When your preteen daughter asks you if she may go to the mall with her friends, there are two possible answers.
Possible answer #1: “Of course you may, honey! Have fun!”
Possible answer #2: “No way! I don’t want you to develop the bad habit of recreational shopping.”
Dilemma.
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I absolutely love the library, and I am continually surprised that more people don’t take advantage of their local library. It’s really more than a place for checking out books! Here are the top benefits you can get from your local library – all for free.
The children’s librarian at my local library is fantastic and she is always trying to come up with creative classes or activities for all different age groups. I have visited story time, craft time, dance class, and even play dates with different sensory stations set up.
I have seen other libraries host magic shows, kid concerts, and movie days. As a stay-at-home parent, any fun and free activity is welcomed because it breaks up the day for both my kids and me.
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This week marks my fourth year wedding anniversary. I know it may sound cliché, but I am going to say it anyway: It feels like it was just yesterday!
While a lot has changed in four years, I think many couples still find themselves in the same situation my husband and I did. We wanted to have an elegant wedding for about 150-200 people, but only had a budget of $8,000. The first venue we visited quoted us over $8,000 for just the venue and food!
While we quickly realized we had to do a lot of DIY projects to stretch our budget, we also found out there are some things you just don’t DIY when it comes to your wedding. Here’s what we learned:
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Raised by an extremely frugal parent, I now enjoy freedoms like turning fans on full power when I want to (seriously, how much electricity does that really waste?) and not saving things that are clearly junk but might be able to be fixed or re-purposed in some way. Still, some of that extreme frugality my parents swore by stuck with me.
As an adult, I take pride in being frugal in sensible ways. For instance, I’ve recently started buying the majority of my clothes from thrift stores and online re-sale services, managing to save serious money on either brand-new or only lightly-used, quality-brand items. But sometimes, that’s still not enough to keep me from experiencing spending guilt.
I had a reality check the other day when I felt guilty for spending money on a few items off the clearance and thrift store racks that were for myself. Something that should have brought me joy – finding great deals on clothing I needed and loved – instead had me second-guessing. Why is this?
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A friend of mine lost her longtime job back when one of the biggest companies in the state closed during the financial crisis. She received small unemployment checks for nearly a year and a half while she searched for a new one.
With two kids to support, she could barely make ends meet. Soon after her job loss, she stopped paying on her two credit cards and cell phone bill.
The result? Three accounts amounting to the tune of $3,500 are now in collections.
She finally found a new job and started to straighten out her finances a few years later. But by then, her debt was already sent into collections. She wanted to know what the best way to deal with the obligation was and asked for my advice, so I went into research mode.
Here’s what I found out about settling debts that are in collections:
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“Come on. We’re going out tonight. You and Rebecca meet us at Dave & Buster’s. We’ll be there at seven.”
“We can’t.”
“Why not?”
You’re at a loss: You don’t want to admit you’ve blown your budget for the month and have no play money to go out with. “Uh, Becca’s not feeling well,” you say. This is immediately followed by that awful feeling of lying to your best friend and the resentment of not being able to go and have a blast.
As always.
We’re always worried about money.
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