A JUDGE has ordered an “expert investigation” into the Lord of the Rings character Gollum in a bizarre court case revolving around an internet meme.
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1luJiYk
الثلاثاء، 1 ديسمبر 2015
How retailers plan to lure us back in
FREE smoothies, in-store baristas... how about a complimentary brain scan? The future of shopping is here, and retailers have turned on the charm.
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1lWeXT6
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1lWeXT6
Uber driver ‘punched me in face’
A 27-YEAR-OLD mum claims her first Uber journey ended with her getting punched in the face and called a “black b****”.
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1N2zRGR
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1N2zRGR
100 Ways Uncle Sam Dropped the Economic Ball
A 145-page report titled "Federal Fumbles: 100 Ways the Government Dropped the Ball," exposes the wasteful government spending.
Source CBN.com - Finance http://ift.tt/1TiU5Qu
Like It or Not, a Secured Credit Card Might Be the Key to Rebuilding Your Credit
If you’re trying to improve damaged credit but getting nowhere, you may find yourself with this common conundrum: You’re ready to fix your past mistakes, but no one will give you a new account and a chance to prove your creditworthiness.
Unfortunately, this catch 22 is a tough position to be in. After all, how can you build credit if you can’t get anyone to give you the opportunity to use credit in the first place?
Despite all the horror stores, a secured credit card could be your ticket out of bad credit purgatory. Yes, they often come with higher-than-average fees and lower credit limits, but these cards might be your only – and best – option.
The Skinny on Secured Credit Cards
Due to their less than stellar terms and conditions, secured credit cards may not look that attractive to the naked eye. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find a financial tool that can actually improve your credit when you’re unable to qualify for anything else.
“If you have no credit history or a credit score below 600, sometimes your only credit option is the secured card,” says financial planner Shannon McLay of the Martinis & Your Money podcast.
But, how do secured credit cards work? As Bank of America explains, “A secured credit card uses money you place in a security deposit account as collateral.” Further, your credit line is based on your income, your ability to pay, and the amount of your cash deposit. Most of the time, it’s not very much – usually in the $300 to $500 range.
Here’s a good example of how secured credit cards work: Let’s say you apply for a secured credit card and put down the required $500 deposit. Based on your income and ability to repay, your credit line should also be $500 – the amount of your deposit. This is where the term “secured” comes into play: By putting down the cash deposit, you’ve secured your very own credit line with collateral.
Why Would Someone Get a Secured Credit Card?
Since secured credit cards require you to put down a deposit equal or similar to your credit limit, it’s easy to wonder why anyone would bother. Doesn’t the low limit and deposit cancel out any potential benefit?
While it’s true that secured credit cards don’t work exactly like regular cards, they do come with benefits that can help credit-challenged consumers. Here are the main benefits – and the main reason people use these offers time and again:
Secured credit cards can help you improve your credit score.
Just like unsecured credit cards, most secured cards send your payment history to the three major credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. That means paying your bill on time each month and following your card’s terms and conditions will be reported to the very companies that determine your credit score.
As Forbes contributor Curtis Arnold says, “This makes a secured credit card an extremely valuable tool if, and this can’t be emphasized strongly enough, you are timely and consistent in paying your bill.”
- Related: How to Build Good Credit
Secured credit cards can help you re-learn healthy money habits.
Whether your credit spiraled out of control after a job loss or during the recession, or you just haven’t built a credit history yet, a secured credit card can help you learn (or re-learn) all the basics.
Getting used to the cycle of making a purchase with your card, receiving the bill in the mail, and paying it in full by the due date — until the process is automatic — has huge benefits that can compound over time.
Secured credit cards can pave the way to unsecured cards.
Although secured credit cards typically come with higher fees and unattractive terms, your use of them may only be temporary. If you use your secured card responsibly for a period of 12 months or more, you may be able to upgrade it to an unsecured card with fewer fees and better terms, says McLay.
“When you apply for a secured card, you need to make sure you manage it responsibly, keep your utilization below 20%, and pay your bills on time, and then petition your secured card company for an unsecured card,” she says. “If they won’t graduate you, despite your good behavior, then shop for unsecured cards and, once you get from another company, close your secured card.”
Secured Credit Cards: What to Watch Out For
When it comes to choosing a secured credit card, there are plenty of landmines to avoid.
First and foremost, some of the least attractive options come with fees that are considerably higher than competing cards. Even within the secured card niche, factors like interest rates, maintenance and account fees, and activation charges can vary wildly. It pays to shop around.
Further, you’ll want to make sure your secured credit card does, in fact, report to the three credit reporting agencies. Because if it doesn’t, what’s the point? If you can’t find a definitive answer in their marketing materials, you should definitely give the company you’re considering a call and ask before you sign up.
- Related: Best Secured Credit Cards
As a final step, you’ll want to make sure you understand your cards terms and conditions – even if that means enduring several pages of fine print. It’s important to know how your card will work and how long your grace period is to avoid paying interest on your purchases.
Final Thoughts
Is a secured card the best way to improve your credit? According to McLay and other experts, it’s definitely something to consider – especially if you can’t get credit anywhere else.
You might have to pay a few more fees, but at least you’ll be on your way to improving your credit score in the long run. And once you do, you can get rid of that secured card and replace it with a traditional, unsecured credit card with better terms and a whole lot more perks.
Have you ever used a secured credit card to build credit? Why or why not?
The post Like It or Not, a Secured Credit Card Might Be the Key to Rebuilding Your Credit appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Want to Try DIY Home Repairs? Here’s Where to Learn Home Improvement Skills for Free
The handyman looked at the plaster dangling from the top of our downstairs window. Then, he headed upstairs to check the seal on the window directly overhead.
“It needs some caulk,” he announced when he returned. “If I come out again and fix it, it’ll cost $250. Or, you can pick up caulk for two or three bucks and do it yourself.”
My husband and I exchanged a nervous glance. The last time I’d held a caulk gun was 10 years ago. He never had.
But we’d just been told how to knock 99% off our potential repair bill. It seemed like now was the perfect time to learn!
Homeowner Woes
When we moved into our first house, it seemed like everything started breaking. The toilet ran, the bathroom fan died and rain leaking in that same upstairs window loosened plaster in our dining room.
No wonder homeowners typically spend between 1% and 4% of the value of their home on annual maintenance and repairs.
Thankfully, you can save hundreds or even thousands annually by doing some of the repairs on your own. Here’s how.
Learn to Do DIY Home Repairs Online
Your phone may end up being your most important tool.
Home DIY apps can help at just about every stage of a home improvement project. Better yet, several great ones are free.
Houzz is a social media platform that connects home professionals and enthusiastic DIY remodelers. You’ll find all the design inspiration you could dream of, plus lots of tutorials.
Wikihow and YouTube are other excellent sources. The first time we scoped out the inner workings of our toilet tank, YouTube videos helped us replace the faulty valve.
When you’re ready to measure twice (or more) and cut once, Handyman Calculator has more than 100 different calculators and conversion tables. Not only does measuring correctly help you avoid mistakes, you’ll have a better idea of how much material to buy in the first place, reducing waste.
Take a Free Class or Workshop
You can find free in-person instruction at hardware stores like Home Depot or Lowe’s. Many locations offer weekly workshops.
You can learn to install tile, patch and paint plaster, and tackle other home projects. Some stores will even teach you how to make fun seasonal projects to decorate your house.
Community centers or a nearby community college might also offer home improvement classes for a nominal fee.
Volunteer to Build Experience
Want to do good and get hands-on experience with a real house? Sign up for a local Habitat for Humanity build.
Depending on the stage of the project, you might learn to saw lumber, put up drywall, caulk or paint. There’s someone on-hand to answer questions and make sure you work safely. The more you give back to your community, the more skilled you’ll get at various kinds of projects.
If you can, volunteer multiple times at the same site. You’ll see the progress of a project more clearly.
There’s also a better chance you’ll be there on a day when organizers have fewer volunteers scheduled, which gives you more hands-on time.
Lean on a Neighbor for Labor
Maybe you love the buzz of power tools, but hate finicky tile work. Meanwhile, an intricate backsplash is like a fun jigsaw puzzle to your neighbor, but chainsaws are a little too Leatherface for your comfort.
Why not trade labor to get your projects done?
Join forces with multiple neighbors and all of you have a better chance at getting some free help when you need it.
Here’s how to get a neighborhood DIY home repair co-op running smoothly:
- Invite neighbors to sign up for skills they’re comfortable contributing. Aim for a wide spread of possible jobs.
- Assign a fair value to jobs so no one feels taken advantage of later. Time can be a good measure, with an hour of work translating to one “point.”
- Give everyone in the co-op a certain number of points per month to earn or spend by giving or receiving services. Send a monthly email with members’ balances so people can hold each other accountable to do their fair share.
- Accidents can happen, so be prepared. Will co-op members pay for mistakes they make doing a job? Or will homeowners assume the risk of working with an amateur? Make a plan as a group before you get started and have all members sign off on the agreement.
Know When to Go Pro
You can learn to handle a lot of repairs yourself. If you’re in over your head, though, hire a professional.
If bungling a job will result in more extensive (and expensive) damage, and especially if the work is dangerous if done incorrectly, you’re better off calling in a pro from the beginning. Safety comes before savings.
Your Turn: How do you save on home repairs?
Jessica Sillers writes about taxes, small business and careers for various companies and websites. Her next home project is painting the living room.
The post Want to Try DIY Home Repairs? Here’s Where to Learn Home Improvement Skills for Free appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Today Is #GivingTuesday. Here’s How to Participate, Even If You Don’t Have Extra Cash
I’d never participated in Black Friday or Cyber Monday before this year, but I’ve always been excited about the day that follows: #GivingTuesday.
Rather than spend money on things you may or may not need, this international movement asks you to donate to causes you care about.
The day started in 2012 and, with the help of social media, spread like wildfire. Last year, it raised more than $46 million for charity; this year, the organizers hope to break the Guinness World Record for the most amount of money raised online in 24 hours.
I love #GivingTuesday because it’s a reminder to support the organizations that work tirelessly to make our world a better place.
And you don’t need to give a lot. If everyone gave a few bucks — or a few hours of their time — to their favorite cause this #GivingTuesday, it would go a long way. Plus, you’ll get a tax deduction!
How to Participate in #GivingTuesday
Want to get involved in this warmhearted movement? Keep reading for step-by-step instructions.
Find a Cause to Support
What cause speaks to you? Perhaps you already have an organization you love, or perhaps you just know you’re passionate about homelessness or animal rights.
Once you’ve determined which cause you want to support, look for an organization that works in that field.
Choose an Organization
Charity Navigator is my favorite website for finding and vetting new organizations.
It allows you to search by cause, location, size and keyword — then, more importantly, it displays ratings for each charity based on its finances, transparency and accountability.
It’s an easy way to see which charities are responsibly effecting change with the money they receive.
Don’t skip this step; make sure you’re giving your hard-earned money to a worthy cause.
Keep Records for Your Taxes
If and when you decide to donate, keep a record of your contribution.
Donations to a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization are tax-deductible — meaning if you donate $100, you can reduce your taxable income by that same amount.
Giving to a good cause and saving on your tax bill? Win-win!
Think of Alternate Ways to Give
Even if you’re broke, don’t worry; you can still get behind #GivingTuesday.
Though the day’s goal is to raise money for good causes, remembering its altruistic inspiration is just as important.
If you don’t have any money to spare, here are a few ways you participate without opening your wallet:
- Look for a local or virtual volunteer opportunity on VolunteerMatch
- Give blood
- Donate used clothing or goods to a charitable thrift store
- Simply strive to practice kindness and gratitude with everyone you meet
And if nothing else, you can spread word of the movement on your favorite social media network using the hashtag #GivingTuesday!
Your Turn: How will you participate in #GivingTuesday?
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
The post Today Is #GivingTuesday. Here’s How to Participate, Even If You Don’t Have Extra Cash appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Calling All Home Bakers: How to Earn Money Selling Your Treats Over the Holidays
Do people love your cupcakes? Is your pecan pie famous for miles around?
If so, it might be time to start a home baking business on the side. In today’s day and age, no one wants to buy their holiday dessert from the grocery store — but no one has time to make it either.
For home bakers, this is a golden opportunity to earn some extra holiday cash. To help you get started with this side hustle, I asked three “bakerpreneurs” for the inside scoop.
Where You Can Sell Home-Baked Goods
First off, make sure it’s legal in your state to sell home-baked goods. The regulations surrounding this industry are called cottage food laws, and they vary by state. Abide by any required regulations; you may have to apply for a permit or license.
Though, in many places, you can sell your goods at holiday fairs or farmers markets, the home bakers we talked to exclusively did custom orders for individuals. They’ve been busy enough with these that they haven’t had to sell outside their homes.
Dee Dee Steele-Sigee of Dee Dee’s Sweet Escape said custom orders are plentiful around the holidays, because “people are busy with fixing regular meals.” They don’t have time to bake pies, bread or cakes, which means they order those items from her. Cheesecakes and cookies are also popular holiday items, according to the bakers.
How to Get Started Selling Home-Baked Goods
There’s one thing all of the home bakers I spoke with emphasized: the power of word-of-mouth. So be sure to bake delicious products, give excellent customer service and tell everyone you know that you’re now selling baked goods.
Here are a few more tips for getting your new side hustle off the ground:
Share Photos on Facebook
When Danette Short started posting Facebook photos of what she was baking, her business “really started taking off.” She now has a thriving side business called Short-Cakes, which she runs in addition to raising and homeschooling her children.
Create a Signature Item
Tamara Boatman of The Lemon Tree Cottage Bakery got started by selling a pumpkin roll at a church bake sale. She said the customer (her children’s pediatrician) then “asked me if I could remake it for her for Thanksgiving. Others in the doctor’s office wanted one also, so I did and have been doing the same item now for several years.”
Boatman explained that a signature item (especially if it’s holiday-themed) “will establish you in the minds of your customers… so they know in advance who to contact when they want that special something.”
Hand Out Business Cards
Even if your doors aren’t officially open yet, get some business cards printed up.
Steele-Sigee said, hands down, these are the “the best way to get your name out there.” She works tirelessly to market herself, saying: “I hand out cards to everybody — at the supermarket, at the mall — to anybody that will listen.”
Network With Other Bakers
Know of any other home bakers in your area? Look at them as friends, not foes. Steele-Sigee met other bakers through Facebook and a local baking group; now, if one of them is too busy to take an order, they give referrals to one another.
Pass Out Samples
One thing is clear: Everyone loves free cake. So why not show off your baking skills by sharing free samples with potential customers?
Boatman suggested dropping off samples at places you have contacts, such as your dentist’s and doctor’s offices, library, school, church, book club, knitting group, etc. (And don’t forget to leave a card!)
Just be sure to only visit places where you have a connection, as Short warned that dropping off samples at random offices “almost never results in orders.”
How Much to Charge for Home-Baked Goods
When you start selling baked goods, figuring out how much to charge is going to be one of your biggest hurdles.
The first step is to assess your target market. How much are other bakers charging? And for what types of products? Next, look at your own skill set. How much experience do you have? How quickly will you be able to complete the work?
Boatman determines her prices by adding all of her expenses (including packaging), then multiplying that number by three: one-third covers her ingredients, one-third covers her water and electricity, and one-third is her profit.
Most importantly, don’t get discouraged if people balk at your prices. Steele-Sigee said you have to “remind [your customers] it’s a custom item, so it’s going to have a custom price… Do not sell your art cheaply.”
Boatman agreed, saying: “I rarely encourage moving the price down. It has been my experience that I work myself to exhaustion and have less to show for it at the end when I price lower just to get more orders.”
As for how much you can earn, it depends on how much work you put into both the baking and the marketing. If you’re just taking special orders, the bakers estimated you can earn between $200 and $400 per month; if you’re working 20 hours per week, $800 to $1,200; and if you start baking lots of wedding cakes, much, much more.
Should You Start Selling Your Home-Baked Goods?
Does earning money selling your home baked goods sound like a sweet deal? It can be, and you may find that your business lasts well beyond the holiday season — especially if you follow these three pieces of essential advice from our bakerpreneurs:
Keep Advancing
“Be confident and bake and do the best you can do — and keep excelling. Baking is constantly changing, and skills are constantly changing. Keep advancing, because each and every day, something new comes up. Keep trying to find that wow factor,” said Steele-Sigee.
Get In the Right Mindset
“Be patient and learn the science behind your baking; you really need to understand your medium. Also remember that everything is fixable. Working from that mindset is going to save you a lot of stress,” said Short.
Don’t Lose Sight of What’s Important
“Remember: it IS the holidays. Don’t schedule making money to help get you through and give your family a huge, fabulous someTHING when the most important will never be the things but the people around you. You’ll regret the baking if you neglect the ones you’re doing it all for, and they will remember that longer than they will the latest and greatest thing,” advised Boatman.
Your Turn: What’s your signature baked good? Would you ever consider selling it over the holidays?
Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.
The post Calling All Home Bakers: How to Earn Money Selling Your Treats Over the Holidays appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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11 Tax Moves Every Taxpayer Should Make Before the End of the Year
Ensure your retirement accounts are in good order and organize tax materials before the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.
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Should All Your Neighbors Be Over 50?
Some people love age-restricted communities. Here's why you might too.
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IMF Adds Chinese Yuan to Prestigious Currency List
The Chinese currency, the yuan, will join the International Monetary Fund's basket of reserve currencies. It's a big step forward for China's economic standing in the world.
Source CBN.com - Finance http://ift.tt/1N1uJCH
Why Defensive Stocks Aren't Safe Any More
Given the state of the world, it's easy to see why investors would want to get defensive.
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How Hiring Is Like Holiday Gift Shopping
Understand a manager's recruiting psychology by comparing it to the mindset of a holiday shopper.
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How to Extend Your Investment Portfolio's Life Span
Americans are living longer, which is a mixed blessing.
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How to Get Financially Ready for a Power Outage
With wintry weather on the way, now is the time to stock up on supplies.
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5 Free or Low-Cost Child Care Options (This Mom Saves $200 a Month!)
As a single parent for nearly six years, one of my biggest challenges in balancing home and finances was daycare.
Paying for bills, groceries, gas and gymnastic leotards is bad enough — but topping it off with a massive daycare tuition of hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars a month is a serious drag.
Yearly daycare costs average around $18,000 in the U.S. That’s almost a second income for some families!
Often times, parents (especially single parents) are so desperate for daycare they’ll settle for any schmuck who calls themselves a “licensed” sitter. Even with a thorough background check, finding the right sitter for your most precious cargo is a daunting task.
Here are five ways get quality care for your kids and save a penny or two in the process!
1. Check Out Your Local Boys and Girls Club
My children have been going to the Boys and Girls Club of America for a few years now, and they’ve truly enjoyed the experience. Backed by Congressional support and partial funding, the Boys and Girls Club has been around for well over a century, with several thousands chapters across North America.
The tuition at the Boys and Girls Club is a steal: At one point, I only paid $50…for the entire school year. The facilities could be upgraded a bit, but my children are safe, have a great time and the staff is friendly.
The Boys and Girls Club in my area also operates from 2 – 8 p.m during the school year. It gives me ample time to commute from work and pick up my kids without dealing with late charges.
2. Try Your Local YMCA
I’ve never taken my kids to the YMCA, but before and after school care in my area is less than $90 weekly. In fact, it’s even cheaper if you’re a YMCA member.
For example, you’re looking at $58 per week in the Hampton Roads, Virginia region. If you’re interested in knowing more, visit the official YMCA website, type in your zip code and check out available daycare programs and costs.
3. Research Licensed and Non-Licensed Daycare Providers in Your State
Parents are uneasy about releasing their kids to just any John or Jane Doe. If your state has regulations for sitters (and it should) you can check them out yourself.
I’ve found a ton of so-called “licensed” sitters on Craigslist who weren’t in the daycare registry. Check out the social services website for your state — You can type in your city, whether you want only licensed in-home daycare providers or facilities or both, and a list will populate.
For licensed in-home providers, you should be able to view any complaints they’ve accumulated over the years as well as if those complaints have been addressed. I’ve personally found that in-house daycare providers are more willing to work with you on prices and flexibility, saving you money in the long run.
I had one in-home sitter who would occasionally run specials, such as watching one child at full price and the other for free. Until she relocated, she was my kids’ sitter for several years, as you can imagine!
For more populous states like California, Texas and New York, check out the respective child care registry sites below:
California Department of Social Services: Daycare Search
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
New York State Office of Children and Family Services
4. Get to Know Other Parents at Your Child’s School
My oldest child was accepted into a gifted program in a new school, throwing off my schedule and daycare costs. While I was delighted she was accepted, I wasn’t excited by the extra daycare costs that came with it.
However, during a playdate with one of her friends, I got to know her friend’s mother. Come to find out, this stay-at-home mom does relatively cheap in-home daycare and will occasionally keep kids for several days overnight for parents who travel for work.
Considering my job loves to fly me to California a couple times a year, I made sure to save her number in my phone.
5. Research Prices Through Your City
The city government offers the cheapest prices for before and after school and full-day daycare in my area. For one week, your toddler can get full-day care for only $89. I remember paying well over $100 in daycare for just one kid when my children were younger.
One of my kids is in a before-school program and the other is in an after-school program; I pay just $93 a week. I pay a total of $372 a month in daycare and, considering the average monthly daycare cost in Virginia is over $500, I feel good saving nearly $200 a month.
Another thing I like about city programs is the additional services, like occasional field trips, holiday celebrations and parents’ nights out that come with little-to-no fees.
Unfortunately, you’ll likely pay daycare costs for several years. However, with these tips, you should be able to slash your child care costs a good deal.
Your Turn: Do you have any tips for saving on daycare costs in your area?
Monica Leftwich is a single mom of two little girls on a mission to help other single moms (and dads) save money and get rid of debt. Follow her blog, debtfreemommy.me, for more money tips for solo parents.
The post 5 Free or Low-Cost Child Care Options (This Mom Saves $200 a Month!) appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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6 Financial Tasks You Need to Complete Before the End of the Year
Make these money moves before the clock strikes 12 on Jan. 1.
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Think Different: Meet Your Needs (and Major Wants) in New Ways to Reboot Your Financial Life
Last week, I wrote an article about blurring the line between needs and wants, which is a reason that many people get into financial trouble. People often convince themselves that their “wants” are actually “needs” and then spend money on other, less important “wants,” which ends up putting them in a real financial pinch.
The problem is that even if you get your “needs” and “wants” straight, it’s still often not enough to make ends meet. If you’re working a job that doesn’t offer a nice salary, even meeting basic needs like housing and food and transportation and utilities can stretch your spending to the limit. This can even be true if you have a nice salary but live in an expensive area or if you have really big savings goals.
My philosophy on the areas of a person’s budget is that each budget area should handle your fundamental needs as well as a key want or two. Beyond that, you should be very careful about your spending.
Today, I’m going to walk through the common areas that many people have in their household budgets and look at each area through that lens. What do you need? What are your key wants – the ones that really make life enjoyable? Then, how can you meet just those needs and wants as cheaply as possible?
Let’s dig in.
Housing
Everyone needs a roof over their head to keep themselves dry when it rains, warm when it’s cold outside, and cool when it’s warm outside. They need a place to prepare food and a place to sleep.
The problem is that people often way overshoot what they need, turning their home into either storage for a bunch of stuff they don’t need or a bunch of empty space that they rarely use, both of which end up draining their finances.
What Do You Need?
I’ll use my own housing situation as an example. All we really need for housing is space for the five of us to sleep, to prepare food, to gather together, and to store a small amount of stuff. Quite honestly, my family could be quite functional in a home with about 600 square feet if we cut back on our possessions and organized things better.
Right now, even in our larger house, our three children share one bedroom (yep, there are bunk beds in there) and, most of the time, I don’t even go into the lower level of our house because, honestly, we don’t really need it. I could easily cut our home down to about 1,000 square feet without really skipping a beat.
When you’re thinking about needs, make sure you’re not including the things you really, really want as needs. It’s a mistake that people often make. For example, I know people who think of things like giant bedrooms as “needs” when such things are really “wants.”
What Are Your One or Two Top Housing Wants?
Looking at our list of housing needs, however, doesn’t cover the things I want from my home. I could list a lot of things but I can really boil it down to two key things. I would like for each of my children to have their own bedroom when they’re teenagers and I’d like to have adequate space for dinner parties and board game nights with my friends.
Right now, we don’t have quite enough bedroom space to pull off rooms for each child. Doing that will probably require that we move in the future.
However, the other one is quite possible. We have some shelves that store our board games and have an adequate sized kitchen to prepare food for a large group and multiple tables that are perfect for board games. We’ve had dinners and game nights with a dozen people in the past with little trouble.
In other words, if we actually moved into another home to meet these needs, one with roughly the same space as the one we have now (with some shifting around of the space) would actually work perfectly.
A large house honestly doesn’t meet any of my major wants for a house. I like to think about having that kind of a house sometimes, but when I actually look at what I want in a house, we don’t need much more space than what we have to make it happen, and we could certainly get away with less space.
Meet Just Those Needs and Wants as Cheaply as Possible
So, you’ve figured out that you really don’t need much at all for housing, but there are a few features you’d really like in your home.
Now, look around at where you live now. Does your current home meet these needs? Does it meet those one or two key wants that you have?
Chances are that if you really thought about the question and identified your core needs and top one or two wants for housing, your current living space fulfills that and more. The “more” is the tricky part – often, people live in housing situations that exceed their needs and their top wants. They end up with empty rooms and a lot of storage space, which is always a waste.
If you find yourself realizing that your home consists of the things you need, the two or three things you want, and a bunch of unused space and storage space, consider downgrading to a smaller home.
This achieves several things: It reduces many of your ongoing expenses, like utilities, insurance, and property taxes. It also reduces the maintenance time and effort required to keep things up. Furthermore, it reduces your storage space, giving you a good reason to go through closets full of unused stuff and sell that stuff off.
You may want the bigger, newer house on the left, but chances are the smaller house would meet your needs for far less money. Photo: Marcus Balcher
Transportation
Most of us need transportation of some kind in order to get to work and also to take care of tasks like buying groceries or picking up children. We also use transportation for many other things – going out to eat, entertainment, and so on.
People often resolve this by owning some number of cars, which are just simply expensive beasts. There’s the initial cost, the gas, the maintenance (oil changes are just the start), the insurance, the registration… it just seems to go on and on.
Is that the best solution? This is a great category to look at needs and wants.
What Do You Need?
For transportation, I look at this question in terms of what I need to do, not what equipment I have. What are my transportation needs, meaning where exactly do I need to go?
The biggest need for most people is work. You need to get to work and get home from work. Other major needs include getting food and moving children.
In our life, our primary car need is so that Sarah can go back and forth to work (I work from home). We also sometimes use cars to pick up children from school and from other events. We also need at least one vehicle that can handle slick roads as we live in Iowa and slick roads are a constant threat from November to April.
Going out to eat? Going out for entertainment? Going on road trips? Those aren’t needs…
What Are Your One or Two Top Transportation Wants?
We have two major “wants” when it comes to transportation. We like to be able to regularly go to Ames and Des Moines for cultural stuff as a family, and we also like to be able to conveniently visit family as we have a lot of extended family within a 4 to 6 hour radius.
Honestly, we could meet the “cultural needs” aspect by simply moving to Ames or Des Moines, but we like living in a more rural setting. We could also visit family by renting a car, but we do it frequently enough that this would become pretty expensive pretty quickly.
Meet Just Those Needs and Wants as Cheaply as Possible
So, how do we meet our needs and wants as cheaply as possible? Right now, we are a two car family. Sarah commutes with a very fuel efficient car and we also have a four wheel drive that is used when the weather is poor.
The cheapest route for us would be to simply move close to where Sarah works, which would eliminate her work transportation needs and put us in a situation where public transportation is available for us. We could easily be a one-car family and still handle all of our wants just fine. Unfortunately, Sarah works in the midst of the Des Moines metro area and neither of us want to live in a city. It’s just not appealing to us.
If it were not necessary for Sarah to sometimes have a four-wheel drive vehicle to get to work, we would probably try being a one vehicle family.
So, what can you do to address your transportation needs and wants? I think the first thing to look at is your driveway. Is there a car that sits there most of the time unused? If so, you should consider getting rid of it, as doing so will save you a lot of money each month and will also give you a burst of cash when you sell it. Also, if you have access to public transportation, you should strongly consider eliminating a vehicle.
When you buy a new one, focus on two features above all else – fuel efficiency and reliability. Those two features drastically reduce the costs associated with owning a vehicle.
Utilities
When I say “utilities,” I basically mean everything beyond housing that has a regular bill attached to it. That would sweep in everything from your energy bill to things like home internet and Netflix.
What Do You Need?
Some of those “utilities” are necessities. In the modern era, people need running water. They need sewer service. They need electricity and/or gas. Those kinds of services are just part of modern living – it’s prohibitively difficult for most people to go without them.
The trick here is that some people extend that sense of “need” to more bills. Home internet. Cable. Gym membership. Those aren’t needs….
What Are Your One or Two Top Utility Wants?
Here, you’re looking at monthly bills you treat as utilities for things you want rather than things you need. Things like cell phones, home internet access, gym membership, and cable television fall under this.
Why limit this to just one or two things? Well, for starters, there’s the time factor. The more services you have that require your attention – internet access, cable, the gym, and so on – the less time you have to devote to each one during a given month. You start splitting your time more and more and more and more until there are things that you’re barely using and paying a monthly bill for.
Maybe your cell phone provides for your internet needs and you can cancel your home internet service. Maybe your Internet service plus Netflix can eliminate your cable bill.
Meet Just Those Needs and Wants as Cheaply as Possible
So, you have a few utilities you need – like your energy bill – and one or two utilities that you want – like home internet access. Already, you’ve probably saved some money, but you can go even further.
One of the best things you can do to trim your utility bills is to ramp up the energy efficiency of your home. You can do things like replacing your light bulbs with LEDs to cut back on energy use (and I’m going to mention LEDs again later on) and air sealing your home to save on heating and cooling.
You can also go through your bills and eliminate some of the optional services that you don’t really use. Just read through every line item on your regular bills and figure out if there are any that are unnecessary, then give your service provider a call and see if those can be eliminated.
Clothing
We all need clothes on our back to keep us warm and to protect our skin. Still, there’s a huge difference between a small and efficient wardrobe and a closet full of barely warn clothes, and there’s also a huge difference between a bespoke suit and even a nice dress shirt.
How do you maximize the value of your clothing dollars? Here’s how I look at it.
What Do You Need?
I usually try to keep my wardrobe small enough that I can wash all of a seasonal wardrobe (summer and winter) in a single laundry load, with another load for utility clothes. The thing is, even that’s more than I actually need.
What’s the bare minimum, though? For many people, it’s enough clothes to be able to have a somewhat varied professional and personal wardrobe so that you’re not having to wash small amounts of clothes every single day (which is damaging and wasteful in and of itself).
For me, I look back on the wardrobe that I had near the end of my college years and the start of my professional years as a baseline wardrobe. I could wash all of my clothes in a single large load, and those clothes provided fifteen different professional outfits (three pants, five shirts) and twelve different weekend outfits (six shirts, two pants) as well as adequate amounts of socks and underwear. I also only had two pairs of shoes – one athletic and one for dressier occasions.
What Are Your One or Two Top Clothing Wants?
Almost all of us have larger wardrobes than that, so the truth is that additional clothing comes down to wants. What do I want from additional clothing?
For me, I mostly just want well-made clothing that minimizes my laundry needs. I prefer to do laundry for myself once every three weeks or so, doing two loads back to back when I do laundry. Given that my clothes are well made, this means that I rarely have to replace them, so there’s a fairly big upfront cost but the cost of actually maintaining things is pretty low.
What do you want from your clothes expenditures? Maybe you want comfortable clothing. Maybe you want to look as good as possible. Maybe you want variety. The key here is to choose one or two key things and discard the rest.
This isn’t really that unusual of a perspective. Think of people like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg who have a very limited wardrobe full of exactly the clothes that they want to wear. Their desire is to minimize the clothing decision process, so they figured out an outfit or two that they really like, bought what was needed to wear that outfit every day, and didn’t worry about anything else.
Meet Just Those Needs and Wants as Cheaply as Possible
So, you have a very basic wardrobe and one or two additional features that really define what you want most from your clothes. The key here is assembling it.
The first step is to dig through the clothes you already have and figure out what matches your needs. The rest? Sell it. Donate it. Get it out of your closet.
Then, add to that wardrobe as needed by patiently waiting on sales on just the items that match what you’re looking for. I do most of my clothes shopping on tax-free holidays, for example, and I just look for things that match what I want most out of clothes.
Outside of that, just don’t bother shopping for clothes. There’s no need!
Food
As with most of the other categories, we all need food. We need calories and water in order to be able to survive. That’s simply a fact of life.
As with the other categories, you can end up spending a lot on food simply by buying food that meets your needs but also scratches a lot of major and minor wants. Do you need to buy hundreds of dollars worth of food during a grocery store visit? Probably not. Do you need to go out to eat all the time? Definitely not.
What Do You Need?
Most people need about 2,000 calories of food a day and ample water, give or take a little bit. There are a lot of very cheap ways to get those calories by using really inexpensive staples like dry beans and rice, whole chickens, peanut butter, pasta, eggs, whatever produce is on sale this week, and so on. The truth is that you can meet your basic caloric needs without spending much money at all if you so choose.
The problem with food – and this is true for most categories here – is that it is incredibly easy to blur the line between needs and wants. Most of the time, we view everything we throw into our cart at the grocery store as a “need” without really thinking about it. Some even convince themselves that eating out is a “need.”
What Are Your One or Two Top Food Wants?
The thing is, all of us want more things from our food than just the cheapest route to our minimum calorie count. Some of us want convenient foods. Some of us enjoy the experience of dining out. Others want ethically produced foods.
Of course, the problem is that if you choose all of those things, your food budget is going to be incredibly expensive. Your best approach is to choose one or two things that you really care about when it comes to your food intake and stick with those.
For example, our family tries to eat really healthy, meaning we’re picky about some of the foods that we buy. We also enjoy eating out as a family as an occasional thing.
Meet Just Those Needs and Wants as Cheaply as Possible
So, how do we meet those needs and wants with little damage to our pocketbooks? For starters, we account for eating out a few times a month right off the top. That’s a fundamental part of our food budget.
However, we prepare almost all of the rest of our food at home. We do this by making careful meal plans based around what’s on sale in the grocery store flyer, assembling grocery lists from those meal plans, and sticking to those grocery lists in the store. Our meals are usually focused around staples, but when we buy those staples, we try to choose healthy versions of those items.
The end result? Our monthly food spending is lower now with three kids at home than it was for just the two of us ten years ago! What changed? We eat out a lot less and we prepare a lot of meals at home.
Household Supplies
Household supplies – things like hygiene products, cleaning supplies, and so on – eat up another portion of family budgets. This is a category where people typically don’t overspend too much, but when they do overspend, it’s really unnecessary overspending.
Let’s take a look.
What Do You Need?
We need basic hygiene. We also need to keep our house clean and our possessions clean – after all, we don’t want to get sick from dirty dishes or other messes.
The basic things needed to achieve those ends are pretty simple. Some soap, some cheap shampoo, a safety razor, and basic cleaning agents like vinegar and baking soda are all you really need to achieve those things.
Yet, when you look in people’s cupboards, you often find many other things. Why?
What Are Your One or Two Top Household Supply Wants?
It’s in the area of household supplies that many people fall into the “brand name” trap. They think of laundry detergent and Tide immediately comes to mind, so they drop it in the cart. Glad comes to mind with trash bags. Windex comes to mind with window cleaners. It goes on and on.
Why does that happen? All we really want from our household supplies are for them to do their job and that’s exactly how household supplies market themselves. Tide actually does clean clothes and it does the job pretty well. Glad makes trash bags that hold the trash. You get the idea.
The thing is, these products aren’t the only solution for the problem. They’re just what pops into our heads. We don’t need or even want name brands.
Instead, what we want is for our household tasks to be done well and, on occasion, done with an additional feature or two. We might want a room to smell really good, for instance.
Meet Just Those Needs and Wants as Cheaply as Possible
The best solution for meeting the needs and wants for household products as cheaply as possible is to try using generic products and see how they work. If they don’t work, switch back to the name brand, but 99% of the time generics do the job just fine.
I like to go even further than that and do things like making my own laundry detergent. By just mixing a cup of soap flakes (you can find them by the box at Wal-Mart), a cup of washing soda, and a cup of borax and then using one teaspoon of the mix in a load of clothes, they come out quite clean and it costs about $0.03 a load (cheaper than the roughly $0.20 a load that Tide costs). You can do a similar thing with window cleaner by mixing two parts water, one part vinegar, and a few drops of dishwashing soap in a spray bottle.
Things get clean, which is what I want most from those products, and it costs very little to do so.
Hobbies and Entertainment
What about the fun stuff? Our hobbies? Our leisure? Our sources of entertainment? Those can add up to a healthy portion of any budget if you’re not careful.
However, the challenge with any entertainment and hobby expense is time slicing. The more things you buy related to your hobbies and entertainment interests, the less time you have for each of those things.
The best route is to find a healthy balance.
What Do You Need?
It’s pretty hard to define this category as anything more than a “want,” but one can easily argue that we all need some form of entertainment and leisure to lead a balanced life. The catch, of course, is that there are many, many forms of free or nearly free entertainment and leisure out there.
For example, I’m passionate about reading. I love settling into a good book and getting lost in the pages. I have a lot of ways to engage in that hobby, though. I can buy books as I want them. I can buy books when I’m ready to read a new one. Or I can get engaged at my local library and enjoy that hobby for free.
I think that we all need a hobby or a source of entertainment or two, but those can be found for free. It’s the ones that require money that slip quickly into “wants.”
What Are Your One or Two Top Hobby and Transportation Wants?
I’m all for people having a lot of interests and so on, but it’s generally healthy for a person to only spend significant amounts of money on one or two of their interests. If you find that one of your interests is waning, sell those items and invest them in something else.
For me, my primary hobby that I spend money on is board gaming. I do spend some money on homebrewing, but it’s a much smaller amount and very secondary, and I really don’t have any other hobbies that I spend money on outside of really rare occasions. Sarah’s hobbies and entertainment streams include television and buying books.
In other words, you should figure out just a couple of your favorite hobbies or forms of entertainment and channel your spending in those areas.
Meet Just Those Needs and Wants as Cheaply as Possible
Once you’ve figured out your hobbies and entertainments that you’re going to be spending your money on, it’s well worth your time to investigate those hobbies and figure out how to maximize your dollars within them.
For example, I’ve spent a lot of time developing a strategies for spending less on my board gaming hobby. Because I’ve invested that time, I’m able to enjoy my hobby for a lot less than I might otherwise enjoy it.
You can follow similar strategies no matter what your hobby is. Just find blogs messageboards devoted to your hobby and look for methods for spending less on that hobby. Hold onto your money for big sales days and plan carefully when it comes to your purchases.
Final Thoughts
It’s so simple. Define what it is that you actually need. Pick out a few key wants in each area that really add to your enjoyment and discard the other, lesser wants. Then live life to the fullest with the things you need and the things you want most along with the financial freedom to wipe out your debts quickly and save for the future.
The trick is doing it. You have the strategy in hand. Now, take the next step and walk into a brighter financial future.
Good luck!
The post Think Different: Meet Your Needs (and Major Wants) in New Ways to Reboot Your Financial Life appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Tim Tams in supermarket price war
A TANTRUM over Tim Tams has put the best-selling biscuit at the centre of a price war in the battle for dominance over $88 billion in supermarket sales.
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1NnFuTw
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1NnFuTw
Help to Buy Isas: which account should I get?
Help to Buy Isas (Hisas) have finally arrived, providing a boost to first time buyers struggling to save for a deposit.
The main reason for getting one is the £3,000 contribution to your savings from the Treasury, but finding an account paying a decent interest rate will also help you reach your deposit goal faster.
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Savings update: rates from challenger banks keep going up
Fixed-rate deals from new challenger banks continue to edge up. FirstSave now pays 2.12 per cent before tax (1.7 per cent after tax), fixed for one year. The new deal puts it just behind the top payer, Shawbrook Bank, at 2.15 per cent (1.72 per cent after tax).
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Are you protected from festive thieves?
With a quarter of Brits spending more than £700 on festive celebrations, Swinton Insurance is calling on all households to check that that the gifts under their tree are protected from burglaries.
Stay protected from festive thieves
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With a quarter of Brits spending more than £700 on festive celebrations, Swinton Insurance is calling on all households to check that that the gifts under their tree are protected from burglaries. According to the insurance company a total of £25 billion will be spent on Christmas gifts this year and although only 25% will be spending more than £700 treating friends and family, around two-thirds will still see their spend top £400. However, despite households spending such large sums on Christmas gifts, more than three-quarters of those surveyed said that they had no idea whether they were covered by their home insurance policy. Many household contents policies will increase in value to cover gifts in the 30 days before and after Christmas – this might be by, say, 10% of their current value or by a fixed amount. Mark Hallam, head of products at Swinton Insurance, said: “It’s well known that burglaries can spike during the darker winter months. When combined with the presence of expensive gifts – either wrapped under the tree, or gratefully received on Christmas morning – having an appropriate level of contents insurance becomes more important than ever.” This is particularly important for those purchasing big-ticket items for loved ones such as jewellery or the latest technology. He added: “While many household items are likely to be covered as standard by most contents insurance policies, more valuable items such as smartphones, laptops and jewellery may require listing separately and require payment of an additional premium. “The automatic increase offered by many insurers is designed to be an interim measure, so customers should make a note to review their contents insurance after every major event, including Christmas, to check that it is still providing the cover they need.”
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New Ford Mustang rolls into Australia
REV heads, the wait is almost over. The new Aussie Ford Mustang arrives on our shores tomorrow and 500 lucky owners will get an early Christmas present.
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1O09oJP
Source NEWS.com.au | Business http://ift.tt/1O09oJP
Five Personality Traits for Small Business Success
By Dawn Berryman It’s a given that business owners and employees alike should act in a professional manner. What constitutes professionalism? To a degree, it can be interpreted in different ways. When you own your own business this becomes even more important to be professional and be conscientious of how others view you. Professionalism directly […]
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Source The Work at Home Woman http://ift.tt/1O09FfY
Ohio Has an Extra $2.3 Billion. If You’ve Ever Lived There, Some of That Cash Might Be Yours
Ohio, do you know where your money is?
If you’ve ever lived in Ohio, you’ll want to keep reading. Your state might owe you some money.
More than two billion dollars are sitting around in the state’s coffers, the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Unclaimed Funds announced this week.
Unclaimed Funds Are More Common Than You Think
Don’t worry: Ohio hasn’t been keeping your money from you maliciously.
Unclaimed funds are common, and states tend to have an office that takes care of this business of returning money to its residents. As the end of the year approaches, state governments want to unload this unclaimed dough so all the paperwork can look pretty at the end of the year.
“Unclaimed” funds usually result from security deposits that were never retrieved, or uncashed checks that have long expired.
The average claim in Ohio is $2,100, according to the Associated Press. Last year, the state returned $76 million to its its rightful owners. This year, so far $34.4 million has been returned to Ohio residents.
If there’s money waiting for you, it’s probably because you forgot to take care of your personal finances the first time around.
Now’s your chance to fix up your fiscal forgetfulness. (Yes, we did just say that.)
How to Get Your Money From Ohio (Or Anywhere Else You Might Live)
Finding out if your state owes you money is easy and free.
For Ohioans, visit the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Unclaimed Funds website and type your first and last name into the “Missing Money” box.
I tested it out with the name of a former coworker who grew up in Ohio. Turns out, an insurance company — like from a health insurance gained through a job many years ago — owes her a bit of cash. If she wants her $100 or so back, she’s just got to fill out a claim at MissingMoney.com.
Missing Money is the national hub for states to help residents figure out if they’re owed unclaimed funds — and then get it back!
I searched my own name and all the states where I’ve lived to no avail. But it’s a relief to know I’m not “missing” any cash.
Your Turn: Do you have any unclaimed money waiting for you?
Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor and podcaster living in Washington, D.C., which sadly does not owe her any of her own money back.
The post Ohio Has an Extra $2.3 Billion. If You’ve Ever Lived There, Some of That Cash Might Be Yours appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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