This is easily one of my favorite blog titles of all time. It immediately made me chuckle. Although I'm not a parent, I can definitely understand how this could be a huge problem, especially these days when it seems like new shoes, games and gadgets are release pretty much every day.
I like the idea of teaching kids the value of a dollar. That's what helped me become a lot smarter with my money. The new Yeezy shoes don't seem like such a "must have" when you have to buy them yourself.
I'm blessed to prefer cool to hot, and thanks to the magic of programmable thermostats, keep the house about 65 except for right before I get up in the morning to about 45 minutes after I get up, or if I have people over. I have cozy blankets for beds and living room chairs, and I wear layers and sweats. We make sure weather stripping and caulking are in good order, to keep out drafts, and we love to bake and roast veggies, so we have extra heat of the oven to cozy things up pretty regularly.
Interesting article. Our biggest problem is that my daughter, through no fault of her own, IS the rich kid and her friends and their parents are constantly arranging expensive outings that we have no desire to do. However, they think that because we are in the biggest house, we shouldn't have any problem with a 14 year old spending $20-40 every weekend on socializing. I'm constantly trying to get my daughter to convince her friends to just hang out. I truly feel like the other parents are feeling like they need to keep up with me and I wish they would just cut it out! I give my daughter $10 every two weeks and that's supposed to be all she has to spend on socializing. But just last night I had to fork over $80 because ALL of her friends were going to a haunted amusement park and then having a sleepover. We've avoided some things in the past and just showed up for the sleepover, but this time we were pressured into spending $38 admission, $15 for the haunted house AND money for dinner there. Ugh! It's not always the rich kids!schoo
We use the programmable thermostat and try to keep it pretty cool in the house - I actually prefer it to be chilly and wear socks and a sweatshirt and sit with a blanket on the couch.
We keep our thermostats set low - in the low to mid 60's. We wear layers & keep blankets scattered around the house for anyone sitting around a while. But one easy way to stay warm is to keep moving regularly! I will get up and do 10 minutes of easy cardio, yoga or stretching to get and stay warm for awhile.
I turn the thermostat down a few degrees while I'm gone during the day, turn it back up when I get home. I usually set the temp at 68 at night before I go to bed and use lots of blankets.
I love that I can sell my hair. I considered Locks Of Love, but found out they take your hair you donate for a most worthy cause, they pay you nothing, they don't thank you and the worst part, they charge the poor families, as if they haven't been through enough, for the wig that was free hair to them. Not cool Locks Of Love!
Buy selling my hair, I make money which I use however I want, in this case I can donate to Childrens Cancer research at St. Jude's. Wisebread takes my hair and sells it for me. I see my plan as a Win, Win, we all win situation!
If you're using any kind of government regulated retirement account, you're screwing yourself. Example:
Fund management fee: 1% annually
Company matching: 100% up to 4% of salary
Salary: $50,000
Contribution: $50,000*.04=$2,000
Total Contribution: $4,000
401k value: $200,000
Age:50
With a 401(k) value of $200,000, you're paying an annual fee of $2,000 per year. Assuming you're retiring at 67, that means you'll have spent $34,000 in fees - assuming it never goes up in value. (For your sake, I hope it does - but that also means an increase in fees.) That's not including the years spent getting to $200,000.
You're contributing up to the maximum contribution amount, which is standard advice. You're putting in $2,000, as is your company. However, since your fees are $2,000, the company matching portion is being swallowed up. That means 50% of your ENTIRE contribution isn't going to your retirement, but to your fund managers. Suddenly that 1% is a big number. 401(k) sounds great from the onset, but once you delve into the financial aspects of it, it's a ripoff that bleeds money. If you ask yourself, how do I save for retirement without a 401(k), there are a surprisingly good number of ways to do so, but people are so accustomed to following the "experts" right off a cliff. Wake up!
I tend to be cold when no one else is and I wear a bathrobe 2 sizes bigger than I normally wear over my clothing.
Our home is well insulated and sealed.
We run ceiling fans on low pushing the heat down.
We use our programmable thermostat that we lock so our kids can't play with it.
I self clean the oven on the coldest days of the year. This saves some $$ on our oil heat and I wait to self clean it thoroughly on these days.
We close our drapes and window coverings as much as possible during cold snaps and always at night.
Years ago when we rented we would put folded rags under the bottom of our windows before shutting them and plastic over some of the windows if we needed to. The townhouse we rented wasn't that old at the time but boy was it drafty!
I think owning your own home sooner and cheaper than the average house is a huge bonus.
I have been wondering on how people would go about financing a tiny home as it's not always on a solid foundation. Do banks classify it as a RV loan? what else is involved in the process?
You have addressed many of my concerns in your well written article and now i have a better understanding of the process.
Thank you.
Please Mr Greenspan presided over on of the greatest financial debacles that ever happened to country the practical collapse of large firms on Wall Street the resultant loss of trillions of dollars in this country.Wgat I would like to know is how he sleeps at night
Amazing
Marie Hatton
We still haven't turned on our heat, even though it drops into the 50s every night. We wear sweaters/hoodies around the house. We have blankets on the sofa. We have a heated mattress pad on our bed and we wear socks and caps to bed. We try to use the oven more for cooking in cold seasons.
We have a digital thermostat and set it at 68 degrees F from 6am to 9am, and 4pm to 9pm, and down to 60 degrees F for all the other times. We also use an electric blanket at night, a little heater in the bathroom when we are in there and blankets, thick socks and sweaters when needed.
This is easily one of my favorite blog titles of all time. It immediately made me chuckle. Although I'm not a parent, I can definitely understand how this could be a huge problem, especially these days when it seems like new shoes, games and gadgets are release pretty much every day.
I like the idea of teaching kids the value of a dollar. That's what helped me become a lot smarter with my money. The new Yeezy shoes don't seem like such a "must have" when you have to buy them yourself.
I'm blessed to prefer cool to hot, and thanks to the magic of programmable thermostats, keep the house about 65 except for right before I get up in the morning to about 45 minutes after I get up, or if I have people over. I have cozy blankets for beds and living room chairs, and I wear layers and sweats. We make sure weather stripping and caulking are in good order, to keep out drafts, and we love to bake and roast veggies, so we have extra heat of the oven to cozy things up pretty regularly.
I have terrible spider veins on my legs and are extremely conscious of them. Does which hazel work in ridding or reducing them?
Interesting article. Our biggest problem is that my daughter, through no fault of her own, IS the rich kid and her friends and their parents are constantly arranging expensive outings that we have no desire to do. However, they think that because we are in the biggest house, we shouldn't have any problem with a 14 year old spending $20-40 every weekend on socializing. I'm constantly trying to get my daughter to convince her friends to just hang out. I truly feel like the other parents are feeling like they need to keep up with me and I wish they would just cut it out! I give my daughter $10 every two weeks and that's supposed to be all she has to spend on socializing. But just last night I had to fork over $80 because ALL of her friends were going to a haunted amusement park and then having a sleepover. We've avoided some things in the past and just showed up for the sleepover, but this time we were pressured into spending $38 admission, $15 for the haunted house AND money for dinner there. Ugh! It's not always the rich kids!schoo
We use the programmable thermostat and try to keep it pretty cool in the house - I actually prefer it to be chilly and wear socks and a sweatshirt and sit with a blanket on the couch.
I use small heaters and sealant on the doors and plastic sealant coverings for the windows
We keep our thermostats set low - in the low to mid 60's. We wear layers & keep blankets scattered around the house for anyone sitting around a while. But one easy way to stay warm is to keep moving regularly! I will get up and do 10 minutes of easy cardio, yoga or stretching to get and stay warm for awhile.
I turn the thermostat down a few degrees while I'm gone during the day, turn it back up when I get home. I usually set the temp at 68 at night before I go to bed and use lots of blankets.
I believe exercising should be free for the most part, after all, what's the point of paying for going through a terrible hassle?
I love that I can sell my hair. I considered Locks Of Love, but found out they take your hair you donate for a most worthy cause, they pay you nothing, they don't thank you and the worst part, they charge the poor families, as if they haven't been through enough, for the wig that was free hair to them. Not cool Locks Of Love!
Buy selling my hair, I make money which I use however I want, in this case I can donate to Childrens Cancer research at St. Jude's. Wisebread takes my hair and sells it for me. I see my plan as a Win, Win, we all win situation!
If you're using any kind of government regulated retirement account, you're screwing yourself. Example:
Fund management fee: 1% annually
Company matching: 100% up to 4% of salary
Salary: $50,000
Contribution: $50,000*.04=$2,000
Total Contribution: $4,000
401k value: $200,000
Age:50
With a 401(k) value of $200,000, you're paying an annual fee of $2,000 per year. Assuming you're retiring at 67, that means you'll have spent $34,000 in fees - assuming it never goes up in value. (For your sake, I hope it does - but that also means an increase in fees.) That's not including the years spent getting to $200,000.
You're contributing up to the maximum contribution amount, which is standard advice. You're putting in $2,000, as is your company. However, since your fees are $2,000, the company matching portion is being swallowed up. That means 50% of your ENTIRE contribution isn't going to your retirement, but to your fund managers. Suddenly that 1% is a big number. 401(k) sounds great from the onset, but once you delve into the financial aspects of it, it's a ripoff that bleeds money. If you ask yourself, how do I save for retirement without a 401(k), there are a surprisingly good number of ways to do so, but people are so accustomed to following the "experts" right off a cliff. Wake up!
We have a wood fireplace and we chop the wood ourselves!
Thank you for featuring us in #8! Great list!
Use wood for most of our heat.
Let's do this
If you payed invoice they dealer still gets 12%-18%
I tend to be cold when no one else is and I wear a bathrobe 2 sizes bigger than I normally wear over my clothing.
Our home is well insulated and sealed.
We run ceiling fans on low pushing the heat down.
We use our programmable thermostat that we lock so our kids can't play with it.
I self clean the oven on the coldest days of the year. This saves some $$ on our oil heat and I wait to self clean it thoroughly on these days.
We close our drapes and window coverings as much as possible during cold snaps and always at night.
Years ago when we rented we would put folded rags under the bottom of our windows before shutting them and plastic over some of the windows if we needed to. The townhouse we rented wasn't that old at the time but boy was it drafty!
I have thermal curtains on my windows, and I dress warm inside the house. Put on an extra sweatshirt!
We use a portable heater when we shower otherwise we just wear jackets in the house.
I think owning your own home sooner and cheaper than the average house is a huge bonus.
I have been wondering on how people would go about financing a tiny home as it's not always on a solid foundation. Do banks classify it as a RV loan? what else is involved in the process?
You have addressed many of my concerns in your well written article and now i have a better understanding of the process.
Thank you.
Please Mr Greenspan presided over on of the greatest financial debacles that ever happened to country the practical collapse of large firms on Wall Street the resultant loss of trillions of dollars in this country.Wgat I would like to know is how he sleeps at night
Amazing
Marie Hatton
We still haven't turned on our heat, even though it drops into the 50s every night. We wear sweaters/hoodies around the house. We have blankets on the sofa. We have a heated mattress pad on our bed and we wear socks and caps to bed. We try to use the oven more for cooking in cold seasons.
Layers, blankets, warm beverages, and covering drafty old windows with plastic and blankets.
We have a digital thermostat and set it at 68 degrees F from 6am to 9am, and 4pm to 9pm, and down to 60 degrees F for all the other times. We also use an electric blanket at night, a little heater in the bathroom when we are in there and blankets, thick socks and sweaters when needed.
I wear cozy layers/socks and keep the thermostat at 64. I live in Wisconsin so dealing with the cold is a necessity!