Can I add one? Shopping multiple stores to do get the best deals while grocery shopping. I used to do this every week--spend hours planning the grocery list, making up a menu based on these items and then it took ALL day to go from store to store. I've found that it's much better for our family to shop at whichever store has the best deals that week, and plan a menu based on their loss-leaders. I may miss a great deal one week, but I save the time and the gas, and chances are it'll be on sale again soon.
I totally understand where you're coming from, but some people do want to have a semi-extravagant celebration but cut costs where they can. This article is to inform those people on how to do it. Thanks very much for the comment. I appreciate it!
If you are close to retirement (or have some specific 7-year goals), a 7-year mortgage may make sense to pay off a small mortgage, perhaps one that you have refinanced or that you have a lot of equity in b/c of a recent sale of another house. You could get a 30-year mortgage and pay aggressively in 7 years rather than 15; basically, you are aligning your mortgage pay-off with other life and financial goals.
That is a great point. I expected to see some really frugal suggestions here, but saw a lot of tips about spending "not quite as much" money.
For our part, we bought our invitations at a garage sale, spent $300 on a used dress, and kept our guest list small. I think we spent a total of $3,000 on the whole thing - and it was beautiful, not cheap looking. It can be done if you are willing to sacrifice a bit. The most important thing to us was not starting our marriage off $21,000 in debt!
Thank you #1! To me, my time is the most valuable thing that I have. I wish more people would start treating it as such. It is crazy to see people line up to get a free doughnut/coffee/knicknack. Does the product have more value because it is free? No. You wouldn't wait in line for it if it wasn't so why do it just because it is free?
I guess I'll ask what I thought was the obvious question: Why not just get a 15-year mortgage and pay double payments? You are essentially making a 15-year mortgage a 7.5-mortgage by doing that. Plus, if disaster strikes, you can pay your regular payment and not risk losing the house.
I have 5 laundry racks in my basement situated near a vent and about 10 steps from my washer and dryer. 3 are collapsable folding racks and 2 are hanging racks. I can fit 3-4 loads of laundry on those racks, which works great for my family. I only use the dryer for underwear, socks and linens.
I avoid stinks, bad weather and bird poops, don't have to haul heavy baskets of wet clothes around, don't have to worry about the neighbors (one is a convicted rapist, one is a convicted murderer) eyeing my undies and if I leave it overnight, oh well. Pretty much everything, including jeans, dry in 1 day so it's a win-win for me.
Great article! I find that often times doing the math, like you show in your article, helps see what is the wiser decision. The thing that comes to my mind is when at Costco, they pitch their Executive Membership for an additional $55/year. They try to incent with getting a 2% reward at the end of the year. Getting cash back is great, but you need to spend almost $300/month to breakeven. If you spend less you'll still get some money back, but less than the extra $55 you plunked down. If your goal is to get more than you put in then it might tempt you to spend more than you normally would.
Buy-one-get-one for half price when i really only needed or wanted the first item.
Before I take advantage of that deal now, I make sure I have plan (interested friend or gift) for the second item.
Cheap clothes ended up costing me a lot more than I realized.
When I was a young adult I worked at a major second-hand store and regularly blew my paycheque on cheap clothing, made even cheaper by my employee discount. Every month I would spend hundreds of dollars and come home loaded down with huge bags of clothing.
I'd be surprised if I found even one article of clothing purchased back then in my closet 5 years later. Because the price was so low, I ended up buying many low-quality, trendy items instead of things that would last. The low prices also made it more likely that I would donate things once they lost their appeal, so the cost-per-wear was actually really high.
I spend more on clothing now, but before I buy something I consider how versatile it is (I rarely buy anything I couldn't wear to work) and ask myself if it is special enough for me to want to keep it for years. As a result, I am no longer in the cycle of buying things only to donate them within a year.
Good article! I have found that running your dishwasher if it's hooked to hot water drains a lot of cash. My dishwasher has it's own heating element and was hooked to hot water. We ran through propane insanely fast. We were paying for propane to heat the hot water AND electric to heat the water MORE. I did a test for 1 month and hand washed my dishes and our propane lasted us almost 2 weeks longer than usual. 2 WEEKS! Hubby asked about it, and the propane dealer said that they recommend the dishwasher be hooked to hot water for extra "hotness" to disinfect the dishes. I asked hubby how the dishes were disinfected for people who do not have a dishwasher...he rolled his eyes. The answer to that would be using detergent and drying completely. When there is extra concern, like an illness, add white vinegar or use a bleach solution. Most dishwasher detergents themselves have disinfecting ingredients added.
Yes! Number 9...One of my roommates in college would always buy in bulk, lecture us on our ignorance for not following suit, refuse to share any of his surplus with us and finally throw everything away when it spoiled. Amazingly, he never seemed to learn anything from this--the whole process was on repeat for a full year.
A potential advantage between the 401()k) and IRA topic is that by rolling over our 401(k) into an IRA, we may acquire advantage of a few additionaly beneficiary options that are non existent with the 401(k).
I found your website because I was looking for the banana peel trick to remove splinters and low and behold came across the toothpaste post too. Just so happens that today I was given 2 silver rings for free and both were quite tarnished. I've never had anything silver in my life and was dreading having to clean them. I tried "plain" paste on it although I didn't have any non-colored stuff so I used what I had (light blue). Worked like a charm. My 10 yr old daughter who is sitting with a banana peel taped to her big toe right now wants me to tell you that you are a genius. =)
I was hoping for more when I clicked on this. Not bad, just very fluffy, and didn't really say much of substance. At least it is pointing in the right direction.
Great article. I use credit cards for all my purchases too. Much easier to track where my money is going and why. Credit card rewards don't hurt either.
My name is Jamie. I am 30 yrs old and disabled, I have Cerebral Palsy and Cito-Sizures. The Drs say I can't work but I am board to my wits end at home doing nothing. And having no money is just for the birds. I would like to start my own bussines doing Avon,making jewlry,crafts and anthing else that I could do. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?
Oh, How do I start up a blog to get people to know about myself?
My mom always used old torn socks (the heels always seem to wear off) for storing limes and lemons. She would snip off the sock from the heel, removing the tear along the cut and that's it. I do this too. I have one sock for limes and one for lemons. This makes them stand easily in the front corner of the veggie drawer and I can pull one out at a time whenever I am cooking..
Can I add one? Shopping multiple stores to do get the best deals while grocery shopping. I used to do this every week--spend hours planning the grocery list, making up a menu based on these items and then it took ALL day to go from store to store. I've found that it's much better for our family to shop at whichever store has the best deals that week, and plan a menu based on their loss-leaders. I may miss a great deal one week, but I save the time and the gas, and chances are it'll be on sale again soon.
I totally understand where you're coming from, but some people do want to have a semi-extravagant celebration but cut costs where they can. This article is to inform those people on how to do it. Thanks very much for the comment. I appreciate it!
If you are close to retirement (or have some specific 7-year goals), a 7-year mortgage may make sense to pay off a small mortgage, perhaps one that you have refinanced or that you have a lot of equity in b/c of a recent sale of another house. You could get a 30-year mortgage and pay aggressively in 7 years rather than 15; basically, you are aligning your mortgage pay-off with other life and financial goals.
That is a great point. I expected to see some really frugal suggestions here, but saw a lot of tips about spending "not quite as much" money.
For our part, we bought our invitations at a garage sale, spent $300 on a used dress, and kept our guest list small. I think we spent a total of $3,000 on the whole thing - and it was beautiful, not cheap looking. It can be done if you are willing to sacrifice a bit. The most important thing to us was not starting our marriage off $21,000 in debt!
Thank you #1! To me, my time is the most valuable thing that I have. I wish more people would start treating it as such. It is crazy to see people line up to get a free doughnut/coffee/knicknack. Does the product have more value because it is free? No. You wouldn't wait in line for it if it wasn't so why do it just because it is free?
I guess I'll ask what I thought was the obvious question: Why not just get a 15-year mortgage and pay double payments? You are essentially making a 15-year mortgage a 7.5-mortgage by doing that. Plus, if disaster strikes, you can pay your regular payment and not risk losing the house.
I have 5 laundry racks in my basement situated near a vent and about 10 steps from my washer and dryer. 3 are collapsable folding racks and 2 are hanging racks. I can fit 3-4 loads of laundry on those racks, which works great for my family. I only use the dryer for underwear, socks and linens.
I avoid stinks, bad weather and bird poops, don't have to haul heavy baskets of wet clothes around, don't have to worry about the neighbors (one is a convicted rapist, one is a convicted murderer) eyeing my undies and if I leave it overnight, oh well. Pretty much everything, including jeans, dry in 1 day so it's a win-win for me.
You are welcome!
Great article! I find that often times doing the math, like you show in your article, helps see what is the wiser decision. The thing that comes to my mind is when at Costco, they pitch their Executive Membership for an additional $55/year. They try to incent with getting a 2% reward at the end of the year. Getting cash back is great, but you need to spend almost $300/month to breakeven. If you spend less you'll still get some money back, but less than the extra $55 you plunked down. If your goal is to get more than you put in then it might tempt you to spend more than you normally would.
Thanks for these tips! They were helpful...I am definitely guilty of #7!
Buy-one-get-one for half price when i really only needed or wanted the first item.
Before I take advantage of that deal now, I make sure I have plan (interested friend or gift) for the second item.
short term: finish reading david bach book.
long term: buy house with fiance and save enough money to send future kids to school.
Cheap clothes ended up costing me a lot more than I realized.
When I was a young adult I worked at a major second-hand store and regularly blew my paycheque on cheap clothing, made even cheaper by my employee discount. Every month I would spend hundreds of dollars and come home loaded down with huge bags of clothing.
I'd be surprised if I found even one article of clothing purchased back then in my closet 5 years later. Because the price was so low, I ended up buying many low-quality, trendy items instead of things that would last. The low prices also made it more likely that I would donate things once they lost their appeal, so the cost-per-wear was actually really high.
I spend more on clothing now, but before I buy something I consider how versatile it is (I rarely buy anything I couldn't wear to work) and ask myself if it is special enough for me to want to keep it for years. As a result, I am no longer in the cycle of buying things only to donate them within a year.
Good article! I have found that running your dishwasher if it's hooked to hot water drains a lot of cash. My dishwasher has it's own heating element and was hooked to hot water. We ran through propane insanely fast. We were paying for propane to heat the hot water AND electric to heat the water MORE. I did a test for 1 month and hand washed my dishes and our propane lasted us almost 2 weeks longer than usual. 2 WEEKS! Hubby asked about it, and the propane dealer said that they recommend the dishwasher be hooked to hot water for extra "hotness" to disinfect the dishes. I asked hubby how the dishes were disinfected for people who do not have a dishwasher...he rolled his eyes. The answer to that would be using detergent and drying completely. When there is extra concern, like an illness, add white vinegar or use a bleach solution. Most dishwasher detergents themselves have disinfecting ingredients added.
Yes! Number 9...One of my roommates in college would always buy in bulk, lecture us on our ignorance for not following suit, refuse to share any of his surplus with us and finally throw everything away when it spoiled. Amazingly, he never seemed to learn anything from this--the whole process was on repeat for a full year.
Yes, and the Google Docs Templates are very useful!
Nice idea of saving money.
A potential advantage between the 401()k) and IRA topic is that by rolling over our 401(k) into an IRA, we may acquire advantage of a few additionaly beneficiary options that are non existent with the 401(k).
I found your website because I was looking for the banana peel trick to remove splinters and low and behold came across the toothpaste post too. Just so happens that today I was given 2 silver rings for free and both were quite tarnished. I've never had anything silver in my life and was dreading having to clean them. I tried "plain" paste on it although I didn't have any non-colored stuff so I used what I had (light blue). Worked like a charm. My 10 yr old daughter who is sitting with a banana peel taped to her big toe right now wants me to tell you that you are a genius. =)
A M A Z I N G
would have never thought of doing this !!!!
I was hoping for more when I clicked on this. Not bad, just very fluffy, and didn't really say much of substance. At least it is pointing in the right direction.
Great article. I use credit cards for all my purchases too. Much easier to track where my money is going and why. Credit card rewards don't hurt either.
My name is Jamie. I am 30 yrs old and disabled, I have Cerebral Palsy and Cito-Sizures. The Drs say I can't work but I am board to my wits end at home doing nothing. And having no money is just for the birds. I would like to start my own bussines doing Avon,making jewlry,crafts and anthing else that I could do. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?
Oh, How do I start up a blog to get people to know about myself?
Thanks Jamie
Stop referring to this innovative idea as a lightbulb! It is not. Skylight, yes. Light generating device, NO!
My mom always used old torn socks (the heels always seem to wear off) for storing limes and lemons. She would snip off the sock from the heel, removing the tear along the cut and that's it. I do this too. I have one sock for limes and one for lemons. This makes them stand easily in the front corner of the veggie drawer and I can pull one out at a time whenever I am cooking..