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  • How to Live Your Best Life on a Fixed Income

    How to Live Your Best Life on a Fixed Income

    This is it: the years you’ve been preparing and saving for your entire life. You’re retired, you’ve got Social Security, your retirement fund, and maybe a pension. You’re on a fixed income, as you’ve been preparing for since you entered the work force. And it’s really scary, isn’t it? This is the part that people don’t often talk about. You’re retired, your money is fixed, and you don’t think you’re as prepared as you wanted to be. Now what? How do you live your best life on a fixed income?

    How to Live Your Best Life on a Fixed Income

    Make a Budget

    One of the first thing you want to do when you retire and begin living on a fixed income is make a budget for yourself. There’s no way you’re going to be able to just wing it. If you’re looking to live a comfortable life and not run out of money, a budget is going to be necessary.

    Before you even get your money, you need to have a job set aside for each and every dollar. You need to set back what goes to bills, what goes to food, what goes to gas for your vehicle or money for your insurance. If you simply try to play it by ear with your funds, odds are good that those funds will rather rapidly deplete as you spend without thinking.

    If you instead make a detailed budget that includes all of your expenses, you’ll have a detailed document to show yourself how you’re going to spend the money you get each month. This allows you to not only keep track of where your money goes but make adjustments as needed when you see how much you have left over after bills. You’re going to want spending money, of course, whether that’s to spend on yourself, your spouse or your grandkids.

    Prioritize Your Health

    If you want to seriously make your money last and keep your quality of life high, focus on your health. Walk every day if you can, eat fresh food, cut junk food out of your diet. A low-fat, nutritious diet will go a long way in saving you tons and tons of money in long-term care. Statistics show that heart disease is one of the most common (and expensive) types of chronic disease that people over 60 struggle with. You don’t want to burn up your entire nest egg just trying to stay at a neutral level of health!

    Schedule Your Shopping Trip

    Try to schedule your shopping as best you can. Try to stick to one designated shopping trip for week. This way you’re not as likely to make impulse purchases. When you make random trips to the store just because, your odds of making impulse purchases goes up dramatically. These impulse purchases are a bad idea: your income will remain fixed even as you make purchases on a whim. Each impulse buy you make simply reduces that much more money from your set funds.

    Try to Pay Annually

    When it comes to insurance, the best way to save money is to pay for your coverage annually. This goes for car insurance, health insurance and most other types of insurance. If you pay your plan in full for the year, you’ll find it much less expensive than paying month-to-month. When you’re operating on a fixed budget, this could free up a not-inconsiderable amount of money throughout the year for you! Dodging administration fees is a great way to make your money go longer.

    Buddy System

    If you’re single, consider buddying up on expenses with a friend. There are a few things you can save on when you have a buddy system in place. For instance, when you go to buy groceries, buying in bulk is often less expensive. If you split half of a larger pack of something with a friend, you’ll save a ton of money. Not to mention, less things will go bad when you’re splitting them with a friend!

    Likewise, you could buddy up on travel to save. If your plans for retirement include travel, consider traveling with a friend to save. When you go together, you can get a room together, get discounted rated on tickets and more. Not to mention, isn’t it more fun to go on trips with a friend than going by yourself? This way you not only save on your room and travel, you can also make great memories with a friend and enjoy your time on vacation that much more!

  • Best Gym Memberships to Get Healthy in 2019

    Best Gym Memberships to Get Healthy in 2019

    One of the most common New Year resolutions that people make is that they’re going to join a gym and begin to live a healthier lifestyle. This is an admirable goal, though not one that many people stick with in the long term. Determination is hard to come by! If you’re serious about getting healthy in 2019, though, this article is for you. Let’s talk about some of the best gym memberships to help you get into better shape this year!

    Best Gym Memberships

    Equinox Fitness Club

    Our first entry is on the list because it’s just so very upscale and fancy. If you get a membership with Equinox, you can expect nothing but the finest of equipment and amenities. If you enjoy the finer things in life and have a bit of money to spend on a gym membership, Equinox is for you. Equinox not only sports incredibly high-quality equipment for workouts, they also have great amenities for members.

    Deep, in-depth personal training is a huge draw for members of Equinox. Having the personal touch of a trainer to help you hit your fitness goals is that extra step a lot of folks need to stick with their new plan of getting fit. If no one is holding you responsible, it’s easy to slip up. With a personal trainer, however, you not only get structure and guidance, but someone to hold you accountable to your ongoing fitness plan.

    Group classes, such as dance-style workouts, are also a popular aspect of Equinox’s high-scale experience. The community aspect of a gym is often overlooked but having that extra layer of togetherness can make fitness that much more fun. It’s one thing to work out by yourself and just feel tired and sore. When you’re working out with a group, though, it’s much more fun!

    Finally, following your workout, you can use Equinox’s top-tier spa area. This will help you to relax and recover from a tough workout, allowing you to recharge and go back out into the world reenergized. If this sounds like the place for you, though, be ready to spend a bit of money. The membership starts around $200 per month.

    Crunch Fitness

    If you’re looking for positivity and community, Crunch Fitness is a popular choice for many people. For one thing, they’ve got membership options that start as low as $10 per month, meaning they’ve got something to fit every budget. Beyond that, they’ve also got a great community that is always dedicated to putting positivity and result first. Their workout area is tailored to be judgment-free, and the trainers do a great job of engaging members.

    Motivation is one of the biggest hurdles newcomers to working out have to overcome. Often, it’s easy to feel discouraged, especially early in your fitness journey. However, the trainers at Crunch Fitness really care about keeping you engaged and motivated. It’s important that you hit your fitness goals. Heck, you wouldn’t have joined a gym if it wasn’t important to you! The trainers are more than happy to remind you of this while they help you hit your goals.

    Group classes are a big focus of Crunch. Cultivating a community based on togetherness and workout positivity is a big part of this gym’s culture. It makes it feel like everyone is working together to hit their goals! If you want a comfortable and welcoming gym where you can get fit while making new friends, Crunch is the right place for you!

    Blink Fitness

    With memberships from $15 to $30 per month, Blink’s got a little something for everyone! While Blink doesn’t offer group classes, members of a certain tier and up are allowed to bring a guest with them an unlimited number of times. This is a great option for workout buddies! If you’ve made a resolution with another person, like a significant other or best friend, and want to be able to work out with them without both of you getting memberships, this is the option you should go with.

    Blink’s interiors are upscale, bright and optimistic. While it’s not the highest-tech gym around, it’s got everything you need for a good workout! The space is clean, well-lit and welcoming, and the staff is friendly and helpful. One-on-one sessions with personal trainers are available for those looking for a more hands-on approach to their workout, too!

    In all, the biggest thing you need to start your fitness journey is to get with a program and stick with it. There’s nothing standing between you and your goals except for you! Get out there and kick some butt!

  • Reduce the Cost of Pre-Medicare Health Insurance

    Reduce the Cost of Pre-Medicare Health Insurance

    If you retire early, or you are self-employed, and you’re looking for health insurance, you might find it difficult to save money. A lot of people who retire before 65, when they become eligible for Medicare coverage, may find themselves spending an arm and a leg for insurance. If you feel like you’re paying way too much for your pre-Medicare health insurance, you’re not alone. Many people have felt the squeeze of rising inflation rates with insurance lately. Here are some ways you can save and reduce the cost of your health insurance.

    Reduce the Cost of Pre-Medicare Health Insurance

    The Problem

    Many people who are retirement-age, or who work for themselves, are finding it difficult to get affordable health insurance. These people who need pre-Medicare health insurance find that it is incredibly difficult to get coverage with a decent deductible that doesn’t cost an exorbitant amount. While the ACA has helped some people in this boat, there are others who don’t qualify for the subsidies on ACA plans.

    Instead, these people have been experiencing ballooning costs for premiums and watching as deductibles are slashed as health insurance companies try to squeeze more and more money out of them. The future hardly looks bright for the ACA marketplace: the current administration has vowed to stop protections for those with preexisting conditions and next year the penalties for having no insurance will fall away. This means that many healthy people may ignore the marketplace altogether, making premiums that much higher for those who use ACA plans.

    Who This Effects

    This situation disproportionately effects people in their 50’s and 60’s who have yet to reach Medicare eligibility. These pre-Medicare health insurance plans are increasingly failing people in their 50’s and 60’s as they develop more serious medical conditions and have to pay more and more every year to keep getting medicine and treatment they need to survive.

    For many of these people, even those who don’t currently have any serious health issues, the ballooning premiums and absurd cost of healthcare makes them nervous. They can’t opt for coverage with bare-bones provisions as they may develop serious medical conditions sooner rather than later. However, they also can’t afford the existing plans. So what do they do?

    Check the Marketplace

    While you might think there’s no good coverage on the Marketplace, you’d be wrong. For some people there are great pre-Medicare health insurance plans available through the marketplace. According to some industry analysts, people over 50 who use the Marketplace to find health coverage are actually saving more money now than in the past three years. Since 2015, premiums for people over 50 have dropped nearly 40%, down to an average of about $60 per month!

    As for those dramatic increases in premiums, you need not worry about them if you get subsidies through the ACA. For people who receive subsidies, these increases won’t actually hit you. For a single-person household, if the income is below around $48,000, you’ll receive these subsidies. For two-person households, this threshold is roughly $66,000.

    Even if you’re only just above this threshold, speak to a tax advisor. There are some ways you can qualify for the subsidies even if you make a bit more than these thresholds if you do something like making an IRA account contribution or some similar method.

    Consider Direct Payment

    This isn’t suggesting you simply pay for your treatments outright. Instead, some people are sidestepping insurance altogether and opting instead to engage in “direct primary care.” This method sees the patient paying their doctor a flat fee, usually around $70 per month, that tends to cover some portion of typical doctor’s visits, check-ups and preventative care.

    Doctors who engage in direct primary care often take steps to make sure their patients pay less overall for most basic medical services. This may include buying medications from pharmaceutical companies at wholesale prices and then selling them at cost. Another common cost-saving method is through direct contracts with labs, allowing for less expensive lab results and radiology, passing those savings to customers.

    Those who choose to use direct primary care are often advised to get insurance with high deductibles so that they have an option in case they become seriously ill or otherwise take on some large hospital bill. Generally this method is advised for people who have found relatively affordable high-deductible pre-Medicare health insurance. While this might not work for everyone, for many patients it results in them saving more money in the long run compared to getting a high-premium, low-deductible plan.

  • Top Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor Today

    Top Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor Today

    The start of a new year offers a great opportunity to step back, look at your finances and see how things are going. There are a lot of really great questions to ask your financial advisor in this period to see how your investments are shaping up. While the new year is just an arbitrary date, it makes a nice clean break and gives us a chance to think about our finances in a new light. What are you financial goals for 2019? How can you make them realities? Let’s get into the top questions to ask your financial advisor today.

    Top Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor Today

    How High are the Fees You’re Paying?

    The new year is a great time to reexamine your investments and see how high the fees you’re paying are. After all, your advisor is here to help you. If their cost is higher than their usefulness, it’s time to think about getting a new financial advisor. What better time to examine these costs than at the start of the year? If the advisory fees are satisfactory, move on to the fund fees, transaction fees and account fees you’re paying.

    It’s important to know where your money is going. You don’t want a ton of fees piling up and eating away at the money you’re trying to invest. If some products you’ve got in your portfolio aren’t winning you back enough money to merit their costs, it could be time to think about cutting them loose. Make sure your advisor knows this is a serious concern of yours!

    How Much Risk Should You Be Taking?

    The general rule of thumb is that the younger you are, the riskier and higher-return your investments should be. Then, as you grow older, your investments should be transferred more and more to safer, lower-return funds that won’t put you at risk of losing your nest egg.

    Other considerations, like your income, your financial goals, your risk aversion and your comfort level can all affect this advice. Your financial advisor should have a good grasp on what kind of saving you prefer, and what type you would rather stay away from. Maybe your risky investments have been paying dividends, but the climate for them is shifting so you transfer to safer funds. Or, maybe your safe investments are moving too slowly to get you where you want to be in time for retirement, so you should diversify.

    Whatever the case, the beginning of the year is a great time to examine your finances and your saving strategy. Maybe it’s time to shift into high gear and double down on your plan of attack. Or, maybe it’s better if you ease off the throttle and get more cozy with saving in slower increments. In either event, your financial advisor will have advice tailored to your situation.

    What Employer-Sponsored Benefits Could You be Taking Advantage of?

    Set aside a plan for how you can make the most of your employer-sponsored plans. If your employer offers plans like 401 (k) retirement matching, medical savings accounts and the like, these could be great ways to maximize your finances. Medical savings accounts offer a great way to save money for medical expenses without incurring the usual income taxes on your wages. Similarly, 401 (k) accounts offer a great way to let your money grow without being taxed at the usual rate.

    If your employed offers any type of matching, make sure you’re hitting the maximum amount that you can afford. For instance, if they offer 6% matching, it’s in your best interest to put the full 6% into your savings if you can afford it. This matching plan is essentially free money for you when you go to retire, so you should absolutely be taking full advantage of it!

    What Else Can You Get?

    Make sure you have a good understanding of what your advisor’s firm offers you in terms of services. Most firms offer a robust suite of financial services, such as estate, banking or tax planning. If you’re leaving behind a sizable amount of money and assets when you go, you might be interested in making sure these are properly taken care of. Likewise, your taxes may be very complex due to your investments and holdings. These are things your advisory firm might be able to help you with!

    Your advisor will surely be glad to help you discover which of their firm’s services you’d benefit from. You may even find some services you didn’t realize you needed help with!

  • The Best Real Estate Apps to Find Your Forever Home

    The Best Real Estate Apps to Find Your Forever Home

    If you’ve been looking for a home to call “forever,” you’ve probably noticed how hard it can be to find the right one. Whether it’s because the prices aren’t right, the neighbors are too noisy or some other reason, shopping for a home can be a difficult process. However, today we’re here to help you find the best real estate apps for finding your forever home. Let’s find an app to help you get settled in somewhere for good!

    Best Real Estate Apps

    Century 21 Local Listing Search

    Our first app is ideal for searching in your local area and finding a home that is nearby. Not everyone wants to move across the country, after all! For the people looking to just move within their area, this is a great app to start with. Expected search features, such as number of bedrooms and bathrooms, are all present here, of course.

    The app also lets you check the area for nearby restaurants, grocery stores and schools, ensuring that the listing you’ve found isn’t too far from civilization. If you prefer, you can even draw in your own search area to find how far from given locations a home is. If you’re looking for a specific part of town you want to move to, this is a great app for that laser-precision.

    Xome

    Xome is a great app for those who love having options for selecting the best home for their unique needs. You can use the great “Xome Zoom” feature to zoom in on a listing and get a feel for where it is in the community. You can see the home’s score based on walkability, nearby schools and other factors. This tells you whether the home in question is good for families, for easy of walking to nearby parks and shops, and how much traffic you could expect in the area.

    Another great feature of Xome is the Xome Concierge service that allows you to go through a real agent to answer your questions regarding a listing. If a listing has a more complex feature or unusual setup that you need more information on, or if you’re simply having a hard time understanding something, this is a great service. You can even set up live walkthroughs of listings via Xome, making it a great all-in-one real estate app.

    Homes.com

    The aptly named Homes.com app is a great place to start for any prospective home buyer. You get access to a robust suite of search features, allowing you to see the relative value of given neighborhoods based on nearby property values. You can search recent foreclosures if you’re looking to save a bit of money, and you can even narrow your results by likely mortgage payments. That’s thanks to the Homes.com calculator, a big selling point of this app.

    Homes.com’s app is also well-regarded for its robust stats and pictures of every listing. You can find detailed and in-depth stats for the homes, including sale prices over the years, damages and upgrades reported, and even more. The pictures are also very illustrative, capturing the home and its rooms from many helpful angles to help you get a clear idea of what the place is like.

    Redfin

    Redfin is a golden standard for real estate apps. This is a very “big-picture” app, helping you find the right criteria and showing you the best ways to save on a great home. The first way it does this is through features like a foreclosure notifier, allowing you to scope out homes that might be on the market for much less than you expect them to be. You can also set up notifications for when a home goes up for sale by the owners, as well as for when short sellers make alterations to a listing.

    Redfin has a robust suite of search features that allow you to select based on nearby schools, home property values and the like. This way, you can be sure when you’re searching for homes that the home you’re getting is right for you. The app even has a built-in realtor feature that allows you to set up visits to homes so you can see if you like it in person!

    The cherry on top is the robust social and sharing features the app offers. If you find a listing that you really like you can send it over to someone you know via text, email or even through your preferred social media. This is really the best overall app for finding your forever home.


  • The Easiest Way to Mail Almost Any Packages

    The Easiest Way to Mail Almost Any Packages

    In the more than two centuries since Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General in 1775, the Postal Service has grown and changed along with America, boldly embracing new technologies to better serve a growing population.

    Mailing letters and packages is far more comprehensive and easier than the days of purchasing large books of stamps and doing the math yourself to ensure Fred the mailman would deliver.

    No longer do you need to know that in 1974, the price per .5 ounce package was .02 cents extra. We live in the post digital revolution, an age where everything is done for you with just a few clicks.  Don’t forget though, with conveniences comes options.

    Because there are so many different shipping variables and options to choose from, it’s difficult to make an apples to apples comparison without locking down some of the basic parameters. Shipping can be expensive, and sometimes it’s hard to know which option is best. In addition to the major shipping services — the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx — there are nontraditional ways to ship that many people don’t know about.

    Here are some tips and general info to help guide you through shipping and postage in 2019.

    Quick Comparison

    A comparison of the Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx found that the Postal Service generally charges the lowest rates — but not always. UPS and FedEx offer competitive rates for ground shipping and more options if you’re in a rush, so comparing costs can save money.

    The services have their own price calculators, but a good comparison tool will look at more than one at a time. Enter information for a package or envelope traveling within the United States to see cost estimates for different services. Easy!

    The US Postal Service Automated Kiosk

    When it comes to everyday shipping within the United States, it’s difficult to beat the US Postal Service on price and ease of use. Regardless of naysayer opinions, the USPS has more locations in more places than most private shipping companies, and more cost-effective options for people who don’t have accounts or regular shipping needs.

    If you hate standing in line at the Post Office, find a location with a self-serve kiosk near you. You’ll be in and out in no time. Walk up, weigh your item (if it’s necessary), print a label, stick it to your item, put it in the slot, and walk away.

    Try online shipping if you don’t want to make the trip to the post office. One way to save on U.S. Postal Service costs is to pay for your shipping online. You can save up to 16 percent on priority mail orders and up to 60 percent on express mail. You also get free pick-up service, priority mail delivery confirmation and shipping supplies when you pay online with the post office. Pretty cool and convenient.

    Stamps.com

    Stamps.com is a leading provider of internet based mailing and shipping solutions in the United States. Customers of both Stamps.com and its wholly owned Endicia receive discounted rates on some packages relative to both USPS.com and USPS retail locations. Under the ShipStation, ShipWorks, and Shipping Easy Brands, customers access multi-carrier solutions to ship packages through multiple carriers, including the USPS, UPS, and FedEx.

    The first benefit of using Stamps.com is the price. At $19.99/month, Stamps.com is cheaper than most other shipping software solutions, especially if you’re shipping between 50 and 500 orders a month. In addition, a subscription with Stamps.com gives you access to discounted shipping rates from USPS. What’s more, Stamps.com is simple to learn.

    Because it is a bare-bones tool, there isn’t a whole lot to figure out in order to get shipping. What’s more, Stamps.com support is reportedly good, and the company does a great job with their support documentation. You’ll be able to find answers to many of your questions with a quick search.

    FedEX and UPS

    To help cut FedEx and UPS costs, consider prepaid shipping, which offers a discount rate of up to 20 percent. This means you buy a quantity of shipping labels upfront and affix them to packages as needed rather than pay for each package when you send it out.

    Prepaid shipping works best when you know you’ll be sending out the same weight packages repeatedly and can determine the shipping cost in advance.

  • How to Prepare Your Classic Car for Transport

    How to Prepare Your Classic Car for Transport

    Your antique hot rod is like a fine wine that gets more desirable  after every year, which makes finding and preparing for classic car transport a lot more daunting. The easiest way to take the stress out of transporting your classic car is to plan and prepare what you need to do ahead of time, to ensure your vehicle safely gets where it needs to be.

    The calamity and devastation of a beautifully restored classic automobile being damaged during transport can be unbearable.

    Actually, only a small number cars moved by auto transport companies are damaged in the process. Odds are that your antique vehicle will arrive  in pristine condition. You can further protect your investment by choosing your auto transport company carefully and by thoroughly preparing your classic car for its journey.

    When you’ve invested in a classic car, you want to take every precaution to protect your investment. When you move or need to transport your car for service or for a show, shipping your car, rather than driving it can help reduce the chances of accident or depreciation.

    Here are some great tips to help you and your vintage machine out.

    Do Your Research Before Hiring a Transport Company

    If you’re shipping your car, don’t trust just anyone. Doing a little research ahead of time when selecting a classic car shipping company can save you a headache down the road. Ask fellow car enthusiasts or friends who have shipped their classic cars which companies they’ve used. Were they happy with the work? Was anything damaged or missing after the car was shipped? Read up on consumer reviews of classic car transport companies on sites like Angie’s List Classic Cars.

    Once you have a few companies in mind, check their safety records with the local highway patrol, your state’s transportation department or with the federal Department of Transportation. If the company transports across state lines, they should have a presence on the Federal DOT’s safety database, which lists inspections performed and major accidents.

    One of the first things you’ll find out about transportation companies is that there are a lot of them. Many of them carry your normal, everyday cars for people relocating across the country, while others focus specifically on collector cars. There is a wide spectrum of transporters, from guys with dually trucks and one-car open flatbed trailers, to the big names in the industry with their enclosed, double-decker trailers. In other words, do your research.

    Document the vehicle’s condition

    This is highly important. Take photographs of your car and any loose parts before shipping to document their condition. Should an accident or damage occur during the vehicle’s transport, photos will help you get maximum compensation for your insurance claim.

    At the delivery, thoroughly inspect the vehicle upon delivery if your car will eventually be shipped back to you or if you’re meeting it at its destination.  Be sure to completely evaluate the vehicle and check for any damages before accepting it. If you’re shipping your vehicle to a restoration shop or a new buyer, make sure they conduct a complete inspection and review any noted damage description that should have been filled out when the vehicle was loaded.

    The Q’s and A’s You Need To Ask

    How much does it cost?

    “It depends,” is the short answer. Fuel prices, distance and door-to-door services can all add to the price.

    Does the company specialize in collector cars?

    If they do, they know not to handle your collector car like cattle headed off to market.

    Does the company have a U.S. Department of Transportation number?

    Federal regulations require a USDOT number for interstate commerce, and 25 of the 50 states require all commercial vehicles to obtain a USDOT number.

    Does the company have comprehensive insurance that covers its cargo as well as its truck and trailer?

    Have the company mail or fax you a copy of its insurance policy. $100,000 liability on transported vehicles is common.

    What is the company’s policy on deposits?

    Is it non-refundable and when does the company require the deposit?

    What is the company’s payment policy?

    Is it strictly cash, do they accept money orders, do they accept checks or do they take credit cards? Do not ship with a company that demands payment in full before the car is dropped off.

    Where does the company drop off and pick up cars?

    Most trucks and trailers can’t fit down or turn around on narrow residential streets, so they’ll need a big parking lot for loading and unloading.

  • Save Money on Paper Towels

    Save Money on Paper Towels

    Paper towels are undoubtedly useful. They serve certain functions that dish clothes don’t. For example, I would rather wipe my mouth with a paper towel than a dish cloth. I don’t like cleaning a toilet with a dish cloth because afterwards, I have this icky cloth I have to contend with. I would rather throw away a used paper towel and be done with it.

    However useful, we use far too much. Annually in the U.S., we use more than 13 billion pounds of paper towels, and that number is growing every year. This leads to over 3,000 tons of paper towel waste just in the U.S. alone each year. If each U.S. household used one less 70-sheet roll of paper towels, 554,000 trees could be saved every year. If each U.S. household used three less rolls per year, it would eliminate 120,000 tons of waste.

    Discarded paper towels create 254 million tons trash every year globally. By cutting back on paper towel use, you can save money, reduce landfill waste, save trees, and more. Let’s look at some ways to use less and save money on these glorious paper towels.

    Price Compare Like a Champ

    Buying paper towels is surprisingly complicated. There are different numbers of rolls in a package and different amounts of square feet on every roll, so the cheapest price may not be the best deal. The best way to determine what to buy is to compare apples to apples based on the price per square foot. To do this, divide the price by the number of square feet listed on the package. So if a 100 square foot package of paper towels is $5, you would divide $5 by 100 and end up with $.05 per square foot.

    If you do that with the different packages–the cheapest ones versus the ones on sale, and so on–you will find the lowest price per square foot of paper towel. That is the one to buy.

    BUT buying the cheapest brand can backfire. It is true that very cheap paper towels (Walmart’s brand, for example) don’t absorb well, which means you end up using more of them, going through the roll faster, and losing the money you thought you were saving by buying the cheapest price per square foot.

    Consumer Reports did an test on paper towels and found that Bounty Extra Soft, Walgreens Ultra Quilted, CVS Big Quilts, Kirkland Signature from Costco (which is what I usually use), and Up & Up from Target had the best absorbency. I generally believe in buying the cheapest roll of paper towels unless a brand has proven itself to be bad.

    Recycle Old Clothes

    I have found that cutting up an old cotton tee shirt, sheet or a flannel sheet has worked great at making cheap napkins. I keep them folded in a little basket on the kitchen table so we just pull one out when we need it. If I have company at the table, I break out the good napkins.

    When I have bought paper towels on sale with a coupon, I take my serrated knife and cut the roll in half and that gives me twice the towels for one price. Of course, you have watch yourself and not just use more from the halved roll.

    Reduce Use

    You may think, “I don’t use too many paper towels” but it’s easy to see how paper towel use can get quickly out of hand if you consider these estimates for a family of four. Use as napkins at meals = 84 sheets per week. Use as hand towel in the bathroom – (4 potty breaks a day x 4 people) = 112 sheets a week. Washing up before meals and before cooking (3 meals a day) = 105 sheets a week. Washing and drying fruits and veggies (assuming you eat them at each meal – which you should) = 63 sheets a week.

    Cleaning two bathrooms once a week = 20 sheets a week. Wiping down the kitchen after cooking = 42 sheets a week. That’s 426 paper towel sheets a week (typically 3.5-7 rolls a week – most paper towels have 60-120 sheets per roll) and I haven’t even covered cleaning up spills, pet messes, kid messes, washing hands after baby diaper changes, snacks and more. Paper towel use adds up alarmingly fast.

    If you become conscious of your paper towel use, you can easily cut down. Use one sheet to dry your hands, just give them a shake first. Use newspaper to clean windows, it works better anyways.

    The Final Paper Towel Thought

    While looking for ways to save money on paper towels, I realized something. There are really only two things you need to do to save money on paper towels… never pay full price. Use fewer paper towels. That’s really all there is to it!

  • The Best Moisturizers to Combat Winter Dry Skin

    The Best Moisturizers to Combat Winter Dry Skin

    It’s that time of year when the air is dry and your skin is feeling it. If you get bad Winter dry skin, you’re probably looking for a good moisturizer to fight it. But where do you start?

    It can seem so difficult finding a decent moisturizer that actually keeps your skin from being so dry without feeling greasy or filmy. If you’re looking for a great skin moisturizer, look no further. Today we’re rounding up some of the best moisturizers to combat winter dry skin!

    The Best Moisturizers to Combat Winter Dry Skin

    What to Look For

    What makes for a good moisturizer, though? It can be hard for a lay person to find what kind of moisturizer they need, as the answer is a bit more complex and jargon-filled than you’d expect. What you need is a moisturizer that has a balance of humectant, emollient, and occlusive ingredients. Let’s explain those terms a bit.

    Humectants act like sponges, binding water to the outer skin layer and keeping your skin moist. Ingredients like glycerin are humectants. Emollients are ingredients like natural oils that help smooth your skin out. Finally, occlusive are ingredients like petroleum that help to form a seal around your skin and lock in the moisture, protecting your skin from drying out.

    What to Avoid

    There are also a few ingredients that you’re going to want to really avoid if you can help it. For instance, you should really stay away from exfoliating ingredients like acids or scrubbing beads. These ingredients might sound like a good idea for flaky, dry skin but they will likely result in further drying your skin out. That’s the opposite of what you want!

    Another pair of ingredients to avoid are retinol and retinyl palmitate. These are both known to further dry out skin in people who already have dry skin. If you’re curious about which moisturizers are the best for you, we’ll give you a few examples of brands you could try.

    Aveeno Positively Radiant MaxGlow No-Mess Sleep Face Mask

    A highly-rated face-mask moisturizer, this one comes highly recommended by users. User reviews rave of the soothing, hydrating properties. If you wake up with dry skin on your face in the winter, consider using this face mask. It’s a great way to keep your complexion hydrated, youthful and glowing!

    You can find this product for sale on Amazon for roughly $18.

    St. Ives Cocoa Butter and Vanilla Bean Hand and Body Lotion

    Cocoa butter is well-known for its great softening properties and makes for wonderful skin moisturizing and protection. This particular product is a great example of that! The natural scent is wonderful and soothing, while the ingredients are great for your skin. The natural emollient properties are wonderful and remarked upon by many user reviews.

    This product is available for sale in many retailers, including in-store and online. For instance, you can grab it on Amazon for around $3. That’s a great price for a product that works this well!

    Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Night Cream for Dry/Very Dry

    This face cream is a great option for many who suffer from dry skin. According to user reviews, it’s a wonderful product and well-worth the price. This night cream includes ingredients like shea butter, glycerin, and ceramides, making it a great example of the types of things you want in a moisturizer. This product will replace your skin’s lost moisture and lock it in so the dry weather has a lessened effect on you.

    You can find this one online for around $34 if you go through Amazon. It’s a bit pricey, but according to the review it’s well-worth the price.

    CeraVe Skin Renewing Night Cream

    Niacinamide, one of the main ingredients in this night cream, is a great way to help even out skin color. This is a skin cream that is considered excellent for seasonal winter dry skin. That’s because it packs all the ingredients you need to replenish your skin’s moisture, repair damaged skin cells and lock in the moisture throughout the day. This is a product that helps you not have to use it anymore!

    If you’re looking to pick up some of your own, then you can go through Amazon and get some for $12.

    Other Options

    Other things you can do to help your skin during the winter is to take shorter showers and use less hot water during your shower. Very hot showers have been shown to dry out skin, and could be working to counter the moisturizer you’re using to re-hydrate your skin.

  • Best Deals on K-Cups for 2019: Get Your Caffeine Fix

    Best Deals on K-Cups for 2019: Get Your Caffeine Fix

    If you’re anything like us, you really want your coffee in the morning. It’s hard to get going without your morning cup of Joe! It’s also much more convenient to use Keurig K-Cups when you make your morning coffee.

    Why brew a whole pot when you could just use the single-serve K-Cup style for your morning cup? The only drawback is the price. How can you find the best deals on K-Cups?

    Where to Find the Best Deals on K-Cups

    Why Are K-Cups a Good Deal?

    Before we get into where the best deals can be found, let’s talk a bit more about K-Cups themselves. They’re a very convenient and handy delivery method for coffee, and they make it really easy to stock up on some of your favorite flavors and blends of coffee.

    Originally there were only a few flavors of coffee available through K-Cups, but as they’ve grown in popularity there are now many, many more. Coffee shop-style, Seattle-style, light, medium and dark roasts and many more are all commonly available. The best part is that K-Cups are so widely available that you can find them in most grocery retailers without any trouble.

    If you want to try out new flavors, you can even try sample variety packs that let you try several different new flavors at once! This all makes Keurig one of the easiest ways to taste many different types of coffee in the most economical way possible. Who doesn’t love saving money while trying new things and getting their morning pick-me-up all at once?

    Shopping Online

    When it comes to saving money, a great place to start is online shopping. There are a few options when it comes to saving online. The first, and most obvious, would be to simply go through Amazon. Amazon Prime members get free shipping on most things they buy, and K-Cups are no exception. If you’re looking to buy in bulk and save, then this is the way to go. You can even set up your Amazon account to reorder your favorite flavor of K-Cup when you get low!

    If you’ve got a smart home hub like Alexa, you can even reorder on the fly with your voice for certain things. K-Cups, for instance, can be reordered as easily as calling out for Alexa to put it in your cart and check out. That’s about as easily and painlessly as you can shop!

    Other options for online savings include Keurig’s own auto-delivery service or subscription sites like Coffee Cargo. Both of these options allow you to periodically reorder your coffee and get fantastic savings. People who utilize these services have reported savings of up to 25% off when they reorder. If you’re going through a lot of coffee, or simply want to save money when you buy in bulk, these options can really help your wallet!

    Shopping Retail

    If you prefer shopping for your coffee in person, there are still plenty of ways to go about saving in store. The first way we recommend would be through warehouse-style retailers like Sam’s Club or Costco. These retailers require you to have a membership card in order to shop with them, but don’t let that scare you. For buying in bulk (and generally saving money) these are fantastic stores to shop in. Bargain hunters can always find great deals on K-Cup coffee, too!

    If you’re looking to really keep the costs down but don’t want to shop for large quantities of coffee at once, there are some other options. You can opt to shop in normal grocery stores and simply wait for when the K-Cups or coffee go on a weekly sale. Additionally, you can keep on the lookout for bargains that are tied to coupons. If you come across a good sale coupon then you can likely save a ton on K-Cups!

    Similarly, shopping at smaller retailers like Walgreens and CVS can be great for bargain-hunting. Not only are these stores smaller and easier to navigate, they often have great sales. As they are primarily pharmacies, they tend to offer great deals on groceries when you look to save. Weekly deals and coupons, much like with traditional grocery stores, are excellent ways to save.

    Finally, don’t overlook convenience stores. These stores will often have great deals on K-Cups as they try to compete with larger retailers. While it can be harder to find universal deals this way, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking in to see! We hope this helps you to find (and save) on coffee!