Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. It’s a time when all of my family gets together and even some of my friends. It’s funny because food gets everyone in a good mood. We usually get together around lunchtime and we stay together for the whole night. Usually we just eat and the guys watch football. The girls usually sit around the kitchen table and talk about sales and stuff. After the football game, the guys go back to eating. I think the best part of the whole thing is probably getting the chance to see my cousins that live far from me. We never really get the opportunity to hang out. Although we do our best to keep in touch by telephone and emails, it’s the best of times when we get together.
This year we are getting together at my uncle’s house. Everyone is bringing a dish. I’m in charge of the mashed potatoes. Actually, that’s all I know how to make. The bad part is that I’m not that good at it. They come out a little too thick. This year I’m going to do things just a little bit different. I’m going to make garlic mashed potatoes. I saw the recipe for it online. If you’re in the mood than maybe you can try to make them also. I posted a link for a great recipe site for all of us to give a try. Have fun this weekend, be safe and have a very, very happy Thanksgiving.

Perks to Paperless

Have you decided to go green yet? Now there are many companies that are giving you the option to stop receiving statements in the mail. Instead, you can read your statement, or special offers online. There are a few perks to selecting this option. For starters, you don’t have to worry about losing some important mail, since now everything will be stored online. All you have to do is archive it. Also, it will save you some space around the house. maybe now you can get rid of those boxes you have filled up with your mail. Finally, so much of our mail is “special offers” or “junk mail” as it is often referred to and can easily be tossed into the trash can. For some, this kind of mail doesn’t even make it to the house on most occasions. Did you know that the junk mail Americans get in a single day could produce enough energy to heat around 250,000 homes? And if there were 100,000 people that stopped their junk mail, than we can manage to save 150,000 trees per year! Imagine if there were 1 million people that did this. That’s 1 and a half million trees! That’s enough for me to request paperless statements! For more recycling facts visit this Oberlin site and continue to support going green.

Black Friday; Enough Said

While I was in the Home Depot the other day, I was quickly reminded that Christmas was very, very close. Although Thanksgiving is right around the corner, all signs point to Christmas. This made my mood anything but jolly. It stresses me out! I want to make Christmas magical just as much as the next man, but it’s so hard to do in our crazy financial situation. So guess what, folks? I’m getting a little bit of a head start. I’m scouting the competition. I’m going online and checking out the best black Friday deals. I plan to get the majority of my Christmas gifts for others at the same place, so this early bird can get up at get his worm(s). Most people in my family are adults. We only have about 3 kids, so finding a gift isn’t that difficult. I figure the best thing to get will probably be electronics. It’s going to be a war zone out there. Good luck guys!

Competition is at it’s Best–When Consumers Benefit

Because of the recent economic downturn, some of the biggest names of retailers are chopping down prices. The latest retailer to announce they’re price drop is Target. Reports show that Target earnings have dropped dramatically. So, Target executives plan to take action by matching the prices on products with their rival Wal Mart.

This should be some exciting news for consumers like us. We can now go to Target Walmart and get a great deal on products we’re looking for. Just in time for the holiday season. So no matter where you do your shopping don’t forget you might want to check out Walmart or Target. Sometimes, a little bit of competition is good for all of us!

‘Google Maps’ car gets pulled over

Don’t Throw Away Money to Catch Up

It was a long day for me yesterday. Work was a mess and I couldn’t help but look up at the clock every hour. (only to find that it was more like every half hour) I was anxious to get home. Sometimes it seems the only thing that keeps me going back to that place is the paycheck I will collect at the end of the week. And even today, although payday is just 1 day away, it seems so so far from now. I figured maybe I deserved to go out last night, but that idea was short lived because of the phone call I got from an old high school friend of mine. Turns out my long time friend (who has been long lost) was in town visiting some family for a few days. Of course I wanted to hang out. Afterall, we had a lot of catching up to do.

So let me tell you what the issue was. There was no way I had enough to take my buddy out. You figure we may need a lot of time to catch up and who knows how much food and drinks will add up to at the end of the night. I decided to keep my last $20 and arrange for a little dinner at my place. Surely I could just make some food at home. I had some time before I was expecting my friend to come over, so I got started. I was a little disappointed to realize I needed to go to the supermarket. I had just about everything I needed at home, but I had to pick up  1 pound of lean ground beef ($3.50), 1 can of tomato sauce ($2.50), and 1 can of  tomato paste (.50). Who knows how much I saved! I only ended up spending $6.50!

If you’re interested, I can give you the recipe I got from recipezaar.com.  It was a hit that night. Good thing I made extras because my pal brought over his wife and kid. All four of us ate…for $6.50! HAHAHA. (evil laugh)

Is Your Appetite Eating Up Your Savings?

I’m one of those people that love to eat. Everyday around the same time I stop working for just a little while and think about what it is that i’m going to eat for lunch. Now that I am sincerely trying to save money and budget my spending habits, I have been giving up some of the delicious fast food that I am so used to devouring. I will not lie to you, it hasn’t been easy for me. I am honestly a beast when it comes to eating! It’s a love of mine. What I did was make my lunch before work everyday for a whole week. I just wanted to see how much of an impact that would have on my financial situation. This was one of the best ideas I have ever put into action! I calculated that I would save $35 – $50 per week. Thats about $200 that I save per month! Yeah, sometimes I miss the burgers and the burritos, the fried rice and the large cokes, but honestly I can find so many other ways to put that $200 to use. I highly suggest that you do this, too. I am certain that it will help you a great deal. Just try it for a good week or two. See how much you will save!

Quality Time–Priceless

Some friends of mine had the opportunity to celebrate their 7 year anniversary together last night! I received a phone call late in the afternoon yesterday and I was excited to hear what my friend Thomas had planned for his wife Vanessa. Besides telling me where he was taking her, he also asked if I could babysit for the evening. Well of course it was not a problem for me. Those kids probably missed me anyway! (Not as much as I’ve missed them, of course) When the children and I get together, it’s guaranteed to be a great time. Oh yeah! We would go out to the movies and we would stop for some pizza and some fun at the arcade or something. Well, times have changed a little bit and I no longer have extra money to put towards a fun filled night out with the kids. Honestly, it kind of broke my heart. I was desperate for some ideas on how to entertain these little guys without having to dip into my little bit of savings. I started looking around my apartment for some things we could do. Of course we could spend some time playing some video games and watching some old films. I just knew it wouldn’t be enough to keep them busy for the whole night. We could go to the park for a short while, but I knew it would get dark soon after they arrived. So I gathered a bunch of jars and a roll of pennies. I decided we could make a little game out of this. It could be like the carnival games where you had to toss the pennies in the jar. I also used the cardboard from the soda case. I cut out about four slots into the box. Above each slot I put a number. If you slid the penny through the slot you get the amount of points that’s above the slot. After an “x” amount of rounds, the winner would be the one who had the most points. Of course, everyone was in charge of keeping their own score.  (Math practice for the kids) I had some old comic books that I collected when I was younger. I used them as prizes for our winners. It ended up being a fantastic night. The kids and I both agreed it was one of our best times together. They loved their prizes. The part that I loved was spending time with them of course. And it was a plus that it didn’t cost me a cent.

House Brand vs. Name Brand

Is it me, or is everything in the stores getting more expensive? I think it’s a reality that everyone is forced to come to grips with. While I was out doing my grocery shopping last night, I quickly realized that in order to get every item that was on my list, I would be going over my budget by $50 – $60. Although gas prices are on their way down lately, I still want to be prepared for a sudden increase. So I decided I was going to have to get only the items that I absolutely needed. Come to find even that was going to be a little more than I had budgeted for. So what I decided to do was get the generic or “house” brands as they are sometimes called. They are sure to save you some dollars and I discovered the store brand was just as good as the name brand. You can even compare the labels on the back and you’ll see they are made with the same exact ingredients. Many times the only difference is the marketing. I do most of my shopping at Super Wal Mart. It’s just right around the corner from my house. I discovered the store brand was just as good as the name brand. And there is a generic brand for just about every item you could possibly need.

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