Blog - Page 238 of 242 - Making Sense Of Cents

Would you donate to the government?

August 29, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Ever since Warren Buffet announced that he thought the government should impose higher taxes on the rich, many people are questioning whether or not HE should just write a check to the government and consider it a donation. The original article is here.

This then led to the debate on whether ordinary citizens should donate to the government. I myself believe that I would not donate to the government. I feel that I donate enough and I do not receive a quality return for my taxes. The article also stated that the U.S. receives about $3 million in donations.

Would you donate to the U.S. to help out?

Daily Deal Websites

August 28, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Do you use any daily deal websites? Such as Groupon, LivingSocial, BuyWithMe, and so on?

Are you addicted? I only buy it if I know that it's close and that I'll actually use it. However, my mother buys ANYTHING! She recently gave me a big stack that were about to expire and told me to start using them. While this is nice that I get to use all of them, she is insane! You are not actually saving any money, if you wouldn't have gone to the place in the first place.

Here are some tips so that you aren't wasting money:

Make sure that it is something that you will use.
Figure out what the WHOLE cost will be. So if you buy a hair certificate, how much will tip be afterwards? You should be tipping on the FULL amount.
If you're traveling, maybe look into deals in that city, but if you have any doubt that you won't use it, then don't buy it.
Verify that the value that you are saving is actually “saved.” My Groupon deal one day that I saw was for a photography session. The session was one hour long, at the studio, and with a not-so-great photography company. Groupon stated the value of this was $1,495! This is obviously over inflated.

Are you addicted to any daily deal sites? Which ones do you like? Have you made any mistakes with the daily deal sites?

Bucket List

August 27, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 8 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Over at No More Spending, a Bucket List was posted. The Happy Homeowner also has a GREAT one! I've been wanting to finish creating my bucket list for awhile. Hopefully I can cross some things off my list also. I've done some of these things, but some were so long ago, that I don't think they should count anymore. Here it goes.

Travel

Travel to another country and work odd jobs for my money. I had friends who went to Europe for 2 years and they worked odd jobs here and there to support themselves. Sounded like so much fun.
U.S. Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands
Hawaii
New York
California
DisneyWorld
Miami
Panama City, FL
Portland
Dallas
Houston
Chicago
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Boston
Washington DC
Puerto Rico
Bahamas
Jamaica
Australia
Italy
Spain
UK
Ireland
Denmark
Germany
Brazil
Chile
Argentina
Thailand
China
South Korea
Japan
India
Yosemite
Big Sur
Yellowstone

Activities/Adventure/Fun

Go skydiving (I'm going in a September 2011!)
Get my piloting license (I have my first class soon!)
Go parasailing in the ocean
Jetski
Go on a month long hike
Jump off a cliff
Go cliff diving
Parachute into a deep cave
Horseback riding in the mountains
Live in a cabin on a beautiful lake
Drive 200 miles per hour
Surf well
Snowboard
Go on a month long sailing excursion
Live on a boat

Financial

Have my mortgage paid off
Have a second condo/house paid off in a place that I love
Make at least six figures a year
Have no debt
Be able to pay for everything with cash upfront

Personal

Have a successful financial website
Speak a foreign language
Write a financial or self-help book
Live in a foreign country or Hawaii
Be extremely fit
Have a full garden full of tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers and much more!
Form some kind of talent. I have feel like I have no talent. I wish I could sing, dance, ballet, SOMETHING!
Attend a royal affair and wear a massive hat
Run a marathon (or a half-marathon)
Enter an eating contest and WIN
Have wonderful children
Have my MBA
Get my PhD

Do you have a bucket list? Share your link or comment!

Spending Recap

August 26, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Since I got back from my vacation, this is what I've spent:

Beer: $13.71 (August 20)
Groceries: $37.28 (on August 21)
Gas: $38.45 for me and $37.69 for him (August 21)
Lion's Choice: $3.30 (August 21)
Parking Pass for classes: $162.00 (August 22)
Walgreens School supplies: $5.14 (August 22)
Gas bill: $30.34 (August 22)
Sewer bill: $60.45 (August 22)
McDonalds: $3.34 (August 22)
Amazon textbooks: $138.47, $85.67 and $60.99 (August 23)
Arby's: $3.29
McDonalds: $2.17 (August 25)

How has your spending been so far this week? This has been an expensive week for me. A lot of these were unavoidable though. I wish I could do no-spend days. I need to get my BF on board also….

Here are the pictures that some of you were asking for!

August 26, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

A lot of you had questions about the secret shopping that I do. Trust me, I was VERY skeptical at first. Here is a picture of the recent check that I received.

And then some of you also asked for a picture of my cute bulldog! He is a runt and only around 10 pounds (they usually weigh around 30-40 pounds). He is always sick since he's a runt and always gets hurt. I feel so bad for him 🙁

Also, what does everyone think of the new background? Is it ok? I guess while we're at it, does anyone have any tips on the layout or suggestions for new topics for my blog? Thanks!

Fashion on a Budget

August 25, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

As many of you know, I love clothes. I have been following a great website for quite some time. J's Everyday Fashion is wonderful! Here is a quote from her website.

“J's Everyday Fashion is not a personal style blog. You can think of it as a how-to fashion magazine with a personal twist – J uses items from her own closet to illustrate different styling tips or try out new trends to see if they work for the everyday woman! At its core, J's Everyday Fashion was created to inspire women to have fun with fashion and to address the serious lack of practical style advice in America. Most people can’t afford a personal stylist, and fashion magazines and blogs are full of fantasy fashion that is too expensive and not obtainable for 99% of women.
How to make your budget stretch, with shopping and budgeting tips.
How to use what you already have, with styling features such as the same item worn 10 different ways.
How to achieve the looks you see on celebrities, with outfit posts that show the transformation from inspiration photo to real life.
How to find your own personal style, with outfit posts covering a range of styles, age groups and occasions.”

She always has great ways to transform clothing items and how to wear them differently.

I also love Really Petite. I am not considered “really petite”. I am 5'3″ and I have size 7 shoes, so I am probably considered humongous to the girls on that site, since most of them are under 5'0″ and have size 4-5 feet! I do love the site though because she puts great work outfits together, and these outfits help me when I'm out at the store looking for clothes.

Note: I was not paid to write this post, I just wanted to share my love of these two sites with you guys.

What are your favorite fashion blogs? How do you shop on a budget?

How I plan on increasing my income and therefore my savings

August 25, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 26 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Me and the BF have been talking, and we want to pay down our debt faster, and start putting more in savings.

We want to add around an extra $1,000 (after tax) to our monthly income. This shouldn't be too hard.

Our steps for doing this include:

1. Doing more secret shops. I have made around $250 so far. My plan is to make around $150-$200 a month.

2. Continuing with my online surveys. Probably only around $30 a month. But this along with Swagbucks will probably be around $50 a month altogether.

All the money I earn from Swagbucks I use for Amazon gift cards, and I plan on just using this for Christmas time for the kids in the extended family.
From the survey company that I participate through, I also get lots of free products. These are not just trial sized products (actually none of my surveys have includes trial sized items). I get full products such as 8 rolls of toilet paper, 5 tubes of lip gloss, $200 to spend on Captain Morgan, gift cards to spend at grocery stores, TRESemme conditioner and shampoo and so on. All of this free stuff also saves money.

3. We have a friend moving in with us. This person is going to pay $300 for rent and utilities altogether. Our house isn't huge but we have a finished basement, so altogether our house is around 2,500 square feet. So, with a roommate we still won't be cramped.

FYI, we are not having them move in just for the money, just so everyone knows.

4. Also, hopefully I can convince the BF to get a second part-time job. His hours at his current job have been cut (but he's still making the same amount of money, I have no clue how that worked out), so he has time now. Now I just need him to be motivated to look.

I know he can find one, a lot of our friends own restaurants and businesses and they are always asking him if he would like to work with them. I estimate that if he can find a part-time job, that he will make somewhere around $500 a month.
He asked for more hours today (right after I posted this) at his work and now he's making an extra $300 a month from work.

5. And then I plan on maybe getting a side job also. As many of you know, I have been asking you what you do and pretty much just bugging everyone. I'm not sure how I will have time for a side job, as I work 50 hours a week and I attend MBA classes full-time as well (12 credits this semester).

I have two friends who are beer cart girls (both work at a different golf course, and they are both teachers and beer girls on the weekend). They make AT LEAST $300 every weekend, for just one day and just a couple of hours.
They usually work from around 9am to around 1pm. So this sounds like pretty easy money to me. They also always tell me to join them because they always need help.
So even if I worked just two days a month, I should clear at least $300 (pessimistically thinking) a month from this.

I know that all of this won't happen, but that's why my goal is only for $1,000. We then plan on paying off my student loan that actually has an interest rate right now. This loan is at around $5,700. So if we can pay off this loan in 5-6 months, we would then be able to start paying off my car completely and have that done within 4 months after the loan is done. So sometime by before next summer, I should be free of my student loan (that has interest) and my car loan! Then after this, I will be graduating with my MBA soon after, and then I can start working on paying down my enormous student loan.

What have you been doing to make extra income?

Subscribe Via Email