Guilt-Free Shopping

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the posting delay…tax season makes it a bit crazy for me!

A special hello to all of the new visitors coming from the Blog Party at 5minutesformom!

So what is guilt-free shopping? It’s when you buy something and you know you can afford it because there is money in the bank to pay for it!  In our house, we stick to a debit/cash payment style 95% of the time.  The only time we use a credit card is when making an online purchase for something like airfare, where we don’t find it to be a good idea to put our debit card number out on the web, even if it does have a Visa logo on it. 

But what happens when you are not in guilt-free shopping mode?  What if there are credit card bills piling up?  Where do you start to undo them?

The lousy part of this economy is that it brings out the vultures in our society–those who prey on people suffering.  Those who say they can “fix” your credit if you just pay them $500 or $1000  and they will get everything fixed for you.  Or they tell you you can “just declare bankruptcy” and that will work.  And then when it doesn’t work out you feel double-ripped off and helpless.

If you or someone you know is having problems managing their debt, there is a legit non-profit out there to help.   Try www.debtadvice.org.  This is the website for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, a branch of Consumer Credit Counseling Services (www.cccsinc.org).  With these folks, you have the opportunity to work with a trained, certified NFCC counselor.  And you can achieve for free or very little cost what these debt settlement companies may charge thousands of dollars for. 

I actually called these folks and interviewed one of their staff members for my book and asked every question I could think of to determine their legitimacy and understand how they work to make sure I wasn’t recommending a group that would rip off my readers.  These are good folks that can get you on the right track when you are ready to take control of your debt.  Then it is 100% guilt-free shopping!

Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.

Tags: credit cards, debt, free stuff, guilt-free shopping, saving money
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Turbo-Mom’s Guide to Personal Finance for Moms and Women

Friday, March 20th, 2009

Welcome to the Turbo-Mom Personal Finance blog. If you are joining us from 5MinutesForMom’s Ultimate Blog Party, it’s great to have you here! If you were just strolling by, welcome and join the party.

Let me take a minute to introduce to you to the Turbo-Mom’s blog. The Turbo-Mom’s Personal Finance blog is a resource guide for women that provides sound financial advice in an easy to read format. It’s aim is to help you save money without wasting your time.

Written by Kristin Delfau, a professional financial advisor and an enrolled agent, it helps moms to easily get a handle on personal finance questions and issues to improve their personal and financial lives.

Kristin is also the author of the new personal finance book, Turbo-Mom’s Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time. Written specifically for busy moms and women to help them save time by cutting through all the information and getting straight to the real savings. Look for it at your favorite online bookstore, or from Aji Publishing in beautiful Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Interested in a free copy of this great and very timely book? You may just be the lucky winner! We are giving a way of free copy of Turbo-Mom’s Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time at the 5MinutesForMom’s Ultimate Blog Party. So look for it on the prize page and put it on your list.

Now stay awhile, browse through the Turbo-Mom posts, and enjoy! There’s tons of useful information that is sure to save you some money and time…as we could all use a little extra!

Thanks for visiting the Turbo-Mom’s Personal Finance blog.

Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.

Tags: Add new tag, blogs for moms, money saving tips for moms, personal finance
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Springtime, Yard Stuff, & A Special Treat

Monday, March 16th, 2009

March in CT is a time that fills me with happiness–spring is near–but dread as well…because it means yard work!

Saving money and time with gardening can be really challenging, particularly if you live in an area of the country where you sort of feel like the weeds are in charge no matter what you do!  And landscaping  services might be out of your price  range. 

So here’s what I’ve found that can help:

Get yourself some good tools. Aside from rakes and the usually gardening paraphernalia, here are some gadgets that actually have worked for me:

• Leaf picker-uppers a.k.a. leaf scoops.  I saw these on HSN last year flipping through one day for $20…and then happily found them in Walmart for $4!  They help you pick up larger bunches of leaves & debris at once, thus saving your back.  It looks like Ace Hardware sells them as well, for $7: http://www.acehardware.com/sm-gardex-leaf-scoop-gardex-leaf-scoop-price-6-99-the–pi-1278101.html
• Weed pullers:I don’t know about you, but I find digging out dandelions to be a pain in the butt, not to mention knees and back.  Looking for a solution, I skeptically bought a Fiskars weed puller, since I saw this on some home show as being the best that they tried out.   It actually worked–and I also got to enjoy ejecting the weeds on to a tarp for easy pick up.  Here it is: http://www.fiskars.com/EX/Garden/Other+Garden+Tools/Other/Product+Detail139910.html
• Pop-up gardening buckets a.k.a “kangaroo containers”:  Since weeding in CT is usually a big chore on a regular basis, you can easily go through 2 or 3 garbage buckets in one weeding session!  I found that the pop-up bucket makes for easier storage.  I use it with plastic garbage bags, empty the bags at the local mulching center, and then reuse them until the holes get too big.  Fiskars makes these pop-up buckets but many brands can be found on www.amazon.com if you type in “pop up gardening buckets”.

Some other tips on saving money & time w/ gardening:

• Start clean ups early in the season.  The earlier you get on top of these problems, the more manageable they are as the months go on.  We had an instance last year where we had let a certain area get out of control and had to call in the professionals to clean it up.  After that, we were able to maintain it and not need landscaping services for the rest of the year.
• It might be better to plant in the fall rather than the spring.  Depending on where you live, you may save yourself money and aggravation if you wait until the fall to plant trees, shrubs and bulbs.  Usually by September or October, perennials and bulbs go on sale so you are getting a discount.  Then, many plants actually have a better chance of survival because they have the whole winter to establish their root systems.  If you plant in the spring and have a hot, dry summer, you may lose more plants than had you waited until the fall to buy them. 
• Find out if your town has a local mulching/recycling center or lawn debris pick-up.  Danbury has both; for those of you who are local and didn’t know about these services, Ferris Mulch Products is the drop-off center and it is free.  Curbside pickup is listed on the City of Danbury website, but if you want them to pick-up your stuff curbside in a reasonable amount of time, call City Hall and they’ll send a truck your way.

Happy gardening!

And since you were so kind to read to the bottom of this post…here’s a great deal that came to me by way of Christina O.  As part of a legitimate software review program, you can get yourself some free software, including products such as HGTV Home & Landscape, which sells for $99 normally. They currently have about 25 left of each to review. There are also other types of software to review including Scrapbook Factory Pro and Hallmark Card Studio.  The catch is that you have to have an Amazon.com profile and must review the software.  If you are interested in this invitation only freebie, click on this link: http://www.critiquemanager.com/review278.html and enjoy!

You can read more about the review program here: http://www.critiquemanager.com/review278.html 

Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.

Tags: free stuff, municipal services, software, yardwork
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Good Makeup in a Lousy Economy

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Awhile ago I blogged about Paula Begoun and her incredibly useful site, www.beautypedia.com.  If you want honest reviews of makeup and hair care products, this is the place to go.  There is much free content and if you choose to go for the paid content, $24.95/year is a reasonable cost for all of the thousands of reviews that can help you make informed choices about your beauty products!

Here’s a great free 2008 report Paula published called “Recession Proof Beauty” or how to get great products without paying department store prices: http://www.cosmeticscop.com/bulletin/110608-full.htm

Here are two items that have definitely worked for me:

N.Y.C. Curling Mascara: I am one of those people for whom mascara has always been an issue…it usually ends up in rings under my eyes no matter what I buy, how little moisturizer or how much powder I use.   However, this $2.99 mascara is the first time I’ve had mascara actually last all day!

Wet n Wild Silk Finish Highlight & Contour Blush: This 3-part blush is excellent, particularly if you are like me and have light skin and blush application issues.  I have a hard time finding colors that don’t make me look like Happy the Clown.  This was a winner–and for $4.50 a great deal!

N.Y.C. Smooth Skin Pressed Face Powder: It doesn’t sit heavy on the face and looks great. For $3.99, again, another awesome bargain!

3 great products that can help us look great on a shoestring budget…no matter what the economy!  Enjoy!

Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.

Tags: great products, make-up, makeup
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Wonder Hangers – Wonderful or Not?

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

If you haven’t seen the infomercial, Wonder Hangers are made so that you can squeeze more into your closet without making a mess of your clothes. Or so they say.

I am one of those healthy skeptics when it comes to “as seen on TV” items, mainly because I have been burned by a few of them. But as discussed in an earlier post, I have found in the world of saving money & time, some of these items can actually be useful! Usually the useful varieties don’t involve anything electric or requiring replacement parts, I’ve found.

Anyway, I had to go to Bed Bath & Beyond (a great repository for all of these “As Seen on TV” things!) so I picked up a set of 8 Wonder Hangers with my 20% coupon. Total cost: $7.50 + sales tax.

Okay, these things are great. My husband’s button down shirts now fit on his side of the closet and don’t get wrinkled after ironing because they aren’t smooshed in there!

And I have recovered some space on my side as well–I used the Wonder Hangers for blouses, skirts and short-sleeved shirts.

So if you have a packed closet, I can attest: get yourself some Wonder Hangers. They are worth it.

Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.

Tags: as seen on Tv, organization
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