How to Stage Your Home on a Budget

I bought my first apartment at the tender age of twenty. It was a rare time in the market when rent was more expensive than a mortgage, and the market was teeming with apartments ripe for the taking. I lived in it for three blissful years, and luck struck again! My partner and I were beginning to outgrow our space and the market was simultaneously taking off. It was a buyers market and we would have been crazy not to jump at the opportunity, so we did! We acquired a real estate agent, and had our first meeting. We had taken exceptionally good care of our apartment over the years, and our agent relayed to us that our place didn't require any major work, however, we might want to consider staging it, to ensure our chances of getting quality offers. I had no idea what staging was, but I was about to learn.

Staging is adding or removing pieces to a space to make it looked lived in. When a buyer walks into a space, it's essential that the furniture and home decor they see, helps them visualize themselves living in the space. Apparently, our apartment was in desperate need of some staging, but we were budget constrained, so we had to get creative. Now, you don't need to become an interior designer, but it does help if you have an eye for design. So it's time to marry your creative skills with your ability to make a dollar out of 15 cents.

1) De-clutter and de-personalize. Sometimes, the best things in life are free! Though you may think your family photos are endearing, buyers will walk in and judge, immediately. You want to maximize your bottom line, so getting rid of anything that might put a name to a face is important. You want them to feel like it's their home, not that they're walking through a stranger's home.

2) Colour evokes emotion. This is in expensive, but ingenious way to change the natural flow of the space. With $60 worth of paint, you can take a room from ultra personal, to sell-ready chic.

3) Home Decor. Those gorgeous rooms in House & Home Magazine are brimming with furnishings that probably cost more than your entire house! It's not necessary to blow your budget on fancy vases, luxurious window coverings and silk pillow covers. I can guarantee that no one stepping into your home is not going to buy your home because the pillow covers are the cotton ones that you picked up at the Target sale! If your couches and love seats look like they need a little refreshing, pick up some inexpensive accent pillows from Ikea.

And lastly, don't worry about making it perfect, that is what your real estate agent makes the big bucks for!

How to Save for a Wedding

Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life, and the most stressful! There are a million things that have the potential to go wrong, and even if you're in the hands of the most capable wedding planner in the biz, brides still manage to give themselves a coronary over the smallest details. But before you get to that perfect, stress-filled day, you need the green, the mula, the dollar bills, you need a whole lotta cash to make your Cinderella story come to life. Here are a couple of pointers to help you budget for your big day!

1) Venue - Book ahead! It sounds simple and obvious, but I can't tell you how many women I know who've ruminated over a venue for so long, they've missed a deadline and have to run around looking for an alternate space. Booking ahead also allows brides to negotiate better rates. DON'T BOOK A SATURDAY! This one of the cardinal rules. Saturdays are almost always the most expensive day, and a venue will charge you a premium price. Also consider booking a public place like a park, university, or an art gallery. Think out of the box, be creative, and revel in how much you'll save! 

2) Flowers - If you must have flowers, consider locally grown, native floral arrangements. The best option of course, is to eliminate them  from your wedding entirely and consider going green! There are hundreds of wedding coordinators that provide environmentally friendly weddings.  

3) Food & Booze - Personally, I think the food is one of the most important aspects of wedding. Food brings people together and if it's good, everyone is in a better mood! There's no need to cheap out on food, you just have to be conscious of where your money is going. If you are serving appetizers, consider the cost difference between having servers versus having the appetizers stationary at a station. As for the main course, consider a meal with ingredients that are local and in-season. If you have an open bar, consider serving only wine, beer and soda, and charge cash for spirits. 

Keeping Teens On Budget

Most of us haven't made the best financial decisions at one point or another in our lives. We've all been guilty of racking up our credit cards a handful of times, or we've purchased something that we really didn't need, or we took that extravagant vacation when we really should have been saving our pennies. And as adults, we have to take ownership of our financial responsibilities (or irresponsibility!), but when we begin having children, we don't have the luxury of throwing caution to the wind. As our children mature, being the little sponges that they are, they become very aware of the correlation between money and responsibility. We don't want our teens making the same mistakes that we did, and we certainly don't want them ever feeling the crippling pressure that debt can create. You don't need to have an accounting degree to teach your children financial responsibility, but if you're struggling with how to set out a plan, here are a few pointers.

1) Sit down with your teen and have an open discussion about what they think their expenses are. They might have a cellphone, or a car, or maybe a membership to a gym. Find out what their financial goals are and educate them about the benefits of putting money away for what they want, rather than spending money on impulse purchases.

2) Don't give your teen a credit card. Just don't. They need to learn that if the money isn't in the bank, it's irresponsible to rely on someone else (the credit card company) to pay for something. If you do decide to give your teen a credit card, make sure it's in your name, and the limit is extremely low, like $300, that way if they "rack it up", it's not financially impossible to pay it off.

3) Teach them to be a  wise consumer. Teenagers love to shop. Especially the girls. They are inundated with ads in magazines, billboards, TV that all tell them to shop, shop, shop! So forget about trying to get that out of their system! The best way to combat their shopping urges, is to teach them how to be the best consumer they can be. Teach them to research products before they buy them!

Do I Really Need Student Loan?

No matter what country you look at, all over the world, college students are crippled by student loan debts so high, it will take the first half of the students working career to pay them off. How is that fair? Who wants to invest time and money into an education, with the intention of gaining a better paying career, only to be saddled with debt? It is estimated that 18 million students attend over 5000 different institutions in the USA today, and have racked up nearly $900 billion in debt! I could not even began to fathom what that number even looks like! Combine that with the volatile employment environment, is it even worth going to school? Of course it is! But students need to start taking better control of their finances and lives! Before you sell your soul to the student loan devil, let's take a gander at the big picture! 

1) Do you have a budget? You've heard this a thousand times, but without a realistic, constructive and workable budget, you are going to be drowning your sorrows in bad tequila in your post-graduate years. You can forget all those big dreams you had for after graduation, if you're in the red, they won't happen. You need to work out a yearly, monthly and weekly budget for the next four years. Unless you're made of money, you don't have the privilege of being extravagant.

2) Can you work? The answer is probably yes! Young students don't have the distractions of child rearing, supporting spouses or mortgage payments, thus, they have more time on their hands to balance their studies, hobbies and a part-time job. Putting in a few hours a week, will give you a break from your studies, allow you to build up a resume, and alleviate the amount of debt you'll face at the end of your studies. 

3) Are you prepared to attend an institution with lower costs? Just because you live 15 minutes away from Harvard doesn't mean that one, you'll be admitted or two, that you'll be able to afford it! It's important to be realistic about the cost of education. Prospective students get caught up in dreams of being at an ivy league institution, rather then researching the more than 3000 institutions across America, that offer equatable program options. It might actually make more sense to move away to go to an affordable institution, rather than going to an expensive one that is closer to home! 

These are all things that you need to consider and research before you approach the government or an institution for money. It is important to take responsibility for both your educational and financial future, don't place it in someone else's hands!  

Hot Wheels - How to Buy a Car the Smart Way

Though there are several scholarships for college students, that still won't necessarily cover all of your tuition, books, living expenses, food, entertainment, the list goes on! So the idea of needing to save up money for a car may be overwhelming. If you are fortunate enough to go to college in New York, Chicago or Boston, though it may not seem as convenient, you have access to a pretty efficient public transportation system. If not, then having your own reliable set of wheels to get to and from school and work, in a safe manner, becomes a necessity. 

Now, unless you have parents with a great deal of expendable income just lying around, you have savings, or you're a trust-fund baby, you can't just march down to the Mercedes dealership and take your pick! Buying a car requires a great deal of time, research and if you're smart about it, you'll invite as many friends and family members who have experience with the buying process, to be involved to ensure you make the right decision.

Cars are an investment that never give back. They are a complete money pit, and lose value so fast, it'll make your head spin! Unless you're purchasing a 1927 Model T Ford, you'll be lucky if you get half of what you paid for it when the time comes to throw it on Craigslist. So it's important to examine what kind of car you'll need, to make sure you're not wasting your money.

1) What is the climate you live in, how is the car being used for and how far will you be traveling with it? This will help you determine what type of car and what brand is going to meet your needs. If you live in a Seattle where it rains 9 months of the year, buying a convertible is ridiculous! And if you live somewhere where you'll be sitting in traffic, buying a gas-guzzling Cadillac Escalade is just going to eat up all your cash. If your commute is relatively quick, it's perfectly acceptable to purchase an older vehicle, as they tend to have better short distance mileage. If it's far, consider a barely-used or new vehicle.

2) Approach family members who might be trying to get rid of a vehicle. Not only are they more likely to give you a better deal on a vehicle, but they'll be more up front about the history of the car. They'll let you know if the vehicle's been in any accidents, or what work has recently been done, and what work is likely needed in the future.

3) Check out websites like consumer report websites to research which vehicles perform better. They'll educated the buyer on reliability, fuel mileage, car safety overall consumer satisfaction. It's important to weigh the pros and cons of purchasing a particular brand of car. Students shouldn't have to worry about driving a lemon. Their time should be preoccupied with getting good grades, being successful and having fun!

Going Broke Isn't Cute

It's only a few weeks after Christmas and you are probably starting to feel the effects of your pre-holiday spending frenzy. I've got some news for you, the hangover only gets worse from here on out if you don't nip this in the bud today! The average Canadian shopper racked up their cards to the tune of  $1200 for Christmas gifts alone. This figure is exclusive of all the holiday parties, swollen grocery shops and goodies for neighbours, friends and colleagues! What happened to the recession?

 Well it appears that Canadians have more credit to spend now than they have had in the last thirty years, and it's frightening. America is fairing worse in this delicate economic climate with the USA credit load in the high billions. So with this in mind, why does it feel like everyone can spend like their millionaires? Well, for one, retail stores were egging consumers on with deals like "buy-one get-one free" and sales that went up to as much as 90% off! (Sort of makes you question whether the assumed value of some of these consumer goods is a just representation of what it costs to produce them!).  Retailers rely on impulse buys and a lack of rationalization on the behalf of the consumer.

So after you've raided the Gap's shelves dry and you've snagged as many pairs of Nine West your closet can hold, you tell yourself it's all justified, because it was on sale. Right? WRONG! Ask yourself why you think it's okay not to pay your lighting bill, or your cell phone bill, services you take advantage of regularly, but you've decided they are no longer priorities, but a new Kate Spade handbag is? Give your head a shake. If you can't afford to pay your utilities, feed yourself, and clothe yourself, modestly, you have no business blowing money that isn't yours on items of luxury.
If you don't want to be paying off your holiday thrills from 2011 in 2013, it's time for a gear change.

1) Stick the credit cards in a yogurt bucket, pour some ice in and place it in the freezer. You are done with those babies until you are free and clear of your credit card debt.

2) Make a weekly or monthly budget ands start tracking your expenditures. It's time to separate your needs from your wants. And no, getting your hair done twice a month, is not a need. Get real! Since you have no plastic to save your behind, you will have to learn to discipline yourself not to blow copious amounts of cash. There are number of fabulous budgeting tools online that can help you determine what your household expenses are. We often forget about little things that sneak up on us like pricey prescriptions, or an unforeseen car repair.

3) Set goals, and be realistic! Look, if you're making  $10 and hour, and you're in $15,000 in debt, you're not going to be able to pay off your debt and buy a masarati all in one year (unless you win at Bingo!) Don't set the bar so high that you'll want to give up half way through. Give yourself a reasonable target and a modest reward at the end so you feel like you've accomplished something. There's nothing more liberating than feeling debt free, with no fear of looking over your shoulder to repay someone you owe money to. And save the plastic for emergencies, not some off-the-cuff shopping spree that will have you financially crippled for the rest of the year!

Top Five Budget Boosting Tips for Your First Semester

College is expensive, and that's a fact. The sooner you get used to the idea, the sooner you can learn how to maximize your spending abilities. Countless college students graduate from their studies, absolutely saddled with debt, and little hope of paying it off in a reasonable amount of time. Your hard-earned years at college may translate into a great salary, unfortunately, much of it can be eaten up by debt repayments. You're not going to study computer forensics for several semesters, only to line the pockets of the financial aid office. You're going to school to get a better salary and a better life! So, if you don't want to be another statistic, here are 5 things you can do to help keep your spending in line and money in your wallet:

1) Scholarships and Bursaries. This is a great tool to help those students who may not be able to fund themselves through their education. And let's be honest, that's probably most of us! There is a plethora of available college scholarships just waiting to be applied for. The financial aid office at your institution will have a list of these available awards. The scholarships that offer more money, often have a lengthier application process and may require a certain GPA. Others can be as simple as writing a short essay, gathering reference letters, or based on extra-curricular activities. Rest assured, there are something for everyone, and with bursaries, there is no requirement to pay the funds back!


2) Text Books. After you've been accepted to the accredited program you desire, and paid your tuition, there is the matter of text books. Text books, on average, can cost students an extra $1000 per year. The best way to pare this amount down is to hunt around for used books. Check for used text books sales at your institution, or buy your books on amazon.com You can often find books on there for less than half the price of brand new books. When your semester is over, you can sell them to another budget-conscious student. It's good karma!

3) Credit Cards. Let's face it, we've all used our credit cards a little (or lot) more then we should. A gorgeous pair of boots we just couldn't resist, a new gadget, or an epic night out at the bar, we've all done some damage. College is no time for messing around, the potential to bury yourself in mountains of debt is far too great not to be paying attention. One of the first things you should do, is to lower your credit limit, IMMEDIATELY! Lower it to an amount that you know you will be able to pay back in a reasonable amount of time. The second thing you need to do, is negotiate the lowest possible interest rate. Shop around online for credit cards that will offer you maximum benefits with the lowest possible interest rate.

4) Bank Account. ATM fees add up, and as a college student, you are going to need cash for all sorts of things. We often forget that the convenience often costs us a pretty penny by the end of the month. ATM fees, interac fees, transfer fees, sometimes it feels like life is one big fee! Well, it kind of is. Go to your bank and negotiate an all-inclusive bank account. Transaction fees, transfer fees, and even cheques should be included for a nominal rate per month. Most banks offer a student banking package, that often include a low interest credit card without a yearly fee.

5) Workable Budget. After you've put the framework in place to ensure you're stretching your dollars as much as you can, it's time to put together an iron-clad budget. It's essential that you calculate fixed expenses and variable expenses. Rent, utilities, and insurance payments are all costs that should be included in fixed expenses. Gas, medical/dental, and groceries are all things that should be included in your variable costs. Tally up your total income for the month, and break it down into weeks to make it more manageable. Trust me, putting yourself on a budget will actually help alleviate financial stress. When you're out partying with your friends, you'll know how much you have to spend, there's no guess work involved!