Posts by Farnoosh Torabi:
9 Great Gifts to Give Without Blowing Up Your Budget
Times are tough, money is tight, and the holidays are fast approaching. Many shoppers need to keep a tight rein on their spending, but don’t want to feel like the Grinch when it comes to giving gifts to friends and family. How can you save money while giving thoughtful gifts? Believe it or not, it can be done! Here are 9 affordable – and in most cases, free –gift ideas to make holiday gift-giving easier, more fun and a lot cheaper.
Give the Gift of Charity
With all great gifts, it’s the thought that counts. Consider donating to a charity in the name of the person you are gifting. No one has to know how much you donated, either, so you can easily keep this gift affordable. With so many charities to choose from, you can customize the type of donation to the person’s personality. If you’ve got a friend who’s an animal lover, for example, you can adopt a tiger at ChangingThePresent.org in his or her name. You can choose the cause, the amount you want to donate and a personalized greeting card for your friend, all while earning a tax deduction in the process.
Re-gift with Care
For a close friend or relative, gift something personal that you and this person have in common or have shared. If you share a favorite book, give your friend your copy with a handwritten note on the inside jacket. Play on nostalgia and give items associated with an inside joke or a fond memory (a childhood toy, your favorite CD, ticket stubs of movies you saw together paired with a DVD, etc). This gift idea is inexpensive, but the sentimental value is priceless.
Be a Tour Guide for a Day
Invite your out-of-town family or friends to a weekend in your city and offer them the gift of an afternoon tour followed by dinner at a favorite local joint. Surprise them at dinner with a pop quiz on all the facts you shared about the city during the day and offer inexpensive prizes as gifts (a $5 iTunes gift card, a key chain or coffee mug with the name of your city, etc). Take pictures of the day’s events and turn them into postcards to capture the memories and fun time you had together.
Turn Points into Presents
If you have a credit or debit card that rewards you with points to use towards shopping, use them to purchase gift cards or gift certificates for your loved ones. With an American Express Blue Card, for example, you can redeem 500 points towards a gift certificate to Pottery Barn for your mother. If you can’t find a suitable store for your recipient, many cards allow you to buy Visa/Mastercard/American Express gift cards with the points that can be used wherever the card is accepted.
Give the Gift of Time
For your friends who never have time for themselves because they’re busy taking care of everyone else or are bogged down with work, give them a well-deserved break. Offer to baby sit kids or a pet. Help run some errands or tidy your friend’s place so he can have a breather. The gift of your time will always be appreciated.
Wrap Up Your Skills
Gift your skills in a thoughtful way. Are you an interior designer? Offer to redecorate a room in your friend’s house for free. A web developer? Build a website for your friend or sketch out a plan for their new blog. Skilled in the kitchen? Cook a delicious meal for friends and family. A photographer? Offer a photography lesson or take some portraits of your friends for free.
Shop Early & Often
Start hunting for bargains early in the year, before the holiday rush, and pay attention to summer deals and back to school savings. You can buy lots of great stuff for a fraction of the cost when you shop in the off-season. Put aside the gifts until the holidays roll around, then hand them out and pat yourself on the back for money well-saved.
Peruse Online Deal Aggregators and Bargain Websites
Sites like fatwallet.com, slickdeals.net, bensbargains.net and dealspl.us can give you a daily rundown on deals and steals. Other sites like eBay and Etsy allow you to name your price, ensuring you never go over budget when shopping for gifts. Check deal websites regularly to see what pops up, and stick to a pre-planned budget to ensure that you won’t go overboard with your spending.
Use the Internet to Compile Thoughtful Gifts
The Internet is a vast resource of information and can be utilized to create a personalized gift for your friend. If your buddy is a cook and loves Mexican food in particular, compile the best Mexican recipes you’ve found on the web, print them out and assemble them in a simple cookbook. For a musician friend, find sheet music of his favorite songs. Create web albums of your friends’ favorite music videos/jokes/resources/etc. and compile them. Most of this information will be free to access, and by putting it all together you’re taking time to show how much you care.
Remember, it is the thought that counts. And with a little time and even less money, you can give great holiday gifts your friends and family will appreciate without breaking the bank.
7 Ways to Pocket a Quick $100
Need to pocket some cash fast? Below are seven tips for cutting costs fast from Quicken Sr. Blog Editor Farnoosh Torabi, who also provides money coaching for consumers on ABC’s new show about keeping it real with your finances, “Bank of Mom and Dad.” Read More »
Back to School: Best Free Mobile Apps for Saving Cash on Campus
Need to save money on campus? (Need I even ask?) Well, there’s more than one app for that. For students who own a smart phone there are countless free applications that can help make life easier, more efficient and less expensive. Here are my seven favorites: Read More »
Five Celeb Money Fails
Celebs may dictate fashion and style, but they’re no arbiters of personal finance, at least not in my book. If there’s one thing about money that celebrities have taught us it’s that you can just as easily burn through 10 bucks as you can several million if you don’t stop to embrace the basic rules of money. You know the plain vanilla stuff like: saving, budgeting, planning and protecting your assets. Oh, and it also helps to file and pay your taxes. Read More »
Make More Benjamins Without Quitting Your Job
Photo by CubanRefugee
I’m all for silver linings, but the latest survey issued by the National Association of Colleges and Employers on starting salaries for 2009 college grads – despite its upbeat spin – fails to excite.
Researchers at NACE found that the average starting salary for a fresh-out-college young adult (those who are lucky to find full-time work) is now $49,307. That’s down just a smidge from 2008 when it stood at $49,693. The difference? About $400, the cost of a 32-gig iPod Touch (Or, in my case, one month of health insurance). Not the end of the world considering the recession and all its financial baggage, right? The NACE would like us to believe so.
The reality, though, is that for a good part of this century entry-level salaries have been flat. That is, when you factor in escalating living costs and, of course, college tuition, which has jumped annually at about three times the rate of inflation.
Then remember – the average college graduate owes some $20,000 in student loans and thousands more on his or her credit card. A $49,000 a year salary – after taxes – isn’t going to afford much when one should be paying off debt, paying for necessities and saving all at the same time.
Maybe just be happy to have a job? After all, the jobless rate for the 20-24 year-old set is higher than 15% right now. Who cares if I’m not making more? This is the worst job market for the current graduating class, the Class of ’09, that we’ve seen in more than two decades. Now may not be the best time to strong-arm a boss for a raise.
I agree it’s a tricky time right now. And I’d never suggest doing something to jeopardize a job. But young adults don’t have to just settle. Here’s some advice:
- Know Your Salary Range. My dad taught me this one. It’s your right to know the salary range for your specific position. Your HR rep has the numbers. This will come in handy down the road. For example at Law Firm XYZ a paralegal may make anywhere from $40K-$70K to a year, depending on experience and seniority. If after a year you’re still making the very low end of your salary range, it may be time to ask for a raise, using this scale as a talking point in your meeting. And learn what it’ll take to earn at the high-end.
- Request for Perks. If you can’t get a bigger salary, ask for more perks. An extra week of vacay? A signing bonus? Permission to work from home once in a while (a gas saver). The little things add up. And don’t hesitate to ask because of this recession thing. If you’ve made it past several interviews, feel like you’ve got the job and finally you’re talking numbers, now is the time to speak up.
- Add a Revenue Stream. Find a productive way to cash in on your youthful energy outside your 9 to 5 job. Part-time jobs can be an important revenue stream to help aggressively pay down debt and build up a savings nest.
- Keep Looking. The best time to get a job is when you have one, as the saying goes. Tired of making bupkis at your current post? Continue networking and find an employer that’ll pay more to “steal” you away – even if it’s just been a short while at your job.
Tough economic times affect all of us. But, with these tips you can find opportunity and drive towards a better income and the life you want to live.
Farnoosh Torabi , Quicken’s Senior Blog Editor, is a personal finance expert, author and overall just fantastic young, hip, money-saving gal. She recently wrapped a season of contributing to the TLC reality makeover show Real Simple, Real Life, where she helped busy women better understand and manage their financial challenges. This fall Farnoosh will host Soapnet’s Bank of Mom and Dad, where she’ll help coach young women struggling with the burdens of debt. In addition, she’ll continue to provide her easy and useful financial tips in Seventeen Magazine, where she is a contributing editor, and on Mainstreet.com and AOL’s WalletPop.com where she is a regular contributor.
