Hope for your financial life and beyond

How to Save Money Without Losing Track of What It’s For

June 27, 2022 by 13 Comments

One question I routinely get asked by friends and readers of this site is, “Can you teach me how to save money without losing track of what it’s for? How do you account for your money when you are saving for an emergency or for a future need?”

how to save moneyThe problem boils down to this issue: you have to keep track of what money is to be used for what purpose.

When you deposit money into your savings account, it gets mixed in with all the other money in the savings account. How do you keep the boys separated and make sure the money designated for the new dishwasher actually ends up going for the new dishwasher and not the car insurance or the baseball card fund?

Like many others, this frustrated me too. But then I remembered something my parents used to do that helped with this. So I took their system and enhanced it for the digital age. It completely fixed my issues and has been a lifesaver ever since.

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How Long Do Common Household Items Last?

March 20, 2021 by 40 Comments

Did you have an appliance or other household items that need repairing? We have had several big household items hit our budget over the years. The washer-dryer combo, a new refrigerator and a new stove have all needed to be replaced over the years. And who could forget the really big one – the new heating and cooling units that brought in a new air conditioning and furnace. Wow – those were really expensive!

All in all, having lived in three homes over the course of our marriage, my wife and I have had to replace the following list of items:

3 new air conditioning units, 2 new furnaces, 2 new refrigerators, a new stove, a new dishwasher, a new microwave, a new garbage disposal, 2 new water heaters, a new dryer, 2 new washing machines (bad luck here), 5 new vacuums (we buy the cheaper ones), 4 new televisions, 2 new garage doors (main and basement), 3 new lawnmowers and countless other electronic devices (computers, iDevices, clocks, etc.)

In case you didn’t know, this is the reality of owning a home. All these items will break at some point. When that occurs, you will either have to a) do without or b) replace them. So it may be helpful before you purchase to know how long these items will last.

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Should I Save For Retirement or the Kid’s College First?

November 2, 2020 by 27 Comments

I’m a very linear person. My default mode is to move in a chronological order, doing things step by step according to a predetermined plan. So it’s confusing when trying to decide whether to save for retirement first or our kid’s college.

save for retirementOn the one hand, it’s been drilled into me that saving for retirement is important. However, I know the costs of college tuition are increasing every year with no end in sight. I’d love for my kids to graduate from college debt free and feel an obligation as a parent to help with some of my own money to make that happen.

College is a nearer-term goal than retirement. That fits with my linear life narrative. Prepare for the financial situations that are coming sooner and push off financial decisions that can be made later. For most people, college costs will come before retirement costs so shouldn’t we be focusing on that first?

It seems logical to prepare for college first but I’m going to suggest today that we should do the illogical. The exact opposite should happen. Save for retirement first and college second.

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Sinking Fund: The Best Way to Save Money for Christmas Gifts (or anything)

January 12, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Do you hate Christmas shopping? About ten years ago, that was my wife and I. It took enormous amounts of time and energy. But more than that, it played havoc on our monthly budget. In December, we’d have to come up with money for Christmas gifts out of nowhere while still paying all our other bills. It was a real challenge that often led to frustration and even overspending on gifts. Thankfully, the frustration vanished the day we heard about a simple money management technique called a sinking fund.

sinking fundCreating a sinking fund isn’t a new concept. However, it took me to my mid-30s to hear about it. In essence, a sinking fund is a savings fund you create for the express purpose of purchasing something in the future. As we discovered, it’s a really easy technique anyone can learn.

And it’s also one of the best practices to help you eliminate overspending and pay for bills, gifts or other budget items that come infrequently. Because certain items come infrequently, you need to plan in advance for them. That is why this article is so important to read now. Follow what I suggest now and  you will be prepared for next Christmas.

This technique has revolutionized how my wife and I pay for things. You need to know how it works. At the end of the post, I’ll include the template we use to keep track of our savings.

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How to Save One Thousand Dollars in a Month

September 25, 2019 by 25 Comments

Are you serious about getting out of debt and building a strong financial future? If so, then you must save money on a regular basis. The best part is you don’t have to begin with much. All you need to do for starters is to save one thousand dollars. That will give you some cushion and breathing space which you can then build on.

Speaking of building, when I worked construction I learned that every building requires a solid foundation. For your financial life, that foundation is savings. Without adequate savings you will struggle to get out of debt and will always be susceptible to emergency situations.

save one thousand dollarsNow I know for most people the process of saving money isn’t a sexy financial move. We’d rather spend money on gadgets or entertainment or experiences that give us an emotional high. Saving money and leaving it in the bank is an emotional blah.

To save one thousand dollars in a month may or may not sound like a daunting task. Some of you may be struggling to pay your basic bills. To save one thousand dollars may as well be like saving one million in your eyes.

But be encouraged. You can save one thousand dollars quickly. In fact, you can do it in only one month. Here’s how.

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What Is a Savings Account and Does My Child Need One?

August 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment

As part of my return to blogging after a brief absence, I’m going to be writing a series of posts that answer some basic money questions.  Even for seasoned consumers, it’s important to return to the basics from time to time, if nothing more than to solidify in our minds why we do these things. So today I’m going to be answering the question what is a savings account?

And I’ll be answering some FAQs at the end – one in particular about savings accounts for children.

Savings 101

what is a savings accountOther than spend, there is no more basic activity to do with money than to save it. People save for many reasons. But the main purpose of saving is to have a store of money for needs, for wants or for emergencies.

You can save money anywhere. If you are like most people, you probably have a small amount of cash at your home. But the majority of people who want to save large amounts of cash do so by opening a savings account at local bank.

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Filed Under: Kids and Money, Saving Tagged With: ,

How to Save Money on Car Insurance for Teens

February 8, 2016 by 4 Comments

In about a month, our oldest child will turn 15. In our state, that means you can apply for a learner’s permit to drive. She hasn’t expressed a big desire to do this yet but I know it’s coming. So naturally I’ve started looking into car insurance for teens to see how much another driver in the household is going to cost me.

car insurance for teensWhat I’ve found is there are many ways to save money on car insurance for teens. There are reasons why your car insurance rates will go up, chiefly because you have an inexperienced driver behind the wheel. Insurance companies are taking on a higher risk of having a payout. Your teens’ enthusiasm for being able to drive coupled with their lack of skill makes accidents more likely.

Short of holding onto the keys yourself, there is no way around paying more on your car insurance with a teen in the house. But you can take steps to lessen the amount of increase. The good news is most of these steps will require the help of your teen. Getting them engaged in the process will go along way in teaching them responsibility. They also might learn some cool financial lessons along the way.

11 Ways to Save on Car Insurance for Teens

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Save Money on Food by Ignoring the Best By Date

May 4, 2015 by 14 Comments

Have you ever wondered about the best by date on food? I learned something recently that made me rethink what I thought about that. It all happened the other weekend when I took our church youth group to the Georgia division of the Midwest Food Bank.

The Midwest Food Bank is a faith-based organization whose mission is to alleviate hunger and poverty by gathering and distributing food donations to not-for-profits and disaster sites without cost to the recipients. They distribute nearly $7 million dollars of food each month – food that is donated by food manufacturers, distributors, grocers, community and organizational food drives and from individual donors.

best by dateSeveral times during the night the kids noticed the items we were packaging looked old. The mini-Snickers bars we were counting by the thousands had Valentine’s wrappers on them. The cardboard packaging of the Cheez-It boxes was crushed and the Pop-Tarts boxes were open.

The director explained that as long as the interior packaging is not compromised the item is safe to use. He also mentioned this astonishing fact – Americans throw out 40% of the food whose label says it’s past it best by date. That’s millions and millions of dollars worth of food being discarded each year.

But should all that food be thrown out? How do you know whether it’s safe to eat?

As you are going to see it all depends on the wording.

Understanding Food Product Dating

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Would You Use Cheap Toilet Paper For a Penny?

January 7, 2015 by 43 Comments

Would you save money by buying ultra cheap toilet paper? I had an encounter recently at the grocery store that led me to consider it.

Several weeks ago I’m in the checkout line waiting to pay for my groceries. As I’m loading the items onto the conveyer belt a sweet, older lady steps in line behind me. She had only a few items in her hand to purchase so I immediately felt bad that she would have to wait for me – because I had a fully loaded shopping cart.

cheap toilet paperShe began to comment on the size of my haul to which I’ve come to have a standard reply – “Yeah, it takes a lot when you are shopping to feed six.” But then she began to analyze my purchases. Evidently I’d done really well that week, as she was excited to see fresh fruits and vegetables in my cart and the assortment of buy-one-get-one products I snagged.

Then she asked me if I’d got “the penny item” on sale that day. I had a vague recollection of seeing somewhere along the way that my store promoted a penny item but I’d never paid attention to it. I don’t usually coupon so stuff like that is never on my radar.

So I told her, “No, I missed that” to which she proceeded to tell me that it was a four-pack of toilet paper. Not only that but she would go get me one if I wanted it.

Oh boy…what to do?

Should I Let Her Get the Cheap Toilet Paper?

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Guess Which Age Group Is Starting To Save?

June 30, 2014 by 30 Comments
Young woman with broken down car

Will you have enough saved if this emergency happens?

You may have seen this article last week in the Wall Street Journal that detailed the current status of Americans and their emergency savings. I probably don’t have to describe to you the article’s tone. Your intuition tells you it was filled with negative statistics.

The study from Bankrate.com showed that:

26% of Americans have no emergency savings…

66% of Americans don’t have the recommended six months of expenses saved…

Those with enough saved to cover expenses for three months shrank to 40% in 2014, compared to 45% in 2013 and…

Only 46% of those earning $75,000 or above have six months of expenses saved.

That last one is especially disturbing. $75,000 is a fine yearly income. That equates to 300k earned in 4 years time, assuming no raises or bonuses. Throw a tax refund or two in there and you are telling me 54% of the people in this situation can’t save six months of expenses in four years? That’s fascinating.

Of particular note, guess who the most likely savers are turning out to be according to the study?

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How We Are Paying For Summer Vacations With Cash

May 27, 2014 by 32 Comments
summer vacations

Niagara Falls

Our school is out for the year, so for me that means summer has arrived. I know the official start date of summer here in North America isn’t until June 21st. The astronomers and weathermen can push that date all they want. Once the kids start sleeping until 9 am or later, I know something has changed.

Summer brings with it summer vacations, which our family thoroughly enjoys. We usually take one big trip (a week+) and one short trip (3-4 days) each summer. This year will be no different as we will be embarking on a week long trek from Atlanta to Niagara Falls and back, followed later in the summer by a weekend cruise to the Bahamas.

Neither of those trips will be cheap, although we did get an incredible deal on the cruise (more on that in a moment). Nevertheless, we won’t be going into debt for either of them. All our vacation expenditures will be paid for in cash (through using our debit card).

How are we doing that?

Two words: “planning” and “saving.”

Summer Vacations With Cash

Here’s how we pay for all our summer vacations with cash:

Early Planning Leads to Deals

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