Saving Money - $100 Per Hour
To Swim In Your Own Pool?

Is saving money on the things you buy important to you? Then start by being honest about what things really cost you. To understand how difficult (and crucial) this can be, consider the following example.

Saving Money - The Swimming Pool Story

Marty and his wife June loved the idea of having a built-in swimming pool in the back yard/patio area. It would improve the house and be a great way to relax on hot summer evenings. As it was, they were going to the sports complex almost every week, to use the pool there for $7 each. They figured they would be saving money on that with their own pool.

The pool they wanted would cost $50,000 according to the first quote they got. This included all the tile work around it and the finishing touches - everything. Fortunately they knew enough to get two more quotes, and finally found a company that would charge just $40,000 for the whole job.

Soon they refinanced their house, to pull out $40,000 in equity. The pool was done on schedule and on budget, although they did spend another $2,000 for the extras they wanted. Over all they were very happy with their new swimming pool.

They used the pool almost every night for the first summer. But the second year they used it less often, and even grew a little bit tired of the work required. Chlorine monitoring was necessary, filters needed to be changed, leaves needed to be cleaned out, and more.

Marty did most of this work himself to save money. But it still cost over $800 per year for heating, treating and caring for the pool. By the fourth year, the thrill was gone, and they realized they had used the pool just eight times that year. Saving money on it became more of a priority, so they stopped heating it when they weren't using it. Of course this meant it was difficult to use the pool spontaneously (it took a long time to warm it up).

What if you knew ways to spend less on almost everything? What would you do with the money you saved? Travel? Buy something nice for someone you love? Cut your hours at work and relax a little more? The possibilities are endless.

There are more than 400 ways to save money listed in Part Two of the book, including ways too get free dental x-rays and tire repairs.

The real value in the book, however, is in Part One. This is the part that will really change your thinking. You'll see how to get more for your money - more of what really matters to you. You'll learn about the studies in "behavioral economics," how that research is being used to manipulate you, and what you can do about it. You'll learn the "7 Keys" as well

Jeff got a new job in year five, and they had to move. They had to clean and repair the pool cost, which cost about $1,000. It was necessary to get the house ready to sell. This, with the $4,000 in annual costs over the years, added up to $5,000. They also paid $14,000 in interest over the five years, for the money they borrowed to put the pool in (7% annual interest). June was shocked when Marty showed her on paper that it had cost them $19,000 to use of the pool for the five years they had it.

Even worse, the pool didn't add as much to the value of the home as they hoped it would. Swimming pools have value, but a $40,000 pool won't necessarily make people pay $40,000 more for a home. The real estate agent figured the swimming pool added $20,000 to the market value of the house. As it turned out, their home sold for about $20,000 more than a similar one - without a pool - down the street.

Thinking about their "dream pool" Jeff took out a pen and a piece of paper, and started to add up the times they and their friends had used it. It was used for a total of just 400 hours during the five years they had it. Then he added up the costs to maintain the pool ($4,000), repair costs ($1,000), interest costs ($14,000), the capital loss ($20,000), and the extras they bought ($2,000). He arrived at a figure of $41,000, and divided this by the 400 hours of use.

He told to his wife, "The pool costs us $102 per hour." They had been saving money by not paying $7 each to use the health club pool, of course, but they could have paid that every week and taken a week-long vacation to Hawaii every year and still spent less. This was depressing, especially when Marty thought about the time cleaning and caring for that swimming pool.

You can see that saving money on what you buy involves more than good shopping skills. You also have to look at the true cost of the things you buy and do, and make an honest assessment of whether they're worth it. Often there are cheaper alternatives that are just as satisfying (or perhaps more so, in the case of pools that you don't have to clean and vacations in Hawaii).