Dollar Tamer Helping you tame your money

Holidays can put a bit of a strain on the budget, and Halloween is no exception.  Here are a few tips to help your wallet stay chubby while all the little ghouls and goblins pig out on candy:

• Make a Halloween budget and stick to it!
• Make your own costume instead of buying one.
• Use decorations that you can re-use for Thanksgiving (indian corn, pumpkins, etc are great for both Halloween and Thanksgiving).
• Keep your eyes open for great sales on candy.
• Give things besides than candy (you can often find small toys cheaper than candy).
• Plan ahead and buy things when they go on sale in November.  Pack them away and use them next year!

Post your money saving tips in the comments!

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Posted under Spending

It’s been plastered all over the television, run on crawlers during TV shows, and even mentioned on the evening news.  The conversion from analog to digital television is on February 17.  If you still have any older televisions that are not hooked up to satellite or cable, you may need a converter box.

The good news is that you can save $40 on a converter box (or $80 on two converter boxes) using a coupon provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce.  These coupons are good for certain entry-level models of converter boxes, so you can’t be picky.  This won’t get you a break on digital video recording models, just simple converters.

Even if you don’t have a TV that isn’t hooked up to cable, you may want to consider one of these.  Recently, the Cincinnati area had a massive power outage due to Hurricane Ike pounding us with heavy winds.  Damage to cable lines knocked out these services to many.  If this had happened after the digital TV switchover and you didn’t have a converter box, you would have had no access to over-the-air broadcasting.  Having a converter box means you would simply hook the box to the TV and be able to access broadcast television until cable is restored.

With the economy, many have considered eliminating cable or satellite from their budgets.  A financial disaster (such as a health issue or job loss) could cause you to cancel these services to save money.  If you don’t have a television capable of receiving digital signals, you won’t have television at all.  With the coupon, you can get one of these boxes for $20 easily.  It’s a worthwhile investment to buy one now with the coupon, even if you have no plans on using it now.

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Posted under Deals, News

I came across an article on Yahoo Finance that the issue of privitizing social security may not be dead after all.  Currently, neither Obama nor McCain want to even mention privitization.  With the down market, it’s not a popular plan in the least.  However, everyone is aware of the problems with Social Security:

• An extremely low rate of return, especially for larger or higher income families.
• The quickly disappearing funds for the entitlement.
• You have no legal rights to your Social Security funds.
• You can not pass on these benefits to your heirs once you die (with a few exceptions).

For anyone looking to take control of their finances, Social Security is not the plan to retirement.  A quick calculation shows I can expect around a 2.5% return on my Social Security “investment”.  Historical rate of return on the stock market is 10%.  Furthermore, these funds are your funds.  If you die, they are an asset in your estate.  You are fully entitled to the funds, it is your money.  In order to control your finances, they need to be your finances!

With the down market, people are blindly willing to throw more and more tax money to the government in the hopes of a secure retirement.  Relying on Social Security for your retirement is foolish.  Take the time to invest in your own retirement (401k, IRA, etc).  The market goes up and down but over the long haul, it always rises.  Don’t succumb to fear, invest with confidence and rely on yourself instead of the government.

When the privitization talk comes around again, be sure to remember these facts.  You’ll surely start to feel the attempt to ‘recover’ Social Security when the FICA taxes start going up again.

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Posted under Investing, News

There’s a couple sites you really should visit to find some free and discounted kids meals in your area: www.kidsmeals.com and www.mykidseatfree.com/Select_A_City.asp are both great places to find ways to let your kids feast on the cheap.  There are so many deals I can’t begin to list them all.

Head to those websites and put in your zip code.  You’ll be amazed how many free/discount kids meals you can find for every day of the week.  Eating out is an expensive item, especially if you have kids.  This is an easy way to cut some of the expense out of it!

Put any other related links you can find up in the comments section.  We can never have too much free food!

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Posted under Deals

Just found that you can buy any online only items on cvs.com for 25% off.  Link is here.  It’s only for items they carry online but not in the store, but you might find something you want in there at a bargain.

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Posted under Deals