Okay, I will admit it. I am cheap. I hate spending money unnecessarily so when my family asked about a family vacation this year, I asked them if being together wasn’t enough. Apparently everyone, including my husband (traitor), wanted to go away for vacation so I immediately had to strategize on how to do this on a budget. Continue reading “How Not To Go Broke On Vacation”
Many moons ago, I remember going from catering company to catering company doing tastings for my wedding. Then there were the conversations with florists, musicians, photographers, venues, etc…it’s all a blur now. Because it was a long time ago and because I was trying to be frugal, the wedding came in well below the average cost of a wedding. I believe that all in, the cost was around $10,000 for everything. Sadly, the divorce 17 years later cost WAY more than that!!! Continue reading “A Big Day And A Bigger Check?”
I recently took my son to a local family entertainment center to escape the heat and enjoy a little bowling, laser tag, and arcade action with his friends. After a few hours of running around, they all started to get thirsty so I walked up to the concession stand to purchase drinks. They offered drinks in three sizes: 16, 24, and 32 ounces. The 16 ounce drinks were $1.75 and the 32 ounce drinks were $3.25, making them a slightly better deal. Continue reading “Bigger Is Not Always Better”
Whether your main financial goal is to pay off debt, buy a home, or retire comfortably, chances are that saving money will be instrumental to achieving it. Yet too many of us just aren’t saving enough. Why is that? The following are the three main culprits I’ve found and what to do about them: Continue reading “3 Reasons You Probably Don’t Save Enough”
I began paying rent when I was about 21 years old while living with a roommate. I was making pretty good money for my age and a couple of years later, decided it was time for my own space. Of course, with that, came more financial responsibility. Continue reading “The Non-Planner Perspective”
Last month was my son David’s 15th birthday. For years, he has been asking for a cell phone, and now that he is a freshman in high school, has maintained good grades, and has shown at least some level of responsibility, his mother and I decided he was ready. I agreed to add David to our cell phone plan on one condition: that he buys his own phone. (Susan and I have found that the kids are more likely to take care of their devices when the cost to purchase it comes out of their own pocket.) Continue reading “Always Read the Fine Print”
I am especially thankful this past Easter because I moved into my new house. The kids are away at college so I decided to downsize and move to the city. After almost a year of living in temporary housing, my newly renovated, 19th century row house was ready. Yeah! I was like a kid on Christmas morning as I watched the moving truck arrive and the movers bring in my belongings that were in storage for the past year.
Seven hours and a gazillion boxes later, I was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. Was this all mine? Gosh, I didn’t remember having so much STUFF. I’ve spent the past three days unpacking and working very hard to turn what looks like a hoarder’s paradise into my home. Here are some lessons that I’ve learned as the boxes get unpacked:
Stuff multiplies in the dark. I decluttered my previous house before listing it for sale. Then before the moving truck arrived, I donated countless bags of clothes, sold furniture on Craigslist, and then filled a dumpster with all the other things that I knew I couldn’t or wouldn’t use anymore. Still, I am overwhelmed with all the stuff that arrived this weekend and am convinced that it multiplied while in storage! How else can I explain the four identical cookie sheets, six baking dishes, and five black sweaters?
This house just can’t hold as much stuff so I’m re-packing boxes of gently used cookware, clothes and furniture for Goodwill. It’s a shame that I paid the moving company to pack, store for a year, haul 600 miles to my new house, then unpack a lot of things…all to give it away. That’s a lot of money spent on things that I didn’t need.
Protect the priceless. I spent 24 years collecting things to provide a warm and inviting home for my family. We had countless sleepovers, family gatherings, and home cooked meals throughout the years and I loved those times. However, looking back, I know that I could have provided the same great times without all the household stuff that I acquired.
As I unpack, the things that moved my heart the most were the pictures. They triggered the memories that are truly priceless. However, they were just placed in regular boxes and the elements destroyed some of them. I will go through the stacks of pictures, throw away those that were bad shots, and make digital copies of the keepers. I will store the digital copies on free online sites like Google Drive or Dropbox or store them on an external hard drive.
When moving, pay for full value protection. I chose a national moving company because my move was across a few states and I wanted the convenience of having one contact during the entire process. This company came highly recommended by people that I trusted but I had a fair amount of damaged items. In particular, my buffet server and my grandmother’s cedar chest were badly broken.
I don’t have receipts for either. However, because I purchased full value protection insurance, I should be able to replace the buffet with something comparable. My grandmother’s cedar chest was nothing fancy, but it was priceless to me, and my claims agent has already reached out to see how it can possibly be repaired. Only time will tell, but this was insurance that I’m glad I bought.
Think very hard before buying anything else. Before the move, I’d been pretty good about staying out of the stores. I struggle with being inside Target or Bed, Bath & Beyond and making impulse purchases, but I need bath rugs, window coverings, and other miscellaneous (but expensive) things for the new house.
I will be very deliberate on what I buy this time around. I have a list and a budget in hand before I go. I also do my best to speed through the aisles and not linger. This way, I don’t happen to see some new, fancy thing-a-mo-bob and convince myself that I need it.
Keep the ibuprofen handy. I absolutely love my row house except for the stairs. I have easily climbed 100 flights over the past few days and my legs are in serious pain.
Add the fact that I’ve carried boxes up and down those said flights, and it’s easy to understand why my back, shoulders and arms all feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I think I’ll cancel my gym membership. Thankfully, I remembered to pull out the pain meds as well as other important items like my passport, prescription medications, bank account statements, jewelry, will and living will documents. Now if I can only find the box with the wine glasses….
My daughter and I were talking about cars recently.She borrowed mine to “allow me” to drive hers for a few days to see if I could figure out what was the source of a noise coming from her car. After driving it for two days, I couldn’t figure out the noise but I was able to fill up her empty gas tank, check her fluids and inflate her tires. Continue reading ““Worthless” Hunks of Junk”
Not to date myself, but I used to love the Smokey the Bear commercials about how, “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires.” Well, when it comes to financial fires, the same rule applies. Although everything around you seems like it is out of your control, there are things within your control that you can do. Continue reading “Only You Can Prevent Financial Fires”
How do you make decisions? According to this article, there are two basic approaches. Some people are “satisfiers,” which means that when they see a choice that satisfies them, they take it. Other people are “maximizers,” meaning they want to see and study all the choices to pick the best possible option. Maximizers do tend to make “better” choices (for example, they make more money on average) but they also aren’t as happy with those choices (including with those higher-paying jobs). That’s because maximizers are always wondering if there’s a better choice they could have made. Continue reading “How to Maximize Your Satisfaction”
Every year, in the December/January time frame, there are a lot of articles looking back at the prior year or looking forward to the New Year.As a bit of a political junkie, I love reading stories about predictions for the coming year but one of my favorite things to see each year is a look at how the government (mis)spent enormous sums of taxpayer’s dollars. This isn’t a Democratic or a Republican issue; it’s a big organization problem. Continue reading “Where is Your “Government Waste?””
Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring…except my wife who found herself making an unexpected, last-minute shopping trip because someone forgot to tell her that they needed formal wear for a Christmas concert the next day. While this may cause the average person to recoil in frustration, read on to see how my wife responded under these less-than-ideal circumstances. What she has to say may just be the little Christmas miracle you’ve been looking for this year. Continue reading “An Unusual Place to Shop This Time of Year”
One of my favorite commercials is from Mastercard with all the kids begging their parents to “take one more day” of their unused vacation and they present Mom and Dad some pretty compelling reasons why taking at least one more day is priceless. For those that do decide to take a family vacation, there IS a price, and it’s usually not cheap. In fact, a recent Forbes article puts the average cost for a family of four at almost $5k after tallying up the cost of airfare, hotel, food, and taxes. Continue reading “A 5k Vacation”
I love facts that challenge the conventional wisdom. That’s why this article from US News & World Report was so enjoyable to read. The “8 Biggest Myths About The Rich” were all things that I’ve heard people say when making assumptions about people with means. Here’s my take on some of the myths and what I’ve seen in my career with investors most would call rich. Continue reading “Surprising Info About “The Rich””
America loves an underdog. I see it in sports all the time, and there are countless movies that end with the little guy triumphing over the big bad guy.As a society, we love to see someone prevailing against the odds. I saw this article about companies that were left for dead but rebounded to find success again and it reminded me of how much we love a comeback tale in particular. Continue reading “A Comeback Story”
With football season in full swing, my husband stocks up on his favorite Yuengling beer, the unofficial state drink in PA. A case costs around $18 and goes pretty quick with his two sons over to watch the game on Sundays. With 17 weeks in the season, that’s over $300 – which is a bit under what the average U.S. household spent on wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages in 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as reported in a recent Reuters article. That amounts to about 1% of the typical household expenditures but keep in mind that the average includes non-drinkers too so that means some households are spending WAY more than that already hefty amount on alcohol.
Continue reading “Teetotal Up Your Savings By Dropping Your Drinking”
My colleague, Rich, recently returned from a family road trip where he visited eight states from as far west as CO, as far south as NC, and as far north as upstate NY. He and his family went to four Six Flags parks, three beaches, and three tourist sites and still had time for visiting family both immediate and extended. The amazing part: he did all this in 18 days…with 10 children and for less than $400 each! Continue reading “Traveling with Kids – 10 to Be Exact”
Are you a frugal boater? That may sound like an oxymoron since boating is a very expensive hobby. But if boating is in your blood, here are three ways to save money and still enjoy a nice day out on the water this summer. Continue reading “3 Tips to Be a Frugal Boater”
Now that we’re almost halfway through the year, how are those New Year’s resolutions going? If you’re like most people, you probably resolved to lose weight and pay down debt this year. But while there’s no downside to paying down debt, I’ve learned that there is a downside to losing weight. Continue reading “How to Dress Well for Less”
A coworker of mine recently forwarded me a mass email from Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich, about what he claims are five “unconventional truths” that go against conventional personal finance advice. Since one of the themes of my blog is being a bit unconventional, I was curious about how much I agreed with these “truths.” Here they are with my thoughts: Continue reading “5 Unconventional Truths?”
