Money Tips Network
Planning a fun, frugal Halloween
Tis’ time for the spookiest holiday of the year and a record number of Americans are planning to participate in the scare festival. According to the National Retail Federation, more than two-thirds (67.4 percent) of celebrants will buy Halloween costumes for the holiday, the most in the survey’s 11-year history. The average person will spend $77.52 this Halloween and the total spending on Halloween this year will reach $7.4 billion. That is a lot of money. Here are some tips on how to stretch the budget for everyone so there’s more fun for everyone on All Hallows’ Eve.
Costumes
With ticket prices taking off, here’s how to save on your holiday and winter air travel
Feel like you’re paying ungodly amounts of dough for each plane ride you take lately? You’re not imagining (or exaggerating) the state of air travel. The price of the average round-trip airfare, with taxes, rose to $509 in the first six months of 2014, according to recent data from the Airlines Reporting Corporation. The cost [...]
With ticket prices taking off, here’s how to save on your holiday and winter air travel from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.
This blog was posted by Julie D. Andrews
Reader Stories: Can you really get rich quickly from fix and flipping homes?
Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks with all levels of financial maturity and income. Want to submit your own reader story?
Mark Ferguson has been a Realtor since 2001 after graduating from the University of Colorado with a business finance degree. He runs a real estate team of 10 that sells over 200 homes a year, fix and flips 10 to 15 homes a year and owns 11 rental properties. Mark also runs www.investfourmore.com, a blog that discusses Mark’s fix and flips, rental properties, becoming a real estate agent and everything real estate related.
Inspiration from Gillian Welch, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, and More
Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life.
1. Colin Grant on being the son of a difficult father
From the description: Colin Grant has spent a lifetime navigating the emotional landscape between his father’s world and his own. Born in England to Jamaican parents, Grant draws on stories of shared experience within his immigrant community — and reflects on how he found forgiveness for a father who rejected him.
For starters, I love hearing the stories of people with lives that have been much different than my own. While I can hear a few echoes of similarity in Colin’s story, most of it is on completely different ground than what I’m familiar with and I find that fascinating. It’s a window into another world of human experience.
Master These 15 Interview Questions
First impressions are everything, and making a good one during a job interview can very well snag you the job of your dreams. Interviews can be nerve-racking, especially if it's for a job you really want.
Best Money Tips: Ways to Reduce Your Clothing Budget
Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup!
10 Smart Ways to Make Yourself Hate Spending Money
Money has a nasty habit of inexplicably disappearing.
Stay-at-home spouse: Good bargain for whom?
In lots of cases, especially in high-cost-of-living areas, having a family with both parents working is a necessity.
But along with the extra income come extra stress, financial and otherwise. On the financial side, there is child care, and a host of other services that get done what needs getting done. On the non-financial side, it’s just more hectic: more fitting in errands, more eating out or fast food, more running around.
My wife of twelve years has been stay-at-home for the entire time we’ve been married. A couple of nights ago she forwarded this article and asked me what I thought about it. I encourage you to check it out. The premise that I took away was not only should stay-at-home spouses not feel guilty for being stay-at-home, they should recognize that their staying at home is a gift for the working spouse.
Never Use Cash for These 11 Things
Some people only make their purchases in cash in order to avoid accumulating debt. Others swear by credit cards in order to earn rewards. But most people use a mix of cash and card. So which purchases should you never use cash for? (See also: Top 6 Reasons Cash-Only Rocks)
1.
How One Inspiring Saver Found True Love, Shook Off Debt Denial, and Paid Off $123,000
American debt is on the rise, up 3.8% from last year. We're carrying higher mortgage balances, more credit card debt, and significantly higher student loan burdens (which are up an astonishing 11.5% from last year).
For students in particular, it's easy to overspend.
17 Little Ways to Feel More Confident
Confidence is a funny thing.
If you have it, you can do just about anything, and oddly enough, you're much more likely to do it well. But without it, even the smallest tasks can seem overwhelming, and if your confidence level is really low, you might feel tempted to quit before you even try.
10 Big Expenses You Can Easily Get Rid Of
If you're like me, your budget follows the 80/20 rule -- 80% or your income goes to 20% of your spending categories. To knock out the expense of any of these big ticket bills would have an immediately therapeutic effect on your cash flow.
5 Ways to Keep Email From Taking Over Your Life
This post comes from Cathie Ericson at our partner site LearnVest.
Do you feel like you spend half your day processing emails instead of actually working?
You aren’t alone.
Marsha Egan, C.E.O. of InboxDetox.com and author of “Inbox Detox and the Habit of Email Excellence,” says that a full inbox is “an immediate source of stress—it reminds you of everything you’re not going to get done.” According to Egan, the average worker receives 100 to 200 emails per day. Even if you only spend a minute addressing each one, that’s two to three hours on email alone!
Special Announcement From The Simple Dollar Team
Dear Readers of The Simple Dollar,
I’m writing to you today to inform you of some improved changes that you’ll see coming to the site very soon. I ask that you please take a few minutes to read this to ensure that you get the most value from our site in the future.
Here’s a brief overview of what I’ll be covering:
- New contributors and content
- New website features
- RSS feed changes
New Contributors And More Content
As many of you know, The Simple Dollar was started by Trent Hamm. Since 2006, Trent has shared his story, advice, and other wisdom with you. As the founder and main contributor, Trent continues to be a big part of The Simple Dollar today by writing 6 posts each week. Trent will also continue answering your questions every week in the Reader Mailbag.
Best Money Tips: How to Be Invincible
Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup!
Best Deals for Thursday 10/02
Link for teaser title:
http://www.wisebread.com/bestdeals/today
Men's Suits at Macy's from $90, Top Chef 7-Piece BBQ and Carving Set for $50, Red Heart Pomp-A-Doodle Yarn 3-Pack...
10 Homemade Child Products That Are Cheaper and Better Than Store Bought
Whether it's to save money, avoid harsh chemicals, or simply for the joy of creating, there are tons of good reasons to make your own baby and child products.
20 Easy Ways to Stretch Your Grocery Dollars
A job loss, a big audacious savings goal, or a shiny new set of braces. Whatever the cause, most of us have had to sit down and figure out how to feed our families for less money at one point or another.
Fifteen Things I Skimp On
A couple of days ago, I posted a list of fifteen items I don’t skimp on. That list mostly consisted of extremely heavy use items and maintenance of my health and my most expensive purchases (homes and automobiles).
So, what do I skimp on? In truth, I skimp on a lot of things… but they’re mostly things that don’t seem to affect my quality of life when I spend less on them. This article lists fifteen of those things.
A few caveats:
This list doesn’t include stuff that I just don’t buy. I don’t spend my money on most junk food options. I don’t buy a lot of hobby supplies, either, outside of the occasional board game or book. This list focuses on things that I do buy regularly, but where I seek out the lowest possible price.
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