the cheapest water heater you could find but can’t pay the loan back for two months, that water heater has cost you the original price plus 4 cycles of interest. You’ve paid $180 in interest, over half of the amount of the loan!

There are definitely advantages to payday loans if you can meet the original terms of service and get the loan on a truly “payday” basis. However, if you have any doubt that you can pay back the payday lender, you should consider other sources for loans. Better yet, try to plan and provide for financial disasters before they occur.

You can use the little calculator below to calculate your interest rate over a longer period.

It is updated automatically.

February’s Credit Card Statement: NT$26,413 in 31 days!

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Or in other words, how to break the bank!

My wife was standing over my shoulder last time I wrote my very uneventful credit card statement for January 2008. She said in pointed tones: “Who cares about your credit card spending?”… Well, of course, I do!

I usually include the credit card spending report for three reasons:

1. to encourage me to pay off the entire amount regularly;
2. to share with my readers different parts of my life, because each of my purchases has a story of some sort; and
3. to encourage readers to share their spending habits, so that we can all learn from our mistakes.

So here goes, February’s spending… And it isn’t pretty.

First, I racked up NT$26,413 worth of spending, some of related to our vacation in TaiChung and Tainan. Some of it related to business expenses. And some of it related to personal expenses.

Business Stuff
During Chinese New Year we reorganized our school space yet again. This enabled us to improve our computer resources, expand our library area a little and make things more customer friendly. But it entailed some expenses, of which NT$7082 involved a trip to the local Ikea, where we purchased a much-needed IKEA office chair, valued at nearly $5000 (est.). We’d been eyeing that chair for a while, but had passed on it several times due to its relative expense. Other little things included picture frames for the walls, and other knick-knacks.

Online Stuff
I purchased a link on Linkworth to increase link sales last week. It wasn’t particularly expensive at US$8.50 for a featured link for seven days. But it coincided with a long weekend in the US. And generated no responses at all. I won’t bother with that avenue again.

Personal Stuff
Somehow because we had nearly two weeks vacation at Chinese New Year, we really spent a lot more on clothes, vacations, and food! I spent NT$4119 buying two sweaters, two shirts, socks, underwear, and some other clothes for winter in Taichung. And Christine also spent NT$3924 on clothes and trainers for herself.

Then in IKEA we additionally spent another NT$2330 on house stuff: none of which I can remember right now. And on the first day of our holiday, we ate out at TienMou Mitzukoshi Department store in the Thai Restaurant on the top floor. The food was excellent, and the weather was AWFUL, so we were so happy to eat something hot, delicious, and spicy! That was NT$1667.

And I nearly forgot we spent a night at a hotel in Taichung, called The Splendor. The room was quite big, and view was excellent as you saw in the competition. Even the breakfast was great, but the price was nearly double the price we paid for a much more pleasant hotel. It cost NT$3589 for one night in a double room.

Regular Expenses
Our regular expenses included three items: our CIGNA life insurance policy, but no mobile phone bill (they now only bill every 2nd month), and our interest payment of NT$64. Yes, I did it again: I didn’t pay the entire amount. I underpaid NT$1364 this time, and it cost an extra NT$64. Wow!

So that’s February’s expenses on my credit card.

My New Wallet: Bigger, Longer and Fatter

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Well, folks. I decided to get a new wallet! I outgrew my original wallet. I was quite delighted when I found this wallet in Carrefour! It was only NT$248.

multi-function wallet

It has lots of pockets on the right hand side, each of which can take several cards. There’s a small pocket for change, too; though I use it for my SD cards. I’ve added my Cruzer on the keychain in the center. There’s also a slot for a pen in the middle. On the left hand side, there are two long pockets for notes, and other things. Originally, this wallet was designed for traveller’s to put things in like passports and traveler’s checks (hence the generous pockets), but I’m finding it quite useful!

Of course, you are thinking why did I change? Well, during the previous weekend, I did a really dumb thing: I threw away all of my bank books for my business! Now that was really dumb. After that I decided that ALL of my financial affairs needed sorting out, things were just getting too messy. While I don’t carry bank books in this wallet, I do think it would be big enough, should I do so.

Having a sensible wallet is really essential these days; and sometimes those sleek little leather ones just don’t cut it any more! What are you using? Show us a picture in your blog!