Quick way to get sale-priced meat products AFTER the sales is over

I was in the grocery store the other day, the day after their ground beef was on sale.
Their current price was nearly double the sale price.
No, I didn't want to have to pay the higher price if I could help it.
Know what I did?
I looked through the other shelves of ground beef.  Know what I found?  Packages of ground beef already marked as the sale price from the previous week.
Since most meat departments print the labels ahead of time, most don't go back and "fix" them for the higher price.  It paid for me to be persistent and look around for packages already marked lower.

Tips from Dave Ramsey on saving money for your upcoming wedding

In a recent article from Dave Ramsey, he lists a variety of creative ways to save money on your upcoming wedding.

According to the top wedding sites, the average wedding can cost between $20,000-$30,000.  And that's from a one-day shindig.  Recent college graduates, who went through the whole student loan route, have roughly this amount after four years.

From the venue to the honeymoon, Ramsey lays out tips to save money on your special day.  Check out the article here.

Along with the article, I also have my ebook Debt Free I Do: 99 Ways To Have A Memorable Wedding On A Shoestring Budget where I lay out more tips.

Here's a link for my site, where you can pick up the ebook from your favorite e-retailer.

Got a late start on your monthly budget?

Today is the 5th of March and I must ask you: did you start a monthly budget yet?  You didn't.  Instead of telling yourself, "I'll just wait until next month," start it now.

Having a plan for your money is the best way to get a handle on your expenses.

It doesn't have to be complicated.  Take a piece of paper and write down all of your expenses, from debt to food to gas to miscellaneous.

Prioritize that list, from food, housing, and transportation costs at the top.  At the bottom is your total debt and expenses.  Minus your income from that total.  If you're in the negative, you will have to go back and tweak something.  If you have money left over, that's good.

But what to do with that left-over money?

Save.  Give.  Spend wisely.  Get out of debt.

Have you done your budget today?

Today is the second day of the month.  Have you done your budget for the month yet?

What are you waiting for?!?!?!?

It's time to sit down and tell your money where to go instead of having no clue where it all went.  Budgeting is an important part of life, and even marriage.

There are numerous budget forms out there.  Just Google search it and you'll find plenty to choose from.  I personally use the budget forms from Dave Ramsey but feel free to use whatever you want.  This shouldn't take very long.

Get it done today.

Your wallet, and your financial future, will thank you for it.

How to fund your wedding

The best approaches for paying for your wedding is to have a wedding fund.

Once you've decided on how much your wedding budget is, the next step is to plan on how to save for it.  Obviously, the longer you have to save, the better.  Make a list of potential wedding expenses, such as:

Bridal gown
Groom's tuxedo
Flowers
Photography
Rings
Transportation
Decorations
Reception Music
Invitatinos
Reception Venue
Beauty Services

Now, let's say you've totaled up your budget and come to a total of $12,000.  Right now you have $2,000 in a savings account.  If your wedding is 18 months away, you'll need to save $555 a month in order to come up to your $12,000 total.

What if your budget is $12,000 and you can only save $350 a month (and you have only $1,000 saved so far)?  That comes up to $7,300 during the same 18-month period.  Think about what areas to cut, in order to lower the budget on your wedding.  It may not be easy.  Then again, with limited resources and sheer determination, you can find some creative ways in order to lower the cost on various wedding services.

For tips on how to do this, please check out my ebook 99 Ways To Have A Memorable Wedding On A Shoestring Budget, available on the Amazon Kindle.

The first step in planning any wedding is this

The first thing to decide on, in planning your wedding, is how much to spend.
Are either of your parents paying for it?  Are you?  The average wedding today costs between $20-$30K, but there are plenty of ways to do it for less, if you are so motivated and have a limited budget.  Be realistic about your incomes.  And, above all else, avoid debt.  There is no reason to put $25,000 on a credit card for a one-day shindig that could take 10 or more years to pay off.

Come to an agreement on how much to spend.  Both of you have a vote in this process--men, pay attention at this point, because the decisions you make now will affect you for years to come.

The Sports Fund 2.0

Last month, I posted a blog regarding having a sports fund to help pay for the sporting activities your children are in.

I'd like to expand on it a little, based on a few messages I received which stated, "Starting one is fine, and is a great idea, but what if you're already in the middle of the sports season?  Also, there always seems to be something going on all the time.  What do I do about that?"

There's a saying that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time is right now.  Putting off saving for your children's sporting events will only get your further down the hole into debt, so make a commitment to yourself to start one now.  Even if you can only save a little each month to get you started, it's better than nothing.

Also, do you have anything you can sell?  Put on a garage sale or sell a few items on eBay or Craigslist to get you a sudden influx of cash to put towards your sports fund.  Even if you could pick up a few extra hours of overtime, put that extra cash aside.  Don't think that you just hit the lottery.  Refrain from spending it unless it's being used for its intended purpose.

About.com's Frugal Living

One site to check out for living a frugal life is About.com's Frugal Living.

A young lady named Erin Huffstetler is in charge of the blog, and she offers weekly tips on a variety of topics centered around living a frugal life and saving money.  She shows areas where you can cut costs, get bargains for food, etc., and even do-it-yourself topics.

An easy way to pay for your child's sports

Having grown up in a town where hockey is the predominant winter sport, there are tales of parents taking out loans at the beginning of the season just to pay for all of the equipment, fees, traveling, etc.  This isn't exclusively with hockey--although, I must confess, my son played hockey for many years and even though it's not in the same town as where I grew up, it's still expensive.  This can be for any of your child's activities.

What I suggest for those out there fighting this battle is this: start a sports fund.

The concept is simple.  Figure out what you'll need for the entire season (or even for the entire year) and split that total up by 12.  If you really want to get crazy, you could divide it by 26 if you get paid every two weeks, but going by a monthly budget, this works the best.

For example, let's say you figure out that all sports will cost around $2,000.

$2,000 / 12 months = $166.67 a month.

Okay, but what if your total sports costs around $5,000?

$5,000 / 12 months - $416.67 a month.

Example of a budget

This is an example of a quick monthly budget. Yours may vary, depending on your income and debt load.

Let's assume an income of $3,000.

Income (after taxes)  $3,000
Mortgage                    -$800
Car Payment               -$500
Utilities                       -$250
Home/Car Insurance   -$200
TOTAL                     $1,250

Credit cards (4)           -$200
Student Loans             -$300
Food (family of 4)      -$500

TOTAL                        $250

Given this, you have $250 left, but there is at least one more category that I always put it, and that's the miscellaneous category.  The $250 could go here.

Is your budget as nice and neat as this one?  Probably not, but it should get you started.  Add and subtract categories as you see fit.  Add a Giving category, as you see fit.  If you want to car and/or house maintanence fund, be sure to add it.

Budgeting 101

To reiterate what I started yesterday, if you make $45,000 a year and you spend $55,000 – that’s not good. You will end up broke.

Budgeting your money is not difficult, but it must be done. It doesn’t take long, once you start doing it.

It’s best to do it just before the first of the month. Let’s assume we’re doing a monthly budget. Ready?

At the top of the page, list what your total incoming income will be during the month. Use net income, as the taxes, etc have already been taken out. Once that is done, list all of your bills below that, starting with rent/mortgage, auto payments, utilities, and ending with student loan and credit card payments.

If you have any left over, don’t start jumping for joy just yet. Let’s think of some other expenses you may have: fuel for your vehicles, food, charitable giving, and miscellaneous.

When it comes to food, I suggest overbudgeting for this, because, depending on your family size, you may be amazed at how much food you’re consuming.

Done?

How does it look? If you’re in the negative, you’ll have to do one of two things: first, go through the budget to look at areas to cut; second, find ways of increasing your income.

Do I really need a budget?

I don’t care if you make $20,000/year or $100 million. If you can’t budget your money, you’re going to end up broke.

Think I’m kidding?

MC Hammer once filed for bankruptcy.

Ed McMahon had his home in foreclosure before he passed away.

Nicholas Cage owned multiple residences and several were foreclosed on.

And let’s not start with the countless athletes who make it big, only to crash and burn in the financial trenches.

It may sound a bit nerdy but everyone needs to budget their money. I don’t care if you do it bi-weekly, monthly, or even a rolling yearly budget (or for the super nerds out there, the ten-year budget!). Spend a few minutes and write down everything you pay out for in bills each month (or if there are some things you pay annually or quarterly, write them down in a separate piece of paper).

Once this is done, tomorrow we’ll start the next stage of budgeting.

Entertainment that doesn't bust the bank

The local park.

Libraries.

The public beach.

Playing a board game at the dining room table.

The backyard (or frontyard).

Taking a drive an hour or so from home.

All of these places, and a whole lot more, are great places to entertain that won't bust your wallet.  Cheap or free, in most cases.

Nobody ever said that entertainment has to cost an arm and a leg.  Think outside of the box, if you find yourself living life on a shoestring budget and want a little bit of rest and relaxation.

Buying at a consignment store

Consignment stores are great places to look for bargains.

Clothes, electronics, bikes, books, etc. can all be had for mere dollars.

Simply put, if you're looking for something in particular, or are looking for a bargain on something, don't forget consignment stores.

Wedding dresses can also be had there.  When brand new dresses are several hundred dollars, these gently-worn bargains can be snatched up for around $100.

2 Quick Ways to Save a Few Bucks

There are two surefire ways of cutting a few bucks from your monthly budget, and they both have to do with your cable bill.

Either cut cable entirely . . . or downgrade from the premium channels to a more economical package.

An entrepreneur friend of mine posted on his Facebook page that he had taken some of the channels off the TV.  Despite his childrens' displeasure, the money saved him enough in his budget to keep up with the essentials, like food, house, and basic utilities.

You may think this is crazy, and that you couldn't live without your precious television.  Try keeping the TV off for a day or two and see what more you can accomplish.

What am I eating this week?

This is something our family did last month, and it helped immensely with the number of times we went to the store as well as what we had budgeted for food.

Plan your meals a week in advance.

Have kids?  Let them be involved too.

I know this sounds awful geeky to plan your supper meals this far in advance, but we've found that there isn't any guessing as to what we're having on any given night.  And there is no running to the store for another pound of hamburger or a box of elbow macaroni.  We already know what we're having and have prepared ahead of time.

Want to live a frugal life? Check this site out

If you're living on a shoestring budget or just wanting to live a more frugal life (or both, even), check out About.com's Frugal Living site.

Sign up for a weekly subscription, which is filled with various tips ranging from how to create a budget and saving on heating costs to bargain shopping and DIY household projects.

Keeping up with your parents' lifestyle

When did this generation (I'm speaking to the 20,30, and 40 year olds) not realize how long it took their parents to achieve what they've achieved?  This generation I'm referring to looks at their parents and seems to want the big house, the fancy cars, the jet skis, the four-wheelers, and the vacation home RIGHT NOW.  Not ten or fifteen years down the road.  NOW!

Don't settle for the lifestyle your parents have right now.

Sure, it's easy to go into debt and have all of this fancy stuff.  But debt is a crutch that will keep you from achieving the level of success you are capable of.

Work hard, save, and start out small.

Remember the fable The Tortoise and the Hare?  Who won?

DIY coffee

By and large, making your own food or beverage will cost less at home (DIY-style) than purchasing them at a fancy gourmet coffee cafe.

Make your own coffee at home.

This is not to say you can't treat yourself once a week or so with a Starbucks coffee.  Work it into your budget, if you have income left over after all of the bills and food are taken care of.

This B-word is not a swear word

No, the b-word is not the equivalent of a female dog or something you say at the end of "you son of a . . . "

The b-word I'm referring to is BUDGET.

Having, and maintaining, a budget will help you keep track of all your expenses.  There are many resources of how to put together a budget.  Here are two such resources where you can find budgeting forms to use:

Dave Ramsey  (this is the one we use)

About.com's Frugal Living