money – Page 2 – Allyson Daniel

October 5, 2014

Time to find a pumpkin

Today the kids and I went to a local pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin to make a Jack-o- lantern from. We found it and the darn thing cost $25 dollars. Needless to say, I couldn’t afford it. As we were walking away with one screaming and crying “I want THAT pumpkin” and the other two with long faces, a kind older man heard what was going on.

As I was getting everyone in the car, someone tapped me on my shoulder. It was the gentleman that had been near enough us to hear the children cry and me say “I just can’t afford $25 for a pumpkin.” There he stood with that pumpkin in his hands saying “Here, this pumpkin really needed to go home with your kids. It was crying when you left it so I had to get it for the kids so they all could be happy.” My children started hooting and hollering and each one gave the kind man a big hug and said thank you.

There I stood with tears in my eyes. This kind soul was my guardian angel at that moment and I could plainly see it in his eyes. I gave him a hug and told him that he had no idea how much I appreciated his selfless kindness. He told me his name was Charlie Benson, gave me his phone number and told me that if I needed anything to help with the children for Christmas, to please let him know. He didn’t have any family to spoil and would love to adopt my children as his grandchildren if that was okay. He then asked if he could call from time to time to just speak with them and hear how their day or week had been.

I’m a bit nervous about giving him my number and I hate to say it but I will check him out before I allow him to be much of a part of my children’s lives. You can’t be too careful in this day in time but my heart tells me he is what he appears to be, just a kind old man with no one who wants to help. I sure hope so because my children would love to have a ‘Grandpa’ to spoil them all.

September 23, 2014

I need new faucets

This is a great house but some of the faucets need to be replaced. I have always known that Delta faucets are the best so why would I settle for anything else? After all, I don’t want to have to replace them again anytime soon and with them, I won’t have to. They have a good selection for kitchens and bathrooms. I may as well just see which faucets aren’t Delta and replace them while I’m at it.

August 24, 2014

Online college

Most online colleges are good schools but I found how to get Online master degrees from one of the top ranked private colleges in the country. Yes a lot of the top colleges are afraid that attending classes online will not give their students a proper education but just the opposite is true.

One things for sure, if Kiplingers Personal Finance ranks Gonzaga University a best value among private universities, then it has to be a great college. I’m going to do a lot more checking into what they have to offer. A good education is something no one can ever take from you.

August 1, 2014

Help when it’s most needed

Credit Card Counseling is everywhere in these economic times but there are more options than getting with a company that focuses on debt consolidation. Most of those types of companies only help you with counseling or others only help you to find refinancing and still others get you into a service where you pay a certain amount per month and owe less in the end.

Well they are hard to find, but there really are companies that help you with all of the above and financial planning too. In all reality, financial planning is the best way to get out of debt and stay debt-free while you plan for your future at the same time. Getting debt-free won’t happen overnight; it may take years, and it takes a lot of discipline to spend your money wisely. I know that sounds impossible but financial planning really can help.

July 4, 2014

Happy 4th of July

There is a local semi-pro baseball team that has the best fireworks every year. It doesn’t cost much to go watch the game either. I love taking the kids every year to see the ball game and the fireworks. It’s almost become a tradition with us. Before the game, we go to the park for a cook out with my family. We have hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad and make home-made ice cream too. By the time it’s time to go to the ball game, we’re all stuffed and so that helps save money at the game. Hot dogs are EXPENSIVE at ball games.

June 22, 2014

I can’t believe people still don’t have health insurance

I am very lucky – I get health insurance from the company that I work with, as a benefit. But a lot of my friends and relatives don’t have that, and they struggle to find affordable health insurance. I can’t believe that so many of them still don’t have any health insurance at all! I’m recommending to them to check out the information I found on the nc health agency web page to see if they can help them get affordable health insurance. Nobody should have to go without medical treatment!

May 23, 2014

Saving on groceries

I read an article on MSN Money central about feeding a family on $100 a week. If I spent that much a week on food, I wouldn’t be able to pay all the other bills before now so I’m used to being tight with groceries.

There are better way to save money on food than they talk about. I buy a lot of chicken and hamburger but we still eat well. We have a little garden and Grandpa has a big garden so we home can and freeze a lot of vegetables so we don’t have to buy that many vegetables. Mom is great at making different things with the same old meats. You just have to find recipes that everyone likes and use your imagination a little. I’ve learned to be a pretty good cook from trial and error mostly, and a lot of help from Mom.

Using coupons helps a lot, too. I have a “coupon-swapping” friend, Joann, and we try to get together at least twice a month to trade coupons. I enjoy catching up with her, and we always find we save a lot of money by swapping off the coupons that we clip from the papers.

April 28, 2014

My sister loves the stars

I have a sister that is an astronomer. She loves nothing more than to spend hours looking at the stars. She loves the Catadioptric Telescopes because of their quality. I don’t know that much about things like that so I had to do a little research to find out which one to buy her for her birthday. I found all kinds of information and all kinds of telescopes at opticsplanet.net.

The good thing is that she has now gotten into bird watching too. She is an outdoor girl anyway and by accident, she was playing with her old telescope one day and found an eagles next across the water from her house. There was even a couple of babies in the nest too. She was absolutely thrilled and that’s what got her into bird watching too. The eagles return every year too.

March 19, 2014

Gifts for loved ones

When it comes to buying gifts for my loved ones, I am always looking for sales on good gifts. Sure you can rely on online Black Friday deals, but they are only once a year. I much prefer finding my sales on a daily or weekly basis. I have a budget and I do my best to stay on it. Sales are the best way to save money when you have a family. My family budget is not static, but I do try to keep it within certain limits. The kids helps as much as children can, by conserving on that kiddie stuff, but it doesn’t always do the job.

As frustrating as it can be to create a budget and stick to it, we do our best. It always helps to have the children involved in the budgeting and saving. There are many ways to achieve this. Coupons are one of the best ways to save money. You can find coupons for just about any product out there. Weather you are buying diapers or formula, it doesn’t matter. If you work together on your budget you can actually have a better marriage. Money is the one thing that every couple argues over. It is actually the easiest thing to overcome.

Once you have decided on what kind of lifestyle you want to have, you can agree on how to save your money. There are green lifestyles, as well as the I am not involved kind of lifestyles. No matter what you are into, you can save money.

November 30, 2013

Healthcare is an important part of our economy

Healthcare is one of the most important parts of our economy. No matter where you live, the healthcare industry employs more people than any other industry. Likewise, when it comes to technology, the healthcare industry is at the head of the class. Medical technology helps in many different ways, from CAT scans, ultrasounds and MRI’s that diagnose problems inside the body or monitor a child before it is born, to the computers that keep our information and data organized. This technology allows us easier access in almost every possible way. Improving healthcare around the world has become a global focus. Information technology is on the forefront of that care. Sharing data from country to country and city to city to keep our citizens safe from disease and epidemics as well as normal healthcare.

The electronic medical records software is imperative for doctors and nurses to keep our records and monitor our progress. Without this software, we would still have to deal with lost or misplaced files that could mean a serious loss of time and test results. Today when you go to the doctor, you rarely ever see a paper file. There are laptops in every room, or the nurses carry I Pads to keep track of all your records and results. The new software and technology helps to cut down their time spent inputting data. This allows them to complete their jobs quicker and allow for the doctors to see more patients. Considering the rapidly growing population, it is imperative that time saving technologies be learned and used to the best advantage. Believe it or not, it also saves the environment as well, since they only print out what is absolutely necessary to give to you, thereby saving trees from being cut down unnecessarily.

As new technology is invented and implemented, sometimes we get to try new things. The new Google Glass is one such technology that looks to be very promising. This technology could help nurses and doctors to get information the very second it is uploaded and available. For instance; If a doctor in a emergency room or operation room is in need of certain test results and has the Google Glass, he/she can immediately access the results the minute the they are available. This could help to save a persons life, especially in an ER where finding out a persons blood type before giving them blood could mean life or death for that patient.

Not all areas of the medical fields are thrilled with the new gadgets that come out. They can be very resistant to “change”, especially in the older generations, but time has already proven that the more we go forward, the better off mankind is as a whole. The old adage that it is hard to teach on old dog new tricks simply doesn’t apply any longer. In a world of new and rapidly growing technology, it is a keep up mentality. While this may make it necessary for continuing education, the advantages are clear.