Great Article! Being honest with friends is key. If you say"I'm to broke for that" they usually appreciate your candor. I also like to budget for one night out a week and put aside money for that night.
We yardsale for kids toys-- that's something that someone is always growing out of, so you can get them for cheap. We also try not to buy too many because everyone else in our family buys enough toys.
Mention toys to everyone and anyone you know who has children a bit older than your own child's age. Most of our toys were hand-me-downs from a former coworker. My son loves to play with them. They didn't cost me a thing and she was happy to clean out her basement. I also received toys from family members who needed to clean out their closets. If you are afraid to come out and ask, just ask them what toys their kids enjoyed at a certain age. If they don't have any toys to share at least you'll know which ones might be worth the purchase.
I usually get my child's toys from either the store when they're on sale. Also dollar aisles/stores are great when you child is young! Other places I often look for toys and books is garage sales or used kid's stores.
For savings on toys throughout the year, we give our kiddo an allowance so she isn't asking us to buy her stuff. We also keep an eye on Woot.com for daily deals on things that can be birthday/Christmas presents - things like art supplies or science kits. Amazon.com is our go-to site for shopping for specific items, but their prices aren't always the best. It's an easy place to start, though, and putting the items on a Wish List make it easy to check back on prices.
As an aunt (honorary or otherwise) I find the best way to save on children's toys is to buy classic toys instead of the newest trend. For instance, for the coming Christmas, I have already purchased a few wooden dinosaur puzzles for my 4 year old nephew and a rock tumbler/jewelry making kit for my 8 year old niece. I don't have to worry about knowing the newest cartoon or kids program and am able to buy these toys on sale or at discounts. However, I must point out that I ask for "Mom" to help me make sure that the gifts are still in their zone of interest.
My son is a Lego kid. It's about the only thing he ever wants to play with, besides his bike and soccer ball. The way I save money on Legos is by buying them on sale, or buying the particular pieces he "needs" on ebay. Legos are not cheap. We have also purchased some at yard sales, when we've been lucky.
Such a great point, about changing your wording "I can't afford it." I disagree, though, about that being true. If your life depended on it, you could afford it, but you really just don't want to spend your money on THAT. I love the idea of changing it to "I am trying to save money." I am going to do this! Thanks for the tip.
We rarely buy toys anytime other than birthdays or holidays, and we have a spending limit of $30 per person, so if they want something more expensive, they either have to save up their own money, get it as a gift, or we find an awesome deal on it somewhere. I've never bought a whole lot of toys for our 2 children, they would rather have books or movies or games. I can only think of a few times that we have gotten them something more expensive, but usually aunts, uncles, and grandparents helped out getting something quite large. (I did that when we bought our daughter her first "real" sewing machine. She loved it!)
Gotta get caffeine to wake up somehow. Coffee - gross. The only way it's even close to tolerable is tons of milk (calories) and sugar (calories and sugar, bad for people with dugar issues). No way. Tea - I've never felt what "caffeine" everyone claims is in it. ... Popping Excedrin every morning is probably not a good idea either. So yes, I am one of those "gross" people thats drinks a Diet Coke every morning when I wake up.
I've just fired my Agent after many long months of working together. We made lots of offers but were still unlucky, for several reasons. We stayed with him because we both liked each other but, over time, he got very complacent, became argumentative, was always busy and the last house he didn't even turn up to show us but sent me a text to say that he'd left the key out and could we lock up when we were done so I sent him a very nice email thanking him for all that he had done for us but that we had decided to take a different route. Since then, he has sent me texts and emails, the last one being a long, hugely insulting one that attacked both me and my husbands character, amongst other things. He claims he was taken in by us and I am so shocked at how unprofessional his response has been. Is this normal? How can I avoid the same thing happening with the next agent?
Without reading anyone elses comments, I am going to tell you (article writer) just how misguided you are. At the end with soda alternatives, you suggest alcohol, as in beer and wine.
So alcoholics are supposed to drink beer and wine? Yes, what a great suggestion *eye roll*. Beer and wine make people drunk, which has the potential to make them dangerous to themselves and others (provoking fights, driving, making bad decisions, etc).
Never heard of someone driving too buzzed on soda. Soda has never altered someone's mind to drive. Soda has never caused bad decisions.
Personally, I drink soda over alcohol. For people like me, who have had family members suffer with alcoholism and alcohol issues, I would rather not allow myself the opportunity to become addicted to such a harmful product.
Alcohol isnt good for diabetics, people with heart disease (aside from red wine), cholesterol issues, weight, liver problems (like duh!), and heartburn. Many of the same problems you accused soda of causing.
Yeah, Soda aint good for us. But dont sit around and think beer and wine and alcohol are any better. Get your facts straight lady. You shouldnt even be writing informative articles.
20% seems awfully high, in fact I would go so far as to say this is terrible advice. Lets assume you aren't making a ton of money and your effective tax rate is 15%, you're take home on a 40k salary would be approximately 34k/12months=2833/month. 20% of that is 566/month. I make well over 40k/year and my budget for car expenses was around that - and i still felt like it was a HUGE commitment. To say nothing of the fact that the other rules of thumb for debt is that your mortgage shouldn't be more than 28% of your gross income - 28% of your gross income at an effective rate of 15% = 23.8% of your net take home. So you should be spending nearly as much on your car as your house? Another "rule of thumb" is that your total debt shouldn't exceed 36% of your total gross - so if your car is eating up around half of that...seems like a fairly unwise choice. I mean if you can afford it sure - but I think something closer to 10% is more realistic.
Great article. Although, I'm not sure you would need anything beyond Netflix, Hulu and the HDMI cable to connect computer to TV. I think the greatest benefit of not having cable is that you have to be more creative with your downtime. It's shocking how much time we waste sitting in front of a TV. It's become the great filler when you don't have work to do or you have people over and there are lulls in conversation. As many have said, the only thing you really miss out on is sports.
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I save on toys by getting them at the dollar store!
Great Article! Being honest with friends is key. If you say"I'm to broke for that" they usually appreciate your candor. I also like to budget for one night out a week and put aside money for that night.
Thanks for outlining the basic steps and making a 4 step plan. It takes away the anxiety that comes from the uncertainty. Great post!
I buy things on clearance, at yard sales, and on ebay. I also make my own felt ornament every year for my little niece.
We yardsale for kids toys-- that's something that someone is always growing out of, so you can get them for cheap. We also try not to buy too many because everyone else in our family buys enough toys.
Mention toys to everyone and anyone you know who has children a bit older than your own child's age. Most of our toys were hand-me-downs from a former coworker. My son loves to play with them. They didn't cost me a thing and she was happy to clean out her basement. I also received toys from family members who needed to clean out their closets. If you are afraid to come out and ask, just ask them what toys their kids enjoyed at a certain age. If they don't have any toys to share at least you'll know which ones might be worth the purchase.
I usually get my child's toys from either the store when they're on sale. Also dollar aisles/stores are great when you child is young! Other places I often look for toys and books is garage sales or used kid's stores.
For savings on toys throughout the year, we give our kiddo an allowance so she isn't asking us to buy her stuff. We also keep an eye on Woot.com for daily deals on things that can be birthday/Christmas presents - things like art supplies or science kits. Amazon.com is our go-to site for shopping for specific items, but their prices aren't always the best. It's an easy place to start, though, and putting the items on a Wish List make it easy to check back on prices.
We save by not buying them. They get enough from grandmas and grandpas and craigslist that we almost never get them toys.
As an aunt (honorary or otherwise) I find the best way to save on children's toys is to buy classic toys instead of the newest trend. For instance, for the coming Christmas, I have already purchased a few wooden dinosaur puzzles for my 4 year old nephew and a rock tumbler/jewelry making kit for my 8 year old niece. I don't have to worry about knowing the newest cartoon or kids program and am able to buy these toys on sale or at discounts. However, I must point out that I ask for "Mom" to help me make sure that the gifts are still in their zone of interest.
I search out deals, buy slightly used toys, and make my own!
I like WB on FB.
My son is a Lego kid. It's about the only thing he ever wants to play with, besides his bike and soccer ball. The way I save money on Legos is by buying them on sale, or buying the particular pieces he "needs" on ebay. Legos are not cheap. We have also purchased some at yard sales, when we've been lucky.
Such a great point, about changing your wording "I can't afford it." I disagree, though, about that being true. If your life depended on it, you could afford it, but you really just don't want to spend your money on THAT. I love the idea of changing it to "I am trying to save money." I am going to do this! Thanks for the tip.
We rarely buy toys anytime other than birthdays or holidays, and we have a spending limit of $30 per person, so if they want something more expensive, they either have to save up their own money, get it as a gift, or we find an awesome deal on it somewhere. I've never bought a whole lot of toys for our 2 children, they would rather have books or movies or games. I can only think of a few times that we have gotten them something more expensive, but usually aunts, uncles, and grandparents helped out getting something quite large. (I did that when we bought our daughter her first "real" sewing machine. She loved it!)
We buy very few.
My wife and I like to search craigslist and shop the second hand store in our town for our son.
We buy toys at garage sales, and I also like to make toys for my grandkids.
Years ago I went to my gyno for a mild yeast infection. He told me to wipe w/witch hazel, and viola, it was gone in 2 days.
Gotta get caffeine to wake up somehow. Coffee - gross. The only way it's even close to tolerable is tons of milk (calories) and sugar (calories and sugar, bad for people with dugar issues). No way. Tea - I've never felt what "caffeine" everyone claims is in it. ... Popping Excedrin every morning is probably not a good idea either. So yes, I am one of those "gross" people thats drinks a Diet Coke every morning when I wake up.
I've just fired my Agent after many long months of working together. We made lots of offers but were still unlucky, for several reasons. We stayed with him because we both liked each other but, over time, he got very complacent, became argumentative, was always busy and the last house he didn't even turn up to show us but sent me a text to say that he'd left the key out and could we lock up when we were done so I sent him a very nice email thanking him for all that he had done for us but that we had decided to take a different route. Since then, he has sent me texts and emails, the last one being a long, hugely insulting one that attacked both me and my husbands character, amongst other things. He claims he was taken in by us and I am so shocked at how unprofessional his response has been. Is this normal? How can I avoid the same thing happening with the next agent?
Without reading anyone elses comments, I am going to tell you (article writer) just how misguided you are. At the end with soda alternatives, you suggest alcohol, as in beer and wine.
So alcoholics are supposed to drink beer and wine? Yes, what a great suggestion *eye roll*. Beer and wine make people drunk, which has the potential to make them dangerous to themselves and others (provoking fights, driving, making bad decisions, etc).
Never heard of someone driving too buzzed on soda. Soda has never altered someone's mind to drive. Soda has never caused bad decisions.
Personally, I drink soda over alcohol. For people like me, who have had family members suffer with alcoholism and alcohol issues, I would rather not allow myself the opportunity to become addicted to such a harmful product.
Alcohol isnt good for diabetics, people with heart disease (aside from red wine), cholesterol issues, weight, liver problems (like duh!), and heartburn. Many of the same problems you accused soda of causing.
Yeah, Soda aint good for us. But dont sit around and think beer and wine and alcohol are any better. Get your facts straight lady. You shouldnt even be writing informative articles.
20% seems awfully high, in fact I would go so far as to say this is terrible advice. Lets assume you aren't making a ton of money and your effective tax rate is 15%, you're take home on a 40k salary would be approximately 34k/12months=2833/month. 20% of that is 566/month. I make well over 40k/year and my budget for car expenses was around that - and i still felt like it was a HUGE commitment. To say nothing of the fact that the other rules of thumb for debt is that your mortgage shouldn't be more than 28% of your gross income - 28% of your gross income at an effective rate of 15% = 23.8% of your net take home. So you should be spending nearly as much on your car as your house? Another "rule of thumb" is that your total debt shouldn't exceed 36% of your total gross - so if your car is eating up around half of that...seems like a fairly unwise choice. I mean if you can afford it sure - but I think something closer to 10% is more realistic.
Great article. Although, I'm not sure you would need anything beyond Netflix, Hulu and the HDMI cable to connect computer to TV. I think the greatest benefit of not having cable is that you have to be more creative with your downtime. It's shocking how much time we waste sitting in front of a TV. It's become the great filler when you don't have work to do or you have people over and there are lulls in conversation. As many have said, the only thing you really miss out on is sports.