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 or 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!

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.

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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Is it time to save money now?

Do you feel the heaviness of our nation, our economy? We use to be worrying about tomorrow but I think the worry goes deeper and the worry is more widespread. It’s totally overwhelming. What are we going to do? Should we sell our home? Should we pull out our money from this bank or that bank? Should we transfer our money somewhere else? Where’s the safe bet? Should I buy a home? Do we stuff our savings money in our mattress? Should we be riding our credit cards or continue to pay them down? College? Retirement?

My Challenge

I was in the dentist’s office waiting for my boys to get their 6 month exam. In the lobby they had a lot of different magazines to chose from. I had read somewhere else that you should make yourself read other people’s success stories with money, you should subscribe to money magazines or even read the Wall Street Journal every now and then. If you care about your money, you need to invest on learning about money & how to make it grow and last. Instead of picking up People, I picked up a business magazine. I started glancing at the different articles, I flipped to the one that was a little interesting. It was about how you can get a better grasp on how you spend money. Sometimes it’s hard to get a good concept on where all your money goes from paycheck to paycheck. You write a check to Target, to the grocery store. You use your debit card to Starbucks and for lunch. How much money are you really spending daily? We already know that most paycheck cycles, we’re spending our entire paycheck and possibly more with the credit cards. The article suggested using only cash on your purchases for a week. It also suggested only going to the ATM to withdraw cash once a week. When you think about it, who ever pays cash for groceries anymore? You use your debit card and oftentimes get cash back. Later the cash flies out of your hands without a thought on where it all went. $20 doesn’t take us a long way anymore. Paying cash for gas, maybe we’ll think twice about a leisurely drive when we just dropped $80 on gas. Who knows what will happen when we take this challenge?! I think I’ll do it, use cash only for the next week. Hopefully it’ll be a positive experience and I’ll be able to understand where all that money goes from week to week. I’ll let you know what happens.

Reap What You Sow

I told you we started a compost pile, didn’t I? My husband and I were in the kitchen last night. He saw me put aside some old coffee grounds that would later be put in the compost pile. He told me that he was at my dad’s house the other day and saw my dad putting his coffee grounds right in his plants. I shared with my husband that I didn’t have as much trash anymore, that I’m putting a lot of the vegetable/fruit peelings, egg shells and coffee grounds in the compost pile. I also shared with him that growing up I remember that my dad would put aside egg shells and coffee grounds to bring them outside for his plants. This ritual was just part of his life style. It was a discipline to him. And I must say that my dad has a green thumb. I don’t think there is anyone else who can garden as good as him. He has fruit galore in his backyard, and he can nurse a dying plant back to life in no time.

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