My car has, for the past few months, been having continual problems. And while I help out my friend on his repairs, I've reached my own limit of problems with my own car.
A few weeks ago, I replaced both of my window regulators, and today, I finally finished the last repair, replacing the charcoal canister. In case you weren't aware, when the charcoal canister for Hyundai's break, it's likely that it'll clog up the hoses in your car, and then, you'll get the problem that I had, which it takes about 30 minutes to pump 12 gallons of gas into your car. Needless to say, this was not acceptable and I've been tolerating this problem for months now.
The actual repair was quick and easy, two bolts dropped the canister from the car, then it was just taking off three hoses and installing the new one. The whole process only took about an hour or so. And the canister was definitely broken because as I was removing the original one, charcoal was pouring out. So I was able to fill up my gas, semi normal today and within a few tanks, I imagine it'll be perfectly fine again.
Doing these repairs made me pretty happy as the mechanic wanted to replace my computer thinking that was the problem after he replaced the close valve. So the part was only $130 and nothing for the labor since I did it myself! Sure beats a bill of well over $600 for the parts and labor of the computer.
Not bad for a weekend project. :-)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Money passing through the time....
We all know and love compound interest. So let me tell you an idea of compound interest passing through the generations....
When I was younger, my grandfather told us to work hard and do well in school and do what you loved. Regardless this got me thinking....What would happen if your money, today, was saved and over the course of say 65 years?
As it grows, compounding year after year until the day you retired? A small chunk of change, could grow to be a very large pile of change! What would you guess $5,000 invested for 65 years growing at an annual rate of 8% could turn out to be? Answer: $743,899.23 is present day dollars or $119,199.50 in 65 year dollars with a 3% inflation.
Although, not much, $5,000 still is a sizable amount of money in 65 years. Now for your child to be a "true" millionare in present day terms in 65 years accounting for a 3% inflation, you'd need to invest a bit more money, around $42,000 (without inflation that becomes $6.25 million).
A great idea, I think, would be not to plan so much for your childrens retirement but rather for your grandchildren's. This would allot for soooo much more time. What do you think?
When I was younger, my grandfather told us to work hard and do well in school and do what you loved. Regardless this got me thinking....What would happen if your money, today, was saved and over the course of say 65 years?
As it grows, compounding year after year until the day you retired? A small chunk of change, could grow to be a very large pile of change! What would you guess $5,000 invested for 65 years growing at an annual rate of 8% could turn out to be? Answer: $743,899.23 is present day dollars or $119,199.50 in 65 year dollars with a 3% inflation.
Although, not much, $5,000 still is a sizable amount of money in 65 years. Now for your child to be a "true" millionare in present day terms in 65 years accounting for a 3% inflation, you'd need to invest a bit more money, around $42,000 (without inflation that becomes $6.25 million).
A great idea, I think, would be not to plan so much for your childrens retirement but rather for your grandchildren's. This would allot for soooo much more time. What do you think?
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Securing your wireless internet
It's amazing for me how many people don't have a secured wireless internet or for that matter, a weakly secured one. If you take your blackberry out or anything else that has wireless and go down a residential street, or for me, an apartment complex you'll see that many of them are completely open and you can "steal" their internet. So in this post I'll tell you how to secure your wireless modem or router so people wont have access to it.
In many routers you there are options of different types of security available. They range from hiding your SSID (the name of your router) and WEP to WPA or WPA2 encryption.
The first two are not really securing your router as it's very easy to detect hidden wireless and takes only about 10 minutes or so to hack into. You can see youtube videos and download programs to be able to this very easily.
WPA and WPA2, however are the best type of encryption you can use today. WPA2 if possible would be the optimal choice as it corrects all of the flaws of WPA. Every newer devices allow for WPA encryption, and similarly many of those are allowing for WPA2 encryption. You'll want to select a very good password as well. I would suggest a long password as you'll only have to enter it once per device. If you have trouble thinking of one, I recommend using a website like good password to create a good long one for you that has both lower case and uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
Lastly, if you are so technically inclined, I recommend you upgrading your router (if possible) to something like DD-WRT. This is a firmware upgrade that will literally turn the functions of your router into a $300+ router. I can't highly recommend it enough. There are also other things you could do, like MAC filtering, etc. This doesn't really qualify as securing your wireless, but it is another security feature. Similarly, you should have it set as a DHCP server to help fight off any hackers from the internet along with the built in firewall.
In many routers you there are options of different types of security available. They range from hiding your SSID (the name of your router) and WEP to WPA or WPA2 encryption.
The first two are not really securing your router as it's very easy to detect hidden wireless and takes only about 10 minutes or so to hack into. You can see youtube videos and download programs to be able to this very easily.
WPA and WPA2, however are the best type of encryption you can use today. WPA2 if possible would be the optimal choice as it corrects all of the flaws of WPA. Every newer devices allow for WPA encryption, and similarly many of those are allowing for WPA2 encryption. You'll want to select a very good password as well. I would suggest a long password as you'll only have to enter it once per device. If you have trouble thinking of one, I recommend using a website like good password to create a good long one for you that has both lower case and uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
Lastly, if you are so technically inclined, I recommend you upgrading your router (if possible) to something like DD-WRT. This is a firmware upgrade that will literally turn the functions of your router into a $300+ router. I can't highly recommend it enough. There are also other things you could do, like MAC filtering, etc. This doesn't really qualify as securing your wireless, but it is another security feature. Similarly, you should have it set as a DHCP server to help fight off any hackers from the internet along with the built in firewall.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Adopting a cat
So we made the big plunge and adopted a cat.
The animal shelter fee ended up being $89, we donated $11 since it's a no kill shelter and would like to support that movement, and we bought a small carrier for $4 made from cardboard. Right next door to them (luckily for us) was a super Target and we bought the litter, litter box, catnip toys, etc. which came out to be around $80 (I think).
She seems to be a great cat and today was the first time alone in our bedroom.... after keeping us up all night. Hopefully she'll come out of her hiding a little bit more today.
I promise better posts coming up!
The animal shelter fee ended up being $89, we donated $11 since it's a no kill shelter and would like to support that movement, and we bought a small carrier for $4 made from cardboard. Right next door to them (luckily for us) was a super Target and we bought the litter, litter box, catnip toys, etc. which came out to be around $80 (I think).
She seems to be a great cat and today was the first time alone in our bedroom.... after keeping us up all night. Hopefully she'll come out of her hiding a little bit more today.
I promise better posts coming up!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Buying a Cat (or any other animal)....
During the past few days, my girlfriend and I have been determining how to buy a cat and figure out all of the expenses associated with it.
First, how to find your desired pet.
2. Pet shops are nice, they typically will have the variety that you'll want but I don't see the point personally shopping here because there are so many pets running free or killed because they don't have room in the shelter.
3. I'm not someone who is picky enough to buy a pet from a breeder unless it was given to us for free like my dog when I was a kid (she was the runt of the pack from over breeding).
4. Buying online, I feel, really limits you in interacting with the pet before and also I'd feel so incredibly sorry to have a pet possibly shipped hundreds of miles just to live with me. There is just too much stress on the animal for that and it isn't fair for him/her.
Costs:
1. Vaccines: These can range in price dramatically. Different pets have different types. Since I'm looking at a cat, lets look at those. The main ones include:
And can extend into including:
2. Toys and beds.
This can, of course, range dramatically with what you are comfortable spending on.
For those who are particularly eccentric, you can have your whole house redesigned for the pet lover in you....
First, how to find your desired pet.
- Animal shelters
- Pet shops
- Breeders
- Online (I'm constantly amazed with what you can buy online!)
2. Pet shops are nice, they typically will have the variety that you'll want but I don't see the point personally shopping here because there are so many pets running free or killed because they don't have room in the shelter.
3. I'm not someone who is picky enough to buy a pet from a breeder unless it was given to us for free like my dog when I was a kid (she was the runt of the pack from over breeding).
4. Buying online, I feel, really limits you in interacting with the pet before and also I'd feel so incredibly sorry to have a pet possibly shipped hundreds of miles just to live with me. There is just too much stress on the animal for that and it isn't fair for him/her.
Costs:
1. Vaccines: These can range in price dramatically. Different pets have different types. Since I'm looking at a cat, lets look at those. The main ones include:
- Panleukopenia virus (distemper)
- Feline calicvirus (FCV)
- Feline herpes virus (rhinotracheitis)
- Rabies
And can extend into including:
- Feline chlamydiosis
- Feline immunodeficiency virus (Feline AIDS)
- Feline leukemia virus (FeLV)
2. Toys and beds.
This can, of course, range dramatically with what you are comfortable spending on.
For those who are particularly eccentric, you can have your whole house redesigned for the pet lover in you....
3. Food: Again, this can range in prices, but for cans it can be anywhere from a few cents to over a dollar for a tiny 3 ounce can. And again anywhere from $10 to $20 for a big bag of dried food.
4. Pet Rent: If you live in an apartment, like me, you might find out that man's best friend may have to cough up money and pay some rent, a fee, or both! Where we live you've got a $200 fee and a $200 refundable fee and although a $10 pet rent is written in the contract, they ignore it.
So overall the total cost of a pet can range quite a bit and can cost you a pretty penny. But I think it's worth it overall. What about you? Have you been looking into getting a pet? What are your thoughts on trying to be frugal and pay off debt but having/getting a pet?
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