Even though I cover almost all of my expenses using plastic, I do tend to keep a small amount of cash in my wallet to cover emergency situations, tips, and such things. This seems to be a regular thing for many people - most people seem to have a bit of cash tucked away for just such purposes.

Here’s what I keep tucked away and why:

Four $20 bills This is enough to cover almost every cash-based emergency that I can think of, such as paying a tow truck.

Four $5 bills and five $1 bills I keep these for tipping purposes, for dining and drink service, for example. If I know I’m going to be traveling, I up this amount quite a bit.

Other than this, I essentially don’t carry cash any more - my regular purchases all happen on a pair of rewards cards (between the two, I get between 3% and 6% cash back).

The question really comes down to risk: is this more cash than I should be carrying at any given moment? Given the benefits of having the cash when I need it, it’s a risk that I’m willing to take - the odds of a robbery in the area where I live are so low that it’s almost a non-factor.

In fact, the biggest risk of having this cash on hand is a temptation to use it. I sometimes think of it when I see a frivolous purchase and I attempt to justify using that cash for things I don’t really need.

To solve that, I generally tuck this cash into a pair of tiny pockets in my wallet so that they’re hidden from regular view. Then, when I actually need the cash, I am reminded of it, but during most normal activities, it never comes into my mind.

What’s your “cash on hand” policy?

Last night when my wife and I were shopping at Sam’s Club, I witnessed a lady putting a large package of individual bottles of Aquafina into her shopping cart. My wife knew that would get my hackles up, so she got us out of the way and out of earshot so I could rant, which I will recycle for you all now:

Aquafina is tap water, as are many other bottled waters. The liquid inside is basically the same thing you get from your tap in the kitchen.

It’s a lot of plastic, which just fills up a landfill Twenty four plastic bottles, plus the plastic shrinkwrap around the case, means that the environment is getting hammered.

It’s expensive If you pay more than a nickel a bottle, you’re getting ripped off when buying bottled water. There’s simply no reason to pay more.

I won’t even get into the pretentious aesthetics of many bottled water drinkers, who tend to glare at anyone who is not also drinking bottled water as though they’re doing something wrong (trust me, I’ve received glares).

My wife, playing the devil’s advocate (which she does so well), responded with the justification that it’s getting people to drink water instead of high-fructose drinks. To which I respond that it still doesn’t justify the cost.

Here’s my advice to the lady buying the Aquafina - this will not only save you a lot of money, but it’ll save the environment as well.

When you finish a bottle of the water, don’t throw it away. Instead, wash it and save it in the cardboard tray that it came in. If you put the entire case in the fridge, then put them in there without the box and stack the bottles in the box; if you just put in a few bottles at a time, swap the empty bottles for full ones to stock the fridge.

When you’ve finished the case, refill them out of the tap. Do the entire case at once and sit them back in the fridge. If you only put in a handful at a time out of the case, fill them as you stock the fridge.

Guess what? You can keep doing this over and over and over again, because the bottles are food safe and the content is the same: tap water. Each time you reuse a bottle in this way, you’re saving a little pile of change that you’re not spending buying these bottles, plus you’re saving space in the landfill.

If you drink bottled water regularly, please consider giving this a shot - it saves money and saves the environment, too.

Most food purchases at the grocery store boil down to one of four factors:

Is it healthy? Is the food low in fat and provide good nutritional quality? Is it devoid of chemicals of mysterious origin? I also include ethical issues here, such as buying from local traders and such - healthy in a different way.

Is it cheap? Is the price reasonable compared to other similar food options? Is this item going to bend my food budget?

Is it tasty? Does this look like an enjoyable item to eat? Could this be part of an enjoyable dish?

Is it quick? Is the preparation time for this food relatively small? Will preparing this food interfere with other activities in my life?

Most people in the first world will take these four factors into account when considering a food purchase, but in varying degrees. For example, I focus on healthy above all when buying food that my toddler will eat, but I often focus on tasty for myself. During my earlier years, quick was the top factor.

However, I like to find items that manage to hit as many of these areas as possible. Here are eight techniques that I use to find home run food purchases.

Read through the sales flyer before going This takes care of the cheap, letting you use the other criteria to make a judgment on the food. For example, if I see produce at a great price in the flyer, I’ll often make a point to look up a recipe for it (making it tasty and possibly quick) - this turns into a home run purchase because produce on sale is already healthy and cheap.

Stock up on herbs and spices Herbs and spices are magical - they manage to turn a bland but healthy food into a tasty concoction. It’s worth an investment in some jars of quality herbs and spices of various types because of their amazing ability to take food that is healthy and make it tasty, too. Here’s an essential collection of herbs and spices to get you started.

Figure out how to make salads you like Salads are incredibly quick to make and are also very healthy (and lettuce is often cheap), but for me they’re often lacking in the tasty department. To make this a grand slam, I spent a lot of time trying various salad dressings and toppings until discovering the things that really make a salad pop for me (mushrooms, a sprinkling of cheese, onions, homemade garlic croutons, and a touch of vinaigrette dressing). It was worth the effort - now I have a staple food that hits a grand slam for me.

Use prepackaged foods as a template Prepackaged convenience foods are very strong in terms of tasty and quick and usually cheap, but they fail terribly at healthy. Instead of grabbing your favorite convenience food, try using it as a template for preparing your own. Match the ingredients with fresh and healthy versions and make several batches at home in advance so you can prepare them quickly when it comes time.

Try unexpected things This usually comes into the cheap realm: look for inexpensive and healthy items and give them a shot. Because of this, I’ve truly discovered the joy of cucumbers and onions - just slice a few cucumbers and an onion into a bowl with one parts water and four part vinegar (plenty to cover the onions and cucumbers), dash in just a bit of salt (to taste, you can add more if you like), and put it in the fridge. This is a delicious quick snack that’s very healthy, too, and it works as an appetizer before meals - my son even loves them and will munch on a cucumber slice before the main meal.

Look for recipes adaptable to the crockpot / slow cooker (or designed for it) This somewhat solves the quick aspect by allowing you to actually prepare the food whenever you’d like. One technique worth doing is to grab one of those frozen crock pot meals from the freezer section, reading the ingredients in it, then picking them up separately (making it more healthy) - in other words, use the template tip in conjunction with the crockpot. Another one is to find some crock pot recipes in advance. Here’s a primer on the crock pot and five great recipes for it.

If you’re picking up a canned item, see if it’s fresh Looking at the canned vegetables for an upcoming meal? See if that vegetable is fresh. The same goes for fruits and for meats as well - if you can get the item sans preservatives, you’re basically making a healthier choice, likely a cheaper choice, and also likely a tastier choice.

Buy lots of staples For me, chicken breasts and tomatoes are the two best staple foods one can get. You can make chicken marinara one night, then have chicken tortilla soup the next. Using such staples is quick (you can often prepare them all at once - making tomato juice or boiling the breasts) and also healthy (you’re starting off with the basic food). Plus, they’re so adaptable that you can make all sorts of delicious dishes from them.

A bonus tip: don’t be afraid of leftovers. Instead, learn how to use spices and other techniques to rejuvenate them.

Today is the last day of July and our leases on our old apartment and our storage locker expire today. That means that today I’ll be turning in keys and such things. It’s a relief in a way, but in another way it’s a burden - I know those rentals are now replaced (and more) by the house.

Know Your Rights As A Debtor This is spectacular advice for dealing with an annoying creditor. I actually forwarded this link to a friend of mine who can really use the information right now. (@ queercents)

Buying Low And Selling High Might Sound Stupid, But People Still Do It When things take a dip, many people are automatically inclined to make panicky decisions. Bad move - the last week should have been an excuse to buy, not sell. (@ generation x finance)

Finances: Don’t Take Them So Personally An interesting perspective, one that I disagree with for most people. For such an analytical perspective to work, you have to have a very strong will, which, judging by the debt plaguing America, isn’t something that’s highly prevalent right now. (@ lazy man and money)

The Simple Dollar Retro: The Art Of The Slow Cooker A crock pot is a brilliant invention and one excellent way to start preparing delicious home-cooked meals without a lot of evening effort. This is a great guide for getting started.

As I’ve briefly mentioned on here before, I’ve almost entirely abandoned paper checks. I keep a checkbook around for the rare situation where one is needed, but I have written exactly seven checks in the last six months and all of those were to local businesses.

Over the last two years, as I’ve gotten more and more used to online bill pay, my bill paying cycle has become largely automated, with only the variable amount bills (mostly utilities and cell phone) actually requiring extra attention.

Once a week, though, I do go through something of a “bill paying” routine. Here’s what I do.

First, on Monday through Saturday, I collect all bills and statements on a pile on my desk. I check the mail, look at anything particularly interesting, and flip the rest onto a stack on my desk. I do the same thing with receipts from purchases that could possibly be tax-deductible. The rest of the routine takes place on Sunday afternoon and eats a half an hour or so.

I check the account balances of all of my accounts. This is just to make sure that there are no surprise charges or anything like that. I usually record the balance of all of these accounts in Excel because I keep pretty tight tabs on my net worth (yes, I update it all weekly and have an awesome little graph of the last year or so, moving steadily upwards with bumps and valleys here and there).

I sort what I have Basically, I pop open all the envelopes and put them into four piles: I need to deal with this (unpaid bills, stuff to look at more carefully, etc.), I need to file this (statements), I need to shred this (less important stuff that may have personal info, like checks from my credit card company), and the trash can (envelopes and inserts).

I deal with the “need to deal” pile Most of this is usually handled with online bill pay. Usually, an item or two requires a bit of research. As I deal with these items, I note on them in pen how I handled it and move it to the “I need to file this” pile.

I file away all printed statements and receipts that could possibly have future use Everything in the “I need to file this” pile gets filed away.

I shred All the stuff in the shredder pile gets shredded up. I actually save the shreddings for kindling for camp fires.

I do any leftover financial review I deem necessary This would include stuff like reading a mutual fund prospectus, doing some research, checking my budget if I’m worried about it at all, and so forth. I don’t like to carry around a big “I ought to do this” list for my financial stuff, so I try to take care of it at week’s end each week.

And then I’m done! It takes between a half an hour and an hour and leaves me with a strong sense of accomplishment.

A brilliant article appeared on Lifehacker today entitled 10 Ways To Entertain Young Children For $1 Or Less (Without The TV). Here are the author’s ten suggestions in a nutshell, but the article itself is well worth reading:

Large cardboard boxes
Rubber band and pencil crazy bot
Make a paper popper
Home Depot Kids Workshop
Plant something
Water sprinkler
Bubbles bubbles everywhere
Catch fireflies
Paper airplanes
Tin can and string telephone

I will say that I do several of these with my toddler son on a regular basis. He is a huge fan of cardboard boxes and bubbles are a regular yard activity.

However, there are many more nearly free activities that you can enjoy with your child. Here are ten more, all of which have been used by me and my nearly twenty one month old son.

Drumming with pots and pans and a wooden spoon Empty out the cupboards, turn pots and pans upside down in the kitchen, and practice drumming. It’s as noisy as can be, but it’s incredibly fun. Make lots of noise for a half hour or so.

Reading a book / going to the library I read books to my son all the time (he’s partial to Go, Dog. Go! and My Many Colored Days) and we also go to the library regularly - it’s within walking distance of our house.

Get out The Crayon Box and some white paper This has some startup expense, but goes down to pennies per use. Get a small container, fill it with crayons and paper, and get them out on occasion. I just steal about a hundred sheets of printer paper, keep them in a manila envelope in the Crayon Box, and get out a few sheets at a time. He spreads out on the floor and scribbles all over the sheets. Occasionally, I’ll print patterns for him, but usually he likes blank sheets the best.

Turn on music visualization and dance in the kitchen I’ll turn on some upbeat music in iTunes, turn up the volume, turn on the visualizer, and then work on kitchen tasks while dancing. My son loves dancing around and he also likes watching the patterns on the screen (he’s enjoyed the patterns since he was tiny).

Make some homemade Play-Doh and experiment with it

1 cup flour
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
food coloring

It’s all safe to eat in case he takes a big bite. We make a bunch of this and let him play with it on the table (but only on the table). He mashes it and molds it and beats it. I often make sculptures and he tries to imitate. Even better, it can all go in the trash when he’s done (this stuff works great for the first couple hours, but doesn’t keep well).

Go on a bug hunt The original article suggested catching fireflies, but it’s actually fun to catch all kinds of bugs. My son particularly likes watching grasshoppers jump. I walk around with him until we spy a bug, then we try to catch it (and usually fail, but it’s fun). If you do catch one, put it in a jar with holes poked in the lid and watch it for a while, then set it free (most insects are harmless and usually beneficial to your local environment). Obviously, as an adult, you should know of any dangerous bugs in the area, but these are few and far between and are far outnumbered by crickets, lightning bugs, grasshoppers, ladybugs, and so on. You can even try catching butterflies (a net works well for this).

Make a leaf pile - and jump in it! I’ve done this with my nieces and nephews countless times in the fall - and this year my son will be old enough to try it. Basically, just enlist their help in gathering up leaves and just when it looks like they’re bored, have them jump in the pile! I usually take a jump myself! Even if you don’t have a tree nearby, you can do this in the park. If you fill up bags full of leaves, you can also jump on the bags and not make as much of a mess (but the mess is half the fun).

Go for a walk in the rain When there’s a steady rainfall, don’t just hide inside - go out and explore it together. Splash in some mud puddles, catch a drop or two in your mouth (it won’t kill you!), and enjoy the splattering rain. It works well in a gentle, steady rainfall - kids tend to not like torrential downpours (neither do adults).

Make a homemade sweet treat Look up a recipe for homemade cake, brownies, cookies, or ice cream and make one of them from scratch. Let the child help as much as possible, even if it makes a mess. You can make a small batch of most recipes for well under a dollar, plus your child will get the fun of licking the batter off of the spoon.

Make a sheet fortress Take a bunch of bed sheets and erect a fort, using furniture as the base. My son loved hiding under it for a while, coming out and yelling, then hiding again - for hours.

After reading the comments on my portfolio post from yesterday (and being amused as to how they point in different directions), I wanted to point out one key part of my philosophy on risk.

Whenever I wonder if an investment is too risky or not, I ask myself this: would five negative years in that investment alter my current way of life? If the answer to that is no, then I’m willing to invest in more risky things; if the answer is yes, then I get pretty conservative.

Let’s look at a couple of examples to see how that applies.

Saving for retirement Right now, I’m about thirty years from retirement. If the market now has five consecutive bad years, it’s not great, but it’s okay - I wouldn’t have any significant changes in my current way of life because I know that retirement savings for me is for the long haul.

However, I do recognize that a solid nest egg is vital, so my answer to the question with regards to retirement will slowly slide towards “yes” as I grow older. As the answer slides, so will my portfolio towards more conservative investments.

Saving for a “dream home” This idea of a “dream home” is just that - a dream. I’m not investing money in this account that is needed for me to live - it’s money that I’m setting aside for a potential “someday.”

What this means for the investment is that I can be as aggressive as I want. It is not a life-altering situation if the market goes down for a few years - in fact, I’ll view that as a buying opportunity. The only thing I really hope for is a few years of growth after those down years, because my investments will skyrocket.

The real key is to understand what your goals are. Why are you investing, and will bad returns on that investment negatively affect your life? If you can’t answer those questions, you’ll likely not make strong investment decisions.

If you look down in the “Sponsors” section of The Simple Dollar, you’ll see that most of the links that used to be there are gone. I’ve basically decided to severely trim the number of advertisers on here, even though they pay me relatively well. The ones that remain are ones that exist due to long-term agreements I made, which I am honoring, but once those are gone, the “Sponsors” section will disappear entirely. Why am I trimming them? I took a look at the content of many of the sponsor links (many of whom were sold by a third party that I signed up for long ago) and I didn’t like what they represented - mostly, some very shady “get rich” type schemes. So, even though it meant more cash for me, I got rid of them because I didn’t like the organizations. I guess we’ll see if I regret that in the future.

You also might notice that I cleaned up the list of links to other sites, getting rid of several sites that no longer update and adding a few of my newer favorites. It might be worthwhile to check some of them out.

Why We No Longer Work With Text Link Ads Amazingly, We’re In Debt came to the exact same decision on almost the exact same day entirely independently. (@ we’re in debt)

Why You Should Hang On Tight Even During This Stock Market Drop The stock market burped about 6% in the last week. As many of you might expect, I bought in on Friday (very similar to my move in March). If you don’t understand the stock market, though, this article provides a great visual explanation of why you should just stick with stocks and ride it out. (@ moolanomy)

3 Ways I Live Frugally Without Being Deprived Basically, a nice little collection of frugal things that also bring joy into his life. (@ my money blog)

The Simple Dollar Retro: Are Your Friends Always Spending Money? Ten Frugal Activities - And Advice On How To Suggest Them Weirdly, almost all of my friends are at least as frugal as I am. My best friend is actually far more frugal than I am (he chooses to live in a dirt cheap apartment in a scary part of town so he can bike to work). So, thankfully, I don’t have to follow this advice very often - but it’s useful when I need it.