New article posted at "Everything Finance"
Everything Finance
New article posted at "Everything Finance" |
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Learning to Live on One Income Posted: 21 May 2014 10:56 PM PDT Learning to Live on One Income is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money! In this economy and day and age, living on one income seems impossible, especially if the income is less than $60,000 a year before taxes. However, I am here to say it can be done and comfortably. Among all of the advice I received as a newlywed, the most valuable was to live on one income, even if we were a two-income family. That advice was easier to hear than actually do, of course. After one year of marriage, my husband and I were expecting our first child and wanting to buy a home instead of rent. It was then I started putting my paycheck into a separate savings account, and we struggled to learn to live on one income. In hindsight, it was a struggle because we had to address our spending habits, but it wasn’t a struggle because it was impossible to do. Those 8-9 months of living on one income helped us establish a basic emergency fund and have a down payment for our home. Now, we still live on one income, since I am a stay at home mom. Here are just a few things we do differently. 1. Cut Out All the Extras: We are still working on this, and there has been many times of failure. We don’t have cable, gym membership, or a lot of new things. I think my family and friends have seen me in all of my outfits by now and may be wondering when I will get new clothes. We rarely eat out and our toddler will not be enrolled in any special classes or preschool. There are several more things I would like to cut down on, but basically, I just made a list of all the extra costs in our life then talked it over with my husband about how we can decrease the costs. I am still trying to convince him to become a one-car family. 2. Stop Going Out: When you are cooped up with a busy toddler all day, this is hard to do. It seems that whenever I leave the house, I am tempted to spend money. I get in the car and instantly crave a Starbucks (weird, right?). If I go to Target or any other store, things magically appear in my cart. Also, even going to free events and play dates, I use up gas. So I try to stay home as much as possible. 3. Sell the Excess: After we moved, I went on an extreme junk cleanse. I decreased everyone’s closet by half, got rid of half of the linen closet, got rid of most of our entertainment stuff, and even got rid of a lot of dishes. We just didn’t need all of that stuff. The crazy thing is that we probably didn’t have as much stuff as the average American. Selling all of that excess stuff probably gave us over $1000 in cash through Craigslist, consignment sales, and garage sales. The best part is that my home is a lot easier to clean, and I save time in the long run. 4. Buy Used, Use It, Sell It: The Duggar family has the motto of, “Buy used, save the difference.” I like to think my motto is a little bit better – “Buy used, use it, sell it for a profit”. I have applied this principle to many things, especially baby items and clothing items. For example, I just found a nice Banana Republic blouse at the thrift store for $5. I have worn it several times so far, and I found the same blouse selling for $15-20 used on Ebay. So once I get tired of it, I plan to list it and pocket a small profit of about $5. Of course, this isn’t a “get rich quick” kind of plan, but it is a simple way to make your budget stretch a little further. Living on one income may not be the most popular choice today, but it can definitely help with your financial and personal goals. Already a one-income family
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How to Keep Costs Low When Moving Posted: 22 May 2014 05:19 PM PDT How to Keep Costs Low When Moving is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
1. Pack snacks.My mother in law packed a big brown bag full of awesome snacks for us to enjoy on the trip. It was more than just junk food. It was really good crackers and dip and specialty cookies and trail mix, all things we needed to stay pumped up for our big 3 day long journey. We packed the snacks in a small insulated bag with ice packs so that they stayed nice and cool. The hotels we stayed in had small refrigerators so we were able to freeze the ice packs each night to enjoy the snacks again the next day. This probably saved us a good $100 in costs in addition to the time running through fast food joints. 2. Pull a trailer.If you have an SUV or a truck, it’s far cheaper to pull a trailer than to hire movers or rent a moving truck. You still have to pay the same amount in gas as you would driving one of those big moving trucks; however, it’s about half the cost to rent the trailer itself. We rented the biggest trailer they had and it fit 3 rooms full of our belongings. It was $400 to bring it from Louisiana to New Jersey. The price for the smallest moving truck or to ship a UHaul 8×8 box was $800. We saved half of that, got to keep our belongings in our eyesight the entire time, and still had money left over for other expenses. Our biggest mistake, though, was turning in the trailer and then having to go and rent it again the next day to pick up a huge sofa from Craigslist. It would have been cheaper to keep the trailer a few extra days and drive around picking up furniture than it was to turn it back in then re-rent it out. Plus, we had to drive 30 minutes each way to get it and turn it back in, so that took up gas and was frustrating for sure. We also really underestimated how expensive the gas would be the closer we got to New Jersey. We should have looked it up online and budgeted accordingly, but instead we used the gas prices at home in Louisiana as our target price for the whole trip. All in all though, I think we did a great job with our move. It took us three days, we got here safely with both little babies, and we had several high school kids help us bring boxes and furniture upstairs when we got here. It would have been way more expensive to hire movers, so I’m happy with how it turned out. How do you save money when it comes to moving? Do you get free boxes, ask friends to help out, or just go solo? |
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Save Money with Best Memorial Day Sales Posted: 22 May 2014 10:43 AM PDT Save Money with Best Memorial Day Sales is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
If you’re in the market for a big ticket item, consider Memorial Day a great time to purchase at a deep discount. Here are some of the best Memorial Day items on sale to take advantage of: Cars According to U.S. News and World Report, Memorial Day weekend is a great time to buy a car because dealerships have a host of sales offered to the general public as well as members of the military. Active duty members of the military are eligible for Subaru’s Active Military Discount Program, where you’ll save anywhere from $1,300 to $3,300 off the MSRP. Take advantage of great 0% financing offers if you qualify with excellent credit. 0% interest can often save you thousands over the life of the loan. Honda’s Memorial Day sales event includes 0.9 percent financing on many new 2014 Honda models. Remember to never buy more car than you can afford. When negotiating your purchase price, it’s best to focus on the price of the car rather than monthly payments. And never tell them how much you’re looking to spend. Outdoor Equipment Thinking of getting an outdoor barbecue? How about some patio furniture? Memorial Day is a great time to purchase these items. Everyone is getting ready for summer so stores offer a lot of sales on popular summer items like these to entice customers. After four summer of suffering with our little travel BBQ, I know my husband and I definitely plan on purchasing a nice BBQ with all the bells and whistles. Outdoor furniture is another popular item. Price check online before you go to the store, because chances are you can do a quick search and get the best deal for your outdoor furniture. Camping Equipment Planning a camping trip this summer? Take advantage of all camping equipment such as tents, sleeping bags, and other miscellaneous items. Electronics Finally ready to make the switch and get that deal on a new TV? Memorial Day weekend is a great time to save money on the purchase of some new electronic equipment. Again, price shop online to check out the deals at all your local electronic stores. This will save the hassle of going to different stores to see which one has the best deal. Clothing If you’re just looking to revamp your closet, don’t forget that air-conditioned malls will do anything to get you in their doors by offering some of the best deals to launch into the summer. Chances are you can also get amazing steals for last season’s clothing too. |
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Saving Time and Money While Doing Whole30 Posted: 23 May 2014 09:42 PM PDT Saving Time and Money While Doing Whole30 is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
I may not be able to help you with the restrictiveness of the program, but I can definitely give you some tips to save time and money while on Whole30. Don’t Buy Special IngredientsWhole30 does not require any special ingredients, and most packaged things are off limits to begin with. Many will use almond flour or coconut flour, although it is a grey area. There is no reason to buy arrowroot powder, fancy oils, unique meats, or vegetables you have never heard of before. Just eat simply. Yes, grilled chicken with steamed vegetables is boring, but it is also affordable and easy. Make Soups a StapleIn any diet, soups are a great way to make your budget count. To make a soup work for Whole30 and to keep your stomach full, be sure to include plenty of protein and good fats. Onceamonthmeals.com has two delicious soups to try if you need ideas – their Tomato, Basil, and Beef Soup and their Chicken Artichoke Soup with Basil. Both meals should cost less than $10 to make, and you will most likely have leftovers for a day or two after, depending on your family size. Both of the soups also come with freezer directions for those who wanted to cook in bulk ahead of time. Cook Smarter, Not HarderIt can be both time consuming and money consuming to try to create new meals every day. Think of ways to mainstream the process, such as putting together freezer meals or by doing weekly batch cooking. For example, I just made my lunches for the week by cooking a spaghetti squash in the crock pot and grilling extra chicken and vegetables for dinner one night. It took less than 30 minutes (well the spaghetti squash spent 3 hours in the crock pot, but I didn’t have to do anything while it was cooking) to mix the squash, veggies, and chopped up chicken with a jar of compliant Whole30 tomato sauce. I was then able to put them all in Tupperware containers for an easy to grab meal. Try devoting a few hours each week to making meals for the rest of the week. It will definitely save you many more hours later on, as well as last-minute trips to the grocery store or out to eat. |
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Three Affordable Alternatives to a Gym Membership Posted: 27 May 2014 09:57 PM PDT Three Affordable Alternatives to a Gym Membership is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
Even if individuals regularly use their membership, is the cost and time worth it? Not only are regular gym members paying monthly dues, but they are also paying for the gas to get there, perhaps money for the kid’s club, and possibly even money on supplements or other in-gym purchases. For some, the cost is worth it because of the motivation that comes with it. However, for most of us, there is a more affordable option. I think many would agree that they would rather workout for free and spend the $240+ savings a year on a brand new wardrobe. So what are your options? The Basics Are FreeTime and time again, researchers show the benefits of walking, running, and swimming. Of course, each of those activities come with a cost for wardrobe, but essentially they are all free. You can walk anywhere, even in your own home in front of the TV. Swimming is free if you have a pool or know a friend that has a pool (offer to clean their pool for them, and they will be begging you to swim). It can be easy to get in the mindset that you need a fancy gym, weight system, or even best-selling exercise DVD to get in shape. The basic exercises of walking, running, jumping jacks, push ups, and more have been used and proven for many years; why try to recreate the wheel? Use YoutubeThe Youtube exercise community has really blown up over the past few years. There are so many challenging workouts offered for free that are comparable to those exercise DVDs that cost money. Just search for your favorite workout star, such as Jillian Michaels or Denise Austin, and you will find several of their workouts for free. Also, Youtube channels like BeFit and Blogilates offers popular full-length workouts that will surely get you in shape in no time. Apps That Make You Want to WorkoutYour best exercise tool could just be the phone you use every day. There are so many affordable and free workout apps that make exercise fun and doable. Some popular favorites are Fitocracy (free), Fitsby (free), The Walk ($3.99), and Zombies, Run! ($2.99). When it comes to getting fit and healthy, invest your money in something better than a gym membership. Whether you choose to workout at a gym or workout through one of the free options above, the key is consistency. The best workout is the one you actually do, and saving a few hundred a year is always nice too. |
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Why You Need an Emergency Fund Posted: 29 May 2014 12:30 AM PDT Why You Need an Emergency Fund is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
My husband and I both have very good job security so we didn’t feel like we would need a six months savings account that would just sit and lose value due to inflation. When we finally paid off debt, I figured having a true emergency fund was worth it since that’s what all the personal finance experts recommended. But it wasn’t until we actually had to use our emergency fund that I finally realized why it was so important to have one. You Never KnowI know people say “oh you never know” and you think yes, you DO know that you’ll never need an emergency fund. Well, that’s what I thought too, until we found ourselves so grateful to have spare cash on hand. My husband started a new position at his job. With this new position, he would be receiving pretty much a 70% increase in pay. Because of the holidays, there was a six week break in pay where my husband didn’t work. So by the time he started his new job, we were desperately looking forward to his new paycheck. Imagine our surprise when his paycheck was exactly the same as before? Apparently, payroll had made a mistake and they wouldn’t be able to give him his new check until next payday, in another two weeks. Our rent was due that week and we needed to come up with cash quick since you can’t pay rent with a credit card. Enter our emergency fund. It was the only time in our lives that we had a true emergency that we couldn’t use a credit card for, but we were so grateful that we had the cash on hand. Having Quick Access to CashWhat’s more important is that we had quick access to the money, as the emergency savings account was tied directly to our online checking. In the past, we had relied on online savings accounts such as Capital One 360 because of the higher savings rate. However, it takes about four days to transfer the money from your online bank to your checking account. That would not cut it in a moment where you need quick access to cash. Money to tie you overOur emergency fund is $1,000 that we just let sit in our savings account that is tied to our checking account. However, we also have a more ample savings account that we keep in a higher interest-earning account. It’s up to you to save enough to where you feel comfortable should a true emergency arise, like one of you loses their job. We have a substantial rainy day fund right now considering we’re saving for a down payment, so that doubles as our substantial emergency account. We never thought that we would need an emergency fund, but it has come in handy and we’re glad that we created one. |
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Posted: 29 May 2014 09:05 PM PDT My Biggest Baby Saving Secret is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
Some people thought I was crazy. My own sister said that she knew I’d hate it and that she’d gift me disposable diapers for my shower anyway. Some commenters on my blog said I was brave and that they’d never do it. But you know what? It’s not bad at all! I used cash gifts and gift cards to purchase most of my twins’ diapers. I scoured ebay for gently used ones. I even bought 24 of them from a cloth diaper service who no longer wanted them. It’s actually amazing how high of a resell value these cloth diapers have. Some moms are so into it that they scour ebay looking for expired patterns. I’m definitely not that extreme, but it is an interesting side venture if you ever find yourself wanting to make some extra money. Surprisingly, I actually think that I might break even or at least only spend about $100-$200 on diapers for my twins for the entire time they wear them, which could be 2+ years. The reason is that I am going to resell all of my newborn sized cloth diapers on eBay, where I could easily make a profit because I got them at such a reduced rate. Then, because I used gift cards and other means to buy the larger sized diapers, I got most of them without much out of pocket expenses myself. Like the newborn sized diapers, I plan on reselling my larger diapers at the end to get some money back. Now that I’ve used these diapers for several weeks, I can tel you that it’s really not that bad. Yes, it takes a bit of work because you have to spray them and wash them and hang them up at night. However, it only takes a few minutes. I actually run the diaper wash cycles at night when I am awake for feedings, and they are all ready in the morning. It’s actually a lot less work than people think, and the savings are tremendous. I think the average person spends about $1,200 – $2,000 on diapers over the course of two years. Because I have two babies, I could have spent $4,000 on just diapers alone! Instead, I made an investment of about $100-$200 and used gifts and gift cards from friends to buy diapers instead. That’s a huge savings that’s definitely worth a few minutes of cleanup and washing diapers every night. Plus, if you’ve never seen a cloth diaper, you should check it out. They are actually really bright, cute, and colorful, and my kiddos look adorable in them. Then again, they look adorable in anything, right? Have you ever thought about using cloth diapers? Do you think they are gross or something you might actually like to try? I promise they are not as bad as people think! |
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Top Four Free Workout Channels on Youtube Posted: 29 May 2014 11:53 AM PDT Top Four Free Workout Channels on Youtube is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money! I I am not saying anything against P90X, TurboFire, or other popular workouts. They really do work if you use them. However, they also leave a big hole in your wallet. Lately, I have been turning to Youtube to workout. It is free and there are a large amount of free workout videos on there, by people you may already know, as well as from other notorious Youtube fitness trainers. Here are my top four favorite exercise channels on Youtube:
The best thing about Youtube is that you can access it virtually anywhere, and the free workouts range from 10 minutes to an hour. I love that you can put together all of your favorite videos into a playlist too for easy access. It is a great way to get to try a lot of different fun (and not so fun) exercises without paying a dime (unless you count internet charges). Let me hear your thoughts. Do you like working out with Youtube channels? If so what is your favorite workout channel on Youtube? |
have fallen victim to many exercise DVD deals. It is just so hard not to buy pricey exercise DVD systems when the testimonials are so inspiring, and you are just so desperate to look like them.
