Shopping

Saving Money With a Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday

It’s not too early to get ready for back-to-school time across the USA. The majority of schools across the country are planning on reopening for full-time, in-person instruction in the fall. Yes, some will also offer remote learning options for families who wish to keep students home, but for a huge number, returning to a regular classroom is a big part of restoring life to normal once again.

Teacher with student at laptop bought during back-to-school sales tax holiday

That return means shopping around to get the clothing and supplies that your children will need for the upcoming school year. It’s always a big expense to get kids ready, especially if you have more than one. So knowing what, when, and where to shop for what you need is definitely necessary and that actually begins right now! Especially if you can take advantage of a back-to-school sales tax holiday.

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Budgeting

How to Make a Budget That Works for You

It occurred to me the other day how often I write about budgeting, the importance and trials and tribulations of it all. There’s no doubt that everyone knows about budgeting, but the real questions are whether or not they actually make and maintain one and does it really work for them? In fact, budgets sometimes are strictly “fantasies” and that, my friends. is the rub in all of it. If you just pretend to have a budget, then you don’t have one at all and every cent that passes through your finances is a crap shoot. So today I’d like to talk about how to make a budget that works for you.

Woman rearranging piggy banks as she figures out how to make a budget that works for you

When you are doing that “big gamble” with your finances and ignoring a budget, you’re putting everything at risk. I’m just going to say it out loud here: it’s not very smart and you will eventually regret your actions. So today I am going to tell you how I think your budget should be made to actually try to make it work!

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Frugality, Saving & Investing

17 Ways on How to Save $10,000 in a Year

Earning a salary is just one way to get money and if it’s the only way you get it, you probably don’t have enough of it. Why do I say that? Because finding new ways to get money—including alternate streams of income—are essential now and even more so when you retire and stop getting a weekly paycheck. That’s why you need to think outside the box now, figure out how to increase your financial cache, learn how to save $10,000 in a year, and save as much as you can for your future self.

Puzzle to put together a $100 bill on your way to figuring out how to save $10,000 in a year

You start with the money you earn at your everyday job and build from there. It won’t be easy, but when you get serious about it, it will fall into place in a short period of time. When should you start? Yesterday! But since you can’t start then, start now with these 17 ways to save. You can save $10,000 by saving extra money or simply not spending extra money this year! Here’s how…

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Frugality, Home

How to Save Money on Laundry: Washing and Drying Your Clothes

I often say about things I write about that “I learned it from my mother”. Well, truer words were never spoken when it comes to the subject of washing my clothes. It may sound like a nothing burger, but really, washing your clothes is so basic and important that if you don’t do it with care and thought, it will wind up causing you real money pain and even embarrassment. (I’ll get to my most embarrassing washing moment in just a bit!) But it’s actually pretty easy to save money on laundry.

Family washing clothes to save money on laundry

Laundry is something that we have to do at the very least on a weekly basis. Since it’s one of those chores that needs to be done week in and week out, making just a few changes in your habits now on how you wash clothes can end up saving you a ton of money over the course of the year.

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Debt, Personal Finance, Saving & Investing

Debt Versus Investing: A Simple Solution!

For today’s guest post on debt versus investing, please welcome Jeff from Have Your Dollars Make Sense.

So I have often thought about and read about the idea of which is better when it comes to debt versus investing. Pay down debt or invest. This comes up a lot in forums, blog posts, etc. It seems to be a perpetual question and I get it. Who wants to be sitting in debt!? Being a slave to the man! That’s a big no for me. Debt flat out sucks and it can definitely limit all future choices… but on the other hand, we all want to build our net worth. We all want to build wealth. We don’t want to funnel all our cash into debt when it could potentially be earning more in capital gains in the market or elsewhere. So what to do… what to do?

Money gradually growing into more, as it does when paying down debt or investing

Debt Versus Investing

Max out all 401(k)s if there is a company match available

First off, max out all 401(k)s if there is a company match available. Free money is free money, right? Consider maxing out IRA accounts too due to the tax savings (if you make less than $117,000 as a single filer or less than $184,000 if married) and the beauty of the backdoor IRA otherwise. Okay, now that we have that out of the way, what about debt versus after-tax investments accounts?

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More, Personal Finance

How Panflation Can Hurt Your Finances

Every once in a while, I stumble upon a word describing something that is stuck in my head. You may not have heard of it, but I swear it’s a real thing and this time you not only are going to hear me say it, you are going to be living it! The word is “panflation”!

Hands holding money losing value which is what happens during pandemic inflation, or panflation

What is it? Panflation was a term first coined in 2012 by The Economist, an international weekly newspaper printed in London, England, and originally it referred to the inflation of everything. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Shopping

Can You Negotiate Your Way to a Shopping Bargain?

I spent most of my adult life working in and around the retail world. Over the years, I have seen many changes such as the consolidation of many of the department store names of the 1970’s through the 2000’s, and all of the technology that helps to control inventory, track sales, and speed services. The changes are numerous and have benefited both the retailer and us, the consumers.

Man opening wallet to pay after negotiate prices

But one thing hasn’t ever changed in all my years in the business: the desire that all shoppers have to get a great deal on whatever they buy! When we go into a store, we are all bargain hunters and that is our goal. One big way to get that bargain is to try to negotiate prices and deals. But can you really do that in 2021?

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Personal Finance

The Top 10 Steps to Financial Empowerment

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Being financially empowered is a goal that we all aspire to. Unfortunately, for just too many it never happens the way we want it to go. In fact, just about everyone suffers some form of financial difficulty in life and truthfully some never recover from a setback. So knowing that you will face financial adversity at some point, what should you do to shorten that timeframe and make a full recovery that can last long into your future?

A happy man in a shirt and tie holding up a fist in a successful motion, as if he has reached financial empowerment

There are certain behaviors that can get you on the road to financial success. They don’t involve being dishonest, stealing, cheating, or lying either. The people who resort to that pay the price for it eventually and don’t sleep well.

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