budget and saving tips Archives

Money Matters: 5 Simple Ways to Stretch Your Budget

February 1, 2023 4 Comments

Finding simple ways to stretch your budget especially in this trying times is a must. Inflation is going up and prices of basic commodities and services are rising along with it. Soon it would be a challenge to live on one’s paycheck alone. Therefore, it is imperative to find simple and easy ways to stretch your monthly budget.

There are numerous ways that we can stretch our monthly budget. Here are a few ideas that you might want to try this month:

Plan and cook your meals

With the alarming rate prices of food items are increasing these days, one simple way to cut down on your monthly budget is making a meal plan. Plan your weekly or monthly meals and work your grocery list around these meals. This way you will not only avoid over-budgeting when you do the grocery, but will also help you avoid ordering food. You will not only be hitting budge t goals doing this, but will also enable you to serve more delicious and healthier home-cooked meals to your family.

Earn from you passion

Our passions can also take a good chunk of our budget. If you are a plant mumma like myself, you allot a portion of budget each month to buy plants or gardening-related items. If you are into arts and crafts, you set aside a portion of your salary each month to purchase supplies and materials. But what if you can actually find ways to also earn from these passions? If you are a fledgling writer, you can offer writing services to your blogger or online influencer friends. As a plant-loving mum, you can propagate your plants and sell the propagations to other fellow plant lovers. As an arts and crafts enthusiasts, you can earn extra by selling your crafts or making crafts for other people.

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Money Matter, Tips and Tricks

Tips + Tricks: 8 Ways To Save Up This Holiday Season

November 10, 2022 No Comments

The Christmas holidays may very well be one of the most expensive season of the year. It is very easy to go over-budget with all the parties to attend and the gifts to buy. I did not even mention the funds you need to set aside for the food you and your family will consume during the most festive of months.

Fortunately, you do not need to break the bank that much to have an unforgettable Christmas holidays. Here are a few money tips and tricks you may want to consider to make the most of the yuletide and still save up this holiday season:

Create a budget

It is very easy to lose track of your holiday spending if you will not create a budget. Make sure that you prepare a list of all your holiday spending. Include in your list everything you will need to make a budget for. This may include your Christmas gift shopping list and your December grocery list. You may very well throw in your airfare or transportation expenses for your holiday travel into your list. You should also include tips for delivery crews or parking lot attendants in your list.

Stick to your budget

Of course, it does not end with just creating a holiday budget. The second and most important part of it to make it effective is that you need to stick to your budget. You may go a little over your designated budget for each item on the list, but make sure you are still near the ball park figure to avoid going bankrupt, or worse, in depth of debt, after the holidays.

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Finish your holiday shopping ahead of time

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Money Matters + Clay Advisors: 5 Tips On How To Get Better At Managing Your Money

January 8, 2020 No Comments

The beginning of the year is always the best time to evaluate your spending habits and money management skills, as well as formulating ways and making plans to get better at managing your finances. This is most ideal especially if you have plans for the year that would require spending or saving up big amounts of money and/or investing your hard-earned money.

Create A Budget

Creating a budget and making a list of all your incomes, savings, and expenditures is a fool-proof way of tracking your finances. It primarily serves as a record of where all your money went and gives you a clear picture of your financial situation. This written record will allow you to better monitor your finances, thereby making money management a whole lot easier.

Plan Those Purchases

Whether you have major purchase plans for the year, like buying a house or a new car, or simply doing the groceries weekly, it is best to plan your purchases ahead in order to see how you can regularly set aside a fixed amount for the said expenses. Creating such will also allow you to schedule major purchases around those dates when you are expecting bigger income or additional bonuses while relegating smaller or regular purchases on dates when smaller amounts of money are coming in.

If you are planning to buy a new house, using calculator apps like the one found at https://www.sofi.com/home-affordability-calculator/ will also be effective in helping you plan and prepare your budget for this major purchase.