Search Results for: blog the little things do affect your budget

How Christmas Creep Can Cost You Part 2

Yesterday I talked a little bit about how Christmas creep, the practice of retail stores displaying and selling Christmas and holiday items months in advance, is not only annoying but dangerous to your budget. Christmas creep can cost you, and I shared two of the main ways that it does. There are more than two ways that Christmas creep can affect your budget, and knowing how it does can help you avid the pitfalls. Wanting the Latest and Greatest If you rush out and purchase your Christmas items right away, you may be proud to have everything done so soon. … Continue reading →

Using Trials as Learning Tools

As I mentioned the other day, we’ve been slammed by a lot of health issues lately. It almost seems like I could list one for every letter of the alphabet, but that would be too depressing. Instead, I want to think about some of the positive things that have come from it, like the things we’ve learned. As a result of numerous doctor visits, my children now have a better understanding of their bodies and how the various organ systems work. They’ve always been the type to ask questions, and so, ask they have—I feel a little sorry for the … Continue reading →

Small Changes That Can Make a Big Difference

With all of the attention that big-picture financial issues like the debt ceiling, social security, retirement planning, the real estate market, and so on, it can sometimes seem like the small financial decisions that each of us make many times each day do not have all that much of an impact. Those little things do matter, though, because both the good things and the bad things add up over time. By recognizing that even small financial decisions can greatly affect out big picture financial situation, we can learn to treat those every day choices with more care. Suze Orman, a … Continue reading →

Marriage Preparation Classes- Part 2

Yesterday we touched on the value of marriage preparation classes for those coming from divorced parents. However, even where a couple does have a positive model to follow, marriage preparation classes are useful. Both our son and daughter went with their respective partners to marriage preparation classes while they were engaged and found them extremely helpful in giving them a clearer picture of what marriage is all about. The classes raised things they may not have thought about as well as identifying traits of each person that will affect the way they react in a given situation. For example, it … Continue reading →

Fold Those Clothes to Save

Sometimes it is the little things that can help you save money, sometimes without you really realizing it. Taking care of items can help them to last longer, of course, but did you know that folding certain items of clothing can actually keep them looking good and extend their life? So throw those hangers away, or at least save them for certain items while you fold others. There are two ways that folding clothing can extend its life. The first is that it puts less pressure on the clothing fibers than does hanging. You can easily stretch out a top … Continue reading →

Handle Stress in Your Marriage

With high mortgages, job losses and the economic situation putting further stress on people, marriages are being affected. How do we cope with the stresses of life and the changes that occur? Some people have seen their future savings for a home or retirement on their investments in the stock market eaten into. Others are struggling day to day just to keep food on the table and the family clothed. I know what that one is like. We spent many years in that situation where experts told you to save but there simply wasn’t anything to save because we’d chosen … Continue reading →

Evaluating Quality in Used Items

Not only can you save money by buying used items, but you can often get a better quality product that when you buy something new. There are two reasons for this, and I’ll give you the details below. Buying used items may be hard to do at first because of any misallocations you might have about getting things second hand. So if you need to, start small, with bright items that are easy to clean, or items that are easy to consider used, such as books or DVDs. You’ll soon see that there is plenty of good quality merchandise to … Continue reading →

Coping with No More Coupon Inserts

Coupons can be invaluable for saving lots of money on your grocery food budget. But now there are less coupons available, at least in the Sunday newspaper. How do you feel about the Valassis Company’s decision to pull the RedPlum coupon inserts out of the Sunday newspaper? The areas affected since last month are major cities in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Maryland, and Texas. This has definitely affected me in a regional sense, because when I look for coupons, I usually buy the Philadelphia Inquirer for coupons, and sometimes purchase more than one … Continue reading →

Recession Effects on Marriage – Your Choice

Experts are coming out with prophecies of doom and gloom about recession and its effect on marriage. Dr. Matthew Bambling, an Australian psychologist from Queensland University of Technology, has waned that ‘the impact of the economic crisis is bound to put emotional pressure on relationships.’ But it doesn’t have to. Those of us who have been through loss of jobs, increased interest rates and problems trying to buy a home, have found that those hard times can actually bring a couple closer, if we let it. Talking recently with friends we laughed over some of the struggles we had financially … Continue reading →

How the Economy Can Affect Your Marriage

An economy in recession can put a lot of stress on a marriage, and not just from increased worry about paying the bills, although of course money worries can always create some tension. In tough times, personality differences, even differences in gender may make the situation ripe for conflict. Let’s talk about this issue and how we can recognize when the economy is affecting our marriages. In a tough economy there may be stress over where the money is spent. If you have one spouse who is a saver and the other who likes to spend, the difference between the … Continue reading →