Tag: Save money

Reasons Why Credit Cards Are Good

by Mike Mabrouk

It seems like the talk of town from everyone is that credit cards are evil, and everyone should stay away from them. Heck, if you really did some basic research online, there are some “financial gurus” that make this point that you should never open up a credit card and you are doomed if you dare to. So, I can understand where everyone is coming from with the statement of staying from credit cards. First of all, if you really do not have any self-control, then it probably would be best to stay away since the freedom you have with a decent credit limit and just telling yourself I can pay it off sometime later is dangerous. Also, if your spending habits in general are out of control, you really should try to get some good habits in place to correct those issues before you have that credit limit to spend on everything useless. One of my personal favorite dangers too is throwing the monthly subscriptions on the card and not even realizing what you are actually spending on all that stuff (i.e. Hulu, Netflix, Gym).

With all of this said, there are some very good reasons why having at least one credit card is a very good thing. And disclaimer of course, I am not a personal financial advisor or anything and everyone has their own unique situation, so please do some research for what makes the most sense with you but I find these reasons very appealing and they are why I have two credit cards to my name.

1. Build up Credit

Basic I know right? But it is true. Credit cards are a great way to build up your credit score and provide a track record of you paying your bills on time which will help with future larger purchases down the road to have lower interest rates and qualify for higher loans. Also, if you are on the younger side, credit cards are a great way to start your credit history as well as get in the habit of paying your bills and most importantly paying them on time.

2. Helps Budget and Keep Track of Spending

There are really two sides to how best to keep track of spending. One is to withdraw cash or use your debit card straight from your checking or savings account so that way you are not induced to spend a lot and you can control yourself with spending due to how much you actually have available or how much cash you actually withdrew.  I actually agree that this is a good idea. I will say though from my experiences using a credit card is a lot easier (as long as you can control your spending habits). Credit card companies’ interfaces are really advanced now, and they can breakdown for you the category of each payment you had of spending (i.e. gas, food).  You can start to track how much you spend in each category either through a spreadsheet or an online personal finance tracking software like Mint.com. Now I haven’t used Mint myself, but I do know friends that use the platform and swear by it. But anyways the main point here is credit cards provide you a history of what the heck you actually are spending your money on and not just a withdrawal of cash and asking yourself later where did my cash go.

3. Rewards Points

The hidden not so hidden anymore perk to credit cards. REWARDS. Credit card companies provide incentives to sign up and use their cards through multiple avenues but a main one is the reward perks of their own individual card. These can be from cash back rewards, travel points, flight mileage points etc. My personal card (Capital One) has a 1.5% cash back rewards meaning as an example for every one hundred dollars I spend, I get one and a half dollars cash back in my account. That does not sound like a lot initially, but it adds up over time. And it is a simple click to redeem the cash in my account. There is no crazy process to redeem it at all. And not only with the cash back cards, but the travel cards as mentioned are great as well since you can collect points either through actual travel or spending habits and use those points for flight discounts or even hotel discounts. Reward points are essentially just an extra bonus to you spending money that you already will be spending anyways.

I am sure there are a lot more perks to using credit cards than the one’s mentioned above but my main goal with the post is for you and other readers to start doing your research on why credit cards are not bad and start to investigate it more.

Thank you for reading my post and please give a like and follow the blog if you enjoyed. I like the idea of going more in depth with this kind of stuff or health related stuff I am not quite sure. I want to see what the people like.

Anyways thanks for checking this out!

Mike M.

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Save Money While Eating Healthy

by Mike Mabrouk

This is going to be my blog where I tie some weight loss content along with personal finance. I am very excited to get into some personal finance/investing content since we all know having money is kinda cool. So, a major part of having money in general is well saving the money that you currently have. And what is even better than having money? I would say having money and being healthy too. Therefore, we can live long and enjoy our money.

You may be asking yourself, what is a good way to eat healthy and save money while at it. Well I’m glad you found this post because I want to provide some helpful tips to do so.

  1. Bulk Retail Stores. Yep. I am talking about you Costco and Sam’s Club. The savings are too good at these places when you buy in large quantities which is the key here. My grandparents used to buy their groceries daily and the whole time I was thinking jeez there has to be a more efficient way to both save your time and save some money. And that is bulking season. For groceries at least. These type of groceries stores allow you to pay cheaper per x amount than buying smaller individual boxes/packages since you are buying more at once aka buying bulk. Anything healthy oriented will be a heck a lot cheaper (average price per individual product) when buying a large quantity compared to an individual product. This is where I love to buy my oats, chicken, frozen vegetables, you name it.
  2. Cheap Substitutes. The alternative can be the right move especially for cost savings. Sometimes if you are looking for a source of vitamins or any form of healthy nutrition, you may not need to look further than the cheap alternative. An example of substituting I always do is my proteins with chicken and replacing them with eggs. A lot cheaper, still fills you up, and is healthy and a good source of protein. Little substitutes like these add up and you should definitely start coming up with ways to get the nutrition with an alternative.
  3. Meal Prepping. When you meal prep, you have the opportunity to utilize your shopping spree at once, plan a healthy meal, and save time from cooking every day. Meal prepping also forces you to consume that food since you already have it ready to go, and therefore it wouldn’t make sense to go out to eat or buy something else. Plus, you get to control what you are eating for the extended time which helps assist your diet.
  4. Buy a Blender. So full disclosure, I do not own a blender. However, I know many people that do and swear buy it. The perks of having a blender are you can make any smoothie/drink you want that can contain any amount nutrients you add to it. It allows for you to utilize whatever cheap ingredients you have and make a contraption delicious (or try to at least). Cheap ingredient + Cheap Ingredient + Cheap Ingredient = Somewhat not cheap tasting ingredient

Hope you enjoyed the quick read of some helpful tips I have for eating healthy while saving money. Please get a chance to like and follow as well as check out my other blog posts.

Thanks everyone,

Mike M.

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