February is pretty dreary, cold, snowy and miserable, so not ideal for bargain shopping. However, there are some bargains to be had during the shortest month of the year!
Here are the Best Things to Buy in February:
Electronics
Electronics such as digital cameras, TV’s and Home Theaters are great items to pick up in February. TV’s and home theaters because the pre-Superbowl sales are worth checking out. (Especially if you missed out on the Black Friday or Boxing Day deals) Cameras, because stores are trying to clear out the old models before the new models come in.
Winter Clothing
The farther you get into winter, the cheaper winter clothing gets. Including outerwear, boots and sweaters. If you can wait until the end of the season you can find some nice discounts.
Furniture
New furniture designs come out in the spring, so stores are clearing out old styles to make room. February is a great time to search showrooms for “as is” floor models in good condition offered at deep discounts.
Valentine’s Day items
While Valentine’s day items will be on sale at the beginning of February, the best time to find a great deal is after Valentine’s day. You’ll find prices on Valentine themed candy, chocolates, decorations, toys and more drastically slashed.
Tax Software
The dreaded tax season is commencing. If you do your own taxes, look for sales on tax software such as Quicken and TurboTax.
Because retailers follow a yearly sale cycle, you can count on finding the same general products on sale at the same time each year.
Family fun doesn’t always have to cost money. There are plenty of activities you can try together that are just as fun, or even more fun, then activities that require cash.
Here are some free family activity ideas that are sure to please! Pick a couple to try this weekend!
Have a picnic, inside or outside depending on the weather
Have another family over for dinner – this is way cheaper then eating out!
Movie night – grab a movie off the shelf that you haven’t watched in a while and make some homemade microwave popcorn!
Have a theme night/day – Mexican, Italian, pirate…the list goes on. Plan dinners and activities around your theme!
Head to your local library – stock up on reading material or even sit in on story time!
Have a game night – pull out those board games and cards!
Unplug – Turn off the cell phone, TV, computer and just reconnect with your wonderful family!
Go bird watching – see how many different types of birds you can spot. Maybe bring along a bird book from the library.
Build an indoor fort – camp out in it or have a picnic in it!
Check out the free community events offered in your area
Make a list of activities you want to do during the Summer
Go for a walk
Have a yard sale and set up a lemonade stand that the kids can man.
Clip and organize coupons. Make it a game for the kids.
Help an elderly neighbour or friend
Visit a playground and actually play together
Many of these ideas can be adapted to every season, but the important thing is that you get out there and have fun together as a family! Enjoy each other!
What other free or cheap activities can you suggest?
Date night can be hard enough to find time for, and it can also be expensive. It’s important to remember that being romantic doesn’t have to mean spending all your cash. Here are some free date night (or date day) ideas, that you can try today!
Self-guided tours of your city
Lunch or dinner in a park
Go for a hike
Check out a movie from the library
Have a date-night at home
Check with local universities for visiting speakers or musical performances
Read your local newspaper or check online for free community events
Go for a drive and listen to your favourite music
People watch in a crowded area
Cook together at home
Play Games
Stargaze
Volunteer together
Tour a local winery
How often do you go on dates? I’d love to hear your free or cheap date ideas!
This week, we’re going to touch on some of the items that can take up a lot of our budget if we let them: entertainment and beauty (Makeup, hair, spa). I happen to think that both of these things are important factors in a balanced life, but they don’t have to cost a lot!
So for today, don’t you think it’s time to spoil ourselves? I think so! I guess this one is mostly for the ladies, but here are some tips for beauty on a budget:
Make your own body scrubs
Take a cup of olive oil and about 3 tablespoons of sugar and mix the two together. You can also use coarse salt if you want something a bit more rough. Then apply to your body in circular motions for 2 minutes and rinse off. Your skin will be so smooth! You can also add a few drops of your favourite essential oil if you like! Here are some more of my favorite scrubs:
Grab an almost empty lipstick tube, dig out the remaining lipstick and put it on a plate. Next, put it in the microwave and warm it at 30 second intervals (don’t exceed 2 minutes!) until it’s slightly runny and then mix a few drops of moisturizer into the lipstick on the plate. (you may want to use a paper plate) Play around with the mixture to find the right consistency. Add more moisturizer for a more sheer shade. Quickly pour your new creation into a container that you have lying around or find one at the dollar store.
Turn Lipstick into Lip Gloss
Again with a nearly empty lipstick tube, squeeze a small amount of Vaseline into a ziplock bag and close the bag. Mash the two together and throw it into the microwave and warm for 30 second intervals, don’t exceed 2 minutes! When it’s slightly runny cut a small hole in the corner of the zip lock bag and squeeze the new lip gloss into a small makeup container.
An apple-cider vinegar rinse works like a clarifying shampoo and leaves your hair with great shine. Add a small amount to your hand then spread through your hair. Rinse.
Go For a Walk
It’ll make you feel wonderful and bring a nice glow to your cheeks!
What are your favourite homemade beauty treatments? Do you regularly do it at home or do you splurge and have your beauty treatments professionally done?
Sometimes, the thing that makes us go over budget are certain triggers that take away our self control. You know, those things that send you into a spending frenzy or make you overpay for an item when it's just not worth it. There is one way to stop them and that is to do your best to avoid these triggers altogether!
Take a look at the list below to see if you relate to any of the spending triggers and learn how to stop impulse spending:
Stress
One main trigger is stress, being aggravated, feeling down, or on edge. Seeking out shopping as an outlet while you are on edge or upset is completely normal. BUT it’s not healthy and really leads to a lot of impulse buys. Try to find a new outlet for your emotions, something like yoga, walking, doing puzzles, a long hot bath, or even playing with your kids. It might take awhile to retrain yourself, but if you keep at it, you can nip that bad habit in the bud.
Boredom
Just like with stress, many of us use shopping to fill the void of boredom. We aimlessly browse the aisles or online to kill time and it ends up leading us into many purchases we might not otherwise make. If you are shopping simply out of boredom find another way to relieve the boredom - read a book, take a walk, have some friends over or clean out a closet and donate a bag full of items - what a great way to reverse the spending!
Addiction
Plain and simple, shopping can be an addiction. Those sparkly shoes fly into the cart, that butter soft purse goes right on top, and heck, toss in that new set of towels. Everything you like is getting tossed into that cart...and it feels great! Shopping can be a real high for some but unfortunately, like all highs, the euphoria is short lived. Especially once you realize the balance of your credit card or bank account. If this sounds like you, look for healthier alternatives, like sports and exercise, to get that same rush of excitement, or this trigger can ruin your life.
Celebration
Maybe it's not some "bad" emotion or stress that is causing you to spend impulsively, but something fabulous that happened. Maybe it was that raise you finally got at work, or you finished a semester at university with top marks. While rewarding yourself for big things can be important and a great motivator, it's important to keep your rewards in check. Instead of a big spending binge, try taking yourself to the movies or grab an ice cream cone. Small rewards can feel just as great as big ones.
Sales
Just because it’s on sale doesn’t mean it is necessarily a good buy. Do you really need it? Will it get used? Is it worth the sale price? The lure of a sale can make us buy things we wouldn't normally buy just because it looks like a deal. Look carefully at your motive behind the impulse to grab it. If the item is something you would normally buy, you can still take a little time to comparison shop and make sure you are getting the best deal.
Kids
Sometimes it is impossible to get to the store without kids but if you can, I suggest you do your shopping without them in tow. Grocery stores and every other kind of store is intentionally designed to turn them into materialistic begging little children. Candy...right at the checkout with other items like trading cards, as seen on TV items, and little toys that call out to our kids, and they listen! But even as you stroll the aisles it could be a special box of cereal, a treat, just one lunch pack, one convenience food, etc.. and we add way more to our cart than we would if we were alone following our carefully crafted list because we love those little children of ours!
Convenience
Too tired to cook? Just pull up the Domino's app and pizza dinner will be at your doorstep in minutes. Convenient yes but does it lead to needless overspending? I think so. As convenient as they may be, when you have Domino's, Amazon and other similar stores apps on your cell phone or tablet it makes it too easy to make impulse buys. Consider deleting all your shopping apps and maybe taking the extra step to get on the computer or phone will cut back your spending. In both instances there's a disconnect between us and our purchases and it makes it so much easier to part with our hard earned money.
A great way to pinpoint your spending trigger is to stop every time you want to make a purchase and try to figure out why. Do you really need it? Are you just bored? Are you only buying it because it's on sale? Keep track in a notebook, you might be surprised at what triggers you to spend.
What triggers your impulse spending? How do you try to deal with those triggers?
Last week, I wrote a post asking for your inspiring financial stories and I have one to share! This one is from Dorianne and she's sharing how her entire family worked together for common savings goals. Enjoy!
We live in a rural community in Alberta. When we moved out here from the big city I wondered what my kids could do for a job while growing up since there are no paper routes, McDonald's, etc -the kinds of places kids and teens typically work. So, we took on a family job of managing and being janitors of our community hall when our oldest was about 12 years old.
Not only were we involved in our community, the kids were able to earn money and learn to work hard, even, and especially, when we really didn't feel like going to clean on the weekends, etc.
We were paid a base monthly amount of $250, plus hourly for cleaning. The cleaning money went to the kids based on their hours of cleaning. The base monthly amount went in to a separate bank account as savings for 'family fun money' and goals we had in mind. It was NEVER to be touched for anything else, which was tempting at times as we work in oil and gas in this tough economy and could have used it for a few things! BUT we were determined to stick with our savings goal!
The first thing we saved for was a tent-trailer and we have had many fun camping trips with it. The second thing was tickets to Disney World. That was our best family trip ever! The third and last thing we decided to save for was a hot tub -something we all could enjoy for years to come.
As you can imagine, at only $250/month, these goals took years to save for. Now that our kids are grown and starting to leave home and having 'real' jobs, we finally reached our hot-tub goal in the fall and quit our Community Hall job. It really has been a life-long lesson for our kids!
How inspiring was that! Something to strive for, for sure 🙂 Thanks Dorianne!
