We had a crack in a pipe that need to be replaced and drywall repaired. We had an emergency fund to cover the expense, but got creative and lean with our budget that month to try to replace as much as we could from what we took from the fund. We planned meals around what we already had in our pantry/freezer and minimized additional grocery purchases and eating out.
Who hasn't? In my case, I had a mild heart attack (high blood pressure), which quickly ate up our insurance deductible. It used to be the car breaking down, now it's body parts.
Last year I won two radio contests - a $1200 gift certificate for a treadmill and a trip to South Carolina. I knew I'd have to pay a good amount of taxes on them, but didn't plan for exactly how much. It was a bit of sticker shock and I tried to scale back on other items in my budget in the month I had to pay it, but I also had bridesmaid duty expenses that sprang up, so I went a little over, but was able to even out within a few months.
The key is to start saving/investing early in life and be consistent (save with every paycheck). Taking advantage of a matching 401k plan should be a no brainer. The power of compounding is lost on many people. Also maxing out contributions when possible, eliminating debt, avoiding risks with your nest egg, planning for multiple streams of income once retired (social security, pensions, dividends, part time work, etc.) and making catch up contributions once you reach 50 should all be part of everyone's plan. And work at staying healthy to reduce illness, injuries and medical costs. I recently found the site Retirement And Good Living which provides information on all these issues as well as many other retirement topics and also has several retirement and health calculators.
Allowance is more than just chores-for-money, it's a way to teach kids about money & value, lessons that will stick with them for ever. We created a similar approach which spans from infancy, (yes, infancy), to young adulthood. Often we as parents miss the full picture and therefore miss big opportunities to support our kids' evolving concepts of money, work, trade, value, etc.
Kind of messed up that Uber redced Blake Jared's payout to $500, but you have to make sure you abide by the promotion guidelines, and I believe he posted on a public forum.
As someone whose both done customer service for Amazon and been a trainer for them, there are some things I wanted to point out about this article.
1. Preemptively asking for compensation when you contact customer support is the quickest way to have your account flagged for possible abuse. Not only are customer service associated trained on what compensation to give in which situations, but the system they use is set up to issue the compensations automatically. If you call in regarding an issue and aren't given the concession you were looking for, there's most likely a reason for it. You can still ask about it, but don't expect it and don't try to force them to give something to you.
2. While Customer Service will sometimes allow you to keep an item without returning it when a replacement is issued, the '$50 and under' in this article is crazy. Most of the time that a customer is advised to keep an item, it's because shipping it back would be a danger to the customer or mail carrier (i.e.- broken glass, dripping container, etc.) If the cost of the item were to come into play, I would put the cap at $20 max, that's when the cost of shipping it back starts to negate the cost of the item.
3. The article states that 'If the item is from a third party seller, you'll have the option of either getting a full refund, or a replacement item delivered to your home in three to four business days.' Again, this isn't always correct. Some of the third party sellers on Amazon are either people selling items directly from their home or low-inventory brick and mortar stores, meaning that they may not have the additional inventory on hand to have a replacement sent out. If something is wrong with the item you receive from a third-party seller you're first action should be to contact the seller to see what options they can give you. This may include a replacement, a refund after returning the damaged goods, or a return-less refund, but each seller is different. If for some reason the seller is unwilling to give you any options or help you, you'll want to contact Amazon Customer Service next to talk to them about their A-Z claim.
4. Finally, as a general reminder, remember that whenever you call into Customer Support, you're speaking to a human being. Someone that didn't write the computer program they use or write the company's policy. The best way to get the most out of having to call any customer support line is to be friendly and treat the other person on the line like you would want to be treated.
Cleaning knives is the last thing I could imagine to use mineral oil for. It works, though. I was surprised. Thank you for sharing these tips. They were really useful. Best regards!
Well, I found a good way to get free signups, I made over $300 since last night! If anyone is interested try viewchoob. I think it's worth sharing as the more users the merrier.
Dear friend, parent should pay for their children college education, children needs to works to learn to support themselves, nothing comes easy and that will be an easy way to learn. We provide shelter, food and pay all the bills, this is how we can help.
We had a crack in a pipe that need to be replaced and drywall repaired. We had an emergency fund to cover the expense, but got creative and lean with our budget that month to try to replace as much as we could from what we took from the fund. We planned meals around what we already had in our pantry/freezer and minimized additional grocery purchases and eating out.
Who hasn't? In my case, I had a mild heart attack (high blood pressure), which quickly ate up our insurance deductible. It used to be the car breaking down, now it's body parts.
Last year I won two radio contests - a $1200 gift certificate for a treadmill and a trip to South Carolina. I knew I'd have to pay a good amount of taxes on them, but didn't plan for exactly how much. It was a bit of sticker shock and I tried to scale back on other items in my budget in the month I had to pay it, but I also had bridesmaid duty expenses that sprang up, so I went a little over, but was able to even out within a few months.
Had an unexpected tax audit which found an error in a past year, so I ended up with some unplanned expenses and penalties.
I have had no surprise expenses for me this year and I am so glad!
Thankfully so far there have been no surprise expenses. If I had any, I couldn't pay them.
No, nothing too unsurprising luckily.
Yes, I had some surprise medical expenses.
The key is to start saving/investing early in life and be consistent (save with every paycheck). Taking advantage of a matching 401k plan should be a no brainer. The power of compounding is lost on many people. Also maxing out contributions when possible, eliminating debt, avoiding risks with your nest egg, planning for multiple streams of income once retired (social security, pensions, dividends, part time work, etc.) and making catch up contributions once you reach 50 should all be part of everyone's plan. And work at staying healthy to reduce illness, injuries and medical costs. I recently found the site Retirement And Good Living which provides information on all these issues as well as many other retirement topics and also has several retirement and health calculators.
Allowance is more than just chores-for-money, it's a way to teach kids about money & value, lessons that will stick with them for ever. We created a similar approach which spans from infancy, (yes, infancy), to young adulthood. Often we as parents miss the full picture and therefore miss big opportunities to support our kids' evolving concepts of money, work, trade, value, etc.
Thanks for sharing. I'm about to start as a part-time mystery shopper and these details you shared helped in setting my expectations :)
I like shopping at Target and I buy everything there
I love amazon!
Target. When they have good deals, it's awesome. (I'm still learning not to be tempted by the just-30%-off aisle end caps, though!)
Kind of messed up that Uber redced Blake Jared's payout to $500, but you have to make sure you abide by the promotion guidelines, and I believe he posted on a public forum.
I prefer Karmin :)
As someone whose both done customer service for Amazon and been a trainer for them, there are some things I wanted to point out about this article.
1. Preemptively asking for compensation when you contact customer support is the quickest way to have your account flagged for possible abuse. Not only are customer service associated trained on what compensation to give in which situations, but the system they use is set up to issue the compensations automatically. If you call in regarding an issue and aren't given the concession you were looking for, there's most likely a reason for it. You can still ask about it, but don't expect it and don't try to force them to give something to you.
2. While Customer Service will sometimes allow you to keep an item without returning it when a replacement is issued, the '$50 and under' in this article is crazy. Most of the time that a customer is advised to keep an item, it's because shipping it back would be a danger to the customer or mail carrier (i.e.- broken glass, dripping container, etc.) If the cost of the item were to come into play, I would put the cap at $20 max, that's when the cost of shipping it back starts to negate the cost of the item.
3. The article states that 'If the item is from a third party seller, you'll have the option of either getting a full refund, or a replacement item delivered to your home in three to four business days.' Again, this isn't always correct. Some of the third party sellers on Amazon are either people selling items directly from their home or low-inventory brick and mortar stores, meaning that they may not have the additional inventory on hand to have a replacement sent out. If something is wrong with the item you receive from a third-party seller you're first action should be to contact the seller to see what options they can give you. This may include a replacement, a refund after returning the damaged goods, or a return-less refund, but each seller is different. If for some reason the seller is unwilling to give you any options or help you, you'll want to contact Amazon Customer Service next to talk to them about their A-Z claim.
4. Finally, as a general reminder, remember that whenever you call into Customer Support, you're speaking to a human being. Someone that didn't write the computer program they use or write the company's policy. The best way to get the most out of having to call any customer support line is to be friendly and treat the other person on the line like you would want to be treated.
Cleaning knives is the last thing I could imagine to use mineral oil for. It works, though. I was surprised. Thank you for sharing these tips. They were really useful. Best regards!
Well, I found a good way to get free signups, I made over $300 since last night! If anyone is interested try viewchoob. I think it's worth sharing as the more users the merrier.
Wow, I DID clean my entire house without buying any extra product after reading this. How nice!
Dear friend, parent should pay for their children college education, children needs to works to learn to support themselves, nothing comes easy and that will be an easy way to learn. We provide shelter, food and pay all the bills, this is how we can help.
I like walmart. I can get everything in one stop!
My favorite place to shop is the grocery store because I like food. My second favorite place to shop is Amazon.com because it's convenient.
I like to shop online and I use websites like e-bates to pay me for shopping!
Try Varagesale. It's free, safe, user friendly and the best site of all.