Do You Need an Investment Broker? (Carole)

Recently, one of you asked if we thought an investment broker was a necessity, or if it would be better to save the commission money and do your own online investing.  

Even though my husband and I have been consistent investors for many years, I do not consider myself an expert in any way when it comes to investing.  But, I've done a lot of reading about this subject over the years, and every reputable expert encourages having a professional along for your investment ride. 

One of my favorite experts, Dave Ramsey, has an excellent article about this  subject that I hope you will find helpful.   I would encourage you to read this very short article a couple of times.  Investing is a complicated venture and not one to rush into, and you should be careful who you trust with your financial future. 

You can expect that he/she will talk you through some simple yet important questions:

1.  At what age do you want to retire?

2.  What amount of money will you need at retirement?

3.  How much risk are you comfortable with in your investment strategy?

From here you can discuss your current financial situation (income, savings & debt), the amount of years between now and your retirement, and any personal criteria you might have for your investment options.  This person will also have tax advice to share regarding your decisions.   Your investment broker should be a valuable asset and a trusted associate through the years.  

On a personal note, my husband and I are big believers in not keeping all our eggs in one basket, and so we have two separate people we invest with.  Neither one knows about the other.  It just makes us more comfortable to split things up a bit (if one of them were to turn into a Bernie Madoff, we wouldn't lose everything).  Maybe you'll feel the same way too.  

The best advice regarding investing is to START EARLY and BE CONSISTENT.  Remember, when it comes to investing, Slow and Steady wins the race.  

  

  

Health Insurance (Janssen)

We feel fortunate to have health insurance through my husband's job. In the past, we've always done a regular coverage plan, but when we moved back to Texas, we switched to a high-deductible plan.

What this means is that instead of paying a large monthly amount to our health insurance company and then having them pay for the majority of most health care expenses, we pay a very small amount monthly to the insurance company and then the rest of the money goes into an account that we can use to pay for medical expenses.

We have a debit card attached to that account that we can use to pay for any medical expenses. Plus my husband's company put a large chunk of money into the account when we switched.

The high-deductible part means that our insurance doesn't pay for any care (except for regular preventive care like annual exams or routine checkups for children) until we've paid up to the deductible amount (which is about $6000). But we can pay for that $6000 out of the fund we pay into each month.

For us, it's worked out really well - we haven't paid any co-pays for our daughter's regular check-ups or my post-pregnancy visits and by the time we have our next baby, we anticipate there will be enough in our account to cover the entire deductible.

We spend considerably less each month on health insurance and with an infant who has to go in for check-ups and immunizations regularly, we've saved a bundle on co-pays ($30 a visit adds up fast). Plus, even if we did have to pay something out of pocket, the difference between the monthly cost of this plan and our former plans means that we would still come out ahead.

Of course, if you're about to have a baby or are currently having some expensive health problems, this might not be a good choice for you at the moment. But if you have some time to let your monthly contributions accumulate, you might consider looking into this type of coverage.

Trolling the Aisles of Your Super Market

Maybe coupon shopping just isn't your bag.  Maybe you hate even the idea of paging through the newspaper ads and cutting out coupons, or worse yet, printing out coupons online and using your valuable paper and ink!  If this is you, here is an easy way to still pick up some great deals at your grocery store without the scissors or newsprint stained fingers.

Each week during your weekly shopping trip, take an extra 10 minutes and slowly walk down a couple of aisles looking for those lovely $1.00 sale tags -- or 2/$1.00 is even better!  My personal favorites to comb on a regular basis are the personal hygiene and cleaning supplies aisles. You'll be amazed at often your favorite deodorant, toothpaste or window cleaning spray are on sale for only $1.00 (which is typically much less than half the regular price).

If I didn't walk down these aisle WHEN I DON'T NEED these items, I would end up paying full price just a few weeks later -- when I'm desperate.   We've all been there before!

My second little piece of advice is to buy 12 of these items when they are on sale for $1.00.  Instantly you have a year's supply of this product.  Easy Peasy.

Remember, the most expensive item is the one you HAVE to buy right now.  I think it's a cosmic law that nothing is ever on sale at that moment.

Make the Call (Janssen)

You've likely heard the term "planned obsolescence" where products are made to not last more than a few years.

This makes me insane. Is there anything LESS fun than spending money to replace a blender? I mean. . .it's a BLENDER. It's not like a vacation or something. Especially when it's just something small that goes wrong and you have to replace the whole thing.

But! Sometimes if you call the company, they'll send you a replacement part. For free (you may have noticed that free is my very favorite price).

Twice in the last few weeks, I've had an item with a minor break that made it rather useless. A quick phone call and a replacement part was in the mail. Not only did I not have to pay for a replacement part, I didn't even have to go to the store! Hooray!

One of the items was my vacuum belt. I only bought this vacuum six months earlier, so I wasn't every happy that it had already broken. Sure, it's only a couple of dollars for a new belt, but still!

I called and, without even asking if I had a warranty or receipt, they had me off the phone, with TWO new belts in the mail, within ten minutes.

All from the comfort of my living room floor.

Baby-led Weaning (Janssen)

Merrick wrote a post a while ago about making your own baby food in order to keep the costs of feeding your baby lower.

My problem is that not only do I not like to spend money, I also can be kind of lazy. And Merrick had said the amount of mess that making your own baby food created was anything but minimal.

Enter Baby-led Weaning (I read this book about it after hearing about it from Kayla and Jenna).

The basic idea is that there is no reason that babies need to start with cereals or purees (the APA's site backs up this idea) and that your baby will be able to feed themselves things that they are capable of eating. There are supposed to be a ton of benefits, such as increased hand-eye coordination, family bonding over food, and a baby who develops a wider range of foods they'll eat.

That all sounded good to me, but really the part about just feeding your baby what you're eating rather than dealing with baby food sounded exceedingly appealing to me.

And for our baby, it's worked like a charm.

We have still not gotten around to buying a high chair, so we don't do much of the "sticking food on her tray and letting her eat what she can" part.

Instead, once she started showing interest in what we were eating, we put things on a spoon or our finger, offer her some and let her decide whether or not she wants to eat it (thus far, except for two days when she was sick, she has never rejected a single thing. In fact, I'm amazed I still have all ten fingers because this baby loves to eat).

This morning, she put about half a square of waffle in her fist and ate it bite by bite until there was only the part left inside her hand that she couldn't get to. She also has started grabbing the spoon and guiding it to her mouth on her own.

I don't spend time or money buying or making extra food, and I know exactly what's going into the food she eats.

(Also, you have no idea how cute it is to watch a six and a half month old chew a blueberry).

Free At Your Library (Carole)

If Ben Franklin did indeed invent the idea of a free public library, then I LOVE him!!   But libraries have come a long way since his day.  Today, most libraries offer much much more than books and the local newspaper.  Here's a list of the possible freebies you could be taking advantage of in your very own neighborhood.

Books (fiction, non-fiction, how-to, cookbooks, travel guides. . . )
Books on cassette and CD
Movies
How-to DVDs
Exercise DVDs
Music CDs
Online services
Download music and books directly to your iPod (often from home)
Toys
Puzzles
Board games
Video games
Wii games
Book Club back packs (a backpack containing multiple copies of the same book with discussion questions)
Specialty cake pans -- I love this one!!
Reading time for newborns, toddlers and young children
Summer reading programs for youth and adults
Movie Nights
Free WiFi
GED, SAT and other standardized tests
Youth and Adult book clubs
Cultural passes for local museums
Lectures
Author visits  and book signings
Bilingual reading time for children
Homework help
Genealogical research areas with specialists to assist you
Book sales
Seminars
Writing groups
Foreign films
Concerts
Magicians
Poetry readings
Computer classes
Themed help bags for parents (such as how to potty train a child)
Magazines
Local, national and international newspapers
A place for you to donate books you no longer need or want

The list is as creative as your branch librarian. . .

Heck, even with the occasional library fine, it's still a great deal!  If you've run across an unusual kind of service or check out that your library offers, we'd love to hear it!

The Thirty Day Rule (Merrick)

I hate to admit it, but I have a pretty short attention span. And I have a tendency to get really really excited about things. These two traits combined means that when I get an idea in my head, I NEED to do it right then. I plan the whole thing out in my head and I spend all day thinking and dreaming about it. And if I act on these impulse ideas, which usually require spending money, I suddenly don't care about them anymore. The lust is gone, and suddenly I've spent money on something that I didn't need and now don't even want.

Thus I have instigated the thirty day rule in my life.

This is sort of a standard tip for saving money, but it really works. When I get the idea, I write it down (usually in my google docs so I can organize it and re-access it easily), and then I wait. Despite the temptation to act on it immediately and buy up the entire local home depot, I continue to wait.

And then a few weeks later I browse back through my Google Docs and am able to weed through the ideas. Miraculously, I don't care about 99% of them anymore. If I am still as excited about an idea as I was originally, I know that it's something that is worth my time and money. And if I'm not, it gets trashed.

This rule has saved me tons of money and time over the years because I'm not just spending and projecting willy nilly. I take time to think through the projects that I want to undertake and try to only do the necessary and important ones. Emphasis on try...

A Very Long Post about Diapers (Janssen)

You know those horrendous baby calculators where they estimate that you'll probably need to sell your corneas in order to afford the first year of having a baby? I hate those. Mainly because seeing the $10,000 for the first year about gave me heart attack.

Also, because it estimates $72 per month for diapers. I cannot say for certain because my records are, sadly, not this good, but I would venture to say I have not $72 PERIOD on diapers. And my baby is six months old. Besides this, I have a good 350 diapers in her room right now in her current size, plus an additional 600 diapers in the next size up. (And, no, I don't change her diaper only twice a day or something horrifying like that).

I am firmly convinced  that diapers do not have to cost you a fortune. Last spring, Merrick compared the cost of diapers at different stores and said that the cheapest diapers were to be found at Costco or Sam's Club. And that's true if you just want to buy a box of diapers and be done with it. Those diapers were priced at $0.14 per diaper (and that's for the newborn size, which is generally the least expensive).

I try to spend less than $0.10 per diaper and I really am happy if I can get them for more like $0.05 or less.

This is totally possible if you follow deals at drugstores and stock up when there are killer sales. I keep an eye out and have some friends who alert me when they find good deals and so I've been able to do quite well.

Let tell you about one such good deal that you can probably do right now (I got 228 Pampers Size 2 diapers for around $7 - I paid less than $0.03 per diaper).

Amazon sells diapers for around the same price as big box store (around twenty to thirty cents per diaper, depending on the size and brand). But if you sign up for Amazon Mom, you get 15% off. Then when you choose your diapers, sign up for "Subscribe and Save" (the option is on the right, just below the regular "Add to my Cart" button) and you get another 15% off. Now you're talking more like fourteen to twenty cents per diaper.

And then, here's where you can really rack up your savings. Right now, many parenting magazines (Parents, Parenting, American Baby) have coupon inserts for either $10 off any Amazon Mom order or 20% off any diaper order (and this is 20% off the full list price, not your discounted price). Best of all, you can combine them, so I used both a $10 off coupon and a 20% off one. And Amazon had a bonus coupon for Pampers last week that brought my price down even more.

Plus it all ships for free. One of my friends bought Pampers Newborn Diapers yesterday for $10, making hers about five cents a diaper. Another pregnant friend of mine (expecting twins!) ordered Huggies Diapers for around eight cents apiece. 

As if my mega-cheap diapers weren't enough, every time you order something through Amazon Mom and do Subscribe and Save, you get a month of free Amazon Prime (which means all Amazon products ship for free with no minimum purchase).

My box of diapers arrived today at my front door. It was a glorious moment.

Check your pediatrician's office or your own stack of magazines for these coupons. Or ask a friend (I got my 20% off coupon two days before it expired from a friend who wasn't going to use it).

And then bask in the cheapness of the diapers (and don't forget to cancel your diaper subscription before the next batch ships, if you're so inclined - although even without a coupon, many of the diapers are only about $0.12 each. Not bad).