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June 12, 2011, at 5:00 am If you're new to BFS, please subscribe to my RSS feed. It shows me a vote of support and keeps me motivated to keep your attention. If you have any questions or comments for me, please contact me and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for visiting! The following is a hobby site announcement from Sharon Williams, the author of Hobbies on a Budget and Real Life Deals. She is a work at home mom with 3 kids who loves finding time each day to read a good book, play in the pool with her family and work with her flowers.
Most people can remember a time when they had a hobby that they loved.
Unfortunately, many people can’t remember the last time they spent even a moment on that hobby.
There’s a new site on the internet that wants to help you rediscover your hobby and find ways to pursue that hobby without breaking your budget.
Hobbies on a Budget
Facebook
Back in March, Crystal allowed me to post an article here at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff about hobbies on a budget. Now, my new blog has space and time to dig deeper into a wide variety of hobbies.
Do you have a hobby that I haven’t spotlighted? I’m probably just waiting for an expert like you to give me your best tips! I’d love to hear from you! hobbiesonabudget@gmail.com
What are you waiting for? Your hobbies are ready to be rediscovered!
June 11, 2011, at 12:00 pm
Hey guys! The Love Drop team is at it again! Last month they gave over $9,200 worth of cash, goods and services to their recipient, the Stalnaker family, who had been going through a financially hard time due to the effects of the BP oil spill on the Louisiana economy. The family was in need of a car and the Love Drop team was able to surprise them with one, making it one of the most exciting Love Drops ever. You can watch how it all went down here.
This month they rally behind the Aubins – a Michigan mother and her three children who are mourning the death of Keith, husband and father, after his lengthy battle with multiple health problems. Our goal is to raise at least $3,600 to pay the family’s rent for three months, which will allow them to focus on what they need to during this time, without fear of losing their home. Additionally, since Keith was an organ donor, he leaves a powerful legacy and the Love Drop team hopes to raise awareness of organ donation this month to honor Keith’s memory. Help us make this month special for the Aubins!
Want to help? Here are three ways you can participate:
Give $25 towards rent <– Click this link to contribute $25 towards their rent for the next three months – it will relieve so much stress for them.
Give a gift or service – Gift cards are always helpful. Places like Target, Wal-mart, restaurants, etc would definitely help them out. Services too – especially those you can offer yourselves, or from your company.
Organ donation – We’re giving the Aubin’s the gift of knowing that the people on our team are organ donors. If you are one now, or pledge to be soon, please tell us so, and we’ll relay the total number as a gift at the Drop.
June 11, 2011, at 6:00 am
Also, check out my other blog, Crystal Clear Thoughts,
for my Weight Watchers Updates!
I started at 176 on January 4th and already hit my July 4th goal of 150!
I an now aiming for 140 pounds by the end of the year!
My Favorite Posts this Week
Guest Posts on BFS
Thank you both!!!
Giveaways and Other Info
Blog Carnivals
If you are hosting a carnival that includes Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, please email me so I can include it in my roundup. Thanks!
Top 5 Referring Sites to BFS from Last Week:
- Yakezie
- Free Money Finance
- Get Rich Slowly
- Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured
- Stupid Cents
Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions. I’d love to add a few more blogs to my regular reading list or at least give a shout-out for great posts or contests.
As always, thanks to all the bloggers that teach me something new every day. Thanks to all my commenters for making this blog the community I want it to be. Thanks to all my “lurkers” too. 
I hope everybody is enjoying this as much as me!
And please use About Life Insurance as a resource for everything life insurance!!!
Let me know if you do help out and I will be sure to return the favor!
June 10, 2011, at 6:00 am
The following is a great blog swap post from fellow Yakezie member, Super Frugalette. You can check out my financial do over at her blog today as well!
I lost $24,700 by not having a lawyer review a document.
The Beginning
Long ago, I was working in the marketing department of a retailer with an office in Connecticut. The retailer had recently been acquired by a UK company. The UK company set out to reduce costs and decided that the various local offices would be consolidated. My office was on the elimination list.
I received a job offer to move with the company to Maryland. One of the items put on the table as an incentive to move was a letter stating that if my position was eliminated I would receive half of my salary. About 7 other people decided to move, and all of those people had positions of far greater seniority than I did. No one that I was aware of questioned that part of the offer or felt that they needed to have a lawyer review it.
My Hesitation
I had issues with my offer in general. I told my director that I would only move if I was made a Marketing Manager and received a $11,000 pay raise to $50,000. He told me that he could “get that for me” but as the move approached, I never received a revised agreement. My director was not directly employed with the retailer. He was on “loan” from the UK company and although he reported to the president of the company, he was not hired by the president. He was focused on trying to obtain his “deal”–his relocation package, etc.
Yet, since he was neither directly hired by the president of the company nor would the president have hired him, he was in an awkward situation. How do you negotiate with someone who has to “tolerate” you? He had been moved to Connecticut and now that the company was moving, he would have to move again—not part of his initial agreement.
I rescinded the job offer two weeks before the office move but told my boss that I was willing to travel to Maryland to consult. My boss was in disbelief. He called a meeting with the other director that I reported to. My other boss took my side, she told him flat out that he failed to “carry out” in writing the things that he had “promised”. Did he really think I would go without anything in writing?
My Loss
I started working in Maryland in May. Within four months 9/11 happened…which devastated the business. My company owned retail stores in airports and on the US/Mexican and US/Canadian borders. Travel came to a standstill. The company was bleeding money…just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse…
I was told that my company was sold to three gentlemen from Florida and the Maryland office was closing.
My “Maryland” job was now moving to Florida. Thus, I was really excited about having this agreement since it would offer me six months of salary while trying to find a new job in Maryland. I learned from the new COO that the agreement would never stand up in court. One of the women who was offered relocation to Maryland had her agreement redrafted by a lawyer. Her agreement would have stood up, but she elected to move to the New York office.
If I had paid a lawyer $300 or so to look at the offer letter, I would have been $24,700 richer. Moral of the story …have a lawyer look at everything!
Crystal’s Comments: Ouch!!! That really and truly sucks!!! I would never have thought to get a lawyer to review the document – huh. They should have held up their end of the deal whether it would have held up in court or not! Grrrr…
Anybody else want to share their biggest financial loss or mistake? What would you do over if given the chance?
June 9, 2011, at 6:00 am
The following is a guest post about money tips for young adults by Marissa at Thirty Six Months.
I was having a conversation with my grandparents the other day about how much debt I am in and how much post secondary education really costs these days. I find that a majority of GEN Y students are coming out of school with more debt than they realize and are not really prepared to start tackling it. I mean let’s think about it, we don’t get taught about consumer debt in school, so the minute that we step on campus we have credit card companies lined up to “give” us money and since we haven’t had access to free cash before, we all jump at it.
The way most student loans work, here in Canada anyway, is that they will lend you funds to support your education and will start charging interest 6 months after you graduate. Most students either don’t think that far ahead when it comes to interest rates or assume that since they are getting this great education, they will find a great paying job and will be able to pay off the loans rather quickly.
As a recent grad I have a few tips to share after graduation to get rid of the bad debt:
- Don’t borrow more that you need, it is amazing when you are “given” spending money through student loans, but remember you will have to pay that back- with interest (lots of it)
- Try to work during school, whether it is an internship, a part-time job, or kind and generous parents, try to come up with most of your living expenses through different means other than student loans.
- When you do get out of school, start making payments as soon as possible to pay down your debt. This is assuming that you only have student loans and no credit cards.
- If you have credit card debt, start paying the one with the highest interest and work your way down.
- If it possible to pay more that regular suggested monthly amount, do so. You can save thousands of dollars in interest and can be paid off a lot sooner. The extra payments go directly to the principal so the amount that would pay interest on is lowered.
- MAKE A BUDGET. I know student/recent grad budgets are tricky. The live of a student is a lot more flexible and fun and once you introduce a budget, things get a bit more rigid. But trust me on this, it will save you a lot money later on and will learn to live within your means.
- Make goals and stick to them. There are tons of spreadsheets on the web that will help with debt repayment strategies, find one that works for you. Whether your 5 year goal is to have a house, a new car, a trip, find a goal and make it happen.
- Find side incomes. Most of us are not lucky enough to land a high paying job after graduation (we settle for anything that will pay our bills for the time being), but we do have skills that can be utilized so we generate different streams of income, whether it taking a job, freelancing etc. Find your hustle.
- Move back home if you can. It can be difficult once you taste the freedom of living on your own, but think of it as something temporary and put the money that you would be paying for rent towards your debt/saving account.
- Have/create an emergency fund. This will save you during those times when everything is going against you. You will thank me for this later.
I know there are incredibly bright people who make mistakes when it comes to money in their youth. It is part of growing up. I honestly think there needs to be courses in high-school so that everyone can understand what good debt and bad debt is and how interest charges work. Alas, until that happens, it is up to us to figure it out and learn along the way.
Crystal’s Comments: I love all of these suggestions. Do you have any to add for young adults starting out?
June 8, 2011, at 6:00 am
Mr. BFS and I have taken a summer vacation of some sort every summer for the past 7 years. It’s a tradition we both love. Don’t get me wrong, we take other vacations too, but we splurge for the summer one. We also only seem to go one of three places – Las Vegas, Louisiana, or a Caribbean cruise.
Here’s where we’ve taken our summer vacation since 2004:
- 2004: New Orleans, Louisiana
- 2005: Las Vegas for our honeymoon
- 2006: Kinder, Louisiana
- 2007: Las Vegas
- 2008: Las Vegas
- 2009: 5 day Caribbean cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines
- 2010: 7 day Caribbean cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines
Truth be told, I prefer the cruises since I am addicted to snorkeling in water clearer than Galveston’s (which is all water…), but Mr. BFS leans towards Las Vegas, so we plan to rotate now. I am really excited and made sure this summer vacation in Las Vegas trip is going to be a heck of a lot of fun!
Here’s the current breakdown of our plans and costs:
- 2 roundtrip non-stop airfares and 4 nights at The Golden Nugget – $875 including travel insurance
- 2 Tickets to Marriage Can Be Murder (my pick), a comedy murder mystery dinner show – $110
- 2 Tickets to Cirque Du Soleil (his pick) – $130
- Hugo’s Cellar restaurant reservation (our favorite) – estimating $100
- We may go to the Tournament of Kings dinner show again (another joint pick) – $120
- Two taxi rides from and to the airport – $60
- Bus passes for the strip – $20
- Lazy river (his pick but I completely agreed) – $30
- Additional Food – estimating high $200
- Souvenirs – estimating high $50
- Gambling – Whatever’s left from $2000
So that comes to $1695 with $305 for gambling. Mr. BFS also usually brings his own fun money since he likes to gamble more than me. In short, our vacation account is taking a $2000 hit as usual, but I think it’s going to be the best Vegas trip since our honeymoon!!! I am really looking forward to the comedy dinner show and the lazy river. He is really looking forward to the acrobats and gambling. This is going to be awesome!
What’s your favorite summer vacation? Any traditions? We tried cruises based on recommendations, so please let me know about all the cool stuff you do!
June 7, 2011, at 6:00 am
Mr. BFS and I started a raised herb garden a couple of months ago, which has done very well as you can see below! Woot for gardening!
 April 2011
 - June 2011
As I said before, our garden is 24 square feet and started with basil, chives, cilantro, and tomato plants as well as oregano,rosemary,thyme,dill,and garlic seeds. All of the plants survived and thrived but the only seed to make it was a single garlic bulb. But we are still very happy with the results!
The tomatoes are ripening, the chives and basil are delicious, and the cilantro bloomed into coriander, lol. We’ll remember to cut back those pre-blossoms next year. Speaking of which, we think we’ll be building another raised garden so the huge tomato and basil plants can have one whole area to themselves. Seriously, basil and the tomatoes will take over a garden if you give them a chance! Delicious but pushy…
How are your gardens holding up? Any advice for a beginner?
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DISCLAIMER I am not a professional or a financial advisor. BFS posts are informational opinions only. Please make your own financial decisions based on personal research or see a financial advisor.
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