Budget Archives - Page 109 of 110 - Making Sense Of Cents

An Extra $20,000

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 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.

What would you do with an extra $20,000?

I recently read this article which said:

“CNN recently created a video in which they asked New York residents in Central Park a simple question “How would you spend an extra $20,000?”

What can you do with $20,000?

You could buy a Mini Cooper
You can invest it for 30 years and turn it into $265,353 at a 9% rate of return…
You can buy 40,000 donuts which is enough to last you 109 years (without inflation and the cost of your heart surgery).
You can stay at the Burj Al Arab for 3 nights
You can live in Thailand for two years
You could feed 80,000 children in Africa for a day or 220 for about a year.”

Would you buy a car, use it as a down payment on a house, pay off loans, splurge on something, or what?

Fashion on a Budget

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 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?

Where does your income go?

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 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.

I just read a great article about how income is distributed to different parts of a typical budget. Check it out here.

How do your finances stack up compared to others? What percent of your income do you spend on your different bills? I think this is a great article to compare your finances to others, and to kind of see where you should be.

For me, these amounts will all be averages and after tax.

I spend around 21-24% on my mortgage payment, home insurance, PMI
18% on my car payment, car insurance, maintenance and gas
15% on food
0% on health insurance since we are both very fortunate to have free very good health insurance
5% on entertainment (the 15% we spend on food can also be considered entertainment, since we like to go to bars and eat as well)
2-3% on clothes
And the rest on saving, miscellaneous, etc.

How do your expenses add up?

How I’ve cut expenses and adjusted my budget

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 15 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.

We had a great time on vacation! However back to reality now. I start my classes today and I’m not super excited. I’m taking 12 credits this semester for my MBA, while also working full-time of course, so I will not have much time left.

This is also a good thing because I will most likely be saving money because I won’t have time for anything.

[Read more…]

Splurging

Last Updated: August 20, 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.

I am constantly trying to save and pay off debt, but every now and then a “splurge” happens or is “needed.” I just splurged on my vacation, and I’m going skydiving in a couple of weeks, so I’ll be splurging again. Since I save so much, I always say in my head that these splurges are necessary in order for me to keep my sanity.

What are your splurges usually on? Do you ever feel bad about them?

Where to Apply for Scholarships

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 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.

You can find scholarships in many places. If you have applied for a college, then when you get your acceptance letter usually you will also get some sort of financial aid package letter also.

First you need to fill out your FAFSA form at FAFSA.org. The deadline to fill this out by FAFSA is in the beginning of each year. Also, you usually have to fill out a separate financial aid form for your school. The deadline for this is usually different, so I would check with each individual school.

However, if you cannot make it by the deadline, FAFSA will still accept it, as will most schools, so no need to worry. If you don’t fill out the forms by the required date though, then you might qualify for a smaller amount of loans, scholarships and grants because after that date, you basically qualify for what and any funds that are left. I have filled out my FAFSA and financial aids late before, and i noticed no difference in my scholarship/financial aid package though.

I received all of my scholarships directly through the school I attended. I received a scholarship package of $16,000 a year, plus some financial aid.

You can also receive scholarships through websites and private organizations. I have tried to apply for scholarships through private organizations, but I felt that for most scholarships, a lot of work was needed. They might want a very long paper, an invention, some sort of research project and so on. I am NOT saying these are a waste though. I have met many people who have received these private scholarships.

For masters programs, the schools in my area do not offer ANY scholarships or financial aid (besides loans) for any of their MBA programs. This is very upsetting because I got into all of the schools I applied to, and I didn’t know that masters programs only offer loans. This made the price of going to graduate school much higher than for my undergraduate degrees.

Some websites that I would check out are:

Finaid.org
Fastweb.com
Scholarships.com

Have you had any luck with receiving scholarships outside of the ones that your school gave you?

How many different savings accounts do you have?

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 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.

Like I’ve said before, I love DailyWorth. Here’s an interesting article about different savings accounts.

Do you have different savings accounts for different reasons?

But how many savings accounts does it make sense to have, outside of retirement?

A: You need at least three active savings accounts.

Curveball fund. Automatically transfer at least 5% of every paycheck, to cover random expenses (a lapse of reason at a yard sale, a broken toaster).

Emergency fund. Ditto, but only tap this in a true do-or-die crisis. When they say, “Save three to six months’ worth of living expenses,” this is where it goes.

YouNameIt fund(s). Set up at least one other account for a looming goal or project: a cushy reading chair for the bedroom, a holiday party (or getaway from the parties), adopting a child.

From Daily Worth (share this quote)

I only have an emergency fund, which I consider a fund for ANY type of emergency. It could be a potential job loss, unexpected bills, risen expenses and so on. Ever since reading DailyWorth, I feel like I’m the only one on the website who doesn’t have multiple accounts.

Your turn: How many do you have? Do you feel like it’s necessary?

Subscribe Via Email