Household

5 Tips For Giving Your Bedroom A Budget Friendly Makeover

decorating your bedroomBeing that most of us spend an average of 6-8 hours each night in our bedrooms, we can totally get why sometimes you might find yourself looking around and thinking, “I really want to give this room a makeover.” Then you look at your bank account and realize that although the desire is strong, the resources are pretty limited.

That doesn’t mean you have to totally go without “upgrading” the space, though. In fact, there are a few things that you can do to makeover your bedroom that are highly effective and also very budget friendly. Check these five recommendations out below:

Paint the walls. You can find a gallon of paint for well-under $20 and being that one gallon can give you about 350 square feet of coverage, in most cases, you only need one (two tops). So if your walls have been white ever since you can remember, why not go with a soft green, a light blue or even a shade of lavender? All of these colors are beautiful to look at, plus they can help to calm you as you drift off to sleep.

Get another comforter. Something that will immediately change the appearance of your bedroom is purchasing some new bedding. Although the cost of comforters can get to be pretty steep, you can find some at stores like Target and Kmart that are well-designed and also pretty durable for under $50.

Hang up some art. Have you noticed that your walls look a little bare? Understandably, you probably can’t afford a Picasso but that doesn’t mean that you can’t add some of your own kind of art. Whether it’s a print of your favorite drawing or painting, some pictures of your family members or friends that you had blown up to poster size and framed or even some stencil art that incorporates your favorite quote, this is another smart and cheap way to change the appearance of your room.

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Travel & Entertainment

The Easiest Way To Make Vacations Affordable

family vacation tipsWhether you want to go on a vacation three hours away, or you want to vacation halfway across the globe, there are ways to make everything about your trip affordable. You can find many excellent discounts online, and in addition to this, if you do your research properly, you will be able to plan out your trips well in advance, buy early, and save substantial amounts of money by locking in your rates for your trips well before anyone else has even thought of taking a trip.

Buy Well in Advance

Sometimes, the best way in to save money on a trip is to have it planned out months in advance. While this isn’t possible for everyone, this is an especially good idea for those with fixed schedules, or those who have specific paid vacation times. If you can purchase your plane tickets, hotel fees, or even train fare far in advance, you will have a much easier time of finding better rates. If you are traveling to specific events, there are often special rates for that particular event if you preorder your rooms, for example, within a certain time period. Buying well in advance also allows you to better plan out your activities and budget for certain activities that you would like to do. If it is all already paid for (and much more affordably, too), you will  have a much more relaxing trip and you can just focus fun during your vacation as you won’t have to worry about excessive spending.

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General

How A Federal Reserve Practice Can Help Your Personal Finances

federal reserveDriving along a wooded section of Florida highway, I noticed a haze of smoke among the trees and wasn’t sure what I was witnessing. A specific area of the forest had been burned, with care to preserve the trees but to destroy the undergrowth. I turned to my outdoorsy father-in-law in the passenger seat and asked him about the purpose of the intentionally set fires. He explained: “They help prevent bigger fires.”

In Florida, as well as in other dry parts of the country, wildfires happen regularly and sometimes spread uncontrollably. The additional fuel of the undergrowth not only extends their range, but also increases the temperature at which they burn, making them far more deadly for responders. By stress testing various tracts of woodlands for the potential of a fire, private landowners or Forestry Services can determine which, if any, preemptive measures should be taken to reduce the risk and frequency of wildfires.

In the banking world, the Fed is seeking to employ a similar strategy in order to prevent a recurrence of the 2008 “wildfire”. By observing historical data in order to measure relevant variables like the Probability of Default of a given financial institution, the Fed can perform stress tests in order to determine where and when to take minor actions (setting brush fires) so as to avoid major catastrophes. While those minor actions tend to be regulatory, and thus highly politicized and hotly debated, the model of stress testing is a practical one for application in our personal financial lives.

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Investing

Investing 101: Top 5 Investing Rules You Should Know

When it comes to investing your money for the future, many questions arise. Where do I invest my hard-earned money? How should I go about saving for my retirement or my children’s education? If you follow a few simple steps, you’ll find the answers to these questions and more.  So, make goals for yourself and watch the money roll-in.

1. Make a Plan/Set Goals

Description: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6870886851_76c9703cca.jpg

Image via Flickr by 401(K) 2013

Making a plan before you start investing is a great way to pinpoint exactly what you wish to achieve. If you’re planning for your kids’ future or your own, it’s important to know where you presently stand. Make sure to calculate your debts, assets, and savings to see what you have available to invest. From the information you gather, you should give yourself a decent idea of where to invest.

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Money Saving Tips

Save Money As A Do-It-Yourselfer

DIY and save moneyDo you know how to tile floors, reroof a house, paint walls or fix a car? If you do, then you can save a lot of money by doing everything yourself. If you don’t know how, then you don’t have to hire somebody to do it for you, you can simply learn how to do everything on your own.

What most people don’t realize is that people who have to hire a professional will pay more than they should simply because it is a skill that requires some experience. This is where the internet will come in handy.

Tips To Do It Yourself

Watch Videos – The nice thing about the internet is that many people will create a YouTube video on how to do certain things. If you want to know how to rewire a house, then there are people on YouTube that will show you how to do that. If you want to renovate your bathroom, then there will be a step by step video on how you do that as well. All of this stuff can be found on YouTube, so make sure you go there first before you try something you are not sure about.

Practice First – Yes, you need to practice. It doesn’t matter what you are doing, you need to give it a try first before you attempt it for real. If you are rebuilding the transmission for your car, then I recommend you attempt it with an older car, not a brand new car that will cost thousands of dollars to fix in the event that you mess things up. Now, if you are texturing a wall, then practice in a closet where nobody will see what you did. I know this sounds weird but the truth is that it will work.

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