Over the last few days, I’ve been dealing with a deep personal disappointment, one that I’d rather not discuss in public (don’t worry, it’s not relevant to The Simple Dollar – it’s wholly personal). It’s left me feeling empty and rather sad and – frankly – not very motivated to write at all. I’ll sit down, intending to write or get other tasks done, and find myself staring out the window, thinking about other things and usually feeling miserable.

This is something that a lot of people go through. A sudden death. A major fight or the end of a relationship. A long-hoped-for event falling through. They can hit you in the chest and make it feel as though the winds have completely fallen out of your sails, no matter how well other aspects of your life are going.

A few months ago, I reviewed the excellent book After the Darkest Hour, which dealt with this very problem: how do you get your professional and other personal aspects of your life back on track after a disappointment? I turned to this book over the last few days, and here are the pieces of advice it provided that really clicked for me and helped me to find the strength to write this post and others.

Focus on helping others Part of the impetus of this post was the realization that part of my “job” when it comes to The Simple Dollar is to help people. I’m dealing with something painful, but dealing with such things is a key part of the human experience, something we all deal with.

So I turn the question around. What can I do right now to help someone else through a problem? It leads me back to my real purpose for The Simple Dollar, gets me to the keyboard, and gets me writing.

For you, the solution might be simply helping out a friend or a relative with a task that they have, or putting in some extra time with a volunteer project you’re involved with. It’ll make you feel better, just as actually sitting down and writing this is making me feel better.

Allow yourself to go ahead and grieve Instead of lightly dwelling on the item at hand and continually pushing it off into the future, allow yourself to grieve. If you need to cry, just let the tears come now rather than later.

Pushing off the grieving process does nothing more than extend the problem. Sitting here, staring out the window, and dwelling lightly on the issue while also feeling guilty about the work I’m not doing isn’t really helping at all. I’d be far better off just taking a walk or going someplace by myself and just letting it all come out at once. Then, I can get back to the tasks I need to do with my full concentration sooner rather than later.

Meditate No matter what I’m going through or how I feel, meditation improves my mood and my calmness. Just go into a quiet place for twenty minutes or so and simply relax and empty your mind.

Don’t know how? Here’s a suggestion. Sit back, close your eyes, and try to clear your mind of every thought – make it as empty as possible. Then slowly imagine each part of your body going to sleep – I like to imagine it slipping into a warm pool of water. Start with your feet, then your calves, then your knees, and so on. Nice and slow. Once you’re up to your neck, then slowly do it in reverse, all the way back down. It really does work, and it makes you feel refreshed no matter what you’re going through.

Talk to others about what you’re feeling If you’re facing a difficult personal situation, don’t just let it build up inside of yourself. Share it with others.

My wife and I have had several long conversations recently, mostly taking place as we sat on our bed together. I’ve talked to a few additional family members and friends as well. Each time, I felt better about things and was more able to concentrate on tasks at hand.

Look for role models Do you know anyone who rolled through a similar experience and got themselves right back on track? They’re likely a great source for advice and thoughts – and also a great source of inspiration from afar.

I have a friend who went through a nearly-identical experience about fifteen years ago. Today, I’ve been using her as inspiration – and it’s helped quite a bit. If she can do it, I can do it.

Watch a funny movie – or do something else that’ll make you laugh Humor is a natural and healthy mood-lightener and it works impressively well.

What I often do is turn to hulu.com and watch the previous episode of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. I usually get a few laughs and, at the end, I feel quite a bit better. In fact, as I’m writing this, an episode of The Colbert Report was playing in the background … and it does work. I do feel better.

Spend time with someone who naturally makes you happier For me, that’s easy. Few things make me feel better than spending time with my kids and my wife. Their mere presence – their ordinary behavior – tends to lift my mood quite a bit, making painful things much easier to get through.

And with that thought, I’m walking away from the keyboard early today. I’m going to go take my kids to story time at the library and then go to the park, as this is likely one of the last nice days before winter begins to set in. I can’t think of anything better than waving at my son as he stands at the top of the tall slide and helping my one year old daughter slide down the small slide.

This is the third in a weekly series of articles providing a chapter-by-chapter in-depth “book club” reading of Benjamin Graham’s investing classic The Intelligent Investor. Warren Buffett describes this book: “I read the first edition of this book early in 1950, when I was nineteen. I thought then that it was by far the best book about investing ever written. I still think it is.” I’m reading from the 2003 HarperBusiness Essentials paperback edition. This entry covers the third chapter, which is on pages 65 to 79, and the Jason Zweig commentary, on pages 80 to 87.

“Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.”

That phrase (or variations on it) is something you read over and over and over again if you read much about specific investments in the modern era. In fact, it’s printed so often that many people simply breeze on past it, not giving the phrase a second thought.

Yet virtually everything we can know about the stock market comes from past performance. Believing that the stock market will jump when the Federal Reserve cuts rates? It’s based on past performance. Believing that the stock market will fall on poor economic numbers? It’s based on past performance. Believing that a certain stock is undervalued compared to the rest of the market? It’s based on past performance.

That’s why it’s so valuable to look in detail at the history of the stock market. How has the market typically reacted to certain events? How have individual stocks reacted to certain events? How have things gone when the economy is thriving … and when the economy is slow?

This study is never a guarantee of what will happen, but it’s a pretty good guide. And that’s why Graham spends twenty pages or so delving into the past here.

Chapter 3 – A Century of Stock Market History
Graham spends this chapter drawing on a century’s worth of stock market history to come up with some general investment principles as to how to invest in the stock market in early 1972.

Now, at first glance, that might seem incredibly boring. “Why do I need to know how to invest in the 1972 stock market? Tell me what I need to know now.” If that’s your perspective and you’re merely seeking a specific investing recipe to follow, I suggest that you put this book down immediately and pick up a good book of investing recipes, like The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing.

What’s actually worth studying here is the process. How does Graham come to the conclusions that he does about the stock market in 1972? He walks step by step through the logic, showing how the market in 1972 is very similar to earlier bull markets and patterns. He concluded that the bull run was likely somewhat near the top – he didn’t worry too much about actually guessing the specific top – and thus one should invest with that situation in mind.

Another thing worth noting is that Graham’s advice for the 1972 market really applies well to any stock market that’s riding a year-plus long bull market. His advice is basically don’t go into debt to invest right now and also don’t have more than half of your investment money in stocks – the rest should be in bonds, cash, real estate, etc.

Graham’s advice is conservative, but he doesn’t hide the fact that he doesn’t want investors to lose principal – that’s a constant theme throughout the book. Graham vastly prefers very conservative moves and patience, waiting carefully for a great investment opportunity instead of throwing the farm at any old piece of fool’s gold.

Commentary on Chapter 3
Zweig deftly takes Graham’s arguments about the 1971-1972 stock market and applies them to the stock market of 1999 and 2000. In both cases, that peak was followed by a drop and, if one had followed Graham’s general advice of how to invest conservatively at the peak of a stock market, you would have rolled right through it without much loss.

Zweig also makes the argument that, based on Graham’s calculations and the numbers in the stock market from 1993 to 2003, one could reasonably expect the 2003 to 2013 stock market to return roughly 6% – or 4% after inflation. Looking at the first half of that range, from January 2003 to October 2008, the stock market (by most metrics) is roughly back to where it started, with most of the gains coming in the form of dividends.

I couldn’t help but speculate, while reading this chapter and Zweig’s commentary, that this same exact “peak investing” philosophy applies very well to 2006 and 2007. I know that if I had gone very conservative in late 2007 with my investments – even if I just left what I had in stocks and merely started buying bonds instead – I’d be in a much better place financially right now. My retirement accounts wouldn’t be hurting nearly as much.

Next Friday, we’ll look at Chapter 4: General Portfolio Policy: The Defensive Investor.

Several days ago, I wrote an article about the influence of the Fruity Cheerios brand on my two year old child. That article spurned such a tremendous number of responses (including more direct email responses than I’ve ever received to any individual article) that I thought it would be fair to post a follow-up article discussing some of the ideas brought up by the responses.

The cereal “lie” Many people made the astute point that, while it may save money, simply putting generic cereal inside of a Fruity Cheerios box is tantamount to lying to my child and, when he discovers the subterfuge, he’ll have reason not to trust me. Furthermore, it doesn’t really help with the branding issue at all, because the cereal is still coming from a box marked “Fruity Cheerios.”

Both points are quite true. The solution of simply putting generic cereal in a name-brand box doesn’t help at all with branding and it also eliminates trust just to save a buck or two. Not worth it.

Freedom of choice Other readers argued clearly and effectively on behalf of preserving my son’s freedom of choice. I should allow him multiple choices at breakfast and encourage him to choose the healthier and more cost-effective options. Better yet, I should make sure that all of the choices I do offer him are already rather healthy options.

This is something we already do at home. Most breakfast opportunities are choices between toast (my son’s favorite, actually), oatmeal, and two (or so) types of cereal, with other choices sometimes popping up on occasion (bagels, eggs, etc.). He usually either chooses toast (or bagel) or one of the cold cereals, even if other options are available. I do make an effort to ensure that all of the options are at least reasonably healthy, though.

Don’t sweat it; just use coupons Quite a few people argued that a two year old isn’t really that affected by brand recognition, so it’s not a big deal. Plus, with coupons, Cheerios can be purchased very cheaply, so why not simply get him the cereal that he wants?

I disagree pretty strongly with the brand recognition aspect. I can name several brands that my son identifies and looks to very positively: Cars, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Bob the Builder, and Thomas the Tank Engine. He expresses clear preferences for any kind of item that is branded with one of these marketing gimmicks, regardless of how subpar the items are inside. What I’ve been doing to help correct this is showing him how much further his money stretches if he avoids the branded items: “You have enough change to only get one of the Cars toys, but you can get four of these other cars for the same price!”

With regards to where to buy cereal for cheap, if you buy it in bulk, Sam’s Club’s normal prices on an enormous double-bag box of various kinds of Cheerios is cheaper than either the generic or the coupon-reduced Cheerios at other grocery stores per ounce. So, when we buy cereal, we buy it in absurd quantities that usually last a couple of months at least.

Eat generics together A few additional readers suggested that I eat the generic cereal alongside my child to demonstrate that I approve of generics and like them.

This was actually my favorite suggestion of the lot. My children and I eat the exact same thing for breakfast every time we sit down together to eat. However, this does bring up the very strong point that you should talk to your kids about what you’re eating and consuming. Talking to your children (actually, to any children that you might be close enough to to eat breakfast with) about such things is a vital part of teaching them about life.

Our solution So what’s our solution to the whole situation? We dug into the cupboard and pulled out a few clear Rubbermaid containers into which we’ll be putting the cereal from now on. We’ll show our son what we’re putting in each one, but afterwards we’ll let him choose from among the unlabeled, unbranded containers, basing his choice solely upon the contents.

Most important, though, this is a great opportunity to talk about why we purchase stuff. Having Dora the Explorer on the box might make the packaging more interesting, but we’re not going to eat the packaging, are we? What matters is what’s better inside the box – and what food (not container) is the best value for the dollar.

Today is the two year anniversary of the launch of The Simple Dollar. Last year, to celebrate the site’s one year anniversary, I selected my twenty five favorite articles of the first year of the site. I thought I’d continue that tradition by selecting my twenty five favorite articles from the second year of the site. These aren’t necessarily the best articles of the last year (though many of them are), merely the ones I enjoyed writing the most and also generated interesting discussion. Enjoy!

Homemade Bread: Cheap, Delicious, Healthy, and Easier Than You Think This is a handy visual guide to making homemade bread – I focused on making it seem as easy as possible. I tend to really enjoy these “photo diary” kind of posts because they let me step outside the box a little bit and do something different.

52 Books, 52 Weeks: The Top Ten Early on with The Simple Dollar, I made a concerted effort to read and review a personal finance each week for a year. Here’s the top ten of all of those books (along with a ranked list of the other 42 books I read).

Seven Ways To Get Books For Free (Or Close To It) These are the tactics I use to keep up with my reading. I rarely have any problem getting and reading any book I want when I use these tactics in concert with one another.

Organization 101: A Visual Guide to How I Manage the Information in My Life I did this visual guide because, for a time, I was not only managing The Simple Dollar, but also working a full-time job and focusing on being a good parent to two young children and a good husband to my wonderful wife. That took some juggling, indeed.

Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance on the Back of Five Business Cards This is perhaps the slickest and most concise summary of sound, basic personal finance that I’ve assembled. In fact, it’s the backbone of the speech I give at speaking engagements – really, not much matters beyond those five business cards.

Does Peer Pressure Keep Us From Succeeding? It’s often surprising, when you step back and look at it, how much influence we allow the people around us to have in the choices of our day to day lives. Do many of those choices lead us to failure?

Heroes, Role Models, and Mentors: Finding People to Believe In My hero is Warren Buffett. He lives frugally, invests better than anyone, and has given most of his wealth to worthy causes.

When Is Frugality Stealing? I really liked the discussion generated here, mostly due to my comment that I consider it okay to take notes from books.

Wallet Hacking: Six Tactics for Modifying Your Wallet to Minimize Your Spending and Maximize Your Time I liked this one because it took a different look at something most of us think of as utterly commonplace.

Defeating Superman Syndrome: How to Progress Beyond the “Need” to Be the Financial Hero This was something that took me a long time to overcome. I used to have a very strong tendency to want to always pick up the tab. It took some serious self-evaluation to realize it was only hurting me.

“Freegans,” Dumpster Diving, and the Limits of Frugality There are certain lines I won’t cross when it comes to saving money. Dumpster diving for food for my kids? That’s well across that line.

Making Your Own Laundry Detergent: A Detailed Visual Guide This is another fun “picture diary” post. Interestingly, I need to make another batch of this stuff very soon, as my current batch just ran out.

Hyundai’s “Dollars and Sense” Ads: My Take If you’re attempting to palm yourself off as a “personal finance guru,” I’m not sure that this is really a good way to do that.

An Interview With Amy Dacyczyn, The Author of The Tightwad Gazette My telephone conversation with Amy was one of the best experiences I’ve had since starting The Simple Dollar. It was truly fun.

The Essential Bookshelf: The Only Eight Books I’ve Kept (After Hundreds of Reviews) I need to update this one a bit – I now have a few more books on my shelves that I’ve kept since writing this one. Most notably: I finally came across a free copy of Never Eat Alone.

Seven Ideas for Preparing Food at Home Cheaply with Minimal Space and Resources Food preparation need not be expensive, and this pretty much sums up how to do it on the cheap. You can do most of this stuff in a dorm room.

Ceiling Fan Hacks: Save Big on Energy Use Similar to the wallet post, I love looking at alternative ways to use things that seem intimately familiar and boring. The switch-flipping is just a great idea here.

A Clever Trick for Automatically Finding Deals You Want at Amazon This is a great way to use the Google homepage to automatically search Amazon for great deals on stuff of interest to you. I actually have this on my iGoogle homepage and utilize it every day.

Seven Websites That Saved Me Money in the Last Week I thought this to be a strong illustration of how the internet directly saves me money in an average week. I continue to use these sites (and several others).

Overcoming a Habit of Lying to Yourself About Money It’s often hard to create a personal economic turnaround if you’re continually feeding yourself a giant money myth about your current financial status. Here’s how to break through.

A Frugal Guide to the Iowa State Fair (or Any Similar County or State Fair) This is another fun photo diary. I truly love attending the Iowa State Fair each year – it’s one of the high points of the summer for me.

Everything’s So Easy for Pauline: Thoughts on Luck, Fate, Money, and Life This is my single favorite post I’ve ever written. Something about it just clicks with me.

The Aldi Question: Does One Bad Experience Spoil the Soup? This turned into one of my favorite discussions that has ever appeared on the site. I stick with my premise, though: a bad experience at a store can make you never want to shop there again at any price.

A Visual Guide to Saving Money with a Baby This is yet another photo diary, this time showing off some of the cost-saving measures we use with our own kids.

The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself Here’s a strong reasoning as to why panic in the face of a financial downturn (like the one we’re in) is foolish. Be patient and avoid the fear.

As longtime readers certainly know by now, I like to post articles rather regularly on the subject of time management. I’ve reviewed a small mountain of books on the subject (Getting Things Done, Ready for Anything, Do It Tomorrow, Leave the Office Earlier, and Find More Time were the best among these) and written dozens of pieces about how I manage my own time and tasks.

But why? Why do I find it so important to talk about time management on a personal finance site? We’ve all heard the trite “time is money” catchphrase, but what relevance does it have in day to day life in terms of improving your financial situation? Let me lay it out for you.

Time management at work Most time management material focuses on workplace concerns, because the workplace is where the most obvious connections between the time you spend and the money you earn appear. In the office, time management provides room for:

Extra polish If you can free up some extra time during the day because of effective management, you can afford to invest more time polishing your projects, taking something that’s average and making it good, or taking something good and making it great.

Extra projects Good time management also enables you to be involved with extra projects, enabling you to add many more positive contributions to the production of the organization.

Extra opportunities Extra time also lets you follow up on other opportunities: building relationships with other workers, finding a mentor and building a bond, or connecting with peers in your field outside of your office.

Increased likelihood of promotion and raises The end result of these extra steps is an increased chance at promotion and greater pay, plus more opportunities to spread your wings and fly elsewhere if the opportunity provides itself, all of which put cash directly into your pocket.

Time management at home The more subtle effects of time management show up in the home.

Enhanced frugality If you’re effective with your time, you’ll find time to be involved in frugal activities that save you money over and over again. Can you come up with fifteen minutes every few months? Then make some homemade laundry detergent that saves you twenty cents a load. Use cloth diapers instead of paper ones to save a quarter with each change. Cook at home and save a few bucks per meal. Many people claim not to have time for frugality – in truth, the time is there, it’s just not being managed well.

Extra time for self-improvement Finding an extra half-hour a day gives you ample time to learn about a new topic or to get some exercise. This can easily be done if you apply some clever time management principles to your home life, and such activities can directly lead to better earnings in the workplace.

Extra time for a “side hustle” Similarly, freeing up some extra time can give you space for a small side business – writing a blog, repairing computers, or so on. Again, just a half hour or an hour of free time – which you can easily build up with good time management – provides all the space you need to get started.

Extra time for personally important matters You may also find that you spend money to help ease the pain of a difficult situation in your life. Better time management can enable you to give that personal situation the attention it deserves, which can help you get over the figurative hump.

Five tiny steps for getting started Here are a few basic tactics for freeing up time in your life.

Set a reasonable extra goal beyond what you’re doing right now You might want to simply make a particular project at work gleam. Perhaps you want to get into better shape by jogging three times a week. Whatever it is, define a single goal that you’d like to accomplish beyond what you’re doing right now. Make it a reasonable goal, however – not one that requires time far beyond what you have right now.

Carry a pad and a pen with you Wherever you’re at, have a pad of paper and a writing utensil on you. Then, whenever an idea or something else comes up, jot it down and forget about it – go back to concentrating on whatever you were focusing on before. This allows you to stay focused on the task at hand, getting it done more quickly and with higher quality than you would if you were busy dealing with interruptions and remembering little tasks.

Do something different with thirty minutes of your evening Almost everyone has a period of relaxation in their evenings. Some of us have much more than others. Instead of vegetating for an hour or two, take half an hour of that time and devote it to something else. Maybe it’s jogging. Maybe it’s reading a challenging book. Whatever it is, pencil it in every night. Make it as important as any other appointment on your schedule.

If something takes less than two minutes to do, do it now instead of later If you need to pay a bill online, write a note to someone, make a quick phone call, add an item to the grocery list, or some other very simple task, do it immediately. Don’t put it off. Putting it off means you have to waste focus, time, and energy remembering the task. You’re far better off just doing it right now.

Learn more about time management One final tip: pick up some strong reading material on time management and look at ways you can apply those ideas to your professional and personal life. For professional life, I’d recommend Getting Things Done, Do It Tomorrow, or Leave the Office Earlier; for personal time management, Find More Time is the best book I’ve found. Spend your half hour of “doing something different” reading one of these books and figuring out more time management techniques to free up even more time.

My son’s third birthday party approaches and we decided to have a small party for him, inviting three of his friends to participate (so that there would be four of them and they could “pair up” in various permutations, not leaving any kids out).

We’ve already planned carefully for it. We elected to have a party in the morning before naptime, we’re going to make our own cake and have a simple lunch for the kids, and we’ll have him open presents first, since his “big” present is something he can play with with all of the kids. We’re not planning anything too organized, mostly because we’re talking about three year old kids.

I intend to just set up a camera on a tripod in the corner, taping the area where he’ll open presents, eat cake, and eat lunch, and I’ll probably move it when they go into the other room to play.

What’s fun about this is that we’ve realized that the party isn’t costing us much at all, but it’ll create great memories for our son. We’re making our own cake and meal, plus virtually all the entertainment is made up of things we already own.

Getting started early with the frugality, indeed.

Post-Divorce Finances: 7 Steps to Rebuilding Your Financial House Excellent, excellent advice. I had a reader named Amanda who wrote to me recently because of this very situation. (@ wise bread)

What Kind of Shopping Experience Will You Put Up With to Get a Lower Price? I don’t tolerate dirty stores. Period. (@ queercents)

How Much of Your Mortgage Is Going Toward Clutter Storage? Wow. Thinking about a mortgage in this light is pretty impressive. (@ unclutterer)

Saving Money Through Stockpiling This logic is why our pantry is usually pretty full and why it’s always very easy for us to throw together a snap meal any time we want. We tend to stock up big time when we see big sales. (@ money saving mom)

Seven Unique Side Hustles to Keep Your Family Finances Afloat When I was in high school, I spent multiple summers helping my dad with his small-scale commercial fishing business. Every afternoon, we’d run 1,600 hooks out in the river to catch catfish. Every morning, we’d go raise them. Over and over and over again. (@ frugal dad)

I’ve mentioned many times how my first child was a revelation to me when it comes to money issues.

It wasn’t that I didn’t know that I should be spending less money, I just never had the internal motivation to make good financial choices. When I realized what I had to gain from turning my decisions around – and what I had to lose by not turning the decisions around – it really lit a fire under me.

Recently, I received a comment from a reader named Aya:

its hard for a twenty-something like me, and probably others, to wrap my head around how exactly to budget and save for the future. The simple fact of the matter is that I don’t have a family to support or a house I’d like to buy, and not having been hit hard with that kind of reality prevents me from saving. The author writes, “the day I realized…,” and I wonder how that revelation comes about – if only it came sooner for many people.

When I read that statement, I see myself several years ago. I might know how to spend well, but it’s not an imperative. I don’t see any good reason to do it – and the day-to-day fun desires are much stronger.

In short, Aya hasn’t had that money revelation yet, and she doesn’t know where it might come from since she doesn’t yet have a family to inspire her (as I had).

How can a person find that revelation without a family? Here are some suggestions for finding your own revelation.

Look at your real numbers. Keep track of your spending for a month or two, then compare that to what you actually earn. The difference between the two is how much you’re actually earning (or losing). Now, run that out in advance for a few years and think about where that puts you. Will you be able to afford anything? Will you be bankrupt? If you’re spending more than you earn, you are quite simply heading into oblivion. Many people, though, haven’t been “slapped in the face” with the real numbers.

Look at your dreams. Where do you want to be in five years? In ten years? Take that dream and flesh it out in as much detail as you can. What would you really like to be doing? Now, every day, ask yourself what you’re doing to move yourself in that direction. You’ll often find that keeping your eye on the ball helps keep you from getting distracted by unnecessary spending.

Look at your feelings. If you’re asking serious questions about your money, that means that some element of your conscience is hinting to you that you need to make a change. Listen to that whisper. Focus in on where it’s coming from. Are you feeling guilt? Why do you feel guilt? Your conscience is telling you that there are some big negatives to the spending choices you’re making – defining those negatives and making them clear can be a true revelation.

Look at your causes. I can name at least three people very close to me who have committed their lives (at least at the moment) to social causes. In each case, their decision to commit themselves to something they truly care about was an epiphany in every aspect of their life. One of them works at a very personally challenging social work job and yet has still managed to almost fully fund her Roth IRA this year. Why? Funding that Roth IRA and learning how to live cheap makes it possible for her to continue to devote herself to that cause she deeply cares about.

What do these options have in common? They’re all about soul-searching.

Whenever you spend genuine, serious time figuring out what is truly important to you, what you really want to do in the future, and what your true situation currently is, you start to see which choices are good ones for you and which ones are bad ones – and that is the seed of any true revelation.

Good luck.

Many car-buying guides tell you how to save money beforehand – how to research the right car for you, how to negotiate, how to get the best car loan deal – and then they leave you right as you sign your name on the dotted line and walk off the lot, keys in hand.

The methods of saving money don’t stop when you drive off the lot. In fact, as soon as you leave the lot, there are several things you can do right away to save significantly on the money you’ll invest in maintaining this vehicle.

Here are eight things to do right away.

Read the manual in its entirety. This should be the next book that you read. Cuddle up with it, read through it, and know your new automobile. You’ll almost always learn a large handful of important things during the read-through, most of which will save you surprising amounts of cash – and can also save you a lot of time later on, as well, when you really need it.

Follow the manual’s recommendations for gas purchases. Many people think “new car, better put premium gas in it.” Don’t. Instead, before you ever visit a gas pump, flip through your manual and find out what gasoline is recommended. Almost all cars recommend the low-grade gasoline – the high-grade doesn’t do anything at all, and buying it is purely a waste of money.

Establish a maintenance schedule. Another key piece of information that’s provided by the manual is a maintenance schedule. It tells you explicitly when you should get your car maintained in various ways – oil changes, brake pad replacements, air filter replacements, and so on. Follow this schedule. Doing the maintenance when suggested will save you significantly on repairs over the lifetime of the automobile. Getting proper oil changes now can make the difference between engine problems and a smooth ride years down the line. Even better – learn how to do the maintenance yourself.

Photograph the car thoroughly. This is a useful move that many people fail to do. Detailed photography of your car can be useful as evidence if you’re ever in an accident or have damage done to your car as you can provide clear visual “before and after” images to make the damage of the accident clear. This can save significant time and effort with the insurance company and with repair work.

Keep necessary/useful supplies in your car. While an AAA membership can be useful, it’s much more useful to have supplies on hand to handle most small roadside emergencies yourself. A deflating or blown tire and a dead car battery are things that anyone should be able to handle themselves without calling for expensive help – and in the winter, a few extra supplies can really make all the difference.

Here are the things I keep in my own car – they save money and time over and over again.

Car kit checklist
+ A tire pressure gauge
+ A felt chalkboard eraser (it takes off window fog with ease)
+ A tire iron that fits your tire
+ A windshield scraper (when winter approaches)
+ Sidewalk salt (in winter – the weight of the bag plus the ice-melt ability are useful)
+ Blankets and warm clothes (again, in winter)
+ Car jack
+ Utility knife
+ Emergency flares
+ Can of tire sealer/inflator
+ Jumper cables

Air up your tires. Since you’ve already got that tire gauge in your car, put it to good use. Flip through your car manual to find out what the maximum recommended tire pressure is for your car, then drive up to that free air pump at your local gas station. Use the gauge and the free air to fill up your tire to the recommended level. Keeping your tires inflated can easily shave 5% off of your gas bill – I do this re-airing process every month.

Shop around for car insurance. The best time to shop around for insurance is when you get a new car, as that’s when the rates will diverge the most from company to company. Call around, get some auto insurance quotes, and sign up with the best company. It’s useful to do this every few years, as new insurers appear and the level of competition between insurers changes, adjusting the rates you may pay.

Establish a carpool. Again, the best time to form a carpool is when your car is new, because the fewer miles you put on it now, the longer it’ll be between maintenance and repairs and the longer your vehicle will last overall. Plus, with a newer car, you don’t have to feel as though you’ll be driving the “bad” car in the carpool. Ask around the office and find some people who are willing to ride together – it’ll do nothing but save you cash.