Economy | Wise Accounting

How to Avoid Wedding Debt

Your wedding day will be one of the most memorable days of your life. To keep the memories pleasant and beautiful, you’ll want to do whatever you can to avoid going into debt when planning a wedding. In the unfortunate event of one or both spouses being laid off in a bad economy, wedding debt can darken your pleasant memories and cause unnecessary stress. Here are a few strategies for avoiding wedding debt.

1. Clarify the absolute must-haves. Speak with your spouse-to-be about the most important elements of your wedding. You’ll want to please yourself and your partner as well as the people who are important in your life. However, throwing an extravagant wedding just because extended relatives expect you to may be a decision you’ll later regret.

2. Find an affordable wedding location. You don’t want to sacrifice too much. However, with a bit of creativity you may find a private building, a community center or a park by a lake that may make a beautiful and affordable wedding spot.

3. Lower costs for photos and videos. Wedding photos and a professionally done video may be an absolute must for you. In this case, visit photography schools and ask to speak to the best students. Ask the students to show you their work. Hiring student photographers and videographers can potentially save you money.

4. Visit a local bakery. When it’s time to select a wedding cake, consult with a local bakery. You may be able to negotiate a deal for a wedding cake that tastes and looks just as good as a higher priced variety.

Filed Under: Economy, Personal Tagged With: Wedding, Wedding cake, Weddings

Learning to Balance Your Money

It’s really easy to drop your money as if there was a hole burned in your pocket, so it’s important to always learn to balance it out!

Let’s put it in perspective for you…. A family of five, for instance, goes to the movies one night. Do you want to know how much money would be spent for that one night?

Try a hundred bucks, easy. If you think that’s crazy, go ahead and try it. You’re looking at $8 or $

Various Federal Reserve Notes, c.1995. Only th...

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9 dollars for the adult tickets, and let’s say you have three younger kids, so $5 each. That would be at least $31 — just for the tickets.

Now keep in mind that you’ve got concessions to worry about, too — each kid gets a bucket of popcorn, a drink, and maybe candy. That’s pretty fair. Let’s skip the possibility that you as the parents don’t get anything. Just the kids. Go ahead and take a quick look at the concessions stand, and you’ll flip on the prices. First off, you get one bag of candy…. For five bucks! A small drink? Yeah, that costs about $4. A small bucket of popcorn can be anywhere from $5 to $6.

Let’s go on the low end here. Do the math, and you’re looking at $14 per kid. That’s $42 total! Add that to $31, and you’re looking at an easy $73 out of your pocket….

Oh, but it doesn’t stop there (forget the fact that you as the parents didn’t even bother to get anything from the concessions). This expense you might not have thought of: travel. Yes, you do have to travel to get to the cinema. It costs gas. Do you know how expensive gas is? Do you know that you have to get to work every day during the week? If your theater is a good 15 minutes away, you’re looking at possibly four or five miles there and back. And at $3 or $4 or even $5 a gallon, that’s pretty steep. You can expect to use at least $10 to make sure you have enough gas in the car for the rest of the week when it involves work. That brings your cost to $83. Out of your pocket.

You see what’s going on here? It’s a numbers game. Learn to balance your money. It’s really easy not paying attention to how much money you really spend, because it’s easy to spend it. So be mindful; your wallet will blow you kisses if you are.

Filed Under: Business, Economy Tagged With: Credit card, Money, Shopping

Proper Ways to Handle Money

Handling money is relatively easy. While some people think that their money rules them, you can become the master or mistress of your cash simply by admitting to yourself that you’re in control of it. When you assume responsibility for your income and your expenses, you rule them instead of letting them rule you. Let’s discuss some methods for making your money your servant.

First of all, understand that bankruptcy is your last chance to salvage a bad situation. Go to Chapter7.com and read up on the process of being bankrupt. It isn’t a fun experience, but it can ultimately save you from worse problems down the road. If you want to stave off bankruptcy before it happens, you need to understand income and expenses. While you don’t need to be able to field strip a financial statement, you do need to know the relationship between money coming in and money going out.

Once you understand these concepts, you need to get to work systematizing your finances. Your bills and debts should be automatically paid each month, and you should be saving for short-term emergencies and your future goals without having to think about it. Don’t rely on your willpower to carry you through. You might forget, or you might feel afraid and stop saving because of a misguided thought that spending few hundred dollars now will keep you from dying. Your financial problems are rarely life and death situations, and keeping systems in place means one emotional moment won’t damage your overall situation.

Filed Under: Economy, Finance Tagged With: Expense, Finance, Money

Using Coupons to Build a Savings Account

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Many people struggle to make enough to pay their monthly expenses. For this group of people, the concept of a savings account sounds good, but only in theory. How to save money on a limited income can seem impossible. That’s why couponing makes sense.

Committing to Couponing

You have to make certain purchases regardless; you might as well save money. Over time, the money you save from using coupons can add up to a significant sum. With a commitment to put all money saved in a savings account, you may be surprised at just how much you can save, even on a small income.

The Potential for Savings

Imagine saving $1 each time you buy your favorite shampoo. The dozen pack of juice for your kids at $2 off each time can add up too. Couponing makes the most sense for the higher priced items. If you have to replace a large appliance, a 20 percent discount can yield hundreds of dollars.

Ways to Benefit from Couponing

Couponing can be very addictive once you see the potential for savings. Here are some things you can do to increase your savings from using coupons:

Buy the Sunday paper to peruse a large number of coupons all in one place.

Review the circulars that arrive in the mail for possible deals and sales.

Plan your menus based on the coupon offers and sales at the grocery stores.

Save coupons to use when stores have large sales on your favorite items.

Buy whatever brand is on sale. Be willing to buy generic brands to save money.

Filed Under: Economy, Personal Tagged With: Coupon, Grocery store, Savings account

How to Save Money When Grocery Shopping

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Everyone has to eat, so this is one area of expenses that you can’t cut completely, but you can certainly lower food expenses by changing your habits. Here are some things you can do to save money on groceries.

1. Plan meals to cook for the week. Getting organized will help you to avoid buying already packaged foods that cost more and prevent you from spending more money eating out or on the run.

2. Make a grocery list. Creating a list will keep you on task and help you resist buying things that look good in the moment. Knowing that you will be cooking your favorite meals all week and need the ingredients will keep you motivated to stick to the list.

3. Eat a full meal before leaving for the grocery store. Part of the reason that shoppers buy already packaged foods or snacks is that they go grocery shopping when hungry. You’re more likely to buy items in bulk, such as cereal, rice and tuna, if you are not in a rush to eat.

4. Use coupons. Some grocery stores will send you coupons in the mail if you sign up for their mailing lists. Review your Sunday paper as well to clip coupons for items you normally buy.

5. Pack lunches. Buy foods that you can easily prepare at home and take to work for lunch. You’ll be amazed by how much you save from not eating out every day.

6. Avoid shopping in convenience stores. These smaller stores pay more for items, so they pass the extra costs on to you. You’ll save more when shopping in grocery stores that sell items in bulk.

Filed Under: Economy, Personal Tagged With: Coupon, Food, Grocery store