The Finance Castle » Just for Fun

Fitocracy, and Making Fitness Fun

Xias — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:47:45 +0000

All too often, we find fitness coinciding right along side finance in terms of importance. Health is wealth, so they say, and examples of this are all around you. Not taking care of your body physically often results in expensive and sometimes catastrophic consequences down the line, and so you’ll often read about Personal Finance bloggers embarking on a quest to make themselves more fit and, in the process, save money along the way.

In that vein, I recently stumbled across a fitness site still in beta stages called Fitocracy. The concept is pretty straightforward: You group up with your friends and record your fitness achievements. There are also a slew of achievements, quests, and levels that create a system you’re probably already familiar with if you’ve played popular MMOs like World of Warcraft or RPGs like Final Fantasy. Presently I signed up along with my oldest brother, and keeping an eye on eachothers fitness activities is actually a powerful motivator. Certainly rivalry could be at play, but being able to track your progress and be constantly rewarded makes the usual drudgery of exercise well..interesting!

Just remember that your achievements and progress are based on the honor system, so don’t cheat.

Experiments in Savings: The Travel Cartel

Xias — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 20:40:36 +0000

For a long time now, I have dreamed of traveling the world. At first, I thought that once I was self employed I’d be able to go country hopping like some of my favorite bloggers. Yet I find that, unlike my more nomadic counterparts, I wanted a base of operations before setting out and globetrotting. My wife also works a more traditional 9-5, so she can’t hop a flight to London tomorrow like I, in theory, could.

So between that and our modest mortgage payment, it appears that we are going to have to do some shorter trips. As you know, however, more frequent flights is a recipe for spending a lot of money. I’m going to have to find ways to save on our travels, and one of those ways is by taking advantage of reward programs. Chris over at the Art of Nonconformity had a great class yesterday about a crash course in obtaining frequent flyer miles without needing to use a credit card (though we do) as well as one time promotions, ways to rack up miles in various airline alliances, and the like. He also has a site dedicated to the cause over at travelhacking.org.

So I am going to give his site a shot and come back in the next few weeks with a full review. If you are interested in traveling on a budget or just want to get started saving for some trips now, I would definitely recommend Chris’s site as a launchpad. Whether it has staying power and continues to deliver new and relevant information remains to be seen, but I’m excited to get started!

Harvesting the Power of Fiverr for Fun and Profit

Xias — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:37:16 +0000

When I first heard about the popular site Fiverr, I was admittedly skeptical. If you are one of the few who hasn’t heard of it yet, let me spell out the basic premise. Just about anyone can hop on the site for free and throw up something that they would do for $5 USD. As you might expect, these talented people run the gambit, and products are included as well. You can have someone do voice over work for you, edit an image, draw a funny picture of your family, or order a mini Mario hat for your baby (OK so I made that last one up..but still..).

There is a whole lot of crap on the site since anyone can throw up a post, but plenty of legitimately talented people seem to do well on there. If you have the idea of hopping on there yourself, the name of the game is hourly rate. Don’t put up something that is going to take you an hour, as in all likelyhood you’ll get bored with it quickly or not make enough money for it to be worth your time. Me? Well, I decided to run with my Nintendo bead coasters on there, and so far things are looking good. I have sold about 10 coasters so far, compared to my 0 over at the Etsy shop I threw up.

Another idea would be to put together a variety of these talented people into some sort of pseudo team. If you could, say, sell birthday packages to parents with a funny picture, an image of superman giving your kid the thumbs up, and..I don’t know, custom made birthday candles, and sell it for more than $15.00, there is money to be made. Just tossing around ideas, but so far at the very least it has been good for my fledgling craft business.

My Own New Year’s Resolutions

Xias — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:51:45 +0000

I’ve always found it odd that there’s almost a stigma surrounding New Year’s Resolutions. I guess because the success rate for them is so low, most individuals write them off as wishful thinking or delusions of grandeur. That may be the case for many, but I ahve always found it helpful to set a small number of attainable goals and stick with it. This allows you to have some serious focus on where you want to be while still making a meaningful change in your life. Here are my three.

Site Portfolio Revenue: Bring Adsense revenue up to $15.00 per day on average
Lose 30 Pounds/Increase number of daily pushups to 150.
Hire an Accountant

As you can see, most of my goals are fairly modest. Our sites currently bring in about $10 a day on average, and increasing that number to $15.00 would increase our revenue by $1,825 per year. Groundbreaking? No. Significant improvement? Yes. When I was still working the 9-5, I had a daily routine when it came to working out because my firm had a gym on the premises. Now being at home and on my own, I’ve slipped little by little throughout the year. I’ve made significant improvements both in weight and strength in November and December, and to lost 30 pounds by 2012 I would have to lose a meer 2.5 lbs per month.

Finally, whilst I have been socking away about 30% of any income I bring in, my understanding of my tax situation is still flimsy. To rectify this, I’m going to need to find an accountant to help guide me through the process. So with that in mind if you know of any that wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg, I’d be happy to hear about them!

Enjoying the Ocean: My Little Seaside Rant

Xias — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:47:28 +0000

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been much of a beach person. The whole process of getting to the beach, fighting traffic and overpopulation along the shoreline, getting there, unpacking in the intense heat while the sand burns your feet, sitting in the sun with about a bazillion other people for awhile, getting sand everywhere, packing up your stuff when you’re too burned to tolerate it anymore, finally getting home to shower only to collapse into your bed and pass out never really appealed to met. Yet as I sit here on the deck watching storms come in from out to sea, feeling the wind pick up and whip around my face, I have to admit that there is some appeal to the locale, though not for reasons you might think.

I certainly prefer the beach at night over the day. While I love swimming in the ocean and I’m hoping to one day take up kitesurfing, there’s nothing quite like enjoying the sounds of the sea under the moonlight. It’s cool, comfortable, and more or less enchanting. I love it. They say some people prefer the mountains and some prefer the ocean, and I consider myself firmly in the former camp, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy it every once in awhile. Renting out a place in a less populated area with just enough to do really helps, too.