Simplifying Money Saving
Saving money is very important for everyone so that they can handle their finances and be able to have a home and a retirement. It is not one of the easiest skills to learn, but it is essential for financial success. It is easy for us to imagine saving money for the future, but actually staying on a budget is hard for most people, since it means spending less.
First, you should figure out a reason for you to save. Of course, you will have more money, but what will you use it for? It is good to save money for emergencies since anything can happen at any time, and we won’t always be prepared. When we save money for emergencies, we won’t be caught off guard. You should also save money to prevent going into debt. Instead of taking care of emergencies with credit, you can use the money you have. Also, it is necessary to save for big things you will need in the future like a new car, a college fund, a house down payment and retirement.
After you’ve figured out your goals, set a time frame for your goal. For example, if you want to buy a car, tell yourself that you want to buy a car in two or three years. Make sure that the time frame is realistic; otherwise, you’ll just get discouraged in attaining your goal. Remember it is a lot cheaper to buy a car by putting the car payment in a savings account than it is to pay it to the finance company with interest added on.
Next, see how much you think you’ll need to save per day, week, or month for you to be able to achieve your goal. Add up all the things you want to save for and see how much you’ll have to save starting now. If you want to save $10,000, you can save $500 every month for 20 months. But if this is too much, then change the time frame or your goal to accommodate your saving abilities.
Start tracking your expenses. Your savings are the difference between what you earn and what you spend. So start getting receipts and a notebook and write down your expenses at all times. This way, you will know how much you spend each day. Arrange the expenses according to their category, like Car, Rent, Phone, Utilities, etc.
After looking at your expenses, find out how much you can save by lessening them. You might find that you spend $300 on snacks that you do not need. You will have to think about your priorities to find out how much you can trim and what you can save. For example, should you save money on gas by travelling less or taking a bike? Do you want to use less food money by brown bagging your lunch and eating in restaurants less? Should you buy in bulk to save money? By thinking about these things, you will be able to save more after finding out what you can trim off.
Once you’ve figured out how much you can save and what you can lessen expenses on, you can make a budget or in other words, a plan. Make sure you spend enough to live on, but not so much that it is an excess. Try to stop using credit cards, since these incur debts and can break a budget. Open a bank account for yourself, so you can store the money in a place where you won’t be as tempted to touch it.
If you stick to your plan and stay within your budget, you will be able to attain your goals and you’ll have more money for the future. Living on less than you earn is the key to having a successful savings program.
Finding Best Online Electronics Store in Australia
Australia is famous for producing some of the world’s best electronic devices. A few years ago, the Australian electronics market observed a significant downturn in revenue due to falling unit prices in electronics. The major reason behind this was the rising exchange value of the Australian dollar. In addition to this, the maximum number of customers turned to online shopping resulting in lower average prices. Online shopping for electronics has become increasingly popular in Australia with more and more people comparing prices and purchasing from wholesalers offering the best value.
To meet the increasing demand of the individuals, many electronics wholesaler in Australia have come forward with their quality products at affordable rates. Below we have listed some major points to help you find the best online electronics store in Australia with ease. These include:
Always check the reviews
As discussed above, many online stores have emerged in Australia today. It is extremely important to go with a genuine and secure store to ensure you get quality products at affordable rates. Also, the store members should be reliable enough to keep all your personal and financial details safe. This can only be achieved by checking out the reviews posted by various people. Whenever you browse through different online stores, never forget to read reviews posted by people who have personally purchased from the store. Always prefer to read reviews from review websites or blog sections. This is because most of the reviews available on the online stores are filtered out and talk only about the positive aspects of the store.
User-friendly website with necessary details
This is the second important step that one needs to follow to find out the best online electronics store in Australia. Always check the website properly. It should contain almost every necessary detail including product information, pricing details, features, terms and conditions, privacy policies and contact details. If any of these significant details are missing from the website, never proceed further.
Resources to check store’s authenticity
Different countries have their own resources to check out the authenticity of stores. If you are shopping in Australia, the Australian government have a variety of resources to help customers check out whether the website they are choosing is genuine or not. Just a quick search engine research can provide you with a list of these resources. Thus, you can keep yourself up to date regarding different stores and enjoy an amazing shopping experience.
All these important factors can help you find the best online electronics store in Australia.
What to do with your unwanted Christmas presents
Every year the same thing happens at Christmas time. People receive gifts that they don’t actually want and the cycle of people finding something to do with them continues. Often the gifts are given with the best intentions but fail to hit the mark. This means that people are then left with the decision on what to do with the gifts. No matter what they decide, it’s always one of those really tricky things that you don’t quite know how to approach. On the one hand, you want to appear grateful for the present, but on the other, the person got you a Christmas gift that you don’t really want.
Firstly, so you don’t hurt their feelings, just act as if you like it and thank them for it. If it’s something they’d expect you to wear or have on display then the best thing to do is display it when they come around or where it once or twice when you’re with them. That way they will think you like the gift, even if you quietly can’t stand it.
If of course, you just want to get rid of the gift and they won’t know, then there are some things you can do with the unwanted present.
Regift your unwanted present.
If you’ve found yourself in the unfortunate situation where you have a gift that you don’t like, then you can always regift it. There are a few things to consider when doing so though. Firstly, you need to make sure that there is no chance that the fact you’ve regifted it will get back to the original giver. If it did then they could be extremely offended and it could get back to them. Regift it to someone outside of that group who doesn’t know the person who originally bought it. Make sure that when you regift it, it’s in good condition and nothing has changed. If you can, you may even want to reuse the wrapping paper, but if you do this, then it’s best to ensure that it looks brand new. If there are any marks, then tape some ribbon or a card and that will conceal the fact that it’s a regifted present.
When you regift it though, be careful to only give it to someone who is likely to enjoy it. There’d be nothing worse than the same present being regifted a second time.
Sell the gift.
If you don’t want a present and you can’t think of anyone to give it to, then why not sell it? Make some money from it. Selling it will allow you to make some money. If you are selling, then just like regifting, be careful to ensure that the person who gave it to you won’t find out. If you’re selling it on an online auction website, then the best thing to do would be to use a fake account that isn’t linked to you to sell it. That will ensure that they don’t find out and you’ll be able to get rid of the gift quite easily.
This is trickier if the item is rare and a one-off. If that’s the case, then rather than selling your unwanted Christmas gift, hold onto it and then when it goes up in value you’ll be able to reap the benefits. Potentially by this stage, the person who gave you the present will have completely forgotten so you won’t need to worry about it.
Donate it to charity
The option, if you’re concerned about your conscience is to donate the present to charity. Think of it this way, there are some people in the world who don’t get presents. Some people would be grateful for anything. Just the very idea of getting a present would please them. Why not take the gift you don’t want and give it to a charity or put it under a shopping centre Christmas Tree next year so that someone else can get enjoyment out of it.
The other thing about giving an unwanted Christmas present to charity is that if the person you originally gave the present to does find out, they’re less likely to be annoyed about it because the gift is now going to someone who will truly enjoy it.
Modify it
This one may not be as obvious, but if you don’t like your gift and you don’t want to get rid of it, then why not remake your Christmas gift. Turn it into something that you will enjoy. For example, if you were given a green top but prefer purple, then colour it. If you were given a chest of drawers om a dark colour but your décor is light, then colour it. If it’s a long skirt but you prefer short skirts, take it to a tailor and you’ll be able to get it designed into something that you will enjoy.
These are just some of the options for you if you’ve been given a Christmas present that you don’t like. Let us know if you have some others that we haven’t thought of. The other option is simply to exchange the item if you know what store it came from.
Trends to look out for in 2017
Every year there’s a new trend and a new product that everyone wants to buy. Looking back in 2016, there wasn’t a major product that was on trends. There are technological, retail payment and entertainment trends, but no single product in particular that stood out. Commercially it was a bit of an average year for brands. This article will take a look back at the trends of 2016, and what we can expect in 2017.
Despite that, looking back on 2016, there were some crazes that took off. The social media and online trend was the Pokemon Go app. Theapp revived the TV show from the late 90s, Pokemon. Players would use the app to catch Pokemon in an area. The only downside was that you had to go to certain locations for it to be effective. If you were home for example, it was unlikely that you would catch a Pokemon, unless of course you had several flatmates that were also interested in the game.
2016 saw many TV programs revived, the most recent one being the Gilmore Girls, which originally ran between 2000 and 2007. The revival was a major success, with audiences calling for the show to be revived for another full season. It is not yet known if this was happen. Due to the success of the Gilmore Girls revival, calls once again started for a Friends and Sex and the City reunion. This is despite the Friends cast members saying multiple times since the series ended in 2004 that it’s not the right time for it to come back. Jennifer Aniston, who playedRachel Green drew attention to the fact that during the show’s run, people used to go to coffee shops with their friends, but due to the rise of mobile phones that’s no longer the case. Although the show may work if it was revived, it is unlikely that it would so I don’t think we can expect a reunion in 2017. That fuelled questions of whether or not Sex and the City will come back again. That answer is a little less clear, with cast members, most recently Kim Catrall, also known as Samantha, hinting that it is possible.
If we really think about it though, is it possible? The cast have just passed the 50 mark, so it’s unlikely that audiences would tune in to watch a group of 50 year old women prowl for men.
Gone are the days when retailers could just have bricks and mortar stores. Those days went a few years ago, but that is becoming more and more pronounced as time progresses. With higher amounts of people utilising the internet and mobile apps for their online shopping, it’s increasingly important for businesses to offer their products online. More businesses are doing so, and payment methods are changing. Of course there is still credit card and PayPal, but other methods like
AfterPay, an interest free layby type scheme where you pay the deposit and then get sent the product, are becoming popular as retailers try and get an advantage over their competitors.
When you’re not in the running it’s hard to keep your audience or customers’ attention, and nobody knows that more than those in the music industry. With international superstar Taylor Swift taking a break, that paved the way for soul sister, Adele to take centre stage and announce her world tour, which strangely, appears to be more popular than Taylor Swift’s, with tickets selling out worldwide, and extra shows being added. Either she is more popular, has a different audience with disposable income, or people want to see Adele because she doesn’t tour as much as Swift.
Swift has however just released a new song with former One Direction star, Zayn Malik so 2017 could be another successful year for Taylor Swift.
Speaking of music, Apple upset music fans this year with their decision to remove the headphone jack on the iPhone 7. There are now rumours that Samsung is going to do the same thing next year, so we may see phones become smaller and smaller, and cords disappear. That wouldn’t be a bad trend and would certainly solve the issue of tangled cords.
What are your predictions for 2017?
Why using Marketplace sites is good rather than going direct to a Business’ site
Over the last few years, we have seen the rise of marketplace websites. Marketplace websites, for those who don’t know, are essentially a collection of companies or brands, that come together on one website. Such websites include Tarocash, Rebel, MenuLog, Booking.com, My Chemist, Graysonline, Archfashion, Surfstitch and many others, countless in fact. When you use a marketplace website, there are so many advantages that you just don’t get when you go directly to an individual company’s website. You may not know what those advantages are, so we’ve created a list to let you know why you’re better off using these sites than going directly to one retailer.
Most people are time poor these days and don’t have the time to go to every single store that exists on the internet. They may even struggle to go to one store because of all that’s involved. You have to think about parking, go through the crowds, and then find the product that you want. Depending on where you live, that can add up to several hours of time, and even after all of that you may find that you do not get what you were looking for, so you’ve actually wasted the time.
Well, with marketplace sites that’s not an issue. You simply run a search online for the products you’re interested in buying and go to the marketplace site. Do another search on the site for the product you want, and you’ll come up with a list of options in less than 5 seconds (depending of course on how fast your internet connection is). When you’re there, you’ll be able to compare the prices of several brands, against the features. This enables you to make a better-informed decision rather than being limited to one brand in a location.
We’ve previously mentioned in blogs that when you buy online you have access to brands that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to due to geographical limitations. When you use a marketplace site you’ll get access to brands that aren’t in your geographical area and brands you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of. That will broaden your horizons and broaden your choices.
When you buy online, you don’t always know that the product you’re getting is quality or is going to be fit for purpose. It’s not always easy to get a refund or your money back after you’ve bought a product online. In some cases, the retailer you’ve bought from is overseas so they’re not governed or bound by Australian law. When you buy on a marketplace site, they tend to have a set of rules they expect the stores who use their platforms to abide by. If those stores do not abide by those marketplace rules then they have kicked off the platform and effectively stopped from trading. That actually gives you more rights than you would have if you dealt with them directly. It also protects the retailers because the marketplace site acts like a third party. If you like, you could almost consider them to be a governing authority.
When you go directly to a retailer you can’t compare prices. You may see a price and think it’s the best price for a particular item, but in reality, it may not be. You could find yourself paying 2 or 3 times more than you should. Take, for example, the recent Adele concert ticket sales. Many people bought tickets at the full rate, rather than doing their research. If they had done some research they would have seen that there were Adele tickets available in other cities for a lower price and they wouldn’t have to pay the premium. For household items or technology, like an iPhone, then buying through a marketplace site allows you to find the best price on the market, not just the price at the most popular store. That means you can keep more money in your pocket and won’t be overcharged for the same item. It gives you more rights and freedom as a consumer.
These are just a few of the reason why you should use a marketplace side rather than going directly to a retailer. There are of course so many other reasons, which we’re sure you’ll find out when you buy from them. If there’s some that you think we should know then send us an email and let us know.