An excellent frugal office potluck idea is a baked potato bar. A couple of folks or the boss can supply the potatoes and everyone can bring in toppings - filling, cheap and pretty popular, especially at the weather stays chilly.
I visit Groupon on a somewhat-regular babies, but I have yet to buy anything. I've definitely been tempted a few times, but in the end, I haven't seen anything that I thought I absolutely must have. I continue to visit on the off-chance that it might happen someday.
I have worked at home for the past 10 years and have a few suggestions to add to your list.
1. start the car at least once a week.
2. only check the refrigerator at meal times.
3. make sure you leave the house at once a day to remind you that there is a world out there.
YES!!! I wish I had been required to learn this stuff in school. The problem I foresee, though, is that (like many other things) all the bureaucracy will cause these types of classes to: 1) confuse students, and 2) be totally ineffective. If they could creatively figure out a way to teach these things, then I would be all for it. Maybe give kids fake money, bills, options for credit cards, a website to "buy" whatever they want, etc.
My family of 5 is down to basically a van load of belongings. I have groan to loathe stuff, if it means I have to spend any time or money to manage it - pack it, carry it, ship it, unpack it, place it, screw it! What's the point?
Shortly after we got married, my wife and I moved to Banff Alberta; I was a chef and I was given a cooking position in a boutique hotel. It was great, all our ‘stuff’ (like George Carlin would call it) fit inside one pick up truck and we set off from Toronto to Banff. After a year, a bigger and better Executive Chef position in Whistler called and we made our way there...but the ‘stuff’ had propagated! Now, we had 2 pick up truck loads and, therefore, made 2 trips - twice the time and money. We had a small place and we lived in it for 2 years, had 2 children and the growth of ‘stuff’ increased exponentially. We moved to Victoria B.C. and, wow, by then we had a 5 tonne truck load of ‘stuff.’ So much time, energy and money to manage it all....and for what?
By this point, we had a ‘big place,’ a condo of 1700 square feet and so much more time to clean and arrange ‘stuff,’ so we started to purge. I sold it all! Or, at least most of it. I used Craigs List and Kijiji and literally sold it all. What an amazing loss I took! ‘Stuff’ is not an investment, and it will never provide a return. I managed to squeeze $8000 out of the ‘stuff’ and felt pretty good about it. I am amazed at what people bought; I sold 2 used garbage cans for 5 bucks each!
Now I work online and live in furnished apartments wherever we feel like living. It's international, it's educational, and it’s energizing. We're free from flub, uber flexible with one bill a month - power, water, heat, phone and internet are all included in our rent. I don't care about houses. I like Robert Kiyosaki's book and how it basically says rent until you have 10 times the price tag of the house in cash. All the talk of building equity through homes is banker speak to sell mortgages - equity takes more forms than just houses. I was buying gold when it was $300 an ounce. I was buying silver bullion at $4 and today it's over $30!
So, if we're looking at the benefits of owning things that are small, I say forget houses entirely. They're worse than cars unless there's a debt-fueled super bubble and a tonne of hype from government and the media. Here's a hint; if it's popular and all over the T.V., sell it. If nobody even knows it exists or people at cocktail parties laugh at you for discussing it, think about buying it! Remember Ed McMahon and MC Hammer at the Super Bowl telling us to sell our gold? hmmmm......
We recently ditched our landline for a Magicjack. Saves us $61/month.
I am also growing more and more of our vegetables every year, and now have some potted blueberries and blackberries, with dwarf peach/nectarine trees arriving this spring.
Of course, I take everything to the extreme and even do my laundry by hand, but I don't expect anyone else to take this tip. ;)
As an Etsy small business owner, I say "Yes! Etsy is an awesome place to find unique and one of a kind accessories." As a shopper, I have been there more than once. But since I make accessories for myself, I have an advantage that most others don't. :) Since my accessories are very colorful, I can make something to match almost anything that I have!
Seriously?? You don't think that two mindless tasks can be done at once? Make dinner and clean the kitchen? Wait on hold and write an email? Watch TV and fold the laundry?
Congrats you have just set womankind back to before industrialization. From my observations, men are not as good as women at multitasking. I learnt at my Mom's feet and she learnt at her mom's. There are times when you have kids that you must soothe the baby and get a snack for the 2 year old and answer a question from the 5 year old. If all of those tasks were done sequentially, the house would fall down before supper was made.
Yes there are times that we push it a bit too far but that is why the coffee falls so that we can find a better way to hold the coffee and carry the baby. I have a special holder in my bag that holds a coffee upright so I can grab other stuff.
I LOVE deviled eggs -- plus you can add so many delicious things (capers, chopped red onion...well, maybe raw-onion breath isn't great for an office party) to the filling to spice them up.
Good call! I did mention it at the end of the Claire's paragraph, but it deserves its own highlighting. My sister reminded me of another good one as well -- H&M.
These are frugal? I was hoping for some low-cost fairly easy baked good. What I bring:
Very sharp cheddar, which I cut into cubes or strips - $4.
Chocolate cake--people like the depression/wartime recipe (with the vinegar), but I don't know how to make a frugal frosting (I mix chocolate chips with milk).
I've also brought brownies and cookies. Occasionally we have a pie contest or a chili cook-off.
Another fairly frugal thing other people have brought is chips with home-made salsa or hummus.
Thanks for the deviled eggs idea--they're cheap (though I don't think they're easy). (Well, they're easy, but time-consuming.)
Happy to see someone pointing out the merits of smaller homes. How much is too much? If your using an entire bedroom for storage you have too much stuff. Simplistic living is not only better for environment, it's easier on your stress. Thanks for the great article!
One of the benefits of having personal finance added to curriculum,would be to teach the difference between the ideas of WANTS andNEEDS---establish a list of priorities,budgeting and living within your means.
One of the benefits of having personal finance added to curriculum,would be to teach the difference between the ideas of WANTS andNEEDS---establish a list of priorities,budgeting and living within your means.
If you aren't set on getting a prepaid phone, think about this: Straight Talk's Unlimited plan is $45 a month for unlimited text, talk, and web. The prices can only go down from there.
A few notes:
- One reason many may have success with homeopathic treatment is that a lot of what is now branded "homeopathic" isn't. "Cold Eeze" is a perfect example. While labeled as homeopathic, it contains zinc in something like a 2x dilution, so there is actually zinc in the product, and there is at least a theoretical advantage of zinc on white blood cell mobilization early on in an illness. So, it's possible that Cold Eeze is helpful, but while labeled as homeopathic, it certainly isn't congruent with homeopathic theory.
- I work in medicine, and find it hard not to laugh when I get calls from parents who are frantic that their child has just gotten a double dose of some homeopathic medication. I assure them that if the child had guzzled 5 entire bottles of the product, I still wouldn't be sending them to the hospital, as there is no active ingredient. They would, literally, sooner overdose on water.
- The one that especially makes me cringe is Oscillococcinum. The company that makes it has to kill only 1 duck a year to get enough liver to make their tens of millions of doses. They dilute it to the point that there is not a single molecule of the duck remaining, and make about $35 million a year off the liver of that one poor duck.
When I was a university student and work a slave wage Target (money for books) job at night I would receive a nice tax refund, the kind that people brag about. After graduation, I became a teacher. I have been a teacher for 4 years now. During these past 4 years, I have had to pay $500-$700 during each tax period. That's the kind of luck the lower/upper middle class receive from our lovely elected ones. The only people I ever see bragging about a tax refund are slave wagers or the super rich. The slave wagers deserve the refund, they should have received on their paycheck in the first place. And the super rich will always have their accountants, the long deductions lists, and politicians in their pocket to help them out.
Forever21, also. The quality's kind of cheap (they tend to lose their color after a few weeks or months), but they're very cute and very cheap. Best place to get trendy jewelry that you're not going to wear for a long time.
"many people have exerted so much energy and time to paying off debt, that once they become debt free, they no longer have a clear sense of financial purpose or focus. They are left confused wondering, what should I do now? "
That certainly didn't happen to me 5 years ago when I paid off my house. I have been completely debt free since and have been banking 12% of my pre-tax income and 100% of my after tax income. My interest income from my investment accounts pays all my monthly expenses. I gained an even better sense of purpose - retiring before the age of 55 (in my case before 52).
My father was an awful spender. When I was a kid my father took me shopping all of the time, it was something we both enjoyed, no matter the consequence. I remember after of day of shopping my mother and father always argued. Apparently my dad did'nt have the spendable cash but was charging everything to one of his many credit cards. When I got to college and I was approached about my opening my own credit card, my heart started beating fast and my mind started racing. All I could think of was all those little boutiques that I passed on the way to class.
Soon after college my father passed away leaving my mother with an enormous debt, most of it she was unaware of.
I was never given an allowance when I was younger, I was never tought how to manage my money and I was certaintly never taught how to save.
A part of a child's learning is molded by their environment. If I had some sort of schooling on spending and budgeting in the classroom it would have at least given me a different perspective then what I was exposed to in my home environment.
This just happened to me, I got an email with urgency to rent and the guy said he will be back and forth between the UK and Africa, and the number he sent me started with +2. I checked out the address online and noticed that the house he was referring to was for sale by a Realtor already and that didn't add up, so I did a google search about renting scams and I found your post. Thanks for the info, you just opened my eyes and showed me to be more careful!
An excellent frugal office potluck idea is a baked potato bar. A couple of folks or the boss can supply the potatoes and everyone can bring in toppings - filling, cheap and pretty popular, especially at the weather stays chilly.
I visit Groupon on a somewhat-regular babies, but I have yet to buy anything. I've definitely been tempted a few times, but in the end, I haven't seen anything that I thought I absolutely must have. I continue to visit on the off-chance that it might happen someday.
I have worked at home for the past 10 years and have a few suggestions to add to your list.
1. start the car at least once a week.
2. only check the refrigerator at meal times.
3. make sure you leave the house at once a day to remind you that there is a world out there.
YES!!! I wish I had been required to learn this stuff in school. The problem I foresee, though, is that (like many other things) all the bureaucracy will cause these types of classes to: 1) confuse students, and 2) be totally ineffective. If they could creatively figure out a way to teach these things, then I would be all for it. Maybe give kids fake money, bills, options for credit cards, a website to "buy" whatever they want, etc.
I love groupon!! I got $150 worth of furniture, and it cost me $39!!!
My family of 5 is down to basically a van load of belongings. I have groan to loathe stuff, if it means I have to spend any time or money to manage it - pack it, carry it, ship it, unpack it, place it, screw it! What's the point?
Shortly after we got married, my wife and I moved to Banff Alberta; I was a chef and I was given a cooking position in a boutique hotel. It was great, all our ‘stuff’ (like George Carlin would call it) fit inside one pick up truck and we set off from Toronto to Banff. After a year, a bigger and better Executive Chef position in Whistler called and we made our way there...but the ‘stuff’ had propagated! Now, we had 2 pick up truck loads and, therefore, made 2 trips - twice the time and money. We had a small place and we lived in it for 2 years, had 2 children and the growth of ‘stuff’ increased exponentially. We moved to Victoria B.C. and, wow, by then we had a 5 tonne truck load of ‘stuff.’ So much time, energy and money to manage it all....and for what?
By this point, we had a ‘big place,’ a condo of 1700 square feet and so much more time to clean and arrange ‘stuff,’ so we started to purge. I sold it all! Or, at least most of it. I used Craigs List and Kijiji and literally sold it all. What an amazing loss I took! ‘Stuff’ is not an investment, and it will never provide a return. I managed to squeeze $8000 out of the ‘stuff’ and felt pretty good about it. I am amazed at what people bought; I sold 2 used garbage cans for 5 bucks each!
Now I work online and live in furnished apartments wherever we feel like living. It's international, it's educational, and it’s energizing. We're free from flub, uber flexible with one bill a month - power, water, heat, phone and internet are all included in our rent. I don't care about houses. I like Robert Kiyosaki's book and how it basically says rent until you have 10 times the price tag of the house in cash. All the talk of building equity through homes is banker speak to sell mortgages - equity takes more forms than just houses. I was buying gold when it was $300 an ounce. I was buying silver bullion at $4 and today it's over $30!
So, if we're looking at the benefits of owning things that are small, I say forget houses entirely. They're worse than cars unless there's a debt-fueled super bubble and a tonne of hype from government and the media. Here's a hint; if it's popular and all over the T.V., sell it. If nobody even knows it exists or people at cocktail parties laugh at you for discussing it, think about buying it! Remember Ed McMahon and MC Hammer at the Super Bowl telling us to sell our gold? hmmmm......
Why on earth would I clean coffee off my grass? Is your grass astroturf, perchance?
We recently ditched our landline for a Magicjack. Saves us $61/month.
I am also growing more and more of our vegetables every year, and now have some potted blueberries and blackberries, with dwarf peach/nectarine trees arriving this spring.
Of course, I take everything to the extreme and even do my laundry by hand, but I don't expect anyone else to take this tip. ;)
As an Etsy small business owner, I say "Yes! Etsy is an awesome place to find unique and one of a kind accessories." As a shopper, I have been there more than once. But since I make accessories for myself, I have an advantage that most others don't. :) Since my accessories are very colorful, I can make something to match almost anything that I have!
(If you want to check out my shop: www.struckmyfancy.etsy.com)
Where has this article been my whole life? Great way to present these ideas! I totally wanna roller derby.
Seriously?? You don't think that two mindless tasks can be done at once? Make dinner and clean the kitchen? Wait on hold and write an email? Watch TV and fold the laundry?
Congrats you have just set womankind back to before industrialization. From my observations, men are not as good as women at multitasking. I learnt at my Mom's feet and she learnt at her mom's. There are times when you have kids that you must soothe the baby and get a snack for the 2 year old and answer a question from the 5 year old. If all of those tasks were done sequentially, the house would fall down before supper was made.
Yes there are times that we push it a bit too far but that is why the coffee falls so that we can find a better way to hold the coffee and carry the baby. I have a special holder in my bag that holds a coffee upright so I can grab other stuff.
I LOVE deviled eggs -- plus you can add so many delicious things (capers, chopped red onion...well, maybe raw-onion breath isn't great for an office party) to the filling to spice them up.
Good call! I did mention it at the end of the Claire's paragraph, but it deserves its own highlighting. My sister reminded me of another good one as well -- H&M.
These are frugal? I was hoping for some low-cost fairly easy baked good. What I bring:
Very sharp cheddar, which I cut into cubes or strips - $4.
Chocolate cake--people like the depression/wartime recipe (with the vinegar), but I don't know how to make a frugal frosting (I mix chocolate chips with milk).
I've also brought brownies and cookies. Occasionally we have a pie contest or a chili cook-off.
Another fairly frugal thing other people have brought is chips with home-made salsa or hummus.
Thanks for the deviled eggs idea--they're cheap (though I don't think they're easy). (Well, they're easy, but time-consuming.)
Happy to see someone pointing out the merits of smaller homes. How much is too much? If your using an entire bedroom for storage you have too much stuff. Simplistic living is not only better for environment, it's easier on your stress. Thanks for the great article!
One of the benefits of having personal finance added to curriculum,would be to teach the difference between the ideas of WANTS andNEEDS---establish a list of priorities,budgeting and living within your means.
One of the benefits of having personal finance added to curriculum,would be to teach the difference between the ideas of WANTS andNEEDS---establish a list of priorities,budgeting and living within your means.
If you aren't set on getting a prepaid phone, think about this: Straight Talk's Unlimited plan is $45 a month for unlimited text, talk, and web. The prices can only go down from there.
A few notes:
- One reason many may have success with homeopathic treatment is that a lot of what is now branded "homeopathic" isn't. "Cold Eeze" is a perfect example. While labeled as homeopathic, it contains zinc in something like a 2x dilution, so there is actually zinc in the product, and there is at least a theoretical advantage of zinc on white blood cell mobilization early on in an illness. So, it's possible that Cold Eeze is helpful, but while labeled as homeopathic, it certainly isn't congruent with homeopathic theory.
- I work in medicine, and find it hard not to laugh when I get calls from parents who are frantic that their child has just gotten a double dose of some homeopathic medication. I assure them that if the child had guzzled 5 entire bottles of the product, I still wouldn't be sending them to the hospital, as there is no active ingredient. They would, literally, sooner overdose on water.
- The one that especially makes me cringe is Oscillococcinum. The company that makes it has to kill only 1 duck a year to get enough liver to make their tens of millions of doses. They dilute it to the point that there is not a single molecule of the duck remaining, and make about $35 million a year off the liver of that one poor duck.
When I was a university student and work a slave wage Target (money for books) job at night I would receive a nice tax refund, the kind that people brag about. After graduation, I became a teacher. I have been a teacher for 4 years now. During these past 4 years, I have had to pay $500-$700 during each tax period. That's the kind of luck the lower/upper middle class receive from our lovely elected ones. The only people I ever see bragging about a tax refund are slave wagers or the super rich. The slave wagers deserve the refund, they should have received on their paycheck in the first place. And the super rich will always have their accountants, the long deductions lists, and politicians in their pocket to help them out.
Forever21, also. The quality's kind of cheap (they tend to lose their color after a few weeks or months), but they're very cute and very cheap. Best place to get trendy jewelry that you're not going to wear for a long time.
"many people have exerted so much energy and time to paying off debt, that once they become debt free, they no longer have a clear sense of financial purpose or focus. They are left confused wondering, what should I do now? "
That certainly didn't happen to me 5 years ago when I paid off my house. I have been completely debt free since and have been banking 12% of my pre-tax income and 100% of my after tax income. My interest income from my investment accounts pays all my monthly expenses. I gained an even better sense of purpose - retiring before the age of 55 (in my case before 52).
My father was an awful spender. When I was a kid my father took me shopping all of the time, it was something we both enjoyed, no matter the consequence. I remember after of day of shopping my mother and father always argued. Apparently my dad did'nt have the spendable cash but was charging everything to one of his many credit cards. When I got to college and I was approached about my opening my own credit card, my heart started beating fast and my mind started racing. All I could think of was all those little boutiques that I passed on the way to class.
Soon after college my father passed away leaving my mother with an enormous debt, most of it she was unaware of.
I was never given an allowance when I was younger, I was never tought how to manage my money and I was certaintly never taught how to save.
A part of a child's learning is molded by their environment. If I had some sort of schooling on spending and budgeting in the classroom it would have at least given me a different perspective then what I was exposed to in my home environment.
This just happened to me, I got an email with urgency to rent and the guy said he will be back and forth between the UK and Africa, and the number he sent me started with +2. I checked out the address online and noticed that the house he was referring to was for sale by a Realtor already and that didn't add up, so I did a google search about renting scams and I found your post. Thanks for the info, you just opened my eyes and showed me to be more careful!
deviled eggs - cheap and easy