When I was young enough to wear braces, the costs from start to finish was $2,000. Today, parents spend much more than that on braces, and it is common to start earlier, sometimes when a child is only 7 or 8 years old.
The questions facing a parent of several children is just how much they can afford to spend on braces, and whether or not it is worth the investment.
Typical Costs
A full course of orthodontic care for a typical child will run between $3,500 and $7,000. If your child has a small mouth that needs expansion or several teeth that are severely misaligned the job will cost much more. While as a parent, you want your child to be “perfect,” your wallet may flinch at the expense.
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With all of the news lately about global warming, oil spills, and depleted natural resources, it really got me thinking about the environment and how we affect it every day by the life decisions we make. It’s easy to come up with ways to help our environment at home, but what about when we’re away from home?
For some reason, even the biggest tree huggers forget about their environmentally-friendly habits when traveling for business or vacation. For example, hopping on a plane, driving long distance in a car, or staying in a hotel makes some people forget about their green habits which ultimately leads to negative consequences for the environment. We often think about “going green” as requiring us to spend more money, but that’s not always the case. Here are seven tips for traveling green and saving money at the same time.
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Sean Platt, a gifted writer who also provides clients with a wide range of content marketing services, had bought his house during the real estate peak. Recently, he lost his house.
I’ve read Sean’s post describing his ordeal with great interest, realizing that it gives readers a glimpse not just into a fascinating, personal story of the recent real estate bust, which has affected so many of us, but also into the kind of determination that enables a person to recover, emotionally and financially, from a financial crisis.
I really wanted to share Sean’s story with Money Ning readers and was excited and grateful when he had agreed to answer a few questions.
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When it comes to retirement, many people rely on their homes. We are told over and over again that our homes are investments, and that they are our biggest assets. As a result, many people rely on home appreciation to help fund their retirement. The recent real estate market crash has been contributing to a re-evaluation of that stance, but there are still plenty who still view their homes as investments. And, while a home may be an emotional investment, it might not be the great retirement investment asset that many think it is.
I was reading in Money Adviser, from Consumer Reports, that,
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Contrary to popular belief, you CAN dress well without spending a fortune on designer clothes and shoes. I love fashion and can relate to the need to look good and to impress. It’s a very human need, after all. No one wants to look frumpy or “cheap.” However, I do believe that it’s quite possible to look great without spending your entire paycheck on Manolo Blahniks or on designer clothes. Here are a few tips and tricks for looking fab on a budget:
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The art of writing a restaurant menu incorporates more than a nice layout: psychology and marketing both play big roles. While the local mom-and-pop restaurant may not have done a lot of research into how to sell more meals with the right menu design, you better believe that any big chain restaurant invests time and money into creating menus that make your mouth water and your wallet fall open. As a consumer, a little awareness of the strategies menu designers use can help you bypass all the marketing gibberish, letting you focus on getting the best value and the best meal. Here’s five.
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