Financial Friday: Where do I put my money?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted Step 2: Setting up a Monthly Budget for professional nannies and others on making sure you have enough money for your fixed and flexible expenses. JanStClair commented and asked

"Will you address expenses that come due annually, such as insurance? In the
past, I've divided them by twelve and put them into the monthly budget. But it
does confuse me because it looks like I have more money in the bank than I
should until WHAM, the bill comes due."

This was an excellent question. I have quarterly, semi annually and annually bills due as well. Jan was correct that you should be saving for these monthly in your budget along with other expenses like clothing, gas, food and utilities. I have been using the online ING Orange Savings account at ING Direct This is an online savings account that is linked to my checking account. I can put money into my ING Orange Savings Account at any time online or via phone. What you would do is monthly deposit your expenses that you are saving for later pay dates. When it is time to pay the bill you will need at least 3 business days for the transfer from Orange Savings to your checking account. You can also set up an automatic transfer from your checking to your ING Orange Savings.

This is taken from the website regarding Orange Savings:

Watch Your Savings Grow.
Earn a variable 1.30% Annual Percentage Yield (effective 09/09/2009). Open an Orange Savings Account today.

The Orange Savings Account

• High Interest, No Fees, No Minimums - All your money goes to work for you.


• No Changing Banks - It electronically links to your current checking account. Transfers are free and easy.


• FDIC Insured - Your deposits are FDIC–insured up to $250,000 per depositor.


• Quick Application - Start saving in less than 5 minutes.


• Start now

The other really neat thing is that you can earn $25 free from ING for setting up an ING savings account with an initial $250 deposit. That is a 10% return on your deposit. If you are interested in receiving the email for this email me at thefinancialnanny (at) gmail (dot)com. I will receive $10 per person that signs up through the special link. I will be using the money I receive from this to buy holiday items for a local children's shelter that ADCAN is working with closely throughout the coming year.

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Savings online!

There are so many opportunities on the Internet for saving money. You can sign up for coupon blogs, sign up for receiving coupons in your mailbox, or print them out right then and there.I am going to post some great links to some great discounts that are time sensitive, so make sure you take advantage of them today.

To read the rest of the article for the awesome deals please visit Financial Friday on Regarding Nannies

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Kids WOOT!

Woot has entered the kids market with the introduction of Kids WOOT this week. This site is going to be selling everything that is known to dealing with kids- carseats, toys, clothes and games etc. The term "kid" is loosely defined as anyone from 0-100. They will have all kids of "kid" products for young and old.

So what is the Kids Woot store? Taken from their website page on What is Woot:
How does this store work?
Like the other Woot sites: we offer a new deal every night at midnight Central time, in limited quantities at a discounted price. Only one product is available at any given time. If you want one, you click that big orange button that says I WANT ONE. When it sells out, or the next midnight rolls around, that deal is gone. No backorders, no rainchecks, no do-overs. And no, we don’t tell you what the next product is. What fun would that be?

They will post an item at midnight daily for people to purchase. When their set amount of that item has been purchased. The sale is over. You will have to wait for midnight for the next item to be posted.

I know alot of people who are addicted to WOOT. They have got amazing deals on products for like 15 dollars from 70 dollars. It all depends on the item at the time. Make sure to add Kids Woot to your list of websites you visit daily. You could pick up some awesome holiday and birthday gifts.

If you want to read more about the items they have had this week hop on over to their blog.

Let me know what you pick up!

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Financial Friday: Staples Rewards

Continued from Regardingnannies Financial Friday

I was on vacation this past week in North Carolina, and went to Staples to pick up some stuff. The twenty minutes I was in the store was a financially rewarding one. They have an awesome deal on paper for printers till Saturday. $4.99 but after the rebate it is $1! You use their easy rebate system online. It is at stapleseasyrebates. They make it hard to give people an excuse as to why they couldn’t apply for their rebate. It is all online.

I was waiting in line and a lady had her check from her Staples Rewards she was speaking to the manager. She told him that it had expired the day before and wanted to know if she could use it still. He said yes they will be accepting expired Staples Rewards checks from now on. It is a new corporate policy. I spoke with him about that when he was ringing me up. He said that if a manager doesn’t accept your “expired” to call the Corporate Offices and the manager will get in trouble. Awesome-no more rushing to use it to just use it.

Also from the website on the Staples Rewards. You can get $3 per ink cartridge you recycle each month, up to 10 a month. I know I have several ink cartridges running around in drawers at work and in my stuff. I plan on getting them together this weekend. If you don’t have a rewards card from Staples, pick one up the next time you are in there. They are free and worth money

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