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14 Tips for Surviving the Startup Years
Treat your customers and clients like they’re your most valuable assets, because they are. Photo: PopTech
Dreams don’t always become reality, at least not on your timeline.
That’s one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned as a small business owner. Too bad it took attending the school of hard knocks and letting life, the most valuable teacher, impart this nugget of wisdom into my stubborn brain.
Questions About Insulation, Meal Tickets, Temptations, Kitchen Startup, and More!
What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Two incomes, one strategy
2. Interesting tip about department stores
3. Insulation issues in apartment
4. “Debt up to our eyeballs”
5. Sandwich press
6. Nearby temptations
7. Accounting for selling things
8. Planners, paper or otherwise
9. The “mega-backdoor” Roth
Saving Money While You Travel, Part 2
You’ll find affordable lodging at a hostel — and probably some new friends, too. Photo: Barnacles Budget Accommodations
After sifting through the matrix of flight options, it always feels like a winning a hand in Texas Hold’em when I finally find the flight I’m looking for, click purchase, and shine the smile that says, “YES, I just saved a couple hundred bucks on airfare.”
And while getting a bargain on a flight, eating a good meal at home before I leave, and finding a cost-effective way to get to and from the airport is all part of my pre-flight routine, blowing that new-found savings on other parts of the trip nets me nothing when all is said and done.
Steering Clear of Car Insurance Scams
Insurance scams can jeopardize both your finances and your safety. Here’s how to protect yourself. Photo: Ryan Weisgerber
You are probably already a victim of insurance fraud, whether you realize it or not: The average family pays between $400 and $700 a year in higher premiums just to cover the more than $40 billion cost of non-health insurance fraud, according to FBI estimates. About half of that comes from auto insurance alone. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) believes that increased consumer premiums represent only a fraction of the overall cost to businesses — which ultimately impact consumers in the form of higher costs for a range of goods and services.
Best Debt Management Companies for 2014
Debt management is one of several debt-relief options for those who are struggling to keep up with a growing pile of bills each month.
When you sign up for a debt management plan, you pay a single company every month instead of all of your creditors. The debt management company then pays off your creditors for you, usually after negotiating lower interest rates and payments.
Though it’s easy to confuse debt management plans and debt consolidation, there is a crucial difference: Debt consolidation is something you can do yourself by taking out a new loan that lets you pay off your creditors directly. In debt management, a company pays your creditors for you after working with them to make your payments more manageable.
My Ten Favorite “Healthy” and Inexpensive Foods (and a Great Recipe for Each One)
With five people living under our roof, our food budget quickly stacks up to become a major part of our family’s expenses for the month, which naturally means that we’re very interested in methods that can reduce our food spending while also putting a variety of meals on the table. At the same time, we also want “healthy” foods that ensure proper nutrition and minimize the chances of long-term negative health effects.
That’s a juggling act no matter how you slice it. Cheap? Healthy? Appealing to both a four year old and to adults? Good luck with that.
Our family’s solution to this is a simple one. We simply have a variety of meals with some old favorites on a routine basis and have a simple rule of “just trying everything on your plate.” If you don’t like it, that’s fine, but everyone has to try everything.
Best Project Management Software for 2014
Part 3 of our Small Business Tools Series tackles the best project management software. Previously we covered Best Cloud Storage Providers and Best Email Marketing Services; now we enter the realm of project management.
There are many project software providers out there these days. While it speaks to the necessity of project management, it also can be difficult to find which one is the best fit for you and your business.
Project management software is a vital tool that affords visibility to project timelines, goals, and expenses while effectively utilizing resources and allowing collaboration between all parties involved.
What I Wish I Knew Before Buying Rental Property
In early 2006, my husband and I decided to purchase our first home in my hometown of Greenfield, Indiana. After shopping around for a few months, we decided on a 1,300 square feet home with three bedrooms, an open kitchen and living room, and a fenced back yard. Since we had moved there from a one-bedroom […]
The post What I Wish I Knew Before Buying Rental Property appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Warren Buffett’s Two Lists and Your Money
A few weeks ago, there was a pretty great story going around various business and finance websites about Warren Buffett. According to the story:
One day Buffett went up to his pilot named Steve and jokingly said to him that “the fact that you’re still working for me tells me I’m not doing my job.”
“You should be out going after more of your goals and dreams,” Buffett reportedly said.
To help him with that, Buffett asked Steve to list the 25 most important things he wanted to do in his life.
Then Buffett asked that he review each goal and choose the five most crucial ones.
After considering a moment, he drew circles around five fantastic goals, confirming with Buffett that yes, indeed, they were his highest priorities.
And the rest?
18 Ways to Slash Your Utility Consumption in Half
Appliances that generate heat or cold — think dryers — tend to use the most electricity. Photo: TraciTodd
When you tear open your utility bill each month, are you annoyed with the outstanding balance listed on the statement? If so, you aren’t alone. I was having a chat with my hairstylist the other day and she expressed how disgruntled she was about having to fork over $300 or more per month on her utility bills alone. That’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard such a complaint.
According to Energy Star, the average American household spends around $2,200 annually on utility expenditures. Here’s a closer look at where the money goes:
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