preload
Apr 29

How many times have you thought about dropping insurance coverage on your vehicle altogether after receiving the payable premium? We know how it feels. Insurance rates are constantly on the rise and if you have a costly car to insure it may be a heavy burden for your family budget. But do not despair, there are better solutions than dropping insurance services. Moreover, driving without an insurance policy is illegal in the majority of states and you can face a substantial fine for not having coverage on your vehicle. Not to mention that it will be quite expensive for you to cover the costs if an accident takes place and you don’t have any insurance.

You have probably read many articles with tips on how to reduce insurance costs in an effective way. While they all offer helpful solutions to different extent, most of them do not mention the most important element of vehicle coverage – the car itself. The auto you drive pays a very important role when it comes to determining the premiums you will pay for insuring it. People often drive insurance-costly cars and don’t even realize why their rates are so high.

In order to change this situation here are some tips you can use when buying a new or used car with respect to auto insurance costs. They should be a guide for those who are looking for really cheap car insurance and want to minimize their costs in an effective manner.

First of all, forget about sports and muscle cars. In many cases such cars are cheaper than mid-class sedans and are very hot looking. But the faster and more powerful the car is, the greater is the risk that it will end up in a car accident. Sports cars provoke aggressive driving style and that’s definitely a cause for concern in insurance companies. That’s why in most cases sports cars are costlier to insure than other types of vehicles.

Luxury or rare cars should also be out of your list. Of course, if you can afford a Bentley then you probably don’t need cheap auto insurance tips at all. Still, if you are cost-conscious and want to spend less on coverage then you should think about other car types. Luxury, classic and rare cars usually have high repair costs and are more likely to be stolen than ordinary vehicles. And this will eventually push your insurance costs too high to be convenient.

Small cars. Wait, what? Small cars are usually quite cheap and don’t have high repair costs, right? Yes, of course. But you also have to understand that the safety of passengers is another factor that strongly influences car insurance quotes the car will receive. And here the basic laws of physics are very important. Smaller cars tend to be totaled or damaged badly with severe injuries to the people inside far more often than bigger cars.

Big SUVs. Now you are really confused, right? SUVs are large and quite safe for the people driving it, what’s the problem? The problem is that SUV’s have high damage costs they usually deliver during the accident. Other cars and the infrastructure tend to be damaged worse than with smaller cars and it is your insurance company who’s paying for the repair.

So what should I buy?

The best type of vehicle for having reasonable insurance rates is mid-sized family sedan. These cars usually have competitive repair costs, low theft rates and perform well during crash tests. So if insurance costs are more important for you than your image this is the perfect option to go with.

Tagged with:
May 19



When we got engaged, we weren’t sure how we would afford our dream wedding. We had little in savings, a growing education loan, and no expectation of a handout from our parents who also had tight finances. These five simple steps were key to our success in planning our dream wedding for just $2,000 in a community where couples spend on average over $24,000 on their weddings.

1. The Rules of the Game

We all love the challenge of an exciting game. The goal is always the same: To Win!

By understanding the rules of the game and applying our creative thinking and other skills, we can achieve victory.

The same is true of budgeting for a wedding. Fortunately, the rules are simple:

Find out how much you can afford to spend on your wedding. Plan your dream wedding; but don’t spend more than you can afford.

In our case, we were big winners. We played by the rules, which said not to spend more than $2,000 to plan our dream wedding. Smart strategies led to a triumphant wedding day full of surreal beauty and the freedom of knowing that we were starting our married life without a penny of wedding debt.

2. Know How Much You Can Afford to Spend

Key to our success was knowing exactly how much we could afford to spend on our wedding from the very beginning of our wedding planning.

To know how much you can spend, you should take a look at how much you both have in your savings accounts. Also, find out how much your parents can contribute to your wedding planning.

Consider how much you make each month. Also calculate your monthly expenses. You should also think about what your income and expenses will be once you are married.

The first few years of married life tend to be full of financial obstacles for most couples. So, you don’t want to add the heavy burden of wedding debt to your new life together. You may even want to have some extra money in savings to help your new life together get off on the right foot.

Also, consider how much money you will want to keep aside for your honeymoon.

3. Discover Your Magic Number

As you consider how much you can afford to spend, you will become more and more comfortable with spending a particular amount of money on your wedding. We were comfortable with spending $2,000 on our wedding. This was our magic number.

What is your magic number? Is it $10,000? …$5,000? …$500?

Do not be afraid of the number you discover. You will be surprised at how a bit of smart planning can make your dream wedding possible even though you can only spend a small amount of money.

We have personally helped thousands of couples discover tried and true strategies for planning their dream weddings at a price they can afford. Like them, you can follow winning strategies to plan your dream wedding at a price you can afford.

The amount that you decide you can afford to spend on your wedding is your total wedding budget allowance.

4. Anticipate Where the Money Should Go

The best way to make sure that every part of your wedding is paid for without spending more than your wedding budget allows, is to assign portions of your allowance to different parts of your wedding. You can, for example, assign 50% of your total wedding budget allowance to your wedding reception, 10% to your wedding dress and other attire, and so on.

Once you know how much you plan to spend on your reception, you can divide that money between the various components of the reception such as Room/Hall Fees, Tables and Chairs, Food, Drinks, Cake, Linens, Service Fees, Staff and Gratuities, Rentals, etc.

Of course, you only have to apply money to the components you plan to include in your wedding.

There are many wedding budget calculators and wedding budget planners available online that will calculate all of these percentages for you and keep track of all your planned spending and actual spending to help you stay on target.

5. Making Your Budget Do the Work for You

Now that you know how much you plan to spend on each item of your wedding, you can begin using some winning strategies and creative planning to acquire each item or service at the price your budget says you can afford to pay.

Before making any wedding purchase, first consult your budget to find out how much you can afford to pay. After the purchase has been made, record the actual cost of the purchase in your wedding budget.

If the actual price paid is less than what you had planned for, then you can afford to spend that much more on another item found on your wedding budget spreadsheet. If, however, you paid more than what you had planned for, then you must reduce what you can plan on spending for other items on your wedding budget.

In other words, the amount you actually pay for each item can be adjusted but make sure that all of the items end up totaling no more than your total wedding budget allowance.

You now know the rules of the game and how the game is played. With smart planning and by following some proven strategies you can, like us, achieve the wedding of your dreams at a price you can comfortably afford. We wish you a very happy wedding planning experience and a beautiful, dream come true wedding day.

Tagged with: