“I’m also a big fan of the iRobot Vacuum cleaners.”

Does managing money take a lot of effort? Well, that depends on you. Some are satisfied with cranking things on auto-pilot. Others manage every detail down to the color of their accountant’s tie. (Note to Sam: yes, blue really is your color!)

But the largest vote is this: being lazy with your money.

That sounds negative, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Being “lazy” can actually mean that you maximize your time and resources. And in a world where time is money, that’s good. I spoke with the man behind the blog “Lazy Man and Money” to see how he does it.

Lazy Man, how did you come to start a finance blog?

Like many good things, it all happened by chance. I was at the
dentist’s office and I picked up a Business Week magazine. I found an
article featuring personal finance blogs… and one in particular
caught my eye. Since I lived in Boston, Boston Gal’s Open
Wallet caught my attention. When I got back home, I started
reading her blog. I got hooked on it and some other blogs she linked
to. A few months later, I decided that I had some unique views that
couldn’t be expressed commenting on blogs, so I decided to write about
my experiences with money.

You say that you are “lazy” but I’m guessing not in the strict sense. You seem to emphasize working smarter for the largest potential payback of time/resources/energy.

What’s a good example of this laziness in action? (Wait… lazy but in action… that’s an oxymoron, right?)

You are right about the “lazy” part. I’m really only lazy when it
comes to repetitive household chores. The shower cleaning post is a
good one. I’m also a big fan of the iRobot Vacuum cleaners.

[Editor's Note: Me, too. We bought an iRobot for our grandmother. Works perfectly, but, she thinks it sends spy messages to the KGB...]

I’ve always believed in trying to work smarter before settling on working
harder as a last resort. It’s helped me in every aspect of life.

What aspects of your financial life have you automated to make it as
simple as possible?

Sadly, not as many as I would like. I work on several side businesses
now, but when I had a full-time job, I’d max out my 401K plan. I’d
have direct deposit of my paycheck into my main bank account. I have
my cable, land line, and cell phone bills charge a credit card. I pay
my mortgage each month through online banking. I write a check and
use snail mail every month to pay off the credit card in full. I
should do it electronically (and occasionally I do), but I haven’t
done it with the consistency that I should.

In your opinion, what are some of the ways people complicate their
financial lives?

I think most people complicate their financial lives by being afraid.
Some people feel that they don’t know how to invest and stay away out
of fear. People hate losing money and when the stock market goes
down, they sell instead of buying more at a discount. There are other
circumstances where a couple simply won’t have the same financial
philosophies. That leads to some complicated compromises.

Some people think being frugal is a waste of time if time equals money. What do you think?

For example, is it worth a lazy person’s efforts to check Craigslist for weeks to find a second-hand washing machine?

I think there’s often a smarter way to do things. I don’t check
Craigslist for cheap items… Craigslist tells me as soon as my item
is available at a price that I’m willing to pay. Explaining how I do
it is a little long for this interview, but you can read how to save
money with Craigslist on my blog.

Final thoughts as you see it from the intersection of Lazy Avenue and Money Way?

I see too many people work extremely hard for their money and then not
think about how they spend and invest it. I would encourage people to
think of money as a key to freedom. Having money opens up a lot of
doors that are closed to people that don’t have money. You might want
to think how much you are pushing back your retirement the next time
you think about buying the next ultra-cool iGadget or your 30th pair of shoes.

Yes, I agree. So many people work hard… but then drop the ball when it comes to really maximizing their hard-won money with budgeting and investing. What a shame! That’s why everyone on our small team here at Geezeo works so hard to build out easy-to-use budgeting and investing tools. We’re not lazy but we like using our time and resources wisely, too.

Awesome idea about using the RSS feeds on Craigslist! I never noticed the RSS feature before and that’s a great time/money management idea. I’ll set one today to find my very own iRobot…!

Feeling not-so-lazy? Then mosey over to Lazy Man’s blog, Lazy Man and Money and discover more lazy-man-money-behavior in action. Thanks for participating, Lazy Man!

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