Game of Life

When Life Happens: Readjusting Your Budget

Have you had a sudden loss of income? The first thing to do is sit down and figure out where all the money goes; figure as closely as possible down to the cent. Include every expenditure; no matter how small. Don’t round the figures off, and be honest. List everything.

For 30 days get receipts for everything and write down a list of everything without a receipt. It’s a hassle, but necessary; just throw them all in a bag placed strategically in the home. At the month’s end, add up all the totals and figure the month’s expenditures.

Count all the Money, Going and Coming

List all the income for the month. Include everything that pays something; cash payments, child support; everything, add it up. Compare the two totals; hopefully, the revenue side is bigger. If it isn’t, all is not lost. Just modify some habits.

Cut out the extras; gourmet coffee, manicures, anything not necessary, and then see if cheaper prices or smaller payments can be arranged for the rest. See if the utility companies have a year-round pay plan that can save money on the monthly bill. Start buying non-name brand and generic groceries and clothing and try to conserve on gasoline or transportation fare.

Also, try to save money in creative ways. Only spend paper money and toss the coins in a jar at night. This can quickly save more money than people expect. Katherine, a college student at PSU says she can usually pay for her monthly bus pass with the coin total at the end of the month.

Filed Under: Finance, General Tagged With: Banknote, Child support, Student

Prepaid Card the New Envelope Budgeting?

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As technology modernizes, tracking spending transforms. A modernizing world means temptations are ever more present for veering off budget. Envelope budgeting is a tried-and-true method to keep tabs on spending.

But what if you want to align your budgeting methods with the modern world? A prepaid visa card gives you the flexibility of a credit card with the safety of spending limits. Prepaid cards place envelope budgeting firmly in the 21st century.

What is Envelope Budgeting?

This method of constructing a budget helps you keep track of the funds you spend. First, establish spending categories and spending limits for each category. Using one envelope per category put the allotted funds for that category into an envelope. When you go shopping or pay a bill, you’ll take the money from that category’s envelope. Once the money is gone from an envelope, you can’t spend any more in that category until you replenish at the next paycheck.

Budgeting Made Easier with Prepaid Cards

Budgeting with prepaid cards allows for greater flexibility—you won’t have to carry cash. Envelope budgeting gets a modern facelift with prepaid cards. Instead of putting cash in different envelopes, put the allotted amount on prepaid cards. This still prevents overspending because it sets a certain amount of money. This new envelope budgeting allows for ease of payment; anywhere Visa is accepted, for instance, you can use a prepaid visa card. You’ll also be protected in case of a lost or stolen card, whereas lost cash is simply lost. Prepaid cards work everywhere, even internationally, and you can carry a single piece of plastic instead of wads of cash.

Simply put, prepaid cards revolutionize envelope budgeting.

Filed Under: Finance, General Tagged With: Budget, Credit card, Stored-value card

How to Dress Like Your Favorite Celebrity for Halloween

Every year around Halloween, it’s always the same: What will you be for Halloween? There are so many choices. You can be an object, a historical figure, a character from a book or movie, or someone famous. If you’ve chosen to be your favorite celebrity for Halloween, here are some tips for creating a costume.

Choose Some Classic Features

The first thing you’ll want to do is decide what makes that celebrity unique. This could be what celebrities wear (Big sunglasses, anyone?), whether they carry around a pet (chihuahuas are common), wear a favorite color, or wear a specific hairstyle. There should be a few that you can pick out that will make it obvious to your friends who you are.

Find the Right Items

The next thing you’ll want to do in creating celebrity Halloween costumes is to find items that fit your celebrity. This will include clothing, a wig, and accessories. For example, many women celebrities like wearing certain styles of clothing, carrying around large handbags, and wearing over-the-top jewelry. Check out thrift stores if you’re low on cash. You’re likely to find something you can use for little money. For the really popular celebrities, you might even find ready-made costumes at Halloween stores.

Attitude

Once you have the right clothes, the next thing you’ll want to do is study videos of that celebrity. This will help you nail down how the celebrity acts, which will really help sell your costume.

Follow these tips, and you should be able to create a successful costume. And if nothing else, you could always wear a name tag to let people know who you are.

Filed Under: Family, Lifestyle

3 Benefits of Payday Advances

When considering applying for a loan, there is a lot to take into account, from how much money you will borrow to how you will pay it back. If you need money fast for car repairs, medical bills, or other types of emergencies, perhaps you will think about applying for a payday advance loan. If you’re unsure about these types of loans, you may want to consider the advantages, such as how easy they are to receive, the speed with which you receive funds, and their security.

Payday advance loans are easy to obtain. The application process simply requires you to show proof of employment. Most companies don’t even do a credit check, so you can easily collect a loan even if your credit is poor. You can apply for these loans at certain businesses or online, making the application process easy.

Along with a quick and easy application process, the money you receive from payday loans arrives in your bank account very quickly. Most companies complete transactions within 24 hours. If you’re looking for quick emergency cash, a payday loan may be your best alternative.

Payday advances are secure. Although they are easy to receive and there is no credit check, most payday loan businesses are not scams. The chances of being scammed are as low as any other loan process.

Payday loans are a great backup when you need emergency cash and have plenty of advantages. Because they are easy to receive, you get the money fast, and the loans are secure, as long as you are employed, you can rely on these loans when you need financial help.

Filed Under: Education, Finance Tagged With: Credit score, Loan, Payday loan

Fitting in With More Than Clothes

Fitting in is something that many people are concerned with. This is especially true of certain demographics such as teenagers, college aged people, or even with ethnic groups. Each portion of society has its own flavor, and depending on where an individual is from, their family, or preferences, they may find that they fall into a specific category that requires a fashion trend in order to fit in.Â

Fitting in and Feeling Good

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Fitting in is a great way to feel good about yourself. Purchasing clothes that you like during this process is a bonus. Clothing lines like Apple Bottom Clothes is a great example of how culture and fashion collide. The American culture is all about individualism, sexy appeal, and classy lines. Culturally speaking, Americans have an independent flavor, and certain lines appeal to them. Other cultures might say otherwise, and therefore they have other options that would not be considered by another group.Â

Some of the considerations to make when analyzing different cultures and the fashion is to look at the religious aspects of that particular culture, as well as the economic status or resources. These are key to not only understanding other cultures, but to realize the purpose behind their clothing. There are many countries that base their fashion not on preference, but on the ways of instruction based on their beliefs. This also includes the colors or the materials used for their garments.

Some cultures have no association with fashion, and this in itself is a fashion statement.

Filed Under: General

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