Living within your means is the key. I like how you emphasize this, and as long as you are focusing on being financially responsible, forget the stigma.
if you did your research you would know you can't get the flu from a flu shot. You are right they might not have picked the right strains for the year, but it won't hurt to get one just in case they did.
I use a desktop, why would anyone want to go to a 15 inch screen from a 21 inch/? Why would anyone want to type on a smaller keyboard? Why would anyone want to replace an expensive battery every two or three years? Laptops overheat, once broken thats it, you throw them away and buy a new one. They say desktops will become obselete, not so, say may experts, laptops will be the ones replaced by ipads and smart phones that will make carrying a 5, 6, or 7 pound laptop seem idiotic. Ipads are selling so fast apple has trouble keeping up, plus all the other manufactures selling smart phones. Guess what they will replace? Look around, they are replacing laptops.
Thank you for this article. I was recently laid off from a decent paying job and see assistance looming on the horizon. While I think social service programs need to be in place I never imagined having to use them myself-- it is very embarrassing. While my husband was a student I was proud of our simple living that kept us happy on just 16K a year, no help from anyone. I hated that friends in school used medicaid and food stamps to free up income so they could live more extravagantly than we did. I don't think that is what it is there for. But now, hardly making payments on utility bills, I think my time on assistance is coming, at least for a little while. While it is a blow to my pride, I'm glad those services are there.
I've got a similar question. I bought a house around 4 years ago at the peak of the boom before the crash. My mortgage was 170,000 and the home is now worth around 110,000. The current amount still on the mortgage is around 160,000 so we're 50,000 underwater. I've gotten married and promoted since and our combined income now is more than double what it was when I bought this house and we can comfortably afford much more of a payment. My wife and I both have wonderful credit scores above 800. We've saved around 30,000 in cash in the last 2 years trying to save up enough to get out of this house and buy a bigger one so we can start a family, but after you factor in realtor's fees, closing costs, etc. we're still a long way from having the cash to get out of our house. Our house is a townhouse and the association we are in does not allow renting the units in any way shape or form, and they've also got specific rules against contract for deed house sales so renting our current house and buying another isn't an option unfortunately (we've done a lot of investigation since it would be the "best" option but it just isn't allowed).
The way the local market is now, we could get a house as large as we would ever need for around 250,000. Is there any kind of situation where we could get a 300,000 loan for a 250,000 dollar house (with the extra $50,000 going to cover the amount that we are under water)? At current rates a 300,000 mortgage payment is only $100 more per month than what we are paying now (which we could very easily afford).
If you really do not have time, it makes sense to pay someone else to do your chores. This really means you do not have time. But I see too many people still paying someone else to do their job even though they have time. They get in this habit of being lazy. People need to learn the ultimate smart way to spend their money. I feel like I am wasting my money if I hire people to do my chores. Become the ultimate smart spender!
I am so addicted to Mint.com that their recent problems with Bank of America have caused me to abandon a 20-year relationship with BofA. It's long overdue, really, but nothing finally got me to go to the effort of moving my direct deposit until they quit working with Mint.
We've been using online banking for some time now, and it's very efficient. It's easy to shift money from one account to another, and using the online bill pay feature is excellent. Now if I could just figure out how to get my monitor to spit out greenbacks like an ATM.
is there a state law saying how much an apartment is able to charge you for cheap carpet? the apartments i just moved out of are charging me 2500 to replace the carpet.
interesting article. How things have changed with student loans weighing in at 7% or more and savings accounts getting 1% if you're lucky. i think this proves beyond a doubt that all debt is bad, and that you should pay cash whenever possible. Since I've had to support myself since high school, i've always made too much money to deduct student loan interest, but barely enough to get buy. With my demanding 24/7 access to me( ie being on-call with a pager or cell phone), I'd often miss so many classes that I'd have to drop a class after the refund date, and still owe tuition for the class. This lead me to not have a degree but have a heft 50k student loan that I finally have enough money to start tackling. Moral: When in doubt, don' take a loan out.
Absolutely! The time savings, and the savings on stamps, are just amazing. I'm now co-executor of my father's estate and setup the Estate account for online banking. I couldn't imagine managing the account any other way.
Doing this type of audit every year is VERY worthwhile! I do this not only for my personal bills, but for my business too. Pennies add into dollars quickly. Not to mention I would rather have the money in my pocket instead of "giving" it away to someone else, especially if I'm really not using it or not getting my moneys worth out of it. Thanks for the great post and tips.
I think there was a great deal of information left out here. Cable itslef does not cost that much hwever it is all the fees and taxes that create an issue. My cable is tied into phone and intenet. The total bill each month is always $220.00. That is $2640.00 a year That is WITHOUT on demand movies. I bought an antenna for HDTV which has UHF and High VHF capeability with a gain box $300.00 (one time fee) I also purchased Netflix to stream movies @ $7.99 a month. I bought a DVR that recordes over the air broadcasts ($250..00 one time fee) I purchased a OBDII ($49.00 one time fee) for google phone and got my number reasigned and enabled 911 for a ($20.00 one time fee.) Intenet and Netflix is all I am paying for and my bill went from $220.00 a month to $46.00 a month because I don't have to pay all those carzy fees. Also I am saving on the energy the cable box itslef sucks up. We plugged that monster into a Kill-A-Watt meter and it was taking 350 Watts to power that thing. In off mode it was pulling 25 watts! Perhaps you should check you cable box to see if it is energy efficient... then you'd know why it get's so wharm.
I've done this before when a promotional term expires, but I don't have the guts to bluff and say I'm quitting entirely. I've called to say I want to know what it would cost to cut the cable portion and keep the Internet because I'm thinking about leaving cable. And that has worked for me.
It simply amazes me that there are no enforceable laws that these agencies have to abide by. These agencies hold our credit hostage, and have no consequences for there actions, and screwing our credit up when they make mistakes. They only thing they care about is money, so in order for them to play as fair as we have to, why aren't there fines put in place for these companies when they screw up? The more they get fined, the more they will pay attention to what they are doing, and the more respect they will have for us. Fine them thousands of dollars, and make them return the money to the customer, they will start doing the right thing guaranteed. In my situation, my collection was fraudulent, and because I wanted to buy a house, I had to pay it. Even after telling the collection agency, AND credit companies my collection is no longer disputed, I was still turned down for my mortgage. EVEN THOUGH I PAID IT OFF. Completely and totally ridiculous. Why is this able to happen in our country? Why is something not done about it?
I just recently called AT&T about my internet service. I had a rate of $20/month and it shot up to $40/month. I called and got them to bring it down to $25/month. I can't even imagine what my bills would be if I didn't call at least once a year to get the best rate.
Living within your means is the key. I like how you emphasize this, and as long as you are focusing on being financially responsible, forget the stigma.
Yes, for some things.
I've been thinking about getting a maid lately so these were some great subjects to think about before I do so. Thanks for the advice.
if you did your research you would know you can't get the flu from a flu shot. You are right they might not have picked the right strains for the year, but it won't hurt to get one just in case they did.
of course, keeps me on the right track so I can budget properly
These are all so cute!!! original, and cheaper than buying a costume from the store. my family and I just made Lego costumes... they were a huge hit!
You can see pictures and read how to do it:
http://stayathomeworker.com/2011/10/23/easy-diy-halloween-family-costume/
Our son loved them and they were really easy and inexpensive.
I use a desktop, why would anyone want to go to a 15 inch screen from a 21 inch/? Why would anyone want to type on a smaller keyboard? Why would anyone want to replace an expensive battery every two or three years? Laptops overheat, once broken thats it, you throw them away and buy a new one. They say desktops will become obselete, not so, say may experts, laptops will be the ones replaced by ipads and smart phones that will make carrying a 5, 6, or 7 pound laptop seem idiotic. Ipads are selling so fast apple has trouble keeping up, plus all the other manufactures selling smart phones. Guess what they will replace? Look around, they are replacing laptops.
Thank you for this article. I was recently laid off from a decent paying job and see assistance looming on the horizon. While I think social service programs need to be in place I never imagined having to use them myself-- it is very embarrassing. While my husband was a student I was proud of our simple living that kept us happy on just 16K a year, no help from anyone. I hated that friends in school used medicaid and food stamps to free up income so they could live more extravagantly than we did. I don't think that is what it is there for. But now, hardly making payments on utility bills, I think my time on assistance is coming, at least for a little while. While it is a blow to my pride, I'm glad those services are there.
I've got a similar question. I bought a house around 4 years ago at the peak of the boom before the crash. My mortgage was 170,000 and the home is now worth around 110,000. The current amount still on the mortgage is around 160,000 so we're 50,000 underwater. I've gotten married and promoted since and our combined income now is more than double what it was when I bought this house and we can comfortably afford much more of a payment. My wife and I both have wonderful credit scores above 800. We've saved around 30,000 in cash in the last 2 years trying to save up enough to get out of this house and buy a bigger one so we can start a family, but after you factor in realtor's fees, closing costs, etc. we're still a long way from having the cash to get out of our house. Our house is a townhouse and the association we are in does not allow renting the units in any way shape or form, and they've also got specific rules against contract for deed house sales so renting our current house and buying another isn't an option unfortunately (we've done a lot of investigation since it would be the "best" option but it just isn't allowed).
The way the local market is now, we could get a house as large as we would ever need for around 250,000. Is there any kind of situation where we could get a 300,000 loan for a 250,000 dollar house (with the extra $50,000 going to cover the amount that we are under water)? At current rates a 300,000 mortgage payment is only $100 more per month than what we are paying now (which we could very easily afford).
No I don't use online banking......bmy bank is only a few blocks away
If you really do not have time, it makes sense to pay someone else to do your chores. This really means you do not have time. But I see too many people still paying someone else to do their job even though they have time. They get in this habit of being lazy. People need to learn the ultimate smart way to spend their money. I feel like I am wasting my money if I hire people to do my chores. Become the ultimate smart spender!
Yes, it has made things so much easier.
I am so addicted to Mint.com that their recent problems with Bank of America have caused me to abandon a 20-year relationship with BofA. It's long overdue, really, but nothing finally got me to go to the effort of moving my direct deposit until they quit working with Mint.
We've been using online banking for some time now, and it's very efficient. It's easy to shift money from one account to another, and using the online bill pay feature is excellent. Now if I could just figure out how to get my monitor to spit out greenbacks like an ATM.
So how were the stuffed pumpkins? Where can I find the recipe?
is there a state law saying how much an apartment is able to charge you for cheap carpet? the apartments i just moved out of are charging me 2500 to replace the carpet.
interesting article. How things have changed with student loans weighing in at 7% or more and savings accounts getting 1% if you're lucky. i think this proves beyond a doubt that all debt is bad, and that you should pay cash whenever possible. Since I've had to support myself since high school, i've always made too much money to deduct student loan interest, but barely enough to get buy. With my demanding 24/7 access to me( ie being on-call with a pager or cell phone), I'd often miss so many classes that I'd have to drop a class after the refund date, and still owe tuition for the class. This lead me to not have a degree but have a heft 50k student loan that I finally have enough money to start tackling. Moral: When in doubt, don' take a loan out.
Yes for some bills.
Absolutely! The time savings, and the savings on stamps, are just amazing. I'm now co-executor of my father's estate and setup the Estate account for online banking. I couldn't imagine managing the account any other way.
Doing this type of audit every year is VERY worthwhile! I do this not only for my personal bills, but for my business too. Pennies add into dollars quickly. Not to mention I would rather have the money in my pocket instead of "giving" it away to someone else, especially if I'm really not using it or not getting my moneys worth out of it. Thanks for the great post and tips.
I think there was a great deal of information left out here. Cable itslef does not cost that much hwever it is all the fees and taxes that create an issue. My cable is tied into phone and intenet. The total bill each month is always $220.00. That is $2640.00 a year That is WITHOUT on demand movies. I bought an antenna for HDTV which has UHF and High VHF capeability with a gain box $300.00 (one time fee) I also purchased Netflix to stream movies @ $7.99 a month. I bought a DVR that recordes over the air broadcasts ($250..00 one time fee) I purchased a OBDII ($49.00 one time fee) for google phone and got my number reasigned and enabled 911 for a ($20.00 one time fee.) Intenet and Netflix is all I am paying for and my bill went from $220.00 a month to $46.00 a month because I don't have to pay all those carzy fees. Also I am saving on the energy the cable box itslef sucks up. We plugged that monster into a Kill-A-Watt meter and it was taking 350 Watts to power that thing. In off mode it was pulling 25 watts! Perhaps you should check you cable box to see if it is energy efficient... then you'd know why it get's so wharm.
I've done this before when a promotional term expires, but I don't have the guts to bluff and say I'm quitting entirely. I've called to say I want to know what it would cost to cut the cable portion and keep the Internet because I'm thinking about leaving cable. And that has worked for me.
It simply amazes me that there are no enforceable laws that these agencies have to abide by. These agencies hold our credit hostage, and have no consequences for there actions, and screwing our credit up when they make mistakes. They only thing they care about is money, so in order for them to play as fair as we have to, why aren't there fines put in place for these companies when they screw up? The more they get fined, the more they will pay attention to what they are doing, and the more respect they will have for us. Fine them thousands of dollars, and make them return the money to the customer, they will start doing the right thing guaranteed. In my situation, my collection was fraudulent, and because I wanted to buy a house, I had to pay it. Even after telling the collection agency, AND credit companies my collection is no longer disputed, I was still turned down for my mortgage. EVEN THOUGH I PAID IT OFF. Completely and totally ridiculous. Why is this able to happen in our country? Why is something not done about it?
I just recently called AT&T about my internet service. I had a rate of $20/month and it shot up to $40/month. I called and got them to bring it down to $25/month. I can't even imagine what my bills would be if I didn't call at least once a year to get the best rate.
Yep, I've used ING Direct for the past 4 years and love it!