Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Getting Rid of the Clutter

After two long years of sorting of and on, we have finally sorted through all our family’s photos, slides and movies!

My mother was the avid photographer and there were many photos, slides and movies to sort through.  It took me many years to be comfortable with the idea of tossing some.  Now that it’s done, we have kept the best, most meaningful photos of all and scanned them.  The old family movies were restored and transferred to DVD by Southtree.  Really love their services as they kept us informed with emails all the way through the process.  Now, will be sending them the slides to work on. Once there done, we’ll be set.

We cleaned out 4 storage plastic tubs and a full file cabinet of family photos.  It was a thrill to relive memories and painstaking at the same time.  Another clutter project completed.

For more resources, visit my website www.JillRussoFoster.com.

Getting Rid of the Clutter

It’s summer and wedding season for us.

Our dilemma, what to wear.  You may be thinking we have a closet full of clothes to choose from and you are mostly right.  Lately, we have been getting rid of stuff.  So here’s what we have done so far this year:

Gowns and cocktail dresses – donated to our local high school for the prom

Suits – Men’s and Women’s – lots of peoples in need for clothing in good condition

Clothing – Check out your local shelter or other organizations that are in need.

Cleaning out and giving back all in one tiny action.  All this has streamlined our closets and hopefully made a difference in the life of someone else.

For more suggestions, view my resources page.

Getting Rid of the Clutter

As we continue to clean out, we have donated several electronics (old computers, printers, scanners, cameras and more) to great local organizations in need.

This is really easy to do with the help of the Cristina Foundation.  They have a website that you can search local non-profits in your area and see what they are in need of.  If you have the item(s), you connect with them for the drop off and/or pick up.  It ‘s a great way to donated and help out others in need.

For more suggestions, view my resources page.

Getting Rid of the Clutter

As we clean out stuff from our home, I wanted to share with you some great resources.  I like to give items to people or charities that can make good use of the items, instead of just tossing.

We had too much luggage.  Yes, we travel and need both small and large suitcases as well as carry-ons, but we had too much!  eBags has this great program called Trade In Trade Up.  You can donate two suitcases in good condition and in return you get a $25 credit at eBags.  We donated two suitcases in June and recently received our credit.  This weekend, we received our new eBags items.  eBags isn’t only luggage, it much more including has back to school items.

For more suggestions, view my resources page.

 

 

Having trouble keeping track of your money?

We all go through stages in our lives where money seems to be going out faster than coming in.  In my 20’s, I was a spender and learned my lesson.  Now, I keep track of my spending.  I want to accomplish my goals and live within my means.  It may sound boring, but it keep me out of debt.

If budgeting isn’t working for you, read this.

Can you travel cheaply?

My answer is always, yes!!!

We have traveled to lots of places and not spent too much. It does take planning, but we find it well worth it.

You need to search for great deals on the places you want to explore.  Look for sales, perks and discounts.  Research your options.  Right now we are researching an upcoming trip.  We are looking for a hotel that is centrally located and near transportation hubs.

Last year in Italy, we stayed at a hotel by the airport.  We were able to walk to the hotel when we arrived.  You might be thinking it’s not convenient.  This particular hotel had a fee shuttle to downtown Rome every two hour between 8 am and 11pm.  Yeah! No transportation costs.

For places to stay, we look for hotels / timeshares that have kitchen facilities.  It’s more cost effective to go to the market and purchase food than to eat our for every meal.  Plus, if possible, you can bring things from home.  No, you cannot bring meat and vegetables.  You can bring items that you only need a few of instead of buying a large quantity (think salt, pepper, steel wool, paper goods and more).  This is a photo from a beach vacation and what we packed in our luggage.

What do you do to reduce your travel costs?