2011 June

Healthy Eating On A Budget

June 30, 2011 By Tracy Leave a Comment

photo credit idealweightsecrets.com

Healthy eating doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Just because you might be tightening your grip on your wallet these days doesn’t mean that you have to be loosening your belt. Although fast food might seem a fast and cheap way to eat it will eventually cost you more than you think. Eating healthy might take a bit more thought but eventually both your bank account and your waist line will thank you.

Eat at home

I promise that almost anything you make at home will be marginally healthier than anything you can get at a restaurant as long as you watch what you prepare. If you don’t feel as if you have time to cook every night then make a lot of food a few times a week and indulge on leftovers. Here’s another idea: grill up a week’s worth of chicken on Saturday and freeze it so that you can thaw it our and do whatever you want to it throughout the week. Check out my favorite food website for some great dinner ideas. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Food Tagged With: budget, costing, eat, eat healthy, eating, eating healthy, eating junk food, eventually, fast food, favorite food, food, food and drink, healthy, lunch, meaning, nutrition, street food

5 Best Songs About Money

June 29, 2011 By Alex Leave a Comment

photo credit: iphonespies.com

There are few things I love more than music and money. I have a ton of music; I wish I could say the same for money. When I’m stressed about money or finances in general, I turn to this playlist and let it all out. Without further ado, here are my favorite songs about money:

1) “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan

A timeless song about the evil of money and the troubles of the world. A very serious song, but when I’m at my lowest there’s nothing that soothes my soul like this track.

Best lyric: “..When death takes its toll, all the money you made, will never buy back your soul”

2) “Mo Money, Mo Problems” by Notorious B.I.G.

This song always cheers me up even though it’s about the problems of being rich (can they be that bad?). The late Notorious B.I.G. teamed up with P. Diddy and Mase to make this cheerful hip-hop anthem. B.I.G. explains that with more money and fame come more problems.

Best lyric: “..It’s like the more money we come across, the more problems we see”

3) “I Need a Dollar” by Aloe Blacc

The soulful Aloe Blacc sings of the pain of daily money and employment struggles. This song has appeared on several commercials and is the theme for the show How to Make It in America. With a classic blues feel brought into 2011, I can’t help but smile at how well Blacc lets out his pain about money.

Best lyric: “Please mister boss-man I need this job more than you know, but he gave me my last paycheck and sent me out the door”

4) “What I Got” by Sublime

The classic ‘90s anthem by Sublime captures everything wrong about being broke and struggling, but also finds peace in the one thing everyone does have: love. While it sounds cheesy, it helps to remember that when we have no money or luck, we still have the people we love.
Best lyrics: “Got to find a reason; a reason things went wrong. Got to find a reason why my money’s all gone.”

5) “Taxman” by The Beatles

If your after-tax paycheck seems like half of what you made, this is your anthem. The Beatles express the universal feeling of being robbed when it comes to taxes.

Best lyrics: “If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street. If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat.”

How about you? What are your favorite songs about money?

Filed Under: Entertainment, Featured Tagged With: best songs, music, songs about money

Rent-To-Own: How Your $700 Computer Can End Up Costing you $2000

June 28, 2011 By Tracy 3 Comments

photo credit aerotechnews.com

Most of us would quickly run the other way if a merchant told us they were going to charge us $2000 for an item that is only worth $700-$800. Our response, and rightly so, would probably be somewhere along the lines of “You are CRAZY if you think I’m going to spend that much on something that isn’t worth half of what you are charging.”

But the scary thing is, people do it all the time and don’t realize it. A recent study by Consumer Reports showed that it’s common for people to pay interest rates up to 300% on items purchased from “Rent to Own” companies – which can translate into spending 2-3 times more than an item is worth.

Rent- to- Own companies typically target those who can’t afford to pay the full up-front cost of an item and may have credit issues that prevent them from obtaining traditional financing. In an instant gratification society we are programmed and even encouraged to “buy now, pay later” – the trouble is, paying later comes with some pretty big drawbacks in this case.

Consider this: You need or want a laptop computer. Amazon.com lists a 15 inch Acer laptop for $473. A local Rent-to-own store will give it to you for “only” $24.99 a week for one year. It’s easier to come up with the $24.99 a week right? Maybe, but if you had saved $24.99 each week, you would have enough cash to pay for that computer in a little less than 5 months. If you pay the same amount through the Rental store over the course of a year, you will pay a whopping $1,299 for that same computer. That’s a pretty steep price to pay to have it five months sooner! In fact, it’s $824 more.

The thing that these merchants are counting on is that you are either in a bind (as in, your washing machine died and you must have another one quickly) or you are simply not paying close attention to the details and you just want it now.

So what do you think….is it worth paying three times as much to go the rent-to-own route? In what situation does this make sense for the consumer? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Filed Under: Credit, Featured, Scams and Alerts

Smartphones – The True Cost Of Owning One

June 24, 2011 By Tracy 1 Comment

assorted smart phones iphone blackberry droid

photo credit cameraphonesplaza.com

I saw a statistic recently that surprised me. According to this news release nearly 1/3 of Americans own smartphones such as iPhone, Blackberry or an Android phone. Projections estimate that 1 in 2 Americans could own a Smartphone by the end of 2011.

With all those smart (yet media- hungry) phones out there , I can’t help but wonder what this is doing to the budget bottom lines of the average American consumer? Phones that use media and data always come with an extra cost.

I did a little bit of digging and found out that the average smartphone today will cost the consumer between $150 and $300 (usually with a 2 year contract). Data plans to support those phones typically run in the neighborhood of $25-$40 extra each month. What that means, is for most people, it will run $800 or more over two years to have a smart phone over a basic feature phone. If you add the cost of adding “apps” to that phone (We covered some of the best free apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry here) over two years, chances are it’s going to be much higher.

With all that being said, I have no question that for some people, owning a smartphone is a worthwhile expenditure. Those who travel frequently or need to work on the go will undoubtedly benefit from the convenience and productivity. BUT, for those who own them simply for the fun of it, can you truly afford that expense?

I gave up my smart phone for over 18 months to save money. I wasn’t happy about it, but it was more important for me to be able to purchase a house. When I did elect to go back to my smartphone, it was because I received a small unexpected windfall that covered the purchase of the phone and roughly the first year of upgraded service up-front. With that paid for, the cost for me is minimal over the life of the phone and totally worth it.

The key, as with any expense you add to your budget, is to determine if it’s truly a “need” or a “want”. Believe me when I say, I didn’t WANT to give up my smartphone for the 18 months that I did, but I was aware that my financial goals were more important. With those goals in mind, it was a luxury that I was willing to do without temporarily.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts…..do you consider your smartphone a “must-have” or is it something you could do without to make a difference in your budget?

Filed Under: Entertainment, Featured, Money Saving Tips, Shopping Tagged With: android phone, Blackberry, cost of Android phone, cost of blackberry, cost of iPhone, cost of smartphone, iphone, smartphone

Shop Without Becoming a Shopoholic

June 23, 2011 By Tracy Leave a Comment

photo credit justchickflicks.com

The word “shopaholic” has been distorted, and in some cases even glorified. In many people’s minds it now describes a person who simply likes to shop rather than a person with a serious problem. In fact, with scenes like this, from the movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” where risky spending habits are touched on with humor, it can be easy to forget that unsafe spending habits can land you in a lot of trouble. So, with a real meaning of “shopaholic” in mind, here are some easy ways you can watch your spending and work towards living a debt-free and guilt-free lifestyle.

Need vs. Want – There are in fact some things that we need in life. However, much of what people spend their money on are simply things they want. If you are really trying to pare down your spending then start asking your self this simple question. “Do I NEED this, or do I WANT this?” This is the first part of recognizing how you are spending your money. Once you separate your purchases into needs and wants, you can make better buying decisions by taking care of your needs first and then determining if your wants are worth the cash. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Shopping Tagged With: align, becoming a, business, captions, confession, confessions of a shopaholic, credit, credit card, credit card debt, debt, film, shop, shopaholic, shopoholic, shopping, shopping addiction, shopping smart, simples, spending habits, spent, without

10 Frugal and Fun Lunch Ideas

June 21, 2011 By Tracy Leave a Comment

photo credit mindware.com

Are you tired of the same old stuff for lunch every day? We all know it’s more economical to pack a lunch than it is to eat out, but it’s easy to get into a lunch rut. For those who are committed to saving money by packing, but are lacking in the inspiration department when it comes to lunches, here are 10 ideas to spice up your lunch time meal! Got some lunch ideas of your own? Be sure to share them in the comments!

Homemade mac and cheese - who doesn’t like macaroni and cheese? If you buy it frozen or do the nasty “easy mac” stuff it can get kind of expensive. You can actually make it yourself quite easily and it’s delicious (Not to mention more nutritious). One of my favorite ways to make it is with velveeta, rotel, corn and black beans and make a “mexican mac and cheese”
Ramen Noodles – you will never hear someone claim that Ramen is gourmet, but by and large they are CHEAP. Here are 50 Ramen Noodle Recipes to get you started….That’s a lot of lunches. [Read more...]

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“Spend More Money” Say Economists

June 17, 2011 By Tracy Leave a Comment

photo credit thesmartwallet.com

Unless you’ve been living away from all media sources for the last couple of years, you are probably aware that Americans have been in the midst of a Recession. Foreclosure rates have been up, lending has been tighter, and consumer spending has been slow. For the last couple of years “frugal” has been a hip buzzword – everyone wants to be seen as a smart spender with thrifty habits.

A recent article in USA Today, indicates that “More credit card debt might be good for the economy” After all we’ve heard concerning the evils of debt along with stories of people losing their houses and cars or being unemployed for 2 years it comes as a shock! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Debt, Featured, Shopping Tagged With: avoiding debt, buy, credit, debt, economic outlook, economic recovery, economics, goods and services, recession, smart spending, spend more, Spending, spending habits, using credit

5 Frugal Father’s Day Gift Ideas

June 15, 2011 By Tracy Leave a Comment

photo credit fatherdaycards.org

Father’s day is just around the corner and that means many of us are scrambling to find a gift that says “you’re great dad” while still sticking to a limited budget. I would love to have the funds to buy my dad that iPad he’s been eying, but looking at my budget bottom line, it’s not going to happen. If you want to show your dad how special he is without spending a ton of money, here are a few ideas to get you started.

The gift of time. Dad’s love spending time with their kids whether they are young or grown with families of their own. Find an activity that you know your dad enjoys and do it with him. Play a round of golf, take a hike, tackle a building project, help him in the garden – the possibilities are endless if you know what your dad enjoys. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Holiday Spending Tagged With: cheap gift ideas, dad, Father's Day, Father's Day Gifts, frugal gift ideas, frugal gifts, gift ideas, gift ideas for dad, gifts for men

Car Shopping: Choosing the Right Car Part Two

June 15, 2011 By Tracy 1 Comment

photo credit doityourself.com

In my first post, we took a look at the process of choosing the right vehicle for your needs and for your pocket- book. This time, as the process goes further for me, the process goes further for you. I want to now take a look at the top things you need to know when going to purchase a vehicle. This process is only slightly less important that deciding where you will live. Once you sign on that dotted line, you are stuck with that car until either A. you pay it off, or B. you trade it in. Either way you want to make a decision that you do not end up regretting. With so many choices, and so many choices for any budget, how do you make that decision? Here are a few things to consider when going through this process that hopefully will make this decision less ominous and more informed.

1. Make sure you are getting the right vehicle. Not to beat a dead horse here, but you could end up an unhappy owner if you have not carefully thought through this decision. Again how many people will be traveling in the car regularly? How much luggage or other cargo will you be carrying? What is the purpose of the vehicle? All these things are very important in this process. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Financial Tips and Tricks, Shopping Tagged With: auto dealers, auto shopping, buying, buying a new car, captions, car, car part, car shopping, cars, choosing, chosen, getting a good price on a new car, hard, how to buy a new car, how to buy a used car, new cars, right cars, shopping, simple steps, the right, tips for car shopping, used car shopping, used cars, vehicles

Car Shopping: Choosing the Right Car Part One

June 13, 2011 By Tracy 2 Comments

photo credit thebuzzmedia.com

Recently, my wife and I began what will most likely be an interesting, frustrating and partially fun process – shopping for a car, while looking for a new apartment. Fun you say? Sounds more like a hammer to my big toe. You are probably right, but I am trying to look at the Bright side.

We are still newly married so everything is a new experience and with each one we learn about each other, and we grow together more, (even through the arguments.) Now that I have gushed about my married life, and how in love we are as a couple, it’s time to get down to business.

Step one of this process is picking the right car. Step two is shopping for that car. (Step three and four will be shopping for and finding the right apartment, but those are different posts to come later!). Today we will take a look at step one; how to pick the right car. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Money Saving Tips, Shopping Tagged With: captions, car, car buying, car buying tips, car part, car shopping, car shopping tips, cars, choosing, chosen, how to buy a new car, mistake, new cars, right cars, saving money on a new car, shopping, Shopping for a new car, sports cars, the right