@kayla-buell
active 6 years, 3 months agoForum Replies Created
-
I love the idea of gifting kids money or some kind of investment that will grow in the future. I can’t wait for our little one to get old enough to understand the basic concepts of saving up for things and teaching her financial lessons along the way!
How cool! I didn’t know you could sell gift cards online. That definitely makes sense. No point in holding onto a card that you’ll never use when you could trade it in for something else.
Now that I’ll be taking care of our newborn, I’ll be cutting back on my hours meaning we’ll have a whole lot less income coming in. For that reason, we’ll be taking a much closer look at our budget and reducing as many unnecessary costs as possible.
I’ve heard that these aren’t worth it, but I’ve honestly never really looked into them. This is the first car I’ve purchased so prior to this one all my leases included the maintenance, but I think I’d rather pay for what I actually DO need as opposed to throwing away money every month if I don’t need to.
I’ve tried all kinds of apps but my all-time favorite way of tracking my money is on a plain old Excel spreadsheet where I have to manually enter all of our information. It’s a little tedious at times, but I find that spending a little effort putting all that info in shows me that I’m committed to keeping track of our finances and that I’m making it a top priority.
Oh heck no! LOL 🙂 I have zero problem asking my friends for their share of whatever it is we agree to do. I think it’s just important to communicate all of the details up front. Before you make that reservation, say, “hey…I’m gunna put this on my card, but I need you guys to pay be back within x amount of days or I’ll be hounding you.” But I also like Antoinette’s advice above. If you’re not comfortable going after the money that’s due to you, it would be better to just wait until you have it upfront.
I think the biggest thing to keep in mind when negotiating a raise is that your employer should only give you a raise if you deserve one. Therefore, you’ve gotta go into any kind of meeting with your boss with clear examples of your successes and what makes you deserving of that raise. Did you increase sales by x percent? Did you reduce costs by x percent? Bring some real statistics with you and your boss will be a whole lot more willing to give you more money.
Yes! I’m with you right there! The other day our A/C broke and we had to come up with $300+ to fix that…then a few weeks later, our cat’s emergency vet visit set us back another $300. Definitely stresses me out when I have to deal with these unexpected expenses during the holidays, but at least you’ve got a little emergency fund that should help! As soon as the holidays are over, I’ll be working on creating a bigger emergency fund for our family.
I’m on the Dave Ramsey plan and yep – that’s what he teaches. Pay off debt before contributing to retirement. I’m currently in the same boat because I’m contributing to retirement and still have about $12k of debt left to pay (my car). I’m trying to convince my hubby to temporarily stop our retirement contributions until we’ve finished paying off the debt.
The good news for you is that if you’ve been contributing even a little bit at your age, you’re definitely better off than most people. I think you ought to finish paying off your debt and then start tackling retirement. Watching yourself make progress will definitely motivate you to finish paying it all off and get back into the swing of things in terms of your 401k.
Oooo a pup on a plane is definitely going to be an extra expense. I have a lot of friends who swear by AirBnB to save money on their out-of-town stays. I think that sites like Groupon and Living Social also have pretty good deals on hotels too. As far as flights go, I just try to book as far in advance as possible, but I haven’t done much traveling in a while.
Goodness I’ve had the same savings account since I was like 16 years old lol. When it comes to my regular banking accounts (checking/savings) the interest I earn on my savings is so little that I’ve never thought of looking to switch.
I’ve always been a little hesitant to buy trips on Groupon or Living Social, but they always look like they have good deals. A lot of my friends use Air BNB when they travel and I’ve been told it saves them so much money when traveling.
OMG what an awesome idea, lady! I agree 100% that that’s better than a gift you don’t really need. I always get so stressed out about money during the holidays and this year with a new baby arriving in 2 or 3 weeks, money is definitely tight. My mom to this day still insists on buying my hubby and I at least a few things, but I always struggle to come up with ideas of gifts that I need because well, I don’t really NEED anything. But paying a bill, that’s ALWAYS helpful. Maybe I’ll ask her to pay my co-pay from a recent doctor’s visit lol #adulting
