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Best things to buy in June
Business is cyclical. Here are the best things to buy in June …
There are good deals to be found year round for just about anything. However, it's the nature of business that a lot of deals happen at the same time during the year.
Best things to buy in June
Here are things that you can find good deals on in June:
- Alaskan cruises. This month has the longest day of the year, everywhere in the northern hemisphere. The days get really long up near the Arctic Circle. Now that it's no longer icicle-on-your-nose cold up there, deals abound to get people up cruising the final frontier.
- Movie passes. Summer blockbusters arrive typically in … summer, which starts this month. (Shocking, I know.) Look for deals for movie theaters to get you in to buy high-priced concessions with your movie.
Emergency fund with AI: Change
Want to build an emergency fund? Don't know how much to start with? Unleash the power of artificial intelligence (AI) on your bank account …
An emergency fund is just what it sound like: a fund for emergencies. Emergencies like: a broken water heater, a failed car alternator, a busted ankle, a bazooka to fend off a rabid clown attack.
The very first step you should take towards controlling your finances, according to Dave Ramsey, is to build up a $1,000 emergency fund. (Why $1,000? Because it's enough to handle financial emergencies that cost a few hundred dollars, like a broken water heater, a failed car alternator, or a busted ankle. The bazooka for the rabid clown attack may cost a bit more, though.)
The biggest hurdle with building an emergency fund — as with anything worthwhile — is getting started.
Budget wedding tips for your special day
Weddings are one of the most special days in our lives, but it doesn't have to break the bank. Check out these budget wedding tips to save where it makes sense …
(The following is a guest post by Kostas Chiotis, a blogger and an economist. He posts regularly to his blog at FinanceBlogZone.com. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter for even more useful tips and advice.)
Budget Wedding Tip #1: Don’t call it a wedding
You don’t have to live in denial. But when you’re doing a search online, avoid wedding related terms. Don’t search any phrase with the word “wedding” in it. The reason is that a lot of companies will jack up the prices for a product or service simply because it’s for a wedding. This is your special day so they assume you’re willing to pay a “special” price to make it perfect.
Meal planning recipe: Hamburger soup
This exercise in meal planning has gotten me through a lot of lunches …
One of the most straightforward ways to reduce expenses is to pack your lunch if you're not already doing so.
The trick is taking the time to prepare the lunch. It's not difficult, but it does take some time. It takes more time if you want to go fancier than a TV dinner in a cooler.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that; one of my colleagues does that regularly and it works for him.)
Homemade meal planning for people who don't love cooking
Another one of my colleagues makes amazing food: potato crisps, spaghetti with meat sauce made from scratch, and so forth.
I'm not that kind of guy. I've gotten over my fear of cooking, but that's a far cry from gourmet chef.
Eight easy ways to invest money
There is no best way to invest, but here are a few ways to invest money with explanations …
I ran across a question on Quora asking for the best investments for beginners.
Talk about an open-ended question, right? Even if I knew the person and knew what their goals were, it would still be an open-ended question.
But … I took a stab at it anyway.
Before considering ways to invest money …
A piece of advice I've heard for a long, long time:
Only invest in things you understand.
If you don’t understand what you're going to invest in, then it's basically gambling. You might make some money — even a lot of money — but probably not.
Best things to buy in May
Business is cyclical. Here are the best things to buy in May …
There are good deals to be found year round for just about anything. However, it's the nature of business that a lot of deals happen at the same time during the year.
Best things to buy in May
Here are things that you can find good deals on in May:
- Mattresses. If I recall correctly, the last time we got a mattress was around this time of year. The place where we went was willing to make a great deal for us. We had a price in mind, and they came back with a lower price. Sold! It's not like May is National Mattress Month or something like that; it just is a good time to buy them. There also are good deals to be had on mattresses around Labor Day.
- Swimwear.
Impulse purchases: How to fend them off
Impulse purchases can break budgets. Here are some tips to arm yourself with to avoid the urge …
Unplanned purchases can derail the best of budget intentions. Retailers have brought the art of getting you to open your wallet into a science, with visually-appealing end-cap displays, buy-one-get-one offers, and small, high-markup items right at checkout.
Or the workplace: vending machines. The stuff in there is likely horrible for you but in a pinch overpriced, carb-loaded, processed snacks are right there, waiting for you to feed the machine some change or swipe your credit card.
Impulse purchases, be gone!
We're all susceptible to caving in on impulse purchases. Marketers and retailers are very, very good at what they do.
Tax day and Tax Freedom Day
Tax day and Tax Freedom Day® are two days that we'll be glad to be past …
Allow me to be the 73rd person this year to remind you that tax day is just around the corner.
I'm thankful to have more than enough income that the government wants its fair share of my earnings, and to be fair, I always make it out to be harder and more arduous than it really is. A few hours with H&R Block and I'm done.
Tax day: Sometimes you get more time to procrastinate
April 15th is the date that sticks in most people's minds as the deadline to file US Federal Income Tax.
It used to be as early as March 1st (from 1913 to 1917). Tax day fell two weeks later through 1954, and then to its current date in 1955.
Musicians: Watch your time and gas
I'm not sure whether it's even practical for musicians to do this, but we have to draw the line somewhere …
Being a musician is as rewarding as it is difficult.
If pressed to characterize the innermost core of what I was meant to do, it would be music. I'm trained as a scientist, and have developed some level of competence online as a content creator, but nothing speaks to me like music. If I had to give that up, I'd be in rough shape for a long time.
Musicians, gigs, rehearsals
Just like lawyers want to do law, and like doctors want to practice medicine, musicians want to play. And although we can play any time we want to in the privacy of our homes, we want to some extent commune with other musical souls, otherwise known as doing gigs.
Wouldn't it be nice if musicians could agree on a song list (and maybe the keys of the songs) and just show up at the gig, play for a few hours, and get paid, just like that?
Best things to buy in April
Business is cyclical. Here are the best things to buy in April …
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