How I Got A Great Deal On An Apple iMac
February 22, 2010 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Shopping, Spending and Saving
Last week, I finally took the plunge and switched my alliances with PC and Windows and switched to Apple. I bought a 21.5″ Apple iMac with 4GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card with 256MB memory, and a 3.06GHZ Dual Core Intel processor. I should just move to San Francisco and start wearing black turtlenecks, because I will never go back to the days of Dell and Microsoft. It’s been 4 days since I first started using it, and I love it. My ability to quickly create screen casts, web videos, manipulate and edit photos, and work in several different programs all at once has vastly improved. I don’t know what it is about the Mac OS or the programs designed for Macs, but they load and run SO much quicker than Windows and Windows-based programs. For example, Firefox opens instantly, whereas, even in Windows 7, Firefox hesitates to open for about 10 seconds. Ever since I bought an iPhone about a year and a half ago, I’ve had the itch to switch my computers to Apple, but the price tag had always deterred me from making the switch. I never thought I’d be able to spend less than $1,700 to $1,800 for what I wanted, but I ended up getting this iMac for $999, which was exactly my threshold for what I was willing to spend. How did I do it? Read below:
How to Build an Emergency Fund on an Irregular Income
February 18, 2010 by Sally Aquire
Filed under Budgeting, Goals, Money Management, Spending and Saving
You know the importance of building a solid emergency fund as a financial cushion if things go wrong, but this can be even more important if you’re self-employed, because you can’t rely on a fixed paycheck every month and may need to fall back on savings to make ends meet on bad months. Because of this, it can be very challenging to build a decent emergency fund if you don’t earn a regular income. For example, your clients may not pay their invoices on time or you may struggle to find enough work just to meet your monthly bills, leaving nothing left over for boosting the emergency fund. Here are some tips for creating an emergency fund if you can’t rely on a fixed income every month.
Becoming Wealthy Is Like Becoming An Olympic Athlete
February 17, 2010 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Financial Advice, Spending and Saving
The Winter Olympics started last Friday, and I am not too intrigued by most of the sports included in the Winter Olympics, but I do love the women’s figure skating, downhill skiing, snowboarding, and the bobsled competitions. As I was watching the Olympics the other night, I gained more appreciation for the athletes the more that I thought about the training it took for them to reach this poing of being one of the best in the world in their respective sport. Then, I started thinking about how all of the principles of an Olympic athlete correlate to the financial principles that help people build wealth. Passion, Perseverance, and Discipline are three attributes of an Olympic athlete that we must all possess if we want to win with money.
Tips for Cheaper Household Cleaning
February 16, 2010 by Sally Aquire
Filed under House and Home, Spending and Saving
If you’re making an effort to clean the house on a regular basis, you may be finding that you’re having to frequently replace your cleaning products, especially if you’re using different products across the various rooms. These kind of costs can quickly make a sizeable dent in your budget, but you don’t need to spend a lot of money to keep your home clean. Here are some tips for cleaning your home on a budget.
Kitchen and bathroom cleaners
You can easily make household cleaners for these areas of the home from ingredients that are already in your kitchen cupboards. In particular, white vinegar has a range of uses:
5 Ways to Save Money On Cosmetics and Toiletries
February 15, 2010 by Sally Aquire
Filed under Personal Finance, Shopping, Spending and Saving
If you’re looking for ways to tighten up your budget, consider taking your beauty allocation out of the monthly budget to free up some extra cash. After all, that new MAC eye-shadow is a luxury, not a necessity, even if it does make you feel beautiful when you’re wearing it. Here’s the good news: you don’t need to give up your beauty budget altogether when tightening up your budget, you just need to shop smarter.
Part 1: 6 Tips For Saving Money On Groceries
February 10, 2010 by Sally Aquire
Filed under Coupons, Shopping, Spending and Saving
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American spends a minimum of 14% of their monthly household budget on food but many money experts believe that the true figure is at least 20% or even closer to 25%. If this statistic rings true for you, you’re probably already wondering how you can shave money off your grocery bills to free up some more money in your budget. Here are 6 ways that you can do this.
1. Plan ahead
How I Scored 4 Free Flights Last Year – All Without Using Frequent Flyer Miles
February 9, 2010 by Guest Author
Filed under Frugality, Spending and Saving
(‘
’)You don’t have to wait to redeem your credit card rewards or frequent flyer miles to earn a free flight. With a little bit of patience, flexibility, and luck you can be on your way to a free flight quicker than you can say “overbooked.”
Overbooking flights is a standard practice in the airline industry. It’s a way to hedge against passengers who skip out on reservations or to collect double fares if a prepaid passenger doesn’t show up. Most of these no-shows are business customers – leisure flyers tend to book trips early and show up when they say they will. (Source: America’s Most Overbooked Airlines / Forbes.com)
10 Ways to Get a Cheaper Honeymoon
February 6, 2010 by Sally Aquire
Filed under Personal Finance, Spending and Saving
- Use a honeymoon gift registry website. It’s traditional to sign up for a wedding list when you get married, but the usual home goods might be redundant if you’ve already set up your home and don’t need these kind of items. Why not sign up for a honeymoon gift registry instead? This works like a wedding list, but it gives your wedding guests the chance to literally pay for a specific part of your honeymoon, such as a candlelit dinner in a posh restaurant or excursions. If you’ve got enough generous gifts, you might even get a significant proportion of your honeymoon paid for in this way, and it lets your guests make a more personal contribution to the trip.
7 Ways to Get Married For Less
February 4, 2010 by Sally Aquire
Filed under Family and Relationships, Spending and Saving
There’s no question that your wedding day is one of the most important events in your life. Taking the plunge of marriage is a huge step in one’s adult life, and our financial judgment is often clouded by the emotional charge of getting married. Weddings are notoriously expensive, but you can bring the total costs down quite a bit if you are prepared to make compromises. Here are 7 tips for getting married on a budget.
Is A Fat Tax A Legitimate Source of Tax Revenue?
February 1, 2010 by Mark Riddix
Filed under Personal Finance, Spending and Saving, Taxes
I was reading an article today about how the governor of New York David Paterson is including a “fat tax” in the 2010 budget. According to the NY State Health Department, the fat tax proposed in New York would apply to all drinks that “contain more than ten calories per eight ounces, such as soda, sports drinks, ‘energy’ drinks, colas, fruit or vegetable drinks containing less than 70% natural fruit or vegetable juice, and bottled coffee or tea.” All full calorie beverages would see their prices increased a penny per ounce. Paterson is trying to cover a 7.4 billion dollar deficit in the state’s annual budget. Lawmakers estimate that a tax on sweetened beverages would raise about 450 million dollars a year.
