Support Your Local Thrift Store

In our town there is a large new store being built and it is not a new Walmart. It is a Goodwill Thrift Store. Is this a sign of the times? A trend around the country? A rising opportunity for many to get by in difficult times? Or something else?

Increasing Use of Thrift Stores

A few days ago Donna Freedman wrote a post on her Surviving and Thriving blog site about the increased popularity of thrift shops. In her opening paragraph she shared some interesting statistics from the Savers/Value Village.

Donna Freedman Blog Header

It seems that 47%of U.S. residents report shopping at second hand stores. One-third indicate that they do so more now than three years ago.

************

An Opportunity to Help Others

While shopping in the thrift stores is a great way to save money for ourselves, there is another idea I would like to focus on. These stores also give us an opportunity to help others out by contributing our unwanted items.

Continue…

Food Prices Increase!

For more than a year now I have been observing the widespread anticipation of rising food prices among those who claim to be experts on the subject as well as talk among everyday shoppers as they observe trends in the local grocery stores.

No one expects anything but higher food prices in the months ahead. But how well are we prepared?

Higher Prices Are Here Already

Two Gallons of Milk

Have you been to the grocery store lately? Just a few months ago I could run down to a local store and pick up two gallons of milk for $5.00. Not any more. Yesterday my daughter told me the best advertised sale price now for two gallons of milk is $7.00!

…No really good solutions are out there, I suspect, but in general there are two things that can be done.

Continue…

How the Financial Crisis Changed America

Today I read an article from the folks at Fidelity Investments. They completed a study in February called The Fidelity Five Years Later study—referencing five years after the financial crisis began. The participants represented adults over twenty-five years of age, financial decision makers who have investments so they were above average in their financial commitments, as I am sure are those reading this blog.

The Crisis and Financial Attitudes

Here are some of the results I think you will find interesting:

  • 42% have increased participation in workplace retirement and health savings plans
  • 55% feel better prepared for retirement
  • 42% have increased emergency fund savings
  • 80% have a better understanding of their finances
  • 49% have purposely decreased personal debt
  • 72% have less debt now than before
  • 78% say they have made permanent behavior changes

What Do These Results Mean?

As you look through this list I think you will see many reasons to be hopeful for the future, at least among the people surveyed.

Continue…

Why People Can’t Save Money

How often have you heard someone say, “If I had a nickel for every time I heard that I would be a rich man today!” I know I have heard it many times. And the truth is that human behavior does seem to follow a lot of repetitious patterns.

Common Excuse for Not Saving Money

This is true with our economic choices and ideas as much as it is anywhere. Specifically, it is common to hear what I heard again this week…

Continue…