If I am worried I will make an impulse purchase, I will do 2 things:
(A) Pay with cash
(B) Leave my credit or debit cards in the car
This is similar to the cooling off period. For instance, by making it very inconvenient to find an ATM or walk all the way back to the car, I deter myself from making a bad decision.
Thanks, Miranda, for this post. This is one of the most common questions I get from those coming to my classes. I'll agree on the student version of the credit cards, as far as ease of getting approved, though getting and using credit in college tends to be, for the not-so-financially-disciplined-quite-yet average student, a losing proposition (something like $3,000 to $5,000 of credit card debt upon graduation, with a significant percentage having their cards maxed out plus late payments on their reports).
I'll add a few other credit-building ideas, many of which I've gleaned from the students in these presentations:
1. If you have a utility or cell phone contract in your name and have a history of on-time payments, contact the company and ask them to report your payments to the credit bureaus. They don't do this automatically but usually can upon request. It is not weighted as heavily as a history of credit card payments, but it can still help.
2. Ask a family member (particularly a parent) with good credit if they'd put you on their credit card as an "authorized user." As an authorized user, you are not responsible for the payment of the account but can inherit some of the account owner's good credit... even if you never use or even see the card issued to your name.
3. One of the easiest places to get credit can be a tire store, although their interest rates are usually in the low- to upper-20% range. However, if you're going to purchase tires for your car anyway, consider getting an account with the tire company, then either paying it all off with the first statement or paying all but $20 or $30 off so you can make another two or three monthly payments. Either way, you're minimizing the interest you're paying on this account.
4. Retail cards are relatively easy to get approved for. These include accounts at stores such as Target, Dillard’s, JC Penney, etc. Again, they carry higher interest rates typically than major bank credit cards, but that's because they're taking more of a risk by lending to someone with little or no credit. As with the tire store card, I suggest you pay off the account almost immediately (at JC Penney, you can even pay off the new account at the same register where you opened it). And never buy something just to build credit.
5. Using credit builder loans or secured loans can also help the credit newbie or the credit-challenged, but they definitely come with additional fees (monthly, annual, even per transaction) and higher interest rates. Plus, some secured credit cards don't even report to the credit bureaus.
Here are my DON'Ts for building credit that I've seen others suggest:
*Do NOT go to a payday or title loan. They don't generally report to the credit bureaus, and, worse, they charge astronomical fees (annualized at 400% to 800%+ for payday loans and about 100% for title loans).
*Do NOT use Rent-to-own as an option. They generally don't report to credit bureaus either, but even if they do, you end up paying usually 100% to 500% or more for a piece of furniture or an entertainment system component than you would if you purchased it new at a department store.
*Do NOT carry a balance on a credit card because someone (who often should know better) suggests that you need monthly payments to build credit. Yes, monthly payments help, but the size of those monthly purchases can just as easily be for a $15 Netflix account payment that you pay off in full every month.
*Do NOT apply for more than 1 or 2 new accounts in a 12 month period. Each account application typically shaves about 1% off your credit score. 1% to 2% usually won't matter, but 10% or 20% in a year will drop your score significantly.
All the best, Miranda, in your continued blogging and publications. And the same to anyone trying to build credit from scratch (or rebuild it... this typically works as well).
Todd
Author of "Everyday Money for Everyday People"
Nice article. Yeah, all these are great ways of avoiding running money out of retirement. The best thing to do before retirement is find a good financial advisor that can stay with you the rest of your life and continually invest your money to increase your principal balance while still paying you income every month.
Our furnace runs on propane, which is not the cheapest heating method, but natural gas is unavailable in our rural mountain area. We keep our programmable thermostat at 66 when we're home and it's set to 62 degrees and night and when we are at work during the day. 66 is not all that warm for my skinny body, so I wear warm clothing including sweatshirts, flannels, wool socks, and slippers. We also pre-buy our propane for the winter when propane is still cheap (during the late summer). Instead of having to buy propane at $2.80 a gallon in the dead of winter, we pre-bought the propane at $1.49 a gallon months prior. This takes some saving up throughout the year to buy $1,000 or so in propane all at once instead of monthly heating costs.
Our house conveniently came with a pellet stove. Pellet stoves burn wood pellets which are safe, cheap, and clean burning. On the coldest days, we burn a $3.69 40lb bag of wood pellets in 24 hours. On less bitterly cold days, you can turn on the pellet stove say on a weekend morning and turn it off by noon, keeping the house above 66 until night time. This way the house is WARMER than 66 degrees, the furnace doesn't kick on, and we save money on propane.
During the late fall, we seal our older windows with the rope putty and plastic. The rope putty fills in drafty cracks and the plastic creates an insulating air gap between the plastic and your window, keeping the rooms significantly warmer.
I don't mind sleeping with temperatures low, because I LOVE layering on the blankets and comforters. However, my husband does not like sleeping with a lot of blankets and he tends to like the bedroom a little warmer. This winter we purchased an infrared space heater. It is energy-efficient and you can program the temperature to your liking. We shut the bedroom door and our room stays at 65 degrees while the rest of the house is at 62.
Wow, Americans are quite ignorant. First of all, good for Netspend. Second of all, you can't activate a Netspend >prepaid debit card< in someone else's name because they us the bloody identity verification system which prevents using a different name than the one on your SSN card. It's only advertising, it's what you Americans voted for in 1776; a republic and capitalism lol.
I really appreciate your effort. Although most of the topics you discussed to be smarter, we already know about that, but very few of us follow, this happens only just because, we don't have enough time to spare on it.
Portion control helps me maintain a healthy weight. When I was training myself to do this I reduce portion sizes so gradually reduced I didn't even notice.
Little bits of 'keeping moving" exercise that isn't working out also seem to be enough to kick my body out of hibernation mode. For example, I'll a brisk walk to the further-away bathroom at work or jogging in place while waiting for the microwave.
Travel with out getting sick- motion sick, that is,- by taking ginger capsules before a car ride or plane flight. YOu can get them at Whole Foods or a drugstore.
We have a couple doors that we get huge drafts coming in, so I put blankets in front of them on the floor! We also put the plastic on a few windows where we get alot of cold coming in! But....as for the heat in the house, with little ones...I do keep it warm and have to pay the price. :( But I do whatever I can to keep the drafts out! I like to save laundry too for the colder days and the dryer helps too!
First and foremost, a programmable thermostat! Having it go down slightly at night and up during the day helps. We have lots of warm blankets and warm clothing since we live in a northern climate (it might get up to 20F today!) We also use homemade rice bags to warm our feet since 2 minutes in the microwave keeps them warm for quite a while. We use electric blankets on our beds to warm them up, then turn them off before sleep. Most of all, lots of movement during the day. My hubby says if I'm cold, just vacuum and then I'll be warm. After I run after him to give him my best "Hmmmph!", I'm usually warm. LOL
great article, I can relate to the "don't shop with the wrong people" advice. I have a friend who will buy anything she sets her eyes on. For a moment I go "wow, wish I could do that" and then I snap out of it and realize that even if I had the money that is a stupid thing to do.
I agree with a lot of valid points that this article brought up; mainly because I saw a recent episode of Extreme Couponing and to be honest I was disgusted. I can sympathize a bit if you're like the Duggars (19 & Counting) but this type of behavior is extremely unfair to others. Businesses suffer by losing profit on name brand items, and as others have pointed out other consumers can't get one product on sale because a couponer has to clear the shelves of it. It's greed, pure and simple. More importantly, I think it's in poor taste to put these people on T.V. as if their pointless hoarding is a positive thing that should be rewarded. Kudos! You have no children, yet have 42 cases of formula in your basement! My wife regularly looks for the deals as well, but I tell her the same; that just because something is on sale, that doesn't mean we need to buy it.
LOCKS OF LOVE IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO DONATE!
Check them out on a charity watchlist website.
Whether or not they give away wigs isn't the point.
The point is that they SELL the hair that's donated to cover their administrative costs, instead of fundraising separately for those the way most charities do.
Also, the amount of money they spend on their "administrative" costs is much too high compared to how much they actually give away.
Check it out on Charity Navigator or Charity Watch and choose a different organization like Pantene.
This is ridiculous. We were up to our eye balls in student loans so we had affordable $4k DIY wedding we paid for ourselves. We asked for contributions in lieu of gifts so we could afford a honeymoon. In fact, getting married helped us work together to pay off debt. Tackling the financial issues at hand, whether married or not, is one of the most important things you can do to help a relationship. Ignoring them and not getting married is not the answer.
Thank you for this I dance for a few hours every night, and nearly every night I get stomach aches, which puts me in agony. I don't want any pills for it, as putting that stuff in you every day can build up and be harmful. Thank you for putting this info up I am going to now performing in the nutcracker tomorrow (and for the next weekend . then the next after that) and dress rehearsal tonight, I am going to pack some ginger in my bag in case. Thank you!
We have tried twice to but a used Treadclimber from craigslist in two different states. Both have been scams and even months apart the return email stories were similar. Both claimed to have moved, one out of the country. Neither would talk to us on the phone. Both wanted to use eBay protected buyer program instead of cash and asked for a bunch of personal info to get us 'registered'. Then asked us to wait until eBay contacted us. Thankfully this was acted flag and We never gave our info. Both times the machines were not located where they were posted, both needed shipping, both sellers sent way too much detailed personal information about why they were selling. Both wanted to make sure we had money ready to go. I have bought and sold many times on Craigslist and legit sellers want to talk on phone- they want cash and they are willing to do a quick non-complicated interaction. They never ask if you have money ready to go. Isn't hat a given if we respond to an add?
If I am worried I will make an impulse purchase, I will do 2 things:
(A) Pay with cash
(B) Leave my credit or debit cards in the car
This is similar to the cooling off period. For instance, by making it very inconvenient to find an ATM or walk all the way back to the car, I deter myself from making a bad decision.
Thanks, Miranda, for this post. This is one of the most common questions I get from those coming to my classes. I'll agree on the student version of the credit cards, as far as ease of getting approved, though getting and using credit in college tends to be, for the not-so-financially-disciplined-quite-yet average student, a losing proposition (something like $3,000 to $5,000 of credit card debt upon graduation, with a significant percentage having their cards maxed out plus late payments on their reports).
I'll add a few other credit-building ideas, many of which I've gleaned from the students in these presentations:
1. If you have a utility or cell phone contract in your name and have a history of on-time payments, contact the company and ask them to report your payments to the credit bureaus. They don't do this automatically but usually can upon request. It is not weighted as heavily as a history of credit card payments, but it can still help.
2. Ask a family member (particularly a parent) with good credit if they'd put you on their credit card as an "authorized user." As an authorized user, you are not responsible for the payment of the account but can inherit some of the account owner's good credit... even if you never use or even see the card issued to your name.
3. One of the easiest places to get credit can be a tire store, although their interest rates are usually in the low- to upper-20% range. However, if you're going to purchase tires for your car anyway, consider getting an account with the tire company, then either paying it all off with the first statement or paying all but $20 or $30 off so you can make another two or three monthly payments. Either way, you're minimizing the interest you're paying on this account.
4. Retail cards are relatively easy to get approved for. These include accounts at stores such as Target, Dillard’s, JC Penney, etc. Again, they carry higher interest rates typically than major bank credit cards, but that's because they're taking more of a risk by lending to someone with little or no credit. As with the tire store card, I suggest you pay off the account almost immediately (at JC Penney, you can even pay off the new account at the same register where you opened it). And never buy something just to build credit.
5. Using credit builder loans or secured loans can also help the credit newbie or the credit-challenged, but they definitely come with additional fees (monthly, annual, even per transaction) and higher interest rates. Plus, some secured credit cards don't even report to the credit bureaus.
Here are my DON'Ts for building credit that I've seen others suggest:
*Do NOT go to a payday or title loan. They don't generally report to the credit bureaus, and, worse, they charge astronomical fees (annualized at 400% to 800%+ for payday loans and about 100% for title loans).
*Do NOT use Rent-to-own as an option. They generally don't report to credit bureaus either, but even if they do, you end up paying usually 100% to 500% or more for a piece of furniture or an entertainment system component than you would if you purchased it new at a department store.
*Do NOT carry a balance on a credit card because someone (who often should know better) suggests that you need monthly payments to build credit. Yes, monthly payments help, but the size of those monthly purchases can just as easily be for a $15 Netflix account payment that you pay off in full every month.
*Do NOT apply for more than 1 or 2 new accounts in a 12 month period. Each account application typically shaves about 1% off your credit score. 1% to 2% usually won't matter, but 10% or 20% in a year will drop your score significantly.
All the best, Miranda, in your continued blogging and publications. And the same to anyone trying to build credit from scratch (or rebuild it... this typically works as well).
Todd
Author of "Everyday Money for Everyday People"
Nice article. Yeah, all these are great ways of avoiding running money out of retirement. The best thing to do before retirement is find a good financial advisor that can stay with you the rest of your life and continually invest your money to increase your principal balance while still paying you income every month.
Awesome! Definitely need some help with my back...
Our furnace runs on propane, which is not the cheapest heating method, but natural gas is unavailable in our rural mountain area. We keep our programmable thermostat at 66 when we're home and it's set to 62 degrees and night and when we are at work during the day. 66 is not all that warm for my skinny body, so I wear warm clothing including sweatshirts, flannels, wool socks, and slippers. We also pre-buy our propane for the winter when propane is still cheap (during the late summer). Instead of having to buy propane at $2.80 a gallon in the dead of winter, we pre-bought the propane at $1.49 a gallon months prior. This takes some saving up throughout the year to buy $1,000 or so in propane all at once instead of monthly heating costs.
Our house conveniently came with a pellet stove. Pellet stoves burn wood pellets which are safe, cheap, and clean burning. On the coldest days, we burn a $3.69 40lb bag of wood pellets in 24 hours. On less bitterly cold days, you can turn on the pellet stove say on a weekend morning and turn it off by noon, keeping the house above 66 until night time. This way the house is WARMER than 66 degrees, the furnace doesn't kick on, and we save money on propane.
During the late fall, we seal our older windows with the rope putty and plastic. The rope putty fills in drafty cracks and the plastic creates an insulating air gap between the plastic and your window, keeping the rooms significantly warmer.
I don't mind sleeping with temperatures low, because I LOVE layering on the blankets and comforters. However, my husband does not like sleeping with a lot of blankets and he tends to like the bedroom a little warmer. This winter we purchased an infrared space heater. It is energy-efficient and you can program the temperature to your liking. We shut the bedroom door and our room stays at 65 degrees while the rest of the house is at 62.
A heating blanket keeps me cozy!
Awesome tips!! I have been worried all year about my freelance work since it isn't taxed upfront. Here's to hoping this tax season isn't a nightmare!!
Wow, Americans are quite ignorant. First of all, good for Netspend. Second of all, you can't activate a Netspend >prepaid debit card< in someone else's name because they us the bloody identity verification system which prevents using a different name than the one on your SSN card. It's only advertising, it's what you Americans voted for in 1776; a republic and capitalism lol.
I really appreciate your effort. Although most of the topics you discussed to be smarter, we already know about that, but very few of us follow, this happens only just because, we don't have enough time to spare on it.
The vinegar at Costco is amazingly cheap!
Portion control helps me maintain a healthy weight. When I was training myself to do this I reduce portion sizes so gradually reduced I didn't even notice.
Little bits of 'keeping moving" exercise that isn't working out also seem to be enough to kick my body out of hibernation mode. For example, I'll a brisk walk to the further-away bathroom at work or jogging in place while waiting for the microwave.
Hat.
Space heater.
Intermittent exercise -- 10 jumping jacks will keep me work for 20 minutes! :)
Travel with out getting sick- motion sick, that is,- by taking ginger capsules before a car ride or plane flight. YOu can get them at Whole Foods or a drugstore.
Cheers to that!
We have a couple doors that we get huge drafts coming in, so I put blankets in front of them on the floor! We also put the plastic on a few windows where we get alot of cold coming in! But....as for the heat in the house, with little ones...I do keep it warm and have to pay the price. :( But I do whatever I can to keep the drafts out! I like to save laundry too for the colder days and the dryer helps too!
Double layering and ALWAYS wear a hat!
First and foremost, a programmable thermostat! Having it go down slightly at night and up during the day helps. We have lots of warm blankets and warm clothing since we live in a northern climate (it might get up to 20F today!) We also use homemade rice bags to warm our feet since 2 minutes in the microwave keeps them warm for quite a while. We use electric blankets on our beds to warm them up, then turn them off before sleep. Most of all, lots of movement during the day. My hubby says if I'm cold, just vacuum and then I'll be warm. After I run after him to give him my best "Hmmmph!", I'm usually warm. LOL
great article, I can relate to the "don't shop with the wrong people" advice. I have a friend who will buy anything she sets her eyes on. For a moment I go "wow, wish I could do that" and then I snap out of it and realize that even if I had the money that is a stupid thing to do.
I agree with a lot of valid points that this article brought up; mainly because I saw a recent episode of Extreme Couponing and to be honest I was disgusted. I can sympathize a bit if you're like the Duggars (19 & Counting) but this type of behavior is extremely unfair to others. Businesses suffer by losing profit on name brand items, and as others have pointed out other consumers can't get one product on sale because a couponer has to clear the shelves of it. It's greed, pure and simple. More importantly, I think it's in poor taste to put these people on T.V. as if their pointless hoarding is a positive thing that should be rewarded. Kudos! You have no children, yet have 42 cases of formula in your basement! My wife regularly looks for the deals as well, but I tell her the same; that just because something is on sale, that doesn't mean we need to buy it.
LOCKS OF LOVE IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO DONATE!
Check them out on a charity watchlist website.
Whether or not they give away wigs isn't the point.
The point is that they SELL the hair that's donated to cover their administrative costs, instead of fundraising separately for those the way most charities do.
Also, the amount of money they spend on their "administrative" costs is much too high compared to how much they actually give away.
Check it out on Charity Navigator or Charity Watch and choose a different organization like Pantene.
This is ridiculous. We were up to our eye balls in student loans so we had affordable $4k DIY wedding we paid for ourselves. We asked for contributions in lieu of gifts so we could afford a honeymoon. In fact, getting married helped us work together to pay off debt. Tackling the financial issues at hand, whether married or not, is one of the most important things you can do to help a relationship. Ignoring them and not getting married is not the answer.
Thank you for this I dance for a few hours every night, and nearly every night I get stomach aches, which puts me in agony. I don't want any pills for it, as putting that stuff in you every day can build up and be harmful. Thank you for putting this info up I am going to now performing in the nutcracker tomorrow (and for the next weekend . then the next after that) and dress rehearsal tonight, I am going to pack some ginger in my bag in case. Thank you!
I really like the Terra Fossil Malbec. Affordable. Cool label. Great wine and great taste!
Good article and great news for me,now i can drink two glasses of wine without feeling guilt!Thanks
We have tried twice to but a used Treadclimber from craigslist in two different states. Both have been scams and even months apart the return email stories were similar. Both claimed to have moved, one out of the country. Neither would talk to us on the phone. Both wanted to use eBay protected buyer program instead of cash and asked for a bunch of personal info to get us 'registered'. Then asked us to wait until eBay contacted us. Thankfully this was acted flag and We never gave our info. Both times the machines were not located where they were posted, both needed shipping, both sellers sent way too much detailed personal information about why they were selling. Both wanted to make sure we had money ready to go. I have bought and sold many times on Craigslist and legit sellers want to talk on phone- they want cash and they are willing to do a quick non-complicated interaction. They never ask if you have money ready to go. Isn't hat a given if we respond to an add?