Welcome
Welcome to the Life’s Major Events Section of SavingsNut.com, dedicated to providing
money saving advice, tips and ideas on how to save money on Life’s Major Events.
Learn how to reduce the cost of college, weddings, buying and selling a home and
household moving. Start reducing the costs Life’s Major Events by reviewing the tips
presented below. For hundreds more tips, advice and savings, click on the navigation
buttons on the left.
Scholarships/Grants - Unpublished tuition discounts of 50% or more are being offered
by many colleges in the form of merit grants to the most desirable students, regardless
of income. The largest discounts are often available to students whose grades and
test scores rank in the top 20% of the school’s applicant pool. However, lately
some schools have been offering tuition discounts based solely on income levels,
with some even relatively high levels of income qualifying. Check with the college
admissions office or financial aid office. Search for scholarships and student loans
here.
Reduced-Cost Credits - You may be able to take classes at a less expensive school
and transfer those credits to the college where you want to earn your degree. This
can be done by attending a lower-cost school full-time, such as a local college or
community college, and then transferring to the school of choice after one or two
years. Or rather than attending a less expensive school full-time and then transferring,
courses can be taken at the local school during the summer or other times to earn
credits, both more quickly and less expensively. Just make sure that your college
of choice will accept the credits that you want to transfer. Make sure you ask, and
if possible get assurances in writing.
Textbooks - Remember, new college texts are not just available at the campus bookstore.
They may also be available at off-campus bookstores and online at Amazon.com, eBay.com,
etc. Most books are available somewhere for less than their suggested retail price.
CompareTextbook.com is a good site that allows you to type in the title of any college
textbook and get a list of online bookstores and their prices. Alibris.com is another
good site that provides information on hundreds of independent booksellers. CampusBookSwap.com
is also helpful in identifying both new and used books for sale on your campus. Check
prices and get the best deal. Buy and sell new and used college textbooks at these
sites.
Size of Wedding - The surest way to have a nice wedding, within an affordable budget,
is to limit the size of the wedding. Not only does a smaller wedding save money,
it also allows the bride and groom to enjoy their close friends and relatives (and
themselves) throughout the wedding and reception, rather than spending the entire
event making sure they greet and thank hundreds of guests, many of whom they may
not even know very well, or at all. So consider paring down the guest list to those
individuals that the bride and groom would really enjoy seeing at the wedding and
reception.
Wedding Timing & Location - When you have your wedding, and where you have your wedding,
will affect the overall cost of the wedding and reception considerably. Periods of
high demand for weddings or other social occasions, and venues that are in high demand,
will be more costly. If you can be flexible you can reduce cost considerably. Remember,
there are many great places to hold your wedding and reception, and there are also
many times of the year (and times of the day and week) that should be able to fit
your schedule and provide a memorable occasion.
Wedding Reception Food & Beverages - If you are using a caterer, tell your caterer
about your need to keep costs as low as possible. Be sure the caterer supplies what
you need (plates, glassware, tablecloths, etc.). Be sure the caterer is not charging
you for items and services that may not be required (such as decorations, etc.).
Read your contract carefully and see if the gratuity is included. Find wedding
bargains here.
Buying a Home - Once you have located that perfect house, it is time to try to negotiate
an agreeable price with the seller. If you are using a realtor, negotiations will
proceed through them. If you are buying directly from the owner, you will need to
negotiate face-to-face. Make sure your offer is lower, rather than higher. You
can always raise your offer during negotiations, if you feel a higher price is necessary
to close the deal, and you feel the house is worth it. Do not spend any more than
necessary by offering too much, when a lower offering price might have worked. Do
not feel bad about making an offer well below the asking price, perhaps as much as
10% to 20% less in normal circumstances. While you might ask your realtor to suggest
an offering price, do not necessarily accept their advice. Their main interest is
usually just to make a deal happen, so they can collect a commission. If they can
convince you to make a higher offer, they have a better chance to make a deal (as
well as collect a higher commission, since they get a percent of the price). Consider
the price data you have on recent sales in the neighborhood, the owner’s asking price,
the realtor’s advice, whether houses are “moving” in that neighborhood, and your
own “gut” feeling. Find real estate and moving sites here.
Selling a Home - The real benefit realtors can bring is a greater selection of potential
buyers. With more potential buyers, you theoretically have a greater chance of selling
your home, as well as getting a higher price. If sales in your neighborhood or community
are rather slow, this can be a real benefit. In fact, it may be the only realistic
way to go. On the other hand, if sales are relatively brisk in your area, and/or
few homes are available for sale, buyers tend to look around more carefully for available
homes, and are more likely to find and contact for-sale-by-owner homes. So, when
deciding on using a realtor, the real decision is how difficult you believe it will
be to find potential buyers. If there are a lot of potential buyers around, or if
you already know of a particular buyer that might be interested, you may want to
try a for-sale-by-owner and perhaps save a lot of money.
Thanks for visiting our Life’s Major Events Section and we hope the ideas and tips
for saving money on college, weddings, buying and selling a home and household moving
will make life just a little bit better for you and your family.
