Finance

Many people find themselves in debt after the holiday season. Often, it was unintentional, or for many in tough economic times, it is the only way they can get through the season. In any event, it is done and over worth, and now it must be dealt with. Debt can spiral out of control the longer one avoids it. These steps will help you deal with your holiday debt, and help you become debt-free.

STEP ONE: Gather all your bills and cards.

If you don’t have your more recent statements yet, get online and retrieve one. Take all your cards and store them in a safe place. You must commit to not incur any more debt while you are paying off your holiday debt.

STEP TWO: Make a list of your debts.

List all your cards, their balances, interest rates, minimum payments and payment due dates. This will give you a clear picture of your debts. Add up your total debt and you total minimum payments due each month.

STEP THREE: Go over your budget.

Go over your entire budget and see how much you can allocate to credit cards. Can you cut out some extra’s while you are paying off your holiday debt? Perhaps you may want to consider picking up some extra hours at work or even taking on a second job. Selling unwanted items on craigslist or ebay can also bring in some extra cash. Use this extra money to pay off your holiday debt.

STEP FOUR: Pay off your smallest balance credit card first.

Order your credit cards from lowest balance to highest balance. Take that minimum payment and double it if you can, or pay as much on this card as possible. Any extra money should go to this card until it is paid off. Once this debt is paid off, move on to the next card with the lowest balance.

STEP FIVE: Pay the minimum on the rest of the cards.

Pay only the minimum on your other cards as all your extra cash should go toward your smallest balance.

STEP SIX: Start a Holiday Savings Account.

Calculate what you need or want to spend for the next holiday season and start saving. This will help you avoid falling into debt again as the next holiday season approaches. Find a high interest savings account, or open a CD (Certificate of Deposit) if you are able.

STEP SEVEN: Realize that holidays are not about spending money, but being with family and friends.

Many people get swept up in the holiday shopping season, but it is important to remember that the holidays are not about material items, but being with family and friends.

Congratulations on taking the first step to paying off your holiday debt! You can do it if you put your mind to it and work at it.

Want to save money on your food budget? Check out these cheap and easy recipes for meals that will cost you less than $5.

Money is a concern for most people now, and as a result food is often one of the first things that people sacrifice. But eating on a budget does not mean you have to give up good taste. Below are recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each of which can be made for five dollars or less.

Breakfast Burrittos

Step 1: Scramble eggs. 
Step 2: Decide on other fillings. At this point you can add sliced ham, onions, tomatoes, peppers. Choose whatever is in season and what is on sale. 
Step 3: Add cheese
Step 4: Cook tortilla shell. This can be done quickly by the desired number of tortillas between two napkins and microwaving for approximately 30 seconds
Step 5: Fill tortilla shell with eggs, fillings and cheese.

Polish Sausage and Rice

Step 1: Simply slice polish sausage or kielbasa into rounds  a quarter of an inch to half a inch thick. 
Step 2: Place the sliced meat in a pot over medium heat.
Step 3: Add two tablespoons of butter and your favorite rice (Knorr brand is good).
Step 4: Add water according to rice package plus two tablespoons. 
Step 5: Cook until rice is soft. Meat should be cook through at this point. 

Hamburgers with Homemade Fries

Step 1: Season hamburger meat. Salt and pepper will do fine, but if you have Worcestershire sauce in your pantry this is a nice flavor addition. Also when fresh pepper and onions are in season these are very affordable and good to dice finely and add to ground beef. 
Step 2: Pat out hamburger. One pound of ground beef should make about four hamburgers. 
Step 3: Grill hamburgers outside if weather permits or inside using a griddle skillet. Cook over medium heat. Remember to cook the meat slow enough that it retains the flavor. 
Step 4: Wash potatoes.
Step 5: Peel potatoes and cut lengthwise into the desired shape. Wedges or slices slightly larger than fast food French fries work well. 
Step 6: Heat oil in skillet over medium/high heat. Oil should cover the entire bottom of the skillet. 
Step 7: Add potatoes to hot oil. Cook until light brown in color. 
Step 8: Remove hamburger from grill. Check to make sure that they are fully cooked (there should be no pink coloring). Place hamburger patty on buns and top with whatever is available - ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, cheese, onions, pickles.
Step 9: Remove potatoes from oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle salt over potatoes while still hot.

Other great meal ideas include:

Spaghetti
Meatloaf
Homemade Pizza
Omelets

One other thing to consider is going meatless one night a week. Add beans to your meal to get the needed protein.

Are you struggling to figure out how to plan meals for your large family without breaking the bank? Check out these tips!

Ideas to Plan Meals For A Large Family On A Budget

For families everywhere, and in every size, planning meals on a budget is a challenge. For large families, this is compounded exponentially.

-Decide that you are absolutely not a short order cook. This will mean that you will face the fact that you will probably, at least eight times out of ten times, not please everybody. You will wind up driving yourself crazy, using up half a meal here, half there, and ruining the budget.

-Tell everybody that it is a new day and that what is for supper is what is for supper and if anyone doesn't like it, there is plenty of peanut butter and jelly. If your family is like ours, you may have one or two picky eaters, one who will eat virtually anything, and the others who will whine and eat eventually. But, for the sake of sanity and money, stick to your guns.

-Make a menu for the week. Or two weeks if you can do it. We always try to get input from everybody and incorporate suggestions into the bi-weekly menu. Making a menu, then listing the ingredients needed as we go to the store for what we call "the big haul" helps keep the number of runs to the supermarket to a minimum.

-As you make your menu, check the specials. Go online, see what's on sale and work it into your list of ideal, almost-everybody-will-eat-them meals. It will take a bit of research, but you'll get better at it as you go along. Print out the coupons that the store offers.

-Armed with your menu, list, and coupons, go to the store with as little distraction as possible.  If you can leave the kids at home, do it. If you have to take a child or two, let them pick one item each-say, cereal-and then stick to the master list. Don't shop hungry. Don't shop if the kids are hungry. Don't let them hornswaggle you into all the swanky, sweet-tooth foods. Don't try to second guess yourself in the store. You made this list for a reason.

-When all the ingredients are bought, post the menu on the fridge. If you don't, you'll forget why you bought those three cans of diced tomatoes and go off budget trying to piece something together off the cuff. The kids will appreciate knowing what's for supper when they are heading out the house for school in the morning. Try to stick to the menu. Remember, you put a lot of thought into this.

-Make two good, solid meals with meat, veggie, and potatoes or pasta, then incorporate the leftovers elsewhere. If you make mushroom chicken, rice and broccoli on Monday, spaghetti on Tuesday, you can have chicken soup on Wednesday, and spaghetti casserole with cheese topping for Thursday. 

-Avoid prepackage quick meals. This should be obvious, but boxed meals are usually for four small helpings at most. They're just not economical. Get the ground beef, the macaroni noodles, the cheese and whip up a big casserole. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it almost as fast.

-Make a big stew or chili for at least two suppers a week. This will get rid of a lot of leftovers, and will get the veggies into the family at the same time. Homemade soup never gets old, because it never tastes quite the same each time. With biscuits or cornbread, it goes a long way and will stretch for those friends that the kids bring over at the last minute.

-Lastly, get the kids involved. When you are making good, plain meals, there is not much that they can do to mess them up and it's good practice. 

And, if you’re lucky, one day you might just be able to put your feet up and let them do the cooking!

Meals eaten outside of the home often cost several times the price of a home cooked meal. It is easy to stop at a restaurant when the kitchen at home is in disarray.

A clean kitchen can be a tool used to lower the amount of money spent eating out. Kitchen cleaning may not be extremely high on the household to do list. However, having a clean kitchen can pay off in hundreds of saved dollars each month.

Maintaining a clean kitchen creates an inviting environment that is easy to spend time in, and entertain friends. Having an unclean kitchen is one of the top for reasons that people decide to eat out. No one wants to clean extensively before preparing a meal. Here are three tips to help maintain a clean kitchen.

Keeping surfaces clean is the easiest way to make an area appear to be clean. Make it a habit to immediately place old food in the trash or garbage disposal after each meal. Fill one side of the sink with hot soap water. Use a hand held scrub brush made for dishes to quickly remove all grease, grime, and particles off of the dishes. Use a grout cleaning brush for counter tops that have older tile patterns for stuck on food and grime.

Kitchen Cleaning

Load your dishwasher, or place clean dishes on the dish drying rack. Use a wet micro fiber dish towel to cleanse all surfaces. Then go over each surface with a dry micro fiber dish towel. Eliminate germs with Clorox disinfecting wipes.

The kitchen or dining room table should be is inviting as possible. Think of your kitchen area, as being better than dining at a restaurant. Use cloth tablecloths, vinyl tablecloths, or simply keep the wood, tile, or glass tabletop clean. Have some type of visual interest item on your kitchen table. This item could be fresh flowers, small plants, artificial flowers, or scented candles. Choose colors that match the existing décor of the kitchen or current holiday season.

Cleaning Kitchen Floors

Use a cleanser that will pick up grease and dirt quickly. A great example is an ammonia based product or Pine Sol. A kitchen floor that is sticky or full of dirt is not inviting. Use your broom to quickly pick up in the trash that is on the floor. Use a Swiffer or a steam mop to go over the entire kitchen floor quickly. When using a traditional mop, quickly mop the floor and dry with an old bath towel.

Cleaning kitchen floors promptly after each meal ensures that if will be clean for the next meal that will be served. Crumbs left behind under the table can easily be picked up with a vacuum on the floor setting. Try to use the vacuum or sweep after each meal when serving small children.

Eating out two to three times a week could easily total $100.00 or more for a family of four. $5200 over the course of one year is money that could have been spent on savings, investments, or a vacation. Spend a few extra minutes in the kitchen after each meal to help maintain a clean kitchen. Kitchen cleaning is a task that can be quickly accomplished if everyone in the household does a small part. Use these tips to help keep the kitchen clean.

Are you struggling to figure out how to plan meals for your large family without breaking the bank? Check out these tips!

For families everywhere, and in every size, planning meals on a budget is a challenge. For large families, this is compounded exponentially.

-Decide that you are absolutely not a short order cook. This will mean that you will face the fact that you will probably, at least eight times out of ten times, not please everybody. You will wind up driving yourself crazy, using up half a meal here, half there, and ruining the budget.

-Tell everybody that it is a new day and that what is for supper is what is for supper and if anyone doesn’t like it, there is plenty of peanut butter and jelly. If your family is like ours, you may have one or two picky eaters, one who will eat virtually anything, and the others who will whine and eat eventually. But, for the sake of sanity and money, stick to your guns.

-Make a menu for the week. Or two weeks if you can do it. We always try to get input from everybody and incorporate suggestions into the bi-weekly menu. Making a menu, then listing the ingredients needed as we go to the store for what we call “the big haul” helps keep the number of runs to the supermarket to a minimum.

-As you make your menu, check the specials. Go online, see what’s on sale and work it into your list of ideal, almost-everybody-will-eat-them meals. It will take a bit of research, but you’ll get better at it as you go along. Print out the coupons that the store offers.

-Armed with your menu, list, and coupons, go to the store with as little distraction as possible. If you can leave the kids at home, do it. If you have to take a child or two, let them pick one item each-say, cereal-and then stick to the master list. Don’t shop hungry. Don’t shop if the kids are hungry. Don’t let them hornswaggle you into all the swanky, sweet-tooth foods. Don’t try to second guess yourself in the store. You made this list for a reason.

-When all the ingredients are bought, post the menu on the fridge. If you don’t, you’ll forget why you bought those three cans of diced tomatoes and go off budget trying to piece something together off the cuff. The kids will appreciate knowing what’s for supper when they are heading out the house for school in the morning. Try to stick to the menu. Remember, you put a lot of thought into this.

-Make two good, solid meals with meat, veggie, and potatoes or pasta, then incorporate the leftovers elsewhere. If you make mushroom chicken, rice and broccoli on Monday, spaghetti on Tuesday, you can have chicken soup on Wednesday, and spaghetti casserole with cheese topping for Thursday.

-Avoid prepackage quick meals. This should be obvious, but boxed meals are usually for four small helpings at most. They’re just not economical. Get the ground beef, the macaroni noodles, the cheese and whip up a big casserole. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it almost as fast.

-Make a big stew or chili for at least two suppers a week. This will get rid of a lot of leftovers, and will get the veggies into the family at the same time. Homemade soup never gets old, because it never tastes quite the same each time. With biscuits or cornbread, it goes a long way and will stretch for those friends that the kids bring over at the last minute.

-Lastly, get the kids involved. When you are making good, plain meals, there is not much that they can do to mess them up and it’s good practice.

And, if you’re lucky, one day you might just be able to put your feet up and let them do the cooking!

Choosing to cut back on paid services for personal care, auto care, and household care can be a great money-saving idea. Not only do at-home services and products save more money, but they are also often as good as the services and products provided by professionals. Instead of canceling these services entirely, save more money by going less frequently and supplementing with at-home services and products.

Save More Money on Personal Beauty Care

Cutting back on personal beauty care services such as manicures and pedicures is an easy way to save more money since salon services, and tips can take a big chunk out of the budget. Many salon-quality products and tools are available in drug stores. Women who like frequent manicures may want to purchase supplies for at-home nail care since manicure and pedicures can be handled at home for less money.

Saving money on children’s haircuts is another way to trim the budget. Consider whether elementary-age and younger girls and boys need a salon-price haircut. Girls’ bangs and long hair can be trimmed at home in between salon visits for styling cuts. Hair trimmers can be purchased to give boys haircuts at home.

Women who don’t want to give up their favorite hairstylist may want to continue going to the salon for haircuts, but handle hair coloring at home. Hair coloring and highlighting kits are much less expensive than a salon coloring job, and new products offer high-quality highlighting and root touch-ups.

In addition, women who enjoy tanning can stretch a spray tan service by using an at-home lotion that adds color to the skin. Salons will sell personal beauty care products that help to keep skin moisturized while depositing color on the skin. Drugstores sell similar moisturizing lotions made by Jergens and Vaseline, among others, that build up a tan color over time. Combining drugstore tanning solutions with spray tan services can reduce the number of visits to the tanning salon.

Money-Saving Ideas for Auto Care

There are many easy ways to save money on routine auto care and auto repair. Do-it-yourself auto care can include auto detailing, checking the fluids and tires, changing the oil, and minor auto repairs. A do it yourself car wash with specialized at-home car washing products can deliver the same quality as a professional service. Auto detailing supplies for cleaning car interiors are sold at many superstores as well as auto parts stores.

There are many reasons to handle basic car care yourself. Car mechanics try to get the job done as quickly as possible and will suggest add-on jobs that may not be immediately necessary. Auto-Facts.org offers articles on how to troubleshoot car problems, handle repairs, and find reliable online car care manuals. Handling basic car care with online resources can save more money over the long term.

Ways to Save Money on Home Cleaning Services

Not everyone has a house cleaning service, but those who do can make home cleaning services last longer by stretching the amount of time in-between visits. Switching a weekly service to twice a month or a bi-monthly service to one visit a month can cut the cost of cleaning services in half. The best way to reduce cleaning services or to get a house in order is to make and use a house cleaning plan.

One of the most popular money-saving ideas is to make a weekly meal plan and grocery list. Instead of paying for an online menu and grocery shopping service, use a do it yourself approach to create a weekly meal plan and grocery list. This is an easy way to save money because it eliminates the cost of using a meal-planning service and saves more money at the grocery store with a well-planned shopping list.

Easy ways to save money include using do it yourself and at-home services and products to cut back on paid services. Money-saving ideas include handling your own personal care for haircuts, manicures, and pedicures; auto care for car washing, routine maintenance, car detailing, and minor auto repairs; and household care for house cleaning and meal planning.

Why You Need To Keep A Household Budget

We work hard to earn a living. We should make sure we spend the money we bring home wisely. That’s where a household budget comes in. It’s a good tool to see at a glance what we have coming in, what’s going out (and what that money is paying for) and if there’s anything left at the end of the month to put into savings.

Before we dive into exactly what a budget can do for us, let’s consider for a minute what will happen if we’re not tracking income and expenses. We may end up spending more than we’re making in a given month (or two, or three). Over time that can put us into some pretty hot water financially. We may also spend a lot more than we’d like to believe on things like eating out, going to the movies or new clothes.

Having a budget gives us more control over where we want to really spend our hard earned cash. Maybe that’s dinner and a movie, but maybe it isn’t. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an actual choice?

It Tracks Where Your Money Is Going

A budget simply tracks your money. You record where the money comes from each month (your income) and then write out everything you spend it on, starting with your regular monthly bills like mortgage or rent, car payments, utility bills etc. What’s left after all the bills are paid is your discretional income.

Helps You Identify Things You Waste Money On

Having it all in front of you in black and white helps you identify things you’re wasting your money on.

It makes you reconsider if you really want to spend well over $200 a month on Cable TV or $150 on your large cell phone plan. Or how about that yearly magazine subscription to something you no longer read? Go through your expenses and reevaluate if this is REALLY how you want to spend your pay check.

Allows You To Be Proactive About Savings

Saving money without a budget is hard. We go in with the best of intentions at the beginning of the month, but somehow there isn’t anything left at the end of the month.

A budget gives you a chance to be a bit more proactive. Set aside some money for savings at the beginning of the month, even if it’s just $20. Put it in the budget as a regular expense, just like you do with your other urgent bills. If you need to, open a separate savings account so you’re not tempted to spend it.

Ensures You’re Not Spending More Than You’re Making

Most importantly, your budget will keep you on track and help you make sure you’re not spending more than you’re making. And I don’t have to tell you that that’s pretty important for your financial wellbeing.

Put Your Savings On Autopilot

Putting a little money away for a rainy day isn’t always easy. You may have some good intentions, but at the end of the day, there just isn’t any money left. Somehow whatever you make is spend before you make it to the next paycheck.

Start by making a personal budget. Take a look at what you bring in each month. Next, write down your fixed expenses. These are things like rent, car payments, utilities etc. Figure out how much you need each month for groceries and other essentials. This is your bare bones budget. It’s good to know what you need to get by each month.

Next it’s time for a little bit of math. Start with what you bring in each month and subtract all your core expenses. What you’re left with is your discretional income. This will pay for entertainment, clothes, getting your nails done etc. And from here on out, part of that discretional income will go into a savings account.

Pick a number you’re comfortable with. Maybe that’s just $20 per month, maybe it’s $500. Put it in your budget and treat it like any other bill. It won’t take you long to get into the habit of setting aside that money for savings.

To make it even more hands-off, talk to your bank about setting up a separate savings account. Then set up an auto-deposit to have the savings transferred to the new account as soon as your pay check comes in each month. If you don’t see it, you’ll never miss it and your savings will run on autopilot.

Don’t forget to audit your savings from time to time. Take another look at your budget. Can you increase your savings a little more? Another great way to boost that savings account is to take any extra money – thinks like birthday cash, tax return, bonuses etc. – and put them straight into the savings account. Again, you won’t even miss the money, but it will help you build up your savings quickly.

Make sure your savings are sitting in an interest bearing account. Since you won’t be touching this money unless it’s a dire emergency, you should be able to earn at least a little interest. Talk to your banker about your best options and start putting your savings on autopilot.

One last tip: Talk to your employer about matching 401K funds. You may be able to get a contribution from the company you work for towards your retirement savings account.

How To Plan For Unexpected Expenses

It’s just a matter of time before it happens. The transmission blows on your car right around the time your daughter needs braces and your washing machine decides to call it quits. All of these are unexpected expenses and something we need to deal with throughout life.

Being prepared as much as you can is your best bet when live throws you a financial curve ball.
Do your best to anticipate upcoming expenses. If you’re driving an older car, or your dishwasher has seen its better days, start saving up to replace the item. You may also want to start keeping an eye out for good deals on the replacement.

An even better strategy is to have an emergency savings fund. Set up a savings account and add to it monthly. Use it only for completely unexpected expenses. Make sure you know what’s in the account. And once you have to take money out of it replace it as quickly as possible.

This brings us to a good point. Here’s how to recover quickly after that purchase. Go over your budget (you have one of those, right?) and look if you can temporarily cut back on some things. Stop ordering Pizza every Friday night and make your own at home. Skip a night out on the town and watch a couple of movies on Netflix instead of going to the theatre.

Use the money you’re not spending for the next few months to refill your emergency fund. For an extra boost, work a few hours of overtime, do a few freelance projects or temporarily pick up a part time job to get back on track fast.

But what do you do when the expense comes up before you had a chance to set up the emergency fund? Take a deep breath and assess the situation. Can you make do without the item for a little while? Just long enough to scrape together the funds to repair or replace it. If it’s the dishwasher, that’s easy. You can wash dishes by hand for a little while. If it’s the fridge or the car you rely on to get you to work each day, that’s a different story.

If you need the item that broke, evaluate if it would be less expensive to repair than replace. Even if it isn’t the perfect solution, it may get you to work until you can safe up for a different car. Shuffle your money around and if there is no other option charge it to the credit card and get to work. Your one and only goal right now is to pay off that expense. If you stick every penny of discretional income in, it won’t take you long.

One your bills and credit cards are paid off, do what you can to get that emergency fund set up. Because you know something else will break down the road.

Do You Have A Financial Safety Net? (And How To Build One)

Do you have a financial safety net? It’s something worth thinking about and setting up. What will happen to you and your loved ones if you lose your job for a few months? What if you get into an accident that may prevent you from earning a living? Or what if some unexpected expenses come up. Do you have anything in place to make sure the bills continue to get paid and your family is taken care of?

If not, now is the time to get started. But where do you actually start? Having three to six months’ worth of living expenses tucked away in an interests-bearing account is a good beginning. Figure out what your family needs to comfortably live on if all income stops. Then start saving as much money as you can until you have built up this safety net.

Put the money you usually spend on going out to eat, going to the movies, buying the newest TV and Tech gadget and the likes into your savings account until you’ve saved enough to have a comfortable cushion. Take make this step go even faster, add any bonuses, tax refunds etc. as well.

Don’t just stop there. Make it a goal to add to your safety cushion as you can and come back and revise your numbers from time to time. Your living expenses may go up or down over time and you can adjust how much you need to set aside in quickly accessible money accordingly.

Life and disability insurance are another important part of your financial safety net, as is your retirement money. Do you have a plan in place to continue to cover your living expenses (or those of your family) when you can no longer work? Call up your insurance agent and go over your current coverage. Make sure the insurance you’re paying for will pay out what you need and if not, make adjustments.

Once you have those two parts of your safety net firmly in place, consider investing any additional savings into higher interest bearing accounts. While you may not be able to access any money invested here right away, it will come in handy when you’re dealing with a long term financial emergency or are ready to retire. The plus side is that there are plenty of investment vehicles out there that will get you a much better return than your plain savings account at the bank. Talk to your financial adviser and come up with a plan that’s right for you, your family and whatever the future may hold.

Keep Your Grocery Spending Under Control

Aside from your mortgage, your biggest monthly expense is likely groceries. And unlike your mortgage, your car payment and most of the rest of your bills you actually have some control over how much you spend at the grocery store.

Make A Grocery Budget

Start by tracking how much you’re spending on groceries for a few weeks. From there, come up with a weekly or monthly budget. Allot that money for groceries and whatever you do don’t go over.

Next, try cutting back your budget by $20 per month. Keep going and see how low you can go. The remaining tips will help you do that without feeling like you’re depriving yourself.

Keep A Price Book

Who doesn’t love a bargain or a good deal? They are all over the store, but do you know if what they advertise as a good deal is actually saving you money?

Keep a little notebook in your purse or keep a text document on your phone with the regular prices of the items you buy most often. Not only can you see if that “deal” really is a deal, you can also determine what kitchen staple is cheapest where and adjust your shopping accordingly. Your price book will also come in handy when you browse through weekly grocery flyers. You can decide if a loss leader deal is worth driving to the store long before you ever set a foot out the door.

Come Up With A Few Frugal Dishes

You don’t have to make drastic changes and eat nothing but rice and beans all week. Instead think of a few inexpensive dishes your family enjoys. They may be rice and beans. Or how about a big pot of soup or chili. Often meatless dishes will be your best frugal bet, or use meat in small portions on frugal dish days.

Enjoying frugal meals even just a handful of days during the month combined with using up any and all leftovers will make a big difference in your grocery budget.

Cut Out The Extras

Make a list before you head to the store and stick to it. All those little extras like the fancy bread from the bakery or the candy you grabbed at checkout start to add up. Get in the habit of skipping those extras unless there’s a good reason to buy them. Stick to your list and you’ll cut your grocery bill by quite a bit each week. It’s amazing how all those little extras add up.

Give these tips a try and see if you don’t start to see big savings on a weekly basis. What you do with all the extra money each month is up to you. Save up for a fun summer vacation, pay off those credit cards or start building your financial safety net.