It’s bound to happen: Your beloved fridge, washer, or air conditioner will act up on you, requiring a repair than can set you back 50% or more on the price of a new appliance. Before you set it out on the curb and head off to charge a dreamy new replacement to your credit account, consider your options for getting it fixed. Even the DIY-clueless can handle this list, so read on!
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The recession is technically over, and has been for some time, but many of us still feel the pinch of an economy recovering at a snail’s pace — and many of us are concerned about a double-dip recession. At the same time, though, it can be difficult to keep on pinching those pennies. If you are getting a little frugal fatigue, you might consider treating yourself with a little spending splurge, just to take the edge off. Here are some suggestions.
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Add up the total cost of keeping your home clean and you might be surprised at how much you spend in a year’s time on laundry and cleaning products. One way to save money is to stop spending more on commercial cleaning products and pay less for products you create at home from your own recipes.
In this installment, you’ll learn how to save money by making your own laundry care products for far less than what you’re paying now for commercially prepared laundry soap and fabric softeners.
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Whether your child is heading off to their first year of kindergarten or their final year of college, saving money on school supplies is just plain smart. As school systems face the challenge of teaching more kids on a smaller budget, parents are being asked to provide a lot more than a couple of pencils and a notebook.
Long lists are coming home during the summer requesting everything from paste to pencils. While you expect to purchase more for a college student, the prices there keep going up as well.
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Have you seen the latest commercials for the California Lottery? I think they’re awful.
The campaign has two versions that I know of: One where a dad, who apparently won the lottery, is arranging for his daughters to have snow in San Diego via snow making machines. The kids are beaming of course. His wife asks him, “Will you do this every day?” And he replies, “Maybe.”
Another version: A lottery winner builds a large baseball stadium just so his family could play together at their reunion. His dad tells him, “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble,” to which he replies, “What trouble?”
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As a parent, it can be overwhelming to have to purchase presents for every party your child gets invited to during a school year. Multiply the burden by the number of kids you have, and it can get downright impossible to budget for! If each new party invitation leaves you scrambling for funds to cover a gift, consider these practical presents that most every child will love — and that your budget can easily accommodate.
Gift Cards for Edibles: Buying snacks as a gift can be seen as cheap, but a gift card for food brings a sense of legitimacy to the idea. If there is a popular place in town that kids like to buy their pizza or ice cream from, for example, grab a few of their gift cards at the beginning of a school year, and stash them in a drawer for unexpected parties. You can choose a denomination that meets your financial situation, but $5-10 should be the bare minimum.
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