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A folded stack of twenty-dollar bills rests inside a miniature wire grocery cart. Allocating a strict $20 grocery budget highlights the tradeoff between dollar-store item count and discount supermarket package volume when stocking essential household staples. Twenty dollars doesn’t buy nearly as much at the grocery store as it once did, but choosing where to shop can still make a noticeable difference. Dollar Tree attracts budget-conscious shoppers with low starting prices, while Aldi competes with […]
One objective of tax planning is to limit income taxes paid during one’s lifetime. To my mind, it is exceedingly difficult to present an entire adult lifetime tax arc in a single projection or spreadsheet. This is for many reasons, including the fact that we don’t know the date of death. What I think has […]
Frugal people have a reputation for doing things a little differently. They wait before buying, they ask odd questions in checkout lines, and they have rules for everything. From the outside, it can look a bit extreme. But these “weird” rules exist for a reason. Each one is a tiny speed bump that stops money from leaving your account on autopilot. You don’t have to follow all of them. Try a couple that fit your life and see what happens. The 48-Hour Rule When you want something that isn’t an essential (or even if it is!), you wait two full days before buying it. About half the time, the urge fades, and you forget it ever mattered. If you still want it after 48 hours, you can buy it without guilt. The No-Spend Weekend Pick a weekend where you spend nothing beyond what’s already planned, like bills and groceries you already have. Visit the park, cook from the pantry, borrow a movie from the library. Many people find it’s easier than expected, and the savings show up fast. The Cost-Per-Use Test Divide an item’s price by how many times you’ll realistically use it. A $120 pair of boots worn 200 times costs 60 cents per wear. A $25 top worn twice costs $12.50 each time. The “expensive” item is sometimes the better deal. The Hours-Of-Work Test Translate a price into the hours you’d have to work to earn it. If you take home $20 an hour, a $100 purchase costs you five hours of your life. Suddenly, that impulse buy feels a lot different. The 30-Day Wish List For bigger purchases, write the item and the date on a list. Check back in 30 days. If you still want it and can afford it without stress, cross it off and buy it. Anything you’ve forgotten about stays off the list. One In, One Out Before bringing something new home, something similar leaves. Buy a new sweater, donate or sell an old one. This keeps clutter down and makes you think twice about whether you really need it. Feeling overwhelmed by clutter? Join the 30 Bags in 30 Days Declutter Challenge and take the first step toward a more organized home! This free printable makes it easy to stay on track with one simple goal each day—no stress, just steady progress. Download it now and start clearing space for what truly matters. The Pantry-First Week Once a month, plan meals around what you already have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer. You’ll use up forgotten items and cut that week’s grocery bill to just fresh basics like milk and produce. Like this: Every Week We Have a Clean-Out Supper and It’s Changed the Way I Think About Meal Planning Save Every Raise and Windfall When you get a raise, a tax refund, or a bonus, send at least half of it straight to savings before it becomes part of your regular spending. You never feel the pinch because
Firstly, thank you to everybody who purchased the new book Household Cybersecurity over this last week! If you have any questions about the material, feel free to ask, as you’re probably not the only person with that same question. If you found the book to be helpful, please consider leaving a review on Amazon (or Goodreads), as that’s the best way to help others find the book. Other Recommended Reading 4 Practical Uses of TIPS […]
As Benjamin Franklin famously put it in a Constitution Center letter from 1789: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” these two things, death and taxes, are certainties … Read more
Frost cloth can protect tender vegetables from freezing temperatures, but heavy fabric resting directly on seedlings may damage their stems and leaves. Simple wire or PVC hoops keep the material elevated while helping trap warmth around the plants. Gold Picture/Shutterstock You check the weather forecast and see something no fall gardener wants to see: temperatures dropping below freezing overnight. Your lettuce, spinach, and other cool-season vegetables are still growing, so you grab a frost blanket […]
Thinning crowded fall seedlings helps prevent competition for water, sunlight, and nutrients. Snipping unwanted plants at soil level instead of pulling them can protect the delicate roots of nearby vegetables. ABO PHOTOGRAPHY/Shutterstock You’ve planted your fall vegetable seeds, kept the soil moist, and finally watched tiny green shoots emerge from the ground. There’s just one problem: dozens of seedlings are growing practically on top of each other. Removing perfectly healthy little plants might seem wasteful, […]
Being frugal is not the same as being cheap. For me being frugal means being intentional rather than wasteful with your resources. It’s a mindset that isn’t just about money, though there are often financial implications. Everyone’s frugal looks different. Have you ever looked at the way someone else is being frugal and thought, “I would/could never do that!” I know I have! I’ll even share a few examples if you promise not to get […]
Budgeting doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need a finance degree, an expensive app, or a complicated spreadsheet to figure out where your money goes. You just need a plan. I’ve learned that having a budget isn’t about cutting out everything you enjoy. It’s about knowing what you can afford, staying on top…
DIY Investing vs. A Financial Planner: What Each Really Costs You Over 25 Years Are you wondering whether to hire a financial planner or DIY invest on your own? I hear this question all the time, and it’s personal for me right now, which I’ll explain below. Start with the number that gets everyone’s attention: a 1% fee. The average financial advisor charges approximately one percent of assets under management. It sounds like nothing. But on a $500,000 portfolio, that’s $5,000 a year, and over 25 years it can cost you more than half a million dollars. And that’s assuming that your portfolio value remains constant! This article may contain affiliate links which means that – at zero cost to you – I might earn a commission if you sign up or buy through the affiliate link. Does that mean you should never hire a financial planner? Not exactly. Let’s break down who should DIY, who should hire help, and the middle option that most people overlook. The Math: What a 1% Fee Really Costs Say you invest $500,000 and earn 7% a year for 25 years. With no advisory fee, you end up with about $2.7 million. With a 1% fee, your return drops to about 6%, and you end up with about $2.1 million. Same portfolio, same market. Roughly half a million dollars or more goes to fees. The Case for DIY Investing Self-directed, or DIY investing has a lot going for it. Lower cost. A simple portfolio of low-cost index funds or ETFs can cost a fraction of a percent per year. A basic U.S. stock market index fund like Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) has an expense ratio of 0.03%, while an international stock ETF like Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets Index Fund ETF Shares (VEA) charges the same low rate. On a $100,000 investment, the annual expense ratio of 0.03% equals $30. No additional fees apply! Full control. You decide what you own and when you change it. With a modicum of financial and investment education, you can learn how to to invest, and decide which investments fit your goals. Simplicity. A basic three-fund portfolio of U.S. stocks, international stocks and bonds does the job. Since each ETF owns thousands of individual companies, three ETFs offer excellent diversification. Solid performance. If you worry that a planner will deliver higher returns, that’s debatable. Plenty of data suggests index funds, which mirror the market, generally outperform most actively managed strategies. Tax efficiency. Taxes also make a difference when investing. In a taxable investment brokerage account, trading can rack up short term gains, which might up your tax bill. Whereas, investing in index funds, which have minimal turnover, tends to keep taxable gains at bay. [embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=oHvlSW9iDCM&si=Ko7nc9FUtbfSzGmy[/embed] The Case for a Financial Planner A good planner is not just building your portfolio. You’re paying for something very different from asset management. Behavior coaching. The biggest wealth killer isn’t necessarily fees. It’s panic selling in a
I knew that September was going to be a tighter-than-normal month for our family’s finances. We live on last month’s income, so I knew at the beginning of September exactly how much we had to work with. I also knew that we would be having to spend money on several different stressful situations in the upcoming months. To help manage our tighter budget, I planned to have a lower-than-normal grocery budget in September. Our grocery […]
In September 2013, I shared our family’s transparent budget with the internet for the very first time. I’ve continued our real numbers nearly every month since then. Our budget looked completely different thirteen years ago compared to today, in numbers, method, and format. It’s normal for your budget to evolve over time, as your financial situation, your needs and your priorities change. A budget is there to serve you, not the other way around. What […]
For years we had our TV above our DIY electric fireplace. I know, I know, interior designers are probably cringing over this. Haha! It was fine until we decided that the placement was actually not ideal for the wall after rearranging our living room to be more toddler friendly. (Gotta keep eyes on her!) So we […] The post Budget Friendly Large Scale Canvas Artwork For Your Home For Less Than $100 first appeared on Whitney […]