Holiday Spending Tips 2011
It seems to me that each year Black Friday sneaks up sooner than the previous year. You would think that I’d be prepared, after all I’ve written on the subject a few times before. Looking at the calendar this morning it dawned on me, I’d better start my holiday spending plan right away.
Black Friday can present some excellent savings opportunities if you are able to save enough money to make your holiday shopping a ‘cash only’ experience. Otherwise if you rely on credit cards to make your purchases things can add up quickly and when the last purchase is made you could be facing months of payments to get caught back up. Continue reading “Holiday Spending Tips 2011” »
“Leveling” our Expenses
I regularly teach in my Budgeting (“Spending Plan”) classes that our goal should be to turn as many of our Variable and Periodic expenses into Fixed (or “level”) expenses as possible.
A Fixed expense is one that occurs every single month at the same cost. Examples are rent or mortgage, car payments, 401(k) contributions, monthly bus passes and day care center bills.
A Variable expense occurs every month also, but the amount varies. Electricity, heating, gasoline, and groceries are among the most common variable expenses in our household budgets.
A Periodic expense, obviously, occurs less than monthly, irregularly or just once in a life time. Typical of this type of expense are medical-related charges, vacations, car or home repair, taxes, and most insurance premiums. Continue reading ““Leveling” our Expenses” »
Cost of Groceries per Person per Month
I recently had an email I appreciated greatly from one of our management leaders regarding the suggestion in our budgeting presentation that households should try to spend between $75 and $125 per person per month in their household on groceries. His concern (a valid one) is that the number appears quite low when compared to the suggested figures released by the government (upwards of $200 per person per month). Continue reading “Cost of Groceries per Person per Month” »
Paradigm Shift in Personal Finance Attitudes: Millionaire Lifestyles
I generally have the pleasure of facilitating three to seven personal finance classes each week, usually around the Treasure Valley of southwest Idaho. Many of those classes are for high school students in an economics or a personal finance course.
Inevitably, whether I’m discussing budgeting, credit, avoiding debt, or effective consumer spending behaviors, questions or comments come up about wanting to be rich. Continue reading “Paradigm Shift in Personal Finance Attitudes: Millionaire Lifestyles” »
Santa’s Not Coming to Town Quite Yet
I’ve always thought that Thanksgiving gets the short end of the stick when it comes to fall holidays. Christmas seems to invade stores almost as soon as kids are back on the school playgrounds after summer. Maybe that’s why I love Thanksgiving some much. It hasn’t been (and hopefully never will be) commercialized. Hopefully it stays the most home-centered of gatherings so our society.
Still, just because it’s not been co-oped by Madison Avenue doesn’t mean we don’t, as a nation, spend a lot of additional money on the holiday. Thanksgiving generally means extra expenses in: Continue reading “Santa’s Not Coming to Town Quite Yet” »
Financial Resource of the Week – Frugal Village
This week I’d like to recommend visiting www.FrugalVillage.com, a website whose mission is to provide a variety of resources to those seeking a way to trim their budgets and live in a more cost effective manner.
The site covers a wide range of topics such as cooking frugally to answering questions submitted by readers.
Who knew making your own soap could be so easy? Continue reading “Financial Resource of the Week – Frugal Village” »
Financial Resource of the Week – My Money Management Calculators
While researching personal money management calculators I came across the website www.mymoneymanagement.net and thought I would share them with you.
My Money Management is described on their website as:
“At My Money Management, our mission is to help you prosper by knowing how to make sound financial choices. We’ve collected some of the best information, tools and resources to tackle challenges like foreclosure and managing debt…” Continue reading “Financial Resource of the Week – My Money Management Calculators” »
Entitlement Spending
Picture this: You’ve had a lousy day at work. You’re exhausted. You’ve worked your tail off for your boss, and he/she can hardly remember your name let alone express appreciation for all your hard work.
Now, let’s assume that it’s also payday. Here come the temptation. Do you go out after work and spend money you don’t have in order to blow off some steam or do you find another avenue for relieving your frustration. Continue reading “Entitlement Spending” »
Financial Resource of the Week – Money Saving Mom Blog
The MoneySavingMom.com blog is a blog designed to help people make their money go further. The blog provides information and links to ‘freebies’, coupons and current sales. The site also provides recipes that are aimed at saving you money with a theme on freezer cooking.
I think the blog does a great job at presenting a wide array of money saving information and recommend taking a look for yourself. Continue reading “Financial Resource of the Week – Money Saving Mom Blog” »
Saving or Deferred Spending?
Having read “How to Create Barriers to Your Savings” by PT Money today on WiseBread, I was reminded of wish that in my college days, I had, first of all, thought of savings as savings and not as “deferred spending,” and second, that I had protected my savings from myself. I raided it pretty regularly every 3 to 4 months. Continue reading “Saving or Deferred Spending?” »