Category: Frugality

Learn about a variety of ways to save money

Credit, Family & Relationships, Food, Home, More, Personal Finance

How 10 Productive Minutes Can Change Your World

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Sometimes you need to just stop your work and take a deep breath. Like when you have a problem that’s pretty serious. It could be a job problem or it could be a family problem. It could be a money problem or a health problem, or any combination of these that are causing you to just stress out and feel like nothing is going right. That’s why taking a deep breath and taking even just a few minutes out can really help boost your productivity. How about taking ten minutes?

Ten minutes isn't much time, but by spending them wisely, you can leverage them into a more productive day. Try some of these ideas to jumpstart your life.

Ten minutes isn’t really a very long time. It’s less time than it takes to play a quarter in a pro football game. You can listen to 2½ songs on the radio in 10 minutes. It’s even less time than it takes you to read your daily e-mails. In other words, it’s just a few minutes, but oh how great it is to have such an opportunity to increase your productivity, save money, build relationships, and move forward in that brief time period. And most importantly, feel better!

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Cars, Food, Home

Money Saving Tips to Combat Inflation in 2021

I keep seeing it more and more every day. The inflation factor is out there and I am amazed that not many seem to be talking about it as being a problem. It may not be across the board, but food inflation and energy inflation will be making a dent in your finances if they haven’t already.

Food inflation and energy inflation are rising in 2021. Here are money saving tips to combat inflation and get the most from your money.

Food seems to be at the top of my inflation list but it’s more than that. It’s a huge chunk of your annual budget. The average U.S. household spends $7,800 a year on food!

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Health, Retirement

An Overview of Medicare 2021

For today’s guest post on Medicare, please welcome Danielle Kunkle Roberts from Boomer Benefits.

As you are looking at the future and trying to plan, there may be a few fundamental necessities you know you need to budget for. Health insurance is most likely one of them. Every situation is different, whether you are retired and starting Medicare at age 65 or working and will start Medicare after. Previous income can affect your Medicare premiums, and the supplemental coverage you may choose can determine what you will spend on health coverage in a year.

Medicare costs and coverage can be confusing depending on the options you choose. Here's an overview of those costs and your options.

Medicare Costs

For most Medicare beneficiaries, Part A has a $0 monthly premium. However, if you have not worked at least 40 quarters in the United States, you will have to buy Part A. If you fall between 30-39 quarters, your premium will be $259 per month, and if you are lower than 30 quarters, it will be $471. Each time you are admitted into the hospital as an inpatient, there will be a $1,484 deductible per benefit period. Additional costs and coinsurance can occur while you are in the hospital.

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Food

The Pros and Cons When You Order Steaks Online

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Note: In the spirit of the holidays, I am going to be recharging my batteries and taking some time off to celebrate and reflect. I will return with my next post on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, so I hope to see you all then and thanks for being a loyal reader! Happy holidays and a healthy new year!

Remember the old days when you would accompany your mother to the butcher shop to buy fresh cuts of meat for the family’s dinner? Every town, it seems, had a local butcher who knew everything there was to know about beef, pork, chicken, veal, and any other meaty delight he had for sale. He’d sell you the best steaks, the juiciest pork chops, and the ideal chicken for frying. He was the expert!

When you order steaks online, there are pros and cons to consider. Here's my advice and how to make the process convenient and tasty.

My, how things have changed! Today, most people purchase their meat at the supermarket from vast cases full of pre-packaged choices. Occasionally, the butcher will appear if you request a special cut or some other service that requires his attention. Otherwise, there’s rarely a connection between the two. And even less connected is the option to order steaks online.

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Cars, Insurance

What You Need to Know to Save on Car Insurance

I’m going to make my point here right at the beginning without my usual fun and games today. So straight up, here it is: There are certain things that almost everyone is forced to deal with that will cost you money and car insurance is one of the big ones. Today I’m going to talk about how to save on car insurance so you can keep more money in your wallet while still protecting yourself.

Car insurance is critical to have, but can cost a fortune. Here's how to save on car insurance while still keeping yourself protected.

During this terrible pandemic, driving has changed for many of us. Instead of driving to work in your car every day and thus risking more miles and more accidents, you are most likely not doing that. Even if you are working, you are probably doing more work from home and only venturing out driving when absolutely necessary. If you can, you’re getting things like food and prescriptions delivered to your door to avoid time behind the wheel. That is actually saving you some money.

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Home

12 Ways to Rent an Apartment for Less Money

Although I am a homeowner and have been for the past 40 years, I can still remember the days when I was a renter. While renting wasn’t so terrible, I do wish I had learned some of the things about renting that I know now that would have saved me time, money, and peace of mind. Hopefully, you can use this knowledge to save when you rent an apartment.

It's possible to get a discount when you rent an apartment, you just need to know how. Check out these 12 tips to help you save money.

Rental prices aren’t set in stone, even in highly competitive markets, so elbow grease and negotiation skills can yield hefty savings. One of the priciest cities in the country, San Francisco, today has an average price of a one-bedroom apartment of nearly $4,000 (!), so knowing a few tricks can definitely help.

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Home

Winterizing Your Home: Prepare Now and Save

We all hear the news about climate change as well as the weird and sometimes disastrous weather patterns that seem to happen almost every day in some part of the world. It used to be cold in the winter and hot in the summer. That’s not always the case anymore and the temperatures here in New Jersey sometimes seem like they’re 60-something degrees almost all year round. I may be exaggerating, slightly, but the weather has changed. When I hear some weather guy reporting that the temperatures in September were the warmest ever recorded for the month, and that they’ve broken the record now seven out of the last seven years, we have to admit that global warming is having an effect, don’t we? But sometime that effect is bad winter storms, and you need to prepare by winterizing your home.

The seasons are changing and winterizing your home should be on your to do list. This checklist will help you prepare your home and help save you money.

That’s one reason I finally opened my wallet a few years ago and got the ball rolling on getting a new front door along with a storm door! I was finally ready (after freezing my rear end off for several years) to pull the cord and fix it. It has paid off in keeping us warmer and saving on our heating bill, enough to make me feel really foolish that I didn’t do it sooner.

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Health

What You Need to Know About Healthcare Open Enrollment Crunch Time

It’s that “happy” time again right now, healthcare open enrollment time. It’s a subject we don’t like to think about. If you are very, very lucky, you can avoid serious health problems now and maybe for years to come and not need health insurance. But seriously, back here on planet earth…that’s just not a good idea to go without it. Depending on how you obtain your healthcare, the enrollment period is now and officially ends in early December, so there’s no time to lose.

Healthcare open enrollment is here for most of us and it's time to select our coverage for 2021. Make sure you know what you need to select the best plan.

Healthcare coverage is critical to your finances as well as your health. Even if you are healthy now, an accident or sudden health issue could put both your well-being and your finances in jeopardy. That’s why right now is healthcare crunch time!

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