Money Management

Have you visited your local Dollar Tree lately? 

I am a huge fan of Dollar Tree. This bargain-priced store has enabled me to entertain my child for hours. I’ve also been able to decorate and organize my house without giving my credit cards a huge workout.

While I purchase products of all kinds at Dollar Tree, there are four household items I absolutely buy there every time. Here’s what they are.

1. Storage containers

I really try to maintain an organized house (although with a three-year-old and eight-month-old, that’s not as easy as it seems).

Storage bins are crucial to my efforts, as I keep everything from toys to apple sauces in labeled containers so I can quickly see what I do (and don’t) have, and so I can make sure everything is in its place.

For a long time, I was spending a lot of money buying different bins and containers for the items I wanted to organize. Once I discovered Dollar Tree had a great selection of baskets and other kinds of storage tools, it was a game changer.

With options of all sizes, colors, and materials at Dollar Tree, I rarely look elsewhere for containers when I go on an organizing binge.

2. Candy

I don’t like to keep a lot of candy in the house, but I have a few favorites, including Hundred Grand bars. These are really hard to find in most stores for some unknown reason, but Dollar Tree carries them and I can pick up a sleeve of them for just $1.25. Pretty much every time I’m at the Tree, these end up in my cart.

We’ve also purchased lollipops from Dollar Tree too, as those are treats we give to my son occasionally — and the Dollar Tree ones are just the right size for him to enjoy without making me feel guilty for allowing him too much sugar.

3. Soap

We actually get two different kinds of soap from Dollar Tree. We stock up on hand soap and we also buy Yardley’s bar soap for our soap that we use in the shower.

The prices on these products are better at Dollar Tree than at many other places we tend to go — and the products are much higher quality than you would think would be possible given the cost. That’s especially true of the Yardley’s Activated Charcoal soap which I’ve seen for nearly $8 at Walmart, but which can be had at the Tree for a bargain-basement price of $1.25.

Dollar Tree has a huge selection of all different kinds of soap, so it’s worth checking them out before you spend more elsewhere. Cheaper soap will get you just as clean.

4. Picture frames

I frame a lot of pictures and frames can be very expensive — but not if you buy them at Dollar Tree. While their frames don’t feel very heavy or substantial, the look of them is great.

Since my pictures tend to be on mantels or shelves where you see but don’t touch them, I’m happy to pay only $1.25 for my frames. They look much more expensive than they are, and since people aren’t picking them up, there’d be no way to guess they cost only around $1.

Each of these four items is a great bargain at Dollar Tree and if you’re in need of any of them, check out your local store to see if you can save.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Discover Financial Services is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Christy Bieber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends Discover Financial Services and recommends the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Paying by the statement due date may not always be enough to get the best score. 

There are several factors that go into determining your credit score. Your history of on-time payments is the most important, but your credit utilization ratio is a close second.

Your credit utilization ratio looks at how much of your total credit you’ve actually used. For example, if you had a credit card with a $1,000 limit and had charged $500 on it, your utilization ratio would be 50%.

If your utilization ratio climbs too high — above around 30% — your credit score takes a hit, because of concerns you may be overextending yourself and borrowing too much. If your utilization ratio stays very low, on the other hand, this is a sign you can be responsible with your borrowing and show restraint when it comes to charging up your cards.

You may assume that if you’re paying off your balance in full, you’re good to go on this issue and will boost your credit each month when your card issuer reports you’ve paid in full. But that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, rather than just making your card payment by the deadline, you may need to strategically time it instead. Here’s why.

You may want to tweak the timing of your credit card payment

One thing that may come as a surprise to many cardholders is that your credit card company doesn’t necessarily report your card balance after your payment is due and you’ve had an opportunity to bring your balance down to $0. In fact, your card issuer could report your balance to the credit reporting agencies at a very different time.

Say for example that your payment is due on the 15th of every month and you pay down your balance on that day — but the card issuer reports your current balance to the credit reporting agencies on the 12th. You might have a very high balance on the 12th because you’ll have the charges incurred in your current billing cycle plus the charges from the prior month that you haven’t yet paid off.

If your high balance is reported on the 12th, that will be what is factored in when your credit utilization ratio is determined for purposes of your credit score. Even if you pay your balance in full or pay your card down to $0 within a few days, this won’t really help with your credit score if you just charge a lot on your card again before the next time your card issuer reports.

How to strategically time your card payment

If you want to make sure your credit utilization ratio is as low as it can be, you should time your payment so you make it right before the card issuer reports your balance to the credit reporting agencies.

You can ask your credit card company when it reports, or you can look at your credit report to see the balance reported and then check old credit card statements to calculate the date when you owed that much on your card.

If you pay your bill before that date, you can maintain the type of low credit utilization ratio that will make you a much more attractive borrower or customer. It’s worth the effort, since everyone from potential employers to auto insurers to lenders is going to take a look at your credit.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Don’t forget to make a plan for your retirement account. 

If you leave your job, you need to make an important choice that will affect you far into the future: You need to decide what to do with your workplace 401(k).

If you’ve been investing in this type of retirement plan offered through your company, the end of your employment means you won’t be able to keep contributing to it — and your employer will stop matching contributions as well. But you’ll still have a pot of money sitting there invested and hopefully earning you more money for your later years.

You have a number of possible options on how to handle this account, but finance expert Dave Ramsey believes one of those solutions stands apart and is preferable to all others.

If you’re leaving your job, do away with your 401(k)

When you leave your existing job, Ramsey suggests moving the money from your current employer’s 401(k) plan into an IRA that you open at a brokerage firm. This process is called a 401(k) rollover.

“Most of the time, transferring the money from your old 401(k) into an IRA is your best option,” Ramsey explained. “That’s because an IRA gives you the most control over your investments.”

IRAs offer the same tax advantages as 401(k) accounts do. You still get to see your money grow tax free. And when you contribute to the IRA account, you get a deduction in the year you make the contribution. Do note that there’s no additional deduction when you roll over your 401(k) money into the IRA because you already got your tax savings when you initially made your contribution to your retirement plan.

But, unlike a 401(k) which your employer sets up with a plan administrator of their choice, you can open an IRA with almost any financial institution, since many offer these types of accounts. And once you have opened the account, you can buy pretty much any or all of the assets offered by that financial institution. So, for example, you could buy stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and more with the money in your IRA.

If you kept your retirement account with your current employer’s 401(k), then you’d be limited to the range of investments available in that account — which might be a dozen or fewer funds.

You also have the option of moving your 401(k) money into your current employer’s 401(k) plan if they offer one — but again, you’d be stuck with a much more limited pool of investments compared with if you rolled over the funds into an IRA instead.

Should you listen to Ramsey?

If you have a retirement account from a prior employer, listening to Ramsey is a smart choice.

Rolling over your 401(k) money into an IRA means you won’t get hit with tax penalties for an early withdrawal like you would if you took the money out of your account and didn’t re-invest it in a tax-advantaged plan. And you’ll get the benefit of having more choices with your retirement investing than either keeping your current 401(k) or moving the money into your new employer’s plan.

You should seriously consider this type of rollover if you’ve decided to leave a job and need to decide what to do with your retirement fund.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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