Donna Freedman

9 budget-friendly housewarming gifts.

by

So your brother or your BFF will be moving into a new place this year, and plans to stage a barbecue or house party to kick off the novelty of homeownership.

Of course you’d love to mark the occasion with more than a side dish or a six-pack of craft beer, but:

Money’s been tight lately, or

You have a financial goal you’re trying to reach, or

The homeowner-to-be doesn’t expect anything (and maybe even said, “This is a house party, not a gift grab”).

Want to give something unique and useful without torpedoing your budget or putting anyone on the spot? Read on.

The idea for this post came from a reader named Ashley, who commented on “Ode to the junk drawer.” A friend of hers had no junk drawer, so she created a “junk drawer starter kit”: a batch of stuff like key rings, scissors, paper clips, pencils and the like. Then she added a recipe card: “Put in a dark drawer and feed occasionally with loose change and bits of hardware. Very soon you’ll have a full-grown junk drawer.”

Her recipient loved it. And so did I, especially since it suggested a post topic. Here are nine ideas that will cost you a little time or a little money, but not too much of either one.

 

Read more

Snow and soup.

by

All the snow had melted. The ground was clear for probably 10 days. Teeny-tiny plants were popping up in the bed next to the house, self-seeded from either the spinach or the Asian greens that grew there last year. Maybe both.

Close by the seedlings, dandelions loomed like Godzilla over the population of Tokyo. Eventually they’ll get pulled out, but for now I just let them grow so I could pick them for the boiling bag.

Here are there in this south-facing bed, the rhubarb was peeking up above the soil. The deep pinky-red spears and low, dark-green leaves made a stark contrast to the dark, wet soil. It made me think about lovely cobblers, and batches of compote for my homemade yogurt, and maybe a few rhubarb-raspberry pies.

Speaking of raspberries: They weren’t exactly budding, but they were definitely thinking about it. Although DF cut them back quite severely last fall, I was pretty sure they’d rally the way they did the last time he implemented his scorched-earth pruning policy.

And then the snow came back.

 

Read more

Giveaway: $100 HP gift cards up for grabs.

by

The crew at Savings.com has a new giveaway, one I can definitely get behind: $500 worth of HP gift cards, in conjunction with HP’s Warehouse Sale. Although I use a MacBook Air computer, I’ve never owned any other printer than an HP.

The first one was given to me in 2005 or so, by a friend whose mom had died. Upon hearing I was back in college in midlife, she gave me her mother’s HP printer. I had no idea how old the machine was, and kept praying, “Please just get me through college.” And it did, letting me print out all my papers and presentations.

After completing my degree in December 2009, I figured the printer didn’t owe me a thing; after all, I’d used it pretty hard for four years and, again, I had no idea how old it was. But it wasn’t until July 2015 that the printer finally turned up its toes and died.

 

 

Its replacement, an HP OfficeJet Pro 8610, was a big step up: I now owned a printer-scanner-copier. The scanning function has come in really handy, since some freelance writing clients require me to scan and e-mail documents. The copying is useful, too. But where this puppy really shines is the printing. Thus far it has seen me through two books and DF through three.

 

Read more

#1goodmoneything, and its #badcousins.

by

Lately I’ve been noticing the #1goodmoneything hashtag on Twitter and Facebook. People use it to describe both major and minor money choices and actions.

Stuff like using increasing a 401(k) contribution, reaching a side hustle goal, winning tickets to a show, using travel rewards credit cards for a big trip, taking charge of bills vs. ignoring them, and not being upside-down on an auto loan any longer.

My daughter, whose blog many of you read, contributed one as well:

$10.95 sale on sports bras + $10 rewards card = $1.03 Victoria’s Secret sports bra.

That surprised me, since I had no idea that VS sold sweaty grunty stuff like sports bras. I thought they were all about frilly scanties. Live and learn.

Lately I’ve encountered a few #1goodmoneythings of my own. The most recent example was Saturday’s J.C. Penney anniversary sale. Coupons were handed to us at the door, good for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. Because a video-game-themed T-shirt (destined for a nephew’s birthday gift bag) was on sale, I paid just $2.99.

My niece, a single mom who sniffs out deals the way a Brittany Spaniel scents quail, got six items for just over $20. Among other things this included tops she can wear to work, a handsome Henley shirt for her older son and a long-sleeved, screamin’ aqua bike jersey for the younger. (One of his plans this summer is to “ride my bike as much as I can.”)

Wish I could say it’s been all good-money-things, all the time, lately. Some But me being me, I’ve also met a few of the hashtag’s cousins.

 

Read more

Win a $50 Home Depot card. Also: Autism awareness.

by

Want a $50 head start on home improvement or summer fun? Of course you do.

The folks at the Savings.com deal site are giving away $500 worth of Home Depot gift cards this week.

Ten winners will each receive $50 worth of purchasing power at the home improvement center, just in time for summer building projects, garden add-ons, or fun stuff like a wine-bottle cooler or charcoal grill (see deal list, below).

My dad gives me a Home Depot card every year for Christmas. He knows that DF and I will use it for compost, peat pots and other items for our vegetable and flower gardening projects. The Home Depot has everything we want for summer. The retailer was also a big help to my daughter and me as we cleaned up her rental unit after her in-laws moved out. (You’ll love the before-and-after photos, although a couple of them might make you queasy.)

 

Read more

Ode to the junk drawer.

by

During my recent errand of mercy to Phoenix, my daughter streamed some episodes of the dark and frequently hilarious television show “Speechless.” The program focuses on the DiMeos, a working-class family that moved to a dump of a home in a good school district. The goal was for oldest son JJ, who has cerebral palsy, to get the education and services to which he’s entitled.

Money is short and the family is overwhelmed by just the activities of daily living so, yeah, the house remains a dump. In fact, it gets even dumpier because of their casual attitude about home upkeep. (Hint: A blue tarp over part of the roof is not a fashion statement.)

In one episode, JJ’s personal care attendant sings a song* about the DiMeo lifestyle, to the tune of “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” Among other things, he notes that while most homes have one junk drawer, the DiMeos have multiples. In fact, pretty much all the drawers – like their house – is full of miscellany.

Which got me to thinking about the junk drawer in my Seattle apartment. It held stuff like safety pins, key rings (ever notice how those things accumulate?), USB cords (ditto), bits of ribbon, a clutch of shoelaces (which I saved when I tossed worn-out shoes), rubber bands and a tube of powdered graphite to squirt into balky locks (I managed the apartment house).

Tape lived there, too: Electrical tape, duct tape and a spare roll of cellophane tape. (Do people still call it that? I do.)

The junk drawer was also crammed with hardware and hand tools. A couple of former cream-cheese containers held nails, screws, bolts, brackets, washers and other bits of metal I couldn’t really identify. That’s also where I kept my six-in-one screwdriver, my hammer and the allen wrench I used on garbage disposal units – my own and those of other tenants. As apartment house manager I regularly got calls or knocks about a disposal that quit** mid-chew. Usually it just needed a few turns of the wrench.

My favorite thing about the junk drawer: It saves money.

 

Read more

Financially dependent (adult) children.

by

Feeling sentimental about your kids growing up and not needing you any longer? Take heart: They might rely on you for longer than you think (or want).

About one in three teenagers expects to remain financially dependent in some way until reaching age 30, according to a new national survey from Junior Achievement USA and Citizens Bank.

About three-quarters of them figure they’ll own a car before they hit the big 3-0. Way to keep the bar low, guys.

According to Jack Kosakowski of Junior Achievement USA, the survey results show “a disconcerting lack of confidence among teens when it comes to achieving financial goals.

“With a strong economy, you would think teens would be more optimistic,” says Kosakowski, president and CEO.

“It just demonstrates the importance of working with young people to help them better understand financial concepts and gain confidence in their ability to manage their financial futures.”

Only 44 percent say they’ll have begun saving for retirement by then, and about the same number hope to have paid off their student loans. At the same time, 60 percent of those surveyed think they’ll own homes.

There’s a disconnect there, I think, that may not be the simple optimism of youth: How do they plan to save for retirement, pay off all their student loans and still own a home?

 

Read more

Super-short story contest, plus giveaways.

by

Got a story to tell? If it’s a short one, you could parlay that tale into a free writing class.

How short? Really short. The Gotham Writers Workshop is challenging writers to tell a story in 10 words or fewer – and if you include a title, that counts against the word-limit.

Pretty hardcore, huh? But it can be done. Witness this perhaps-apocryphal example from Ernest Hemingway:

 

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn. 

 

Sure, it’s more of a skit than a full-length play. But with just a few words, you can evoke a mood, a backstory, a launch pad for a longer piece to be written later.

For now, keep it under 10 words. Here’s how.

 

Read more

12 ways to save money on groceries.

by

If you want to balance your budget, start by looking for ways to save money on groceries. You probably can’t negotiate your rent/mortgage or car payment downward, but you can find wiggle room in your food bill. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly one-third (32.7 percent) of our food dollars go toward meals prepared somewhere else.

Saving money on groceries means different things to different households. Not everyone lives near a warehouse store, or can afford to belong to one. Nor can everyone grow a garden or visit you-pick farms.

Fortunately, plenty of other ways exist to keep food prices as low as possible. This article’s focus is on getting food at low prices.

Use some (or all!) of the following hacks to eat well without breaking the budget.

Look for “manager’s specials”

Not store-wide sales, mind you. No, these are items that are close-dated or otherwise no longer welcome at the store. You’ll generally save 50 percent and sometimes more.

Meat and dairy items need to be used or frozen quickly, of course. I grab half-price milk whenever I see it, for making yogurt, but milk can also be frozen. Ask the dairy and meat departments at what time(s) of day these marked-down products are put out.

With regard to shelf-stable specials, sometimes it’s because they’re holiday items (canned pumpkin, chocolate bunnies) that have to move along. It might also be a new product that didn’t do as well as the manager hoped, which is how we scored a dozen boxes of mango-flavored gelatin for practically nothing. (We prepared some of it with apple juice instead of cold water and called it “mangle” Jello.)

Sometimes the manager’s special rack includes scratch-and-dent stuff, such as canned goods that have been dropped by shoppers or boxed/packaged items with torn or crushed corners. We’ve gotten some extremely good prices this way; last year we found several giant cans of pickled jalapenos for less than a dollar apiece.

Note: According to the USDA you shouldn’t buy any can that has visible holes or punctures; is swollen, leaking or rusted; is crushed/dented badly enough to prevent normal stacking or opening with a manual can opener; or has a dent so deep you can lay your finger into it.

 

Read more

Financial planning: Too many women don’t care.

by

This just in: In the 21st century, plenty of women are still leaving the long-term financial planning decisions to their husbands.

According to a study from UBS Global Wealth Management, 58 percent of women let their spouses handle the big-picture finances.

Here’s what really startled me, though: In the United States, 56 percent of millennial women (ages 20 to 34) were okay with letting their husbands handle the big money choices.

Have we learned nothing from the past few decades?

As a very young woman experiencing poverty, sexism, harassment and exploitation, I used to think, “Things will be better for our daughters.” Surely they would have more. More education. More redress. More lifelong options. More financial security.

Yet we’re still raising our girls to think they’re not good with money, or maybe that men are somehow better at it.

 

Read more