Tip of the hat to the JARS system for budgeting. We started this simple, automated plan about 6 months ago and it's proven flawless for us. Since the holidays are already budgeted for...no worries about the economy...but we still shop for deals.
Our paychecks are direct deposited and on the 15th of every month and I set up the following accounts to be "paid" automatically.
Necessity Account (NEC - 55% of total imcome): This account is for managing your everyday expenses and bills and includes things like your rent, mortgage, utilities, bills, taxes, food, clothes, etc.
> Financial Freedom Account (FFA - 20% of total checks): This account is your ticket to financial freedom. The money that you put into this jar is used for investments and building your passive income streams. We never spend this money.
> Give Account (GIve- 10% of total checks): The money in this jar to give to family and friends on birthdays, special occasions and holidays
> Long Term Saving for Spending Account (LTSS - 10% of total checks): The money in this jar is for the bigger nice to have purchases....cars, vacations and the like.
> Play Account (PLAY - 5% of total checks): PLAY money is spent every month on purchases you wouldn’t normally make. Call it your mad money.
Nothing wrong with the term hobo. My sister in law was a hobo for several years, and called herself such. She was a homeless train-hopping bum, and was proud of it. She's no longer homeless...but she still doesn't bathe nearly enough.
Well, we don't have this Black Friday tradition (I guess the closest we get is Boxing Day) So really there's no good reason to wait. Like so many other things in life that take a lot of time and cost a lot of money, best to spread it out a bit. For me, the state of the economy has nothing to do with this. I'll always start in September and finish in November.
You'd be surprised at how a few Hallowe'en nick-nacks can brighten up a stocking and make people laugh, by the way, and after Nov 1 they're dirt cheap! Plus, they'll use them next Hallowe'en. Beats some of the plastic stocking crap they sell for Xmas.
Now, for my wife, that's a different story altogether. We shop for each other on Boxing day.
I buy Christmas gifts throughout the year. I have money put away for gifts and I buy when I see a good deal on what I'd like to give. Of course some things have to wait until Nov-Dec because they'll be outgrown, obsolete, etc.
As for payment, I typically use my debit card at the store or a credit card online. Both give rewards, but I prefer not to put my debit card on the web.
I can only comment on iSwish.co.nz but what a lot of people don't realise is that a lot of the clothes are new and some still with tags on - and even when they are worn they have to be lightly worn...the way I see it half the clothes you buy in high street are lightly to be have tried on and worn more than these items!!!
Personally I don't have a problem with 2ndhand anyway...guess I am used to it growing up with sisters! We have formed a local group on iswish and swap between us its great!
Every year, I start keeping my eyes open for Christmas presents/ideas during August and try to have most if not all my Christmas shopping done by the end of November.
I use cash, my debt card, and my credit card (which is paid off in full every month) to purchase Christmas presents. I try to buy a few Christmas presents each month starting in August that way it spreads out the spending and everything is paid before Christmas.
I already have a few things for my parents, husband and my in-laws for Christmas. My two nieces, my brother and one grandmother are completely done.
Since my nieces have tons of toys, I bought them books, activity books, playdough sets and a game; all on end-of-summer markdown and topped it off with crayons, markers, colored pencils, and paint that was on deep discount for back to school. Which is going to make for some great, inexpensive presents that they'll hope get lots of use out of.
Our plan this year is to use only cash. Last year we started putting money into an ING savings account each paycheck so that we'd be able to budget our gifts. In the past we used credit cards and christmas gifts of cash we ourselves received to pay them off. This year I'd actually like to use those cash gifts for us or to pay off more debt.
We'll be keeping an eye for huge sales and if something seems best to get it now we'll go ahead and get it. Just for ease of doing it all at once though we're likely to buy entirely during the holiday season.
I tend to shop early (starting in September)and then shop late ALSO because the prices keep dropping and dropping as we get closer to the holiday. Some prices are just too good to resist and I buy gifts just because they're a great bargain! I think this year I will go against my norm and buy late. This time I know to just wait for the bargains.
If you have money to spend, I think shopping any time is fine. I mostly track clothing and accessory prices, and within the last year or so have seen amazing prices both on and offline. Retailers are fighting each other for customers $$$. I just scored a new winter coat (which was desperately needed and have been searching for the perfect one for 3 years) that originally retailed for $418 and I paid $108...I haven't seen a price like that in years.
I don't think prices will go up much more than they normally do during the holiday season, so if I see a great sale I will buy now. However, if you are purchasing a gift, you might want to check the store's return policies. For that reason I'm holding off on most Christmas gifts for another month or so since I have some picky family members.
Another consideration is can you wait until right after the holidays to exchange gifts? I don't always exchange gifts before the holiday, so if I can I like to wait a day or two after Christmas when everything goes on sale. My typical gift to my brother is that I take him clothes shopping the weekend following Christmas. He loves it because this allows him to buy more clothes, he chooses them himself, and he gets his own personal shopper.
Last year I put it on a credit card. This year I have been saving my daycare spending account for a couple months and will withdraw that money holiday time and use that for the little one.
I think now is a great time to shop. I've been holding off on new shoes and clothes and found a ton of deals lately. That said, I'm not going to spend much outside of my needs. It'll be a simple Xmas this year.
I'm shopping now...if I see something useful and on sale. I've bought a couple things in October, will keep looking in November, and should be done by December. We are getting a Wii for our family so i've been picking up parts (controller, game) as they come on sale. We won't buy the actual console until closer to Christmas just because we want to be able to return it (within the return window) if it's defective.
My spending doesn't really change much throughout the year. I don't tend to splurge on a bunch of stuff at once just because the sales seem good. I save up for big purchases and don't buy anything unless I'm certain that I can afford it. Granted, I'll take advantage of sales and prefer to buy everything at a discount, but I won't buy anything just because it's 70% off. I also try to plan ahead for birthdays and holidays so that if I happen to see something that I would get for a gift and it happens to be on sale, then I'll buy it, even if the occasion is months away.
We're very surprised that there have been so many favorable comments about realtors. We suspect that at least some of the messages are "plants" to counter their bad press. Are you folks aware that many states have non-disclosure laws regarding information available to the public on the prices houses have sold for? We found out by trying to do research by doing our own CMA (comparative market analysis). We asked the county records department how realtors could do a cma if the house sales prices were private. We were told that they could only do them with info from their own office or if they happened to know some other agent who would share the price with them. We find it most interesting that no agent will ever tell you this. That's why so many cmas have comparables that make no sense. The agent can't get a real comparable.
So far I purchased a few Christmas presents for various family members. I matched store coupons with sales and found a few incredible deals at Macy's. Macy's has a 180 day return policy so I know the receivers of my gifts will have plenty of of time to return anything they don't like. I tend to complete my Christmas shopping by the first week of December and I imagine this year will not be an exception.
I use my credit card all year long for everything, paying it in full each month. When the holidays roll around, I can get gift cards with my "miles". My one brother gets restaurant cards, my other brother gets Home Depot, and my daughter gets movie tickets. Through out the year, I'll pick up things I see on sale to go along with the gift cards. I'm never in a store from October-January. Works for me!
This year I set a budget for gifts about a month ago and am strictly adhering. To make the budget stretch further, I have been carefully shopping the clearance racks, using gift cards I received last year for Xmas presents (if I haven't used them yet, I'm probably not going to), taken mystery shopping assignments at retail stores where I can use my reimbursement for gifts, and redeeming my SwagBucks and MyPoints to get gift cards to use to purchase gifts or give as gifts.
I am still waiting for mine to quit bubbling. I started it on Oct. 11th and it is still bubbling a little. If you look at it from an angle and look at the lights on the cieling you can see the bubbles. It has slowed down though... Still waiting
Putting my stock pot and coils together tomarrow. Still waiting... You can really smell the alcohol.
I've been looking for a home to buy for over about two plus years now and worked with two agents. ALL were horrible. The first refused to show me houses that were less than 35k over my budget. She refused to show me some neighborhoods because "there weren't any houses available there"... There was, Plenty!
The second Realtor: well I did all the work for her. I looked up the houses - she didn't know about many of them. Sometimes she even asked me to call the seller and get an appointment! really?!
I later found out that she was looking for a couple of places for herself in the same area and same price range I was looking for her. I was competing against my Realtor and actually doing a lot of the research for her.
Also like the first agent, she sometimes would not show me a place because it wasn't 'nice' enough or needed work (I specifically asked for a place that needs some work). The best excuse, though, she gave me was: that my parents would not approve of it. I'm an adult paying in full and my parents aren't even co-signing so what the ***?
Too frustrating. I gave up on Realtors. I took a break and will resume the search by myself, thank you very much.
I love the economical halloween ideas, but please don't encourage your children to dress up like homeless people for halloween (nor to call them "hobos"). People who are in extremely dire circumstances should not be fodder to halloween costumes.
Tip of the hat to the JARS system for budgeting. We started this simple, automated plan about 6 months ago and it's proven flawless for us. Since the holidays are already budgeted for...no worries about the economy...but we still shop for deals.
Our paychecks are direct deposited and on the 15th of every month and I set up the following accounts to be "paid" automatically.
Necessity Account (NEC - 55% of total imcome): This account is for managing your everyday expenses and bills and includes things like your rent, mortgage, utilities, bills, taxes, food, clothes, etc.
> Financial Freedom Account (FFA - 20% of total checks): This account is your ticket to financial freedom. The money that you put into this jar is used for investments and building your passive income streams. We never spend this money.
> Give Account (GIve- 10% of total checks): The money in this jar to give to family and friends on birthdays, special occasions and holidays
> Long Term Saving for Spending Account (LTSS - 10% of total checks): The money in this jar is for the bigger nice to have purchases....cars, vacations and the like.
> Play Account (PLAY - 5% of total checks): PLAY money is spent every month on purchases you wouldn’t normally make. Call it your mad money.
Nothing wrong with the term hobo. My sister in law was a hobo for several years, and called herself such. She was a homeless train-hopping bum, and was proud of it. She's no longer homeless...but she still doesn't bathe nearly enough.
I don't think there's ever a right time to "spend before [you] even have the money." If you don't have the money, you shouldn't be spending it.
Well, we don't have this Black Friday tradition (I guess the closest we get is Boxing Day) So really there's no good reason to wait. Like so many other things in life that take a lot of time and cost a lot of money, best to spread it out a bit. For me, the state of the economy has nothing to do with this. I'll always start in September and finish in November.
You'd be surprised at how a few Hallowe'en nick-nacks can brighten up a stocking and make people laugh, by the way, and after Nov 1 they're dirt cheap! Plus, they'll use them next Hallowe'en. Beats some of the plastic stocking crap they sell for Xmas.
Now, for my wife, that's a different story altogether. We shop for each other on Boxing day.
I buy Christmas gifts throughout the year. I have money put away for gifts and I buy when I see a good deal on what I'd like to give. Of course some things have to wait until Nov-Dec because they'll be outgrown, obsolete, etc.
As for payment, I typically use my debit card at the store or a credit card online. Both give rewards, but I prefer not to put my debit card on the web.
I can only comment on iSwish.co.nz but what a lot of people don't realise is that a lot of the clothes are new and some still with tags on - and even when they are worn they have to be lightly worn...the way I see it half the clothes you buy in high street are lightly to be have tried on and worn more than these items!!!
Personally I don't have a problem with 2ndhand anyway...guess I am used to it growing up with sisters! We have formed a local group on iswish and swap between us its great!
Every year, I start keeping my eyes open for Christmas presents/ideas during August and try to have most if not all my Christmas shopping done by the end of November.
I use cash, my debt card, and my credit card (which is paid off in full every month) to purchase Christmas presents. I try to buy a few Christmas presents each month starting in August that way it spreads out the spending and everything is paid before Christmas.
I already have a few things for my parents, husband and my in-laws for Christmas. My two nieces, my brother and one grandmother are completely done.
Since my nieces have tons of toys, I bought them books, activity books, playdough sets and a game; all on end-of-summer markdown and topped it off with crayons, markers, colored pencils, and paint that was on deep discount for back to school. Which is going to make for some great, inexpensive presents that they'll hope get lots of use out of.
Welcome officially, Sharon. It is so super cool to have you on board. You're going to have a blast.
You can also follow me on Twitter and Trek Hound.
Our plan this year is to use only cash. Last year we started putting money into an ING savings account each paycheck so that we'd be able to budget our gifts. In the past we used credit cards and christmas gifts of cash we ourselves received to pay them off. This year I'd actually like to use those cash gifts for us or to pay off more debt.
We'll be keeping an eye for huge sales and if something seems best to get it now we'll go ahead and get it. Just for ease of doing it all at once though we're likely to buy entirely during the holiday season.
I tend to shop early (starting in September)and then shop late ALSO because the prices keep dropping and dropping as we get closer to the holiday. Some prices are just too good to resist and I buy gifts just because they're a great bargain! I think this year I will go against my norm and buy late. This time I know to just wait for the bargains.
If you have money to spend, I think shopping any time is fine. I mostly track clothing and accessory prices, and within the last year or so have seen amazing prices both on and offline. Retailers are fighting each other for customers $$$. I just scored a new winter coat (which was desperately needed and have been searching for the perfect one for 3 years) that originally retailed for $418 and I paid $108...I haven't seen a price like that in years.
I don't think prices will go up much more than they normally do during the holiday season, so if I see a great sale I will buy now. However, if you are purchasing a gift, you might want to check the store's return policies. For that reason I'm holding off on most Christmas gifts for another month or so since I have some picky family members.
Another consideration is can you wait until right after the holidays to exchange gifts? I don't always exchange gifts before the holiday, so if I can I like to wait a day or two after Christmas when everything goes on sale. My typical gift to my brother is that I take him clothes shopping the weekend following Christmas. He loves it because this allows him to buy more clothes, he chooses them himself, and he gets his own personal shopper.
Last year I put it on a credit card. This year I have been saving my daycare spending account for a couple months and will withdraw that money holiday time and use that for the little one.
Given Wise Bread has such an established infrastructure, it would be wise to relocate permanently if you are properly compensated.
That goes double if you're already super busy in your personal life!
Keigu,
Financial Samurai
"Slicing Through Money's Mysteries"
Cars and luxury watches are trading at HUGE discounts now in the secondary market, b/c these are the most useless things one can spend money on.
If you want your Rolex or BMW, now is the time to shop for sure!
Keigu,
Financial Samurai
"Slicing Through Money's Mysteries"
I think now is a great time to shop. I've been holding off on new shoes and clothes and found a ton of deals lately. That said, I'm not going to spend much outside of my needs. It'll be a simple Xmas this year.
I'm shopping now...if I see something useful and on sale. I've bought a couple things in October, will keep looking in November, and should be done by December. We are getting a Wii for our family so i've been picking up parts (controller, game) as they come on sale. We won't buy the actual console until closer to Christmas just because we want to be able to return it (within the return window) if it's defective.
My spending doesn't really change much throughout the year. I don't tend to splurge on a bunch of stuff at once just because the sales seem good. I save up for big purchases and don't buy anything unless I'm certain that I can afford it. Granted, I'll take advantage of sales and prefer to buy everything at a discount, but I won't buy anything just because it's 70% off. I also try to plan ahead for birthdays and holidays so that if I happen to see something that I would get for a gift and it happens to be on sale, then I'll buy it, even if the occasion is months away.
We're very surprised that there have been so many favorable comments about realtors. We suspect that at least some of the messages are "plants" to counter their bad press. Are you folks aware that many states have non-disclosure laws regarding information available to the public on the prices houses have sold for? We found out by trying to do research by doing our own CMA (comparative market analysis). We asked the county records department how realtors could do a cma if the house sales prices were private. We were told that they could only do them with info from their own office or if they happened to know some other agent who would share the price with them. We find it most interesting that no agent will ever tell you this. That's why so many cmas have comparables that make no sense. The agent can't get a real comparable.
So far I purchased a few Christmas presents for various family members. I matched store coupons with sales and found a few incredible deals at Macy's. Macy's has a 180 day return policy so I know the receivers of my gifts will have plenty of of time to return anything they don't like. I tend to complete my Christmas shopping by the first week of December and I imagine this year will not be an exception.
I use my credit card all year long for everything, paying it in full each month. When the holidays roll around, I can get gift cards with my "miles". My one brother gets restaurant cards, my other brother gets Home Depot, and my daughter gets movie tickets. Through out the year, I'll pick up things I see on sale to go along with the gift cards. I'm never in a store from October-January. Works for me!
I used to overspend every year.
This year I set a budget for gifts about a month ago and am strictly adhering. To make the budget stretch further, I have been carefully shopping the clearance racks, using gift cards I received last year for Xmas presents (if I haven't used them yet, I'm probably not going to), taken mystery shopping assignments at retail stores where I can use my reimbursement for gifts, and redeeming my SwagBucks and MyPoints to get gift cards to use to purchase gifts or give as gifts.
I am still waiting for mine to quit bubbling. I started it on Oct. 11th and it is still bubbling a little. If you look at it from an angle and look at the lights on the cieling you can see the bubbles. It has slowed down though... Still waiting
Putting my stock pot and coils together tomarrow. Still waiting... You can really smell the alcohol.
I budget but use my CC. I redeem the CC's rewards in credit card credit, shop, and then pay off any excess balance in one month.
That way, I stay in budget and use my 'reward points' to discount my holiday buys.
Overall, I think that most people will not spend as much nor travel as much this year.
PS: If this post wins the drawing, please donate the award
to the prison book program. Thank you.
http://www.prisonbookprogram.org/
I've been looking for a home to buy for over about two plus years now and worked with two agents. ALL were horrible. The first refused to show me houses that were less than 35k over my budget. She refused to show me some neighborhoods because "there weren't any houses available there"... There was, Plenty!
The second Realtor: well I did all the work for her. I looked up the houses - she didn't know about many of them. Sometimes she even asked me to call the seller and get an appointment! really?!
I later found out that she was looking for a couple of places for herself in the same area and same price range I was looking for her. I was competing against my Realtor and actually doing a lot of the research for her.
Also like the first agent, she sometimes would not show me a place because it wasn't 'nice' enough or needed work (I specifically asked for a place that needs some work). The best excuse, though, she gave me was: that my parents would not approve of it. I'm an adult paying in full and my parents aren't even co-signing so what the ***?
Too frustrating. I gave up on Realtors. I took a break and will resume the search by myself, thank you very much.
I love the economical halloween ideas, but please don't encourage your children to dress up like homeless people for halloween (nor to call them "hobos"). People who are in extremely dire circumstances should not be fodder to halloween costumes.