Today I want to talk about a serious subject: life insurance needs. Jeff Rose over at GoodFinancialCents has challenged personal finance bloggers, or anyone else with a passion about life insurance, for that matter, to write about the topic. The official LifeAware movement occurred on August 22nd, but I’m late writing this because I’ve been caught up in life with three kids. Go figure. ;=) Life Insurance Needs Over the Years Life insurance is what I would consider a necessary evil. Nobody wants to pay for it, but nobody wants to leave this world knowing their affairs won’t be Keep Reading
How You Can Save Money by Impulse Saving
Learn more about ImpulseSave to fatten your savings! Every day, we’re faced with spending decisions. Out for lunch…“Should I order the daily special or what I really want – the pricey crab cakes?” On the way home after a long day…”Should we get Chinese takeout or grill hamburgers like we planned? In the checkout line…”Mmmmm – Rachael Ray’s 30 no-fuss meals in under 30 minutes look delicious and easy! I need this magazine!” Sound familiar? I face spending decisions all day long every day, and I’m sure you do, too. A long time ago, I tried to implement a system where I Keep Reading
How to Get the Best Deals at Garage Sales – Savvy Negotiation Tips
Yard saling has to be one of my all-time favorite past-times. I’ve been hitting yard sales with my mom since I was a little girl. She’s the ultimate yard sale queen. My mom taught me the best way to negotiate prices, from seeing her do it hundreds of times to watching her work with customers as we held sales in our own yard. I learned that, as a rule of thumb, you can expect to get garage sale items for at least 50% off retail price. But, if you employ savvy negotiating tactics, you can easily save 75% to 90% discount off retail. Getting good deals at yard sales is easy; Keep Reading
Do the Pros Outweigh the Cons of Buying in Bulk?
For years, I had a membership to BJ's wholesale club. It cost $40 a year, and I always felt like I was getting my money's worth because I could find good deals on bulk packages of everyday household items and food. Pros and Cons of Buying in Bulk As a new mom, the pros of buying in bulk at BJ's Wholesale Club seemed to outweigh the cons. When my first daughter was born, I got hooked on Pamper's brand diapers, and I found that buying them at BJ's saved us money (because I could stack a club coupon with a manufacturer's coupon on top of already decent prices). BJ's also Keep Reading
11 Ways to Save Money on Christmas Presents
When my first child was born, I was still trying to figure out how we would be able to live on one income. Even though we had been fairly successful at doing so in the year-and-a-half long trial run leading up to her birth (we started pretending like we didn't have my income well before we needed to), I went a little nuts with saving strategies after our daughter arrived. Only then did it seem real that I wouldn’t be bringing in any money going forward, and I was so afraid we wouldn’t be able to do it. Our 1-Present Christmas – The Year We Only Spent $10 on Christmas One thing I did was Keep Reading
Can You Really Afford to Live on One Income?
Several years ago, I transitioned from a stressful desk job to being to a stay at home mom. How our family manages live on one income is probably the thing I got asked most about when friends and family learned I wasn't going back to work after my maternity leave ended. Living Beyond Our Means: Could We Ever Live on One Income? Making the initial jump from a comfortable two-earner household without kids to a single income household with a little one was not easy. We were used to spending our money willy nilly without any pressing responsibilities to Keep Reading
