Archives for January 2017

How to Recover from Your Holiday Spending Hangover

January 30, 2017

It’s the new year! You’re stoked to get it started by making and forging ahead on this year’s financial resolutions.

Then you get hit with the mother of all December credit card bills.

Your holiday spending has caught up with you.

Mesmerized by the twinkle of Christmas lights and humming along to the peppy tunes piped over department store speakers, you liberally swiped your plastic. You splurged on shiny gifts for family, friends, pets, service providers, coworkers, acquaintances, and maybe even yourself.

Now Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and the whole gang are sending you post-holiday greetings in the form of hefty credit card bills.

Don’t give up on your financial resolutions right out of the gate. What you need are some quick tips to regain control of your finances and get back on track toward making this year your best money year yet.

If your holiday spending bill wound up being overwhelming, it’s too late to change the past. But you can make the best of the situation with three simple steps:
[Read more…]

Am I Saving Enough for My Child’s College Education?

January 23, 2017

In its Annual Survey of Colleges 2015-2016, The College Board estimated that a student living out-of-state at a public four-year college can expect to pay almost $15,000 for room, board, and other expenses, on top of an average $24,000 in tuition.

After adjusting for inflation, that’s an astounding 40 percent increase over the past 10 years, which leaves many parents to wonder — will I have saved enough to give my children the best education possible by the time they’re ready to go to college? [Read more…]

Reclaim Your Space & Ditch Those Crazy Christmas Gifts

January 16, 2017

It’s been a few weeks since Christmas has passed.

One by one, your neighbors have taken down their lights and chucked their trees to their curb. Inside your home, the shiny glow of the holiday season has worn off, and you’re looking at your pile of presents with sober eyes.

You’ve tried on new clothes, flipped through new books, tinkered with new gadgets, and played with new toys. And — in the midst of enjoying your Christmas haul — you’ve found a few duds. Gifts that just aren’t you or don’t fit in with your life.

It’s not that you don’t love the people who gave you those gifts or the thought they’ve put into them. Maybe your friends missed the mark with your tastes, or the gifts would have been perfect for you at a different time in your life.

It’s hard to think about getting rid of any gift. Besides, isn’t that horribly rude?

No.

You’re not throwing the gift back at the giftee or telling her that it’s not what you want. You’ve offered that person a heartfelt “Thank you!” for generously giving you something that she thought you’d love. Now that gift is 100% yours, and you’ve got the freedom to manage your worldly goods how you see fit.

Need more convincing? [Read more…]

Seize Control of Your Time With This One Skill

January 9, 2017

This post is part 2 in the series Sanity-Saving Skills Every Busy Person Needs.

In the last four months, have you been mastering these 9 essential skills for busy people? If so, you’re now able to . . .

Sketch out a plan for every day.
Automate components of your life.
Estimate the amount of time you need to accomplish a task.
Delete, diminish, delegate, and delay non-urgent and non-essential items on your list.
Motivate yourself by matching activities to goals.
Optimize your time by double-dipping in your goals.
Batch like tasks.
Work with your energy levels.
Adapt to intrusions.

If you still feel too busy, focus on this critical skill for seizing control of your time:
[Read more…]

One Project at a Time

January 3, 2017

One project at a time.

That’s what writer Jessie Kwak recommends. Just recently, Jessie penned an inspirational article on how you can achieve big results with laser focus on one single project at a time. [Read more…]