Sharing insights since 2007 on carefully saving money, investing, frugal living, coupons, promo codes because the little things matter in achieving financial freedom!
Most of us are looking for ways to trim the fat from our monthly budget. I recently refinanced my home, saving me about $300 a month, and that made me hungry for more savings.
So I decided to see if I could find $500 more to trim from my monthly budget — and I did. Here are the four simple steps I employed:
How to Save $500 Each Month
1. Ditch the subscriptions
My first step was to look through all of my subscriptions. I was receiving magazines that I didn’t even read, and I was also signed up for online access to a couple of sites. I looked through everything and realized I was paying about $65 per month in subscriptions. This was the easiest thing to cut, since I don’t use these publications anyway. [ continue reading… ]
I always thought the two General Electric banks with similar names should merge or change names to avoid confusion. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one with the idea because one of them has spun off from its parent company and now there are two completely separate financial institutions with two distinct names. Yay!
GE Capital Bank is the one still owned by GE, and since forever, they’ve offered an online savings account for the masses. This won’t surprise you, but it’s nice to know that the bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), meaning that our deposits are bulletproof for up to $250,000 per person.
But enough history. Let’s get straight to what really matters: [ continue reading… ]
For several years in the early 2000s, I worked at a Boys & Girls Club in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Though it was an incredibly rewarding job, the staff at our club were handed an administrative headache when a local resident decided to donate his 15-year-old Toyota Land Cruiser with 600,000 miles on it. (And yes, you read that number correctly.)
While we were all very impressed the car had racked up that kind of mileage, we were stymied as to what we could do with the donation. It couldn’t be used as transportation, since no one would want to drive kids around in a car with that much wear-and-tear. And selling it would be difficult, considering its incredible mileage and age.
Basically, our altruistic donor had realized that getting rid of his ride would be a major pain in the neck, so he passed that pain along to us (while receiving a sweet tax break). Frankly, we never should have accepted the donation.
Since that time, the IRS has changed what kind of deduction you can take for donating a car to charity, making donations more complicated than they used to be. If you’re considering giving away your car, here’s what you need to know: [ continue reading… ]
The gluten-free craze has overtaken the supermarket aisles. Gluten-free products, once only available in specialty food stores, are now featured prominently in nearly every category of grain-based products.
While striving to live a healthier lifestyle and make better food choices is an admirable goal, you should exercise caution before jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon.
What You Need to Know About Gluten
What Is Gluten?
First of all, many people don’t even know what gluten is, let alone why they should be eliminating it from their diet. Gluten is a naturally-occurring protein in wheat, spelt, and a few other grains. About one in 100 people have celiac disease — a condition in which the body treats gluten as an allergen. Some people are highly allergic and must eliminate all gluten from their diet, and can even react negatively if they come into contact with it. Others may not be strictly diagnosed with celiac, but have various degrees of allergic symptoms. This is called gluten sensitivity and is hard to diagnose. [ continue reading… ]
We’re deep into the heart of summer, which means county fairs are popping up everywhere. Our local fair happened last week, and my kids were excited to go. I know exactly how they feel, as I too have great childhood memories of going to the fair. As a parent, however, it usually means dropping a lot of cash in one day — and wondering if it was really worth it.
Luckily, my experiences have taught me how to maximize our family fun while keeping the cost from making me feel like I just got off the Tilt-O-Whirl. [ continue reading… ]
Welcome to the age of electronic fund transfers, debit and credit cards, and online banking.
Carrying actual cash in your wallet is now optional, while paying with plastic has become the convenient choice. A recent survey from Bankrate indicated that 9% of Americans carry no cash at all.
Of those who do carry it, the majority carry no more than $50, while nearly half carry less than $20. One of the main reasons for this shift are the many advantages of paying with plastic, including the ability to earn points and rewards.
Do you think carrying cash is outdated?
Though ATMs are seemingly ubiquitous, what happens if you aren’t near one? Carrying some cash in your wallet in case of emergencies seems like a good idea, but how much? [ continue reading… ]
Free signup to get a free ebook on How to Save Money on Everything! Constantly expanding, it will be the biggest money saving ebook available, and it's FREE! →
(I hate spam and promise that your information will never be shared.)
