Author Archive for amandak

Author's Website: http://becomingafictionwriter.blogspot.com/

Save Money By Substituting for “Must Haves”

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Creative Commons License credit: Joe Shlabotnik

Try telling someone in their twenties that they shouldn’t spend money on fashion, cars or eating out, and the advice will very likely fall on deaf ears. When retirement is thirty or forty years away, it’s easy to live for the moment and enjoy the “must haves” of young life. But Ginger of Girls Just Wanna Have Funds had some great advice for cheap alternatives to satisfy these desires. (more…)

3 Points to Keep in Mind When Planning Retirement


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A recent post at CNN Money had a lot of useful information for Americans who are either approaching retirement or who are younger and working and should be thinking more about how to fund their retirement. The three key points they made were: (more…)

Four Cautions for Investing In Collectibles


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Everyone collects something: postcards from friends, teddy bears, paintings or stamps. But some of these collectible items can actually form the basis of an investment. But before you decide to sink your hard earned savings into some kind of collectible, do your research and check these cautions: (more…)

How to Fly Cheaply and Happily


Creative Commons License credit: Joshua Davis (Yes To Videos)

It seems that for travelers these days, getting the cheapest flight is only half the battle. As well as paying as little as possible, we’d also like to be fairly sure our airline will still be flying when our trip comes around, we want our luggage to come out the other end and we don’t want to have a horribly uncomfortable flight. Some recent Yahoo tips on dealing with airlines in the current environment had some useful pointers, including: (more…)

Tips to Break the Pay-Check-to-Pay-Check Cycle


Creative Commons License credit: RichieC

If you’re one of the many people living from pay check to pay check without having much hope of breaking the cycle of debt and repayment, you’ll be pleased to read a few tips from the experts at CNN Money. Rather than going through the obvious money saving strategies, they talk about a few ways that could net you a little extra cash and start to dig you out of the cycle. (more…)

10 Tips to Make Your Home More Energy – And Cheaper


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Focusing on making your home more energy efficient can be good for your wallet as well as for your conscious. These tips can help make your house more environmentally friendly and save you a few dollars as well. (more…)

Travel Secrets to Save You Money


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If you love traveling as much as I do, you’ll be keen to find ways to save money – I figure that means you can travel more often, or further. A bunch of tips they talked about at Microsoft will give you some ideas to make your travel dollar go further. (more…)

Home Upgrades That Are Worth the Money


Creative Commons License credit: thekitchendesigner.org 

When you have your own home, the temptation to start renovating it to create your dream home is high. But some upgrades might not add that much value to your investment. These ideas from Yahoo’s Finance pages can help you decide which home renovations will have the best payoff for you:

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4 Tips to Save Money on Accommodations on Your Next Vacation


Creative Commons License credit: Joshua Davis (articnomad) 

Apart from airfare, the costs of your hotel or other accommodations are likely to be the biggest budget items when you take a vacation. Obviously, you want to have as much cash left to spare to enjoy activities on your vacation as you can, so here are some tips to save some money on accommodations while still having a decent place to sleep each night.

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States Where You’ll Pay Less Tax


Creative Commons License credit: Josh Thompson 

Whether you’re trying to reduce your own personal income tax bill or trying to develop a business, there are different parts of the United States that you might like to move to, if you want to take advantage of the nation’s best tax-free havens. Here’s a list of some states that might meet your needs:

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