New article posted at "Everything Finance"
Everything Finance
New article posted at "Everything Finance" |
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Posted: 30 Aug 2014 06:33 PM PDT How to Save on Vet Bills is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
Do you ever feel like you have to sell a kidney to pay for some of your pet’s vet bills? You’re not alone. Pet owners spend an average of $500 a year on vet bills, with an average of $1,000 or more for serious health conditions, according to USA Today. It makes sense. Our pets are part of our family, and we’d go to the moon and back to keep them in our life. But there are still ways you can save on vet bills. Shop Around for a Vet When deciding on a vet, pet owners often settle on convenience or recommendations. But if you’re willing to drive a little farther, you can most likely save a lot more on vet bills, without sacrificing quality care for your four-legged friend. I called three different vets in our city and couldn’t find a teeth cleaning for anything less than $190. By choosing a vet that was close to my in-law’s house—only a 20-minute drive away—we scored a teeth cleaning fort $125, saving us $65. $65 is totally worth driving an extra 10-15 minutes in my opinion. Regular vet visits also cost a flat rate of $40, as opposed to $60, which is the going rate in our neighborhood. If you’re not sure where to start looking to find a cheaper vet, ask your friends or check out Yelp for recommendations. And also? Don’t be afraid to actually pick up the phone and shop around for prices before settling on a vet simply because they’re a few minutes away. Fill Meds at the Pharmacy You can save hundreds on vet medications by not filling them at the vet. In fact, a lot of pet medications have a human equivalent that you can fill at your local drugstore. It may be a little more inconvenient, but we’re going for saving money not convenience. And it’s not usually that big of an inconvenience to stop at Target or CVS or one of the million of other pharmacies on every corner. You can also check online if you want them delivered straight to your doorstep. Take Preventative Measures We all know we should provide the best for our pup, but it’s important that we’re doing the right things to prevent as many expensive vet visits as possible. That includes ensuring you exercise your pet and give them proper nutrition. Taking your pet for his annual check-ups also helps check for any issues before they become bigger problems. Keeping your pet’s vaccinations up-to-date also helps. Having pets is expensive, but you can also learn to save just by spending a few extra minutes doing your research.
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Eight Free Classes and Activities for Kids Posted: 31 Aug 2014 03:35 PM PDT Eight Free Classes and Activities for Kids is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
William-Sonoma Junior Chef Classes: What could be better than someone teaching your child how to cook for free? Hopefully your child will have fun and want to use their new found skills at home weekly. The class is open for 9-13 year olds, and they will learn cooking skills, such as making pizza dough and noodles from scratch to making a tasty dish for dinner. Lowes Build and Grow: Lowes offers free wooden projects for kids one Saturday a month at 10am. This is best for kids 5+, and kids will receive a free project to do, apron, safety goggles, and a patch. Home Depot: Home Depot offers a free wooden project for kids just like Lowes, but their projects may be easier to get into since they offer projects from 9 am-12 pm. Home Depot’s free kid’s project is one Saturday a month and opened to kids ages 5-12. Lego Store: The Lego store offers free Lego mini models for kids to build and take home. Events take place on Tuesdays at 5 pm and are available until they run out of supplies. It is open for kids ages 6-14. Lakeshore Learning Center: Lakeshore Learning Center offers free art project classes for kids 3 and up. The classes are held every Saturday from 11 am to 3pm (these are the drop-in hours). Pottery Barn Kids: Pottery Barn Kids hosts a weekly story time, as well as special events each month. For example, for September, they are hosting a Halloween Carnival, which includes treats, games, crafts, and face painting. Apple Camp: Apple stores host a free Apple Camp for kids 8-12. They will teach kids in-store how to make movies by storyboarding ideas, shooting video, and creating an original soundtrack. Or, starting this summer, campers can create interactive books complete with their own illustrations and sound effects. This free class is only available during the summer and is closed until 2015. Toys R Us: Toys R Us will have an event every now and then. It is best to check their event calendar, but know that they are not as consistent with events like the other places listed. Michael’s craft stores did not make the list because they do charge $2 for their projects. All of these classes look like a lot of fun, and your kids are sure to enjoy them. Be sure to sign up early and check the event calendars often. |
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No Credit History? Here’s 3 Ways To Build One Posted: 02 Sep 2014 05:30 PM PDT No Credit History? Here’s 3 Ways To Build One is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
As a new immigrant to the US, I along with my husband hit a roadblock when it came time to rent an apartment. When the landlords ran a credit check with my name and SSN, nothing came up and for several landlords it was a deal breaker even though they saw that we had a healthy savings account. Cash is not always king. Fortunately my husband has a very good US based credit score so as a result, we’re not homeless. I know that I’m not the only one who has confronted the issue of being refused because of a lack of credit history. You may be a college student, a newly arrived immigrant, or you just never worried about credit before, but at some point you may want to consider these options in order to progressively build a positive credit rating. Secured Credit CardYou can start by a visiting a bank or a credit union near you that offers secured credit cards. How this works is that the bank will require a cash deposit that is equal to the maximum line of credit. So if you want a $1K credit card limit then you’ll deposit the amount of $1K. The bank will hold the deposit for a minimum of one year. During this period, they will monitor your payment trend to ensure that you respect the payment due date. When you’ve made timely payments consistently for 12 – 18 months, the bank will convert the secured credit card into an unsecured card and return your deposit. Once you set up a secured credit card, and once the bank reports your account to the credit bureaus, it quickly begins to impact your credit rating. Each bank will likely have their own policy, but if you make over a certain number of late payments, it gives them the right to keep your deposit on hold for a longer period or cancel the secured credit card altogether. Shop around to find a secured credit card with a low to no annual fee, and take into consideration the interest rates and any other associated fees. Retailer Credit CardRetailer credit cards are issued by stores such as Sears or Macy’s or your local gas station. They are generally much easier to obtain compared to an unsecured credit card. There are a few downsides one being that retail credit cards don’t hold as much weight in the calculation of your credit score. You also should choose a retailer who reports their customers’ accounts to the credit bureaus as some do not. Finally, the interest rates can be steep – upwards of 30% annually! I would strongly encourage you to never carry a balance month to month. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you as I speak from past experience. Once you have opened up one or two retail credit lines and have built up your credit score, after a year or more, you can apply for an unsecured credit card. Secured Personal LoanYour credit score is calculated based on a set of metrics which include: the length of time you’ve been with an employer, the percentage of how much is owed in relation to a credit limit, timely payments, judgements and accounts in collections and types of credit lines you hold. It’s important to not only have credit cards as lenders like to see you that can repay other forms of credit such as bank loans, mortgages and car financing. A secured personal loan is similar to a secured credit card in that you will provide cash as the collateral for the loan. You repay the secured loan in equal installments over a set period of time while paying interest to the lender. The lender reports your payments to the credit bureaus and with timely payments, your credit score will rise. Once the loan is repaid in full, you will receive the cash you put down as the deposit along with dividends if your lender is a credit union. Credit unions generally offer this type of loan more readily as opposed to the major banks. For a secured loan you would ideally keep the term of the loan to a year or less in order to pay the least amount in interest.As always, you need to do the leg work and shop around for a secured loan that has a low interest rate and favorable terms. The underlying key point with all three options is that you must make your payments on time. There is no faster way to destroy a credit rating that you’ve worked hard to build than being delinquent. I always advocate using credit responsibly. You don’t need five credit cards. Instead find one or two that caters to your financial needs, with a manageable credit limit and strive to pay your credit line statements in full each month. |
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3 Reasons to Consider Flexible Careers Posted: 02 Sep 2014 03:53 PM PDT 3 Reasons to Consider Flexible Careers is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money! Maybe I’m approaching a mid-life crisis, but I often think about switching careers. Don’t get me wrong – I love aerospace engineering. It’s a challenging field and I have been a part of some cool stuff, but it’s been a difficult career in some respects. If I had to do it all over again, I would opt for a career with more flexibility. Here are three reasons you should, too: |
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Three Things You Didn’t Know You Could Buy Used Posted: 03 Sep 2014 10:06 PM PDT Three Things You Didn’t Know You Could Buy Used is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
Party Supplies: This may seem like a weird thing to search for on Craigslist, but it can save you quite a bit of money. This is especially true if you are looking for children’s party supplies. For my daughter’s first birthday, I was able to get many leftovers from someone else for $10. This included wrapped plates, wrapped napkins, a flag, and more. If I had purchased those same items at Party City, I would have paid over $30-40 for them. Facebook local kid selling pages also will have some listings available. You can really save on your child’s party just because another parent decided to go all out. Planning a wedding? Any brides overspend on their wedding then try to recoup some of the costs by selling a lot of their leftovers and décor online. It can be a great way to get affordable centerpieces, candles, and more. The only negative thing about trying to find leftover party supplies is that you have to sift through a lot of party companies advertising their business. Engagement Ring: It happens to the best of couples. Guy buys expensive ring and proposes, then guy backs out, and girl sells the ring for grievance costs. You can get a decent price on engagement rings or wedding rings used because a lot of breakups happen. However, be sure to meet the seller at a jeweler you trust to have it appraised. The seller should also have the ring’s paperwork with it, to prove it was not stolen. One last thing, buying your future fiancé a used engagement ring could get you in trouble if she is not the frugal type. Timeshares: Did you know that you can buy timeshares for as low as a penny? This may seem like one of those crazy pitches that involve a lot of hours at an annoying seminar, but it isn’t. Many people have listed their timeshare units for sale for .01-$500 just because they don’t want to pay the annual maintenance fee anymore. The maintenance fee varies on each unit, but it costs range from $350-1050 a year. Depending on the unit, you may not get to pick which week you want. Some sales also have closing costs involved too. However, think about it. You can buy a timeshare for some change and take your yearly vacation for less than it would cost to rent a room at Motel 8. You can look for yourself for timeshare sales here. Would you ever buy one of these three items used? If you have, I would love to hear your story. |
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Are You Prepared for a Rainy Day? Posted: 04 Sep 2014 06:05 PM PDT Are You Prepared for a Rainy Day? is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
My husband and I, however, have nothing designated specifically for an emergency fund. I know, that’s horrible, right? Well, we have saved up a significant amount of money for a down payment on a house, and since we still haven’t bought that house, we have been using it as a dual house down payment/emergency fund. We also have a small $1,000 emergency fund for a rainy day, which means should anything break, or we receive an unexpected ticket, bill, or have to pay the deductible on our car insurance policy. We have quick access to this $1k as it’s sitting in a savings account directly connected to our checking account, which allows you to make transfers instantly. Whether it’s a rainy day, or a long term emergency, it’s always a good thing to be prepared. A lot of people get overwhelmed when they think about the amount of money they have to save, but as anyone will tell you, slow and steady wins the race. Here’s how we finally got comfortable with our rainy day fund. Start Small with Your Goals When you think of saving six months’ worth of expenses, heck even three months’, you automatically think that saving that amount of money is impossible. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and even if you start by saving $5 a day, that’s still an average of $150 a month. Just because it sounds impossible to save that much, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Save as much as you can and just keep contributing without giving up, because eventually you’ll hit your goal. And you’ll feel really good when you hit that first milestone. You Can Get By With Less Chances are what you’re spending per month right now, is not what you’ll be spending per month in an emergency. For starters, if you lose your job, you automatically go into survival mode. You watch what you spend, you stop eating out, you don’t buy new clothes, and you cut every non-essential expense possible. So when you’re calculating how much you actually need to save, think about your bare bones expenses. This means, how much money do you need every month to pay your rent, your bills, your groceries and health insurance. Don’t forget that you’ll also be able to claim unemployment, which means you won’t be living off just your savings the entire time. But your savings will help supplement your unemployment, which is usually a fraction of what you were normally getting paid. Extra Sources of Funding Lastly, don’t forget that in a real dire emergency, you also have to consider your liquid and non-liquid assets. What would you be able to get rid of or sell that would help you get through these hard times? While it’s never recommended to touch your retirement accounts, the reality is that you aren’t going to become a bum on the street with $100k sitting in a retirement account. Think of how much you could live off of if things really got rough, and hope that it never has to come to that situation. If anything, this should scare you enough into thinking that you really need to get your savings in gear! |
