What’s your interest rate? We all have them, be it from a car loan, a home loan, and the dreaded, absolutely insane….CREDIT card. We have school loans, rates of deposit….in my case, I had a loan from my mother, and yes, whenever my brother or I borrowed from her, it was at the rate of her local bank branch (yes, my mother passed away as a very wealthy woman, this was just another reason why, haha)….

I know many people are drowning under debt right now, and it may seem overwhelming. In fact, it may BE overwhelming. (Sorry, but it’s my son Nathen’s new word of choice….”don’t be overwhelmed Dad…”). Like everything else I have been writing about——take a deep breath, relax, and take a slow, deliberate look at each piece of credit or debt you are holding, and just see if there is anything you can do about it. Believe me, if you are at all qualified, lenders are DYING for your business right now….there is NOTHING wrong with saying, “can we do a little better on that rate” to a credit card company, a home loan, or a car loan. I even heard from one reader who had her student loan fixed by CALLING THE COMPANY……

These are times for people to be smart. And as amazing as that may seem to some, that might take 5 minutes of your time to actually take care of stuff. My personal home loan refinance is going down to 3.1 percent…that’s basically free money——buying a tax-free bond at 4 percent with the money I owe on my house gets me 1)the tax deduction for my interest, and 2)extra income from it to pay the house taxes. Is it a hassle? Well, it’s more of a hassle than doing NOTHING…it’s also saving me 700 DOLLARS A MONTH…..ummm, that’s worth a few minutes of my time for sure. 

And please please please, if you are in any sort of trouble…..PAY DOWN THAT 19 PERCENT CREDIT CARD FIRST. And then, if you have to ——- RIP THAT DIRTY LITTLE THING UP——tell yourself and your friends (let’s call them “enablers’, haha) that you don’t have one anymore……..

I worry about people. That’s why I’m doing this. TAKE CARE OF YOUR INTEREST RATES. Simple as that……Interesting, huh?

WG

REALLY??? YOU DON’T KNOW????

We ALL have heard someone say “I don’t now where my money goes.” We may have said it ourselves. Well next time you hear someone say that, follow these simple steps:

1)Hit them on the head with a frying pan.

2)Remove the joint, liquor bottle, syringe from their hand.

3)Check them into a mental hospital.

When I was starting out trying to be an actor after school was finished, New York was a disaster area, as the $20 in my pocket would last about 2 blocks….subways, food, etc etc etc, so I never left the apartment (which my roommate and I could barely afford anyway). Los Angeles was like a dream world, you could walk around (yes, I walked, rare for LA), for DAYS with a $20 bill in your pocket, so at least I got to be outside, and ramen noodles were oh so tasty.

The thing is, I was always ACUTELY aware of how much money I had, or didn’t have, not only in my pocket but in my bank account…..still am, to this very day, can tell you pretty close to the nearest dollar (in those days it was to the nearest 25 cents)…

If you have ever read Andy Warhol’s Diaries (a fascinating read by the way), he takes it to a level of insanity…”took cab to 14th Street——$1.75”. As crazy as it all seems when you are reading it, we should not forget, he died with an estate of FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS. 

And here’s the thing to never forget——$10 pays for the exact same amount of stuff for me as it does for Michael Bloomberg or Bill Gates. A $10 bill is the same $10 bill all across the country……please please, I beg of you….be aware of your money, that alone will somehow give it value and also an awareness of saving it that we have seen many forget about and suffer because of it. How dare one of my childhood heroes, New York Met Lenny Dykstra, blow through a fortune estimated at THIRTY EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS. How dare he end up living in his car. It’s baffling to me, and it should be to you as well.

Have a great weekend, don’t spend like drunk sailors on leave, and if you ARE a drunk sailor on leave, skip that last-call drink (it’s never a good one, believe me, I have ordered it 1000 times too many), and bring the money home to your family instead……

WG

Groucho Marx was making a JOKE. Belong to all of them. It’s absolutely crazy not to.

My AMEX rewards pays for my newspapers. We all know about the amazing discounts that AAA provides. And obviously Costco or Sam’s Club, depending on where you live. And the supermarket ones, which basically write my shopping list for me, depending on what’s on sale. Fishing around the Screen Actors Guild website, I found out that union members get discounts on an INSANE number of things, I had no idea. (Being that 99 percent of SAG members earn about 20 cents a year, I hope that people pay attention to that and use them).

I took my friend to lunch the other day and he took out his KCRW public radio discount card, saying, “well you might as well save 10%.” This is a guy who lives in a 2-million dollar plus house, who I never in a thousand years imagined would EVER think about saving the $4 on lunch….that one was inspiring to me.

The GAP flyer came yesterday. 3 day sale, an extra 30% off for CARDMEMBERS…INCLUDING CLEARANCE ITEMS. I actually bought Nathen a pair of shoes at Kids Gap last week, special promotion, FORTY FIVE PERCENT OFF for cardmembers THAT DAY ONLY, his clearance sneakers cost THREE DOLLARS (and they are damn spiffy I might add).

Here’s the thing….don’t just sign up for every card that begs you to become a marketing tool…sign up for the ones that have value and then USE THEM. REMEMBER you have them. They are actually MONEY IN YOUR POCKET. Or to your favorite charity. Or just decide that you are too lazy, too busy, too “something” to even worry about it….then you shouldn’t EVER complain about the vacation you can’t take, the car you can’t afford, the house you can’t live in, or the restaurant you would never be able to go to. Not to mention the braces your kid can’t have, the summer camp they can’t go to, or the tutor they need for help at school…….

I’m serious about this one, it’s a thorny issue to me. I grew up with trading stamps and driving miles for a bargain. AND WE WERE LOADED. So allow yourself to be the same, I hereby give you permission.

In summary….card savings, anywhere from 10-40 percent. And it truly falls into the category of “Why the hell NOT?”

Thanks for continuing to sign up and pass this around, it means a lot.I am TRULY an advocate for this stuff, and the comments are amazing and warm and touching and inspirational……keep it up……

WG

Events. Huge topic. So many of you have commented on them. Lemme ramble first. I grew up with parents who got married simply and elegantly. A HUGE wedding was for the society pages. Rockefellers, Kennedys, Johnsons……..or the oil baron in town who wanted to show that he was a “made man” and could throw any type of party for his beloved baby girl. There were also lower divorce rates, but I digress. We now live in the 21st Century, where people MORTGAGE THEIR HOUSES, and blow their LIFE SAVINGS to have a party. It’s so far beyond insane that it’s impossible to comment on.

The most lavish wedding I have been to was on a Saturday night at the Beverly Hills Hotel, 400 people, 30 piece orchestra, blah blah blah……easily $700,000……guess how long the marriage lasted——that’s right—-FOUR MONTHS…….I bumped into the bride a year later…”When did you know”, I asked. “Walking down the aisle actually, but you saw it, how could I have stopped it?”

Three best weddings I’ve been to:

1)My friends at their family home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, overlooking the water after the ceremony in the 300 year old church down the street….tons of bars, they had recorded all their favorite music for the dance floor, and their were buffets all over the place with simple great food laid out all day, and a rowboat filled with ice and cold seafood…..it probably cost under $20,000 for the whole thing and it was an absolute blast…….

2)Two friends who are literally music royalty, at another music royals home (free is my guess), amazingly lovely decor, great food, and of course amazing music…..if they spent $40,000 I would be amazed, and it was the best time of all……

3)My friends rented one of those great mid-century modern houses in Palm Springs, had beautiful italian globe lighting above, a horseshoe table for the 70 people, great food and drink and a pool…..delightful….

I’ve also been to amazing alternative location weddings in burned out buildings, weddings on Sundays at closed restaurants (like half the price), old hotels that are actually hidden jewels, etc etc etc…..

Here’s the thing, and my opinion…..NOBODY remembers what the cake looks like, what the invitation looked like, what kind of champagne there was for the toast, what the centerpieces looked like, what the friggin MONOGRAMMED cocktail napkins looked like…..and on and on and on……it’s sheer madness…….spend the money on food and drink and music, and a good photographer (which is what you actually take home with you, by the way….), and spend the rest on a downpayment for a HOUSE……..

As for Bar-Mitzvah’s…..my god….I have seen some scary stuff. Unless your child is ACTUALLY, ON PAPER, PROVEN to be the Messiah, and prepared to lead the world into peace, starting with settling all conflicts in the Middle-East and all disagreements between religions throughout the world, while at the same time curing MS, cancer, HIV, malaria, and all hunger…..then CALM THE HELL DOWN. What we ALL remember about a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or I imagine a confirmation as well….is the CHILD, how they speak, carry themselves, and what kind of adult they are going to become, THAT’S what we remember, without exception……

I could go on and on, but my point is made.

In summary…..great wedding=celebration of love with family and friends, completely reasonable to spend whatever makes THAT come true. Savings=UNLIMITED.

p.s. Pumpkins are $5.99 at Do-It-Center Hardware in Burbank this week, a far cry from the $30 at many local pumpkin patches (where Nathen and I are GOING, but for the scary house and the petting zoo, not for the $30 oversized gourd)…….

WG

It would probably surprise many people who know me that I could be considered “handy”. I know you rarely see little bald men with glasses swinging a hammer, or wearing a tool belt (unless you have some sick fetish that you should keep to yourself, please). 

I DO have a construction guy who I use at my house, and I trust him completely…..of course I have used him for 20 years, he is an independent contractor, and he costs about 1/4 of anyone else I have ever seen. He has worked on my homes, my businesses, and been referred by me over and over again. Basically he is amazing. I also have a handyman, who I met in the parking lot at Home Depot, just an honest guy trying to make a living and I call him when I feel lazy.

My fence in front is old and getting rotted from the rain and termites. So yesterday I went and got new panels for it at Home Depot. I painted them with some old paint that I had kept from probably 4 years ago. Putting the two panels up this morning.

I’m not telling you this to point out how rugged I am. Anyone with 2 eyes in their head could OBVIOUSLY see that. I’m telling you because you absolutely can’t imagine how many people call someone to come to their house, apartment, single-wide trailer to do ANYTHING for them——I swear I have known people who LITERALLY cannot change a lightbulb. My god, it is such a horrible waste. I love the sense of pride and ownership too, looking at the fence that “I built” (hardly, Home Depot built it, I was just wise enough to figure out how to put it up)…..

So do it yourself. When you can, obviously…and don’t when you can’t….it’s a big savings, aand a real sense of accomplishment……

In summary….me painting the fence and anchoring it to the rest of it….probably half a day for my construction guy and his 2 helpers, total cost about $250…….me doing it when I can, over two days——FREE……….I LIVE for savings like that, and yes, i look pretty snazzy in a toolbelt (my neighbors though, are BEGGING me to wear something underneath it)……

WG

Thanks again for all of your comments, so great. Many of you are thinking so wisely, and have given yourself deserved pats on the back for figuring out great ways to save in so many areas, without living like homeless people…..keep it up and keep them coming, it’s awesome…..

Change is a great thing, in life, location, employment, wherever….this is a short life and I am a strong believer in packing a ton into it…..

Pocket change, also amazing. Three stories:

My mother, who passed away a much wealthier woman than we had any idea about, walked around New York and never passed a coin on the street that she didn’t pick up….I could insert any number of ethnic jokes here, (yes, shockingly, I am of the Jewish persuasion), but I’ll leave that to your own thoughts (which are fine by the way, I could tell about 200 jokes here but I won’t—-ok, just one….2 jews are in a room and there’s a nickel on the floor: THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN)….the point being, that quarter that you find on the street buys the same thing for you as the next person who finds it (personally I am a fan of leaving it, or moving it to where someone else can find it, maybe someone who might need it a bit more than I do?)

When me and my pals all moved here to Los Angeles from New York to be actors and writers, we were poor. I mean, actually, truly, REALLY poor. Like 6 of us in a 2 bedroom apartment poor, rotating who got the couch (the 2 guys who had the lease got the bedrooms). We obviously didn’t go out at all, we had ONE car between all of us to drop off at auditions, and one of us (who became perfectly successful as an actor) could live for a week on one pack of store brand bologna. Our release was “wine fridays”. We had a bowl next to the front door. You put your change in when you came in every time, and at 3pm on Friday, one of us would go to the local ghetto liquor store in Venice and buy as much cheap rotgut wine as possible. Sometimes, wine Fridays would last an hour. Sometimes until midnight in a good week of change. Of course we were young, without kids and wives and cars and mortgages, but I often remember it as the happiest time of my life. So there.

I always went to Jazzfest in New Orleans, and still do, every year. I have a friend who, long before kids and a house and all that, would save only his quarters in a jar. Just the quarters. When April came along, he had enough to go with us to New Orleans. Then he stopped. Too much effort. I never understood it, it’s the happiest place ever, a joyful and inexpensive vacation. If you have never seen about 6000 jews rocking out in the Gospel tent at Jazzfest, with people being saved by Jesus all around them, then you aint lived baby…..

So what’s my point…..change works. UNICEF and March of Dimes helped countless millions of people based on it. And if you need it, you can help yourself. Just never forget it IS MONEY. And in case you live in Los Angeles, a cup of coffee at Phillippe’s French Dip downtown is still NINE CENTS.

In summary, let’s say 2 bucks a day in change, in a jar——thats $730 at the end of the year. That’s Chanukah (that’s right, I said it—CHANUKAH)….or a few car payments (more on that later), or for many people, A MONTHS RENT…..just keep it in mind……

“One thin dime won’t shine your shoes—-on Broadway”…….what about a whole bunch of ‘em?

Talk to you later…please keep signing up to follow this page, that count really helps me out, but at the very least, I hope you keep reading and enjoying it……

WG

I love your blog. I love Mozzie too. I discovered White Collar this summer and am ashamed to say you. I must have been living under a rock or a pile of diapers the last 10 years. I count myself as one of few females to have not watched Sex and the city. I try to live by the principles of frugality and living within means. Thanks for making it seem cool.

Hi Willie! Thanks so much for your blog - great reading and tips. Let me get my star struck self out of the way by telling you how much I enjoy your character on WC - you, and the rest of the cast are fantastic - wouldn’t miss a show.

Okay- now to the topic at hand…we are a family of 4 - and make under 3 figures. We’ve sent the two boys to private grade and high schools by my husband working and at times, me working three jobs - all worth it. But we’ve never wanted for anything…

As far as college goes, I knew I would have to get a job at a University or College prior to the first son leaving high school so that he could get his education at a major discount. Although I hadn’t been a secretary in 20 years, a private, local university hired me as such. T.J. got his 4 year bachelor’s degree basically free, and now they have hired him as a computer programmer, which enables him to get his MBA for free. He is almost done. Our youngest, Tyler,  just started college, and I just graduated with my bachelor’s, working on a master’s degree - all for just fees - which amount to almost nothing. The boys will not have college loans hanging over their heads. My sister-in-law did this also for her children.

I go to http://www.restaurant.com when they have 80% off of their already reduced restaurant certificates - that’s how we go out to eat - so it isn’t an arm or a leg.

For my clothes, I shop a local web site that has extensions all over the US - http://www.jolietyardsales.com Great place to buy and sell anything and everything.

We never sell a car until it is paid off - never rolling two loans together.

I bring my own pop and coffee to work instead of purchasing at a nice coffee shop or McD’s

Dicker with the cable company once a year to bring our internet/cable/phone bill down. They always seem to pull a deal out just before I say I’m canceling the service - funny how that works….

My husband worked on making double payments to pay the house off in 1/2 the time (yay!) And like you said - use credit cards like cash - paying them off at the end of each month!

Well, I’ve bored you enough - thanks again for sharing your ideas online and your other talents on screen —

Donna

Thats wildly kind of you…thanks so much and I hope you keep watching (and reading, lol)…..WG

First off, thanks for all the great emails and comments, and for taking some of these ideas and thoughts to heart, it means a lot to me. And if you are just now joining or following, please go back and read from the beginning, I think you will find it informative and useful. And yes, as already posted, my son and I DO go camping quite a bit, and yes, I have been to England (however, not on a walkabout, but instead toiling away as a bartender for 2pounds 20p an hour for 16 hours a day, but that’s a story for another day)…..

I live in Los Angeles. Valet parking is the norm. I however, don’t do it. And that, basically, is my tip for the day. Pretty simple. But it can be more complex actually. If you are heading out to spend $40 on a meal, or $40 for drinks for 2 people, do you really need to be spending another FIFTEEN PERCENT of your evening to park your friggin car???? I know there is an industry of people devoted to that pursuit, so it makes me feel badly, but please god, go find a parking spot instead. 

I had a blind date (no, she wasn’t blind, we just didn’t know each other—-and besides, I am allergic to guard dogs). We were meeting friends for drinks at the Beverly hills Hotel, which is a great swanky thing to do on a Saturday night. Oddly, doesn’t cost a fortune, and there is a piano player, AND you are guaranteed to see Michael Bolton hanging out when he is in town, who is basically the nicest guy ever, but I digress. So….here’s the deal….there is a street NEXT to the Beverly Hills Hotel, actually NEXT to the entrance to the Polo Lounge, where we were going. THAT is where I park whenever I go there, whether to the Lounge or to the fantastic coffee shop downstairs. So that’s where I went to park. I had known this woman a solid 20 minutes and she already hated me for not pulling up to the front of the hotel, paying the $12 to valet park, and then walking BACK to the entrance of the Polo Lounge. Needless to say, she had me pegged as a cheap, ungracious loser (she might not be wrong), without recognizing my quirky charm (nice recovery there), and never got to realize that I would gladly spend anything on a good meal, or on my son, or whatever I needed…I just don’t WASTE money, simple as that.

To some people, I realize valet parking and accoutrements such as that symbolize wealth OR symbolize that they LOOK wealthy. It’s a mindset that is hard to break. “I’m a bigshot—- I can’t afford my mortgage, my health insurance, my kids braces, my car payment, AND I am unemployed, BUT if I valet park, everyone will look up to me with respect.” Ugh, it makes my stomach turn to think of people feeling that way. It’s kind of the basis for what I have been writing all along…BE SMART…there is nothing more attractive than smart.  And I will repeat this again…..if you REALLY want to feel like a swell, take the money that you would have blown, yes even the $5, and put it in an envelope to Haiti relief, Doctors Without Borders, or AMFAR. One man’s opinion.

So the info today: Walk a block, park where you can. Nobody thinks you are a fatcat just because you valet park. (Obviously, there are places where you MUST valet park, it’s just the way it is set up…those places make me lose my last two hairs. And if Grandma can’t walk the extra block, well there’s nothing you can do about that either).

Keep forwarding and commenting. Whenever you send me a suggestion, it means that you are thinking, and that’s a great thing. I can’t tell you how it pains me to see people in trouble. Sarah Jessica talks about it all the time with me, savings are for everybody——it’s just a matter of training your eye to look for them and then giving yourself the pat on the back for finding them.

Off for the weekend, and hope you catch up on all the posts, I’ll talk to you Monday……

WG