The topic of discount stores vs traditional grocers often spark a lot of debate. Which type of store offers the better value for the money on groceries? Discount stores like Walmart and Target, or traditional grocery stores like Publix, Kroger, Meijer, etc.?
Based on my experience, I believe that traditional grocery stores will provide you with the maximum amount of savings on grocery items. Here are three reasons why.
This week I am going to feature my trip to Staples. The highlight of this trip was free paper after rebate. Though I did have to spend money out of pocket today, I will calculate this as though the paper was free on the spot.
Now that we have a clear understanding why creating a budget is important, it is now time to start creating our first budget. It is not as complicated as it seems, but it will play a monumental role in bettering your financial situation.
So, what goes in the budget?
Believe it or not, creating a budget may leave you with the feeling that you just got a raise. Now that you’ve confronted your bad spending habits and hopefully vowed to eliminate them, you all of a sudden have a lot more money to work with to reach your real goals.
How do you “get a raise” if you aren’t literally making more money?
Many people understand the extreme power of words. Well, there is something even more powerful than that. The most powerful words are those that are in writing. When there is some sort of legal dispute, anything on paper is infinitely more powerful evidence than something that someone said. Regardless of which goal-setting system you use, they all agree on the importance of writing them down. In my own life, physically writing a daily to-do list increases the likelihood of me actually completing my goals for the day. When we use the power of writing to craft a budget, we release things that increase the likelihood of our success.
How many times to we wake up to realize that something in our life is out of control? It could be our health and weight. It could be our job performance. It could be our relationships with those in our family. Many times, it is an issue with our finances.
We grow up. We go to the college of our choice. We have a good time. We graduate and get our first “real job.” We buy a car (with a payment). We rent our first post-college apartment (that we hope is a serious upgrade from what we had in college). We outfit that apartment with furniture and electronics. We buy new clothes. The list goes on. Then all of a sudden, we realize that everything that we’ve built was built with false money! That money is called “credit.”
