Money and Finances Archives - Page 54 of 66

Should You Co-Sign a Loan For Your Children?

March 30, 2016 | Leave a Comment

When I started university the way federal loans were issued in Canada was much different from how it is today. Long story short, I didn’t qualify for any form of student loans because, on paper, my mom made too much money. They didn’t care that she was a single parent, they looked at her income and the fact that my father should have been paying child support. It didn’t take long for them to change the system but it didn’t help me at all for my undergraduate degree.

I wasn’t not going to university so my mom took me to the bank and got me a student line of credit. Given at a decent interest rate (prime plus 1%). Only real downside was that my mom had to co-sign the loan. Student lines of credit (for the most part) are issued with the collateral being, well, my mom.

Should You Co-Sign on a Loan for Your Children?

I have to be honest I’m not sure I would have done the same thing as my mom. I don’t know what I would have done giving the constraints we were under but I don’t think I would ever co-sign a loan for my child.

My mom has nothing to worry about, I’m a good responsible child and despite our differences I would never default on the loan, forcing her to make the payments. Though I very well could do that, I wouldn’t. I also make sure I have the co-signed loans insured so if, God forbid, I die my mom doesn’t become automatically responsible for their repayment.

My best friends parents did something a little different. Rather than taking out student lines of credit in their names (the children), they (the parents) opted to borrow from their home equity (paid off mortgage) in the form of a home equity line of credit. This way the loans were never in the kids names despite the use being for their education. The kids were asked to sign a repayment agreement in the (very) off-chance they decided to skip town and not pay off their responsibilities. Though my friend borrowed over $20,000 for her education, the day she graduated, according to the bank, she was debt free.

I’ve known people who have needed their parents to co-sign mortgages for them. I would NEVER do this. If the bank doesn’t think my child can afford a mortgage based on their own financial situation I am not mixing myself up in it.

Whether or not you should or should not co-sign a loan really depends on the situation and people involved. I have seen seemingly perfect families ripped apart over monetary issues and I’m sure it’s not the last time I will. You need to protect yourself and your assets.

Though I would hope your child (ren) would never deliberately screw you over with a co-signed loan, it happens for millions of different reasons. While my situation worked in the aspect that I’m diligently paying off my loans, some students are unfortunate when it comes to getting a job and it takes years to pay them off, this debt continuing to follow the parents around.

Though I hope I am never in a situation where I would need to consider this, would you or have you co-signed a loan for your kids?

Catherine

Catherine is a first time momma to a rambunctious toddler. When she isn’t soaking up all that motherhood has to offer, you can find her blogging over at Plunged in Debt where she chronicles her and her husbands journey out of debt. You can also follow her on Twitter.

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The Difference Between Being Cheap and Being Frugal

March 23, 2016 | Leave a Comment

The other day two of my patients were arguing in my room while I was treating their daughter. The parents were arguing about their upcoming house purchase and what they needed to finish up before closing. The conversation quickly turned from excitement to a full-blown argument about how cheap the wife was. The husband wanted to buy all new furniture for one of their rooms while she wanted to use what they had for a while longer. Her argument was that she wasn’t cheap, but rather frugal, and had the family’s best interest in mind.

This differentiation is one that many people confuse. Though they may seem like similar terms, they’re actually quite different in their meaning. To help clarify the issue here are a few instances concerning being cheap and being frugal.

Dining Out

A cheap person may eat out frequently but elect to never tip. If you can’t afford to properly tip when dining out, don’t bother going, it’s cheap to not tip service.

A frugal person may elect to not eat out at all, or much more infrequently, as they would rather spend their money elsewhere. When they do make the decision to eat out they pay for everything, proper sized tip and all.

Product Selection

If a cheap person needs a new mattress for example, they will go out and buy the first cheap mattress they find, the deciding factor being the dollar amount. Even if this mattress falls apart in a few months they see nothing beyond initial dollars spent.

A frugal person will elect to not buy the mattress until they have saved up a dollar amount that will allow them to buy a quality product that will last them years. While they are saving for their upcoming purchase, they may elect to forgo other activities they don’t feel are as important as buying the mattress they need.

* This was the argument the wife in my office was trying to make. She didn’t want to buy the cheap couch her husband wanted but wanted to wait until the new year and buy a better quality one even if it meant moving into a brand new house with ‘crappy old furniture’.

Socializing

When it comes to socializing with friends and family, a cheap person may elect to go to events where they know (or assume) someone else will pick up the tab, or avoid going out, ever, because they don’t want to spend the money. This eventually leads to alienation from friends and family.

Someone who is frugal will go out but will likely be pickier about when and where they go but they won’t avoid socializing all together. They will also likely come up with alternative social ideas like taking turns hosting a nice dinner in, rather than spending money at a restaurant.

Frugality is a way of life. It can be very advantageous when used wisely and lead to many more opportunities in your life. Being cheap however usually ends up in wasted money and missed experiences. Only one of these ways of life knows the true value of a dollar earned.

Catherine

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4 (More) Great Part Time Job Options for College Students

February 17, 2016 | Leave a Comment

I had an inspiring conversation with one of my patients lately. She’s a university student, completing her master’s degree in social work and working four different jobs. I was immediately intrigued as to how she was managing so many different jobs, on top of completing a difficult academic workload, and I was impressed with how she set out to find so many different jobs that would accommodate her schedule.

I was pretty lucky with job(s) I held during university for no reason other than the people I worked for were great in understanding my schedule and willing to work around it. Any job I hold, I respect. I make sure I’m a worthy employee and my experience is that when you show up and do your best, keep open communication with your employer, they’re much more willing to work with you when you need time off. Never abuse this regardless of where you’re at in life.

Here are 4 (more) great job options for college or university students that would work well with any schedule.

Proof Read and Edit

This is something I’ve know quite a few people to do. They offer to proof read anything from lab reports to entire thesis papers. The pricing for this can vary so ask around or get on google for an idea to start. I’ve had friends make decent money for full editing of larger papers. Make flyers advertising your services and place them in academic buildings. You could even start a basic webpage advertising your services with testimonial too.

Banqueting

Again I have had many friends who work banquets at local convention centers and hotels on the weekend. The shifts are almost always on the weekend and only for a few hours. Easy to get studying done in the morning and work at night making decent money. Some do waitressing, some do event setup/tear down, it really depends on the venue.

University Library

This was the job to have on campus. They pay well, they’re great with schedules and encourage you to work on homework when there (after you’re done your work). There was everything from working the desk to IT jobs, to research to shelving and cleanup. Some jobs are reserved for educated librarians but most campus libraries hire students for odd jobs (and summer) as well so it’s worth looking into.

Babysitting (Before Class)

There are so many people out there who are looking for someone to watch their kids before school. Many of my friends are nurses. They need to leave home around 6am but their kids don’t leave for school until like 8am, which it too late for their spouse to stay home for their work so they -end up hiring before school care. This is a great job for a university student who’s classes may not start until a bit later. Bonus is that they often have weekend and summer babysitting jobs lines up too!

While in college or university, academics come first but it can be great to hold a job to help offset the costs. The key is to balance the two as best as possible.

Did you have a job while pursuing post secondary? Did it interfere too much with schoolwork?

Catherine

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How I Plan on Saving on Valentine’s Day

February 10, 2016 | Leave a Comment

I admit that as someone who is married, I’m not the biggest fan of Valentine’s Day. It always just seems very ‘’in your face’’ but as a Mother, I love it. Everything about having kids changes including your love of what I call, Hallmark Holidays.

My daughter gets so excited with every little event. Maybe it’s the excuses that come with it, like extra treats, but regardless we have fun with it. As much as I enjoy doing these little extras, I’m more concerned with our budget and how much it will cost. I’m not interested in spending an obscene amount of money on something like Valentine’s Day. Here’s how we plan to have fun with Valentine’s day as a family, without busting our budget.

Plan a picnic

Valentine’s day is in February and for us, that means cold. Having an outdoor picnic isn’t an option but instead we’re planning a family date night picnic style. We plan on saving our weekly dinner out for Valentine’s day but we’ll pick up something to go and come home and eat it picnic style (in the warmth of our house!).

Movie Night In

Our daughter is now at the age where she will, for the most part, sit through a movie. After we finish eating our picnic dinner, we’ll probably find a family movie for us to watch. To go to the theater on Saturday would easily cost us $50 for tickets alone so we’ll veg out at home in our pj’s and cuddle on the couch together. I would much rather this experience anyway.

Make Treats Yourself

My daughter will be having a Valentine’s day party at her daycare. We like to bring something for the kids to eat. I priced out a few pre-made valentine’s treats at the bakery and it was going to cost about $20 for what I was looking at. Instead I went to Pinterest and found a cheap and easy treat that cost me a total of $7 to make. It will also only take about 30min total to put together, with a busy schedule I also have to consider time.

Plan a Special Breakfast

Cooked breakfast isn’t something we often have time to do so I’m going to make sure we have time on Valentines to do so. Even something easy like pancakes or waffles, by adding a few Valentines sprinkles to the mix, there’s no doubt I will impress my three year old.

Skip Gifts

Our family won’t be exchanging gifts. My daughter did buy a $2 box of Valentines for her daycare party but that’s it. Instead of gifts we’ll be spending time together and enjoy some of the treats that we will make for her party (I did buy extras for us too!).

To me, Valentine’s day should be about demonstrating love, not buying things. Simply spending quality time with my family is all we need and it will be setting an example to our daughter that we don’t need to exchange ‘’stuff’’ to feel loved.

Does your family do anything special for Valentine’s day?

Catherine

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Beating the Winter Blues (without booking a trip away!)

February 3, 2016 | Leave a Comment

If you live in a cold climate, winter likely has you dreaming of somewhere not so wintery. Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy living in a climate with four seasons, including winter, but there are days that will leaving you feel like you can only handle so much. Managing winter is one thing, managing it with a young kid at home can make it seem twice as long and you need to come up with ideas to break the season up.

Taking the family on a nice vacation somewhere for a week might be feasible for some, but others need to come up with easier, and cheaper ideas to break the cabin fever.

Visit the Dollar Store

If you’ve read any of my other blog posts you know I’m a huge lover of my local dollar stores. It satisfies many of my needs and cold winter blues is one of them. On bad winter days we usually head to the local dollar store to buy a new supplies to play with for the day. Today was a day off for me and we had no reason to leave the house except we started going a little stir crazy.

Off to the dollar store we went. For $5.00 we bought some paint brushes (we couldn’t find a single one at home…), a paint tray and 2 canvases to use. Kiddo had received some paint for Christmas and we finally broke them out. While my daughter was painting in the kitchen, I decided to re-organize my spice cupboard with new containers I bought, again from the dollar store. Painting and organizing may not be for everyone but it was a great use of our day.

Get Outside

When the weather is nice (by winters standards), we try and get outside. I enjoy winter activities when we can get out and kiddo loves it. Though we don’t do much beyond the building snowman and sledding at this age, soon we will be able to go skiing and other longer activities. Don’t let the weather scare you inside for months!

Hit Up Groupon

Groupon can become your best friend. It is a great resource to find inexpensive days and nights out for yourself or the whole family. I have found a few great deals on events for myself and things for us to do as a family for cheap. A local indoor play park recently had a BOGO Groupon. This is not only one afternoon planned but two for cheap! It can also be a great spot to find gift certificates to eat out (which can get expensive with multiple mouths to feed).

While I’m perfectly content staying in my own backyard in the summer watching kiddo run around, come wintertime I feel the need to get away from home and do stuff. If I’m not careful I could find myself wondering the halls of the mall, filling carts out of sheer boredom. With a little research and planning though I think we’ll get through the winter just fine without killing our budget.

How do you keep the kids sane in the winter? What are your go-to activities?

Catherine

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Favorite Dollar Store Items for My Family

January 27, 2016 | Leave a Comment

I love the dollar store. I have vivid memories of going to my first one while visiting my grandmother as a young girl. We didn’t have one where we lived at the time so we’d have to wait until we paid a visit to my grandparents to partake in the dollar store shopping shenanigans. Since my first visit many years ago, I’ve developed a deep love for my local dollar store, especially now that I have a family.

Having a family to care for has many different costs involved so when there is savings to be found, I jump on them. Here are a few of my go-to’s when it comes to shopping at my local dollar store.

Kitchen Supplies: I buy my cling wrap at Costco and that likely won’t change (I bought one roll 5 years ago and it’s still going strong!), but tin foil, parchment paper and Ziploc baggies almost always come from the dollar store. I love to bake using parchment paper and my local dollar store sells it in flat folded sheets which is much easier than fighting with a curled up roll!

Craft Stuff: We go through a ton of paper, stickers, markers, crayons and paint brushes… with a busy toddler we’re always creating something and the dollar store helps. If I was to rely even on WalMart for the stuff it would be super expensive but for $5.00 every few months we have a well-maintained art container. This will continue when kiddo is in school and working on projects too.

Party Supplies: We like to host get-togethers and the dollar store is our go-to for anything we may need. Depending on the occasion it varies but we’ll always check the dollar store before checking any specialty store. Balloons, gift wrap, paper plates are almost always from the dollar store. I’ve even found decent platters and bowls that I’ve required and been able to get a few uses out of.

Seasonal Decorations: Other than Christmas and maybe Halloween, I’ve never really decorated for any other occasion but having a kid has me doing all kinds of strange things, like put up Valentine’s day decorations in my house. I don’t know about your kids but my daughter has a ton of fun changing out a few decorations and the dollar store allows it. Not only do some of the stores have really nice things, they’re affordable.

Greeting Cards: I know they’re a waste of money, even at $1.00, but I enjoy getting and receiving cards so I buy them. A gift doesn’t seem complete without a little note in a card. However, other than a wedding (where I will dish out more than $1.00 for a keepsake card), I love the dollar store for all my greeting card needs.

The dollar store isn’t ideal for everything, sometimes you really do need to spend a little more money for quality, but at lease for these items its money well spent.

What are your favorite dollar store items?

Photo Credit: (c) Can Stock Photo

Catherine

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Creating a Beauty Routine on a Budget

January 20, 2016 | Leave a Comment

The other day a fellow mommy friend posted a picture on Instagram showing a Sephora bag full of goodies. She was so happy to get the small, black and white stripped bag filled with goodies for under $200. I counted, she got 5 items for her $200.

As frugal as I am, I happen to love makeup. I remember counting down the days in Jr. high school until my mom would allow me to wear mascara. I’m not particularly ‘’girly’’ and have no problem walking around sans makeup, but given the opportunity it’s something I have quite a bit of fun with. As much as I love makeup, I love money savings more. If given $200 to spend on makeup, it would last me over two years.

I’m not judging how someone chooses to spend their money. If you want to use a decent chunk of disposable income on beauty supplies, to each his own. My preference though is to look good on a budget and for me this mostly means quality drugstore products.

Buy Makeup From the Drugstore

This isn’t going to be a product-recommending post because, quite honestly what works well for me may not work for you at all. What I will say though is that ‘’drugstore’’ quality products have come a long way in the last few years.

I’ve tried a few expensive brands on some items (I’d never pay more than like $8 for mascara though) but honestly in the last 10 years especially, the quality and selection of some drugstore brands outweighs some of my high-end stuff, to the point that I can’t justify the major difference in price.

It took me a few years to find a really good foundation, I eventually did find a name brand one that worked for me for years. It was during my maternity leave (when I couldn’t justify the $34 per bottle anymore) that I decide to try a well-reviewed drugstore one. I immediately felt like an idiot when my new $12 bottle was out performing my expensive one. I now have three favorite drugstore foundations, all under $15 which I rotate through.

Watch YouTube Makeup Reviews & Tutorials

This is where my first tip comes in. You Tube. I am borderline obsessed with YouTube makeup videos. My favorites being product reviews. If there’s a product you think you may be interested in, or you’re searching for something new, check out YouTube.

What I love about YouTube beauty vloggers, is that they give great, honest, opinions on different products. Most of the woman will test a product all day and do through the effort of showing you how it wears as the day goes on. Some will also do things like take pictures using flash photography so you get more ideas of how the products appear. You Tube is the place to go when looking for opinions on any products. YouTube vloggers are also great at giving tutorials for different ‘’looks’’.

Shop Amazon

My next ‘’tool’’ for a frugal beauty collection is Amazon. Things like beauty brushes are usually much cheaper on Amazon than they are in any store. Good quality too.

I find most of the actual products to be pretty comparable to prices I can get at stores around me though so unless it’s a product I can’t find around here, or looking to saving on shipping (in which case I’ll add a product I frequently use), I’ll just buy products here. I often check prices though just to see what they’re selling for as a reference point. I like EBay too but find Amazon to generally be quicker with shipping and easier to deal with for returns.

It really doesn’t have to cost hundreds of dollars a year to have a great quality makeup look. If you’ve been using the same expensive products for a long time, I suggest picking one to try to replace with a ‘’drugstore’’ brand. It will probably surprise you!

Catherine

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Why We’re Opening a Bank Account For Our 3 Year Old

January 6, 2016 | Leave a Comment

Next week my husband and I are going to our bank and opening an account for our daughter who hasn’t yet turned four. While some may think at three she doesn’t really need her own bank account I argue it’s never too early.

Since she first got her own piggy bank, for her first Christmas, she’s been collecting coins wherever she can find them and placing them in her Cinderella bank. Though they’re mostly small coins, until recently I didn’t realize how many she actually had. It sits on her shelf where she drops the coins in when she finds them. Yesterday I opened it to have a look to realize she’s almost out of room! I explained that soon we will need to work together to roll the coins and take them to the bank. Though she likely only has about $10-$15 it’s something and I want her to understand the importance of saving.

More than the piggy bank, a child has their own set of expenses. For us, its ballet and soccer plus the normal kid stuff like growing in and out of clothes way too fast. Until now we’ve just been providing these things out of our account but I like the idea of her having her own account to pay for all her expenses separately. Rather than us just pay for everything when it comes up, instead we will be putting money into her account to pay for these expenses. It helps us budget better by separating her stuff from ours and is helping her learn the value of money at an early age.

I think having an allowance is important for a child. Though my three year old doesn’t yet understand that we’re essentially giving her a bi-weekly allowance, it’s exactly what we’re doing. Just like adults, there will be required ‘’bills’’ to pay from her account, in her case registration fees and uniforms, but the ‘’extra’’ will be hers. Obviously she isn’t going to walk into her dance studio at four and pay her bill, we will with the money in her account, which we’ve placed there. As she gets older though she will have more say in the account and as well expectation to open a separate strict savings account (on top of the post-secondary savings account we also contribute to).

These are lessons I never had taught to me and I wish I understood the importance of saving early and often sooner than I did. I have vague memories of the local credit union coming in to collect our change in elementary school and balance our account books in the hallway but never really understood why we did what we did. I didn’t realize the foundation it was attempting to lay.

I’m not suggesting that by opening an account at three, our daughter will go through life not making any financial mistakes, there’s no doubt in my mind she will, the difference between her and I though is that she will know the difference when it happens and be able to correct them much sooner which is exactly what I hope to accomplish.

How old were your kids when they opened a bank account?

Catherine

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Winter is Coming, Time to Address Your Budget!

December 16, 2015 | Leave a Comment

It’s hard to believe that winter has either arrived, or in the process of coming for many parts of the world. Just this week I had some pictures from our summer vacation printed and now we’re making appointments to have snow tires placed on our vehicle.

With a change of season comes a perfect time to really address your budget. It’s so easy to set your budget on auto-pilot and forget to tweak it as needed. I was reminded of that this week. Speaking of winter tires, it was something I forgot to add to our budget when I did it up months ago. Thankfully it’s not a huge amount of money so I was pretty easy to ‘’make up’’ but still an annoyance. Had I spent a little more care going over everything as I should have, it would have been a non-issue.

Creating a Winter Budget

For this reason I like to spend time every season to make sure everything is accounted for, especially the winter when, for us, bills tend to get a little higher. I know our bills will get higher because I pay attention to our spending history. Without this I have no way of making predictions but I know, for instance, that our electricity bill will increase significantly because we have electric heat and live in a cold climate. It only took one $1,100 bi-monthly electric bill, right after Christmas, to make sure I did what I could to get established on the power corporations annual ‘’budget’’ which allows us to pay a monthly bill year-round based on average annual consumption, rather than face extremely high bills in the winter and extremely low bills in the summer.

For us, winter also means Christmas and quite a few important birthdays. If I’m not careful these can easily creep up on us and we’d get stuck making some tough decisions about how to manage the un-budgeted amount which, quite honestly is never a fun situation to be in.

With kids too, seasonal things have changed. Hubby and I, traditionally, don’t do anything for Valentine’s day. But, with a kid, as I look forward into my winter months, I know we will need to budget something for it. She will have a little Valentines party at her daycare, as well want to exchange cards with her friends, though it isn’t much it’s an expected expense coming up.

Winter has a higher potential for emergencies too, while we could manage without A/C in a vehicle for example, we couldn’t easily get by without heat. While I don’t like to think about emergencies and dealing with things such as a potential accident, the probability is definitely higher in the winter which means we need to take a good look at where our emergency fund is sitting. This is something I don’t do enough and get lazy about reimbursing it when an issue does arise that we may need it.

A budget shouldn’t be something that you set and forget. It needs to be continuously addressed and as we approach the New Year, it’s a perfect time!

P.s. some readers like this article because they want a recommendation for snow tires. I can just say that Costco should be considered as part of your shopping list. They have really excellent customer service and although their automotive section isn’t always as well rated as their food or consumer electronics, Costco sells good quality tires and batteries. So check them out.

Catherine

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How to Enjoy Hassle Free Christmas Shopping

December 2, 2015 | Leave a Comment

I’m not much of a gift lover, except for Christmas. I love spending time thinking out a nice gift for someone and then buying it and giving it to them. I generally enjoy the whole process, picking it up, taking it home to wrap and then spending time with those I love to give it to them. The only part of the process that I don’t love sometimes, is going out to shop for it.

I hate crowds so needless to say shopping for gifts in the peak of the holiday season can be stressful. The issue is that I hate crowds, but enjoy shopping at Christmas time, when the stores are decorated and Christmas music is playing, I will never be one of those people who has their shopping done in July. There are many ways to enjoy the best of both worlds, enjoying the process of shopping during the holiday season while containing your stress levels.

Start with a List

This is absolutely the first thing that needs to be done. We’ve all done it. Head to the stores with no direction, hoping to be inspired but it doesn’t work out that well. We waste time and end up frustrated. There is no need to leave the house before having a list. Check out local sales to get inspired. I also keep a running list year round when friends and family mention something they may want or need. This is the biggest help in making things run smoothly.

Get Out Early

I know not everyone necessarily wants to spend a day off shopping but if you want to avoid the crowds go as soon as the stores open. With your list in hand, you can come up with a plan to execute it in the timeliest manner. I have both an outdoor shopping area as well as a traditional mall where I live. If I can avoid the mall and go right for the outdoor shopping district I do. Not only do I enjoy the village-style outdoor shops and how it is decorated during the holidays, it saves me time. I like being able to park in front of a single store I need rather than walking through an entire mall to get to a store. It also eliminates distraction and saves time.

Shop Local

I’m a big advocate for shopping local when you can. It’s something I’m guilty of not doing enough but it’s so important so I’m trying to do it as much as possible now. For me, local shopping includes buying my daughter’s Christmas book (a tradition) at a local independent children’s book store instead an international big chain. Also, once my list is made, I will check to see what I can buy from local vendors at our markets and shops. Not only is the one of the most personal and fun Christmas shopping experiences, its fun. It feels good to support a local entrepreneur over a big chain any day.

Christmas can be stressful if you let it. Stressing over shopping is not worth your time or energy though. Spend a little time getting organized and you’ll thank yourself!

How do you enjoy hassle free shopping?

Catherine

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Three Things You Can Do to Make Money for Christmas

November 25, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Did you start this year with every intention of starting to save for Christmas in January, or start buying gifts early? It’s now November and you haven’t started and you’re stressed out? I know I’ve been there and it can be stressful. Though we’ve learned from it, and will start come January 2016, for now we have to focus on this year and what we can do to make the most of it. There is still time to come up with some creative ways to make money for Christmas plans.

Become a Local Vendor

By late fall, Christmas markets in towns of all sizes start popping up and for a small fee you can become a vendor. Sell cookies, bake pies, knit scarves, the possibilities are endless! Stay away from larger cities and concentrate on small towns for the biggest bang for your buck. The rental fee is usually much lower and there is less competition. A friend of mine decided to sell cookies this year to earn some extra income. In one evening at a small town Christmas fair he sold $600 worth of cookies. It took him two days to bake and about $40 worth of ingredients, not bad for a few hours’ worth of work!

Even though we budget for Christmas, this is something I am seriously considering doing for next year anyway for some extra money. I’m not 100% sure what I’ll be selling but it will likely be my (semi-famous) cookies!

Make Use of Online Auctions

Consider selling things you already own online either through online auction sites or online classifieds. If you have a keen eye you could also consider flipping items from garage sales and thrift stores to sell online. There is a woman in town who paid her entire way through university by hitting up local thrift stores for high end vintage clothes and re selling them online. If you have a keen eye for something, you may be able to make some good money fast through online sales.

Offer a Seasonal Service

There is a woman in town who is offering to come in and decorate your house. She used to work in a high end retailer and for a small fee will come in and decorate your house and/or tree like you see in fancy department stores. Though I personally wouldn’t necessarily pay for this service, I know many people who would. Another option may be to offer cleaning and house prepping services before Christmas. I know I like to do a good deep clean before dragging all the decorations out and would love the help.

Spending a day to come up with a creative way to earn some extra money might be a good use of time. It’s easy to get frustrated but sometimes investing a little money into some materials ends up paying you back many times over. Make sure, whatever you decided to do, you price things out and do a little research.

Have you ever done anything creative to earn extra money for Christmas?

Catherine

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Keeping Kids Warm this Winter Doesn’t Have to Break the Bank

November 18, 2015 | Leave a Comment

One thing is a certain every year, with children who are still growing, they will need new winter gear every year. It amazes me just how fast little kids sprout up actually. The snowsuit I bought last year seemed big at the beginning of the year and within the season it got too small!

Winter gear, for us and probably many families out there, is one of the most expensive kid clothing expenses we have every year. The savings we get buying cheap $5 sandals and $2 shorts in the summer are quickly spent in the colder months but this doesn’t mean there aren’t savings to be found.

Always Start with Used

I know I often say this, but the same still applies for snowsuits and boots. ‘’Shop’’ around for used. This could be either an older kid hand-me-down or shopping at a local thrift store. The first two years my kid was outfitted in winter gear we bought at a second hand store and were almost brand new. Kids grow so fast that they usually only get one winter out of the gear and my experience is that most parents will either look up unload or just donate to a local store. Last year our daughter wore a pair of quality winter boots that were also worn by two of her older cousins. The boots still had plenty of life in them and saved us a few bucks.

Put a Facebook post out there and see if you get any bites. Also join local buy and sells on Facebook to see if you find anything decent and, as always, check your local thrift stores. You don’t know what’s out there until you ask!

Buy at Year End

At the end of our daughters second winter we came into a too-hard-to-resist-sale on snow suits. They were name brand suits at a store for $10. We quickly bought a few and two years later we’re still wearing them (I have two more still to go!). I figured if, by the time winter came, they didn’t fit her and she was in between sizes, I would donate them to a thrift store or local charity. Things like snowsuits and boots take up a large inventory so stores often want to see them sell off rather than storing or shipping back (especially as style changes) so you may be surprised what is out there for sales.

You don’t need Name Brand

Winter boots can be expensive. I have been looking around for our 3.5 year old and found a few pairs, the problem is that I know they will only fit her for the one winter, and they were $50, or more, per pair. I can’t justify spending $50-$70 on a pair of boots she will wear for a few months. Instead I found a pair at Walmart. They seem to have a nice lining and super warm for half the price. Some people get so hung up on certain brands they don’t even consider large box store brands.

If you walk into a sporting goods store looking to outfit your child for the winter, you can expect to spend a few hundred dollars but there is no reason why you can’t bring in a whole outdoor winter apparel for your kid for under $100. Like anything, there are always savings to be found if you try!

How do you find savings when it comes to outfitting your growing kids for winter?

Catherine

plungedindebt.com

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