Morning!
So a new coaching client of mine has a weekly newsletter on helpful tips for your money, and I liked her last one so much I had to steal it and share with everyone here :)
Rita s been a consumer advocate and personal finance journalist for the past 2 decades, and unlike some of us who tend to get a bit verbose with our tips (*ahem*), she s great at condensing them into bite-sized nuggets.
Here s her latest 10 tips - hope a few of them help!
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Rita R. Robison Newsletter
#1. Look for sales on clothing, grills, and camping gear in October. Wait until November to buy TVs, iPhone 14s, laptops, and electronics. Get ready for the Black Friday sales by taking a look at this article on the best laptops.
#2. Save up to 50 percent off on groceries from Flashfoods, an app that connects surplus food from grocery stores directly to consumers. The meat, produce, and other perishable items are near their best-by date and need to be picked up the same day. Some stores participating are Family Fare, BG s, Meijer, and GIANT.
#3. Take a look at this article on how to cut out food waste and save money in the process.
#4. Watch out for scams if you want to donate to victims of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico.
#5. Be aware when the Fed increases interest rates, like it did recently, the rate goes up on your credit card balances not just your new purchases. See the article linked for seven ways to lower your credit card debt.
#6. Check out Amazon Outlet. The items are overstocks - Amazon bought too many of them - discontinued items, or clearance items. You ll see clothing, kitchenware, home decor, electronics, and other categories discounted.
#7. Tired of your wireless plan? Satisfaction with value mobile virtual network operators or MVNOs, such as Boost Mobile, Consumer Cellular, and Mint, is increasing and they re saving money for consumers. MVNOs buy minutes from the big mobile companies like T-Mobile and AT&T. However, MVNOs have fewer features.
[Editor s note: I ve been using an MVNO for over 8 years now - Republic Wireless. Chopped down my cell bill by $100 every month adding up to over $10,000 now! From one simple move!]
#8. Check out these tips for finding holiday flight deals even as ticket prices spike. One is to get a ticket to fly on Monday, December 19. Flights are generally about $120 less costly that day.
#9. Join financial blogger J. Money, of Budgets Are Sexy, and see how many of these seven financial tips from Mark Cuban you can check off. [Thx for the shout out!]
#10. Read any papers carefully you re asked sign when you take a friend or relative to live in a nursing home. Some facilities put illegal clauses into contracts saying you ll be on the hook for the bill. See the article linked for the stories about the troubles a daughter and a friend had.
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Rita R. Robison is a consumer and personal finance journalist, making her living over the past 20 years by finding the best bargains, calling out the crooks, and advocating for regular people just like you and me. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter for bite-sized financial tips, and get a bonus free e-book on how to optimize your personal finance decisions. You can also find her on her blog, Rita R. Robison Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist.
PS: I just signed up to her newsletter myself - something I rarely do! But how great are these?! It s like getting all the financial secrets each week, love it…
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Killer resources and apps:
- Best Budget Templates & Spreadsheets (FREE)— The best free budget templates from around the community! Including the ones I use :)
- Personal Capital* (FREE) — A great app to track your investments and net worth. You can see an in-depth review we did here from a millionaire who checks it daily
- You Need a Budget (YNAB)* (FREE TRIAL, then $14.99/mo or $98.99/year) — One of the BEST budgeting methods in the space, with new users saving $600 on avg their first two months, and more than $6,000 over their first year! Check out my friend Vic s review of YNAB here that went on to completely change his finances
- Digit (FREE 6 mo. Trial, then $5/mo) — This is one of my favorite apps for automatically saving money, and I even came on board as an advisor I believed in them so much! You can see my full review on Digit here.
- Acorns* ($3-$5/mo) - Similar to Digit, this app helps you automatically INVEST money by rounding up all your transactions to the nearest dollar and then investing it right away for you. My full review of Acorns can be found here.
- Honey (FREE) — By far my favorite coupon service out there! Click the Honey button any time you're about to buy something online, and BOOM - any discounts it finds will be automatically applied at checkout. You can see my write up on them here.
- Credit Karma* (FREE) — An easy way to check and monitor your credit score AND report! See my full review of these guys here.
- My Favorite Blogs + Books
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